Massimo Faggioli blames the victims: ""abuse crisis was caused by... the VAST GREY AREA between victims and abusers"

Blaming the victim

It is not enough that boys (and a few girls) have been systematically sodomized, sexually abused by infiltrator priests, bishops and cardinals. 

It is not enough that hands consecrated to God and the offering of the Mass, have been used to manipulate in mastubatory horror, the genitals of children and youth. 

It is not enough that these infiltrators have blasphemed, committed sacrilege, have engaged in the demonic abuse of children. 

It is not enough these infiltrators live off the widow's mite - many in opulence. 

It is not enough these infiltrators have devoted their lives to destroying innocent lives.... 

Now we Massimo Faggioli coming out and blaming the victims. And in perfect timing, the day before the Pedophile Summit. 

Imagine if a journalist proclaimed that Harvey Weinstein's sexual predation upon women was also caused by a "vast grey area...". 

The implication of a "grey area" is that the victim - the VICTIM !!!! - is not a victim, but a co-actor in the sexual perversion. 

Here we have Faggioli daring to even suggest that boys (and a few girls) are somehow involved in seducing priests and bishops. And that these holy men just cannot resist the seduction. Little boys having nothing better to do than - wait for it - become versed in homosexual activity - and then turn their new found "skills" upon hapless priests and bishops. This is what we are being told!! 


Faggioli may not realize it, but little boys are interested in sports, airplanes, being firemen, etc. They are not interested in sodomy, because they do not know that this particular sin even exists. As I think back, I only heard about homosexuality at about the age of 15, 16 - and only because militant homosexuals were on the local news here in Toronto, agitating for acceptance.  Yet, even then, thank God, I did not actually know what a homosexual was. All I knew is that there were strange men who actually kissed each other on the lips. Repulsive, sickening....

As to the depths of homosexual depravity, I was probably was well into my thirties when I listened to a lecture by Fr. John O'Connor and learnt about the sad addictions these people engage in. Simply put: these activities are unnatural and just as one would not reflect that two and two make five, one would not reflect upon sexual activity between mand and man, or woman and woman. 

Will Massimo Faggioli survive this outrageous slandering of the victims? 

Will Villanova University dismiss him? 

I very much doubt it. This will tell more about Villanova then it will about Faggioli. 

This is the power of the homosexual juggernaut. Cardinals Brandmuller and Burke have already warned us the other day: the raping of children is about a loss of Faith. Archbishop Vigano warned us months ago: there is a powerful, entrenched homosexual network that has no intention of relinquishing power. 

But God is God, and these infiltrators are mere mortals. They will not destroy His Church. 

Let us remain calm and prayerful. Let us not allow this summit or any other scandal to unnerve us, undermine our Faith. We need to get to Heaven, that is our primary duty. Let us not allow sinful men to obstruct our journey to the Father's House. 

In Thanksgiving to St.Vincent de Paul

St. Vincent de Paul

January and February were months of incredible blessings for me. St. Vincent de Paul, and his devoted son. BLessed Frederic Ozanam, played a major role. Friends, go to these great servants of God and lover of the poor with confidence.  

"Let us go in simplicity where merciful

Providence leads us, content to see the

stone on which we should step without

wanting to discover all at once and

completely the winding road"

Blessed Frederic Ozanam

Blessed Margarita Citta di Costello

April 13th marks the feast of Blessed Margarita Citta di Costello. Although she is not as well known as other blesseds, her story is nonetheless just as remarkable on account of the many hardships she had to endure throughout her life.

Stained glass window in San Domenico, Citta di Costello

Margarita - Italian form of Margaret, derived from the Greek word for pearl - was born in 1287 to nobles in Mercatello sul Metuaro, Citta di Costello in Umbria, Italy. Immediately, she was an embarrassment to her parents. Born blind, afflicted with a severe curvature to her spine (modern-day scoliosis, perhaps), dwarfed and severely restricted in her ability to walk, her parents hid her from the world. It was only through the kindness of a maid she was given the name Margarita - her parents clearly did not want her, as she was a threat to their social standing.

At the age of six, she was nearly publicly discovered. It was then her parents decided to take things further. Margarita was locked up in a doorless cell attached to the chapel inside their home, where her parents intended to keep her until she died. The cell had a window looking into the chapel, and thus Margarita was able to hear Mass and receive Communion from the resident priest. This same priest took it upon himself to instruct Margarita in the faith, impressed with her docile nature and the depth of her spiritual wisdom, despite her young age.

Things changed when Margarita was about twenty. Her parents took her to a Franciscan shrine in Costello, Perugia, where they had heard miracles were occurring, in the hopes of having their daughter cured. No such miracle occurred. Sadly, Margarita was reportedly abandoned as a result. People in Castello took pity on her and helped her survive, teaching her not only how to beg but also providing her shelter with various families. She was eventually permitted to reside with the Dominican nuns at the local convent.

After a time, she was asked to leave the convent. The nuns there lived laxly, and Margarita's quiet adherence to the Dominican rule made them uncomfortable. In time, Margarita became a Dominican Tertiary, wearing the habit for the rest of her life, and instructed the children of Costello in the Faith and the psalms. Margarita also ministered to the less fortunate, and had greatest affection for the imprisoned.

Margarita died on April 12th, 1320 at the age of 33 in the Citta di Costello in Perugia, Italy. She was renowned for her gentleness, kindness, and compassion for all around her. Her faith was strong, and was the means through which she accepted her many sufferings. She was also known for being cheerful in spite of her physical sufferings. While she understood that her parents resented her, she never resented them. Margarita also reportedly had several mystical gifts, and many miracles have occurred surrounding her.

Margarita's cause for canonization has not been keenly pursued by the Dominican Order since her death. In 1558, she was discovered to be incorruptible upon exhumation, which re-sparked interest in her canonization. While her coffin was rotten, her clothes disintegrated, she was as well preserved since the day she died. (It is all the more impressive since she was not embalmed, and attests to her sanctity.) She was dressed in a new Dominican habit, and while exposure to air during the exhumation blackened bits of her skin, she is nonetheless still remarkably well preserved almost 700 years later.

Altar of San Domenico, Citta di Costello, where Bl. Margarita's remains are kept.

Close-up of Bl. Margarita

Margarita was made a Blessed by Pope Paul V on October 19th, 1609, and he allowed a Mass and a Divine Office specifically for her to be said by the Perugian Dominicans. In 1675, Pope Clement X extended this privilege to the entire Dominican order. Closer to our time, in 1988, Blessed Margarita was declared a patron of the blind. (She is also a patron of those with disabilities.)

Blessed Margarita Citta di Costello, pray for us. Allow us to imitate your cheerfulness and charity in spite of physical hardships and life's difficulties. You are a true pearl.

It is a shame your cause for canonization continues to stall. May that be remedied some day.

Source for much of this information, replete with many photos and reflections: http://dominicanidaho.org/Castello/2008_MargaretVisitUpdate.pdf

The Miracle of Marcellino

Produced in 1955, The Miracle of Marcellino, known in Spanish as Marcellino Pan Y Vino (Bread and Wine), is a touching little film. It was a commercial success both in Spain and internationally.

In this period of Septuagesima, I would highly recommend our readers to take a couple of hours and watch it. I will not reveal the plot details, but let me just say that it is edifying and ought to remind us of why Lent is so important for the spiritual life.

It can found on Netflix's streaming service or on various online retailers in the form of a DVD.

The decadent West is worse than the Soviet Union ever was

The debauched "freedom loving" West is now so decadent, so debased, that even the Soviets had a higher moral standard. 

We are in free fall. Let us not be deluded. We are rotten from within. 

The Danger of an Interior Life without an Active Life

During the course of our series regarding the dangers of an active life without an interior life, it was requested that we post about the dangers of placing the interior life over the active life. 

Both extremes are deadly. However, Dom Chautaurd does not devote significant space in his work on the subject. He merely references quietism in passing, an understandable action as the heresy of good works is more apt to abuse in the Church. As a result, we pull the following excerpt from New Advent:

Quietism (Latin quies, quietus, passivity) in the broadest sense is the doctrine which declares that man's highest perfection consists in a sort of psychical self-annihilation and a consequent absorption of the soul into the Divine Essence even during the present life. In the state of "quietude" the mind is wholly inactive; it no longer thinks or wills on its own account, but remains passive while God acts within it. Quietism is thus generally speaking a sort of false or exaggerated mysticism, which under the guise of the loftiest spirituality contains 4 erroneous notions which, if consistently followed, would prove fatal to morality. It is fostered by Pantheism and similar theories, and it involves peculiar notions concerning the Divine cooperation in human acts. In a narrower sense Quietism designates the mystical element in the teaching of various sects which have sprung up within the Church, only to be cast out as heretical. … All these varieties of Quietism insist with more or less emphasis on interior passivity as the essential condition of perfection; and all have been proscribed in very explicit terms by the Church. 

Source: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12608c.htm

In the simplest terms, we can describe quietism as "false piety" or even "ostentatious piety."

Friends, are we guilty of quietism?

If we are, it is not too late to emerge out of this heresy.

Neither Left, nor Right, but Catholic

"On the one hand, persons may easily place their own individual good above the common good of the collectivity, attempting to subordinate the collectivity to themselves and use it for their individual good. This is the error of individualism, which gave rise to liberalism in modern history and to capitalism in economics.

On the other hand, society, in aiming at the alleged good of the whole, may attempt to subordinate persons to itself in such a way that the true good of persons is excluded and they themselves fall prey to the collectivity. This is the error of totalitarianism, which in modern times has borne the worst possible fruit".

The Dangers of an Active Life without an Interior Life: The Final Part

Today, our series comes to an end, and on a positive note.

If yesterday's segment left you down, know that there is hope if you fear your apostolate has begun to serve just your own interests, instead of your salvation. Dom Chautard concluded his observations about the heresy of good works with this bit:

O Jesus, Thou Apostle above all others, did anyone ever spend himself as much as Thou, when Thou didst live among us? Today Thou dost give Thyself more generously still by Thy Eucharistic life, without, for all that, ever leaving the bosom of Thy Father. Would we were unable to forget that Thou dost not want to know our works unless they be animated by a truly supernatural principle; unless they be rooted deep in Thy adorable Heart.

We can imitate Christ, if we resolve to make that our goal with regards to our apostolates.

God did not leave us destitute. 

May we have the fortitude to follow Him and His Sacred Heart.

So ends our series on the dangers of an active life without an interior life.