Well, I have to give the somewhat lackluster bishop some credit where credit is due. Dylan may well be a spiritual poet. The million-dollar question is, for what spirit does Dylan produce poetry? I grew up during the sixties and know very well the answer. Michael Matt does a nice job unpacking the mess that Barron puts forth.
By the way, here's another sample of Dylan's "spiritual poetry" that Matt didn't mention. It really is quite telling. As far as being explicitly Christian in the eighties, I'll take that into consideration when he repudiates his left-wing warblings.
Bishop Barron, your feeble attempts to be "with it" are a farce". Surely you can find better models for spiritual poetry. How about John of the Cross? Maybe Blessed Herman the Cripple? St Thomas Aquinas? There are others, as well, who wrote Catholic masterpieces that have withstood the test of hundreds of years. Give it up! You are a successor to the Apostles. Please have the sense and sobriety of one.
Two events happened within the past few days. While they were disjointed from each other, both served to make evident the heresy that the current occupant of Peter's chair is promulgating. Bergoglio erroneously stated that Pelosi and others, in their present state of mind, could be admitted to Communion. Several clcrgy and some prominent lay people spelled it out, utilizing Canon law, that Bergoglio uttered heresy. The letter can be read here. From theologians, Saints and Doctors of the Church throughout the centuries, we have reasonable basis to believe that even if Bergoglio's election to the papacy was valid (and that is somewhat doubtful) that he has, by this heresy, forfeited the papacy. We of course must pray for his immortal soul as well as those whom he led astray.
The other event revolves around Francis' participation in this "Congress of World and Traditional Religious Leaders" gabfest a few days ago. The official purpose was the seeking of world peace. In reality, it's all about the establishment of a one-world religion as part of the great reset. Of course this "religion" would be solely focused on the world as we see it, with nary a thought about eternity beyond the grave. They believe not in an afterlife, nor do they believe in any supreme being, let alone the One True God. The Masonic pawprints are all over this as well.
While I attend a Traditional Latin Mass on Sundays, I am constrained by availability to attend the Novus Ordo during weekdays. Since Traitorous Custodians came out, the Second Eucharistic Prayer is by far the most frequently used at the Novus Ordo. What is particularly troubling and peculiar is that even priests who have a relatively decent sense of the sacred are now preferring that prayer, whereas before they were using the Third and even First Eucharistic prayer. Bear in mind that the First Eucharistic prayer is the traditional Roman Canon with a rather sloppy English translation.
Of the Eucharistic prayers in the Novus Ordo rite, the Second is the shortest, most stripped-down version. I think that is a key reason why even the more reverent priests are being strong-armed into using that one. Here is some background regarding the Eucharistic prayer that was hastily thrown together in a restaurant.
Quite the parallel, isn't it? Why, one might think it to be a coordinated effort to remove obstacles to the New World Order. That is what the evidence indicates.
Maryland has long been known as a bastion of liberalism, with a goodly number of its citizens swallowing progressive kool-aid and wallowing in mental and spiritual muck. I live in Maryland and am bemused by all the sheeple who continue to wear the masks, although the mandates have been lifted for some time now. Many go so far as to wear them when alone in their cars with the windows rolled up. They have been well-trained - or they are just virtue-signaling. Who knows?
A priest in Great Mills, MD (St Mary's County) was charged in August for three counts of indecent exposure along an interstate. He was allegedly flashing several male victims. He admitted to the incidents and was placed on administrative leave. There will be a hearing in October.
We are also aware of a late-term abortion mill about to open in Prince George's County. Frankly, I'm surprised to be hearing of only one since the demise of Roe. Maryland is so friendly to baby-killers so I'd think many would be flocking here to ply their trades. Perhaps this PG mill is just the first.
Pro-life people, remember to get out and vote this November.
In regards to my post last week regarding the heretical "papal intentions for the month of September", I post this video for your consideration. It is occasioned by the recent murder of a woman named Eliza Fletcher as she was jogging.
Again I emphasize that to call the death penalty "morally inadmissible" is to utter an objectively heretical statement as it runs counter to Church teaching. We can debate its applicability to given situations. That is something we can never do with abortion, since abortion is always the deliberate taking of innocent human life.
If we waver and state that Church teaching can be reversed with regard to capital punishment, we allow the erroneous notion that the Church's teachings can also be contradicted and mutated in other areas. We see that Humanae Vitae is already in the Vatican crosshairs.
Yesterday in Philadelphia, Biden delivered what he called a speech. It was really a panicked screed against conservatives who look askance upon the obvious cheating in 2020. Notice that he called us "MAGA Republican extremist". If there's anything "extremist", it's the usage of the office of the Presidency to slander millions of Americans who want to bring this country back to some semblance of moral and fiscal sanity. For all his denunciations of politically-motivated violence, he has absolutely nothing to say about the violence that Antifa wreaked upon the nation in 2016 when Trump was declared the victor over Hillary Clinton. There indeed is panic in his voice and words: panic that his socialistic and anti-American schemes will be stymied. More importantly, the panic is being felt by his handlers: the ones who fed him that yarn to spin yesterday.
I will post the Biden screed. Below that I will post an analysis by Michael Hichborn. Throughout his piece, Hichborn asked the question "to whom was Biden talking". I agree that this was nothing short of a rabble-rousing diatribe, calling to "action" all the antifa, BLM, corrupt government agencies, and other lowlife to action should conservatives win the November elections. Trump endorsed quite a few candidates; 92% of those whom he endorsed won their party's nomination and are going to the general elections in November. We saw that in Maryland, where Trump-endorsed Dan Cox won the GOP nomination for the gubernatorial race over Kelly Schultz, the RINO-anointed "heir" to Hogan.
To the White House snoops who are reading this: would you please remind your Dear Leader that the United States of America never was a pure democracy? Our Founding Fathers rightly feared a pure democracy, knowing it would devolve to mob rule. Rather we are a constitutional republic. Please tell him that, for he keeps calling the USA a democracy. This is one of the more minor ways in which he embarrasses himself and the Constitution that he is sworn to uphold. By the way, while your Dear Leader was spewing nonsense about "threats to democracy", Steve Bannon's home was swatted for the second time. This swatting is a real "threat to democracy", no?
In September's Poop Video, Francis calls upon all Catholics to "pray for abolition of the death penalty". Here it is now. Below that I will explain why I believe this is supremely wrong and spiritually poisonous.
So much error. So little time. But I'll do my level best to unpack this crap.
I've written much about Francis' dalliance with heresy in calling for the abolition of the death penalty. I need not rehash those writings in this post. If the reader would like to dismiss my writings as simply the opinion of some "rigid rad-trad", go right ahead. Will you say the same of previous popes, some of them canonized and beatified? How about two prominent Doctors of the Church: Augustine and Aquinas?
I believe this poop video schlock isn't just about the death penalty, per se. In fact, Francis' animus towards the death penalty is simply a trial balloon, to see how much he can get away with completely twisting Church teaching to be just the opposite of what it's always been. The death penalty is a relatively easy topic for him to use, since many Catholics are ambivalent towards capital punishment. Their own feelings towards the matter obscures their perception of the larger picture of the totality of Church teaching. If Francis can work his wiles with the death penalty, it would be so much easier to attack other areas of Church teaching.
And those attacks are starting. Last month the Pontifical Academy for Life, led by homophile Archbishop Paglia, released a document called "Theological Ethics of Life: Scripture, Tradition, and Practical Challenges". This tome calls into question the Church's teachings on contraception. The question is, what will Francis do with this? It appears that many of the PAL were not aware of this document. So only a few concocted this thing in a rather secretive manner.
So this poop video appears to be an attempt to condition Catholics to passively accept more attacks on Church teaching, but maybe it's worse than that.
Not only is Francis announcing his attempt to mutilate the Teachings of the Church regarding the death penalty, that is, to commit heresy, but he is trying to con Catholics into formal cooperation with his sinful intentions. For many Catholics who are ignorant of the tenets of their Faith, their personal culpability may be mitigated somewhat, but I doubt that it is fully erased for the heresy does exist and they would be giving their assent to it.
We now know there are proceedings underway to change the Church's teachings regarding the sinfulness of contraception. If Francis succeeds into duping Catholics to go along with disregard for Church teaching regarding the death penalty, it's all the more easier to convince these same Catholics that "Church teaching can change" regarding contraception. Of course we know from our 50+ years of history that the status of abortion will soon follow that of contraception. Recall that last week, Francis confirmed and renewed Father James Martin's appointment as advisor for Vatican communications. Recall also that after the Dobbs ruling, Martin released a tweet in which he said, "a one-minute-old zygote is not the same as a nine-month-old baby about to be born". Yes, he did have the nerve to say that. But maybe that's because he knows his higher-ups are of the same mind-set as he.
I certainly cannot join in prayer for that "intention". Truth be told, I stopped praying "for the pope's intentions during my morning offerings. Instead, I pray for his conversion to the One True Faith.
Below is last week's episode of the Anchor Team. Michael and Alyssa Hichborn spent the bulk of the time on the conversion of Shia LaBeouf and his subsequent interview with Bishop Robert Barron. It is an hour and twenty minutes long and I myself am in the process of listening to it (in chunks). Here is the link. From what others tell me, LaBeouf brings the focus on the Traditional Latin Mass as being a key factor of his conversion. He learned of it as he was preparing for his role as Padre Pio in a biographical movie of the saint. Hichborn tells of his impressions of Barron's reaction to LaBeouf's account.
From what Hichborn says, Barron's reaction to the Latin Mass is somewhat similar to what Molly Olmstead wrote in the Slate a few days ago. Here is her screed. In addition to being informed of what she says, you'll also have the added benefit of mortification of your sensibilities as you take in both her ignorance and arrogance. She says the Latin Mass is "controversial", as if that is a bad thing. The fact is that for centuries, the Catholic Faith has always been "controversial" enough in the eyes of those set in their sins that they have always striven to mock and persecute us.
However, these days the persecution of faithful Catholics is coming from quite a few prelates. We just saw several questionable bishops receiving their red hats from Francis, one of them being Robert McElroy of San Diego. I've written a lot on him in the past. Towards the end of the Lepanto clip, the Hichborns discuss some ominous theories that could well have solid basis. There's talk of Francis appointing a "papal co-adjutor", owing to his failing health. Cardinal Cupich, who has his own long litany of insults to the Faith, seems to be a top contender for that role. Should that happen, there's a decent possibility that McElroy would be moved to Chicago, to further cement that archdiocese's descent into disbelief and debauchery. In fact, all these appointments place many souls in jeopardy.
As mentioned in my previous post, it is high time that faithful Catholics stood up to the tyrants that are literally in our midst. Some are already about that important task. One such effort in the DC area will occur Saturday Sept 17 - a pilgrimage for the restoration of the Latin Mass. More details can be found here.
Next Saturday, Sept 3, this same group will be conducting a Rosary Rally at 10 am outside the Papal Nunciature. The address is 3339 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC.
The trashing of the Traditional Latin Mass, along with those of us who attend that mass, continues unabated. Listen to this screed uttered by Father Brendan Hoban, who occupies an influential role in the Irish Synod. In that interview, it's no surprise that he eschews his clerics as he mocks young traditionally-minded priests for wearing their cassocks. He "despairs of these young priests".
We will have to resist the de facto tyranny. There are places where the Traditional Latin Mass is still offered. You will have to locate them and decide on a course of action. Perhaps you'll even have to have underground Masses if the local prelates are particularly draconian.
As lay people, we don't have much voice - but we do have some. We can speak to them the language of money - or the cessation of money, to be more precise. A couple who are in the Diocese of Arlington penned an open letter to Bishop Burbidge and the Remnant newspaper published it. I link to it here and urge you all to advise your prelates that your money donations may well cease.
I realize that one of the Six Precepts of the Church is to "support the work of the church". In past times, we have always assumed that this precept was fulfilled by regular contributions to our parishes and diocese. But that precept doesn't stipulate that. In fact, by no stretch of the imagination can the suppression of the Mass of the Ages be construed as "the work of the church". Rather, support those priests who do offer the Traditional Latin Mass. If you can't find any, there is always a pro-life pregnancy center or some worthwhile charity that actually helps marginalized peoples, like a food bank.
Like Mr. and Mrs. DeSimone, we must be up front to our prelates, stand up to them - not anonymously - and advise them that if they don't honor Quo Primum then they will receive not one red cent from you.
