Religious Indifferentism and the failure of the Clergy: a reflection by Michael Voris

Religious indifferentism is a half-way house to theoretical and/or practical atheism. Its manifestation by clergy is extremely dangerous; the faithful reflecting in their lives the approach of the clergy to separated brethren. Michael Voris articulates a number of serious concerns about recent manifestations of, de facto, expressions of religious indifferentism by leading churchmen. 

I may add that even here in Canada, in Montreal, newly appointed "conservative" Archbishop Lepine at an ecumenical gathering last week, in his homily avoided scrupulously any mention of the one, true Church, or a need for the separated brethren to return to Her. Sad, so sad. 

Perhaps the strongest part of Voris' video are the words he quotes from St. John Eudes on worldly and wayward clergy not actually preaching and teaching the Word of God. And remember, the saint is not saying these men do not believe: but that they fail to transmit, to teach, to warn, to reproach: for they are too caught up in their personal, worldly pursuits. 

Perhaps even more dangerous is the "conservative" churchman who completely misreads the signs of the times and pursues worldly pleasures. Whereas the "liberal" may be a wolf by commission, he is a wolf by omission. Do you want to know if a priest is good: look at his fruits, look at the faithful under his watch. There, is your answer. Please pray for your priests.

Susan Fox: An American Poet and her poem,"Corpus Christi"

I am delighted to once again present to our readers another beautiful poem, Corpus Christi, by our dear friend, Susan Fox. You may read the entire poem at her blog, Christ's Faithful Witness. 

“Lord, here are two swords,”

we cried, as youth will cry

in pity and in ignorance;

Peter draws his sword at the arrest of Jesus

But we divided,

you, weeping with intellectual fervor

for the very stones He tread upon;

And I

in smiling sorrow

dancing to my death

at a bright intersection...

Happy Birthday Mozart!!!

Today, January 27th, marks the birthday of the great man. Please say a prayer for the repose of his noble soul. 

Fascist Boris Johnson strikes against Christian charity by suppressing an advert on London buses

"...everything in the State, nothing against the State, nothing outside the State". 

Mussolini

When evil is weak, it demands "tolerance", when strong it cannot itself tolerate opposition; in fact, it strives might and main to suppress any opposition, as evil hates and fears truth. So it is with the homosexualist movement. 

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, (who  masquerades as a "conservative") is, in reality, a hankerer after fascism. How so? Consider his homosexualist reaction to an advert placed on London buses by the Christian organization, The Core Issues Trust (funding also received from a group named, Anglican Mainstream). The advert was a response to the militant homosexualist organization, "Stonewall". 

Johnson imposed - what amounts to - his fascist censorship upon the Christian charity with the usual nonesensical claim that it was "offensive", banning the advert. Core Issues Trust has sought court action to overturn the ruling. 

The immediate spiritual tragedy of this is that there is a strong movement afoot that seeks to block outreach to persons suffering from same-sex attraction. The banning of this advert bodes badly for Christians who seek to spread the Gospel message of repentance and reconciliation with God; who seek to reach out to persons suffering from homosexual attraction with the truth of the Gospels. 

But it goes deeper than just the inability of Christians bringing the Gospel to those persons who practice homosexuality. It goes to the State's motivation and involvement in dictating and imposing forms of morality inimical to the Gospels. The motivation is fascist. Consider the words of the Italian jackel (in the words of Churchill), Mussolini: 

The Fascist conception of the State is all embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism, is totalitarian, and the Fascist State - a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values - interprets, develops, and potentates the whole life of a people.

Thus it was inevitable that the Catholic Church crossed swords with the Jackel. In our day, the British jackel, Johnson, is seeking to impose a totalitarian conception of State "values", outside of which opposition cannot exist, nor have any value. In the United States, not to be outdone, the American Jackel, Obama, persecutes nuns and others who dissent from his totalitarian will to impose morally unacceptable practices via his "Obamacare". And so on. Who would have thought that the once great fighters against totalitarianism are gradually, under the seductive lure of moral relativism, giving rise to a thinly disguised form of totalitarianism, which will, unless stopped, metamorphosis into open fascism. Be prepared. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI warned us. In fact, Pope Benedict addressed prophetic words to the US bishops, warning of totalitarianism and a grave crisis. Be prepared for persecution.

True Ecumenism is the return to Unity within the Catholic Church: Has the encyclical "Lumen Fidei" already been forgotten?

As the week for Christian unity draws to a close - over the hubbub of  insipid niceties and empty words - let us recall the doctrinal lessons on true unity in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis, drawing on the nearly complete text of what would have been the third encyclical by the venerable Pope Benedict XVI, promulgated in Lumen Fidei the following:

The unity and integrity of faith

47. The unity of the Church in time and space is linked to the unity of the faith: "there is one body and one Spirit… one faith" (Eph 4:4-5). These days we can imagine a group of people being united in a common cause, in mutual affection, in sharing the same destiny and a single purpose. But we find it hard to conceive of a unity in one truth. We tend to think that a unity of this sort is incompatible with freedom of thought and personal autonomy. Yet the experience of love shows us that a common vision is possible, for through love we learn how to see reality through the eyes of others, not as something which impoverishes but instead enriches our vision. Genuine love, after the fashion of God’s love, ultimately requires truth, and the shared contemplation of the truth which is Jesus Christ enables love to become deep and enduring. This is also the great joy of faith: a unity of vision in one body and one spirit. Saint Leo the Great could say: "If faith is not one, then it is not faith".[40]

What is the secret of this unity? Faith is "one", in the first place, because of the oneness of the God who is known and confessed. All the articles of faith speak of God; they are ways to know him and his works. Consequently, their unity is far superior to any possible construct of human reason. They possess a unity which enriches us because it is given to us and makes us one.

Faith is also one because it is directed to the one Lord, to the life of Jesus, to the concrete history which he shares with us. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons made this clear in his struggle against Gnosticism. 

The Gnostics held that there are two kinds of faith: a crude, imperfect faith suited to the masses, which remained at the level of Jesus’ flesh and the contemplation of his mysteries; and a deeper, perfect faith reserved to a small circle of initiates who were intellectually capable of rising above the flesh of Jesus towards the mysteries of the unknown divinity. In opposition to this claim, which even today exerts a certain attraction and has its followers, Saint Irenaeus insisted that there is but one faith, for it is grounded in the concrete event of the incarnation and can never transcend the flesh and history of Christ, inasmuch as God willed to reveal himself fully in that flesh. For this reason, he says, there is no difference in the faith of "those able to discourse of it at length" and "those who speak but little", between the greater and the less: the first cannot increase the faith, nor the second diminish it.[41]

Finally, faith is one because it is shared by the whole Church, which is one body and one Spirit. In the communion of the one subject which is the Church, we receive a common gaze. By professing the same faith, we stand firm on the same rock, we are transformed by the same Spirit of love, we radiate one light and we have a single insight into reality.

48. Since faith is one, it must be professed in all its purity and integrity. Precisely because all the articles of faith are interconnected, to deny one of them, even of those that seem least important, is tantamount to distorting the whole. Each period of history can find this or that point of faith easier or harder to accept: hence the need for vigilance in ensuring that the deposit of faith is passed on in its entirety (cf. 1 Tim 6:20) and that all aspects of the profession of faith are duly emphasized. Indeed, inasmuch as the unity of faith is the unity of the Church, to subtract something from the faith is to subtract something from the veracity of communion. The Fathers described faith as a body, the body of truth composed of various members, by analogy with the body of Christ and its prolongation in the Church.[42] The integrity of the faith was also tied to the image of the Church as a virgin and her fidelity in love for Christ her spouse; harming the faith means harming communion with the Lord.[43] The unity of faith, then, is the unity of a living body; this was clearly brought out by Blessed John Henry Newman when he listed among the characteristic notes for distinguishing the continuity of doctrine over time its power to assimilate everything that it meets in the various settings in which it becomes present and in the diverse cultures which it encounters,[44] purifying all things and bringing them to their finest expression. Faith is thus shown to be universal, catholic, because its light expands in order to illumine the entire cosmos and all of history.

49. As a service to the unity of faith and its integral transmission, the Lord gave his Church the gift of apostolic succession. Through this means, the continuity of the Church’s memory is ensured and certain access can be had to the wellspring from which faith flows. The assurance of continuity with the origins is thus given by living persons, in a way consonant with the living faith which the Church is called to transmit. She depends on the fidelity of witnesses chosen by the Lord for this task. For this reason, the magisterium always speaks in obedience to the prior word on which faith is based; it is reliable because of its trust in the word which it hears, preserves and expounds.[45] In Saint Paul’s farewell discourse to the elders of Ephesus at Miletus, which Saint Luke recounts for us in the Acts of the Apostles, he testifies that he had carried out the task which the Lord had entrusted to him of "declaring the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). Thanks to the Church’s magisterium, this counsel can come to us in its integrity, and with it the joy of being able to follow it fully.

Ecumenism requires the Church of England to return to the one source of Unity: the Catholic Church

We should stop deceiving our separated brethren from the Church of England: they must return to unity abandoning their schism and heresies. The recent introduction of women as "priestesses" and "bishopesses" renders any future return impossible without the Church of England abandoning its false view of sacramental power. The Russian Orthodox have recently, clearly informed the Church of England of this reality. Metropolitan Hilarion wrote the following to Justin Welby: 

Regrettably, the late 20^th century and the beginning of the third millennium have brought tangible difficulties in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion. The introduction female priesthood and now episcopate, the blessing of same-sex ‘unions’ and ‘marriages’, the ordination of homosexuals as pastors and bishops – all these innovations are seen by the Orthodox as deviations from the tradition of the Early Church, which increasingly estrange Anglicanism from the Orthodox Church and contribute to a further division of Christendom as a whole.

For Catholics, not to inform these separated brethren of this, charitably, but clearly (as Orthodoxy has done) is to continue to offer false hope. We must not lie to these people; delusional discussions  on ecumenism is a long walk down a never ending road.... the Church of England is but a broken cistern, from which the waters of life have long since disappeared. 

Please pray for England's conversion. 

"Rev" Mary Styles following her "ordination" to the "priesthood"
at All Saints church, Rome, Italy. Recently interviewed by Vatican Radio

Toronto Traditional Mass Society-Una Voce Toronto: Sung Latin Mass for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

Tomorrow, January 25th, at the parish of the Holy Martyrs of Japan, Mass will be offered according to the usus antiquior of the Roman Rite. It is being organized by the Toronto Traditional Mass Society- Una Voce Toronto.

A map to get to the church may be viewed here. 

Fr. Paul Nicholson on St. Francis de Sales as a Pastor of Souls

It is only fitting that I draw your attention to another great pastor of souls: St. Francis de Sales; one of the great inspirations for Bl. John Henry Newman's pastoral activity. 

Fr. Paul Nicholson presents to us a remarkable video on St. Francis de Sales. St. Francis is a model on how to present evangelization when confronted with confusion, heresy.... as in our own day. Surely the spiritual chaos in our own parishes here in Toronto and across the western world cannot be any better than the degeneracy confronting Bishop de Sales in Geneva? 

Indeed, at least the protestants of his day still retained the sense of sin. In our day, most Catholics have even lost that. When so many young "Catholics" - even after years of "conservative" Catholic parochial education (under the spiritually proud notion they are superior to the "state" Catholic school), and deceptively subsidized by the proverbial widow's mite - have succumbed to heresy, unbelief and even sexual perversion - we have an unmitigated pastoral crisis on our hands.  St. Francis help us and pray for us!

Secret Church documents released: Archdiocese of Chicago covered up decades of abuse, rape, sexual perversion etc.

From the Chicago Tribune: 

Thousands of pages of secret church documents released Tuesday as part of a court settlement provide an unprecedented and gut-wrenching look at how the Archdiocese of Chicago for years failed to protect children from abusive priests.

The documents provide new details and insights into how the nation's third-largest archdiocese quietly shuttled accused priests from parish to parish and failed to notify police of child abuse allegations. The paper trail, going back decades, also portrays painfully slow progress toward reform, accountability and openness.....

Read the documents; it is monstrous how two Cardinals knowingly and actively covered up, hid, moved, excused, misappropriated monies for these evil men,  and assorted degenerated perverts and pedophiles..... Shocking. Pray for the victims of this horrendous abuse; may these churchmen seek forgiveness. May Cardinal George do the right thing and resign immediately. 

Extraordinary Pro-life poem by Susan Fox

A dear friend of this blog, Susan Fox, has just published on her blog, Christ's Faithful Witness, a most heart-rending poem on abortion, "The Choice". The ending is powerful shocking, gripping- realistic: the horror of abortion and its consequences. 

This is the hoarfrosted moment – bare and sinister;

it chokes a freckled young woman,

dark-haired and beautiful with child.

The day is ugly with torment

and a certain disposable mentality

seeps through the cracks of the sidewalk.

Someone mistook the baby for diapers.

The air is blue gray

as she pulls another drag of temporary happiness,

walking with a bitter finality

to a certain and undisclosed destination.

Her mother is ashamed.

She would whitewash the moment,

send her to a man in a white coat.

His knife is sharp and indifferent....

To read the full poem, please visit Christ's Faithful Witness 

Pope Francis' security may be in danger from "network of homosexuals" in the Vatican

Is Pope Francis' life in danger? It would seem that at least his "security" is. Pray for the Holy Father that he may not succumb to the wolves, who, masquerading as shepherds, seek to devour the flock of the Lamb. 

From the Guardian: 

A former commander of the Swiss Guard, the small force of men whose job it is to protect the pope, has said there is "a network of homosexuals" within the Vatican, the latest in a series of claims about gay priests working at the heart of the Roman Catholic church.

Elmar Mäder, who was commandant of the Guard from 2002 until 2008, said his time at the heart of the Vatican had given him an insight into certain aspects of life there. "I cannot refute the claim that there is a network of homosexuals. My experiences would indicate the existence of such a thing," he told the Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag.

Famed for their striking uniforms of blue, red and orange, recruits to the Guard swear to protect the pope and his successors with their lives.

Mäder, 50, from the canton of St Gallen, refused to comment on speculation that he had warned guardsmen about the behaviour of certain priests.

Earlier this month, the same newspaper reported the claims of a former, unnamed member of the Guard that he had been the target of more than 20 "unambiguous sexual requests" from clergy while serving in the force.

Recounting a dinner in a Rome restaurant, the man was quoted as saying: "As the spinach and steak were served, the priest said to me: 'And you are the dessert'."

The full report

March for Life - 2014: Stand up for life!!

In a few hours, our American brothers and sisters will be gathering in their mother church, the basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, under the motherly gaze of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Washington D.C. to begin the annual March for Life with Mass. EWTN will carry this extremely important event live.

Abortion, the murder of the innocent is, in the words of Pope John Paul II: the "foundational human right". All other rights flow from the right to life. There are no other rights without the right to life. Is it any wonder that in anti-life totalitarian societies, such as the death-cult of Nazism, that not only Jews, but, by extension, Germans too lost all their human rights? A German only delayed his death by attaining "glory" to die for his "Fuhrer" on some distant battlefield. Far from the evil Fuhrer's thoughts were the glorious words of Schiller as put to music by the immortal Beethoven. Both those men would have ended up in a death camp. 

Pope John Paul II rejected the lies he was obsessed with the scourge of abortion; to the contrary he waged daily warfare against this monstrous evil: he confronted powerfully Mr. Clinton and others who had fallen for the deception that abortion was a liberator of women. To the contrary, nothing enslaves more than sin, and the sin of having killed the life within you. Pro-life is, again in the words of the Pope "pro-woman". The right to life movement is called upon to work to not only oppose abortion but to offer young women, usually betrayed by a lustful cynicist, the opportunity to bring the baby to term, and be born into love. Lust must be replaced with love!

A far more sinister context of abortion is not the heart-rending betrayal of young girls by lustful youths, but mature women who evilly, cynically, and with distain to truth, cold-heartedly destroy the life within them on the pretext of an inconvenience; relentlessly pursing a life of lust and debauchery. Here we are perhaps entering the dark world of the more open influence of the Evil One. Whereas in the former scenario, he exploits fear, uncertainty; here, he exploits open lust of the flesh: he knows, that sins of the flesh lead quickly to the incapacitation of the mind for clear thinking. Nothing clouds thought more - as the saints have written (such as St. John Chrysostom) than a person addicted to sexual sin. Therefore, in an eroticized society, it is only logical that abortion be exalted as a great "right" to be held. And it is "true". If one accepts eroticism as a right, one must logically adhere to the culture of death, whose pinnacle is abortion. 

The other monstrous evil of our day is the practice of homosexuality: the destroyer of love. But, for that, I leave to another post. 

Please pray for the success of the March for Life. Please pray for those women who have had abortions, that they repent and enter the House of Israel, the Church, where they will find forgiveness and peace. Pray for the conversion of those who prey on these women for profit; pray that the enemies of God be scattered...and pray for bishops and priests that they courageously and openly support the fight against abortion. God grant us pro-life priests!

213. Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenceless and innocent among us. Nowadays efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing in the way of this. Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church’s effort to defend their lives, attempts are made to present her position as ideological, obscurantist and conservative. Yet this defence of unborn life is closely linked to the defence of each and every other human right. It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development. Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems. Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defence of human rights, which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be. Reason alone is sufficient to recognize the inviolable value of each single human life, but if we also look at the issue from the standpoint of faith, “every violation of the personal dignity of the human being cries out in vengeance to God and is an offence against the creator of the individual”.[176]

(Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium)

Cardinal Newman: A pastor of souls who preached the Cross

"It is the death of the Eternal Word of God made flesh, which is our great lesson how to think and how to speak of this world"

John Henry Cardinal Newman

"The warmth and humanity"of
Cardinal Newman

John Henry Cardinal Newman, spent half his long life coming into the Catholic Church. The other half was spent "coming out" of the Catholic Church, distributing Her spiritual fruits to all who would listen. Even, as an Anglican - in truth drawing not so much on Anglicanism, but on the early Church Fathers and the Gospels - he put us on alert to preach Christ crucified, and only Him crucified. 

The hallmark of any disciple is the preaching of the Cross; in the great man's own words" "the heart of religion". This may well explain the near collapse of religion in our day: a near pathological hatred, aversion and fear of the Cross. The constant temptation of a crossless "Christ" is but an idol, a prefiguration of the man of perdition. Without the Cross, Christianity becomes a satanic caricature. It is from the sermon, The Cross of Christ Measure of the World", that I shall strive to draw my inspiration. 

Though a scholar, it is as a pastor of souls that he truly shines. Newman confirmed it: ".... the world of intellect and science...the pride and confidence of reason, and the absorbing devotion of thought to transitory objects, which is the consequence. Would you form a right judgment of all this? Look at the Cross". 

To the wealthy and powerful, Newman proclaimed: "consider... the form and ceremonial, the pomp, the state, the circumstance; and the vainglory. Do you wish to know the worth of it all? Look at the Cross of Christ".

To politicians:":see...the strivings of the ambitious, the intrigues of the crafty. What is the end of all this turmoil? the grave. What is the measure? The Cross".

To those suffering in poverty, illness, Newman wrote:"look at misery, look at poverty and destitution...pain and suffering, diseases long or violent, all that is frightful and revolting. Would you know how to rate all these? Gaze upon the Cross".

Holiness radiates from the countenance of
the elderly saint

This is true realism: the reality of the Cross! For it is through the Cross that we are saved; it is the Cross that we must take up to live the Christian life. Following St. Paul, Newman wrote: "Jesus Christ and He crucified" is, as the Apostle tells us, "a hidden wisdom;"—hidden in the world, which seems at first sight to speak a far other doctrine,—and hidden in the faithful soul, which to persons at a distance, or to chance beholders, seems to be living but an ordinary life, while really it is in secret holding communion with Him who was "manifested in the flesh," "crucified through weakness," "justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, and received up into glory."

Newman followed the great example of his inspirations, Sts. Philip Neri and Francis de Sales in the preaching and bringing the Gospel out to the people. Nor to ever be forgotten is the apostolic fervour of Bl. Dominic Barberi, who received Newman into the Church. Bl. John Henry manifested the essential charity of a priest; to bring the life-giving truth of Christ to the lost sheep. 

Of this charity, Pope Benedict XVI, wrote in the beatification sermon of Bl. John Henry: 

While it is John Henry Newman’s intellectual legacy that has understandably received most attention in the vast literature devoted to his life and work, I prefer on this occasion to conclude with a brief reflection on his life as a priest, a pastor of souls. The warmth and humanity underlying his appreciation of the pastoral ministry is beautifully expressed in another of his famous sermons: “Had Angels been your priests, my brethren, they could not have consoled with you, sympathized with you, have had compassion on you, felt tenderly for you, and made allowances for you, as we can; they could not have been your patterns and guides, and have led you on from your old selves into a new life, as they can who come from the midst of you” (“Men, not Angels: the Priests of the Gospel”, Discourses to Mixed Congregations, 3). He lived out that profoundly human vision of priestly ministry in his devoted care for the people of Birmingham during the years that he spent at the Oratory he founded, visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison. No wonder that on his death so many thousands of people lined the local streets as his body was taken to its place of burial not half a mile from here

Truly, it may be said that Cardinal Newman lived the Gospel: 

Let us begin with faith; let us begin with Christ; let us begin with His Cross and the humiliation to which it leads.

French website reports Bishop Richard Williamson may be ready to consecrate Fr. Jean-Michel Faure as bishop

The French sedevacantist website, Catholique-Sedevacantiste published an unconfirmed report - though highly plausible - that Bishop Richard Williamson may be ready, and perhaps has selected Fr. Jean-Michel Faure for consecration. Williamson has already publicly stated that it is a question of when, not if, he will consecrate another bishop. Some background information about Fr. Faure may be read here. 

UPDATE: Bishop Richard Williamson has announced that the purchase of a base in southeast England has now become a reality. 

Ecumenical Confusion reigns in the Vatican: Religious Indifferentism is destroying the Church

Yet another reason to abolish the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). 

The CCCB and the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) (of which the CCCB is a member, and, as a member shares corporate responsibility for CCC policy; including the promotion of - based on the vagueness stated in the CCC website, and known positions of various co-"churches" of the CCC - condomistic sex) are eagerly promoting a very bizarre approach to return to "unity". Simply: they are not! Catholic unity already exists: it is for the separated brethren to return to the One Fold, of thre One true Church, under Christ's One Vicar, Pope Francis.
  Unfortunately, even the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity is promoting a set of confused, odd prayers and activities composed by a group of Canadians said to be dedicated to the cause of ecumenism. Prayers are replete with United Nations suggestions for intentions for so-called Millennium Goals. The Council further digresses from Catholic doctrine by not distinguishing between true churches and ecclesial communities etc. The CCCB continues this erroneous confusion in its documentation and promotional video (see below). The Pontifical Council informs us, that when we say the UN prayers etc. we should also consider using a compass to ensure that we turn correctly within the "sacred space"... to eventually receive a "Final Blessing" from "worship leaders" (including female ministeresses???). 

Naturally, these same Millennium Goals do not contain prayers for an end to the scourge of abortion, or the pestilence of perverse sexual practices. Nor does the CCC mention these grave moral issues; yet they do assure us that "climate change" is "moral crisis". Pure horizontalism.  

Not a word on the moral crisis of abortion

Not a word on the moral crisis on homosexuality 

Consider the following confusing mush, nay heresy, from the Vatican website written by some ad hoc Canadian committee:  

Has Christ been divided in Canada? It can certainly be said that there are divisions among Christians in Canada. The Christian community is divided over the role of women in both church and society as well as over ethical issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage. Many of these divisions cut across denominational lines. However, in the face of new social issues some religious communities have begun to engage with their neighbours in new and positive ways. Indeed, Canadian history has seen periods of tension and rivalry, of life lived in ignorance and indifference to each other. Through it all, we have learned to take into consideration the values of others in order to live peaceably together. We continue to be divided by doctrine, polity, and practice, and to maintain our own religious solitudes, yet our pilgrimage towards unity continues under God’s guidance.

Yes, there it is again: go along, to get along!!!

You may wish to review the equally insipid Canadian promotional video of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism (were they clowning in front of the Blessed Sacrament?)
 

All of this provides just another miserable reason why the Catholic Church is collapsing in Canada, trotting down the same path as the United Church.  No doctrine, no preaching, no urgency, no sense of proclaiming the Truth....they are ashamed of Christ and He is ashamed of them before His Father...


Recommended reading: Dominus Jesus

Susan Fox, an American Poet

Great friends of this blog include the co-authors of the outstanding evangelizing Catholic blog, "Christ's Faithful Witness", Lawrence and Susan Fox. Susan is also blessed with the gift for poetry.

The Pieta of Main Street

The road is August-cracked,
dry and dead with frisbees.

In the autumn,
the wind wisks through the trees
and buries 
all the broken bottles of pleasing summer
under piles of vicious leaves. 

The people, who follow its crooked path, 
are crippled with need.
They are lonely for the summer,
and grow smaller in December
when the cold reduces all things to a sharp black silhouette......

To read more of Susan's poetry, please link here.  

Bishop Fellay: Will the "Big Boss" still be the Secretary of State?

A number of issues raised by Bishop Bernard Fellay in 2007 seem even more contemporary in 2014; especially with the imminent gathering of the "Group of Eight" Cardinals to discuss reforming the structure of the Curia.

Pope Francis denounces abortion as part of the "throwaway culture"

Pope Francis' address to the Diplomatic corps included the following: 

... I observed that “fraternity is generally first learned within the family…”, for the family “by its vocation… is meant to spread its love to the world around it" and to contribute to the growth of that spirit of service and sharing which builds peace. This is the message of the Crib, where we see the Holy Family, not alone and isolated from the world, but surrounded by shepherds and the Magi, that is by an open community in which there is room for everyone, poor and rich alike, those near and those afar. In this way we can appreciate the insistence of my beloved predecessor Benedict XVI that “the language of the family is a language of peace”.

Sadly, this is often not the case, as the number of broken and troubled families is on the rise... It also happens that the elderly are looked upon as a burden, while young people lack clear prospects for their lives. Yet the elderly and the young are the hope of humanity. The elderly bring with them wisdom born of experience; the young open us to the future and prevent us from becoming self-absorbed. It is prudent to keep the elderly from being ostracized from the life of society, so as to preserve the living memory of each people. It is likewise important to invest in the young through suitable initiatives which can help them to find employment and establish homes.... 
The scenes of destruction and death which we have witnessed in the past year confirm all this – if ever we needed such confirmation. How much pain and desperation are caused by self-centredness which gradually takes the form of envy, selfishness, competition and the thirst for power and money! Peace is also threatened by every denial of human dignity, firstly the lack of access to adequate nutrition. We cannot be indifferent to those suffering from hunger, especially children, when we think of how much food is wasted every day in many parts of the world immersed in what I have often termed “the throwaway culture”. Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as “unnecessary”. For example, it is frightful even to think there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day; children being used as soldiers, abused and killed in armed conflicts; and children being bought and sold in that terrible form of modern slavery which is human trafficking, which is a crime against humanity. 

The continued cult-like behaviour of the perverse Legion of Christ

ReGain, the excellent website that supports victims of abuse (spiritual, sexual,, psychological and physical) by the vile Legion of Christ is highly recommended. I fear that this cult will try to ram its "new" constitution through; hood-winking the Pope. The on-going Thomas Williams cover-up demonstrates this cult is unable to reform, due to institutional corruption. A Hydra merely re-grows another head. Rorate Caeli blog is correct: the Legion needs its buildings razed, the earth underneath salted.

Never has there been a religious congregation founded by a psychopathic, evil and satanic figure. Such a man was the devilish Marcial Maciel. Sinister indeed were his various enablers - some of whom still walk the corridors of the Vatican. Angelo Cardinal Sodano amongst them. 

A brief review of REGain shows the innumerable lives of young, good people seriously abused and damaged by the evil organization. 

Pope Francis denounces worldly, "butterfly" priests as idolators and worshipers of "Narcissus"....

Pope Francis on priests and bishops who have ceased focusing on Jesus Christ (see our Twitter feed for the link): 

...“What is the place of Jesus Christ in my priestly life? Is it a living relationship, from the disciple to the Master, from brother to brother, from the poor man to God, or is it a somewhat artificial relationship... that does not come from the heart?”
“We are anointed by the Spirit, and when a priest is far from Jesus Christ he can lose this unction. In his life, no: essentially he has it... but he loses it. And instead of being anointed he ends up being smarmy. And how damaging to the Church are smarmy priests! Those who put their strength in artificial things, in vanity, in an attitude... in a cutesy language... But how often do we hear it said with sorrow: ‘This is a butterfly-priest,’ because they are always vain [is the Pope perhaps making a subtle reference to homosexualist bishops and priests?]... [This kind of priest] does not have a relationship with Jesus Christ! He has lost the unction: he is smarmy.”
.... But if we are far from Jesus Christ, we necessarily compensate for this with other, worldly attitudes. And so [we see] all these figures... priest-wheeler dealers, priest-tycoons [we can think of any number of bishops and priests who have established their own little empire; being hero worshiped ...] But the priest who adores Jesus Christ, the priest who talks with Jesus Christ, the priest who seeks Jesus Christ and who is allowed to seek Jesus Christ: this is the centre of our life. If that is not there, we lose everything. And what will we give to the people?”
..., when people see priest idolaters, so to speak, priests who instead of having Jesus have little idols... worshippers of the god Narcissus...[Narcissus was a self-worshiper... how many priests can we think of who, giving Jesus lip service, are really only about self promotion?] When people see [priests like this] they say ‘poor guy!’ The relationship with Jesus Christ saves us from worldliness and idolatry that makes us smarmy, preserves us in the anointing [we have received]. And today, this is my hope for you who have been kind enough to come here to concelebrate with me: Even if you lose everything in life, don’t lose this relationship with Jesus Christ! This is your victory. Go forward with this!”

Corruption in the Neo-con "church"? Elizabeth Lev video still on Opus Dei website; info etc. still on EWTN

Just how corrupt are things? Consider the marriage of Elizabeth Lev, daughter of prominent neo-con, Mary Ann Glendon (one time apologist for pervert Maciel), to Legion of Christ ex-priest, Thomas Williams. Surely this "marriage" of a woman with two other illegitimate children to a "priest" would be more than enough for Opus Dei to remove a video featuring this self-serving woman from their website? Apparently not. 

And what of EWTN? How could they carry a programme by such a person? My, how the powerful have fallen.... but we have seen all this before. Remember the sad case of Fr. John Corapi? 

Update: An article that Lev published attacking Nancy Pelosi is very apropos here. Consider that when this article was written, Lev had already given birth to "Fr." Williams' child. Lev chides Pelosi and castigates her on issues of good and evil....talk about the pot calling the kettle black. 

EWTN "news" carries no news of the outrage

EWTN still carrying Lev's "Catholic Canvas" information etc

Pope Francis visits Benedict XVI for Christmas

Video footage of Pope Francis visiting Benedict XVI for Christmas