Archdiocese of Baltimore Social Ministry Convocation - How To Justify Gay Perversions On The Sly

We resume with coverage of the Archdiocese of Baltimore's Social Ministry gab-fest.  After the panel discussion, the morning workshops commenced.  I attended the one conducted by Father Buening, entitled "Like Every Disciple: Putting It Into Action".  It focused on Archbishop Lori's document of the same name that dealt with LGBT people in the Church.  

Bruening stated that this document gave a blueprint for LGBT parish ministries.  Then he stated that his parish (St Matthew's) already had a history of such ministry.  Well, if one calls dragging the name of St Matthew's through the filth of gay pride paradesland lending credibility to all sorts of perverse sexuality a "ministry",  we can see his point.  In reality, it is committing all sorts of blasphemies and sacrilege.  He thinks Lori was sharing his dreams in this document. I fear he may be correct and that dream in reality will result in nightmares as these "ministries" grease the skids to hell for so many souls embroiled in sexual vices.

He then stated that the Church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ.  We call that a half-truth.  In fact, the Church's overarching mission is to save souls, i.e. snatch them from hell and help them achieve heaven.  See how they deftly excise any mention of life after death?  After we die, we ultimately go to heaven or hell.  That truth, too, is removed from consideration.  We are called to love Jesus Christ, but we do so first by repenting of our sins and turning from them, for they offend Him greatly.

Bruening spoke of the "life-giving tension of charity and truth".  Why is there this attempt to pretend that there is "tension" between charity and truth?  One does not exist without the other.  In 1 John 4:8, we read that "God is love".  In John 14:6, Jesus says "I am the way, the truth and the life".  Ladies and gentlemen, God has no "tension" in Himself and it would be blasphemous to allude otherwise.

Then he spoke of "forming relationships" and a subsequent "earning the right to speak".  What gives Christians the "right to speak" has nothing to do with "relationship".  Rather, that "right to speak" is actually a command from Jesus to promulgate His truth.  Later he said of ministry in general is that the greatest thing is to lead someone to a deep, intimate love of Jesus Christ.  Again, that doesn't happen without repentance.  In this entire tome, the word "repentance" isn't mentioned once.

After some more remarks by Bruening, the panel discussion began.  First we heard from Samuel who is involved with the LEAD gay-enabling group.  Let's take a few minutes to examine just what LEAD advocates.  At the bottom of this page we see them advertising an "Interfaith Renaming Ceremony".  People pretending to be of the opposite sex often change their names to conform to their fantasies.  Clicking through the pictures in the gallery, one sees pictures of St Matthew's parishioners participating in Baltimore's gay pride parade.  If one clicks all the way through the gallery, they are taken to this video that gives a tear-jerker account of two lesbians getting civilly married.  The two sing the praises of Father Muth who, at the 3:59 mark, seems to be joining them at their "reception" dinner.  Aside from the abysmal mockery of marriage, this video makes plain that indeed LEAD and the other "gay ministries" seek to undermine the Church's teachings on marriage and sexuality.  Let us now resume with this workshop.  Father Muth was at this workshop, by the way.

Gordon Creamer at Workshop

We then heard from Diane Lesko, who heads Open Arms Ministry, based at the Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City.  Here is their website.  First go all the way to the bottom and notice that the copyright for this site is held by Church of the Resurrection itself.  This site advertises Fr James Martin's pro-sodomy propaganda as well as PFLAG.  It features a list of "welcoming parishes".  That's thinly-disguised code-talk for perversion-enabling parishes.  Ladies and gentlemen, all healthy parishes are welcoming of the repentant sinner.  In addition to the word "repentance" mentioned above, the word "confession" is likewise not mentioned.  Frankly, I didn't catch much of what she or Samuel had to day; they both held the microphones so close to their mouths that their voices were muddied.

Gordon Creamer in Drag

Lastly we heard from Gordon Creamer  He runs the "Embracing God's Gifts" thing at St Ignatius in Baltimore.  One little tidbit that he didn't mention in his introductory remarks that he is a gay-married dude.  We discovered that about five years ago.  Look at the two pictures to the right.  In the top one, Creamer certainly is dressed normally enough.  The lower one?  That's obviously a different story.  He's the one in the frilly yellow hat and spaghetti-strapped - dress?  His hand is on the shoulder of his partner is sodomy "husband" Brian Fitzek.  That picture was found on Fitzek's facebook page several years ago.

Creamer seemed to home in on this idea of "accompaniment", stating that his pastor at the time was influential in that focus.  I wonder if that was the same pastor that I called to inquire as to the appropriateness of a gay-married guy being allowed to wield positions of influence at the Church.  Anyway, he spoke of "accompanying the parish, to help them understand what it is to be an LGBTQ+ person".  I wonder when we'll hear what it is to be a mass-murdering person.  If the latte sounds ridiculous, so does the former.

After Creamer finished, Fr Bruening enthused, "every time I hear Gordon Creamer speak, my heart melts!"  Unless he is completely clueless as to Creamer's "marital status", I can only surmise that this adulation signifies approval of the same.

He answered a question regarding Courage and Encourage.  They are obedient to the Church and don't appear to be utilizing any subterfuge in promoting perverted ideas and practices.  I regret that nothing further was said of them, and they did not have a table open during the lunchtime session.

Soon after, the session ended and we headed to lunch.  In a subsequent post, I'll report on the afternoon session and the display tables that were set up in the lunch hall.

Some Wisdom Regarding Elections

I'm going to pause my series on the Baltimore meeting to present a politically-oriented video from Michael Matt.  Notice a theme running through it: that the Church, largely because of this dubious papacy, has frittered away its moral credibility.  No decent candidate can rely on the Church to support him or her as they try to stop the train wreck that is now happening in the US and western society.  The Archdiocese of Baltimore Social Ministry Debacle is a prime example; at least two of its workshops were addressed by perverts.  I'll have more details in a day or so.  As the Church goes, so goes the world.

Archdiocese of Baltimore Social Ministry - Brainwashing For Progressivism - Part 1

On Saturday, April 13, 2024, the Archdiocese of Baltimore hosted its 45th Annual Social Ministry Convocation.  Instead of Mercy High School, the location changed to Calvert Hall College Hight School.  It's not far from Mercy, where it had happened for quite a few years now, just a few miles north off Loch Raven Boulevard.  One wonders why they felt it necessary to make the switch.  In reality, Calvert also seems to be inclined to coddle various perversions among its students.   Under the "about us" section of the page, we see a sub-header for "diversity, equity and inclusion".  We know what these buzz words signify.  From that page we read (copy and pasted here) "We endeavor to instill in our students respect, understanding, and appreciation for all individuals, regardless of race, sex, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, socioeconomic status, age, or religion. "  So in practical terms, what does that mean?   Does that mean if some young gal thinks she's a guy and changes her name from Ellen to Allan, can be admitted to the school under those pretenses and share a gym locker room with 15-year-old biologically-born males?  Inquiring minds (like donors and parents) would like to know.  But I digress.

When we discovered what was about to happen last year, one of our friends attended that thing to see how bad it was going to be.  The Archdiocese of Baltimore, regrettably, lived down to the expectations.  This blog covered that quite a bit, and the mess was written up in the March-April 2023 issue of the Defend Life newsletter, starting on page 4.

I attended the mess myself, and another faithful Catholic did the same.  When I registered, I had to write a $25.00 check to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  I was quite revolted at the idea, but did so to gain admittance.  The beginning prayer service was in full swing by the time I got to the auditorium.

Shortly thereafter, the beginning panel discussion took place.  The panelists are pictured to the right.  I will name them, left to right.  The first lady is Giuliana Valencia-Banks, Chief of Immigrant Affairs for Baltimore County.  She was not a member of the panel but was simply the discussion moderator.  The panelists are, moving to the right:

• Father Matthew Buening, pastor of St Matthew's on Loch Raven Boulevard and Archdiocesan Coordinator of LGBT Mininstries
• M. Gayle Briscoe, Baltimore City Organizer for Bridge Maryland Inc
• Erin Younkins, Director of Office of Life, Justice and Peace for the Archdiocese of Baltimore
• Jose Aguto, Executive Director of Catholic Climate Covenant

I will give some background on some of these people and/or their organizations, not in order of their appearance in the line-up.

We'll start with Ms. Briscoe's organization.  Bridge Inc, as evidenced from their website, is a community-organizing bunch affiliated with Gamaliel Inc.  I've written a bit about Gamaliel before; among other things, it is with them that a young Barack Obama got started in "community organizing".  As you read that anthology of posts, you'll notice Gamaliel's ties to CCHD.  To whom did all us convocation attendees have to fork over $25 to attend the little gab-fest?

Let's look at Catholic Climate Covenant, shall we?  Readers of this blog will recall that I've written a bit about them in the past. Exposes on them and other such organizations have shown them to be into the promotion of population control, one-world government, and earth-worship.  One can often get a decent sense of the organization by looking at its board of directors.  Notice that Stephen Schneck sits on that board.  At one time, Schneck was co-chair of "Catholics for Obama".

Then we have Sister Patricia Talone, of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.  They are headquartered in an office suite in Silver Spring, MD.  I remember several years ago that some of us picketed them when they hosted New Ways Ministries for one of their meetings.  A gander at this site makes plain their own disobedience to Church teaching on sexuality.

Moving onto Father Buening, some background is in order.  He succeeded Father Joseph Muth as Pastor of St Matthew's church when the latter was forced to retire by Archbishop Lori.  Muth had been their approximately 20 years.  During that time, he led St Matthew's down the primrose path of all manners of gay-coddling.  He even led a contingent from St Matthew's in several of Baltimore's gay pride parades.

After Muth left and Buening took over, many of us had hopes that he would restore some semblance of the Catholic faith to St Matthew's.  I am not so sure of that now.  During the panel discussion, Buening remarked how he met "holy gay and trans people".  FULL STOP!  One cannot be "holy" while continuing to reject the very nature of how God created them, and that is precisely what those engaged in sexual perversions are doing.  Moving on, he said his ministry was about "listening, hearing stories, accompanying people on a long and winding road..."  Then he lamented how the Church has been "condemning and judgmental...I started to feel very strongly that we as a Church need to change this, not just with dry catechesis, but love and relationships."  

Fr. Muth

Let me pause for a little unpacking. First, don't we all hear echoes of Francis in this speech, what with all the talk about "accompanying" and "dry catechesis versus love"?  Accompany?  To where, precisely?  Moreover, this "dry catechesis" is God's word and commands.  Without these being promulgated clearly and often, the sexually deviant person will be "accompanied" straight to hell.  All are welcomed into the Church, but all must come in via way of repentance, and that means repentance from sexual perversions of all sorts, including the LGBTQ categories.

The last question for the panel members was who inspired them the most.  Father Bruening stated that his inspiration was Father Muth, his disaster-laden predecessor at St Matthew's.  He also gave a shout-out to Muth for he was in attendance.  In fact, Muth was seated just a few rows in front of me.  Truth be told, when I first noted him as I sat down, I thought he looked somewhat familiar.  As Bruening spoke, the bulk of the attendees broke out into a rather loud yet dismaying applause.  Such adulation revealed the regrettable mindsets of too many Catholics. 

Thus the panel discussion ended and we all headed to various workshops.  They will be the topic of subsequent posts.

Restore Jesus Christ To His Rightful Place In Secular Society

This video from Michael Matt deserves careful consideration.  I have been a pro-life activist for several decades now.  While it is important to continue to fight abortion - for babies need to be saved now - we need to address the root causes of this and many other malaises.  HOWEVER - if we focus solely on abortion, or the gay agenda or any other manifestations of the expulsion of God and the Church from public life, we will be fighting these ills till the day we die with scant progress being made.

Whether or not we worship God according to His dictates made through His Church will determine whether or not we see reverence for life return to our society.  An authentic reverence for life is simply a subset to a reverence for God and the honoring of God as Lord of public as well as private life.

With the aforementioned considerations in mind, I present to the DC/MD/VA readers an opportunity to work for the restoration of Christ's kingship by joining this public Rosary in reparation for the sins of perversion that are slated to be showcased at this restaurant.  Please join us and spread the word.

A Tale Of Two Vastly Different Masses

At long last, the third part of the Mass of the Ages trilogy has been released.  I posted both of the earlier episodes in previous posts, but that was several years ago.  You can watch the entire trilogy at the Mass of the Ages website.  I strongly urge that you do so, especially if you haven't yet seen the earlier ones.  Below this clip I will tell you of the other type of Mass.

This is a Mass that occurred at St. Teresa of Avila parish in Washington DC.  My blogging colleague at An Archdiocese of Washington Catholic alerted me to a series that he is doing regarding flagrant liturgical abuse there, based on a video taken by a friend of his at that Mass.  This blogger is breaking his expose down into several segments.  I have an idea of what those segments might be, for I cheated and watched quite a bit of the clip to which he linked.  Please be checking his blog during the next several days. 

Now what do you think the chances are that Cardinal Gregory will take corrective measures?  My guess is that those chances are slim to none.  However, he was quick to quash a thriving Latin Mass at St Mary's Church in the Chinatown area of Washington.  On the one hand, there is a dissident parish with a guy dressed in imam get-up reading the Gospel, followed by a woman giving the sermon, but the Latin Mass was a problem?

Please give not one more red penny to this diocese until they get their priorities in order.

Coming Soon To A Parish Near You? Prepare NOW!

Thanks to Canon 212, I read of the debacle of a funeral Mass offered in Atlanta GA for the pastor of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the Archdiocese of Atlanta (not DC, but Atlanta).  His name is Henry Gracz, a progressive who was often taken to task by faithful Catholic social media outlets.  Of course the Not-At-All Catholic Reporter gushed all over him.  The progressive rag published a statement sent to them regarding Gracz written by DC's Cardinal Gregory.  Recall that, prior to his transfer to DC, Gregory was archbishop of Atlanta and would have been quite familiar to him.  Graca was accurately celebrated for "welcoming" LGTBetc people.  That is to say, he coddled their mortal sins.  That is a mindset shared by Cardinal Gregory, as evidence by Gregory himself.   During one of Gregory's first outreaches after his move to DC, he sang the praises of Fortunate Families, a gay-enabling organization.   He also equated "sexual orientation" as just another characteristic as are race or nationality in a Catholic Standard article.  For other indiscretions committed by Gregory, see this anthology of previous posts.

But let's get back to this funeral Mass, at which both Archbishop Hartmayer and Cardinal Gregory concelebrated.  Both the Remnant and Gloria.TV reveal that two of the "altar servers" are in fact males that are in the process of mutilating themselves to pretend that they're female.  Both in fact have been active in perversion promotions.  One of them, in a recent local Pride parade, carried the Shrine's banner.  I daresay that he most likely had Gracz's approval.  By the way - we must pray for Gracz's soul, for a prelate to condone and promote such sin does not at all bode well regarding his eternal salvation.

Now here is a question that we should now address, for this bodes ill for the Archdiocese of Washington.  Will this man Cardinal Gregory be foisting upon some DC-area pastor to inherently sinful demand to allow perverts to receive Holy Communion and even occupy key roles in our Masses and other church functions?  If so, what are we, that is, YOU AND I, prepared to do about it?  Think long and hard about that.  Confer with your friends about it.  I suspect this will come a lot sooner than we may have anticipated.

On The Maryland Legislative Landscape

Maryland Right to Life has a comprehensive list of current proposed bills that have direct impacts on innocent life and decent morality.  Fellow Marylanders, I urge you to visit that list and study these things for yourselves.  Implement the actions suggested at the top of the page.  Remember that as a citizen, you not only have rights; you also have the responsibilities that go along with citizenship: to be vigilant and active.

Also take note of who the authors and sponsors of the various bill are, and let that information guide your voting decisions in November 2026.

Bugnini's Invention Of The Novus Ordo Rite - Sinister Intentions And Results

Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivandi.  That means "how we pray is how we'll believe, and how we believe is how we will live".  Haven't we seen that truth play out in this day and age.  As the Mass was warped by Vatican II, most likely at the instigation of Bishop Bugnini, a secret Mason at the time, we saw how chaos tore through the church, and thus through the world.  Padre Pio once said that the world could sooner survive without the sun than without the Mass.  He understood that the Mass, as had been codified during Vatican I, was a crucial source of grace for the world.  Of course that grace has been compromised.

Lifesite News interviewed Kyle Clement, an assistant to Father Chad Ripperger, a well-known exorcist.  Clement stated that the rites used by Freemasons are perverse mimicries of the Sacramental rites.

Father Gerald Murry, whom some of you may know as one of the Papal Posse (along with Raymond Arroyo and Robert Royal) interviewed with Joe McClane on the latter's podcast.  McClane, prior to his conversion to the Catholic faith, was a freemason.  That interview is below.

 

Join This Nine-Month Novena For The Salvation Of Souls

Cardinal Raymond Burke authored a nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, asking her intercession upon our very troubled and sin-sick world.  It commenced today and is to be prayed everyday until December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  I reproduce it below.  Copy it, share it, and get all your friends to join you in prayer.

The March 7 SOTU Address - Or Shilling For The Dead-Beat Vote

To augment my Lenten mortification, I decided to watch the recording of Biden's little screed.  Just an FYI, I watched it as it appeared on the White House's site, so no mean old right-wingers tampered with it!

I will leave off (for now) the demonic pledge to further normalize child-slaughter in our legal landscape, along with sexual perversions of every sort.  Obviously that came as no surprise.  I will touch upon one thing that shows his contempt for the average American citizen as he vowed to facilitate financially irresponsible behavior.

He pretended to champion the plight of impovershed people as he pledged to have late payment fees on credit cards slashed drastically.  Now no one likes paying late fees on their bills, but may I suggest a simpler way to avoid them?  Brace yourselves, for this is probably a revolutionary and certainly controversial concept!  Ready?   Here it is!

PAY YOUR BILL ON TIME!

If you do that, you'll pay zero dollars in late fees.  Thank me very much!

Anyone who signs up for a credit card agrees to the terms, and those terms include the provisions for late fees, interest, etc IF the card issuers don't receive timely payment.  Stop whining and crying if you're late, in violation of your agreement, and are levied the penalties.  Put on your big-boy/big-girl/big-whatever-mythical-gender-or-species-you-fancy-yourself-to-be pants and pay up.  Take your lumps like an adult and learn from your mistakes.

But Plugs wants to coddle the late-payers.  Does he really think the card issuers will just swallow the lost revenue?  Of course not.  No business can survive without recovering their costs.  They'll just increase the merchant discount fees and those merchantes will, in turn, pass those costs onto all their innocent customers.  I know I'm bursting some fantasy-bubbles here, but that's life in the real world.  

Of course, Plugs and his progressive sycofants don't deal with reality.  That's just another reason to vote them all out of office come November.

That means that we don't sit out this election, for the progressives and their dead-beat dependents won't.

Cocaine Cocco Chumming It Up With Freemasons

A few weeks ago, Cardinal Coccopalmerio (yes, him!) took part in a Masonic conference between three Italian Masonic lodges.  Now he's jibber-jabbering about "permanent dialog" between the Church and the Masons.  The Church has always condemned Freemasonry, owing to the latter's various idolatries and general animus against the Catholic Church and the One True Faith that she possesses and preaches.  

Nothing, NOTHING has changed.  Recall that at the Second Vatican Council,  it was Archbishop Bugnini, secretly a Mason, who engineered the butchery of the Mass and other Sacraments, resulting in the extremely compromised Sacramental rites that we have today.

Because of the drug-orgy in which his officials engaged six years ago, the cardinal has earned the nickname "Cocaine Cocco".  Anyway, he was not the only prelate at that Masonic conference.  Bishop Antonio Stagliano, president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, was also present.  He came out of that meeting stating that Catholicism and Freemasonry are absolutely incompatible.  He stated that masonry is aligned with the Arian heresy, for they held that Christ is nothing more than a "great architect of the universe".   They deny Jesus' divinity. 

However, Stagliano engaged in some verbal gymnastics, using thinking that is the basis for Fiducia Supplicans.  You see, one does not bless Freemasonry, but individual Masons can be blessed.  That is that little workaround, in their eyes.

I've written of the dangers of Freemasonry in the past.  Msgr Charles Pope, a local priest who is involved with deliverance ministry, warns of the spiritual dangers that come with fraternizing with Freemasonry.  The spiritual dangers stem in large part from masonic curses, rendering one vulnerable to demonic activity.  Several exorcists speak of cases of demonic possession or obsession that stem from masonic curses, some going back many generations in one's family.

Now it seems that Francis wants to mainstream it into the Church, just as he's trying to do with "gay blessings", adulterers coming to Holy Communion, etc.

Maryland Assisted Suicide Measures Halted - For Now

From the Maryland Catholic Conference:

Today, Maryland Senate leadership announced the votes aren't there to pass a bill legalizing physician assisted suicide in our state.

 

In a press conference, Senate President Bill Ferguson said, “We are not going to be taking a vote on the bill this year. It does not appear that we have the votes to pass it in the Senate and so we will not be moving forward.”

 

The vote was close – one to two votes short on the 11-member Judicial Proceedings Committee that was considering the bill. House leadership already said they would not move ahead unless the Senate did.

 

Your emails, calls and prayers made the difference.

 

Senator Will Smith, chair of the committee, said, “I think that as folks got closer to the vote and had more in-depth discussions with their constituents, folks just expressed unreadiness to move on it….[Y]ou have to respect the decisions of the individual senators who are listening to their constituents and listening to their conscience on this issue.”

 

What does this mean going forward?

 

While this is great news, he and Senator Ferguson made it clear they expect the bill to come back in the future. And, it’s important we not only prepare for next year, but stay vigilant this year. The session isn’t over until April 8.

There are two key takeaways here.

1. The phone calls, emails, lobbying efforts of each and every citizen counts.  It certainly did in this case, as the vote was quite close in the Judicial Proceedings Committee.  When we first heard of this, I posted about a great lobbying tool.  I link now to it for your future use.  That brings me to the second takeaway.
2. We must always be vigilant regarding our legislators and be ready to act, no matter what else may be going on in life.  The anti-life cartel is quite disciplined in that regard, ready to drop everything else and engage in lobbying.  We must do no less.

Maryland session ends next month.  As other matters come up, I will post them.

Attacks On Tradition And Piety Continue Unabated

When I endured my little insult this past weekend, I wondered if it was due to a growing trend among establishment clergy: that is, clergy slavishly beholden to Francis and his now-obvious animus towards the Faith.  I believe it is.  Indeed, two more recent examples have come to all our attention.

In the Diocese of Westminster in England, Cardinal Nichols announced that no celebration of the Triduum in the Latin rite will be permitted.  Over the past several years, people had been coming from surrounding areas to celebrate Triduum as had been done for hundreds of years.  Nichols, in his letter, stated "I realize that this will disappoint some people, but I have to keep the wider picture in view."  This "wider picture" entails the systematic deconstruction of Sacred Tradition.  Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivandi.  The "lex orandi" is under direct attack.

Closer to home in Texas, in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, the Sevigny family, a Catholic family of six, own and operate a ranch and retreat center that they call Sanctus Ranch.  Archbishop Garcia-Sillar issued, on January 30, a public letter to all Catholics in his diocese not to do business with the ranch.  He specifically forbade Catholic organizations not to utilize the ranch for retreats or other spiritual purposes.  I understand that Garcia-Sillar has that authority over Catholic organizations, but what right does he have to tell the ordinary person to conduct no business whatsoever with the ranch?  Clearly he has overstepped his bounds.  He also ordered organizations that had already signed contracts to explore ways to break the contracts.

Garcia-Sillar stated as a reason that there is an "unapproved chapel lacking canonical status", forgetting that he himself offered Mass there in the past.  Might the reason be that (gasp!) the Latin Mass is offered there?   Here is Garcia-Sillar's letter as it appears on the diocese's site.  Here is the response from Sanctus Ranch. 

Two prelates have recently spoken against this trend of progressive bishops to degrade and mock our Faith.  Bishop Joseph Strickland penned an open letter to all bishops, including Francis, exhorting them to "return to Christ and His way".  LifeSiteNews has the full text of his letter.

Cardinal Sarah  has voiced full support of the African bishops who are not going to implement Fiducia Supplicans.  That would be all African bishops, except those in South Africa.  He recently stated that Fiducia Supplicans MUST be resisted for it contains heresy that will undermine the Catholic faith.  Cardinal Muller said the same thing.

Now what does all that mean for us lay Catholics?  Frankly, I live in a diocese that could easily see an attempt to "bless" mortally sinful relationships.  Will we have the presence of mind and courage to denounce these things, even to the point of protesting when and where they are occurring?

Is Traditional Piety Being Belittled In Your Diocese?

As a background to what I am about to relate, as well as a general reminder to all Catholics who take seriously our responsibilities to secure our own salvation, I present to you some writings about the advisability of frequent confession.

From the Baltimore Catechism:

294. Why should we go to confession frequently?
We should go to confession frequently because frequent confession greatly helps us to overcome temptation, to keep in the state of grace, and to grow in virtue.

Note that one of the Precepts of the Church is to confess our sins once a year, if we have mortal sin on our souls.  One who does this and no more is depriving him/herself of much spiritual grace to effect their eternal salvation.  I strongly suspect that there are few people who would eat only the bare minimum needed to survive.  Rather, they would nourish themselves as frequently as possible (as far as they are able).  How much more should we receive the Sacraments as frequently as possible?

One benefit that question 294 did not mention is that one of the requirements for a plenary indulgence is to go to confession within a week of performing an indulgenced act.  Bi-weekly confession suffices to fulfill that requirement for plenary indulgences.  Therefore, I strive for bi-weekly confessions for the plenary indulgences for my deceased parents and other relatives and friends who have died.

Not too long ago, I was making one of my bi-weekly confessions in a parish in the Archdiocese of Washington.  I was there quite early so there were only two of us in line.  I went first.  I began my confession by telling the priest that it was two weeks since my last confession, when he interrupts me to say that I needn't confess so frequently unless there was serious sin.  As I confessed my sins, he tried to chalk them off as mere weaknesses.  I had to contradict him to tell him that there was indeed sin involved and proceeded to confess.  He wouldn't let me pray an Act of Contrition.  Instead he asked two or three questions regarding contrition then gave absolution.  He ended by advising me not to confess unless there were serious sins.  As I didn't think it appropriate to broach that Baltimore Catechism statement, I just left the confessional.  All in all, he was quite terse and dismissive towards me. 

Obviously I found this quite odd.  In light of the lackluster signals emanating from the Vatican, many of which seem to have the goal of deemphasizing consideration of eternity and thus care for securing eternal salvation, I wonder if similar incidents are happening in the Archdiocese of Washington and other locales?  If my readers have any similar situations to relay, please let us know in the comments.  If you would, please let us know the dioceses in which this occurs.

USCCB And Catholic Charities And Pope Francis - Part And Parcel Of Human And Drug Trafficking

See for yourselves.  Pope Francis is using Peter's Pence funds to facilitate this abomination.  HT to Complicit Clergy.

Blasphemy And Sacrilege At St Patrick's Cathedral - How Much Did The Archdiocese Know Beforehand?

On Thursday, February 15, a funeral liturgy was held for Cecilia Gentili, a "transgender" activist who did his dirty work in New York.  The liturgy was held at St Patrick's Cathedral.  All manners of flamers and perverts were in attendance.  Some did readings, strutting and sashaying to the pulpit in full drag-queen regalia.  A complete video of the blasphemy is below, with more commentary beneath that.  Be warned.  The blasphemies and sacrileges are frequent and blatant.  More distressing than that, though, is the complete acquiescence of the priest and other cathedral personne. 

To be clear, Gentili was a male pretending to be a woman.  He died at the age of 52, but no cause of death was disclosed to the public.  He was also an atheist.  Knowing that, we can ask why Gentili's network wanted a funeral service at a prominent Catholic cathedral.  The answer is obvious - to poke a finger in the eyes of faithful Catholics.  They did so, with the apparent connivance of the local hierarchy.  Allegedly, Father Dougherty, the celebrant at the blasphemy, did not know Gentili was male.  However, he could not have been oblivious to the antics of the perverts throughout the debacle.  Yet he allowed it to continue.  According to LifeSiteNews, he even laughed at their various chants of "sancta Cecilia" and such.  Originally, a funeral Mass was planned, but a clergyman told Dougherty it could not be a Mass, just a service.  At least someone had the good sense not to allow Holy Communion to be administered to those many people in mortal sin.

While the personnel of St Patrick's cathedral put forth a public statement (of sorts), the Archdiocese of New York (particularly Cardinal Dolan) seems to be washing their hands of the mess.  I understand a Mass of Reparation was subsequently offered, but it was done privately and quietly.  That is just plain wrong.  The blasphemies and sacrileges were public in nature.  Thus, remedial actions need to be public.  The LifeSiteNews piece has a petition to have the Cathedral exorcized. 

Dolan himself has let his pro-gay sympathies be manifest on more than one occasion.  This past post of mine gives quite a litany of those events.  Why else is he "running interference" for the perverts?  Can anyone imagine the late John Cardinal O'Conner sitting still for this insult to the Faith?

In the LifeSiteNews piece, you'll see a tweet from Maike that Fidicia Supplicans be halted in light of this travesty.  Additionally, Rorate Caeli makes the case for halting Traditionis Custodes.

Pray your Rosaries each day for our Church.  Also pray for the soul of Cecilia Gentili, that he found the grace of final repentance.  He too was ill-served this past Thursday.

Maryland Citizens! Action Needed TOMORROW, Wednesday Feb 14

An assisted suicide measure is meandering its way through the Maryland legislature and we must stop it now.  Please see the alert below from Maryland Right to Life.

ASSISTED SUICIDE ACTION ALERT

Cassilly: Md. ‘End-of-life Option Act’ about money, not compassion By READER COMMENTARY - Baltimore Sun February 8, 2024 at 6:38 a.m. The General Assembly is about to vote on whether we should encourage suicide by the aged and poor to reduce our medical costs. Advocates for Senate Bill 443 misleadingly proclaim the bill is all about allowing the terminally ill to die without pain. But the truth behind this misguided effort is clearly exposed by the provisions of the bill and the current law. Read the article in full HERE

Harford County Executive Robert Cassilly. (Matt Button / The Aegis/Baltimore Sun Media)

This Friday, February 16th, the House HGO and Judiciary Committees will hold a joint virtual legislative hearing on HB403, the House version of proposed Assisted Suicide legislation. Written testimony must be submitted TOMORROW 2/14 from 8AM - 6PM. PLEASE TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS TO OPPOSE ASSISTED SUICIDE IN MARYLAND 1) Please go to the TAKE ACTION tab at MDRTL.org to learn more and to send a pre-written, editable, message to hearing committee members as well as your state Representatives and Senator. We need to send thousands of emails and phone calls, and YOUR VOICE MATTERS. REMEMBER - Your voice is strongest when you CALL legislator offices and inform the legislative aid that you OPPOSE Assisted Suicide and urge a "NO" vote. You will not be required to debate. Phone numbers for your legislators office will display when you click the phone icon after sending the email message. 2) To submit written testimony, you must create a MyMGA account and then sign up online TOMORROW, Wednesday 2/14 from 8AM-6PM using the following user friendly tutorial links and sign up page: Tutorials: MyMGA New Account & Witness Signup Sign In to MGA Tracking for Written Testimony OR CONTACT Julie@mdrtl.org, 410 269-6397 for assistance. We are here to help you!

TAKE ACTION

Please take the time to create that MyMGA account, as it will be useful in future legislative actions.

The Cheese-Slap Abuse Of Babies Tik-Tok Fad

Last week I saw a post on Facebook that quite obviously displayed the lack of regard that many people, including parents, have for babies and their inherent dignity as human beings.  It involves a Tik-Tok challenge, whereby a parent or other adult (aside - I regret calling them "parent" and "adult" for they don't deserve those titles) will throw a slice of cheese into their babies' faces and record them for their 5 minutes of internet fame.

In this abortion culture of death, this really should come as no shock.  If parents can disregard their children enough to pay for their murders at the hands of abortionists, why wouldn't they display the same lack of respect for them when they reduce the babies to mere clowns, playthings for their amusement?

Apparently this Tik Tok challenge has been around for a year or so, but I only got wind of it when it showed up in my Facebook feed from more than one of my facebook friends.  Quite troubling is that one facebook friend, a Catholic, seems to see no problem with throwing things into babies' faces.  She doesn't seem to understand the connection that it has with the anti-life mentality that permeates so much of this post-modern world.

First let's take a look at the nature of these Tik-Tok challenges.  I have heard of such things whereby some thug, mindlessly obeying one of these, will beat up some unsuspecting person on the sidewalk, leaving them injured.  Many thefts have also occurred, committed by those of little thought and even lesser conscience, again slavishly following along one of these "challenges".

So why do people just passively comply with these suggestions?  Do they really crave the attention that badly?  Why are they so ready to suspend their critical thinking abilities and even their sense of common decency to obey someone whom they don't even know?  Maybe they simply don't have a firm set of beliefs nor the ability to think beyond their emotions.  Maybe they simply haven't grasped what it is to be a rational adult.  Of course the anti-life anti-God mindset is all over this.

Some people claim that cheese calms a crying baby, as if that is a justification.  However, the aim is stated quite clearly in this video - "throw a piece of cheese at your (crying) baby and see what happens".  Right there we see the child is turned into a guinea pig for the sake of amusement.  In many of these clips, the baby isn't crying until the cheese is tossed at him/her.  Some cry afterwards.  At least one parental nitwit slaps the cheese onto his baby as his child is eating, lacking the common sense to understand that the startlement might have cause the baby to choke on his/her food.  In a few of the clips, the child is playing on the floor while the parent sneaks up on them, cheese slice in hand, then slaps the kid with the cheese.  If the parent were to do that to another adult, we'd have no problem calling that an assault.  That is exactly what this is.

A pediatrician posted her own thoughts and objections on tik-tok, and I think her words are worth a respectful audience.  Here is the link to her clip.

With a few intelligent exceptions, the comments on her clip (and the other) show many people to be absolute boors and oafs.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is some of the rotten fruit of a society that has rejected God and thus any idea of their own humanity. 

What I find somewhat troubling is that I saw this on Facebook, and some of my facebook friends seem to have no issue with throwing things at babies, violating the trust that they should be able to place in their parents.  One doesn't have to repeatedly beat a child in order to be guilty of child abuse, and that is what this is.

The Texas Border Situation And The US Catholic Hierarchy - More Than Meets The Eye

We all know by now that Governor Greg Abbott is taking action, as per his rights and duties as Governor of Texas, to secure the southern border, of which Texas forms a large part.  The Biden administration has been dismantling the wall that President Trump took great strides in building.  Biden et al took great umbrage at Abbott, insisting that federal employees be allowed in Texas to continue the demolition of the wall.  Abbott is refusing, correctly chiding the federal government in its dereliction of its constitutional duty to protect from invasion while citing his own to protect Texans.  So far, 25 governors from other states have stood in solidarity with Texas, issuing statements of their own. 

The Catholic hierarchy, from the pope on down, have been waxing indignant over Abbott's measures.  They snivel on how Jesus and the Holy Family were refugees (they weren't!) in a foreign land, how the razor wires are cruel (only if attempts are made to cross at non-checkpoint locations) etc, etc.  Would that their angst was merely misguided.  Alas, there may be some ulterior motives.  Over the years, various Catholic Charities offices in Texas have been receiving federal grants, to the tune of millions of our tax dollars, to facilitate the "processing" of illegal immigrants.  Now please read the first article in that last anthology of posts.  Read how immigrant children were hurried out of a local Catholic Charities office and stuffed into a luggage compartment of a vehicle.  Only when a reporter blocked the car and called the police did that truth come out.  So now we seem to have prima facie evidence that Catholic Charities, and by extension, the US Catholic hierarchy, are actively involved in child trafficking.

Thanks to Canon 212, I saw today a post from Complicit Clergy, detailing why so many US bishops support Biden and despise Trump.  Oh, by the way, count Francis in with that bunch.  They published financial statements from the USCCB showing the drop in Federal funding while Trump was in office and the dramatic climb once Biden stepped in.  As you examine the various charts, you will notice that many of these Catholic agencies deal with immigration.  We know that among these immigrants are many children with a high percentage of them either alone or accompanied by unrelated adults.  It is reasonable to suspect that many of these children are being trafficked for sale into sexual slavery.

The Catholic hierarchy, as we saw in the April 2021 blog post, is involved in that trafficking.  Are they deriving profit from such trafficking?  Are any of those defenseless children being used by their colleagues who may be sexual perverts?  We have seen too many accounts of perverted clergy raping young children.

As I examine the charts, I do take issue with Trump on one thing.  It would have been far better if he had ceased funding the USCCB and these other left-wing cartels completely, not giving to them so much as one red penny.

Below is last week's episode of the Anchor team, where Michael Hichborn discusses the situation in Texas and how it relates to the Church.  Please watch it.

Resume

https://www.dailywire.com/news/25-republican-governors-band-together-to-support-texas-in-its-fight-to-secure-the-border

Professor Janet Smith On The Crisis In The Church Today

Several weeks ago, Dr. Janet Smith, long-time defender of the Church's teachings on contraception, gave a talk in Springfield Virginia on the topic cited above.  It is important for each and every one of us to have an understanding of the depths to which the Church has sunk, if we are to pray and act intelligently and effectively to rectify matters.  Please watch the entire presentation.

January's Poop Video - Celebrating Some Rites But Not Others

Below is January's poop video and below it I will unpack this hypocritical slop.

By "diversity of rites", does he mean allowing Anglicans to conduct their parodies of Vespers and Mass in Catholic basilicas in Rome?  That is sacrilege - to allow Catholic churches to be used in a trivialization of Holy Mass.  But that's not the first time such a sacrilege happened.  Remember four years ago, when some conclave ended?  Francis himself said Mass when he placed a pachamama plant on the altar - an act of idolatry?

So protestants have admittance to Catholic churches for their mutated rites, pachamama idols are placed on our consecrated altars during Mass, but the Mass of the Ages is being shut down all over the world?  Folks, are we awake yet?

Maryland Citizens - Action Needed On Assisted Suicide Bills In Annapolis

The pro-death cartel keep hammering away, trying to snuff life out on the older end of the spectrum.  As persistent as they are, we must be no less so.

Tomorrow, Tuesday Jan 30, Maryland citizens, guided by Marylanders Against Assisted Suicide, will be conducting in-person lobbying in Annapolis.  The details that I received today are below:

Maryland Right to Life has some instructions regarding emails and phone calls, along with important dates and deadlines.

Additionally, there is a mechanism by which written testimony can be submitted by those who cannot make the trip to Annapolis.  The directions are below:

INSTRUCTIONS TO GIVE TESTIMONY

1. Go to Maryland General Assembly  (https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/)

2. Go to the upper right hand corner and click "MYMGA" Sign in or create an account. Name, address and password. Follow the prompts to confirm through your email. this will take you to the next page.

3. On the next page click "witness signup" and SCROLL TO FIND THE CORRECT SENATE OR HOUSE BILL.

4. Go to the "position" dropdown and choose the appropriate one

5. Go to the next drop down "testimony" and choose "written" (if giving written testimony, if not, choose neither written or oral testimony.)

6.  In a separate PDF file on your computer WRITE A SIMPLE PARAGRAPH AS TO WHY YOU ARE FOR/AGAINST THE BILL. (If you choose to give written testimony)

7. Upload the testimony PDF file and hit "OK". 

8. On the upper left hand corner of the witness sign up page click "SAVE"

9. A pop-up box will appear.  click "OK" (the pop up box will go away)

10. Look for the "signed up items" tab and click on it.  you will see your bill, your position and your testimony.

The bill numbers, for House and Senate are SB0443 and HB0403 respectively.

As citizens, we have certain rights, but with these rights come serious responsibilities.  We cannot afford to give legislative matters our attention only during elections.  

US History In The Making - Traditional Latin Mass Celebrated In The US Capitol

Yesterday, January 23, was the one-year anniversary of the FBI internal memo that dealt with their monitoring of Catholics (whom they dubbed "radical-traditionalist Catholics") who attend the Traditional Latin Mass.  I wrote a bit about it when a whistleblower made the memo public.  So how was that anniversary commemorated?  In a quite glorious fashion!

For the first time in the nation's history, the Traditional Latin Mass was offered inside the Capitol, specifically to commemorate that memo and to show that we simply won't be cowed by either the FBI's anti-Catholic bigotry nor by Traditionis Custodes.  I understand it was a high Mass.  It was organized by the Arlington Latin Mass Society, with the assistance of House Speaker Mike Johnson.  The approval of the Archdiocese of Washington was not sought; for that reason, the identity of the celebrating priest must be kept under wraps.  Recall that, speaking of the Traditional Latin Mass, Cardinal Gregory said that "tradition dies a slow death".  He disregards one key component of a bishop's task, to guard tradition, not destroy it.

It was attended by over 50 people, many of them congressional staff workers.  The celebration of that Mass must have been a source of grace for that building and its inhabitants, grace that is sorely needed.  But, oh, to have been a fly on the wall of Cardinal Gregory's office when he learned of that Mass!  Pray for the man.

Lepanto Institute On Deep Church And Deep State

Below I will post tonight's episode of the Anchor Team, where Michael Hichborn and Jesse Romero discuss the deep state and deep church and the not-at-all-coincidental similarities between the two.    Let us all know what you think in the comment box!

Note: Very early in this program, they were commenting about a movie trailer.  Youtube cited a copyright violation (although their usage fell well within the Fair Use Doctrine).  The clip can be watched here.

Come And Listen To Those Fighting The Proposed Abortion Amendment For Maryland

This coming Sunday, January 14 in Silver Spring Maryland, two leaders of the fight against the proposed "Reproductive Freedom" amendment in Maryland: Deborah Brocato of Health Not Harm MD and Sheila Wharam of Memorares for Maryland.  I touched upon these organizations in the post from two days ago.  Below is the flyer.  It is downloadable, so please use it to invite others.  Thanks.

Introducing Health Not Harm MD And The Fight To Keep Abortion Out of the Maryland Constitution

Two months ago I made mention of a proposed amendment to the Maryland state constitution that, if passed, will enshrine a legal right to murder babies in the constitution.  While there is a prayer effort afoot called Memorares for Maryland, we know we need tangible, practical action to combat this threat.

Therefore I was delighted to learn of the existence of Health Not Harm MD.  This organization was created for the express purpose of combatting this insidious amendment to the constitution of Maryland.  I urge one and all, especially Maryland residents, to get on board with this group and to be prepared to participate in its efforts.  Sign up for their alerts and follow their social media pages.

Do so now.  The election is less than one year away.

Prefect Of The Dicastery For The Doctrine Of The Faith - A Porn Author

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, aka Kissy-Face, published a book in 1995 called "Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art Of Kissing", for which he is rightly derided.  Now comes the news that several years later, in 1998, he published a far worse book called "The Mystical Passion".  If it's not pornographic, I don't know what is.  Complicit Clergy links to the book.  Be warned, it is quite graphic.  Think about that last statement.  We're talking of the writings of a priest, not some seedy pervert in a slum.  Well, come to think of it, maybe they're both correct (save for the "slum" descriptor.

Consider that he was already a priest when he penned that filth.  He could only write it if it was in his mind.  I don't know what's worse: its salacious statements or the blasphemous ones.  Given the vetting that the Vatican does when it elevates people to trusted positions, they had to have known about both books.  So Francis elevated Kissy despite his porn-dabbling?  Is it "despite" or is it "because"?

On one hand, we have Bishop Strickland being given the heave-ho for allowing the Traditional Latin Mass to be offered in his diocese.  Will Kissy-Face be let go, as well?  For the benefit of the entire Church, not to mention his own soul, he should be dismissed from his post, if not the clerical state.

Now help me out with this matter of confusion.  Kissy is Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith - or is that Dung Heap of Filth?

Kissy-Face's Lame Attempt At Damage Control

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, aka Kissy-Face, issued yesterday what he claims to be a "clarification" of Fiducia Supplicans.  In reality, it seems nothing more than a lame attempt to throw smoke and dust into the eyes of those who clearly see the diabolical nature of the screed.

Look at section 4 of that letter.  The "theological reflection" as he calls FS, is, according to him, "a real development from what has been said about blessings in the Magisterium and the official texts of the Church".  Substitute the word "divergence" for "development" and you have a halfway-true statement.  Then he said that "the text requires an effort to think serenely, with the heart of shepherds, free from all ideology."  Italics mine.  Let's unpack that double-speak, shall we?  What is meant by "ideology" in this context is the doctrines and dogmas of the Church as handed down through the centuries, because they ultimately come from God Himself.  By the way - Kissy Face should be delighted to know that there is a place that is free of all that "ideology".  It's called hell.

He goes on to betray his disdain for the Church's teaching by saying that Francis "proposed that we think of a way of blessing that does not require the placing of so many conditions to carry out this simple gesture of pastoral closeness, which is a means of promoting openness to God in the midst of the most diverse circumstances."   These conditions are the moral teachings of the Church.  How can a desire to be free of those not be its own serious sin?   Now substitute for the phrase "most diverse circumstances" the more accurate phrase "inherently sinful situations".

As we all know by now, entire bishops' conferences and religious orders see FS for the cow plop that it is and are refusing to implement it.  So now in section 5 the arm-twisting of these clerics is underway.  In section 5, of these so-called "blessings" he says, "we are talking about something that last about 10 or 15 seconds.  Does it make sense to deny these kinds of blessings to these two people who ask for them?"  Ladies and gentlemen, when have you ever seen this kind of pouting and whining in a Church document?  What difference does it make that this act of cooperating with sin lasts only a few seconds?  Most murders take about the same amount of time.

I have neither time nor stomach to analyze this entire tome.  GloriaTV has done a nice job, as has Peter Kwasniewski in Crisis Magazine.  I will say this, though.  I dubbed Cardinal Fernandez "Kissy Face" because of that less-than-theological masterpiece (cough!) that he wrote called "Heal Me With Your Mouth - The Art Of Kissing".  After wading both through Fiducia Supplicans and this pig-slop of a "clarification", I'm glad that I didn't subject myself to the torture of reading that book.