Feria IV Cinerum (Ash Wednesday) - Introitus (Misereris omnium Domine)

Jean Vanier: Not a "living saint," but a sexual deviant in the line of his mentor, Thomas Philippe

Jean Vanier and his spiritual director, Pere Thomas Philippe. France, 1964.

More news has come to light regarding the abuse allegations against the "living saint" Jean Vanier and their connection with his mentor, Thomas Philippe. He may be recently dead, and I want nothing more than to show a modicum of respect to him, but the new revelations are indefensible.

Does a "living saint" lead women into sexual encounters while clothing his actions with pious words and basically justifying unjustifiable actions, just like his mentor, Thomas Philippe, did?

Does a "living saint" tell a vulnerable woman that "This is not us. This is Mary and Jesus. You are chosen, this is special, this is secret."

Does a "living saint" keep a relationship with a man who he knows has questionable sexual tendencies after receiving circumspect advice like this from Philippe?

For XX be very careful. You can sometimes pray with her, if it is very prudent; but externally the minimum, no more than St John at the Last Supper and in a rather discreet way. I feel that the Blessed Virgin asks us to be very careful about this point. Rely on obedience. Even if XX […] and you are very much in a hurry internally, you must remain below this limit rather than go beyond it… Mary may want to test your obedience.

Not a "living saint," that's who. More like someone who used the Catholic Faith to commit horrendous crimes - that is what they are - in the Name of Our Lord.

We seem to have a few of those men around these days - in Canada and elsewhere.

The quotations below - as the one above - come from the released summary of the internal L'Arche investigation:

Despite being categorically banned from doing so, Thomas Philippe continued to run l’Eau Vive clandestinely throughout the investigation period. The dozens of letters he sent to Jean Vanier during this period show that he advised and guided him in all the steps to be taken. Braving the ban (which he could not ignore as he later said), Jean Vanier met him many times during this period. 

The Dominican archives contain the statements of the two victims of Father Thomas Philippe who sounded the alarm. It describes the behavior of Father Thomas Philippe but also his justification for his behavior: 

Then he began theories, to try to convince me, […]: the lost woman of Hosea, the sacrifice of Abraham, the glorious mysteries, the transcendence of the prophetic mission (of his mission) regarding the norms of morality. He asked me, most insistently, to bind myself to him by an act of absolute faith in this mission and in himself. I replied that I could only make an act of faith in God alone, and trust in creatures only insofar as they were God’s instrument for me […]. He explained to me that it was not for me to make this discrimination, that he was an instrument of God, and therefore at present and directly moved by God […]. 

He said that I lacked strength, that I had to get used to it gradually, that all this was a great honour to Our Lord and to the Blessed Virgin, because the sexual organs were the symbol of the greatest love, much more than the Sacred Heart -. And I said, “but that’s blasphemy! “Then he took up his theories again, saying that when one arrives at perfect love, everything is lawful, for there is no more sin.

Let this be a lesson to all of us - be very wary of those proclaimed as a "living saint" by the Catholic establishment while they are alive.

https://www.larcheusa.org/news_article/summary-report-from-larche-international/

Jean Vanier: Model Catholic no more

The Globe and Mail - perhaps the most calm and collected of Canada's national newspapers - has just revealed Jean Vanier, late founder and director of L'Arche International, is the subject of an ongoing internal L'Arche investigation into credible sexual abuse allegations.

You can read about it here.

When it comes to the younger Vanier, there have been whispers about him for years. Not the sexual abuse allegations, but how he wasn't the model Catholic he was made out to be. In 2016, as he was nearing the end of his life, he came out in support of euthanasia. Vox Cantoris records his reaction to the news here.

Growing up, I often heard about great Jean Vanier was. How he gave up a good worldly life to found an organization devoted to supporting those with intellectual disabilities - that would be L'Arche. In the Catholic school curriculum, in grades 8 through 10, there was at least one section in each Religion textbook dedicated to his life and his great qualities. There was an expectation that this is the sort of man I should aspire to be, and he was held in great regard by the Catholic elite here in Canada.

In retrospect, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that was the case. After all, the textbooks were stamped with the seal of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, who will be infamous for years for writing the Winnipeg Statement.

The question is, now what? Already, I have seen people come out in "mourning" about these allegations. Others are questioning - rightly so - the prudence of naming public institutions after him, and I suspect they will lobby for a name change. Will L'Arche see a drastic reduction in financial support in light of this investigation?

I can only hope this prompts the Catholic school boards in Ontario to throw out those textbooks which make Jean Vanier out as a Catholic hero, preferably at the same time as they throw out those awful books Paolo De Buono peddles as "Catholic."

Jean Vanier: Model Catholic no more. If he had ever been.

Ave Regina Caelorum

ARCHBISHOP JAN PAWEL LENGA: DEFENDER OF THE FAITH

His Grace, Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga 

When time has permitted, I have been listening to interviews, lectures, and sermons by Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga, the former Archbishop of Karaganda, Kazakhstan. His Grace now resides in Poland. It is very refreshing to listen to a churchman from outside the "Anglo-Saxon" world, who devoted his entire pastoral life in Kazakhstan, and as such was not exposed to the seductive lure of liberalism that has infected virtually every Prelate in western Europe and North America. 

So integrally Catholic is the Archbishop, that he suffers no illusions as to what is happening in the Church and world. Whilst we in the decadent "West" regard the Catholic Church as strong in Poland, Archbishop Lenga has publicly stated that "my heart breaks when I see the state of the Church in Poland". Unlike westernized Prelates, the Archbishop is not afraid to speak on any issue. His Grace reminds me of my father's Faith (who if alive, would be now 96): the Faith of once Catholic Poland. It was the pure Catholic Faith held by Poles uncorrupted by the so-called "modern" world. It was the Faith of Blessed Pius IX and St. Pius X.  

His Grace speaking about the dangers facing the Faith 

For those of you who speak Polish, I urge you to seek out this man's apostolic work, so as to fortify yourself against the grave dangers that are in our midst. More to come on this great man, but I shall end by stating that he has opened my eyes to perhaps the dagger in the heart of the Church that has led to this explosion of evil within the Church. It is the implicit rejection of the dogma: "outside the Church there is no salvation".  From this rejection comes forth   every other imaginal evil. The modern world is built upon the rejection of this dogma: the rejection of Jesus Christ as God, who is mystically united to His one, only Church. The denial, obfuscation, implicit rejection of this dogma denies the very words of Christ: 

"Jesus said to him, I am the way; I am truth and life; nobody can come to the Father, except through me". 

John 14:6

And St. Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit: 

"Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be save". 

Acts 4:12 

St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church, issues a warning to Paulo de Buono, MSc, JD, OCT

"No sin in the world grips the soul as the accursed sodomy; this sin has always been detested by all those who live according to God.… Deviant passion is close to madness; this vice disturbs the intellect, destroys elevation and generosity of soul, brings the mind down from great thoughts to the lowliest, makes the person slothful, irascible, obstinate and obdurate, servile and soft and incapable of anything; furthermore, agitated by an insatiable craving for pleasure, the person follows not reason but frenzy.… They become blind and, when their thoughts should soar to high and great things, they are broken down and reduced to vile and useless and putrid things, which could never make them happy.... Just as people participate in the glory of God in different degrees, so also in hell some suffer more than others. He who lived with this vice of sodomy suffers more than another, for this is the greatest sin."

CORRECTION:The Pope speaks on economic issues: wealth is not "rightly distributed and equitably made available..."

Pope Pius XI the "Communist"

NOTE: When this post was originally published on February 6, 2020, comments were sent to the combox denouncing Pope Pius XI as a "communist". I have had this experience on a previous occasion when as with this post, a photo of Pope Francis and his name was accidentally published with the original post. The comments out of Christian charity were not published. 

The uncharitable view would be to presume they wrote out of hatred for Pope Francis. I will take the charitable view, that they wrote out of ignorance of Catholic doctrine. This brings us full circle: many (the the majority?) of "Catholics" who are denouncing Pope Francis as a "heretic" etc., are themselves very likely guilty of material heresy. It is frightening to think that there are Catholics out there denouncing Francis who themselves are hard core heretics. To read the following words by Pius XI and conclude it is "communist" is mind boggling! It reveals not only the ignorance of Catholic doctrine, but the depth of liberalism that has turned most Catholics ' minds to mush. Some may even attend Latin Masses, perhaps even rattle off Rosaries... but they are immersed in liberalism. This is an example of why we are in this mess today:  Catholics in the 30s, 40s, and 50s had already lost the Faith. They did NOT know doctrine, and they were already seduced into the fantasy world of liberalism. The Japanese Catholics did not have Mass for hundreds of years; but they had persecution, and they had the Faith. 

This cannot be said of our apostate generation that has turned religion into dirty politics. 

HERE IS THE POST.

The Popes over the past 100 plus years, have from time to time addressed economic issues. From Leo XIII to the present, Popes have commented on economic issues that may have moral implications and therefore on the spiritual welfare of peoples.

The other day Pope Francis addressed the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, speaking on issues of the common good, social justice, the huge inequality between the poor and extremely wealthy. Here we quote from [original post had "Francis"] Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno (No.58-61) 

To each, therefore, must be given his own share of goods, and the distribution of created goods, which, as every discerning person knows, is laboring today under the gravest evils due to the huge disparity between the few exceedingly rich and the unnumbered propertyless, must be effectively called back to and brought into conformity with the norms of the common good, that is, social justice. 

...certainly the condition of the workers has been improved and made more equitable especially in the more civilized and wealthy countries where the workers can no longer be considered universally overwhelmed with misery and lacking the necessities of life....Added to them is the huge army of rural wage workers, pushed to the lowest level of existence and deprived of all hope of ever acquiring "some property in land", and, therefore, permanently bound to the status of non-owning worker unless suitable and effective remedies are applied. 

Yet while it is true that the status of non owning worker is to be carefully distinguished from pauperism, nevertheless the immense multitude of the non-owning workers on the one hand and the enormous riches of certain very wealthy men on the other establish an unanswerable argument that the riches which are so abundantly produced in our age of "industrialism," as it is called, are not rightly distributed and equitably made available to the various classes of the people. 

Therefore, with all our strength and effort we must strive that at least in the future the abundant fruits of production will accrue equitably to those who are rich and will be distributed in ample sufficiency among the workers - not that these may become remiss in work, for man is born to labor as the bird to fly - but that they may increase their property by thrift, that they may bear, by wise management of this increase in property, the burdens of family life with greater ease and security, and that, emerging from the insecure lot in life in whose uncertainties non-owning workers are cast, they may be able not only to endure the vicissitudes of earthly existence but have also assurance that when their lives are ended they will provide in some measure for those they leave after them.

"A Public Catholicism"

Last Sunday, I heard something at Mass which I have been chewing on for most of the week.

The Gospel was that of the two miracles immediately following the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel - the healing of the leper and the healing of the Roman centurion's servant. During his own sermon, Father expanded on how both the leper and the centurion made public acts of faith - with our Lord telling the leper to go and show himself to the priests, and Our Lord commending the centurion for his public profession of belief. Father then when on to say that even though there are many aspects of our spiritual life that we should keep private, "our faith is public, so we must make our Catholicism public for the sake of others." In other words, we must let people know we are Catholic, for our faith is not something we are to keep hidden.

Father's words were fortuitous. That very same day, I had been grappling with sentiments of shame and embarrassment for being outspoken about many things of a Catholic nature, from certain aspects of my spiritual life that I really should have kept private, to my opinions about a certain man sitting on the papal throne. I was also thinking about whether or not I should clam up altogether and withdraw my voice from the public sphere, for I was becoming frustrated with what I saw as the endless purity spiralling and posturing amongst many Catholics online.

Father's soft-spoken words calmed me, gave me something to ponder, and in time, has come to start renewing my resolve.

Readers of our sister blog Vox Cantoris may recall a foray I made on there in 2017, where I detailed my reversion to the Old Faith. It is much too long to detail now, but I remember how I slowly came to realize that the Old Faith was what I am meant to follow, and how I came to that conclusion with a determined resolve as a result of that ponderment.

The intervening years have admittedly shaken that resolve up quite a bit, but here I have remained, with a few new conclusions in my belt from that same process of ponderment. While my world has turned, the Cross has remained firm. Focusing on Him in spite of it all - be it via the crucifix or the words of those I trust - has been my saving grace when my emotions run high and my thoughts get jumbled. In spite of all that I have done against Him, He continues to call me toward Him and gently requests I do what I must not just for His sake, but also so that others know I follow Him.

He did not die so that I may be ashamed and embarrassed of looking out for His Bride, however that may be manifested.

Nay, He asked through His actions that I may be public in my belief in Him, while avoiding extremes on both end of the spectrum.

A public Catholicism, in other words.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano reveals a Vatican court reminiscent of the Renaissance - with plans to appoint Francis II!

The Faithful Have a Right to Know

We have just been through one of the most disgraceful episodes in which we have seen the prince of lies at work to discredit the book of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah by covering them with vile insults and vulgar insinuations, and the Pope’s jailer, as a judas, now also acting as a hitman. And once again we find ourselves dealing with another masterpiece of deception: the confirmation by the Pope of the elections of the new Dean and Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals by the Cardinal-Bishops. This has gone almost unnoticed and yet conceals a devious strategy. It should be borne in mind, in fact, that in June 2018 Pope Francis increased the number of Cardinal-Bishops, which had remained unchanged for centuries, promoting four new ones in one fell swoop. In this way he secured a majority in favor of him, as he has always done with the creation of new members of the College of Cardinals.

To Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, appointed Dean of the College at the age of 86 and therefore excluded from the next conclave, I wish an even longer life than that of his father. But his appointment is a cover for that other more effective appointment — of Cardinal Sandri — which has been prepared ad hoc to pilot the next conclave secundum Franciscum, that is, according to an updated and augmented edition of the St. Gallen Mafia.

I have a long-standing friendship with Cardinal Sandri that dates back to the time shared in the 

Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, then during eleven years in the same office as secretaries to three Substitutes of the Secretariat of State, and seven years of collaboration once he was appointed Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State, having returned after just six months from his mission as Nuncio to Mexico. 

“Amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas.” [Plato is my friend, but truth is a better friend]. This maxim, attributed to Aristotle, then taken up by Plato towards Socrates and later by Cicero, is explained by St. Thomas Aquinas in Sententia libri Ethicorum, Liber1, Lectio6, n. 4-5 as follows: “Quod autem oporteat veritatem praeferre amicis, ostendit hac ratione. Quia ei qui est magis amicus, magis est deferendum. Cum autem amicitiam habeamus ad ambo, scilicet ad veritatem et ad hominem, magis debemus veritatem amare quam hominem, quia hominem praecipue debemus amare propter veritatem et propter virtutem... Veritas autem est amicus superexcellens cui debetur reverentia honoris; est etiam veritas quiddam divinum, in Deo enim primo et principaliter invenitur. Et ideo concludit, quod sanctum est praehonorare veritatem hominibus amicis.”

In English:

That truth should be preferred to friends he proves in this way. He is the greater friend for whom we ought to have the greater consideration. Although we should have friendship for both truth and our fellow man, we ought rather to love truth because we should love our fellow man especially on account of truth and virtue… Now truth is a most excellent friend of the sort to whom the homage of honor is due. Besides truth is a divine thing, for it is found first and chiefly in God. He concludes, therefore, that it is virtuous to honor truth above friends.

Which is why what I am about to write concerning Cardinal Leonardo Sandri is inspired solely by the friendship that has bound me to him for almost fifty years, for the good of his soul, for the love of the Truth who is Christ Himself, and for the Church, His Bride, whom we served together.

In the first audience that Francis granted me after the one on June 23, 2013 that I have already mentioned (in my first testimony), in which he asked me about Cardinal McCarrick, he asked me a similar question: “What is Cardinal Sandri like?” Caught by surprise by the question about a dear friend of mine, and feeling put on the spot, I did not answer. Then Francis, joining his hands in a characteristically Italian gesture, waved them back and forth — as if to say that Sandri “knows how to get by” — and he looked me in the eyes seeking my consent to his suggestion. So I told him in confidence: “Holy Father, I don’t know if you are aware that Nuncio Justo Mullor, President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, was removed from the Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico because he opposed the directives coming from the Secretariat of State to cover up the very serious accusations against Marcial Maciel.” This is what I told the Pope, so that he would take it into account and eventually remedy the injustice that Archbishop Mullor had suffered for not compromising himself, for remaining faithful to the truth, and for love of the Church. I reaffirm this truth here, so as to honor this faithful servant of the Holy See, on whose tomb, in the cathedral of Almeria, Spain, I celebrated a Holy Mass of suffrage.

I already wrote in my first testimony that the person chiefly responsible for covering up the misdeeds committed by Maciel was then-Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, whose recent acceptance to resign as Dean of the College of Cardinals was linked to his involvement in the Maciel affair. He, in addition to protecting Maciel, is certainly no stranger to McCarrick’s promotions...

Meanwhile, Cardinal Francis Arinze deserves to be recognized for having opposed, within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Sodano’s attempt to cover up the Maciel case.

Unfortunately for him, Sandri also allowed himself to be involved by Sodano in this operation to cover up Maciel’s horrible misdeeds. To replace Archbishop Mullor in Mexico City, it was necessary to appoint a person of unfailing loyalty to Sodano. Sandri had already given proof of this as Assessor for the section of General Affairs in the Secretariat of State. Serving at the time as Nuncio in Venezuela for just a little over two years, he was transferred to Mexico.  

I was a direct witness to these shady maneuvers (which those in charge would describe as normal personnel transfers) through a conversation they had on January 25, 2000, the feast of the Conversion of St Paul, while we were on our way to the Basilica that bears his name, for the closing of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The chain linking the dates of these transfers is very significant: on January 19, 2000, Archbishop Giorgio Zur, who had been President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy (PAE) for only one year, was transferred to Moscow; on February 11, 2000, Archbishop Justo Mullor, who at this point had been in Mexico for just two and a half years, was appointed President of the PAE; on March 1, 2000, Archbishop Sandri was transferred to Mexico after spending only two and a half years in Venezuela. Just six months later, on September 16, 2000, Sandri was promoted to Substitute of the Secretariat of State, i.e., Sodano’s right-hand man. 

The Legionaries of Christ did not fail to show their gratitude to Sandri. On the occasion of a lunch held in the atrium of the Paul VI Hall to honor the cardinals, including Sandri, who were created at the November 24, 2007 consistory, I was bewildered when Sandri told me in advance what he was about to tell Pope Benedict as he made his entrance: “Holy Father, you will excuse me if I don’t stay for lunch, but I am expected by five hundred of my guests at the Legionaries of Christ.”

Francis, after having repeatedly and obsessively referred to an unspecified “clericalism” as the cause of sexual abuse, in order to avoid denouncing the scourge of homosexuality, is now flaunting the most unscrupulous clericalism (an accusation he levels at others): he promotes Sandri to Cardinal-Priest in May 2018 and a month later to Cardinal-Bishop, so that he might confirm him as Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals, a candidate prepared by Francis to preside at the next Conclave.

The faithful have a right to know these sordid intrigues of a corrupt court. In the Heart of the Church we seem to glimpse the approaching shadow of Satan’s synagogue (Rev 2:9). 

+ Carlo Maria Viganò

 Titular Arhbishop of Ulpiana

 Apostolic Nuncio

Translation by Diane Montagna of LifeSiteNews.