Why We MUST Speak Out When Clerics Err Publicly

I post below a video by Fr Paul Nicholson, but before I do, I want to post this piece by St. Thomas Aquinas.  He is a Doctor of the Church (probably one of the leading ones) and author of Summa Theologica, from which this quote is taken.  This is from "the second part of the second part", question 33, article 4, reply to objection 2.  It reads (in part), "It must be observed, however, that if the faith were endangered, a subject ought to rebuke his prelate even publicly. Hence Paul who was Peter's subject, rebuked him in public, on account of the imminent danger of scandal concerning faith and, as the gloss of Augustine says on Galatians 2:11, "Peter gave an example to superiors, that if at any time they should happen to stray from the straight path, they should not disdain to be reproved by their subjects."

Now the video.

Why We WILL Continue The #Cookiecott Against The Girl Scouts

This Breitbart News article summarizes nicely the reasons why the Girl Scouts, once a mainstay of decency for young girls, is now inimical to their spiritual, mental and physical well-being.  Years ago, they dropped the oath to God as an integral part of their oath.  Now they hold pro-abortion women up as role models and collaborate with Planned Parenthood.

A number of Christian and pro-life leaders realized that they must be opposed and suggested that their cookie sales be boycotted.  Truth be told, I was always rather annoyed that these sales occurred during Lent so I never partook in them.  Still I am happy to support this boycott, that is now bearing the hashtag #cookiecott.

That same article also makes plain that the #cookiecott is having an effect.  Girl Scout CEO Anna Maria Chavez posted a youtube video to deny all charges.  The article cites facts to explain why Chavez is mistaken - if not lying through her teeth.

But, if you really need one more reason to #cookiecott the cookie sales, here it is!  Five months ago, the Girl Scouts created a brand new position - Chief Girl Experience Officer!  And what outstanding candidate did they hire for this key position?  Her name is Ashley Kokjohn.  She is an out-and-proud lesbian who considers herself "married" to her partner in perversion.

Let's ponder this, shall we?  The Girl Scouts create a brand new position!  Got that?  Now who do they choose for the first person ever to hold this brand new position?  A flamboyant lesbian!  There was no way the Girl Scout directors could not have known about her perversion.  Did they care?  More importantly, was Kokjohn's predilection a reason that they hired her??  Now think of the title - Girl Experience Officer!  Just what kind of "girl experiences" does this woman have in mind for the unsuspecting charges over whom she'll wield considerable influence?  Probably that is a sort of question for which the answer is all too obvious.

Let the #cookiecott continue against this once-decent organization, for it has now devolved into a brainwashing racket to twist young girls into atheistic progressives.  If your daughters are in the Girl Scouts, pull them out while there is still time to prevent damage.

Cindy Sheehan For CA Governor? Groovy, Baby!

The below is a campaign video of hers.  Repeat - it's a campaign video, not some 1960s hippy retrograde flick.  As you watch it, you might understandably think it's the latter.  I suppose she thinks that Californians might actually swoon all over this schlock.  I dunno - they voted to protect real marriage.  If she does somehow get in there, sane people in that state may want to think about leaving the flower-child commune that California will become under her.

Here it is!  Try not to laugh too hard!!

Obamacare Is Killing People! Cardinal Dolan, Could The Church Cheer That?

Remember when Cardinal Dolan quipped that "the Catholic Church could have been an Obamacare cheerleader"?  Cardinal Dolan, would the Catholic Church have cheered what Obamacare is doing to Julie Boonstra and countless like her?  Are you proud of yourself for uttering such nonsense?  You should be ashamed for disgracing the Church like that!!

By the way - this is a political ad.  Obama's Minions Most Mindless are in such a snit about it that they're threatening the FCC licenses of the stations that run it.  Can we say thugs?

CMR's Post On Pope Francis And SSPX

Pat Archibald of Creative Minority Report writes also for the National Catholic Register.  On the page of the latter, Archibald wrote an article expressing hope that Pope Francis will welcome the Society of St Pius X back into the ranks of mainstream Catholicism.  After posting the article, the Register saw fit to pull it down.  After reading the article myself, I think the Register's action was quite deplorable.

Archibald posted the article on Creative Minority Report.  I invite all to read it.

Baltimore's "Rebuilt" Parish In Serious Need Of REAL Rebuilding

Below is another video of a "church of nice" gushing about how nice they are!  This is the Church of the Nativity and it's in the northern Baltimore area, within the Archdiocese of Baltimore of course.  As you look at the surroundings of the two people, they could be in any workplace lunchroom.  There's nothing to distinguish it as a Roman Catholic Church.  You'll also hear the incessant yammering about "experience".  This subjective "experience" is often registered at the level of mere emotion; forget the intellect, reason and will.

Some oddities:

1. At the 1:00 mark, we hear that to "reach the lost we must understand what their likes are..and construct your building, physical surroundings and your service to reflect those likes".  If by "construct your service" he means tweaking the Mass rubrics, he has his thinking literally upside down.  Let's look at the definition of Holy Mass, per the Baltimore Catechism.  "What is the Mass?  The Mass is the sacrifice of the New Law in which Christ, through the ministry of the priest, offers Himself to God in an unbloody manner under the appearances of bread and wine."  Here's another.  "What are the purposes for which Mass is offered?  The purposes for which the Mass is offered are: first, to adore God as our Creator and Lord; second, to thank God for His many favors; third, to ask God to bestow His blessings on all men; fourth, to satisfy the justice of God for the sins committed against Him".  To be brief, Mass is about God, not about "an amazing weekend experience"!
2. At 2:45, the man is playing the role of the hypothetical visitor.  "Now that I'm seated, it seems like a great atmosphere; it's almost like a theater."  Whoa!  Let's pause right here!  A theater?  As in "entertainment, show-kind" of theater?  Is that an integral goal of this "amazing weekend experience"?
3. He goes on.  He does say the "light is on the altar where it needs to be".  I'll give him kudos for that, bit it goes downhill.  "The music is great, the band looks professional."  The band!!?!?!?  I tremble at the thought of the cacophony emanating from them during Mass.  In churches of old (back when "experience" was not worshiped more than God), we had choir lofts in the back of the church.  They were elevated and more importantly, behind the congregation so that they wouldn't draw undue attention.  The choir at that time enhanced the worship of God and was not concerned about entertainment and experience. 
4. Notice how they refer to "service"?  Whatever happened to the word "Mass"?  I find that substitution odd and a tad disconcerting.
5. You'd have to be paying attention before 3:51 to glean what the woman considers "the capstone of the weekend experience" to be: the socializing and snacks after Mass.  Would not the capstone of Holy Mass be the Consecration?  Or at least Holy Communion??  What she uttered is the kind of drivel that spills out of the mouth of those who don't understand just what a priceless treasure the Holy Mass is.  Her focus, at least in this video, is completely man-centered and not at all God-centered.

I sincerely hope and pray that they rediscover the real riches of their Roman Catholic heritage.  They're settling for, and offering, fluffy-puff stuff.

Cardinal Burke TRIES To Explain Some Recent Statements By Pope Francis

Recently the website "Courageous Priest" published a letter by Cardinal Burke in which the latter tried to clarify some very understandable confusion caused by some of Pope Francis' recent remarks, or at least their translations.   Before the text of the Cardinal's letter, they preface it by saying, "We know many feel uncomfortable with Pope Francis.  Can we let Cardinal Burke put your mind at ease?"  If that was the purpose of the Cardinal's letter, I regret to say that it flopped.  If anything, it actually justifies even more our misgivings.  Cardinal Burke has proven to be outspoken in defense of authentic Church teaching.  I understand that as a Prince of the Church, he is between the proverbial "rock and hard place" and is obliged to defend the Holy Father.  However, in trying to paint the Holy Father's missteps in the best possible light, some logical contortions can be seen in this letter.

This statement is something I find troubling. "The Holy Father, it seems to me, wishes to pare back every conceivable obstacle people may have invented to prevent themselves from responding to Jesus Christ’s universal call to holiness. We all know individuals who say things like: “Oh, I stopped going to Church because of the Church’s teaching on divorce”, or “I could never be Catholic because of the Church’s teaching on abortion or on homosexuality”. The Holy Father is asking them to put aside these obstacles and to welcome Christ, without any excuse, into their lives. Once they come to understand the immeasurable love of Christ, alive for us in the Church, they will be able to resolve whatever has been troubling them about the Church, His Mystical Body, and her teaching."

The teachings of Jesus Christ on the moral issues are NOT "obstacles". How can they disregard them (for even an instant) and expect to "understand the immeasurable love of Jesus" when by their disregard for the so-called "obstacles", they BLOCK the love of Jesus? At best, such love is reduced to a horribly mutated caricature of authentic charity. There is no mercy without repentance. The repentance must come first, for it is mortal sin that blocks sanctifying grace (and the love of God) in the life of anybody.

Further down in the letter he does point out that Our Lord began His public life with the words, "Repent and believe the Gospel".  So the "obstacles" are to be dealt with, not "set aside".  Repentance must precede any experience of God's love; else, any other "experience" is a cheap counterfeit at best and diabolical deception at worst.  In fact, the call to face one's sin and to repent of it IS an essential part of receiving God's love.

Sadly that message isn't coming through, and people are literally dying to receive it.  The fact that Cardinal Burke is putting forth this "damage control" letter is stark evidence of communications issues that didn't exist with the previous two popes.  I pray these are corrected quickly.

An Open Letter To The Milwaukee Archbishop Regarding The Parish From Hell Under His Watch

Here's some more info on Good Shepherd "Parish from Hell" Catholic Church.  It is in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, WI.   Last week this diocese filed for Chapter 11 in an attempt to remedy their financial situation brought on (in large part) by their settlement payments to victims of sex abuse by clergy - Milwaukee clergy, to be precise.  Now hold that thought while we shift focus back to our "parish from hell".

The video from yesterday intimated that there were seventy (70) "ministries".  From their parish website, we see their list of "human concerns ministries".  Please notice the "Gay and Straight in Christ" thing.  They want to "affirm" the gays.  Nowhere do we see that they want to help them leave their perverted and sinful lifestyles.  The latter would be true ministry.  Instead what is happening is that this so-called ministry is accelerating the homosexual Catholics' descent into hell by lulling them into false comfort.  On another note, I fail to detect a pro-life group here.

Minor point!  Only ordained engage in ministry. The service proffered by a lay person is properly called an "apostolate".  Maybe that point is not so minor, as the obfuscation of language may be a deliberated part of blurring the lines between lay and clergy.

Now let's weave some points together.  This archdiocese is paying through the nose because of their out-of-control gay clergy.  Yes, gay!  Over 90% of the victims of Catholic clergy sex abuse are post-pubescent boys.  That means their predators were gay - there ain't no getting around that with politically correct spin.  Is it not reasonable to surmise that these gay priests were emboldened, at least in part, by the so-called "gay ministries" within the parishes, such as that in our Parish from Hell?  The message being communicated is "gay is okay!" so why wouldn't they believe it just hunky-dorry to "affirm their gay-ness" with an attractive young fellow?  The archdiocese greased the skids to their own financial ruin with their gay-acceptance - and they continue to grease the skids to their eternal doom if they don't repent and change course pronto.

Now I post below an open letter to Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki, prelate of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.  It is below the jump break.

Personal Immorality Causes Political Ignorance

That is a main theme of today's Vortex; it's shown at the 2:00 mark.  Voris is right.  There is a high correlation between those who are in rebellion against God and His moral teachings and those who are utterly clueless about our society at large - that is, outside the realm of sports, entertainment and creature comforts.  They may not be able to tell you who their two Senators are, but they can tell you (with great enthusiasm) which musician is hooking up with which entertainment personality, etc.  The reason for this is simple; spiritual and moral laxity will bring with it mental flabbiness in just about every other aspect of life.  For many, physical flabbiness and laziness also comes with the package.

This spiritual and intellectual malady is sadly found among those who call themselves members of the Tea Party.  In the Tea Party rallies that I've attended, scant lip-service was paid to God.  The rest of the time was devoted to protesting governmental encroachment upon our lives: a rather short-sighted focus.  In the most recent issue of the Defend Life newsletter appears an article (written by Yours Truly) that deals with this issue as it pertains to the Tea Party; I link to it now and suggest that you read it (scroll to page 17) rather than try to rehash it here.

I've even seen this sickness within the Manhattan Declaration.  In that supposedly seminal document that ostensibly treated all the moral failings of this nation, not one peep was uttered about the pandemonium caused by contraception.  In fact, a word search on that document found not one mention of the word "contraception".  That glaring omission had "conflict of interest" screaming all over it.  Either the authors were themselves dallying with contraception or were too cowardly to confront it among their family and friends.  In any event, the authors and many who signed it literally danced around that elephant in the living room.  And of course, Michael Voris interviewed young attendees at the March for Life and found many of them approving of contraception and "gay marriage".

Now the video...

From The "Parish From Hell" Department - Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Menomonee Falls, WI

It may be difficult to believe that this is NOT a spoof!  Why this parish isn't placed under interdict is beyond me.

UPDATE (as of 2/23/14)!  Since this post was originally posted, it seems that someone "privatized" the video.  Odd!  How are they going to attract all the new visitors if their advertisement cannot reach its (originally) intended target group?  But not to worry!  It was such a masterpiece that some enterprising soul archived it, so now here's the new link!  Yes!  The archbishop can still watch it!

UPDATE (as of 2/25/14)!  Pursuant to a Facebook discussion between Deacon Sites and Pat Archibald - in which the deacon did acknowledge error in the video, Pat took his video down.  Is the deacon merely engaged in damage control?  We'll keep an eye on this.  If so, I'll put my own video up.