Bishop Scheider: Catholics Not Called To Blind Obedience To The Pope

LifeSiteNews posted an interview with Bishop Schneider done on behalf of Rorate Caeli.  In this interview he touches upon a wide variety of topics:

• Communion in the hand
• The erroneous adulation being heaped upon Martin Luther
• The fact that Vatican II was a pastoral council, not dogmatic council
• The fact that Catholics are not called to blind obedience to the pope

Other topics are also treated.  I'd advise you to watch it in its entirety.  Please pray for protection for Bishop Schneider.  It does seem that those who don't march to progressive drums sounding forth from the Vatican are being mistreated badly.

Holy Communion - The Divorced Who Ask Will Be Admitted

Remember Eugenio Scalfari, the Italian atheistic journalist who interviewed the pope several times but allegedly never bothered to record the proceedings of the interview?  Supposedly he simply wrote from his memory.  He reported some whoppers by the pope and immediately sent the Vatican press office into a tizzy; at least we're supposed to believe the tizzy was authentic.  I actually think it was quite an act: the pope can let a little heresy out with the help of his friend, and when the resultant flack starts to fly, they can claim it was all just some sort of mistake.  It's a neat way to insinuate heresies into people's minds while taking no responsibility for it, isn't it?  Recall these incidents from last year.  You'd think that if Scalfari really was misrepresenting the pope, that the pope would avoid him.  In this latest interview from a few days ago, the pope and his press office may have tipped their hands.

Rorate obtained a translation of La Repubblica.  It contained another "telephone interview" in which the pope said of divorced folks and Holy Communion with regards to the sin-nod outcome, "all the divorced who ask will be admitted".  One question that popped immediately into my mind is, "if it's just divorced folks and not remarried, what's the problem?"  Immediately following that another thought, a reply to my question, came; "if they're just divorced and not remarried, they wouldn't need to ask".

One Peter Five has a great analysis of this strategy of using Scalfari to insinuate heresies into unsuspecting minds.  Well, maybe he isn't using Scalfari per se, but rather working in concert with Salfari.  There's too much of a pattern now for us not to notice.  I truly hope that the "it's not the pope's fault, he's just controlled by the Vatican meanies crowd" will finally acknowledge what is as plain as the noses on their faces.

May God help us all.

Update - Rorate Caeli has published a reply to the sin-nod's back-door attempt to admit de facto adulterers to Holy Communion, written by Bishop Athanasius Schneider.  The length and depth of this reply causes me to believe that he did not have in mind this Scalfari interview (probably knew nothing of it at the time of his writing).  Please read it on Rorate's site.

The Rigging Of A Synod

At the sin-nod last year, we were treated to a circus of subterfuge and insinuation of heresy under the guise of "being pastoral".  Recall how Cardinal Pell pounded his fist on a table and demanded of the sin-nod father that they "stop manipulating this synod".  Even at that, the "fathers" still slipped in gay-friendly statements that were explicitly voted out by those in attendance.

Since then, we've seen:

• Episode after episode of the gay agenda being coddled at Catholic events - including this most recent papal visit to the United States
• Petitions begging the Pope to uphold Catholic teaching regarding marriage and family - as though a Vicar of Christ should require such petitions to fulfill his God-given mission
• The German Catholic Conference uttering statements that sound like they're ready to go schismatic should the gay agenda not be openly embraced by the Church
• Various meetings and "secret synods" quietly conducted in order to plot the mechanics of insinuating the gay agenda into Catholic practice, if not teaching

In light of these facts and the revelations found in Edward Pentin's book on the rigging of the extraordinary synod, why should we doubt the revelations that Rorate Caeli made public today?  Apparently there will be a secret "parallel synod", comprised mainly of Jesuits.  The article is coy about the "Argentine" but since I'm not one to play games, let's say out loud that this "Argentine" is none other than Pope Francis.  It is that cabal that will be producing documents to further the gay agenda and so-called "annulment reform".  This so-called "Ordinary Synod" will only be a front - puppets, if you will - for this other group.

Edward Pentin revealed that tomorrow "procedural changes" to the conduct of the synod will be announced.  These changes will most likely facilitate the doings of this "secret synod" and stymie any efforts that Cardinal Pell, the African contingent and other faithful prelates might make to prevent heresy from oozing forth from this upcoming "sin-nod".

Right now it looks like all we can do is pray and continue to shine the light on the skulduggery that appears to be underfoot at the Vatican now. 

Was Father Manelli Framed?

Father Stefano Manelli is one of two founders of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (FFI).  This past year that order, devoted to the traditional Mass and by all accounts growing and thriving, was all but obliterated through the machinations of Father Fidenzio Volpi, Apostolic Commissioner of the FFI.  Father Volpi was appointed to that position by Pope Francis himself.  Owing to Volpi's "work", the FFI is a shadow of its former self.

Comes now the news from Rorate Caeli that Father Volpi has been found guilty of spreading "defamation and lies".  He'll have to pay 20,000 euros to the Manelli family as well as issue public apologies.  So now it appears that the FFI was deliberately reduced to tatters; for what reason we can only speculate.  Volpi apparently set about to destroy Father Manelli's good name; now his own is besmirched.

Now the question is, "will Pope Francis allow the FFI to reestablish itself and will they be allowed to pursue their holy calling?"  In short, will the pope do right by the FFI?

What Pope Francis Allowed To Be Destroyed

On December 8, 2013, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Father Fidenzio Volpi closed the seminary operated by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.  The FFI was an order dedicated to the Mass in the Extraordinary Form and to other time-held traditions of Holy Mother Church.  They drew many vocations as you will see in the video posted below.  I and other bloggers have written about the draconian treatment meted out to this order, and to the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate.  The only motive that seems logical in the face of such behavior is the wanton destruction of the Deposit of Faith entrusted to Holy Mother Church by Our Lord.

Rorate Caeli has obtained video of the daily life within this seminary, taken by one of the seminarians on the very day the seminary was shuttered.  Please read Rorate's account of the horrid way in which these young men have been treated.  Circulate this widely.  Pray that sanity returns to those entrusted with guarding and shepherding the Church.  Now the video, as obtained and promulgated by Rorate Caeli.

SinNod's Grande Finale - Part 2 Of 2, With A Nod To Saul Alinsky

In this second part, I'll now deal with the final relatio that was released today - except for the English version.  Many secular sites are kvetching and moaning that the paragraphs regarding homosexuals, found in the interim report, did not make the vote to be included in the final report.

So they were rejected.  However, Rorate Caeli has reason to believe that those three paragraphs will  be included in the English version (that's supposed to be released next week).  Correction - in all languages.  I'm not certain of their information source so we'll have to see.  I'd be interested to hear from those of other languages.

Even if the relatio is clear of the foul language, the damage has been done and deliberately so.  The bug has been put in the ears of the Catholics in the pews that perhaps there is "virtue to sodomy" and that de facto adulterers can receive Holy Communion without committing sacrilege.

Ladies and gentlemen, with that in mind, may I introduce to Rule #8 of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals?  It's summed up nicely here.  In essence, it suggests that the change agent (dissidents in the Church who put in those horrible paragraphs) should "keep the pressure on; never let up".  We can be very certain that we have not heard the last of these heresies.  I think the removal of those paragraphs was damage-control.  No doubt they were surprised by internet scrutiny and the spinal fortitude shown by Cardinals Burke, Pell and Muller.  I suspect this was just a temporary retreat so they can regroup and try again later.

I'll have more to say on this later, but it is getting late here.  For now, I'll close with the latest Vortex report on all this.

More Muddied Water From The SinNod

The stench and poison emanating from the SinNod is all too obvious, except to those who are obstinate in not taking off their rose-colored glasses and trying to make pious excuses for this debacle.  In the past few days, much commentary has been written.  I will not attempt to regurgitate them but will link to them so that you may read them.  I hope you will; too many still insist on remaining naive and ignorant to the proceedings, perhaps to their eternal peril.

First, I commend to your reading a post from Pat Archibald entitled "The Truth About This Crisis".  And yes, if anything should now be crystal clear, the Church is in deep crisis as many of her shepherds are trying their best to justify their dereliction of duty in teaching about Humanae Vitae and enforcing Church discipline.

Another I'd like to recommend is from my CMC colleague's blog, Les Femmes, as she asks, "What's Wrong With The Synod On The Family".  She in turn is commenting on a piece by Phil Lawler.  We all agree that many fundamental things are wrong with this SinNod.

Father Daniel McCaffrey of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is a priest who has made it his mission to proclaim the Church's true teachings on contraception.  In an interview given to LifeSiteNews, he stated that the synod will not be successful unless it addresses the failure of the clergy to teach about Humanae Vitae.  He states that unless that happens there will be a "very cold, dark winter ahead of the Church".  I will add that not only is there refusal to address contraception within the Archdiocese of Washington, at least one priest who attempted to do so was flat-out punished.  Within a church in Montgomery County, he offered a class on Humanae Vitae.  When some progressive dissidents had their consciences stung (for they were probably engaged in that mortal sin), they complained to the pastor.  Immediately the priest was forbidden to celebrate public Mass and was transferred to a far-away location.  I can give no further detail for fear of exposing that priest to additional retribution.

Rorate Caeli received a letter from a reader in East Africa.  This reader, a friend of his faithful bishop, relates the horror that this bishop expressed when he read his report on the proceedings of the SinNod so far.  He wept and now fears that his flock will be susceptible to "evangelism" by muslims and evangelicals when they perceive the lack of conviction displayed by so many other bishops.  The identifying information has been redacted, undoubtedly to protect this bishop from Vatican retribution.

LifeSiteNews has other accounts of African bishops defending the family at the SinNod.  It's nice to know that there are some voices of sanity at that shindig.  But consider!  Isn't it incongruous that the family would have to be defended at an ostensibly Catholic synod?  I can understand the need to defend the family at some secular event, such as a United Nations meeting.  After all, we know the UN is hostile to the family and Christianity in general.  But now we should have to defend the family before Catholic bishops - and even the Holy Father?  What is wrong with this picture?

There have been other glimmers of common sense at the SinNod.  Unlike the Piroltas of Australia who promulgated their disgusting heresies a few days ago, there was a couple from Brazil who largely echoed Father McCaffrey's convictions.  Arturo and Hemalinda As Zamberline pointed out to SinNod attendees that large numbers of clergy have flat out ignored the teachings of Humane Vitae.  That's putting it mildly.

Rorate Caeli noted Cardinal Muller's displeasure at the censorship of SinNod proceedings.  The Cardinal stated that "all Christians have the right to be informed about the intervention of their bishops".  LifeSiteNews has his interview.  But let's look on the bright side, shall we?  At least we know that the Vatican Press Office does know how to resolutely exercise control.  Now if they would just apply that same resolve to papal interviews...

There is much more that will be said in the coming week during the second half of the SinNod.  Michael Voris and his Vortex team will be in Rome to report.  I'll post videos as they are made available.  For now, here are some introductory remarks.  In them he does cut through the "keep doctrine, change pastoral practice" crap.

Pope Expounding On Kasper's Mess With Divorcees And Holy Communion

Rorate Caeli has a quote from an interview in which the Holy Father is asked to clarify Cardinal Kasper's controversial remarks about Communion and remarried divorcees.  My colleague at the Tenth Crusade commented on the interview.  She got far more out of it than did I.  For the life of me, I still cannot make heads or tails of that verbal gobblygoop. Mea culpa!

Indifferentism Poisoning DC And Boston Chanceries

In both the Tenth Crusade and Rorate Caeli we read that Boston's Cardinal O'Malley reaffirmed his baptism under the dubious "ministry" of a Methodist named Anne Robertson.  As the Tenth Crusade points out, Roberson is pro-abortion.  But even if she advocated traditional morality, this ceremony was still scandalous on its face.  Since when does a Prince of the Church accept faux-ministry from a Protestant as though it were equivalent to ministry from a Catholic priest?

What is at play here is the heresy of indifferentism - the false belief that all religions are equivalent on God's eyes.  We of the Archdiocese of Washington are no strangers to such slop as it oozes from our own chancery - and has been for quite a while now.

For instance, who can forget the debacle of September 2005 when Cardinal McCarrick gave an "ecumenical" address to the King of Jordan and other Muslim persons at the Catholic University of America?   I originally published the text of his remarks on my earlier website and do so now.  In his very first sentence, he said that he "invoked allah, the compassionate and merciful lord of all the world".  He went on to invoke "allah" two more times.  Guess how many times he mentioned the words "Jesus Christ"?  That's right!  Zilch!  Zip!  Nada!  Does it not make you wonder just whose bishop he is?

Cardinal O'Malley, a member of the Pope's advisory Council of Cardinals, reportedly is in close contact with the Holy Father.  Did this episode come to Pope Francis' knowledge?  Why, when he holds such a position of responsibility, would Cdl O'Malley engage in actions that any reasonable person would see as scandalous?  Is he taking cues from the Vatican?  Recall that it was Pope Francis who himself broke Canon Law on Holy Thursday when he washed a woman's feet.  We look askance upon all this.  While Our Lord promised that the gates of hell would never prevail against us, He never promised us a cake walk.  We may well have opponents within the highest ranks of the Vatican.

A Well-Reasoned Post On The Fr Guarnizo Situation From A Canon Law Perspective

The blog Rorate-Caeli published an excellent treatise from a reader who addresses the matter from a perspective of canon law while making clear that canon law serves moral and divine laws, not vice versa.  I post to the article now.  It's a long read, but well worth it in my opinion.