Random thoughts on a Sunday evening

• Rocky's hip pain level has gone from two Tylenols and a good dinner to Tramadol and a cane so he's having surgery next month. St. Alphonsus Ligouri, patron of arthritis sufferers please pray for him.
• Bishop Morlino died of a heart attack last night. He seems to have run a decent diocese which is far more than many bishops in the US can say. May he rest in peace. Let's pray for his diocese because Cardinals Wuerl and Cupich will almost certainly have a say in who becomes his successor. 

• I was reading the Complicity Clergy site and paused to study the faces and body language in this photo. Even if I didn't know who this is I could see that something is clearly wrong. Men don't embrace each other around the waist. The  kid looks defeated and now as a 60 year old man he still appears to be haunted. Once again, I'm stunned that anybody who worked with Uncle Ted can say with a straight face that they had no idea what he was.
  
  
    

• Monsignor Nicola Bux is the theologian consultor of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints in Rome but if you want to make him some stationery with his title on it I suggest you hurry because he probably won't be there much longer. Msgr. Bux is questioning the validity of Pope Benedict's abdication. He's not the only one but instead of just moaning about it in private he's made his query in public. 
  A number of public Catholics (Ann Barnhardt uses the term "thought leaders") have reacted poorly to Monsignor's  doubts.  Some of them say there's no point in talking about  Benedict anymore because the reality is that the St. Gallen mafia won and the Church lost. These people say that the only thing we can do is wait for Francis to die and try to keep our Faith. They may have point but they go too far when they  the hurl the epithets, "rad trad", "stupid", "schizophrenic", "weird" "unhelpful"  and "sedevacantist"  at people for not believing  or daring to doubt that  Benedict's abdication was valid. When I think of all the heretical garbage  I've heard seen freely spewed about in these last few years alone I don't see why this subject is taboo. Monsignor. Bux may be wrong but I've had enough of people telling us what we can't even discuss in public.
  
  
•  To the impure all purity in others must be destroyed.  They will not leave the innocent in peace. Sometimes they are violent. Usually they are sly and degrade the general culture. Earlier this year someone posted a video of her little granddaughter's dance recital. One little in the girl in the group abandoned the choreography and began gyrating and thrusting her chest and pelvis. The other three girls froze but the audience filled with parents and relatives cheered.  People in the comments section thought she was cute but one person said a six year old performing like a stripper wasn't cute at all. It was like a damn bursting. Some people wrote things like,  "it's harmless" and "lighten up," but they were overwhelmed by other people saying that they agreed that the dance number was distasteful and wondered where this child, not even a good three years out of diapers had learned to bump and grind like this? Where indeed?
  
   Several years ago a pervert  carrying items usually found on serial rapists walked into an Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and  murdered multiple young girls before ending his own wicked life. On November 19th, an armed man in his 50s walked into the Catholic Supply Store in St. Louis. He forced himself on the all female staff and murdered a customer who refused his lust.  Who knows what story he's telling the police now but I think he chose the Catholic Supply store because it would be a soft target and he probably got a thrill out of defiling what he perceived to be good churchgoing women. 

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pray for us

St. Vincent Ferrer, pray for us

St. Vincent was one of the wonder worker saints. He healed lepers, raised the dead and preached to multitudes.

Saint Gertrude, the Great

This holy nun is the only female saint known as "the great". She did not sell herself into a kind of prostitution in order to be a star in music or the screen. She did not crave power. She did not rush hither and yon demanding that other people turn their countries and homes into freak shows or she'd screech at them. She did none of the stuff that pop culture tells women that we have to do.

Does your bishop support an investigation of Cardinal McCarrick or not?

"I know Archbishop Vigano.... We need to review Archbishop Vigano's letter carefully, comprehensively, thoroughly. Evidence needs to be given. But the bottom line is we need to know the truth. What is the truth? It demands a comprehensive review. All the faithful need to hear the answer to those questions. Who knew what and when?"

                                                                                           Bishop Michael F. Burbidge

I'm very pleased to say that my bishop said he was for an investigation of Cardinal McCarrick's filthy activities and how he got away with it for so long. Cardinal Wuerl is against an investigation as one would expect. If you want to see where your bishop stands you can look it up at the Church Transparency site. God bless the anonymous Texan who took the time to put this together.

RICO time?

George Robert Blakey

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 84 Stat. 941, commonly known by its  acronym,  RICO, is the Federal law  that attacks organized crime with extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.  It was originally drafted by George Robert Blakey, an Irish Catholic government attorney who graduated from Notre Dame and began his career under then Attorney General Bobby Kennedy. 

Originally, people thought RICO was only a means for going after the mafia, particularly the Five Families and some Italian Americans feared that it would be used against any Italian businessman who had more than two nickles to rub together. Blakey stoutly argued that this was not the case and anyone, whether his ancestors came over from England in the colonial era or he was fresh off the boat last week was subject to RICO if they were running or part of a organized criminal venture. 

Today, many people are saying that the only thing that is going to get men like Cardinal McCarrick out of our seminaries and rectories is an application of RICO to the Church. I've read comments from a few nervous people who say that the enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend. They fret that the state attorney generals just want to attack the Church any way they can and there will unforeseen consequences for all of us. After the pathetic performance of US bishops at the annual Baltimore meeting I think it's going to have to come to down to RICO. God help us!  Our bishops will not and since many are probably being blackmailed, they can not police themselves.  It's incredibly ironic that a law drafted by a Catholic man just might be one of the tools (along with this one)for cleaning up this sewer.

St. Athanatius, St. John Eudes and St. Peter Damian, pray for us. 

A neuralgic kind of Cute Catholicism

“As Leviathan’s lions begin to roar, the nominal Catholics will skip out of the arena. Roman Catholicism has become for baptized pagans a neuralgic kind of Cute Catholicism, with leprechauns, mariachi bands and Santa Claus instead of confession, prayer and fidelity to doctrine. But behind each leprechaun St. Patrick stares, and behind every mariachi band Our Lady of Guadalupe weeps, and behind every Santa Claus Christ himself judges.”

                                                      Fr. George Rutler

The mask slips

On November 6th I was walking down the hall at work. A small group of people were watching the TV. One man, an individual of some importance at this job said that he wished that people who vote against his party could be put into "re-education" camps and that the US could be China for just one day. This man is not ignorant. He's a world traveler and highly credentialed from Ivy League schools. He knows damned well what China does to inconvenient people.  Except for one man, everyone either smiled or laughed. The one man who remained silent glanced away but I saw that he had a grimace on his face. Was it because he was shocked or was it because he was concerned that Ole Mr. Nasty was being careless in saying this out loud in front of the staff? At any rate I'm glad I heard that and glad I saw who laughed. It helps to know who is a decent person and who most definitely is not.

Pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most precious blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, for those in my own home and in my family. Amen.

I agree with Julie

Julie at Connecticut Catholic  is a sweet, gentle lady so if you get her riled up you must be a real piece of work. She sums up quite well my feelings about Father Longenecker. I used to read him years ago and came to the conclusion that he is an example of why priests should not blog about anything but apologetics or parish doings.  I don't think the man ever should have been ordained and he probably would be a lot happier if he was still in England. If the Church is going to allow married Protestant ministers to become priests then the  rigor of the vetting process needs to be vastly improved.

A Tale of Two Nuns

When I was a young girl we had a nun who struck me as odd. Sr. X wore her skirt shorter than the other sisters and her veil was smaller. She also preferred the boys to the girls, particularly shy, lady-like girls which I was. Thankfully, some wise person kept her in the office so she had little to do with the kids. Years later she got a job at one of the boy's high schools and the last time I saw her she'd stopped wearing her even modified habit and was sporting the suit, almost buzz cut short hair and sour expression of most modern nuns.

From second grade to eighth grade I never saw anything  about Sr. X that struck me as holy, pious or admirable.  I didn't want to be like her.

My school had another nun who was remarkable. Sr. Jane Mariae was a serious nun. She wore her full habit with her skirt hem to her ankle and her rosary on her belt and nobody, not Paul VI, not Mother Superior or any mocking fellow liberal nun at the convent fazed her one bit. She never tried to be my big goofy adult friend. We all adored and admired Sr. Jane Mariae and we were sure that she loved us. I wanted to be like her. Her pious example and the examples of my other good nuns are among the reasons why I'm still Catholic.

A ghost tale ---Say a prayer for mad Fr. Lesches

Years ago when I was still in high school I read a collection of ghost stories called "Haunted Heartland." Most of them weren't a bit scary and were presented in  the dry  businesslike fashion of a folklorist who is merely collecting materials for a dissertation, but one tale stuck with me. It was the story of Fr. Louis Lesches, a priest assigned to St. Mary's College in Minnesota, who tried to kill his superior, Bishop Patrick Hefron. The bishop was saying Mass in the chapel one morning when he turned around and saw Fr. Lesches standing behind him. To the bishop's surprise, the priest was wearing a Prince Albert suit instead of his cassock or clericals. To add to this surprise the bishop quickly realized that  the priest was packing heat. Fr. Lesches fired a gun three times, hitting the bishop twice.

At that time Fr. Lesches was already the number one problem child of the diocese. Although he was said to be brilliant and had done well in the academic part of his seminary studies,  he was also overly emotional, insubordinate, and felt that the bishop was persecuting him. He'd failed at parish assignments and now the annoyed and apparently unsympathetic bishop was keeping a close eye on him by removing him from parish life and bringing him back to the chancery to live.  

 Bishop Hefron's vestments, orneriness, and his great physical shape probably saved his life.  Instead of dropping dead or swooning he yelled at his now panicked attacker and chased him out of the chapel. Fr. Lesches was captured and spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital.

 Students have been claiming to see the anguished ghost of Fr. Lesches on campus for many decades. It's a spooky tale but I hope everyone who hears or reads it will stop and say a prayer for this poor, strange, unstable man who never should've been ordained but is a priest forever and one who probably really needs our help now.

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.

In the midst of the darkness

You don't have to celebrate Paul VI's feast day next year or any year.

Paul VI removed 200 saints and feast days from the calendar. If he could ignore St. Philomena, then it's no trouble at all to just  ignore St. Paul VI. 

Vigano speaks

Archbishop Vigano is not giving up.

Oh Mary Conceived Without Sin

pray for us, who have recourse to thee.

random thoughts on a Saturday afternoon

Sacred Heart of Jesus! Have mercy on us.

• Rocky, my mother and I went on vacation in Pennsylvania and it was wonderful as usual. At the end of the week we wen to Mass at St. Jospeh's in Lancaster. It's a beautiful old church. One thing I've noticed is that whenever a parish uses the Penitential rite B instead of the Confeitor , it's going to be a wonky Mass. It wasn't horrible but the cantor and lady Eucharistic ministers were clearly the dominant force.  When we got back from vacation I got sick with a nasty respiratory infection and was wiped out for two weeks.
  
• Let's say that you decide to live out the Benedict Option and buy a nice chunk of property. A couple of like-minded families join you and eventually you have a community. Your group decides to be sensible so there's no commune type ownership or living. Everybody is responsible for their own income, families and property. The only shared things are the home school co-op  and the building of the chapel and rectory that you all contributed to, either in labor or money. So far so good. You get a wonderful priest or even a few monks.  Because this is an explicitly stated Benedict Option community every adult has agreed either verbally or in writing to stay out of public life to the point of refusing to discuss politics at work (a wise thing in general), or tweeting or blogging about anything to do with politics. Nobody protests at abortion clinics, nobody runs for public office.
  
  You think everything is great but you have a problem. It's your neighbors. When Hasidic  Jews started moving to New Jersey and setting up large communities people went crazy. There have been lawsuits and open hostility.  In Jackson, New Jersey people even counted the number of cars at a Jewish man's house on Fridays and accused him of having prayer services at home.
  
  When Catholics started moving to Florida to live near Ave Maria University the neighbors weren't thrilled. Way back in the 80s when Christendom's leaders were considering a move to a property in Boyce, Virginia the locals rallied in opposition.
  
  Don't be surprised in the locals aren't happy to see your Benedict Option community and it only takes one person to call the police and make some allegation. If a really clever person calls the police and claims that the children in your community are being abused the FBI and a swat team could be at your door.
  
  
  
• Just when I thought nothing Pope Francis does could move me anymore he comes out in public carrying a witch's stang. He's not a fool. The clergy around him are not fools. Nobody grabbed that thing and took it away.  I'd be shocked but  delighted if it comes out that one Cardinal or bishop said, "Holy Father, that's a stang. I'll burn it for you but you can't possibly carry that." As bad as Pope Paul VI was he never did anything as revolting and in-your-face,  in public as this.
  
  
  
• As for Paul VI, I think it's going to be a disaster when he's canonized. There are many people still living who have said that he was a homosexual. Once he has been raised to the altars he will become the gay saint. If a man who was rumored to have his lover, the Italian actor Paolo Carlini visit him at the Vatican at night is made a saint that is ammunition against any rector who dares to keep homosexuals out of his seminary. 

• I like Monsignor Pope. He was good to my family when my uncle was in the nursing home and in and out of the hospital but I was a bit disappointed in his kind words about Cardinal Wuerl.

• I have a feeling that Cardinal Wuerl's resignation is only a technicality. He seems to still have the pope's favor.

• I attracted the attention of a mentally disturbed individual earlier this year but he seems to have gotten bored and has moved on so comments will no longer be moderated. 

Man of Sorrows

A nun

The Agony

When Our Lord was sweating blood in the garden He was thinking of His Church. His   indescribable pain was due to my sins and yours.

Don't forget

He's old. He's left his country and is in hiding. Why? Because he stated that Cardinal McCarrick is exactly what people have been whispering he was and that yeah, both Pope Benedict and Francis knew about it. Benedict tried,weakly to do something about it and Francis ignored it and promoted Uncle Ted. Don't forget--- V for Vigano.

At Prayer

random thoughts on a Saturday

• I'm terribly fond of and have great respect for Ann Barnhardt but she's wrong about one thing. Plagiarism does matter.  The person who steals the intellectual property of another and passes it off as his or her own is not to be trusted about anything else they write and the johnny come lately who was hostile to you for years and suddenly shows up claiming to be on your side  will surely stab you in the back somewhere down the road. 

• A while back I wondered if the Church's penchant for bringing illegal aliens from Latin America and Islamic countries to the West (and getting paid for it) wasn't going going to cause anger and resentment and possibly more than that. Ordinary people are watching and they see the Pope and their local priest carrying on about Muslims and Hispanics and they are drawing certain conclusions.
  
  When I was 15, a  tall, elegant looking Mexican man who worked at the embassy introduced himself to me and asked for a date. He told me that every day he looked out of his office and saw me walking home from school and thought I was pretty. He said he was 35 and I told him I was too young for anything like that. He told me that in his country 15 was a grown woman old enough to be married and have a child. I calmly told him that we could go out on a date but he'd have to come to my house and ask my parents for permission and thank God, he reacted the way I had hoped he would.  He cleverly moved back from me, apologized and let me go on my way.
  
  Last year a former co-worker of mine was jogging when she realized that two Latino men were following her in their truck. She went right and the truck followed. She cut left and the truck followed. Finally, she got to the park and ran onto the path. It had steel barriers to keep vehicles off the walking/running trail and the truck could not follow without causing damage. My co-worker ran for her life, then got off the trail and ran through the woods until she found a trail that led to another entrance and she ran home.
  
   These two incidents happen to women and girls all the time and they don't always end well. The man or woman who has either comforted a frightened daughter who survived unharmed or shed tears of grief and rage over a daughter who wasn't lucky has got to be righteously pissed by now. People are leaving the Church over this. Protestants and unchurched people are looking at the Church and are getting the idea that Catholics not only don't care about their neighbors but are actively part of the network that brings in more and more hostile people who don't seem to be able to assimilate.  It's going to boomerang on the Church and I think it's going to be ugly.

• Fr. Enrique Rueda, Fr. John O'Connor, pray for us and God bless, this priest, who it has been reported, got into a whole lot of trouble after giving this homily.

• 

There's talk that Cardinal Farrell is about to get a bit of comeuppance. We'll see. Thanks to Hilary White for making this gif.

 

random thoughts

• Look at the lady in the pink and black sweater and then look at the lady on the right. Neither woman appeared to like what she saw from her archbishop. 

• I'm recuperating from a kidney infection and I looked at the McCain funeral for a bit. His was the longest death scene outside of an opera and this tax payer funded spectacle has actually been longer than what would have been due to an actual head of state.
  
  
  
• Cardinal Wuel surfaced at a Mass at Annunciation Church.  Only one man objected and left. Everyone else sat there and even clapped when the cardinal finished talking. I was a bit sad by that but then I remembered that Annunciation was a safe venue for the cardinal. He might have had a much different reaction elsewhere.
  
  
  
• Some jackwagon stole the flowers off my father's grave. It turns out that there were a group of women who went to rural cemeteries, stole flowers and rearranged them in order to sell at the county flea market. What disgusting people. If you buy silk flowers from a road side market that suddenly popped up one weekend ask questions about their supply.

It's time for a rude question

Cupich, Tobin, McElroy and Farrell all got to be where they are because of the kingmaker, Cardinal McCarrick.  Big time Catholic media, you may lose your invitation to the better cocktail parties and this may be the end of your private Vatican tours  and yeah, you may lose that cushy job
but you have to ask them to their faces why McCarrick liked them so much.

Excerpts from the Vigano letter....

 ...December 6, 2006, I wrote to my superiors, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and the Substitute Leonardo Sandri, that the facts attributed to McCarrick by Littleton were of such gravity and vileness as to provoke bewilderment, a sense of disgust, deep sorrow and bitterness in the reader, and that they constituted the crimes of seducing, requesting depraved acts of seminarians and priests, repeatedly and simultaneously with several people, derision of a young seminarian who tried to resist the Archbishop’s seductions in the presence of two other priests, absolution of the accomplices in these depraved acts, sacrilegious celebration of the Eucharist with the same priests after committing such acts. In my memo, which I delivered on that same December 6, 2006 to my direct superior, the Substitute Leonardo Sandri, I proposed the following considerations and course of action to my superiors:

• Given that it seemed a new scandal of particular gravity, as it regarded a cardinal, was going to be added to the many scandals for the Church in the United States,

 • and that, since this matter had to do with a cardinal, and according to can. 1405 § 1, No. 2˚, “ipsius Romani Pontificis dumtaxat ius est iudicandi”;

 • I proposed that an exemplary measure be taken against the Cardinal that could have a medicinal function, to prevent future abuses against innocent victims and alleviate the very serious scandal for the faithful, who despite everything continued to love and believe in the Church.

Vigano saddles up

Immediately after, the Pope asked me in a deceitful way: “What is Cardinal McCarrick like?” I answered him with complete frankness and, if you want, with great naiveté: “Holy Father, I don’t know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation for Bishops there is a dossier this thick about him. He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.” The Pope did not make the slightest comment about those very grave words of mine and did not show any expression of surprise on his face, as if he had already known the matter for some time, and he immediately changed the subject......

from the testimony of former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States (2011-2016), Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.                                                                                  

A lot of people are freaking out after reading the Archbishop Vigano letter  , others are thanking God that the truth is finally coming out. I am grateful that Archbishop Vigano got mad enough to give his testimony. I've noticed that the so-called Vatican insiders are silent this morning and I'm surprised that anyone is claiming surprise.  Those of you who are men think about how you behave around the homosexuals at your job. You're polite, get the work done and move on. You  do not have an after hours social relationship with them and  assume that those co-workers who do are fully aware and approve of the situation. So, when you see Pope Francis surrounding himself with cardinals and other clergy who are rumored to be homosexual and when you see men like McCarrick as kingmakers you should assume that yes, the pope knows what these men are and he doesn't care.

Pope Benedict told McCarrick to get out of that DC seminary he was living in, forbade him to say Mass in public or make appearances. Francis undid all that.  In October of 2013, then Cardinal McCarrick told a "cute" story during a speech at Villanova University.  He talked about his recovery from a heart attack in Rome and how he met with the pope after his release from the hospital. When he "piously"  attributed the recovery to the Lord still wanting him to do more work on earth the pope  jokingly replied, "Maybe the Devil did not have your accommodations ready."

 I'm sure people in the audience chuckled at what they thought was the  pope's teasing  and the cardinal's marvelous self deprecating humor.  One blogger seized on this comment and was hopeful that the pope was telling McCarrick that he was on to him and McCarrick was too arrogant to realize it. Others simply criticized the pope for joking about Hell. Now we know that it was much worse that what any of us thought.  Archbishop Vigano says he told the pope on June 23, 2013 that Cardinal MCarrick was an evil man but by October, 2013, McCarrick was still riding high. I think in that "cute" speech he was actually mocking Vigano and everyone else who had complained about him.

Rorate Caeli's writers have the weird knack at times of  being able to write like both teen aged girls with a delicious secret and a frosty old grande dame but let's give credit where it is due. Within a day or two of the habemus papam announcement Rorate was reporting that Cardinal Bergoglio was bad news. They were mocked, minimized (remember when Fr. Z. was telling us to stay calm and read Francis through Benedict?* ), or given the same silent treatment that Randy Engel got when she wrote Rite of Sodomy.  I hope some people have apologized even privately for that.

Now as for the Church, some people are saying that they are leaving that this scandal proves that the gates of Hell have prevailed. Well now, Jesus Christ said that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church. Some people think the gates of Hell are pressing against the Church walls but that's not it at all. The Church is supposed to be attacking the gates of Hell. Some times we are blessed with popes like Gregory the Great, Peter, Pius V, and Pius X who went after Hell with battering rams and trebuchets and sometimes we get popes who timidly tap on the infernal gates and  run back several steps and sometimes we get a pope who tries to slap a coat of paint on the gates and pretends they aren't there. Pope Francis is a bad pope. People from Argentina and around the world have been telling us this from day one. It's time to face it. We are in a great war. It is heartbreaking to realize that many of our generals, if not most of them have gone over to the other side and seeing so many of our officers fail in their duty throws us into confusion and despair but we only need one brave general to act with aggression and the pragmatic ones who have decided to keep their heads down and just wait for Francis to die may rouse themselves and follow. In the mean time pray for Archbishop Vigano.  At 77, he's saddled up and  he rode out. A cannonball of malice is coming his way.

*What in Sam Hill does that mean? I never got it.

Pray for us, Mother

I

The scourge

In this interesting homily the priest talks about the rise of Islam in Europe. He noted that Christians used to pray the Angelus three times a day. Now almost no-one does and in it's place the Muslims pray five times a day. The Church has withdrawn in many ways and made friends with the world instead of converting it. Islam rejects that flatly and in place of the sweet yoke of Christ the world is facing a yoke of iron and a scourge.

And David wept...

Remember back in the 80s when we were told that the bad old days were over because we had John Paul II? Remember when people who mentioned Good Bye Good Men  in conversation were told sometimes angrily, that it was never that bad or that the so-called lavender mafia was never that strong or that the "irregular" behavior in the seminaries was all over and done with? Has everybody forgotten when we were told in 2002, that the bishops were on it and the fake priests who used the church to practice their predation on young males were all dead or kicked out?

 I never quite believed that. Great evil is like disease. You may survive the polio but do so with a paralyzed leg for the rest of your life.  Vampires are a terrific metaphor for monstrous sin. You may get lucky and stake the master vampire but the contagion may have already spread throughout the village and has to be dealt with.

When King David sinned there were people who knew what really happened to Uriah and they said nothing. Others noted the speed in which the king married Uriah's widow and the timing of her pregnancy. David got away with it before men but God was having none of it. The fearless prophet Nathan called David out in public. David did hard penance and was forgiven but the consequences of his sin did not vanish into thin air.  His first son with Bathsheba died. His daughter Tamar fell victim to her half brother's lust. His son Amnon was killed. His son Absalom rebelled and was killed.The sword never departed from David's house.

Even  if Archbishop McCarrick  repents, confesses, and does hard penance  this malignant thing will never be over. The Church has been damaged. There are those who are delighted by this and hope that it will cause people to realize that Jesus did not found a new church in the 60s.  I think a few people will discover the wondrous beauty of the Church's traditions that have been waiting for them but I'm pretty sure that most of the broken-hearted will drift into Protestantism, Mormonism, and atheism. 

At prayer

Several years ago I saw a photo of the James Tissot painting, "The Holy Women" depicting the women who followed Our Lord when they could and who offered food and lodging  to Him and the Apostles when He came to their towns. I was deeply moved and decided to dedicate myself to taking every opportunity to show kindness and helpfulness to priests, whether they are obviously holy or just good bread and butter priests.  The priesthood is under attack. It's always been under attack.  Judas has many sons and this didn't just happen with Vatican II, although that was the tip of the spear. Let's pray for the good priests out there.

At prayer

I smiled when I saw this painting. Many times from my childhood on I've sat in a pew with my head against the cool stone column and either prayed or just sat in the presence of the Lord.

Catholic 101 : How do I use the missal during Mass?

I found a good video on how to use the missal during Mass. I normally use the online Sancta Misa missal so I don't have to go back and forth. Rocky prefers to use the big missal at home or during Adoration and uses the red Eclesia Dei missal and the photocopied daily readings provided by the parish during Mass. I think this video is very helpful no matter missal you use.

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.

A Word to Parents

Mary, St. Joseph, pray for us. Jesus, mercy!

Every single thing you do in front your children  is like shooting off a gun and for good or for evil, the bullet travels through multiple generations. My father-in-law made a bad decision in the early 90s and it hurt my brother-in-law's mental state. He was so unhappy that he was easy pickings for the Jehovah's Witnesses.   In December my brother-in-law's son will be 18 years old. If he chooses to go to college without permission of the elders he will be excommunicated. 25 years ago my father-in-law said "Go to this college and stick with this major or I wash my hands of you." Today my brother-in-law is saying,"Go to this college and I wash my hands of you."


50 years ago a woman had an affair. Her husband went to work and her lover sneaked in through the back door as soon as the poor husband left.  When her husband died she quickly married the lover. Years  passed and when her daughters were teenagers and scandalously promiscuous the woman tried to rebuke them. One girl angrily asked who was she-- an adulteress who betrayed their father and shamed her family--- to tell them anything about decent behavior.  Those girls went on to rocky lives and some had children out of wedlock. As they saw it, they may have made mistakes but at least they weren't hypocrites like their mother.

Thirty years ago a Catholic man left his wife for another woman. Today his daughter is an atheist. Her Catholic husband no longer goes to Mass or is doing so secretly and the kids are being raised as secular humanists.  Grandpa's lust was a wild bullet and his sins are visited on innocents who hadn't even been born at the time.

Parents, you have an awesome vocation. You have incredible society building or destroying power. The woman and the two men I mentioned here were all sorry when they got old but that just doesn't cut it when that sorrow comes decades too late. May God bless you with wisdom and sufficient grace.

McCarrick fallout

Years ago a co-worker of mine noticed that I was Catholic and happily told me that he was as well. He was an altar server at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception for high Masses and told me that Cardinal McCarrick was the most political man he'd ever met. I asked how so and he told me a tale. My co-worker was coming out of the sacristy and greeted Cardinal McCarrick in the hall. The cardinal asked him who was in the sacristy, what they were talking about and what kind of rings they were wearing. My co-worker told him and then the cardinal took a jewelry case or pouch (my co-worker may have specified but I can't recall that) from his pocket and picked from the collection an episcopal ring that most resembled the ones that the other bishops were wearing and put it on. He was ready and sailed in to charm everyone.

I myself, once met the cardinal on the street  near the DC Cathedral and  I was surprised to find him all alone. I'd read stories about the cardinal and the beach house by that time and found myself expecting to see some sign of it in his face and manner but of course I didn't. He did not behave anything like the white collar homosexual men I see everyday on the street downtown or any of the flamboyant priests I've come across. He is a remarkable, well trained chameleon.

What is interesting and hopeful is that the laity is not reacting to Cardinal McCarrick like most of us  did in 2002.  The bishops can hold another meeting and update the Dallas charter again but that won't cut it this time. People are not dropping this. They are asking awkward questions about who enabled Cardinal McCarrick and who rose high because they were close to him. I've also read a lot of discussions about protesting by withholding money, demanding lay oversight of known problem seminaries and  the feasibility of lay people buying convents and church buildings to keep them from being sold off to pay secret settlements.

Besides these there have been a few naive calls for married priests as if being forced to marry would actually keep a homosexual chaste. My mother's family are Southern Baptists. In the subset of their denomination no-one can become a pastor without having a wife. This is to avoid dating problems with young ministers. Interestingly enough, the deacons of my family's church broke this rule when they hired the current pastor. That caused a great deal of upset and later the reverend's search for a mate darn near split the congregation and resentments still simmer. One old man even told the reverend to leave when he showed up for a sick call at the old man's house with his girlfriend in tow. Sick calls with the reverend are a duty of the church's First Lady or members of the shut in ministry and the old congregation member was shocked and angry.

 To avoid all this hullabaloo many young ministers get married in the seminary. Not all of these marriages are love matches. It's not unheard of for a minister who wants to lead his own  congregation to get married to a woman who he thinks will make a good First Lady and hope for the best. He may come to love her later or he may find "comfort" elsewhere but he's not going to get his own church without her. A man who is determined to do something, will. If a predator has to get married to have a perfect disguise while he preys on the innocent, he will.

The important thing this go round is that people are talking amongst themselves and talking back to bishops and priests who try to smooth this over or act as if McCarrick was a complete surprise and a one time fluke.

Oh come on...

•  This is not my parish, thank goodness.  Rocky hasn't come across a used diaper yet but he and  the other ushers find some really icky stuff in the pews after Mass, particularly after weddings.

• Bishop Tobin of Rhode Island has deleted his Twitter account.  He couldn't stomach the blow-back that came his way after writing:"
  
  “Despite the egregious offenses of a few, and despite the faults and sins we all have, I’m very proud of my brother bishops and I admire and applaud the great work they do everyday for Christ and His Church”.
  
  He followed that unwise and offensive tweet with this little charmer:
  
  "If you find a perfect church out there somewhere, by all means, join it. But remember, the moment you join it, it will cease being perfect."
  
  Well thanks, your Excellency, I never thought I'd see the day when a bishop would say to the Faithful that they should leave the Church if they are upset by the scandals. Bishop Tobin seriously miscalculated how angry and more importantly, how sick with grief the laity has become, people let him know and he ran away. St. Peter Damien, pray for us.
  
  
  
  
• Cardinal Kevin Farrell finally has made a public statement about his old mentor, Cardinal McCarrick. He states, "I never heard any of this before in the six years I was there with him." So far, the response from the lay folk has been skeptical.

The Murmurings of This World

Random thoughts on a rainy afternoon

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

• Have you ever noticed how funny our so-called elites seem to find pedophilia? They flippantly wish the fate of rape on the minor aged children of enemies or even people who disagree with them on social media. The writer of the Guardians of Galaxy movies was tweeting for years about things that no normal man would find funny or even mention in public or private and Hollywood just chuckled. Disney probably only fired him  because they were afraid that too many members of the public would be turned off and the next Gaurdians movie's bottom line would be affected.
  
  
  
  
• Hilary White is on a roll. Bishop Thomas Tobin (NOT the Tobin in New Jersey) wrote something---well, tone death   in what may have been an attempt to pacify the laity and she gave some very good suggestions on how bishops can begin to earn the trust of the laity again. 

• Speaking of bishops. Is it not odd, that Bishop Farrell and Cardinal Tobin have not come out and boldly said, "I lived with/worked for Cardinal McCarrick and I never saw anything that struck me as suspicious?"

• I can't stomach reading the AKA Catholic blog anymore, not because of Louie Verrechio, whose insights I appreciate,  but because the comments. Louie will write about X and some people will respond and civilized discourse will take place. Then some tiresome soul will ruin by ranting about Y and when someone says, "Hey we're talking about X, he  (it's usually a he) will get belligerent. The comment boor demands that everyone else agree with him or they are must be heretics, evil  and/or  lacking in an IQ above 68. Why don't these individuals just write their own blogs? Why come on someone else's blog and try to take over?

At Prayer

If you still give to Catholic Charities...

The US Bishops have gotten so addicted to the government cash for immigrant services that it has come to dominate their focus. I recently read a few news stories concerning Catholic Charities resettlement offices  closing down because there are less illegal aliens and refugees and because the government grants are drying up. The employees were quite angry about all the collected clothes and home wares  just sitting on the shelf never to be used.  The sites that had these stories and who allow comments had some interesting responses. People asked why the office wasn't going to serve the homeless or poor American families?  Those comments reminded me of something an acquaintance told me about a lady in his parish. This woman had faithfully put money in the Catholic Charities envelope for  probably most of her adult life  and then in her old age,  after  her own finances tanked, she  found herself going to her local Catholic Charities office. The staff treated her rudely and she left humiliated and crying. Maybe she went to the wrong office but could not someone have said to this old lady, "Ma'am, the American services are at X street," or "I'm sorry ma'am, but your income is  above our cut off limit  but here are numbers you can call to see if you can get senior citizen utility assistance." I haven't willingly (remember, that government money is our tax money),  given Catholic Charities a dime in years. If you still do, take a good look at your local office's annual report and website, if they have one. Read for yourself where the money goes.

Holy Apostles, pray for us

I just read that there is a possibility that Fr. Pedro Arrupe, late superior general of the Jesuits is going to be canonized. Lord have mercy!

Did you ever wonder about those unaccompanied "migrant" kids?

Once, many years ago I overheard a woman attorney talking to a friend. She said that she was very angry at her husband because he procrastinated on fixing it so that their nanny could be a legal resident of the US and now they were going to have to let the poor woman go because of the husband's new job required a background check. This woman was making over 100K but she was too cheap to hire a legal nanny. When this woman left for another job I was very happy.

 Did you ever stop to wonder if your boss's or friend's illegal alien nanny gets paid a decent wage? Did you ever wonder who is taking care of the nanny's children since she works 6 days a week? Consider for a moment, the question of  how her children got to the US if they weren't born here? What horrors were witnessed or visited upon those children while being smuggled here?  Did you ever wonder if her children even made it to her place at all? How many of those unaccompanied children actually end up being sold at certain parties, truck stops, gas stations and on the streets? People shrug their shoulders and some joke but this is a horror.

July is the Month OF The Precious Blood

Litany of the Most Precious Blood

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, save us.
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God, save us.
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament, save us.
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony, save us.
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging, save us.
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns, save us.
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, save us.
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation, save us.
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness, save us.
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, save us.
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, save us.
Blood of Christ, victor over demons, save us.
Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs, save us.
Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors, save us.
Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins, save us.
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril, save us.
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened, save us.
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow, save us.
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent, save us.
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying, save us.
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts, save us.
Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life, save us.
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory, save us.
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor, save us.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

V. Thou hast redeemed us, O LORD, in Thy Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, Who didst appoint Thine only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world, and hast willed to be appeased by His Blood; grant unto us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate (with solemn worship) the price of our redemption, and by its power be so defended against the evils of this life, that we may enjoy the fruit thereof forevermore in Heaven. Through the same Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.

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.