At Prayer

The DC diocese just can't catch a break.

When I was a girl growing up in DC, Archbishop Hickey was not popular. He was known and is remembered as the bishop who closed down most of the Catholic schools including my high school. Some adults asked where the money for all those closed and sold off schools went but never got satisfactory answers.  There was so much bitterness about this that a lot of people my age who were affected by the closings stopped going to Mass as soon as they were confirmed or turned 18.

After Hickey, DC got Cardinal McCarrick who did evil in private and showed subtle approval of evil in public. Then came Cardinal Wuerl. Now the DC diocese is apparently about to get Archbishop Gregory of Atlanta.  Gregory was once a protege of Cardinal Bernadin... which raised the alarm bells because apparently Cardinal Bernadin had no use for normal, devout priests. Poor DC. Hopefully Archbishop Gregory will stay in DC  and leave the country parishes alone but it doesn't look good.

In loving memory

Grant eternal rest, Oh Lord to my faithfully departed Daughter of Charity teachers.

Father Richards and a big mess

 Back in January when  Father Larry Richards gave a speech at the annual Legatus summit he probably thought it was just another speaking engagement.  When he said that someone from Church Militant TV threatened to kill him  it went from being another day at the "office" to a mess. The Legatus organization is for Catholic CEOs and while its members aren't as noticeable as the Knights of Columbus they as a group and individually contribute generously to various Catholic organizations and their concerns are taken seriously.  There was probably a flurry of calls, emails and letters to Church Militant demanding an explanation. Michael Voris didn't take it lying down.    By last week Father Richards  backed off his statements in a Tweet. Church Militant was not mollified and is talking about legal action. I have a feeling that Father's superiors in the Diocese of Erie will either diffuse this by having him go on a long retreat at an unspecified location  or he'll come out swinging at Church Militant. Depending on what he decides to do, the next few days should be interesting.


St. John Vianney, pray for us.

A sad day

I went to a funeral today. The deceased was the son of one of my cousins. He was a bad boy. There is no way to sugar coat it.  His criminal record goes back to 2013. He was killed by someone who refused to be his victim.  I sat in that pew and watched and listened to his insta-canonization (a photo of him with wings and halo was on the cover of the funeral program)  and wanted to scream in frustration. Instead I squeezed my mother's hand and hugged his grandmother, my aunt. When my cousin's son got up last week and decided to do what he did, he had no idea that someone would fight back and win. He had no idea that this was his last day on earth. I hope that in the last minutes of his life he repented and begged God for mercy. Anything is possible.

Holy God, holy mighty God of justice and mercy, Thy will be done.
Saint Dismas, pray for us.

St. Patrick

I've never understood why people celebrate St. Patrick's day by behaving dishonoring  him by getting drunk and acting a fool. This is Saint Patrick. 

Don't leave the Lord because of His vicar

Pope Francis and his favorites are going to shock you, shame you, cause you grief like you never thought possible but don't leave the Church. Look at the crucifix. See Our Lord on that cross. See His agony. See Him abandoned by all His disciples. Don't leave Him and if in a moment of fear and weakness you do leave Him for a time, come back and stay with Him until death.

Random thoughts on a Saturday afternoon

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for the Church

• Ash Wednesday was interesting at work. Only one Catholic had visible ashes this year and he declined to partake of the morning bagel spread. The rest of us decided to go to Mass after work or must have hidden the ashes with bangs. I only heard one loudly told offensive conversation from co-workers down the hall this year. I have no idea what this means.
  
  
• “For it is this which violates sobriety, kills modesty, slays chastity. It butchers virginity with the sword of a most filthy contagion. It befouls everything, it stains everything, it pollutes everything, and for itself it permits nothing pure, nothing foreign to filth, nothing clean..." St. Peter Damian from the Book of Gomorrah
  
  Whenever someone shows up at your child's story hour at the library and reads to them about homosexuality remember what St. Peter Damian said. These people can't tolerate your little child;s innocence and purity. When two women or two men with a child show up at your Catholic school and use the poor kid as a weapon to demand that the school change Catholic teaching remember what St. Peter Damian said. You and your children will not be left in peace. The spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah can not abide it.
  

• The Transformed Wife is not Catholic and I don't think she'd like me much but boy I wish a Catholic woman writer would say something like this.
  
  
  
• Rocky's recovery from hip surgery went pretty well. It's funny but those 9 weeks were the longest period of unbroken time we've ever been side by side in 31 years. Even when he was able to stop using the walker and was no longer a fall risk I was uncomfortable leaving his side for any more than it took to be at work. Once again I am reminded that love is at it's best when you are serving somebody.
  
  
  
  
• Anytime someone says to you that you need to follow them because they are here to change or save the world, run away. You 're dealing with a narcissist. 

Not ready to join the Pell bandwagon yet

There is a very sweet man who has been defending Cardinal Pell with passion and devotion. I haven't said a word to him about it because anything less than saddling up and riding out with him on crusade will not do for him. Cardinal Pell's conviction is so ridiculous that whether you like the man or not you have to admit that what he is accused of is impossible. Think about how many people are in a sacristy after Mass when the bishop comes to your own parish.  Now imagine your elderly bishop attacking two choir boys in full view of all those people. 

Perhaps Australia as several fiery Pell defenders have said, is at the end of the day, just anti-Catholic as you would expect from a daughter of England. Perhaps the country is in the grip of hysteria like the US was in the 80s. Remember that shameful episode? Day care workers and owners were accused of eating babies, flying in balloons, raping  toddlers in the classroom and in underground tunnels and cutting children with knives that left no scars or caused no bleeding. People were convicted and went to prison on the strength of that mad testimony so Australia is no worse than we are in that respect.

All that being said, I don't feel like jumping on the Cardinal Pell bandwagon. I think he is innocent of what he was accused of in this case and unless the Australians have completely lost their minds his appeal in this case will be successful  but I can't ignore those nagging rumors about him that have swirled in Australia and out for years. Those rumors could have been filthy lies. The old man who said he saw a naked Pell strutting and posing in a changing room in front of boys could have lied. The young males who claimed that Pell groped their genitalia in the pool could have lied. The people who claim that Cardinal Pell is homosexual could be lying. Maybe it is a conspiracy and the Vatican officials who found Pell's interference in their shady accounting at the Vatican bank had a hand in getting rid of him but I feel a strong urge towards caution, waiting and seeing in this case. Sorry.

Lent is Here

a prayer for the redemption of bad priests

Divine Savior Jesus Christ, Thou are the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep. Oh, be in a very special way the Good Shepherd of those poor lost priests who are also appointed by Thee to be leaders of Thy people, but who have broken the oath of their holy ordination and have become unfaithful to their exalted calling. Bestow upon these poorest of the poor the very fullness of that pastoral solicitude with which Thou dost so faithfully seek the sheep that are lost! Touch their hearts with the irresistible ray of grace which emanates from Thine all-merciful love! Enlighten their minds and strengthen their wills, that they may turn away from all sin and error and come back to Thy holy altar and to Thy people. O most compassionate Savior! Remember that Thou didst once redeem the souls of Thine erring priests with Thy Precious Blood and in infinite preferential love didst impress upon them the indelible character of the priesthood. Put wholly to shame those miserable helpers of Satan who lay snares for the virtue of priests and endanger the holy ideal of the priesthood. Most graciously accept our prayers and sacrifices for poor priests who have gone astray and hear our earnest petition.

 Amen 

Imprimatur - Bishop John F. Noll (April 18, 1948)

St. Anthony of Padua, defender of the Holy Eucharist, obtain for us holy priests

St. John-Mary Vianney, model of sacerdotal holiness, obtain for us holy priests

St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionary priests, obtain for us holy priests

St. Therese of the Child-Jesus and of the Holy Face, victim offered for the sanctification of priests, obtain for us holy priests

Saints and Servants of God, obtain for us holy priests.