Disdaining Truth And Authentic Worship For The Sake Of Ecumenicide

As most have heard, Pope Francis will be going to Sweden to "celebrate" the 500th year anniversary of the birth of Lutheranism.  I put "celebrate" in quotes for Martin Luther committed mortal sin and was the cause for millions going astray these past 5 centuries.  Mortal sin is to be mourned, not celebrated.  Catholic Family News has an article detailing the real character of the apostate known as Martin Luther and why his doings are to be abhorred not celebrated.

Greg Burke, head of the Vatican Press Office, said Catholics and Lutherans are "no longer defining themselves in opposition to each other but in communion with one another".  Oh, really?  I haven't heard any news of the Lutherans recanting their errors, for that's the only way true communion will come about.  Any real unity must have its basis in truth - that is, the Teachings of Jesus as entrusted to the Roman Catholic Church.

A little "aside".  Who remembers all the excuses for the papal gaffes that involved "poor English translations" from the Italian?  Consider the name of this Vatican press office head - sounds like something originating from the British Isles, doesn't it?  Hmm..  But I digress!  On with the main topic of this post!

LifeSiteNews put up a piece today regarding the impending ecumenicide debacle (fitting that it's occurring on Halloween, for it sure will be filled with horrors - but again I digress!)  It mentions the "hopes for intercommunion" by both Catholic bishops and Lutheran officials.  Both Cardinals Burke and Sarah denounced the very idea of non-Catholics receiving Holy Communion for it would constitute sacrilege.  They are correct.  Keep these two cardinals in mind for there is other news regarding them.

So on Halloween there is a "service" (one that we pray doesn't involve the mortal sin of sacrilege on the part of the pope).  The following day the pope will celebrate Mass for the local Catholic community. Crud ran an article on that, and the first few lines purport to be the pope's real sentiments about that Mass.  I'll quote now. "At first, Pope Francis did not want to celebrate a Catholic Mass in Sweden in order to preserve Monday’s ecumenical witness at the joint Catholic-Lutheran commemoration of the Reformation in Lund, he revealed in an interview released today. He later changed his mind after reflecting on his role as pastor of the Catholic community, and in response to a request from the local Church. But he put the Mass on the following day, Tuesday, in order to 'avoid confusing' the ecumenical event with the Catholic one."  If this quote is accurate (and it probably is), this means that the pope didn't want an icky old pelagian Mass to poop the ecumenicide party.  Now faithful Catholics know that Holy Mass is the highest form of worship that we can offer to Almighty God.  During the Consecration, the bread and wine are transformed into Jesus Christ Himself, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.  It takes precedence over all other acts of Catholic worship.  It certainly is far, far superior to any other prayer service and we beg the pope and his entourage to remember that.

Earlier in this post I said there was news regarding Cardinals Burke and Sarah.  It is quite troubling.  Today it was announced that the pope has completely revamped the membership of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship.  Only Cardinal Sarah remains as prefect.  Quite a few of the faithful members were ejected including Cardinal Burke.  Others include Cardinals Pell, Ouellett, Ranjith.  They were replaced by those of a liberal bent, virtually isolating Cardinal Sarah as he attempts to maintain tradition and reverence in Catholic liturgy.  Call me suspicious, but I do think some of the motivation for this may have been punishment for Cardinals Burke and Sarah for daring to remind Catholics, including the pope, that non-Catholics cannot be given Holy Communion on pain of sacrilege.

Ecumenicide is getting to be quite the idol these days.  Not only do good prelates get marginalized, but Holy Mass itself is shunted to the side.  When will it end?

Pope Francis And Ecumenicide

Ecumenicide - any dialogue between Catholics and those of other faiths in which Catholics participate without the express purpose of converting those of other faiths to the Roman Catholic Church, that is, the One True Church.

I cannot claim credit for coining that term. I saw that on the facebook wall of Pat Archibald, one of the bloggers of Creative Minority Report.  It is a brilliant term and it is an accurate description of what politically correct Catholics do when they "dialog" with no intent of bringing others home to Rome.

Here is a curious and telling post from Rorate Caeli.  CMR commented on it too.  It seems that some Italian Pentecostals and Evangelicals held a round-table discussion on July 19th as they discussed "contemporary Catholicism".  In their statement, they list key differences between them and us; I urge you to read it.  While they obviously fail to accept that the errors behind the differences lie squarely on their shoulders, at least they acknowledge the significance of the differences and that these differences render impossible any real "ecumenical opening" with the Church.  On that score they understand that error needs to be addressed first before any talk of unity can occur, for unity must be based on the whole truth.

This past Monday the Pope went to Caserta and visited several Italian Pentecostals.  He made the statement that "the Holy Spirit is the source of diversity in the Church. This diversity is very rich and beautiful. But then the same Holy Spirit creates unity. And in this way the Church is one in diversity. To use a beautiful Gospel phrase that I love very much, reconciled diversity is the gift of the Holy Spirit."  Forgive me, but who can make sense out of this glop?  We're talking about breaks in the Body of Christ, breaks occurring due to heresy and dissidence from the One True Church.  That is not "rich and beautiful".  And as far as that "gospel phrase" goes, can anyone cite chapter-and-verse the phrase "reconciled diversity"?  I've read through the Bible several times and have never come across that one.

Here are some more relevant details.  Apparently the local bishop of Caserta was never advised of the pope's visit to his diocese.  The Holy Father also scheduled his visit on the Feast of St Anne, a saint held in high honor in that town.  Why would it have taken much persuasion to convince the Holy Father to celebrate a Mass in honor of the grandmother of Our Lord?  Considering both these facts, we see here on the part of the pope an apparent downplaying of the Catholic church in that town.

Most distressing, especially from the Chief Shepherd of the Church, is this statement:  "I’m not interested in converting Evangelicals to Catholicism. There are so many doctrines we will never agree on. Let’s be about showing the love of Jesus.”  If he, the Successor of Peter is not interested in conversions to Catholicism, he is not showing any "love of Jesus", but rather a feel-good, shallow counterfeit of the same.  Our Lord's commission to his Apostles was to baptize the nations and to "teach them all that I have commanded you".  He does them, and all the world, a gross disservice to dismiss Catholic truth as "doctrines we'll never agree on".  One of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to "instruct the ignorant".  Did that happen?  All indications point to "no".

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is ECUMENICIDE.

October 31 2017 - A Day Of Great Evil

No, I do not refer to Halloween or the satanic/occultic evils that attend this day.  I'm referring to some thing that is actually far more insidious and inimical to the One True Faith.  I'm referring to ecumenicide assuming new depths of depravity.

Today the Pope was scheduled to be in Sweden to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's mortal sins of heresy and schism.  One would think that the Chief Shepherd of the Church would in fact call to repentance these wayward individuals.  Alas, that is not so.  He cooperated with their sin by praising it and celebrating it.

Many, including Catholics, have a false image of Martin Luther as being a courageous visionary who dared to swim against the tide in loyalty to Jesus Christ.  History - real history - tells a different tale.  I won't have time to delve into every detail, but will point out some highlights from the sources to which I'll link below.

• In The Catholic Thing we read "Lamenting Luther's Reformation".  We get a glimpse of a rather aimless but self-centered young man who found himself in religious life.  He preached the error of sola scriptura while mutilating the Bible, ripping out seven books in the process.  He had quite a foul mouth and was quite anti-Semitic.
• St. Dominic's Media published "The 38 Most Ridiculous Things Martin Luther Ever Wrote".  Each quote is followed by its source.  He openly approved of adultery (probably deemed most convenient by Henry VIII).   He said that Jews deserve to be hanged.  He accused Jesus Christ of committing adultery - a most serious blasphemy.
• National Catholic Register published "Who Was The Real Martin Luther?"  This work details how Luther's machinations were responsible for 130,000 deaths immediately following his rebellion.  Of course millions more died over the centuries between then and now.

Now in addition to the statue of Martin Luther that pollutes the Vatican, the Vatican announced today that it will issue a commemorative stamp featuring Luther and one of his collaborators at the foot of the Crucifix.  It might have been more appropriate to show those malefactors as being among the soldiers who nailed Jesus to the Cross.

Not all Catholics are swallowing this ecumenicide poison.  Cardinal Muller, in response to the ludicrous blasphemy by the secretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference that "the reformation..was an event of the Holy Spirit", contradicted him directly.  The Eponymous Flower gave a report of Catholics protesting outside an ecumenicide debacle put on by the Grand Rapids (MI) Diocese.  That sacrilege was no doubt inspired by the scandal promulgated by the Vatican.

In Brussels, Belgium a similar sacrilege occurred in the Cathedral of St. Michael and St Gudula.  Several young Catholics linked arms and prayed the Rosary (in French, of course), to offer reparation for the sins being committed therein.  I submit to you that sooner or later (maybe sooner than we think) we may be called upon to emulate their actions.  Their actions are very similar to the actions of some Argentine Catholics who linked arms and prayed the Rosary as their Cathedral was threatened with vandalism (pay special attention to the second video).  In both cases courageous Catholics stood firm against sacrilege.  Let's study and learn from them, and pray the Rosary daily and call out error for what it is.

Lovers Of Ecumenicide Pretend Muslims Worship Our God - They DON'T!

There is a great deal of confusion in the Church today as to whether or not Muslims worship the same God as do we.  In fact many prelates, including our own Cardinal McCarrick, either are honestly confused about the matter or they exploit general confusion so that they may appear to be "ecumenical".  Indeed, nine years ago at Catholic University His Eminence addressed some Muslim dignitaries; in that address he invoked "allah" three times but he gave not one mention to Jesus Christ.  That address, which can be called de facto idolatry, is here.

Cardinal McCarrick and other devotees of ecumenicide often cite Lumen Gentium and the Catechism as their authorities.  They are misreading those church documents.  A few weeks ago Dr. Taylor Marshall posted an article that addressed this question.  I link to it now; it's worth careful study.  He points out that the Church documents state that the Muslims profess to worship the God of Abraham, and profess to hold faith in Him.

It's one thing to profess to worship God.  It can be quite another to worship God in fact.  Here's an example of this occurrence.  We've all heard Nancy Pelosi's protestations of being a "good faithful Catholic".  This is the same Pelosi who went on a rampage when her bishop upheld traditional marriage.  This is the same Pelosi who was honored at Planned Parenthood's gala in March and said that" to be associated with the great Margaret Sanger is a distinct privilege" (she may well "enjoy that privilege" for all eternity if she doesn't repent, but I digress).  She also believes Hamas to be a "humanitarian organization".  So Pelosi may think she's a great Catholic, but reality indicates otherwise.  Similarly, Muslims think they worship the God of Abraham but their actions indicate otherwise.  The more vociferous Muslims state that we don't worship the same deity (more than we can say for Cardinal McCarrick); they just don't accept that they are the ones worshiping a false idol - if not actual demons.

Below is a video of Muslim jihadists burying alive opponents.  This action (among so many others) is evidence that these monsters do NOT worship the One True God.  Parents - you may wish to keep your small children from seeing this.

From The Ecumenicide Department - Halloween Horror In Lund

The emissaries of ecumenicide had a heyday in Lund earlier today.  From Catholic Herald we read, "Pope Francis urged Catholics and Lutherans to take decisive steps toward unity and move beyond the controversies that have divided western Christianity."  Right off the bat, we need to get real.  The only authentic "steps toward unity" will be the repudiation of the heresies of Lutheranism that have given birth to that erroneous sect.  In other words, they need to come back to Rome and embrace the Roman Catholic Church, in all her fullness of teaching and sacraments, for these are given to us by Jesus Christ Himself.  There's no "moving beyond" that fact.  Unity must be founded on truth; else what we'll have is a cheap sentimental facade of "unity".

Martin Junge, a Lutheran official evinced some of the problems even as he waxed lyrical about "unity".  Notice what he said: "building bridges so that we can draw closer to each other, houses where we can meet together and tables — yes, tables — where we can share the bread and the wine, the presence of Jesus Christ who has never left us and who calls us to abide in him so the world may believe."  Notice how he speaks of mere bread and wine.  Unless Lutherans understand that at Consecration during the Mass, the bread and wine cease to be bread and wine and they become the Body and Blood of Jesus. There is no understanding, no acceptance of that in his remarks, therefore there can be no real unity.

In Crud we read, "Pope Francis and the global Lutheran leader have jointly pledged to remove the obstacles to full unity between their Churches, leading eventually to shared Eucharist."  Again, we know that only as Lutherans forsake their sect and are received into the Catholic Church can they partake of the Eucharist.  There's no other way to "remove the obstacles".

Regrettably the pope provided one example of how the yearning for baseless unity will lead to more error.  In Zenit we read; The Pope said that with gratitude we can “acknowledge that the Reformation helped give greater centrality to sacred Scripture in the Church’s life.” He also said that Martin Luther, “with the concept  "by grace alone,’” reminds us that God “always takes the initiative, prior to any human response, even as he seeks to awaken that response. The doctrine of justification thus expresses the essence of human existence before God.  There is so much here to be unpacked that we must resort to "bullet" format.

• "greater centrality to sacred Scripture"  What Scripture???  Martin Luther mutilated it by removing from it books that didn't support his heresies.  For instance, the two books of Maccabees were removed for they provided direct reference to the doctrine of purgatory.  As we all know, Luther eliminated that teaching from his perverted system of thought.  I understand that he was also going to pull the Letter of James from the New Testament.  I don't know what happened to prevent that.
• Speaking of Scriptural mutilation, we recall also that Luther added the word "alone" to the passage in Romans where he speaks of Abraham's faith.  Is that the "grace alone" to which the pope refers?  Why does the pope affirm the sola fide heresy concocted by Luther?  Yes, that's what it is; it certainly is no true "doctrine".

Below I'll post an interview given by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, reminding us that the Council of Trent already addressed the issue of Lutheran error.  The Council of Trent is binding.

Deconstruction Of Church Tradition Under Pope Francis

After the grotesque display of satanic idolatry at St Peter's Basilica on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we continue to see increasingly blatant attempts to deconstruct Church teaching.  Many of these attempts are from high Church officials, including Pope Francis.

Thanks to Toronto Catholic Witness, I was directed to the homily that Pope Francis gave on December 8th to inaugurate the "jubilee of mercy".  This is on the Vatican's website.  Here is the troubling passage: "Before all else, the Council was an encounter. A genuine encounter between the Church and the men and women of our time. An encounter marked by the power of the Spirit, who impelled the Church to emerge from the shoals which for years had kept her self-enclosed so as to set out once again..." (emphasis mine)

I agree with TCW that in that phrase, Pope Francis spit in the eye all his predecessors, some of them saints, blesseds and doctors of the Church, precisely because they acted as shepherds who guarded their flocks.  While this pope might prefer that we take the "smell of the sheep", his predecessors (by and large) sought to preserve the Church in the odor of sanctity.

In a recent interview, Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said that "some form of birth control" might help with "overpopulation" and resultant "food shortage".  He also stated it could help with "climate change".  He then reminded us all of the shameful way in which Pope Francis treated the woman who was expecting her eighth child.  It would be an interesting thing if that eighth child were to confront the pope and tell him a thing or two, but I digress!

He must have realized his Freudian slip for he tried to backpedal, saying only "natural forms of birth control" were acceptable.  I don't buy it; else, why would he have used the general, nebulous "some form" descriptor for birth control?  More importantly, periodic abstinence from marital relations cannot be equated with what is commonly referred to as "birth control".  Voice of the Family is correct in opining that Turkson's remarks do lend credibility to the attempts to divorce marital relations from the procreation of children.  They certainly do make plain the linkage between "climate change" junk science with population control.

According to the Guardian, a Vatican document (name unknown) exhorts Catholics not to attempt to convert Jews to Christianity.  This document is from the Vatican commission for relationships with Jews.  Boys and girls, can you say "ecumenicide"?  You probably noticed during Triduum services that the traditional prayer for Jews to come to Christianity has been scuttled in recent years, so this manifestation of ecumenicide predates the current pontiff.  Now what was that again that we read in the Bible, at the end of several Gospels, where Jesus commands (not "suggest", not "request", but "command") the Apostles to baptize all "in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"?  Or did the "god of surprises" change his mind?

As I read of this, I think of what St Paul wrote in several of his letters, how he wished that all his brother Jews would be converted.  I also think of St. Vincent Ferrar, who once marched into a synagogue, started preaching and converted thousands of Jews on the spot.  Paul!  Vincent!  Naughty-naughty!  Stop that now!  Leave the Jews (and others) to wallow in darkness!  Don't you know that we must be ecumenical?  Seriously though, how can one talk with a straight face about a "year of mercy" and yet not seek to bring others to the font of mercy, that is, Jesus Christ, who acts through His Church?

My blogging colleague Julie at Connecticut Catholic Corner put up a piece today entitled "The New Age Of Pope Francis' Church".  Read it for I concur with her.  I too pray for a holy pope who will save souls.  At this time, it appears that this pope will not be Pope Francis, but only God knows.  Let us pray.

From The Ecumenicide Department - Was Tony Palmer Treated Badly?

On July 20, a few weeks ago, Anglican-Evangelical "bishop" Tony Palmer was killed in a motorcycle accident.  He and Pope Francis were apparently good friends, with the Pope going so far as to erroneously call him a "brother bishop".  Palmer was involved in the meeting about which I wrote earler; here are some additional pictures.  Note Kenneth Copeland praying over His Holiness.

The Novus Ordo Watch article to which I linked ends with a prayer that Palmer had a last-minute conversion to the One True Faith, a prayer that we should all echo.  What is quite tragic is that at one point, Palmer had wanted to convert to the Roman Catholic Church - but the Pope advised him not to convert, giving the lame excuse of needing "bridge-builders".  The scandal!  Palmer had wanted the fullness of Christian truth and the sacraments - and the Chief Shepherd dissuaded him!  The Chief Shepherd drove a seeking sheep out of the pasture!   Regardless of what the motivation might have been, Palmer was treated badly.  His legitimate spiritual interests were not given due regard.

Now comes the news that the Holy Father directed a Catholic church in England to celebrate a requiem Mass for Palmer as they would for a Catholic bishop.  This is insane!  I'm sure Palmer was a decent, good person - as evidenced by his frustrated desire to be received into the One True Church.  But he wasn't Catholic, let alone a Catholic bishop!  That requiem Mass was simply inappropriate.

I didn't coin the term "ecumenicide".  However, I use it for it describes the spiritual death that results when false "ecumenism" is exalted at the expense of the truth of the Roman Catholic Church.

From The Ecumenicide Department - Pope Francis To Celebrate Sinful Rebellion Against Holy Mother Church

On October 31 2016, the Pope will go to Lund Cathedral (Lutheran) in Switzerland and participate in a prayer service to commemorate (not mourn, but commemorate) the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's rebellion against Holy Mother Church.  Rorate Caeli informs us that this event will kick off an entire year of celebration of heresy - heresy that has led to the damnation of millions of souls.

Even now the pope is off to a roaring start.  At a prayer service yesterday at the Basilica of St Paul in Rome, he stated, "as bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I want to beg for mercy and forgiveness for un-Gospel-like behavior on the part of Catholics against Christians of other churches."  If he was talking about the reluctance of Catholics to proclaim the full truth of the Faith to Protestants and urge their return to Rome (does Tony Palmer come to mind?), that would be wonderful.  But past conduct indicates otherwise.

Then he asked for "forgiveness for the sin of our divisions".  But the division per se is not the problem; the divergence from the One True Church is.  Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot have "unity" without all being under the umbrella of Holy Mother Church, partaking of the Sacrament and adhering to Sacred Tradition.  Those who embrace Protestantism embrace falsehood.  As long as that exists, we need division for we cannot be united in a lie.

Doesn't it sound like the pope is emulating Obama's "apology tours"?  Again I doubt that he's apologizing for Catholics not telling them the truth of their heresy.  I suppose it is rather appropriate that this debacle will happen on Halloween.

Yes, Virginia, De Facto Schism Is Underway In The Church

Last Saturday when I commented on the ecumenicide in which the USCCB was embroiling itself, I somehow missed one of the most egregious aspects of it, although it was unabashedly stated in the USCCB press release.  Here it is: "It also suggests that the expansion of opportunities for Lutherans and Catholics to receive Holy Communion together would be a sign of the agreements already reached."  Ladies and gentlemen, it would be sacrilege to allow Holy Communion to be given to those who are not in union with Rome.  Holy Communion is not a mere "sign of agreements" but is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ Himself.

But my purpose here is not to go into a treatise on Holy Communion but to illustrate the lack of belief in the Real Presence on the part of many of our bishops.  How could the USCCB even suggest such sacrilege if they had even just a smidgen of belief in the Real Presence as taught by the Church?  And that's not the only teachings that are being disobeyed by many bishops.  Toronto Catholic Witness reports that Archbishop Henryk Hoser of the Archdiocese of Warszawa-Praga has stated quite frankly that "some bishops do not even accept the official teachings of the Church".  In the context of that interview, he is speaking of the Church's teachings on sexuality and family, particularly Humanae Vitae.

 Until this past sin-nod, there were well-intentioned Catholics who could just not admit that there are serious problems with this papacy.  The truth is becoming harder and harder to deny, as evidenced by some very recent articles.  Please read:

• "The Soiled Shoes Of The Fisherman" by George Neumayr
• "Pope vs Church: The Anatomy Of A Catholic Civil War" by Damian Thompson
• "What Some Synod Fathers Could Learn From St. Charles Borromeo" by Donald Prudlo

I'd also suggest reading One Peter Five's piece.  He is spot-on.  What some people are just now seeing has been ongoing for decades now.  I'll echo my colleague's last line: "Welcome to the war.  It's about time you showed up."

Two Bishops Throw Their Faithful Flocks Under The Bus To Appease The World

Many of us have heard of Patricia Jannuzzi, a theology teacher at Immaculata High School in Somerville NJ.  She had posted on her private Facebook page, defending true marriage and exposing the gay agenda for what it is - part of a push to extinguish western civilization.  Lepanto Institute saved her post, because the school demanded that she take it down before informing her that her contract would not be renewed.  As you read the post, do you find in there anything that is at variance with Church teaching?  Neither do I.  So why did her school fire her?

A former student of hers stumbled across it.  He was miffed to read it, as he himself is gay.  He also is the nephew of Hollywood left-wing Susan Sarandon.  So auntie got all the minions together and they started to blast the school - much like a similar bunch did to the Archdiocese of Washington three years ago when Father Guarnizo withheld Holy Communion to a flaming lesbian.  And like the Archdiocese of Washington, they abandoned their Catholic principles and displayed all the spinal fortitude of jellyfish.  The ease with which they cast aside their allegiance to the Teaching of Jesus Christ cause me to believe if such allegiance was really present; they were way too quick to evict from their midst a truly Catholic teacher who proclaimed true Catholic morality.

I'd suggest that we too make our displeasure known to the school and to do so repeatedly.  I will say one thing for the gay cartel.  They are tenacious and ready to drop everything and act for their beliefs, such as they are.  We on the other hand tend to be too demure, reserved, deferential in the face of those who need to hear the truth from us and even to be rebuked by us.  Here is the contact information for the school.  Please utilize it, but there is also one more step.

Jesus Demonstrates "Acceptance"!

The school's site posted a horrid statement by the local bishop, Bishop Paul Bootkoski of the Diocese of Metuchen.  I'll link to it as it appears on that diocesan site.  It is one along the apostolic line of Judas.  One line of his is that "the teacher's comments are disturbing and do not reflect the Church's teachings of acceptance".  I can only say that this is heresy.  The Church has never taught the acceptance of sinful behavior.  Ms. Jannuzzi most certainly did articulate the Church's teaching regarding sodomy.  Either the bishop is blissfully ignorant of basic moral teaching or some sugar daddies are threatening to cut off funds - or Sarandon sycophants are calling and saying mean things to hurt his feelings!  Well, like Lepanto and others, we must all contact Bishop Bootkoski ourselves and set the record straight.

So that's one bishop who betrayed a faithful Catholic.  Now onto another.  On March 3rd in the state of Idaho, a Catholic state senator, Sheryl Nuxoll, boycotted an opening prayer at a senate session that was conducted by a Hindu.  She correctly stated that hinduism is "a false faith with false gods".  She wasn't the only one, by the way; there were two others.  Rather than support her, or at least keep silence, Bishop Peter Christensen of the Diocese of Boise rushed to rebuke her Catholic witness, falsely claiming that Nuxoll did not "represent the opinions or teachings of the Roman Catholic Church."  Oh, really?  News flash!  Hinduism is idolotry!  Nuxoll is correct.  As you can detect in Christenen's screed, his thinking is infected with the syndrome known as "ecumenicide".  Here's contact information for that diocese; please call this treatment of Nuxoll into question.

Are you noticing a pattern?  Not only do these bishops refuse to speak truth to dissidents, lest they offend some deep pockets or rile some loud leftists, but when faithful Catholics within their dioceses do act like Catholics, these bishops pile on them!  Is it to keep those dollars flowing in, or the leftists from sneering at them, or is it something else?  Do they resent the faithful Catholics for displaying the faith and courage that they refuse to display?

False Ecumenism Leads To Culture Of Death And Barbarism

Think on this Vortex for a while.  And yes, a Jesuit was a key player in the Vatican II document that was key in the spread of false ecumenism - or ecumenicide as it is more aptly called.  Our Church leaders did sell us out bigtime, substituting "social justice" for the Church's true mission of saving souls.

From The Ecumenicide Department - Is The Vatican Trying To Thrust On Us A One-World Religion Of Humanism?

I don't know what else to make of recent events.  Last summer the Holy Father proposed a 10-point plan for happiness: a plan that didn't once mention the word "God".  The SinNod that happened last October bore evidence of high church officials trying to compromise the Church's moral teachings regarding sexuality, marriage and family life.  He urged protestant Tony Palmer not to convert to Catholicism when the latter expressed that desire.  On Pentecost Sunday the Holy Father allowed a Muslim to utter idolatrous islamic "prayer" in the Vatican Gardens.

Today, during his visit to Turkey, Pope Francis went to the Blue Mosque and prayed in it with the Grand Mufti and did so while facing Mecca.  He then asked the Mufti to pray for him.  Knowing that the Mufti would do obeisance to a false idol, what benefit did he think he'd acquire from such idol worship?  Has he been listening too much to Cardinal McCarrick?  It is said that he wants "dialogue" to combat "fanaticism and fundamentalism".  Can he really be that naive?  Once again, the Church is about the business of saving souls, not combating "fanaticism and fundamentalism".  That means proclaiming the Gospel and the teachings of the Church, not praying to false idols.

In 1928 Pope Pius XI released his encyclical Mortalium Animos.  In it Pope Pius wrote about religious unity and the fact that true unity can only be obtained when the world converts to the one truth Roman Catholic Faith.  Until then, no Catholic is to engage in any pretense of a premature unity.  In that encyclical, it is clear that Pope Pius is condemning false unity with protestants.  These words still bind on us.  If they bind on us with regards to protestants, how much more do they do so with regards to those whose very quaran evinces hatred of Christians?

I for one look upon this incident in the Blue Mosque with much regret.

Pope Francis, Ecumenicide Is Poison Against The Path Of Salvation

That is what he should have told that poor little girl when she and other Lutherans visited Rome a few days ago.  The question she asked of him is how she should convince non-Christian friends of her faith.  He replied, "What should I tell them to convince them? Listen, the last thing you should do is ‘tell’."  There are so, so many things wrong with this statement.

• He contradicts Jesus Christ Himself when He commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel and to teach them all that He had taught them.  That sounds like a bit of "telling".
• He led a young child astray.  Far from being encouraged to share her faith, He told her to remain silent and perhaps caused her to doubt her own faith with its demands to proclaim the Gospel.
• The context of the story indicates that the child herself might have been Lutheran.  There is not one indication that the pope pointed her to the One True Faith.  More on that later.

He misquotes Matthew 25 by ascribing to Jesus these words: "Beware the leaven of hypocrisy".  These words are not to be found anywhere.  Oh, Jesus does have rebukes for hypocrites, but this quote simply doesn't exist.  If Scripture is to be cited for certain phrases, one should ensure that the quote is accurate and can be corroborated.  Else, one may fall into the danger of ascribing to his/her own ideas the authority of Scripture.

In Matthew 7:7-9, Jesus, in teaching of prayer, asks what father among His listeners would hand to his children snakes and scorpions when asked for food.  Yet snakes and scorpions were given to this child as she asked the pope for guidance.  This is quite reminiscent of the false guidance that the pope gave to his friend the late Tony Palmer.  The latter wanted to convert to Catholicism and the pope dissuaded him; in fact, the pope combated the work of the Holy Spirit as Our Lord was moving him to become Catholic.  An analogy that comes to mind is a drowning person begging for a life preserver and the lifeguard tosses him an obviously leaky one.

In two weeks the pope will be traveling to Switzerland to "commemorate" the 500th anniversary of the "Lutheran Reformation".  Since when does one "commemorate" a horrible sin?  Given the other remarks he made during that audience, it is clear that he really intends to celebrate the ripping asunder of the Church and the resultant damnation of souls.  What is also appalling is that the group gave him a gift - a bound copy of Luther's 95 Theses - the beginning of his heresies.  The pope accepted this replica of Luther's slap in the face to the Church.

It is reported that at that meeting with the Lutherans, in that room was a statue of Martin Luther - made of chocolate (I kid you not!).  Why would any kind of statue of a heretic ever be found in the Vatican?  When will we see a chocolate Hitler?  How about a chocolate Margaret Sanger?  Since the Vatican is in Rome, perhaps a chocolate Nero or Caligula would be fitting, right?

With this abomination in the Vatican, along with beach balls on sacred altars and muslims praying to their demon-gods in the Vatican Gardens, this pope has allowed filth to pollute places dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ.  More troublesome is the scandal being caused to those who would seek out the Vicar of Christ for guidance - as did that little girl.  Didn't Our Lord say something about millstones being tied around the necks of those who cause scandal?  Pray for our pope that he'll turn around before more souls are steered towards hell.

Ecumenicide - USCCB Channels Neville Chamberlain

First a little history lesson.  Neville Chamberlain was Prime Minister of England during the late 1930s, immediately preceding Winston Churchill.  He and much of Europe watched as Hitler began annexing and conquering middle Europe.  Chamberlain earned notoriety for the Munich Accord that he struck with Hitler that basically threw Czechoslovakia under Hitler's bus.  Chamberlain thought that by this treachery disguised as "dialog", that there would be "peace in our time".  He was absolutely wrong, in spades.

The USCCB has a penchant for not learning from history - or at least not caring about the obvious lessons therein.  In the wake of American reporters being beheaded, Christians being crucified, babies beheaded, other minorities being buried alive and driven from their homes to certain death - all at the hands of Muslims - the USCCB wants to engage in Chamberlain-style "dialogue".  That is absolutely useless.  Are there more "moderate" Muslims?  We can answer that question by asking another: have we heard any "moderate" Muslim roundly denounce the barbarism of the more obviously radical Muslims?  The answer to the second question is the answer to the first.  I have heard of none.  Dialogue with these "moderates" is an absolute waste at best.  Perhaps the US bishops would do well to read this sermon by St. Bernard of Clairvaux as he called Christendom to arms for the Second Crusade.

Why are the bishops concerned about "dialogue"?  Why aren't they proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in all its fullness?  Perhaps if they focused only on their God-given mission, Christians would not be facing near extinction in many parts of the middle east.

UPDATE - I'm afraid the lunacy is getting worse. See this.

A Handy Chart To Combat Ecumenicide With Muslims

Recall my post from last week.  Perhaps the picture/chart below will further illustrate why "dialogue" with allah-worshipers is at best, an exercise of futility.

From The Ecumenicide Department - Death By Dialogue

Via Church Militant, I learned today that the USCCB is launching a new group called "National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue" to establish "mutual esteem", "greater understanding" and a "deep sense of trust".  This organization will be co-chaired by a Catholic and a muslim.  While the muslim is yet to be announced, the Catholic co-chair will be Archbishop Blaise Cupich.  Given what I've written about him in earlier posts, we can well wonder what could possibly go right with this looming debacle.

In that list of oh-so-lofty goals, there is no mention whatsoever of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the One True Faith to the lost souls that are the muslims.  As mentioned in yesterday's post, the Church's one mission is to save souls (Clergy!  Burn that into your memories!).  With all this jibber-jabber about "dialogue", the saving of souls will not be happening at these little gab-fests.  "But Jesus dialogued with people!", some might protest.  No He didn't.  He certainly had conversations with people, but they were not "dialogues" between equals.  He always taught, preached, exhorted, rebuked - always the conversations were between Master and disciples (unless the exchanges were malevolent, as with Caiaphas, Pilate, Pharisees, etc).  Never did He condescend to be regarded as "just one of the guys".

It seems like all sorts of substitutes are being put before our eyes to distract us from the salvation of souls.  With yesterday's post we see the distraction-du-jour was thinly-disguised gaia worship.  Today's revelation by Church Militant points to indifferentism.  I'm going to post below a commentary by Michael Matt regarding the yesterday's homage to environmentalism for he suggests a larger context to all of these pet projects of the vatican.

More From The Ecumenicide Department, Courtesy Of The Pope

The Italian blog Chiesa published a piece today entitled "The Strange Silences Of A Very Talkative Pope".  I'd suggest you read it.  There are many curious facts stated therein.  Like many of my blogging colleagues are doing today, I'll focus on one very bizarre statement, since it strikes right at the heart of Our Lord's command to make disciples of all nations.  That command binds on all baptized/confirmed Catholics, but especially on those endowed with the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

The statement is this, uttered by the Holy Father as he explained his reasons for visiting his Protestant friends in Caserta.  "To extend the apologies of the Catholic Church for the damage that has been done to them by obstructing the growth of their communities.”  My goodness!  This is a statement -curious if not heretical - that needs some serious unpacking!

• The "communities" mentioned in that quote are in fact Protestant churches, churches not in communion with Rome.  By and large they reject most of the Sacraments, which are (among other things) primary channels for sanctifying grace - without which no one gets to heaven.
• How would these "mean ole Catholics" have been "obstructing the growth of these communities"?  Does it take too much imagination that Catholics would have been doing this "obstruction" by bringing wayward Protestants into the Roman Catholic Church which is the One True Church?  That's what we're supposed to do - to bring them to the fullness of truth.  One of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to "instruct the ignorant".
• If any apologies are required along these lines, the Church should be apologizing to Protestants for not being zealous and dedicated to offering them the fullness of Truth that can be found only within the Roman Catholic Church.  They are floundering about with no Sacraments.  If, for example, they fall into mortal sin and don't avail themselves of Confession, they really think "sole fide" will save them.  Will it?  That's quite a crap shoot, with someone's eternal destination at stake.
• Recall yesterday's post, where the Holy Father is quoted as saying he's not interested in converting evangelicals to Catholicism.  He said "there are so many doctrines we'll never agree on...let's be about showing the love of Jesus".  The doctrines of the Catholic Church are the teachings of Jesus Christ Himself.  Any attempt to trivialize the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church will be rejection of the authentic love of Jesus in favor of a cheap, shallow, sentimental counterfeit of the same.

Many of these Protestant denominations reared their ugly heads during what is erroneously called the "reformation".  Either that or they are break-offs of the original Protestants.  The Church, to retrieve the Protestants into the One True Church, held the Council of Trent and instituted what can be called the Counter Reformation.  Many Catholic orders arose to assist in this effort to reclaim these Protestants.  One of these orders was the Society of Jesus - Jesuits!  Is it not a supreme irony that a Jesuit pope is now contradicting St Ignatius Loyola?  St Francis Xavier, who preached the Gospel to India?  The North American martyrs, who preached to the Indians in New York and Canada?  They must be spinning in their graves.  Let us ask their intercession for their brother Jesuit.

Catholic Standard Commits Ecumenicide

Again from the current issue of the Catholic (sub)Standard we see an account of the 40th annual concert of the Interfaith Council of  Metropolitan Washington.  Browse through the article and notice that not only were there performances by Catholics and some Protestant groups, but also of Muslims and Hindus.

Beholding ICMW idolary

This performance was held at the Washington Hebrew Congregation.  Several years ago this ho-down happened in the main nave of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  That's right!  Idolatry occurred inside the National Shrine as Muslims and Hindus sang prayers to their false deities/demons.  I got wind of this just a few days before it was to occur (so no time to organize a protest) and I went to see how bad it could get.  It got pretty bad.  In fact, the Hindu dancing girls were even more scantily clad then than what you see in the Standard's photo.  I left in the middle of it as I could stomach no more.  Pachamama had nothing on the National Shrine..

Besides the flagrant idolatry, we see that the Interfaith Council of Washington is controlled by Democrats.  Case in point:  Rabbi Gerry Serotta, its current executive director, has contributed to something called Actblue, an online donor portal for Democrat candidates.  Looking at the Catholics on its Board of Directors, we see one Anthony Quainton, who contributed to Chris Van Hollen as he ran against the prolife Kathy Szeliga.

To sum up - in one issue the Standard trumpeted two very questionable organizations - The Interfaith Council of Washington and Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.  With just a little internet research I was able to learn just how inimical to the Faith they really are - and I'm not a professional journalist.  Does the Catholic Standard employ any real journalists, or are they just parrots for the DC chancery swamp?  Of course this question is purely rhetorical.

From The Maturation Department - Abominations In Catholic Churches, Sanctioned By Popes

Yes, I put the word "popes" in plural, for they - from Paul VI onward - have wafted freely of the false idol of pseudo-ecumenism.  Why is this ecumenism false?  Simply put, it's a sanctimonious disguise for the heresy of religious indifferentism. It operates under the unspoken and erroneous assumption that all religions are equally beneficial.  For this I'll now use the more accurate term "ecumenicide".

As you watch the video below, think of Ezekiel 8, as the prophesies about the abomination in the temple are announced.  Might this video be displaying a manifestation of this prophesy's fulfillment?  I think that to be a reasonable hypothesis since we see:

• Talk of a "new world order" (12:38)
• A statue of Buddha on a Catholic altar (22:30).  In front of the Tabernacle!
• Hindus invoking their plethora of false deities in another Catholic sanctuary (23:00).
• Other sundry idolatries occurring in Catholic venues and being placed on a par with Catholic worship and devotion

The video is long but well worth the time to view it.  Below the video I have discussion of yet another profanation of the Vatican, one that occurred this past week.  I can see this will be a long post so I'll now insert the jump break.  So..

Obvious Questions Regarding This Papacy

Any Catholic with their eyes and ears halfway opened knows that there has been much controversy surrounding Pope Francis and whether or not he will uphold the traditions of the Roman Catholic Faith.  Some are concerned that if current trends continue, the Church may lose what little spiritual and moral credibility that she still retains.

There is much confusion regarding the papacy.  Our Lord promised that His Vicar would never solemnly promulgate error in matters of faith and morals; that is, he'd never pronounce error "ex cathedra".  That's it!  That is the extent of His promise.  We were never promised that all other sayings/actions by a reigning pontiff would be free from error.  Too many people today equate every saying and/or doing by the pontiff, be that saying/doing ever so trivial, with the spiritual weight of a truly ex cathedra pronouncement.  They are either: 1) utterly convinced when such errors happen that the Church has apostatized and thus is no more or 2) be overly scrupulous about accepting such misstatements as ex cathedra and thus condemning those of us who take exception to such misstatements.

We were never promised a holy and/or intelligent pope at all times.  Indeed, history shows that some popes have been outright scoundrels.  Alexander VI comes to mind.  He, while sitting on the throne of Peter, had several illegitimate children.  Lucretia Borgia was his daughter.  His son is said to be the inspiration for Machiavelli's "The Prince".  The son apparently learned some murderous tricks from his father.  If we've had less-than-holy pontiffs in the past, we've no reason to presume it can't happen again.

Let's face it.  Pope Francis has caused many eyebrows to raise.  While I have neither desire nor competence to accuse him of any malice of heart, by the same token I'm in no position to excuse him of any such thing in the light of so many questionable incidents during his pontificate.

Right from the start of his papacy we knew things were going to be unusual.  For the sake of brevity I'll not elaborate on them in this post (at least not too much).  I'll post links that will go more into detail, as I do believe we should all be aware of these matters.

We learned right away that Pope Francis had no plans to reside in the papal apartments in which his predecessors had all resided.  Rather, he chose to occupy a suite of rooms in the Casa Santa Maria, a Vatican guest house.  Some might opine these arrangements to be more modest than the apartments; one must wonder what expenses were incurred to adjust this suite to be adequate living quarters.  We also learned that he was removing some of the ornate features of papal vestments and - disconcertingly - referring to himself as "Bishop of Rome" as opposed to "pope" or "pontiff".

Here is a list of other changes noted by some during his first few weeks of his pontificate.  Some might argue that these matters only deal with externals.  But are they perhaps taking an overly simplistic look at how this pontificate is evolving?  These matters, such as the apartments, the papal slippers, his preferred title, etc aren't merely externals.  They are part and parcel of the tradition of the papacy, a tradition that transcends the individual preferences of the man who may be on the Chair of Peter at a given moment.  Such traditions link him with his predecessors and with his role as Vicar of Christ.  I'm sure previous pontiffs may have chafed at some of the traditions themselves, but they embraced the traditions as part and parcel of their new vocation.  Moreover, as has become evident, attitudes towards relatively minor matters are often harbingers of attitudes towards more weighty matters.

One addition to papal vestments was rather banal.  In congratulating a newlywed couple, he saw fit to don a clown-nose and pose with that thing on his face.  Sense of humor, one might say?  It's more like an affront to the dignity of his high office.  Like it or not, no pope is simply "just one of the guys".  He's the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ.  Like all ordained, the Holy Father doesn't "punch a clock".  The Sacrament of Holy Orders confers on the ordained an indelible mark upon his soul, a mark that lasts into eternity.  Any priest is an "alter Christus"; why would he disregard that high dignity for even a moment?

Such "clowning around" segues into real violations.  Last year, after the World Youth Day in Brazil (you know, the one where bishops were led in a silly dance by gay choreographer Fly), Pope Francis returned with several souvenirs: a beach ball and soccer jersey.  So what did he do with these items?  He went to St. Mary Major Basilica and put them on the altar - right next to the tabernacle.  The altar of any Catholic Church is reserved for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  When the words of Consecration are uttered by a priest saying Mass at that altar, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity comes down on that very altar.  That altar is to be reserved for sacred use only: not to be the receptacle for cheap baubles.

I've posted before on the various impromptu interviews that he has given; see this link.  These interviews have caused immense damage: damage that has at least been anticipated and tolerated, if not deliberated.

There has been papal disdain for spiritual bouquets offered on his behalf; see here and here.  There is the draconian treatment being meted to the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate; see here.   We've seen him NOT genuflecting during the Consecration of Masses, but he does kneel when protestants "pray over him".   During two Holy Thursday liturgies we've seen him wash women's feet, in direct violation of rubrics; see here and here for evidence of the damage done by poor example.   Then there is the damage being done in the name of ecumenism; some of us have renamed it "ecumenicide".  Another name for it is indifferentism.

Do we have a problem in the Vatican?  A reasonable person might conclude from the foregoing list that indeed we do.  The jury might still be out on that question, but bear in mind that the preceding list is from a papacy less than three years old.  Again, not one of us is qualified to judge his heart or motives, but we do look at what has proceeded from the Vatican thus far.

Again, Our Lord promised that His Vicar would never solemnly pronounce error, but that's as far as the promise goes.  We must pray for Our Holy Father and all clergy.  We must also have our eyes wide open and not be afraid to utter objective truth, be that truth ever so unpopular or uncomfortable.  Else our prayer won't be worth much.