Rome Life Forum On May 17-18

The Rome Life Forum was founded by LifeSiteNews and is now carried on by Voice of the Family.  Their meeting this year will focus on combating modernism within the Church.  Yes, modernism is found at all levels of the Church and has even emanated from Pope Francis himself.

If one is still inclined to pretend that modernism is no problem, please reflect upon the murder of Alfie Evans, sanctioned by most of the UK Catholic bishops.  Think of Katy Perry being invited by the Vatican to sing the praises of transcendental meditation.  I spoke a bit yesterday of "cooperation with mortal sin" being itself a mortal sin.  The Vatican provided a forum for the commission of mortal sin against the First Commandment.  Throw into the mix the sins of blasphemy and sacrilege and we can see that those who invited Perry and/or allowed her to pollute a Church event are guilty themselves of grave sins. That's modernism for you.

The prime mission of the Church, as defined by Jesus Christ Himself, is the salvation of souls.  That CURA conference had nothing to do with that, and even appears to have caused scandal to souls.  Likewise the prattlings of the the US bishops.  Jihad Watch tells us that they submitted a brief to the US Supreme Court claiming that President Trump's travel ban is "blatant religious discrimination".  We do well to remember that the US bishops have a vested financial interest in securing the largest immigrant population possible.

The Vortex that I'm going to post below details how many dioceses are experiencing the effects of all this modernism and loss of faith.  Many are engaged in silly marketing campaigns.  Perhaps they need to listen to Archbishop Sample's homily from the Pontifical High Mass this past Sunday at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  They don't need cheap gimmicks.  All they need to do is to present the real Catholic faith.  Of course that entails that they believe the Faith and repent of their dalliances with modernism.  By the way - when I speak of "cheap gimmicks" I also refer to the regrettable tendency of clerics and religious orders to carry on like silly buffoons in a misguided attempt to "reach the youth where they are".  Again, young people, indeed all people, need to see the Faith lived out in all its splendor and dignity.

Let us pray for the success of the Rome Life Forum.  I look forward to posting the videos as they become available.

Cardinal Burke Calls For The Correct Consecration Of Russia To Mary's Immaculate Heart

On Tuesday Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes (of Germany) confirmed the statement of Father Amorth (Vatican exorcist) that Pope John Paul II did not consecrate Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart in 1984.  Apparently he wanted to do so, but allowed himself to be persuaded by Vatican diplomats not to mention Russia for fear of causing political conflicts.

We all know that he consecrated "the world" to Mary's Immaculate Heart.  While that consecration was undoubtedly beneficial in and of itself, it was not done in the manner that Our Lady specified to the Fatima seers in 1917.  The LifeSiteNews posts reminds us that the Fatima apparitions are not part and parcel of the Deposit of Faith and one may be a true Catholic and not believe them.  That is true enough.  However, one either believes that the Blessed Mother spoke at that time, or they don't.  If they do believe that she spoke, then why the reticence about taking her at her word?  Why demure in complete obedience?  Why place the pleadings of Vatican officials over the requests of the Mother of God?

Today at the Rome Life Forum, Cardinal Burke called for the consecration of Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart per her exact specifications.  He too stated that the consecration in 1984 was not in accord with Our Lady of Fatima's specifications.  His exact quote is: "Certainly, Pope Saint John Paul II consecrated the world, including Russia, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, 1984.  But, today, once again, we hear the call of Our Lady of Fatima to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart, in accord with her explicit instruction."

There are those good Catholics who insist on pretending that the Fatima requirements were satisfied in 1984.  They probably are loathe to believe that Pope St John Paul II might have faltered in being completely obedient to Our Lady of Fatima.  They fail to consider that while he was still on this earth, he was subject to his own sin-weakened human nature, as are we all.  However some others who don't have any intention to honor God have their own reasons.  One individual on Facebook believes that these faux-katholycs fear a large-scale return to Faith and Tradition if Russia is properly consecrated.  I think he's onto something, especially in light of the bad-mouthing that Cardinal Burke received from Cardinal Maradiaga (head of the pope's "gang of nine" because of his dissidence).

Cardinal Burke went on to list six requests of Our Lady of Fatima.  Five of them we should be doing regularly ourselves.  The sixth one has to do with the consecration of Russia.  Let us join the cardinal in acknowledging that the consecration to Russia has been inexcusably delayed and pray and call for its immediate fulfillment.

Defending Human Life And The Family

Several years ago, Cardinal Caffarra (one of the four "dubia cardinals") revealed the contents of a conversation he had with Sister Lucia, one of the Fatima seers.  She told him that the final battle between Our Lord and Satan will revolve around marriage and the family.  In this centenary of our Lady of Fatima's appearances to the children, we do see that battle ratcheting before our very eyes.

At the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast two days ago, Cardinal Robert Sarah called "gender ideology", "same-sex marriage" etc what they are: demonic attacks on humanity.  Earlier this evening, I attended a talk given by Doug Mainwaring on this very topic (see Tuesday's post).  He said very much the same things; I'll be posting reports on this within the next few days.

Today the fourth Rome Life Forum convened in Rome, spearheaded by Voice of the Family.  I now link to VOF's site so that you can follow along this important conference and will also post some commentaries on the talks as they proceed.  Today one of the speakers was Father Linus Clovis of Family Life International.  I would urge careful study of his entire talk, in which he names Amoris Laetitia as both a trojan horse and a cast-down gauntlet.

He reminds us of the three requests of Our Lady of Fatima: reform of our lives, the First Saturday devotions and the consecration of Russia.  We are certainly capable of fulfilling the first two, as they pertain to our personal lives.  We must pray that the pope and bishops finally consecrate Russia to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart.

Cardinal Burke And Bishop Schneider On Resisting The Rot Within The Church

Courtesy of LifeSiteNews, we have videos of both prelates offering their wisdom on the need to resist errors from Church hierarchy.  A few weeks ago, Cardinal Burke gave a presentation at the Rome Life Forum in Rome, speaking on the need to resist those in the Church who expound false teaching on marriage, family and sacraments.  In the video we hear him declare "for example, today in the Church, there are those who refer to the objective reality of the grace of marriage as merely an ideal to which we more or less seek to conform ourselves."  Without specifically mentioning "amoralis lamentia", he was clearly contradicting the falsehoods stated throughout that thing that clearly utilized the language of marriage being merely an "ideal".  Here is a link to the full talk, with video, on the Voice of the Family site.  I urge all to read it.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider was also at the Rome Life Forum and was interviewed by LifeSiteNews.  One question that LSN asked him is whether or not faithful Catholics should remain silent in the face of the pope's controversial - and yes, erroneous - statements to prevent possible harm to the papacy.  Bishop Schneider replied in the negative, stating that the Church is not a dictatorship, where the subjects are afraid to contradict the dictator.  He also spoke at the conference, stating that "there can be no joy of love without first the joy of truth".  He used his play on the English translation of the flawed encyclical to point out its many flaws.

John Smeaton, co-founder of Voice of the Family, also addressed the forum.  He enunciated the need for a Catholic resistance movement.  In his talk, he read aloud his letter to Pope Francis that asked the pope to immediately withdraw "amoralis lamentia" for the harm contained therein.

An another interview that he gave, Cardinal Burke spoke of the pressures that many priests will now face in the light of "amoris lamentia", to give Holy Communion to known adulterers.  He stated that these clergy will have the duty to "refuse and pay the consquences".  He went on to say that for them, "being unjustly punished by a superior is part of confessing the faith".  Those of the Archdiocese of Washington, particularly of St John Neumann Church in Gaithersburg MD will recall what happened over four years ago, when Father Marcel Guarnizo refused Holy Communion to a flagrant lesbian and was maltreated by the DC chancery.  Other priests have likewise been persecuted; their number is sure to mount.

In addition to prayer and maintaining our own fidelity to Our Lord, we must speak out when we see error, as Bishop Schneider reminded us.  Yesterday the pope gave us yet another occasion to do so, during his interview with La Croix.  In it, he equates the muslim doctrine of jihad with the Great Commission given by Our Lord to the Twelve to "make disciples of all nations".  To equate the murderous impulses of a barbarian cult to the command of Our Lord Himself is nothing short of blasphemy.  Let's call it what it is.  I now link to an extensive article found in the Remnant, discussing when and how a heretical pontiff could be deposed.  I pray to God it never comes to this.

Today Church Militant gave a great example of Catholic laity engaging in proper Catholic resistance.  Bishop Hanchon, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, presided at a confirmation at Assumption Grotto.  For reasons incomprehensible to decent, sane Catholics, the bishop decided to give a ukulele performance from the pulpit.  The resistance came from the organist, who played so as to drown him out.  Church Militant has video of the episode.  While it's sickening to see a bishop carry on like an adolescent, it was quite delightful to see that he didn't get away with it.

So how will we resist in our own locales?  Notice the question is "how", not "if".  If we haven't yet, let's start pondering these matters seriously.