More Rotten Fruits of Medjugorje?

His Excellency Ratko Peric, bishop of Mostar (in which Medjugorje is located) has asked that no pilgrimages be made to the site of the alleged apparitions.  When Vienna's Christoph Cardinal Schonborn made a "personal visit" to the region, Bishop Peric issued a rebuke.  There does seem to be a spate of dissident bishops barging into other bishops' dioceses these days!

You can see more details, as well as the complete text of Bishop Peric's statement at this Catholic News Agency link.  I will point out some salient points.  First, it is within the purview of the local ordinary to rule on the validity of an alleged apparition.  That has not yet happened in this case; thus it was presumptuous of the cardinal to speak of the apparition as valid.  Second, the apparition seems to be siding with several dissident Franciscans of the area who have been disciplined/suspended by both the bishop and their superiors; can anyone really imagine the Blessed Mother sticking her finger in the eye of her Son's bishops?

Here's a third point, one of which I was not aware until now.  I know that some of the rebel Franciscans have seized control of some of the parishes there.  I did not know that they invited an "old Catholic" (schismatic) "archbisop" to "confirm" hundreds of young people there.  Does any fruit smell rotten?

Ladies and gentlemen, we have the Sacraments.  We have the teaching Magisterium.  Why chase after these things?  We know what we must do to live as serious Catholics.  Do we want to go to a place of sublime holiness?  You cannot do better than going to your nearest Catholic Church, with the Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.

Parish Visit - St Peter's, Madison Street, Chicago

I and a number of others had reason to visit Chicago. This morning we attended the 7:15 am Mass at the above-named church. It is staffed by Franciscans and one said the Mass.

The Gospel for today was the same one for this past Sunday, where Our Lord tells His disciples not to silence anyone who speaks in His name. Well, the priest took this to mean that we must not be "arrogant" and insinuate that "our truth is the right truth". Does anyone recognize the heresy of indifferentism here? How about the lack of simple logic?

Let's illustrate the lack of logic. Say I make the following statement. "There is no truth." Now think about that for a minute and you'll see the paradox. If indeed there is no truth as the statement above claims, that means the statement itself is true. Therefore there must be at least one truth - but then the statement becomes false. Dear readers, this isn't some clever little play on irony. This is proof positive that there does exist objective truth, and that the denial of that basic fact is ridiculous on its face.

We then went to Holy Communion. I receive on the tongue. I could tell that Father was rather reluctant to give the Host to me, but He did. One of my companions made the same observation when she received from him.

After Mass, we saw this flyer on the bulletin board in the lobby. We weren't surprised. The enneagram is a device based on New Age heresy. Richard Rohr, to the best of my recollection, is another Franciscan priest; why the flyer doesn't acknowledge his priesthood is beyond me. At any rate, Father Rohr is heavily steeped in New Age glop.

Chicago is the (reputed) hometown of the Messiah Most Miserable, the Lord Barack Hussein Obama himself. After seeing a church such as this, we can understand how Chicago Catholics were so muddle-brained as to vote for Obama. (Note to all the salivating lawyers out there. This blog and its owner-organization are NOT 501c3 corporations. Therefore, we can make any political-type of statement that we please.) Let's pray that God will break through the obvious confusion and rebellion that exists in such parishes.