The SSPX - Preservers Of The Holy Mass

Bishop Athanasius Schneider was recently in the country.  I had the opportunity to hear him in person a few weeks ago, and I might elaborate on that in another post.  For now, I'll post a LifeSiteNews summary of things that he stated regarding the SSPX.  First I'll post my own comments about the SSPX.

In the early days of the pandemic shutdown (spring of 2020), all the Catholic churches in the area were locked.  No one could go to Mass in person and no one could receive actual Holy Communion.  This was by order of the bishops, an order that actually exceeded the already-draconian measures demanded by the governments.  Only the SSPX offered in-person Mass, with the opportunity to physically receive Holy Communion.  Mind you, these were the "parking lot" Masses where we had to remain in our cars, but at least we were present for Mass and could receive Our Lord.  I had to drive 2-3 hours each way, but it was well worth the time and effort.  Without the SSPX I and others would have been starved of the Eucharist.  If things ever get nutty again, I will attend SSPX masses in a heartbeat.

Now for the LifeSite piece, and I especially recommend this to those who insist on claiming that the SSPX is schismatic and that I and others are guilty of schism or other such nonsense. 

A Matter Of Hearts

Last Friday a diocese in Argentina conducted a virtual "Community Spirituality Course".  Right away it sounds like a hoot. Anyway, Pope Francis sent a video message to them.  It was brief, very brief, uncharacteristically brief - and that was probably a good thing.  I quote, "I ask you to let your heart beat, nothing else."

Pardon my french, but what the hell does that mean??  Does it mean that the pope was simply too tapped out of bovine excretement to cough up something more verbose and convoluted?  I guess for that we should be grateful.  But why does any living person have to let their heart beat?  It will beat until the day we meet God in our particular judgments.  It also says absolutely nothing about Our Lord or the Faith, which actually says quite a bit about the derth of worth in that "spirituality course".

On the other hand, Bishop Athanasius Schneider has initiated an "International Crusade of Eucharistic Reparation", to atone for sins against the Blessed Sacrament.  Those kinds of sins have always abounded, but during this covid thing, bishops and priests have actually multiplied those outrages by mandating Holy Communion in the hand, denying the Sacraments to the faithful, etc.  One of his chief aims, and it should be ours', is to make reparation to His Sacred Heart that has been outraged by these sacrileges.  If there's any "heart" that should be at the center of our attention, it would be Jesus' Sacred Heart.  Please read that link for practical actions to participate in this crusade.

But turning our gaze again to Argentina, they are doing the exact opposite.  At least Bishop Eduardo Maria Taussig ordered Catholics in his largely conservative diocese to receive Holy Communion in the hand.  When priests and faculty at his diocesan seminary objected to the orders to commit sacrilege, he closed his own seminary.  The pope approved his actions.  Just what kind of "heart" does the pope think is beating in Argentina?

Again, seriously consider Bishop Schneider's crusade.

Surviving The Sanitary Dictatorship

The term "sanitary dictatorship" was coined by Bishop Athanasius Schneider as he wrote about the plight of Catholics who are being deprived world-wide of the Sacraments out of misguided fear.  The "sanitary dictorship" is comprised not only of overreaching civil authorities, but even of Catholic hierarchy who seem all too eager to "go along to get along".

When I say "misguided fear", I do not mean to dismiss the importance of proper precautions such as the washing of hands, maintaining distance between people and for the sick, staying away from others.  I mean that the fear of the virus is supplanting what should be a proper and Godly fear of the Lord.  This lack of fear is causing even otherwise good Catholics to downplay the absolute necessity of the sacraments, believing that we can do without sacraments more so than temporal (and temporary) safety.

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler TX called upon priests worldwide to do whatever is necessary to administer the Sacrament of Confession to their congregations.  An important aside - while some apoologists have argued that Catholics in prior centuries went without receiving the Eucharist for several months, they always attended Mass.  Moreover, they always had recourse to Confession, for if they died in mortal sin, they stood a good chance of going to hell.  By and large, they acknowledged that fact and acted accordingly.

Cardinal Burke has likewise penned an article in which he plainly states that once again, the Church must prioritize spiritual needs over temporal.  I could spend an entire post on his piece but I will simply urge you to read it in its entirety.

Fortunately, some priests are indeed "thinking outside the box" in order to make that vitally important Sacrament available to their congregations.  That article tells of a number of pastors who are offering "drive-through" confessions, including the pastor of St Edward the Confessor in nearby Bowie MD.  I heard from a friend that St Martin's of Gaithersbug will do the same on Saturdays from 4-5:30.

The Vatican has introduced indulgences in the wake of the deprivation of sacraments that we now endure.  These indulgences, though, persume that the seeker of the indulgence is in a state of grace.  Today, owing in part to terrible catechesis, many Catholics are in mortal sin.  For those Catholics there remains a lifeline known as an Act of Perfect Contrition; even then there is the condition that they must receive the Sacrament of Confession.

We simply must hammer home to our prelates the need to place the salvation of souls as first priority, even above public safety.  I will link to the blog of my friend and colleague at Les Femmes.  She and her fellow columnists have written a good deal on this matter, and it is worth study.  The churches must be opened and the Sacraments once again opened to the congregations.  In the meantime...

Prayer Of Reparation For the Idolatrous Acts During The Last Synod For The Amazon

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who earlier extolled the heroism of Alexander Tschuguell and his friends for purging the Church of the heinous pachamama idols, has suggested that faithful Catholics everywhere pray the following prayer. 

I should note that the bishop believes (and I agree) that the pachamama crap is a tool of the progressives to usher in a new banal "religion" to supplant Catholicism and that they've been attempting that since the Vatican II council.

I reproduce the bishop's prayer below for your own prayerful use.

“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, receive through the hands of the Immaculate Mother of God and Ever Virgin Mary from our contrite heart a sincere act of reparation for the acts of worship of wooden idols and symbols during the Synod for the Amazon, which occurred in Rome, the Eternal City, the heart of the Catholic world. Pour out in the heart of Our Holy Father Pope Francis, of the Cardinals, of the Bishops, of priests and lay faithful, your Spirit, who will expel the darkness of their minds, so that they might recognize the impiety of such acts, which offended your Divine majesty and offer to you public and private acts of reparation. 

 Pour out in all members of the Church the light of the fullness and beauty of the Catholic Faith. Enkindle in them the burning zeal of bringing the salvation of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, to all men, especially the people in the Amazon region, who still are enslaved in the service of feeble material and perishable things, as the deaf and mute symbols and idols of “mother earth.” Enkindle the light of faith in those persons, especially in the persons of the Amazonian tribes who do not yet possess the liberty of the children of God, and who do not have the unspeakable happiness of knowing Jesus Christ and having in Him a participation in the life of your Divine nature. 

 Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are the one true God, besides Whom there is no other god and no salvation, have mercy on your Church. Look especially upon the tears and contrite and humble sighs of the little ones in the Church. Look upon the tears and prayers of the little children, of the adolescents, of young men and young women, of the fathers and mothers of families and also of the true Christian heroes, who in their zeal for your glory and in their love for Mother Church threw into the water the symbols of abomination which defiled her. Have mercy on us: spare us, O Lord, parce Domine, parce Domine! Have mercy on us: Kyrie eleison! Amen.”

The World Over - Discussions Of The Pachamamas, The Synod Documents, Denial Of Communion To Biden

These topics are discussed with Robert Royal and Fr Gerald Murray (the Papal Posse) and then with Bishop Athanasius Schneider.  Please watch in its entirety.

Talk A New Church Into Being

Watch this video.  The pope is announcing some sort of meeting commencing May 14, 2020.  Let's cut through the bovine manure.  He states that the purpose of this gabfest is to coordinate brainwashing education efforts to build some sort of "village" - that is, a new-world order utopia completely devoid of God and any thought of eternity.  Obviously he is borrowing ideas from Hillary Clinton and her book.  He is asking religious and political leaders to sign a "global pact for a new humanism".  That was his one mention of the word "religious".  I listened carefully.  This Vicar of Christ didn't utter the name of Jesus Christ or even God once during this entire screed.



Related to this attempt to undermine the Faith is his call for us to "obey the United Nations".  The Gloria article outlines nicely how antithetical to Jesus's teachings this is. See the video below and go to the 27:27 mark for the exact quote from the pope's Sept 10th plane conference.



On Friday I posted the call to prayer and fasting that was issued by Cardinal Burke and Bishop Schneider.  They also issued a document listing several areas in which the direction of the synod would lead the Church to massive theological departures from Sacred Tradition, maybe departures so severe that they would lead to schism.  I believe the pope realizes that too.  That is why I believe he went into preemptive damage control - to shift blame on us who would simply be pointing out the havoc that he is wreaking.

The pope himself seems unafraid of schism.  That is what he claims, and I believe that he is being quite frank.  Archbishop Vigano gave an interview last month in which he stated that next month's synod could be the culmination of a centuries-old plan by Freemasons to desconstruct the Church and to bring on a "new church".

Zenit has published the transcript of the Sept 10th interview.  Here it is.

Recall Matt's words that the possible schism.  If the Amazon sin-nod doesn't do that, this May 14, 2020 gabfest just might well do it.

Just to reiterate the progressives' desire for a "new church", let me call from your long-suppressed nightmares the farce from 10 years ago from Call to Action..

Call To Prayer And Fasting For Synod And A Warning From Holy Trinity Parish

Cardinal Burke and Bishop Schneider have issued:

• A declaration warning against six "theological errors and heresies" contained in the Instrumentum Laboris for the Amazon Synod that will happen next month in Rome, and
• A call for prayer and fasting during the forty days prior to the sin-nod.  They will start September 17.  The two prelates recommend a daily Rosary and fasting, preferably on Wednesdays or Fridays.  The intention is that the errors and heresies noted in their warning will never come out of the sin-nod.

If these errors are issued from the sin-nod, the way will be paved for even more violations of the Faith.  Some of these are happening now.

For those in the Washington DC area, I use as an example Holy Trinity Parish, just south of Georgetown University.  It is run by Jesuits and has been a dissident hotbed for some time now.

This parish is celebrating its 225th anniversary.  What better way for a Catholic parish to celebrate and give thanks to God for its existence by fawning all over sexual perverts and their enablers?  As you see in this bulletin, gay-enabling Father James Martin is scheduled to give an address at 10am, Saturday Oct 5 to peddle his latest heretical tome.  Read the entire bulletin to see more groveling to the gay juggernaut.

From the parish's youtube channel, we see this pathetic fellow wax lyrical regarding his descent towards perdition being accelerated by Holy Trinity.

On the parish's page dedicated to this anniversary, we read: "could Bishop John Carroll and Rev. Francis Neale, S.J. know what Holy Trinity would become 225 years ago?"  The answer is no - not in their most horrid nightmares.

As we join in this prayer effort, let us also pray for all the Joe Figinis of this world who, when they asked for fish, were given serpents.  Pray that they may come to repentance and salvation despite their parishes.

Five Prelates Issue Declaration Of Truths To Counter Common Heresies

Some of the heresies being addressed have been ginned up by Pope Francis.  The five prelates are:

• Cardinal Raymond Burke
• Cardinal Janis Pujats
• Archbishop Tomash Peta
• Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga
• Bishop Athanasius Schneider

LifeSiteNews links to the official Declaration, as well as a petition to be signed in support of these five prelates.  Church Militant also has commentary.  It can be asked "where are the rest of the prelates of the Church?"  Well, consider that many of these prelates are not merely cowards, but they have drawn their long knives against these five prelates (and other faithful bishops such as Bishop Paprocki).

At any rate, we welcome this news as we learn that Pope Francis et al have all but wiped out another traditional order of sisters, these being the Little Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer.  Most have been relieved of their vows for not bowing to the modernistic dictates of Sister Mary Pantsuit.  Of course that's not her real name; I don't know it and that's just as well, I suppose.

So how did these sisters find themselves in progressive cross-hairs?  Well, among their high crimes and misdemeanors they engaged in (Wait for it!  This is an exact quote) "too much prayer", and being "unmoving" in fidelity to their order's charism.

The pope also let loose at Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini because the latter is enforcing common-sense immigration policies.  The pope went so far as to compare him to Cain murdering Abel.  The pope both insulted and slandered Salvini.

I and many others pray that this latest Declaration of Truth will wake some people up regarding the evil that has overtaken the Vatican.

Noted Catholic Leaders Publicly Contradict The Human Fraternity Document

Last Thursday I asked if the "human fraternity" document shows Francis to be an anti-pope.  Several leading prelates and philosophers seem to answer in the positive.

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a "Manifesto of Faith"; the National Catholic Register article has the entire document toward the bottom of its article.  He makes plain that Christianity is the true religion and no other religion can be considered to be on a par with the Faith that Jesus Christ Himself teaches through the One True Church.  It is the shepherds' task to guide the people, through the Church, to eternal salvation.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider said many of the same things in his own document, "The Gift of Filial Adoption - The Christian Faith: The Valid and Only God-Willed Religion".  He too emphasizes that Christianity is the One True Faith for it was instituted by God Himself.

Taking a none-too-veiled dig at two pet-causes of progressives, namely "climate change" and uncontrolled "immigration, he says, "The most urgent task of the Church in our time is to care about the change of the spiritual climate and about the spiritual migration, namely that the climate of non-belief in Jesus Christ, the climate of the rejection of the kingship of Christ, be changed into the climate of explicit faith in Jesus Christ, of the acceptance of His kingship, and that men may migrate from the misery of the spiritual slavery of unbelief into the happiness of being sons of God and from a life of sin into the state of sanctifying grace. These are the migrants about whom we must care urgently."

Where these two prelates addressed the heresies of the "human fraternity" document without naming either the document or Francis, Professor Josef Seifert names both in his "Grave Concerns About Pope Francis' Abu Dhabi Document".  He too condemns the notion that God willed "plurality of religions", stating that the pope rejected Christianity by signing onto that heretical statements in that document.  At the end of his statement, Seifert expresses hope that the pope will retract that error, but states, "if he does not do this, I am afraid that Canon Law may apply according to which a Pope automatically loses his Petrine office when professing heresy, especially when he professes the sum-total of all heresies."

The pope has taken notice of these objections.  He assured one and all that the Theologian of the Papal Household approved it.  But it seems that this theologian never saw the document.  I tend to think the latter is correct.

Two questions now loom before us.

1. Will the pope retract his error?
2. If not, will we have the courage and integrity to admit the obvious as Professor Seifert has done?

I'd suggest careful study of all three of these answers to the "human fraternity" heresy.  Pray that more Catholics stand up to these errors that, if left unchecked, will likely facilitate the damnation of many souls.  Pray that sanity return to the papal office.

All In The Interests Of Collegiality And Dialogue - Right?

An Italian author, Aldo Maria Valli, has published a compilation of the writings of Archbishop Vigano.  However, Vatican officials are applying pressure to the publishing house to restrict future editions.  That is hardly what we'd call "dialogue", isn't it?  Of what is the pope afraid?

Meanwhile, in Washington DC, the current nuncio relayed a "request" from Vatican Secretary of State Parolin to the US bishops that Cardinal Burke not be invited to give talks.  This is just the latest insult to have been proffered to the Cardinal since Francis assumed the papacy.  Parolin relayed this request orally to deny Burke the right to appeal.

Parolin is giving lots of these oral requests lately.  He also orally communicated to Bishop Schneider of Kazakhstan that he is to reduce his travels and to clear any travel plans with the local nuncio.

Let's be clear.  Vigano, Burke and Schneider are good prelates who are defending Tradition against the human wrecking balls that now occupy the highest places in the Vatican.  The pope et al are in full panic mode, as if we, the Great Unwashed, are too stupid to see through their shenanigans.  They have absolutely no real interest in "dialogue".  Their "collegiality" masks are being discarded and we can now see them for the tyrants they are, hell-bent on undermining the teachings of Jesus Christ.  They will mow down anyone in their way - if they can.  Will we let them?

Remnant's Michael Matt Interviews Bishop Athanasius Schneider

I'll let this one speak for itself.  Please listen to the whole thing.

Another Tale Of Two Bishops: Burke Versus Cruz

On July 22 in Louisville KY, Cardinal Burke spoke at a forum called "The Church Teaches".  That day he said two key things.  First he stated a point that was similar to one uttered by Bishop Schneider.  He warned against "idolatry of the papacy", an error that leads people to ascribe papal infallibility to every utterance that comes from a sitting pontiff.  In reality, the pope only speaks infallibly under very special circumstances.  Of course other teachings of the pope bear weight when they conform with Church Tradition.  One corollary error that attends this papal idolatry is a belief that the pope, never erring, can never be contradicted nor questioned even by faithful Catholics.

Burke also said during that same conference that "confusion and error" coming from shepherds at the highest level in the Church (i.e. the pope) "realistically seems to be apocalyptic".  Our Lady of Akita stated something very similar when she said that shepherds would be opposing one another.  She uttered the same concerns under her title Our Lady of Good Success.

As an example of confusion flowing forth from a bishop, I link now to an article in Crud, regarding Bishop Antonio Carlos Cruz Santos, a bishop of Brazil.  I won't go through the entire tome.  but during a recent homily, he said that "homosexuality is a gift from God".  We know that the homosexual orientation is inherently disordered.  If one acts upon that inclination, he/she mortally sins and also leads his/her accomplice in mortal sin.  In that homily Cruz both blasphemed God by saying that God gifted to mankind the occasion of mortal sin.  He also scandalized the congregation by his approval of mortal sin, possibly deceiving them into thinking that they could mortally sin without eternal consequences.

Please be praying your daily Rosaries.

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.

Amoris Laetitia Or The One True Faith - Each Catholic Must Choose

A few weeks ago I wrote how Cardinal Farrell knotted his knickers because Archbishop Chaput had the audacity to act like a real bishop.  The latter issued guidelines for Catholics in his own diocese, telling his flock that Church Tradition took precedence over Amoralis Lamentia.  Now it seems like Farrell will soon be taking pot-shots at Archbishop Sample for doing the same thing.  Sample's clear and accurate statement "accepting an erroneous judgment of conscience is neither mercy nor charity" will not sit well with Farrell and the others who hope to exploit ambiguity so that God's teachings may be undermined.

Thankfully we do see an increasing number of those who are standing with the four cardinals in approval and support of the dubia.  A number of churchmen issued an open "Letter of Support Of The Four Cardinals From Catholic Academics And Pastors".  Church Militant TV interviewed Dr. Joseph Shaw, one of the signers of that letter.  When asked whether or not he believes schism is brewing, he replied, "it seems appropriate to use the language of schism."

He was commenting on a statement made earlier by Bishop Athanasius Schneider.  When asked if the pope's silence in regards to the dubia increases the risk of schism, he replied that "a certain type of schism already exists in the Church."  In a meeting this past Monday he remarked, "the reaction to the dubia is a proof of the climate in which we actually live in the Church right now.  We live in a climate of threats and of denial of dialogue towards a specific group."  Of course that specific group is those who faithfully adhere to the teachings of Jesus Christ despite the rubbish found in Amoralis Lamentia and other progressive flim-flam.  At that Monday meeting, also in attendance were Cardinals Burke and Brandmuller, two of the four cardinals; Bishop Schneider chaired it.  Amoralis Lamentia was discussed, as well as courses of action to be taken.

Professor Roberto de Mattei, also in attendance, stated that "it is important to comprehend that today there is a clear choice between fidelity to the Church, to the perennnial Magisterium, or infidelity, which means errors, heresy and apostacy."  He has taken his stand with the four cardinals against the mess found in Amoralis Lamentia.  Each and every Catholic faces that choice, like it or not.  Ora et labora.

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.

Confusion Of Amoralis Lamentia Strikes In Surprising Venues

Preface: "Amoralis Lamentia" is the nickname that I have given to Amoris Laetitia.  I believe that more aptly describes the nature of this exhortation.

Consider the following excerpt from a commentary on AL that was just published.  This excerpt has to do with Holy Communion being given to those in adulterous situations:

Because of the format in which it was published, I'm unable to copy/paste it.  If it is too small to read, here is the link and you'll want to look in the right-hand column.

No - your eyes are not deceiving you!  The source of this really is the Marians of the Immaculate Conception!  I've found them to be a devout order, dedicated as they are to spreading the Divine Mercy message, particularly through the Chaplet of Divine Mercy as given to St Faustina.  I might have expected such sloppiness from America or the National Catholic Reporter, but not at all from the Marians.  This is indeed sad.

Under the "For example" heading we see the author of this article clearly engaging in "situation ethics".  Look at the example.  The author doesn't even ascribe ignorance of the Church's teaching to his hypothetical woman.  He talks of the tough issues about which the Pope and bishops have been agonizing recently.  That last word is key, for I clearly suspect that such situations have existed for hundreds of years.  Why "recently" is there so much "agonizing" that hasn't been seen for the rest of Church history?

It's really quite simple.  (Note: I said "simple", not "easy".  The two words are not synonyms.)  If this hypothetical woman were to attempt to receive Holy Communion while still living in an adulterous situation, she would incur the guilt of making a sacrilegious Holy Communion.  Any priest and/or bishop who advises her that such is permissible is in fact lying to her and goading her into actions that can imperil her eternal salvation.  No amount of "agonizing" will change that eternal reality.

Two prominent clerics have publicly and rightly decried this attempt to introduce this spiritual poison that is found in Amoralis Lamentia.  Bishop Athanasius Schneider has directly said that parts of AL are "objectively erroneous".  He said quite a few other things about AL as well.

We also should recall what Cardinal Burke said four months ago.  He flat out said that if the Pope should move in the direction of giving Holy Communion to de facto adulterers, that "I will resist".  Not only he, but we faithful Catholics must resist as well.

In other Marian-related news, yesterday the Pope canonized the founder of that order, Blessed Stanislaus Papczynski.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

San Bernardino Shootings: Will The Vatican Finally Wake Up?

First, I extend my prayers to the victims of yesterday's mass shootings in San Bernardino yesterday. Regrettably, there are those who would accuse me of "microagression" by the mere suggestion of prayers for others: more on that in a moment.

When I heard the accounts of how the assailants did their deed, it seemed quite obvious to me that this was a jihadist action, fueled by Islam.  Some had bandied about the idea of someone getting their nose knocked out of joint at the conference and then shooting up the place.  Common sense would have shown that to be impossible.  The shooters were clad in body armor.  They had multiple weapons on them, including explosive devices.  They carried out the shootings in a manner indicative of some military training.  Their entry and exit to and from the building was obviously well-planned (although their planning for the aftermath seems to have gone awry).

Now we are hearing confirmations that the dead man and woman were husband and wife, and radical jihadists.  They had been in communication with groups that are on the FBI watch list.  As this young lady says on The Blaze, "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it IS a duck"!  Isn't it odd that last week so many of the lame-brain-main-stream media, along with their Democrat/progressive employers, were falling all over themselves to portray Richard Dear as "just another pro-life right-wing nut job" with no evidence whatsoever, but in the face of overwhelming evidence, they can't bring themselves to acknowledge yesterday's shooting to be an act of muslim terrorism?  ISIS does - gleefully of course.  In fact, they created a hashtag #America_burning to celebrate the slaughter.  Now see this from Breitbart how this shooting refutes so many progressive talking points.

But wait!  It gets even more ridiculous as the progressives scurry for some way to use this tragedy to justify their anti-Christian bigotry.  Take a look at the latest screed plastered all over the front page Of the New York Daily News.  Let me say this right off the bat to the creators of this journalistic pig slop.  There is a reason why God "isn't fixing this".  It's really quite simple and the blame for this lies squarely on the shoulders of those who mock Him and pillory His followers.  For decades now, progressives such as the Daily News leadership have done all they could to expunge Christianity from public life in the United States.  They have banned public prayer from schools and other public gatherings.  They have removed placards with the Ten Commandments from public court houses.  They have crammed sodomy down the throats of those who want to obey God in their commercial affairs.  They have - and are - murdering millions of babies, willed into being by God, via abortion and contraception.  The picture of the Daily News shows not only mockery of those who invoke God, but unbridled hatred of God Himself.  When God is so widely rejected, He will withdraw and let mankind experience the logical consequences of the rejection of His providence - a providence that includes His moral precepts.  This is not rocket science!

NOT a "revolution of tenderness"!

We need a real national, world-wide conversion to God and to His Church.  Several days ago, the Pope called for a "revolution of tenderness".  No - a thousand times no!  The last thing the world needs is for Catholic clergy to carry on like a bunch of whiny, metrosexual wussies who yammer on about "tenderness" while the world careens towards hell in a handbasket.  We need our prelates to conduct themselves like real men, such as St. John the Baptist and the Apostles and other martyrs who boldly proclaimed the truth, no matter who got their "poor widdle feel-bads" knocked out of joint.  By the way - if the phrase "revolution of tenderness" sounds sickeningly familiar, it's because that is part of the title of a book written by dissident bishop Cardinal Kasper; see my earlier post for detail on that.

So will the pope continue to rail against "fundamentalist Catholics" (in this video, the pope sounds like he's of the same mind as the Daily News) or will he finally realize he is the Vicar of Christ and get back to the basics of the Catholic faith himself?  Perhaps he'll ditch Kasper, Maradiaga, Wuerl and listen to prelates like:

• Cardinal Lopez
• Archbishop Schneider
• Cardinal Burke

Let us pray (despite what the Daily News says).

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.

Storm Clouds Gather In Preparation For October's Sin-Nod

As we saw last week, Archbishop Cupich was appointed delegate to next October's sin-nod almost immediately after he twisted Catholic moral teaching about in his statement that abortion was no more of an evil than capital punishment.  Most Catholics with at least two working brain cells know that while abortion is always intrinsically evil (and thus a mortal sin), capital punishment is not so and in fact can be morally licit.  My intention is not to reignite that debate in my com-boxes but to illustrate how Cupich prostituted his high office to push a progressive agenda.  I suspect that qualified him immediately as a delegate in the eyes of the sin-nod perpetrators, so off he'll go to the Vatican come October.  But there are more storm clouds.

Recall the "shadow synod" that happened last May.  I suppose they believe that it was such a rousing success that they want to repeat the damage benefit.  Who is a papal adviser that is invited to that?  Why, it's none other than Cardinal Maradiaga (ht to Lifesitenews)!  You've seen enough of Maradiaga's name on this blog, as well as a rundown on the mischief he's wrought in the Church (to date).  Read the Lifesitenews piece for the rundown on the other heretics who will be spreading their bile at that meeting in hopes of poisoning influencing the sin-nod.

Many good people are sounding alarms.  The Instrumentum Laboris for the sin-nod is out, and Voice of the Family finds within it reasons for grave concern.  As you read it, go all the way to the bottom where Voice of the Family states that we faithful Catholics "have a duty to oppose the direction being taken at the synod".  Bishop Athanasius Schneider has also sounded an alarm regarding the working document, saying "one is left with the suspicion that the authors of the Instrumentum Laboris try to push forward the agenda of a certain clerical pressure group in order to change the Divine law of the non-admission of divorced and remarried to Holy Communion."

The battle lines are being drawn.  I thank the Lord for courageous prelates like Bishop Schneider.  Pray for him and his fellow faithful priests and bishops, that they be protected from those who wish harm upon them.  Pray also for those who carry on like wolves in sheep's clothing for theirs' will be a horrible punishment if they don't repent.