Radcliffe Debacle In Light Of Amoralis Lamentia

Some of my blogging colleagues reposted a story from last year regarding Father Timothy Radcliffe, a former Master General of the Dominicans who is now an open homophile.  That last term is not to imply that he himself is embroiled in the gay lifestyle (although there is reasonable probability of that) but it does signify that he is a willing enabler of such sinful conduct.

Initially I declined to do so, simply because his appointment by Pope Francis to the post of Consulter for the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace was last year's news.  In retrospect, I see my colleagues' wisdom in so doing for the recent events regarding Amoralis Lamentia and the dubia do put the Radcliffe matter in a new light.

Recall how Radcliffe stated that "gay sex..can be expressive of Christ's self-gift".  Of course this statement is pure blasphemy, to equate mortal sin with Christ's love for mankind.  But now consider the interim relatio report from the sin-nod from two years ago.  It drew much-justified criticism because it too suggested that mortal sin can "contain positive values".  And yes, the pope was well aware of this content before the document was promulgated with his approval.

No reasonable, honest person can deny any longer that there are efforts afoot by progressives in the Vatican (and that includes Pope Francis) to undermine the Teachings of Jesus Christ Himsef regarding faith and morality.  While it's true that the pope cannot solemnly proclaim error, he can accomplish nefarious ends by other, less flamboyant methods such as introducing confusing documents (such as Amoralis Lamentia), appointing dissidents such as Radcliffe to influential posts and by removing faithful prelates from their positions of influence.

Cardinal Burke, one of the authors of the dubia, has asked that rosaries be offered "so that bishops and priests will have the courage to teach the truth and defend the faith against all her enemies, both within the Church and outside the Church.  And may all confusion be dispelled from the Church."  While he made that appeal specifically for Dec 1, this intention is obviously one that deserves ongoing prayers.  Let us also pray that Pope Francis does restore clarity, as requested in the dubia.  But if he doesn't, let us pray that these cardinals follow up with the corrective measures as briefly described by Cardinal Burke.  The festering boil of heresy within the Church must be brought to a head so that it can be lanced and the infection treated.

Francis Effect: Dissidents Emboldened In Their Attacks On Christianity

LifeSiteNews and the Cardinal Newman Society both report that several left-wing outfits, most of them pretending to be Catholic, met in Chicago last month for the express purpose of stifling the teaching of Catholic faith and morality within Catholic institutions.  These outfits are:

• Dignity USA
• Catholics for Choice
• Call To Action
• Catholics In Alliance For The Common Good
• New Ways Ministry
• Human Rights Campaign (only one not pretending to be Catholic)

In their immediate cross-hairs is Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.  The archbishop is requiring teachers in his Catholic schools to conduct themselves in manners that are not in opposition to Catholic morality.  In a saner time, such a move would be seen as common sense.  But common sense isn't so common anymore, as much of the unthinking public accepts gross immorality and are perhaps wallowing in it themselves.  The fact that a bishop upholds the law of God is an inherent rebuke to their own guilty consciences.  They seek to silence Christian morality since the truth behind it is something they won't accept.  That's why they've gone to great lengths to hire a public relations firm and to enlist California lawmakers (so much for separation of church and state!) against His Excellency.  But perhaps smarting consciences is not all that impels the animus against Christians.

The Human Rights Campaign bankrolled much of that little gab-fest.  The HRC was founded by a sodomite named Terry Bean.  The Eye Witness relates that Bean and his ex-accomplice in sodomy were arrested a few months ago for allegedly raping a 15-year old boy.  Can it be that Bean has a, uh, "vested interest" in keeping youth away from Christian teaching on morality?

Has anyone else noticed that these dissident groups don't even bother to couch their anti-Catholic bigotry behind benign veneers?  As recently as five years ago, they would have at least exercised some discretion about their malevolent intents, but no more!  Why?  Can it be that they are receiving what they perceive to be favorable signals from the Vatican?  I think that to be a reasonable hypothesis.  Consider the now-notorious interim relatio released during last October's sin-nod: apparently with the pope's prior approval.  Yes, he approved it, including paragraphs 50-52.   According to that thing, we are supposed to value the gay sexual orientation: you know, the orientation that allegedly instigated Bean's rape of the adolescent boy.

Thanks to the so-called "Francis-effect" of obfuscating Church teachings, we can expect more of this undermining of Christianity from within the Church hierarchy.

From The Maturation Department - Pope Francis Approved Interim Report Before Publication

Do you remember the disastrous Extraordinary Synod of the Family that was held last October?  You might recall that in the middle of it, an interim report was issued regarding the proceedings up to that point.  One would never know it was a Catholic document as it was full of heresy.  This post of mine links to the English translation that's on the Vatican website.  Here is some more immediate commentary.  You might just take a look at my posts during October 2014 (and the linked sites) for more details.

There had always been some question as to how much Pope Francis knew about that interim report when it was released to the public.  LifeSiteNews quotes from Aletia who was informed in an interview with Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri that the Pope knew the contents of the report and approved its publication.  The Cardinal stated, "The documents were all seen and approved by the Pope, with the approval of his presence.  Even the documents during the [Extraordinary] Synod, such as the Relatio ante disceptatationem [the preliminary report], the Relatio post disceptationem [interim report], and the [final report] were seen by him before they were published." (emphasis mine)

If that is the case, the Pope deliberately let heresy masquerade as a legitimate Church document.  Recall that this interim sin-nod report:

• talked of valuing homosexual orientation
• advocated to allow those living in adultery to receive Holy Communion
• blathered nonsense about the "positive aspects" of living in a homosexual relationship, i.e. mortal sin

Does this not put so many events of the past few months in a new light?  Events such as:

• Summary dismissal of Cardinal Burke, who spoke against the interim report and who had contributed to the book "Remaining In The Truth Of Christ"
• The private audience with the lesbians last week
• His "be like rabbits" crack
• His rebuke of the soon-to-be mother of eight

We do have the promise from Our Lord that His Vicar will never solemnly promulgate error.  However, there are many other ways that real harm can be done.  You might recall that the lesbians were emboldened by his "who am I to judge" crack.  And then there's the cop-out of "pastoral practice": the nonsense that dissident bishops use to disobey Canon 915, to neglect preaching on the evils of contraception.  All these "maturation" efforts (and there will be more to follow!) seem to be calculated to brainwash Catholics into accepting the thinking behind the interim report.  Even the way the report was released and the sin-nod conducted speak of a "ram-rod" effort to distort Church teaching in regards to marriage, sexuality and family.

I now link to a very worthwhile statement by the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy.  They state well Our Lord's teachings on these matters.

Cardinal Burke And Archbishop Schneider Warn Of Evils Underlying SinNod Debacle

Cardinal Raymond Burke, now Patron of the Order of Malta, gave an interview to Breitbart News this past Tuesday November 4.  In it he stated that the Church risks schism if bishops are seen as going contrary to the Church's teachings in the month ahead.  No doubt exists in my mind that he is speaking of Cardinals Kasper, Marx, Baldiserri and others who seek to change the Church's teachings on marriage and Holy Communion to a horrible deformation of Christ's authentic commands.  He warned of trying to accommodate the faith to the culture.

By the way - I've reason to believe that Cardinal Kasper will be exercising strong influence over the USCCB meeting that starts tomorrow in Baltimore.  Since he was in the area last Thursday, he may well even be at the meeting - or at least orchestrating things from the background.

The next day Archbishop Athanasius Schneider also gave an interview, echoing many of Burke's concerns.  Rorate Caeli has the entire text of the interview.  He state that during the SinNod there were moments of obvious manipulation and that "the interim report was clearly a prefabricated text with no reference to actual statement of the synod fathers".  I mentioned that in earlier posts.  Consider.  If indeed the SinNod puppet-masters put forth a prefabricated document while holding it out to be a reflection of deliberations that just happened, they were in fact lying to the Church at large.  There's no way to put lipstick on that pig.  Since the pope hand-picked those extra men (including Cardinal Wuerl) to the committee to compose that report, is it not logical to deduce that if the report was prefabricated that happened with the pope's approval if not initiation?

Schneider then called those paragraphs on divorced/remarried people and homosexuality as stemming from a "radical neo-pagan ideology".  He stated that the interim report will remain "a black mark which has stained the honor of the Apostolic See".  While he praises the final report, he also expresses concern that the paragraphs remain in the final report.  I've no doubt that this is being done to keep those topics "on the table" for next year's ordinary synod.

I'd urge study of the remarks of both these men.  Pray for them as well as the Church.  Cardinal Burke has already tasted vengeance for speaking the truth.  Will similar fates await Scheider, Muller, Pell and others?  We will be watching.

Dignitatus Humanae Institute Clarifies Buzz Feed Interview With Cardinal Burke

From Aleteia we read that Dignitatus Humanae Institute, the organization that arranged Cardinal Burke's interview with Buzzfeed took the latter to task for rearrangement of words - a rearrangement that misquoted Cdl Burke as saying the "pope was harming the Church".

Rather, what Cardinal Burke said was "that in his opinion a general lack of clarity regarding the Pope’s position had caused harm to the Church."  In brief, he did not fault the Pope, but the "general lack of clarity" for harming the Church.  Buzz Feed has reprinted the entire text of the interview.  I appreciate Cardinal Burke's statement to set things right and to get his exact wording out there.  But now new questions are raised.

• Why, oh why, would there be any lack of clarity about the Pope's positions regarding divorced/remarried/adulterous relationships and sodomite situations?  The Magisterium has spoken on these things for 1000+ years.  Somehow I think that Pope Benedict XVI would have made his own positions crystal clear.
• Cardinal Burke asked the Pope to issue defense of the Church's teachings in light of the flim-flam that was called the interim relatio.  I do not believe that defense ever came.
• Let me elaborate on my previous sentence.  Here is the Pope's closing address.  In it, he states 
 "And this always – we have said it here, in the Hall – without ever putting into question the fundamental truths of the Sacrament of marriage: the indissolubility, the unity, the faithfulness, the fruitfulness, that openness to life."  That is not a definitive defense of the Church's teachings.  All he claimed here is that these teachings were not called into question during the SinNod; the interim relatio contradicts the Holy Father here.

So that little bit was cleared up.  Cardinal Burke did not attack the pope - as if I ever believed he did.  Will these other questions be answered?

SinNod's Interim Report And Its Shady Circumstances

Today's Vortex Report from Rome is aptly entitled "Document-Gate".  Voris reiterates some facts abut the document.  I'll interject my own comments.

• It was released to the press before most of the bishops at the SinNod received a copy.  I think it's worth noting, too, that the publication of the document on the Vatican website coincided with the release to the press.  Whoever (probably several people) released it to the press had some collusion with those who published it on the Vatican site.
• According to Cardinal Napier, topics in the document were hardly discussed at all during the SinNod proceedings.  Who inserted them?  Was that the work of the six additional committee members hand-picked by the Pope?  Father Zuhlsdorf has an account of behind-the-scenes occurrences at the SinNod.
• Paragraphs 50-53, those that openly condone sodomy, seem to be the handiwork of Archbishop Bruno Forte.  By the way - Father Paul Check, international director of Courage, made known his disapproval, citing concerns for those struggling homosexuals whom Courage tries to assist as they live according to Church teaching.
• At 6:11, Voris asked who collected the information, who wrote the document, who published the document, who distributed the document to journalists before the bishops saw it.  I think we can safely hypothesize that those six prelates (including Cardinal Wuerl), handpicked by the Pope, facilitated that process.  As far as I'm concerned, this has papal paw prints all over it.  Voris mentions that Vatican official Father Federico Lombardi and Father Thomas Rosica stonewalled him when he asked his questions.  Father Lombardi is director of the Vatican Press Office.  It is on the site of that office that the document appeared when first released to the press.  Father Rosica is also with that office.
• Voris asks was the leak planned, with the hopes that the secular media would react as it did?  We know the key players enough to opine "yes".
• He makes the excellent point that those who insist that "this is only a working document", "don't worry, be happy" crowd are engaging in dangerous and dare I say ungodly naivete.

Voris reminded us that Cardinal Burke has publicly called upon the pope to publicly proclaim that no teaching will change.  Cardinal Pell now echoes the same call.  As of the time of this writing, I've heard no word that the Pope has issued any such declarative statement.  Will he?

Vortex - Commenting On Press Conference

Michael Voris released another video today regarding the goings-on at the SinNod today.

Before I delve into that, I'll ask one teensy question.  We all know that after the various language groups elected representatives to a committee that was tasked to draft this interim report, Pope Francis unilaterally appointed six progressive clergy to the committee as well.  Cardinal Wuerl was one of them.  Here's the question.  Had the Pope not stacked this committee with progressives, would the interim report have been the wretched mess that we see today?  Something to ponder!

In what appears to be commentary about a press conference (same one in previous post??), he comments on remarks made by Bishop Napiers of South Africa.  Napiers reportedly said that the synod fathers had not seen the relatio before the press did.  Does that mean they hadn't seen it before it went onto the Vatican website?  Is this just a fishy alibi?  BUT.... if the bishops truly did not see the document before the press, who was responsible for that, and why?

Hitherto, Voris has been very reluctant to criticize what the Pope says or does.  But now he says this synod is "a defining moment for his papacy", especially in light of Cardinal Burke's public call to the pope to stand for Catholic teaching on marriage and family.

Faithful Catholics Wax Indignant At The SinNod's Interim Report

G. K. Chesterton once said "If the world grows to wordly, it can be expected to be rebuked by the Church; but if the Church becomes too worldly, It can be hardly expected to be rebuked by the world."  No, it can't, and these days it isn't.  On the heels of yesterday's disastrous relatio (due in part to the stacked committee engineered by the pope), the Human Rights Campaign released this

They are rejoicing and gloating over what seems to be transpiring at this SinNod.  They seem to have solid basis for their jubilation.

Many of us understand the trouble that document signals for the Church.  We bloggers made known our concerns yesterday, particularly with those passages that condone homosexual behaviors.  Today's Vortex shows Voris interviewing a panel of the clergy, including Archbishop Bruno Forte, whom many believe was instrumental in the writing of paragraphs 50-53.  I'll post the video now and below that, I'll have more news.



Cardinal Burke sharply criticized the document, stating that it's a "betrayal" that "faithful shepherds cannot accept".  He called upon Pope Francis to issue a statement defending true Catholic teaching on the various topics that were mangled in the relatio.  Bishop Rogelio Livieres also has some well-founded criticism of proceedings.  Cardinal Muller had some pointed language for the thing.

There is something else to consider, and I thank Chris Ferrera for pointing this out.  Yesterday, the date of the release of this relatio, was the anniversary of some key Divine interventions.  It was on this day that Pope Leo XIII had his vision of satan attacking the Church, prompting him to compose some remedial prayers to be prayed after every Mass; these prayers are called the Leonine prayers.  They were scuttled after Vatican II, although noting in the council documents so directed their abandonment.

It was also the 97th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima.  To the three children Our Lady made plain that we must pray and repent else we will be judged.  Did we see some stark sign of that judgment issue forth from the Vatican?  I believe we did.

As we read the comments of Ferrara's piece, a reader points out another anniversary: that of Our Lady at Akita, where she warns of bishops being set against each other, and a strong exhortation to be faithful to the daily Rosary.  None of this is a coincidence.

SinNod Interim Report Soft-Pedals Mortal Sin To The Eternal Detriment Of The Sinners

Today the Interim Report from the SinNod was released.  Here is the English translation from the Vatican Press Office.   By the way - I've taken the precaution of saving this thing to my own computer, just in case it "disappears" (ahem!).  I'd suggest others do the same.  Quite frankly, it is a friggin' disaster and portends God's judgment if the current course of the SinNod doesn't turn around.  Please have this document open in another window as I'll be working my way through it; I'd rather not "copy/paste" passages; otherwise this post will become too voluminous and bulky.

We look at paragraph 20, where "irregular situations" are discussed.  These includes those living together without benefit of marriage, those married civilly and those divorced and subsequently married civilly.  Let me call these what they really are: the first two are the sin of fornication and the third is the sin of adultery.  Both are mortal sins.  In order for one to be culpable of mortal sin, three elements must be present: 1) grave matter, which these situations obviously are, 2) full knowledge of their sinfulness (given the dismal state of catechesis, this knowledge isn't always present and 3) acting on this sin with full knowledge of sin and disregard of the same.

The paragraph talks of these objectively sinful situations and "the positive values the contain".  I posit that any "positive value" is far outweighed by the danger of damnation to those participating in these relationships.  Nowhere in this discussion do I see any reference to the eternal destinies of those engaged in these mortally sinful situations, nor do I see any mention of the need for repentance and Confession.

As you work your way down, notice paragraphs 47 and 48.  They deal with persons who are divorced from their first spouses and who are civilly remarried without obtaining a Church annulment.  Paragraph 47 starts by saying "as regards the possibility of partaking in the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist".  It sounds laudable, but only if the Sacrament of Penance includes the cessation of de facto adultery; else there is the issue of a sacrilegious confession.  Likewise, reception of the Eucharist in such a state would be yet another sacrilege.  There are those clergy who think themselves as being "merciful" for their prattle of condoning these unworthy reception of the sacraments.  In fact, such false mercy would be an act of unspeakable cruelty, as these clergy - wolves in sheeps' clothing - would in fact be facilitating yet more mortal sin upon the souls of those in their charge.

Now move along to paragraphs 50 - 52, dealing with homosexual persons.  Paragraph 50 urges Catholics, in regard to the homosexual to "value their sexual orientation".  Let me say this right now and I mean every word of this.  That statement in paragraph 50 is pure satanic pig-slop!  Church teaching has always declared the homosexual orientation to be intrinsically disordered.  There is nothing - NOTHING! - to value about an intrinsically disordered orientation that, if followed, will lead to heartbreak on earth and hellfire for eternity.  Will these faux-clergy soon be talking about valuing the "orientation" of a child-rapist, or a binge-drinker?  How about the "orientation" of serial shop-lifters?

The seduction to mortal sin continues in paragraph 52, as it erroneously states, "there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners".  I almost don't know where to begin.  Real aid would entail the accomplices in sin to separate and cease their perversion.  As it is, this so-called "precious support" is really the two accomplices blinding each other as they mutually push each other towards eternal damnation.  The gay person who claims to be loving his/her partner deceives only him/herself, as their sin condemns not only them, but the one whom they purport to "love".  Their very dalliances point not to authentic charity but to a reckless disregard for the spiritual well-being of their "partners".   Why we see this self-deception affirmed in this SinNod is impossible to discern, unless it is a pandering to the gay elements within the Vatican itself.

Speaking of authentic ministry to homosexual persons, were any representatives from the excellent Catholic apostolate called "Courage" invited?  I have heard no mention of them.  Perhaps they too, like the JP II Institute for Marriage and Family, were ostracized because of their fidelity to the Magisterium.

I am so glad this document is relatively short, for it contained way too much spiritual poison as it is.  Here is commentary offered by LifeSiteNews.  Voice of the Family has called this report "a betrayal". I concur.

I'll close this now with today's Vortex report coming from the Vatican.  Voris, in commenting on the "openness" of the Vatican, quipped that the Obama administration is more transparent than this SinNod.  He also asked a number of questions about conflicting messages from the SinNod.  I can only surmise he recorded this before this interim report was released for this report, if nothing else, made plain the nefarious direction of this SinNod.