Remnant On The Scalfari Hell Interview

A few days ago, another conversation between Pope Francis and Eugenio Scalfari happened.  As happened several times before, heretical statements were ascribed to the pope: statements that to date have not been specifically repudiated by either the pope or the Vatican Communications Office.  When Scalfari asked about the punishment of souls who die in mortal sin, the pope allegedly said that they aren't punished and they simply cease to exist.  Right there you have heresies against the existence of hell and the immortality of souls.

This conversation is all over mainstream media.  The pope needs to clarify his statements immediately if he never uttered those heresies.  If he did make those statements as reported, we will need to come to grips with the possibility that our pope has uttered heresies.

The God Of Surprises Ain't So Surprising

Last Saturday I opined how this upcoming "youth synod" is appearing to be quite similar in intent to the "family synods" of a few years back that resulted in the dung heap known as Amoralis Lamentia.  Today's post from One Peter Five confirms my suspicions.  It seems that a number of young people who participated in the English-speaking contingent of the "Pre-Synodal Meeting of Young People" are keenly interested in the promotion of traditional practices such as adoration, Gregorian chant and of course the Latin Mass in Extraordinary Form. 

The meeting took place from March 19-24 in Rome, with approximately 300 in attendance.  Lickety-split, on March 24, the Final Document of the Pre-Synodal Meeting of Young People was released.  My!  That document was produced with remarkable speed and alacrity!  Why, a suspicious sort of person might insinuate that it was typed and ready to go even before the attendees arrived on March 19th.  Perish the thought!  Why, that has never, ever happened in the Church's history, right?  Right??!? (/sarc)

Some of the faithful Catholics have voiced displeasure at the short shrift that their concerns received in that document.  They understand that their numbers are significant and would have expected to have their wishes treated in a commensurate fashion.  But let's face it.  We are dealing with a Vatican - and a pontiff - who seem to be doing all they can to obliterate Tradition - both in worship and in teaching.  If they manipulated the 2014 meeting to such an extent that Cardinal Pell had to openly rebuke them, why should we be surprised at any manipulation of the meeting that ended a few days ago?  I don't know for certain that such subterfuge occurred, but there is precedent for such a hypothesis.

Their "god of surprises" is being revealed as a "god of the ssame-old-same-old".  By the way - check out what my blogging colleaague, Catholic American Thinker, has to say on the matter.

Another Synod Is On Its Way - So Too Is Another Amoralis Lamentia

This one, scheduled for this coming October, will be called "Synod of Bishops on Youth, focusing on: youth, women, moral issues, and leadership.  I agree with One Peter Five that this one, like the infamous one of 2-3 years ago, that this one will be used as a front to forward a progressive agenda.  Read his commentary.  Some of those young people criticize the Church as being "severe" and "associated with excessive moralism".  C'mon!  Teenagers have been grousing at their parents for the same reasons for countless generations!  They are simply bucking the policies that keep their lives from being ruined because they are too driven by emotions and hormones.  As the wise parents stand their ground, so too must the Church and not think of such youthful rebellion as real guidance.  Robert Royal of Catholic Thing said that he would have found such toadying "pathetic" had he been approached by adults like that when he was a teen.

Such "severe" aspects include the Church's teachings on homosexuality, abortion, shacking up, etc.  The kids have gotten their hopes up that the Church will change her teachings on these matters.  That is impossible of course, for the Church's teachings on morals are those of Jesus Christ.  They won't change for God Himself doesn't change.  But the fact that these heretical hopes are being entertained may well be a convenient smoke screen for those progressives within the Church who do want to insinuate such changes under the guise of "being pastoral" and "accompanying", etc.

As the synod on the family was a disguise for the promulgation of Amoralis Lamentia, I dread the thing that will be published after this youth synod.  It is probably already written and simply is waiting for this October dog-and-pony show to happen.

From The Carhart Carnage Department: He Did It Again! When Will Ambulance #2 Show Up At His Bethesda Mill?

In mid-October of 2017, Leroy Carhart resumed his butchering of babies in the wombs of their mothers.  Operation Rescue learned a few days ago that one scant month after setting up shop in Bethesda, he also resumed sending women to the hospital via ambulance.

There are two things that should be mentioned.  First, the other tenants in that building better get used to seeing ambulances pull up on a regular basis as happened in Germantown.  Their patients and clients will be treated to the sight of badly injured - maybe even dying women - being hauled away.  There will be the sight of blood and smell of vomit in the hallways.  Why will these other tenants - themselves payers of rent - have to put up with this?  More importantly, many of them are also medical professionals.  How can their professional consciences not be outraged by the obvious incompetence displayed by Carhart?  How can they countenance baby-slaughter?

Second, the OR piece mentions that an NIH ambulance took the woman to Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital.  I've lived in Montgomery County most of my life whereas the OR author didn't so I notice some things that she may not have.  Why did they summon an ambulance from NIH when the fire department at the corner of Old Georgetown and Cedar Lane was much closer?  Why did they haul the woman all the way to Walter Reed when Suburban Hospital was just a few miles south on Old Georgetown?  The OR piece raises the possibility of improper use of federal funds for this transport.   Moreover, if a woman is hemorrhaging, speed and efficiency are of the essence.  They did not happen in November 2017.   I agree that much stinks about such an arrangement.

We will bring you news of any other episodes.  They will happen - and some may have already occurred between November and today.

With The Lettergate Fiasco, We See Once Again That Personnel Is Policy

On Saturday, the Church and even the entire world were witnesses to the skulduggery of the Vatican Communications Office.  Today it was announced that Msgr Vigano, Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for Communications resigned.  Apparently he is taking responsibility for the "lettergate" fiasco - their attempt at deception that blew up in their faces after the Pope Emeritus refused to be their dupe.

So now we know that Pope Francis is entirely innocent of the whole debacle for he accepted the resignation and rid the Vatican of that dastardly perpetrator - right?  Ehhh...not quite!  It seems that in his same letter in which he accepted Vigano's resignation from his prior position, Pope Francis created a new position in the same office, an "assessore" of the same office he held.  It's akin to "second in command".  That is Vigano's new role.  A devious mind might think that Vigano's still going to call the shots around there, with the new prefect serving as a "front-man" puppet.  But of course that would be the furthest thing from the minds of the Vaticanistas now, wouldn't it?  (Stop that snickering immediately, you cynical neo-pelagians!)

As the saying goes, "personnel is policy".  Once again we are left with no doubt regarding their policies.  Please pray for the Church and continue to shine the light on the cockroaches.

Archbishop Sample To Offer Pontifical Mass At Shrine Of The Immaculate Conception

Courtesy of One Peter Five.

More Of Pope Benedict's Real Letter Is Revealed

Two days ago, I posted the news that the Vatican had owned up to its dishonest alterations of a letter written by Pope Benedict XVI.  It turns out that even their "owning up" wasn't completely honest.  Edward Pentin and Sandro Magister reveal what we think and hope is the real complete letter penned by the pope emeritus.  It turns out that Benedict refused to write the review because those works contained contributions by Peter Huenermann, a dissident theologian who took potshots at Benedict during his pontificate.  Eponymous Flower has more on his screeds.

While I'm sure that there has been corruption in the Vatican for some time, I now believe that under this pontificate, the corruption is not so much endured as applauded and even mandated.  If there isn't a major personnel shake-up in the Vatican communication operations over this latest debacle, then there is no denying where the current pontiff stands on these matters.

CFO Fired From Catholic Institution For Her Second Amendment Advocacy - Time For Us To Act

Sister Carol Keehan, wielder of the Pen of Perfidy, sits on the board of Catholic Charities as do quite a number of those who've contributed to pro-abortion politicians.  Cardinal Cheesehead Dolan wined and dined the Messiah Most Miserable at the Al Smith Dinner and gave approval of gays marching in New York's St Patrick's Day parade.  The progressives have absolutely no problem hob-nobbing with pro-aborts - provided they can get money thrown their way.

Contrast all that schmoozing with the treatment meted out to the now-former CFO of Miami's St Thomas University.  What was Anita Britt's "high crime and misdemeanor"?  Why, she sits on the board of American Outdoor Brands Co, parent company to Smith and Wesson.  You've heard of them, no doubt.  They are manufacturers of those eeeevulll guns that, of their own power and volition, randomly go out and shoot people!  Of course that last sentence was facetious, but for the progressive lemmings who troll our blogs, I must spell out what is obvious to those with two brain cells that fire in syncopation.  She was given a choice: resign from AOB, or lose her job.  She chose the latter which I believe was a wise decision.

The Crud article states that the president of the university, Msgr Franklyn Casale, put the choice to Britt as his reaction to public opinion and backlash.  So, Msgr Casale doesn't like "backlash", right?  Perhaps it's time for us faithful Catholics to provide some backlash of our own and make known our disgust for his linguine-like spine.

From the website, we see Msgr's contact information:

Casale, Franklyn M.
President
President's Office
fcasale@stu.edu
(305) 628-6663

Call and email him.  We cannot let them get away with such kowtowing to politically correct nonsense.

The Pope Benedict Letter That Wasn't

The blogosphere has been all aflutter with the news/rumors that a letter from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI confirmed his beliefs that he and Pope Francis were essentially in alignment as far as philosophy and theology goes.  Some blogs evincing sedevacantist leanings went so far as to say that the pope emeritus is just another modernist, heretic, etc.  I personally have been slow to comment on this, both because of time-consuming personal matters and because I sensed that there was more to this than meets the eye.  Lo and behold, we find that the latter is true.

LifeSiteNews and other sources published the news today that the Vatican distorted the letter that Benedict XVI issued.  They obscured a paragraph to give the impression that the Pope Emeritus was giving endorsement to some books on the theology of Pope Francis.  In fact, that omitted paragraph states that the Pope Emeritus could not give an educated opinion because he hadn't read the works in question.

Now to the perpetually naive who find it impossible to imagine that the Vatican would stoop so low as to essentially falsify what Benedict XVI said, recall some recent history.  Recall the reason why Cardinal Baldiserri is known as "Book Thief Baldi".  Two years ago, many of us hypothesized that the sin-nods were dog-and-pony shows designed to foist some heresy on the Church.  We now know that heresy to be called Amoris Laetitia - or, as I call it, Amoralis Lamentia.  Cardinal Pell even called them out on it quite loudly.  So yes indeed, the Vatican of Pope Francis is well-practiced in all the skulduggery tricks of the trade.

Still, all this seems not to be enough for our sede friends.  They obviously don't appreciate the fact that Benedict XVI just politely told the Vatican mafia that they can take those books on Francis' theology with them as they take a flying leap.

There's no gainsaying that this stunt of the Vatican has backfired into a major fiasco for them.  Now the real question is, "will people understand the significance of this"?  This question should be answered not only by progressives but by sedes.

The DACA Drivel Of The Archdiocese Of Washington

Once again I missed an issue of the Catholic Standard.  Owing to some pressing personal matters, I didn't realize it until I saw it in the lobby of Blessed Sacrament (DC) this weekend.  When I saw page 3, I understood why it might have been omitted from my mail.  It was all about DACA and that insipid telephone campaign of the USCCB to beg Congress to extend de facto amnesty to the so-called "Dreamers".  The online version didn't have that precise article but here is an online article along a similar bent.  For more articles, search "DACA" on the Standard's website.

Several months ago I wrote a post explaining why I believe that support of illegal immigration is inherently sinful.  I still do.  For those reasons I believe that the USCCB's "call-in" campaign was likewise inherently sinful, for the specific reasons stated in that post.  In that post I wrote "One troubling aspect about the hierarchy's embrace of progressive positions is that church authorities too often strike hands with politicians who foment the Culture of Death."  That happened at Blessed Sacrament earlier today, as I learned in its bulletin yesterday.  The only difference is that this time it was not an errant politician, but an errant priest.

Go to page 3 of the linked bulletin, bottom left.  You'll see that this morning they hosted Father Peter Daly, former pastor of St. John Vianney from Prince Frederick, MD.  Because he's retired and no longer pollutes the pages of the Catholic Standard, I haven't had occasion lately to write about him, but in the past I sure did.  In one post, I commented on an article that he wrote for the Not-At-All Catholic Reporter, in which he publicly condoned homosexual acts.  This is the sort of person that Blessed Sacrament thought qualified to teach their parishioners.  They've hosted both Chris Matthews and Mark Shriver in prior years - appearances that we picketed.

Here's an oddity about Daly's selection as a speaker.  He lives in Prince Frederick Maryland.  That's southern Maryland.  Between that and Blessed Sacrament is a two-hour drive each way.  What?  Blessed Sacrament couldn't find a more local illegal-amnesty shill?  In loony-liberal Montgomery County, these people abound.  That truly puzzles me.  Why?

Attention Pro-Life People!

Pro-life people! Your presence on the sidewalk MATTERS! Notice that one sentence outside that abortuary made all the difference; the pro-life person who uttered that sentence probably didn't know for the birth mother was ushered out the back.

If it's been a while since you've been in front of an abortion mill to pray and/or offer assistance, please get back there!

More Faithful Catholics Fighting Rot Inside The Church - Update At Bottom

Last month faithful Catholics were instrumental in keeping the heretical Father James Martin from spewing his poison via "lenten reflections" at a New Jersey parish.  In two weeks, Martin will speak at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral.  He is doing so at the express invitation of Cardinal Blaise Cupich.  Yes, he's the same Cardinal who made nice-nice with pro-abort Dick Durbin after Bishop Paprocki instructed his priests to obey Canon 915 if Durbin were to present himself for Holy Communion.

Again Catholics are raising their voices in Chicago.  The staunchly Catholic group Tradition, Family and Property will be spearheading a protest during his appearances.  Other faithful Catholics will be joining them.  The TFP is spearheading a prayer of reparation on account of  Martin's poisonous promulgations scheduled to happen at the University of Cincinnati on March 24.  Martin will be joined by gay-rights activist Sr. Jeannine Gramick, one of the two founders of New Ways Ministry; she was officially silenced for her dissent but defies that order to the detriment of her soul.

There are two other events that warrant the prayers and even protests of faithful Catholics in the U.S.  From CatholicHeraldUK we hear that Msgr Pio Vito Pinto, Dean of the Roman Rota, will be giving a "course" on matrimony and the family.  Pinto has cast slurs upon the dubia cardinals and favors giving Holy Communion to adulterers.  This will happen in the Diocese of Austin TX.  The course is mandatory for all clergy there.

On April 28th, gay ex-Jesuit Dan Schutte will be giving a concert at Our Lady of Visitation Catholic Church in Kansas City.  Tickets to this thing cost $20.00.  While that may not seem to be a lot to charge, bear in mind that it is a violation of canon law to demand money for any event held in a Catholic Church.  However, that is a minor issue compared with the scandal of a gay ex-priest being allowed to peddle his wares in a Catholic Church.  Schutte never overtly admitted his perversion.  Preferring to be coy about the matter, he declines to answer any questions, claiming that "it can affect how people experience the music itself".  Think about that for a minute.  If he were to state that he isn't gay, how could that adversely "affect how people experience the music"?  Answer - no way.  In trying to be cute and coy about the question, Schutte tipped his hand.  Now the real question is, what are the local Catholics going to do abut this planned travesty?

Similar questions may well be looming on the horizon for those of us in the Archdiocese of Washington.  In light of this "pastoral plan" to foist Amoralis Lamentia upon us, what will we do if we are ever subject to heresy spewing from the pulpits, gays being affirmed in their mortal sins, flagrant pro-aborts strutting up the Communion line, etc?  I'm hearing rumors of parishes preparing to go hog-wild over this. To my ADW readers: if you get wind of mischief afoot, please advise me and send documentation of the same (bulletins, handouts, etc) to Faithful Catholics of MD/DC, PO Box 2192, Montgomery Village, MD 20886.  Organize among yourselves and prepare to take action, such as the TFP group is doing.  By God's grace, we must stand in the gap - not only with prayer but with action.

UPDATE - Thanks again to Catholic action, the Schutte concert has been moved off Church grounds.  At least sacred property won't be profaned.  I don't think our concern should stop there.  Perhaps a rosary could happen outside the new venue.  Certainly we should be asking this National Association of Pastoral Musicians what motivates them to slobber after people like Schutte in the first place.

More On Cardinal Wuerl And Amoralis Lamentia

The thing is entitled "Sharing In The Joy Of Love".  Many progressives are just giddy with joy over it - understandably so, for now immorality and heresy can be formally foisted upon unsuspecting Catholics.  For instance, we see this tweet from Cardinal Cupich; please read some of the replies under it, for some Catholics aren't afraid to speak truth to him.

Then we see Michael Sean Winters from the Not-At-All Catholic Reporter gush that "Cardinal Wuerl's Pastoral Plan On Amoris Laetitia Points The Way Forward", begging the question "forward to where?".  He answers his own question by opining, "We cannot, as some guidelines issued by other bishops, such as those from Archbishop Charles Chaput, skip over the process of accompaniment and discernment and simply repeat the certainty that the divorced and remarried, all of them, without exception and no matter their circumstances, can never be brought to the Eucharistic table."  News flash!  There is no authentic "discernment" whatsoever without the proclamation that adulterers may not receive Holy Communion on pain of sacrilege.  Winters goes on to mock EWTN, First Things and other faithful Catholics.

Canon Lawyer Ed Peters wrote a very cautionary piece on Wuerl's so-called "implementation".  He states that it can be used to justify disobedience to Canon 915.  He leaves open the question as to whether or not that is the intention of the plan.  However, Cardinal Wuerl's past actions leave little room for doubt as to the intentions behind this SJL piece.

I will post more developments as I learn them.

ADW Set To Implement Amoralis Lamentia, To The Detriment Of Countless Souls

I'm in the Archdiocese of Washington and didn't hear of the impending storm until I saw the news on Canon 212.  This webmaster in turn cited the Tablet and the Catholic Herald - both British websites.  I find it most peculiar that the news broke on foreign sites, not American.  But it's not the first time this has happened!  But I digress!

The "pastoral plan" (there's that word "pastoral" again!) is on the archdiocesan site.  I'd suggest that we all download it for safe-keeping.  It's a 58-page tome, but quite a bit of it is blank space and pictures.  The thing is rife with talks of "pastoral accompaniment".  For example, on page 11 of the pdf, right-hand column under "step by step", we read "In considering a pastoral approach toward people who have contracted a civil marriage, who are divorced and remarried, or simply living together, the Church has the responsibility of helping them understand the divine pedagogy of grace in their lives and offering them assistance."  The Church does that by telling them in no uncertain terms that they must quit their sinful situations and go to Confession.  Why, oh why, is that not plainly stated?  Their eternal salvation hangs in the balance.

On page 13 of the pdf, we read "If there is a breakdown that leads to separation or even divorce, that loving accompaniment by the Church needs to continue, said the Holy Father. “It is important that the divorced who have entered a new union should be made to feel part of the Church".  There is so much wrong with this.

• If a Catholic divorces and civilly remarries, they have ejected Our Lord from their lives by their mortal sin.  The Church cannot "accompany" them in their sin.  The Church must practice the Spiritual Works of Mercy.  That entails "rebuking the sinner".
• Notice the word "feel".  Feelings often have nothing to do with reality.  The goal of making them "feel part of the Church" when in fact they have separated themselves from sanctifying grace would be to engage in deception that can only have disastrous consequences for the souls of these divorced Catholics living in adultery.

As with Amoris Laetitia itself, probably the most egregious "poison pill" is found towards the end of the document.  In this case, it is on page 53 of the pdf, bottom right.  To wit:  "At the core of accompanying people on the faith journey and helping them appropriate the Church’s teaching stands the humble recognition that the culpability of any of us does not depend solely on exposure to the teaching. It is not enough simply to hear the teaching. We have to be helped to grasp and accept it. We must have “experiential” and not just “objective” moral knowledge, to use the language of Saint John Paul II in his encyclical letter, Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth). Priests are called to respect the decisions made in conscience by individuals who act in good faith since no one can enter the soul of another and make that judgment for them. As Pope Francis teaches, “We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them”

Let's be plain-spoken, shall we?  This gobblygoop is nothing more than an attempt at a disclaimer of responsibility for those who are literally hell-bent on thumbing their noses at God's moral teachings on marriage, family, sexuality, etc.  I'll point out some of the more obvious nonsense.

• culpability of any of us does not depend solely on exposure to the teaching. It is not enough simply to hear the teaching. We have to be helped to grasp and accept it.  Would the same excuse be given if the teaching in question regarded the topic of theft?  If someone hears the teaching "thou shalt not steal", they simply must obey it.  No one has to "help them to accept it".  If a thief is caught and tried, that defense (in most cases) will be laughed off.
• Here is the link to Veritatis Splendor from the Vatican website.  I looked up the word "experiential" and couldn't find it.  Is anyone else able to cite the specific section of that encyclical where this term "experiential moral knowledge" exists?  If not, I must assume that either Pope Francis fancied something that wasn't there OR it's a cheesy attempt to misuse the name of Pope Saint John Paul II to lend undeserved credibility to both AL and this "pastoral plan".
• Priests are called to respect the decisions made in conscience by individuals who act in good faith since no one can enter the soul of another and make that judgment for them  Let's not kid ourselves.  Anyone whose "conscience" directs them to disobey God's commands is NOT acting in good faith, absence of "acceptance" notwithstanding.

This "pastoral plan" is not the only thing written by the Cardinal regarding Amoralis Lamentia.  More can be found here.  I believe some fallout is soon to be manifest in the parishes.  Please advise in the comments if and when that happens, with details.  

Pope Francis: The Movie

No, it's not a joke.  A German leftwing activist, himself an apostate Catholic, is making a movie about the pope - with the pope's cooperation!  This activist has had a history of making these movies.  Truth be told, they all look like miserable flops.  But that won't stop the amoral Catholic-bashing powers-that-be in Hollywood, especially since the movie will attempt to portray the pope as a hero (I said "attempt" for I suspect the film will be at most clownish).

Michael Matt suggests boycotting this thing.  I might suggest that we picket it, too, should a movie theater decide to waste one of their spaces on this thing.

USCCB = Unscrupulous Syndicate of Cash-Craving Bishops

In this Vortex, Michael Voris misspeaks when he describes "dreamers" as "children born in America to illegal aliens".  In fact, the "dreamers" themselves were born in their native countries and brought here by their parents as they crossed our borders illegally.  They are not "anchor babies".  Also, Bishop Paprocki didn't so much urge Dick Durbin not to present himself for Holy Communion.  While the bishop did that in the past, he recently instructed his priests that they are not to administer Holy Communion to him.  Durbin refused to obey Canon 916, so now Bishop Paprocki is  implementing Canon 915.

All in all though, Voris did an excellent job in summarizing how the USCCB is on the Democrats' financial leash.  Consider the disgusting attack staged by the Texas Catholic Conference against Texas Right to Life. I believe the Texas bishops were simply pandering to their progressive sugar daddies when they hurled their long knives at Texas Right to Life; see here and here.  Recall the millions that some of the Texas Catholic Charities offices received to "settle immigrants".  Consider that as Voris comments about all this "concern" that the USCCB has for illegals.

By the way - Voris made mention of the Catholic Relief Services.  The CRS is conducting its "rice bowl" campaign during Lent.  Here is a way that you can "do operation rice bowl" in a most productive and educational manner.