Church Hierarchy Feeling Some Much-Needed Financial Pain

Please go to the website of Our Parish Times and examine the January 2020 edition.  On the front page, left side is an article by Msgr John Enz ler entitled "Is Our Anger Hurting Those Most In Need?"  As you read it, you'll see that it's not much more than a cheap attempt to lay guilt trips on faithful Catholics who are making their disappointment known in the only language the Church hierarchy understands - money.  Well, obviously we are having an impact in that area.  That is why we see this backlash from Ensler, who no doubt scribbled this screed at the behest of higher-ups in the Church. 

Not only does Enzler dance around the problems that we are addressing (other than token lip service), but he is actually downright dishonest about the use of our donations.  Nowhere in his diatribe do I see acknowledged the fact that a portion of our donations to our parishes is assessed by the Archdiocese and then paid to the chancery.  Moreover, as I noted last week, the Archdiocese in turn forks over a portion of those assessments to the USCCB.  In his article, Enzler quotes the late Tip O'Neill who said "all politics is local".  If that is the case, Msgr Enzler, why shouldn't donations stay local as well?

If the DC chancery is really concerned about the financial well-being of their parishes, they would announce ways that parishioners could donate without any money being siphoned up the chain of command.  Perhaps they might cease their own contributions to the USCCB.  Perhaps the bishops as a whole stop having their semi-annual meetings in swanky hotels; a retreat center would be more in conformity with their sacerdotal offices, anyway.

In the meantime, I would suggest that faithful Catholics do all they can to keep their money from funding corrupt chanceries and the USCCB.  Now we do have the precept of the Church that says we must support the work of the Church.  But it is not the work of the Church to shield predators from justice or to glom onto progressive causes as though they are equivalent to the salvation of souls.  There are traditional orders to be supported.  There are local charities and pro-life efforts that operate on shoe-string budgets.  There are local food banks and soup kitchens that need help.  Truth-telling Catholic sites such as LifeSiteNews and Lepanto Institute need assistance.  This is a non-exhaustive list of organizations that will put your donation dollars to worthy use.

Maybe Enzler might want to think of the real mission of the Church.  Then he might write of himself and his cronies, "Is Our Dereliction of Duty Condemning the Souls in Our Care to Hell?"

President Trump Speaks At March For Life Today

Today was a historical day.  President Trump became the first President to address the March for Life in person, during its entire 47-year history.  Funny thing - I checked the facebook pages of some #nevertrump wags.  Except for one cynical blurb, they had absolutely nothing to say about that; I'm not at all surprised.  I for one am thankful that he showed and spoke.  Here is the clip.

Another Knestout Giving Permission For Mortal Sin?

St Bartholomew parish is located on River Road in Potomac, MD.  The area is quite affluent.  It seems that the parish school is in trouble - in more ways than the pastor, Fr Mark Knestout and other parishioners care to acknowledge.

From the online version of Bethesda magazine, we read of the school's financial troubles and the efforts of some parishioners to bring money to the school.  One of those intent on rustling up some cash for the school is a Christopher Cahill, along with his "husband".

STOP RIGHT THERE!!

This parish and school has more serious fundamental problems than mere lack of cash.  They appear to have little in the way of fidelity to the moral teachings of Jesus Christ and His One True Church.  One can only guess that Cahill and his accomplice in sodomy are quite open about living in mortal sin.  Is Father Knestout taking any corrective action?  Is he denying them Holy Communion until they quit their mortal sins?  This pair have two children in their custody.   What of the terrible example that the two guys are giving to the children?  Do their fellow parishioners understand what is at stake here?  If the parish tolerates and even approves of this flagrant mortal sin, its own moral lacitude can only corrupt any Catholic education that the school would otherwise be able to impart.  How on earth can they communicate Church moral teaching when they themselves look the other way as it occurs in their Church?

This parish has had a bit of history in looking the other way when it comes to mortal sins of its parishioners.  For many years it was the parish of Connie Morella, until she had a moment of lucidity and realized that her pro-abortion advocacy was at variance with Christian morality.  Rather than repent, she became Episcopalian.  We pray for her repentance, but let's return to the main point of this post.

Unless Father Knestout is completely oblivious - and I don't think he is - he is standing  by  while the Catholic faith of his parish rots.  That being the case, of course the parish school will suffer the ramifications of that.  How many students might have attended that place, has they not been aborted or had their existences prevented via contraception?

Father Mark Knestout is the younger brother of Bishop Barry Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond.  We've been reading enough of the latter's disgraceful dereliction of duty when it come to sacrilege in his diocese; see my blog posts of the past two weeks.

Instead of cash, I'd suggest donations of spiritual boquets, for the conversion and repentance of all involved in this sin of sodomy at St Bart's, either by actual deed done or by giving approval of this sin.  Contact Fr Knestout and ask him to address this serious situation.  If the parish won't reform, then perhaps it's for the best if the school closes, for it would be teaching a deadly counterfeit of the One True Faith.

(HT - Canon 212)

Antipope???

Pope Emeritus Benedict and Cardinal Sarah have released a book that defends priestly celebacy from apparent attempts by Pope Francis to admit married men to the priesthood.  Pope Francis has come out swinging against it, and that reaction has caused its own tumult.  So who does Pope Francis call upon to bail him out?  Eugenio Scalfari, of course!

Now wait a minute!  Isn't this the same Scalfari that the Vatican Communications office claims to be so unreliable as to miscontrue the pope's various remarks?  So why, oh why, does the pope keep going to him?  Can it be that we bloggers of the Great Unwashed were correct all along in calling out the Vatican's statements as mere smoke and mirrors?  It seems that they aren't bothering with that schtick anymore, validating Scalfari's accounts of his conversations with the pope.

In October, it came out that the pope told Scalfari that Jesus was not God while on earth.  In light of the pope's hightailing it to Scalfari, I can only believe Scalfari's account of the pope's beliefs. If such is the case, and it very likely is, the pope spouted heresy.

This, plus reputed irregularities of the papal election, raise the question of whether or not we have an anitpope on our hands.

Planned Sacrilege In Williamsburg Church - CANCELLED, DEO GRATIAS

The previous post on this blog was a call to action to prevent a scheduled sacrilege at a Catholic church in Williamsburg.  As you know, Bishop Barry Knestout offered the local espiscopalean church use of St Bede's to profane the Sacrament of Holy Orders by "ordaining" a "woman bishop".  In a live broadcast this evening, Michael Hichborn did an excellent job in detailing all the theological and moral errors behind what Bishop Knestout did in giving permission for this monstrosity to occur.  Please note that there were problems with the audio in the first part.  Skip ahead a few minutes to the -59:38 mark for the audio.

Thankfully, the sacrilege was averted.

Upon learning of the sacrilege scheduled for their parish, faithful Catholics within that parish mobilized to take action.  They made the situation known on social media.  One of them started a Facebook group for the express purpose of combatting it.  The Lepanto Institute offered to help organize a Rosary rally to occur at the same time the event was to occur.  Many people from across the nation contacted both the parish and the Richmond diocese.  Local secular news outlets picked up the story.  

Soon word got back to the episcopal diocese of the concerns of faithful Catholics.  It was the episcopal church that took it upon themselves to relocate their event to another venue.  It seems that they had more sense of decency than did Bishop Knestout.  The latter released a statement expressing "sadness" at the move.  I link to it now.  This is not the first time that Bishop Knestout has displayed a regrettable penchant for apologizing to non-Catholics for the virtuous acts of real, faithful Catholics.  Eight years ago, at my parish, when Father Guarnizo refused Holy Communion to the flagrant lesbian (go to the archives for March 2012), Bishop Knestout apologized - to the lesbian.  Here is that letter.  Please open both these pieces of drivvel side by side.

They are both rife with error and yes, sin.  In both cases, he is voicing anger (yes, it's anger) that Catholics behaved like faithful Catholics in ways that showed either his own dissidence against the Faith or that of his superiors.  He evokes false definitions of ecumenism, compassion, etc.  He evinces an abysmal lack of appreciation for both the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift.

A big happy "take-away" from this Williamsburg event is the lesson of what can happen when faithful Catholics stand up to evil - even from our hierarchy - and not let them get away with it.  Certainly our prayers, Masses, Rosaries played a critical role.  So did our voices.  So did our being thorns in the sides of the Richmond chancery and the St Bede's parish offices.  

I understand that the same band of Catholics will now be offering Rosaries of thanksgiving in lieu of the now-cancelled Rosary Rally.  We can add our Rosaries of thanksgiving whereever we happen to be now.

Call To Action For Faithful Catholics - Diocese Of Richmond VA

Michael Hichborn of Lepanto institute has discovered that a Catholic Church in Williamsburg VA is slated to host the so-called "ordination" of a female "bishop" for the episcopalians.  Here is the announcement.  Let a few things sink in.

• An espiscopal "ordination", that isn't really an ordination for these protestants have no valid orders, is slated to occur in a Catholic church.  This is sacrilege, a mockery of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  That this is being permitted to happen in a Catholic church is an utter disgrace, if not a commission of mortal sin on the part of the pastor of St Bede's.  It is a violation of Canon Law, specifically Canons 1210-1212.
• The so-called "ordinand" is a woman.  Our Lord made clear that the Sacrament of Holy Orders is reserved to men.  This raises an interesting question: is this debacle being allowed to occur, to anesthesize us to the attempts in the Vatician to push women's ordinations?

The bishop of the Diocese of Richmond (suffrigan diocese of the Archdiocese of Baltimore) is Bishop Barry Knestout.  Readers of this blog will recall that Bishop Knestout, while an auxiliary bishop here under Cardinal Wuerl, expelled a faithful Catholic priest for withholding Communion from a flaming lesbian.  He apologized - to the lesbian.  Father Guarnizo himself told the entire truth about the unethical treatment that he received from the one who is now Bishop of Richmond.

A petition is being circulated online to Bishop Knestout to put a halt to that planned sacrilege.  Here it is and I urge you to sign and circulate it.  I understand that a picket is being planned, should our voices be ignored.  If the local church wants to avoid a picket, they need only remember that they are Catholics and simply tell the episcopaleans to take their little ceremoney elsewhere.

Here is contact information for the diocese.  Here it is for St Bede's.  In particular, let Msgr Lehman know that his hokey attempt at justifying the sacrilege falls flat on its face, and let both of them know that a picket is in the works should they be so imprudent and careless about their duties as to allow this to happen.

Good News For Donors

Many good Catholics are in a moral quandry when it comes to donations.  On the one hand, their local parishes may be rather decent, but their diocese - not so much.  Moreover, we have recently learned that at their November meeting last month, the USCCB voted to increase the amount of money that they assess from the US dioceses.  Thus, not only might good Catholics see some of their money going to a lackluster diocese, but they would then see a portion of that be remitted to an absolutely corrupt USCCB.

For that reason, I was delighted to be informed that the Code of Canon Law allows donors to specify how their donations are to be used.  I am referring specifically to Canon 1300.  Accordingly, a friend suggested some language for a letter attached to such donations and I post it (with my own modifications) below:

Dear Father PASTOR,

Please note that we are donating (AMOUNT OF DONATION) to (NAME) parish and that all thid money must stay within the parish. Please respect our wish that no part of this donation is to be transferred to the (LOCAL DIOCESE) nor should it be included in the calculation of any diocesan assessment. We are happy to support your work because we have confidence that your leadership is faithful to the Catholic Church and her timeless teachings. 

(end sample latter)

In the Archdiocese of Washington, the suggested letter can be coupled with another strategy that I mentioned in July 2018.  The Christmas and Easter collections are (for the time being) exempt from the archdiocesan assessment.  Save all the money you would have donated throughout the year and then give it on one or both of those days.  Now I might suggest adding that letter to your contributions.

I can only think of one down-side to this strategy.  We are speaking of Canon law here, and as we've seen with Canon 915, the bishops' track record of obedience to canon law has been, uh, rather selective, shall we say.  However, if you're donating to an honorable pastor, I would hope the strategy proves sound.

From "The Follyhood Of Hollywood" Department - Catholic Influence On Popular Entertainment

Remember all the yap and yammer about the "golden age of Hollywood"?  Supposedly that occurred between the late 1930s to the late 1950s.  There were some well-made movies, true.  But..does the clip below strike you as anything "golden"?



Hollywood put out some raunchy stuff in its nascent days.  However, some of that was abated in the mid 20th century.  Events such as the Great Depression and World War II served to bring some sobriety not only to the moguls of Hollywood but also to the general public that seemed to slurp up Hollywood's products.  But there was another influence on Hollywood that served to stem some of the moral slop.  I am talking of the Legion of Decency.  It was founded in 1933 with the specific aim of bringing Catholic morality to bear on the entertainment industry.  The Legion put out lists of movies with different ratings based on the morality - or lack thereof - the various movies made during that time.  Here is a list of the movies that they condemned; a brief glace at the titles gives more than an inkling of the reason for the condemnations.

Members of the Legion took a pledge not only to boycott the condemned movies but also the theater that showed the movies.  At that time, the Catholic Church was held in high esteem and its voice carried great weight - certainly among the Catholics in the pew but also on non-Catholics as well.  Their power of the purse was quite considerable.  Hollywood realized that it made good economic sense to clean up at least a sizable portion of their offerings.

The influence of the Legion started to wane in the early 1970s, just as the horrible ramifications of the "spirit of Vatican II" began to sap the vitality from Catholic spiritual life and soon the movies started to assume their former depravity and even exceeded it.  What this shows that the Catholic Church, when she had her moral credibility intact, was a definite force for moral good in this country, protestant as it was.  Nowadays, even otherwise faithful Catholics show just as much imprudence regarding entertainment as do their non-Catholic counterparts.  See here and here for previous writings on this matter.

This past week at the Golden Globes awards, Michelle Williams accepted a cheap bauble, and made a speech lauding "women's rights", attributing her award to the murder of her own child.  We even have Disney putting forth a cartoon series to introduce children to the occult and practice of witchcraft.  The trailer is below.  Bear in mind that these Hollywood trends are nothing new.  The first clip from the 1920s and 1930s bears that out.  Catholic influence, in the form of the Legion of Decency, held them at bay for a while, but now that so many bishops care so little for the Faith, Hollywood can once again run amok.  We won't get our culture on a decent trend until we clean out the filth from our Church.

Diocese Of St Augustine Trips All Over Itself In Denials

Thanks to modern technology, the Diocese of St Augustine has been caught in their own snares and wiles as they try to disavow knowledge of McCarrick's presence.  Notice here an updated  statement from the diocese on the matter.  I saw the original and regret not copying it, where they do bad-mouth Church Militant for allegedly not having their reporter contact them.  CM did in fact do so, and the exchange was recorded and that is posted below.  Below that is an account in today's Vortex.  Again, Mr. Weigel, this is why we are needed.

Kudos To The Covington Boys

Today it was announced that Nick Sandmann won a settlement as a result of his lawsuit against CNN.  This is a nice dose of justice for those beleagured young men.  It also bodes well for their other lawsuits against other irresponsible entities.  See here and here.  The Daily Wire piece lists local Catholic dioceses as defendents in other suits.  I hope they are compelled to pay sizable damages to those boys.

Again, kudos to the young men for pursuing justice.