On This Eve Of St Patrick's Day

Last weekend when I walked into the grocery store, I saw green bagels.  For a moment, I thought they had gone bad and wondered how the management could have let them be put on display.  Then I looked around and saw balloons with shamrocks on them and realized that the bagels had simply been dyed a sickening green in light of March 17.  I almost said that they were dyed green to honor St Patrick's day, but I realized that honoring the patron saint of Ireland and the Faith for which he labored was most likely the last thing on their minds.

A few years back I published this post, lamenting the trivialization of St Patrick and his feast day.  Please read it.  Now for an account of Catholics truly honoring St. Patrick.

I am happy to relay this story to you from LifeSiteNews, regarding the street activism of Catholics in Ireland who are protesting that country's ridiculous shutdowns.  We know that in recent years, Ireland as a nation has abandoned the One True Faith.  These Catholics will speak for the Faith on March 17 as they protest both the lockdowns and the government's embrace of baby-slaughter. 

Pray for our fellow Catholics in Ireland, that this protest be instrumental in turning that country around.  Moreover, let us take opportunities to speak the truth in our own communities.

Careful! If You Are A Faithful Catholic, You Might Be A Nazi!

Six days ago, it was announced that 100 Catholic clergy and scholars have signed a petition that calls Pope Francis to repentance for facilitating the pachamama worship in various Churches in Rome.  The list of signatories is growing.

Could that be a reason why the pope has compared conservatives to nazis?  This happened at a meeting of the International Association of Penal Law.  He laid into capitalism (but said nothing of socialism, if you'll notice), "ecological sins", the death penalty and so on.  By the way - for an excellent treatment of capital punishment, see what the late Fr John Hardon had to say on the matter.

Speaking of "ecological sins", he is contemplating the addition of those faux-sins to the catechism.  He calls them "sins against our common home".  As several theologians have pointed out, one can sin only against God and those created in His image and likeness.  This isn't just sloppy theology, I suspect he is engaging in erroneous personification of the planet, and perhaps seguing into deification of the same.  Additionally, no one can simply proclaim the existence of a new set of "sins".  Either a given action was always a sin or it isn't now.  The earth was given to us by God for our usage, and we must be careful stewards of the earth, both to honor God and to preserve it for the use of other persons.  The earth, as an impersonal entity, has no inherent claim on the solicitude of man for its own sake.

Perhaps the statement of that previous paragraph (and others uttered by many faithful Catholics) is why the pope is now railing against us.  He is trying to cow us into silence.  We cannot let that happen.

Gaylord Diocese Watch

From Church Militant we learned of the existence of Gaylord Diocese Watch.  They are a group of Catholic laypeople within the Diocese of Gaylord MI to defend a whistleblower priest and address other ills of that diocese.

We commend the founders of GDW and look forward to supporting them in the future.  They have been in existence nine months, so to them, a belated welcome to the fight for our Holy Church!

More Faithful Catholics Fighting Rot Inside The Church - Update At Bottom

Last month faithful Catholics were instrumental in keeping the heretical Father James Martin from spewing his poison via "lenten reflections" at a New Jersey parish.  In two weeks, Martin will speak at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral.  He is doing so at the express invitation of Cardinal Blaise Cupich.  Yes, he's the same Cardinal who made nice-nice with pro-abort Dick Durbin after Bishop Paprocki instructed his priests to obey Canon 915 if Durbin were to present himself for Holy Communion.

Again Catholics are raising their voices in Chicago.  The staunchly Catholic group Tradition, Family and Property will be spearheading a protest during his appearances.  Other faithful Catholics will be joining them.  The TFP is spearheading a prayer of reparation on account of  Martin's poisonous promulgations scheduled to happen at the University of Cincinnati on March 24.  Martin will be joined by gay-rights activist Sr. Jeannine Gramick, one of the two founders of New Ways Ministry; she was officially silenced for her dissent but defies that order to the detriment of her soul.

There are two other events that warrant the prayers and even protests of faithful Catholics in the U.S.  From CatholicHeraldUK we hear that Msgr Pio Vito Pinto, Dean of the Roman Rota, will be giving a "course" on matrimony and the family.  Pinto has cast slurs upon the dubia cardinals and favors giving Holy Communion to adulterers.  This will happen in the Diocese of Austin TX.  The course is mandatory for all clergy there.

On April 28th, gay ex-Jesuit Dan Schutte will be giving a concert at Our Lady of Visitation Catholic Church in Kansas City.  Tickets to this thing cost $20.00.  While that may not seem to be a lot to charge, bear in mind that it is a violation of canon law to demand money for any event held in a Catholic Church.  However, that is a minor issue compared with the scandal of a gay ex-priest being allowed to peddle his wares in a Catholic Church.  Schutte never overtly admitted his perversion.  Preferring to be coy about the matter, he declines to answer any questions, claiming that "it can affect how people experience the music itself".  Think about that for a minute.  If he were to state that he isn't gay, how could that adversely "affect how people experience the music"?  Answer - no way.  In trying to be cute and coy about the question, Schutte tipped his hand.  Now the real question is, what are the local Catholics going to do abut this planned travesty?

Similar questions may well be looming on the horizon for those of us in the Archdiocese of Washington.  In light of this "pastoral plan" to foist Amoralis Lamentia upon us, what will we do if we are ever subject to heresy spewing from the pulpits, gays being affirmed in their mortal sins, flagrant pro-aborts strutting up the Communion line, etc?  I'm hearing rumors of parishes preparing to go hog-wild over this. To my ADW readers: if you get wind of mischief afoot, please advise me and send documentation of the same (bulletins, handouts, etc) to Faithful Catholics of MD/DC, PO Box 2192, Montgomery Village, MD 20886.  Organize among yourselves and prepare to take action, such as the TFP group is doing.  By God's grace, we must stand in the gap - not only with prayer but with action.

UPDATE - Thanks again to Catholic action, the Schutte concert has been moved off Church grounds.  At least sacred property won't be profaned.  I don't think our concern should stop there.  Perhaps a rosary could happen outside the new venue.  Certainly we should be asking this National Association of Pastoral Musicians what motivates them to slobber after people like Schutte in the first place.

Our Prayers And Protests Do Matter

The heretical Jesuit Father James Martin was scheduled to give a Lenten reflection on February 15, 2018 at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Metuchen NJ.  Permission for the sacrilege had actually originated from the deanery as opposed to the parish.

Happily, faithful Catholics got wind of the upcoming travesty and complained to the diocese in loud numbers.  The pastor of the parish said "I've gotten too many protests; I'm not doing it this year".  Other nearby parishes also refused to host Martin so his talk will occur in a secular venue.

This is not the first time that faithful Catholic in the Diocese of Metuchen shamed church officials into doing the right thing.  Almost three years ago, a teacher in a local Catholic high school was fired because she upheld Church teaching on her facebook page - all with the approval of then-bishop Bootkoski.  After hearing righteous anger from faithful Catholics, the teacher was restored to her position.

Now see this collection of posts.  If you go all the way down, you'll see that Cardinal Wuerl invited Martin to give reflections last Lent at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington DC.  I regret that we didn't learn of it in time to launch a protest effort.  However, we did have two months' notice of an address that he was to give at a priests' symposium last September (also in that string of posts).  Again, the resultant protests were enough to cause the symposium organizers to do the right thing and cancel Martin's talk - albeit reluctantly.

The point behind all this is simple.  THE PRAYERS AND PROTESTS OF EACH ONE OF US DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!  Never shrug your shoulders and complain "what's the use?"  We are the Church Militant.  When we act, we often have an impact.  If we don't, then of course evil will triumph.  Ora et labora!

Faithful Catholics Do Make A Difference When They Pray And Act

Earlier today Church Militant TV put out a call for action.  Someone within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles leased out some archdiocesan buildings to pro-abortion activists so that they could have a conference that featured Planned Parenthood.

As you can see from the linked article, CMTV produced a fairly detailed analysis of the planned conference and of all the key players involved.  They closed their post with a plea to contact Archbishop Gomez and ask him to have the event ejected from Church property.  I had planned to have this post be another vehicle to spread the word and to encourage my readers to participate in this effort.  Happily I can now amend the purpose of this post.

The update at the top of the CMTV link was put there within the past few hours.  Apparently enough faithful Catholics raised the alarm at the LA chancery so that they canceled the event.  This incident is evidence that we faithful Catholics do make a difference when we pray and act for God's honor and the upholding of Holy Mother Church.  Each and every phone call and email to that archdiocese played a critical role in preventing the planned sacrilege.

When events like this happen in the future (and they will), please take heart and act.  Make that phone call.  Send that email.  Boycott that collection for progressive causes.  Picket that pro-abort who speaks on Church property, or that enemy of marriage who is honored by Church officials.  Let the Church authorities know you will act.  Sometimes the specter of your planned action may cause the troublesome event to be cancelled.  Even if the event goes on, your action will at least make the recalcitrant officials uncomfortable in their sin.

Never sit back in indifference and apathy, believing that your voice and actions and prayers won't matter in the midst of so much evil.  It will, even if it may not be evident at all times.

Are We Purveyers Of "Ecclesiastical Porn"???

Some of us hoped that the next Vortex would clarify doubts regarding whom Church Militant TV intended when they issued their opinion why any criticism of the Pope is wrong.  Well, it appears that Michael Voris has.  First, I do think he has done a tremendous service in exposing so much corruption in the Church hierarchy.  Second, I don't doubt him when he says that Church Militant is being attacked by some for not openly making concerns known to the Holy Father regarding questionable actions.  Third, I am indeed saddened  that any vitriolic messages would be sent to them for their policy.  Fourth, I can also believe him when he says that some who take issue with the Pope's words go on to mock his person; I too consider that to be wrong.

As readers of this blog know, I have in no way denigrated the Holy Father personally nor disrespected the office of the Papacy when I've made criticisms regarding objectively questionable words/acts.  I also have not lobbed one criticism to Church Militant TV for their chosen policy and I certainly haven't sent any vitriol their way (in fact, I have not sent one email to them).  My grievance with Church Militant TV is that they have seen fit to chide those of us who do believe it incumbent upon us to raise some red flags.  They have made no distinction between those who do tear at the Papacy and those of us who question the Pope precisely because we do love Holy Mother Church.  Many of us have raised the point of such distinctions numerous times; it is all over the blogosphere.  Again in today's Vortex no such distinction is being recognized, although Church Militant TV cannot claim ignorance regarding our concerns.  Is it not reasonable to assume that the distinction is being omitted precisely because Church Militant TV is lumping us all together?  I hope to be proven wrong on this matter.

After the jump break, I will post the video, with my minute-by-minute rebuttal afterwards.

A Vortex Blooper??

I find myself in agreement with the Vortex 99.9% of the time.  However, it's that 0.1% of the time where I must wonder what got into their drinking water.  This appears to be one of those rare moments.  Why on earth would Voris even suggest (even in jest) that faithful Catholics take erring bishops, etc to secular civil court for violations of the faith?  Yes, he said "secular", not "canonical".

He mentions the conservative Anglicans doing that in relation to keeping their church real estate, but that seems to be more of a matter as to which legal entity holds title to which properties.  Even then, they appear to be ascribing to courts the authority to determine what constitutes true Anglicanism.  Why, oh why, would any Catholic, with two working brain cells, even dream of throwing away their First Amendment rights in such a foolhardy venture? 

Click here if you can't see embedded video.