The Buffalo diocese got hit with RICO and Saturday afternoon random thoughts

• The leadership brought this on themselves and nobody else to blame. 

"The Mass is not about adoring Jesus or even praying to Jesus." Fr. Thomas Reese S.J.

•  If Saint Ignatius walked into Fr. Reese's office today I don't think he'd be smiling and I think he'd be carrying a whip.
  
  
  
• Shirley Jackson once wrote a short story about self righteous woman who was happy to accuse others of being racist but ended up being upset and offended because the little black boy who she so happy to have her son play with was not poor and did not need the charity she offered. At the end of the story her embarrassed son walks outside with his buddy and asks him to excuse her. I was reminded of this when I read about the people in Portland who are protesting their new Nigerian priest because he says "He" when referring to God and Jesus among other things. This parish has been out in the moonbeams worshiping their own navels and Fr. Kuforjii is not having it. Hopefully if Father can't tame his wild parish the bishop will shut it down because judging from what I've seen from their behavior on camera these people are essentially Unitarians.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Mass at the Monastery

Rocky and I went to the Vigil of the Assumption at the DC Franciscan Monastery. It was packed. The friars looked surprised and delighted. A huge number of Catholic University students were there. Originally, the Mass was supposed to be in the grotto but the threat of thunderstorms made the abbot decide to move it indoors. I'm glad of that because the mosquitoes in the grotto are fierce. Archbishop Wilton Gregory came. He's shorter than he looks on TV. He did not say anything offensive in his homily and did not talk politics. After Mass Rocky and I accidentally walked close to him in the garden and he waved at us. The guest choir was astonishing and I don't mean that in a good way. Their version of the Magnificat was blues style and sounded like  Vera Hall singing Death Have Mercy song. Rocky looked at me out of the corner of his eye. When they sang the Alleluia and it went on so long and the tambourines were so loud I was almost surprised when the priest finally began reading the Gospel. One man couldn't take it and quietly left during the singing. The Gloria on so long I wondered if I could do a whole decade of the rosary before it ended.

After Mass Rocky as we walked to our car told me that he didn't feel like he'd been to Mass at all. It was like a concert with Mass added as an afterthought.

The end of a tubal pregnancy

There is a discussion going on about ectopic pregnancy on  the Eponynmous Flower blog. The author says he knows nothing about the topic but he's done some reading on it.  Well I lived through it and know a bit more than he does. As some of my old readers may recall, I had an ectoptic rupture in 2007. I can not bear to read the blog post I wrote about it or post it again but I feel that I should say something. If you  have been told that your child has not implanted in the uterus or even stomach but is in your fallopian tube you will be offered the choice of surgery, the methotrexate drug or you could reject both choices and wait for the rupture to happen.  If you decide to  let nature take it's course you should have an idea of what to expect.  I don't know if you can be forced into treatment but I do not think that any US doctor will accept admitting you to the hospital until the rupture happens. Unless you have someone watching you 24 hours a day you might be alone when it happens and when It does it will not be pretty. I've written this not to frighten anyone but because you need an honest description from someone who survived.

 I didn't know that I was pregnant so Rocky and I didn't have to make a decision. Having fought infertility for years I'd given up hope of ever having a successful pregnancy and I had no morning sickness or any other physical sign. I looked and felt the same as always.  I was standing in my bedroom closet  when it happened. It felt like a giant rubber band snapped inside me. I staggered backwards and ended up on the bed. I lay there curled up in a fetal position for I don't know how long. My pain level was excruciating. It was as if I'd been swallowed up and was being  gnawed on and consumed by pain. I could not speak. My eyes were wide open but the sight of my quilt meant nothing to me. I could not form a rational thought. I just existed, plunged as I was into that abyss  of agony minute by minute and until it stopped. Dazed, I got up and walked out of my home. Instinct or muscle memory or  most likely, my guardian angel took me to work. I walked in and spoke to my boss. She was stunned by how pale and gray I looked and suggested that I call Rocky.  I sat at my desk  and tried to make a plan.   Then came tunnel vision and muffled hearing, pain and the realization that this, whatever it was; was altogether beyond my control. Next came a thick, curtain of blackness before my eyes and ..... nothing.


I woke up on the floor under my desk and next to my own vomit.  Co-workers had called ambulance and I was whisked away. My family arrived.  After tests the surgeon told me what had happened and that there was no hope for my child because he was already dead. The Georgetown hospital staff called for the priest on duty.  He gave me  the sacrament and the apostolic pardon. He told me not to fear for I was loved by my Heavenly Father and whatever happened would be His will.  After that  I went to surgery.   My stomach was full of blood and I was in shock. Had I not collapsed at work my husband would've come home and found me dead or dying.  I urge any woman who needs to figure out what to do about a tubal pregnancy to go with her husband to seek the counsel of a learned, devout priest.

  Thanks to Fr. "Angel", Fr. "Wise" and Fr. "Youngblood" who comforted Rocky and I during that terrible time. 

Due Diligence --before you right that check or click that Paypal button....

• I posted this last week but I think it needs to be said again.
  
  Before you give to any Catholic non-profit check their Form 990. This is the form that non-profits must file with the IRS. I have used Foundation Center, Guidestar   and  Charity Navigator . If they don't have one think long and hard before you proceed. Think about the longevity of the organization, pay attention to outside news about the organization and demand to know how the head of the organization lives, especially if they talk about living modestly but post photos of themselves traveling all over the US and Europe. Last year I received an anonymous letter from someone warning me not to donate to Opus Bono Sacredotti. The letter alleged that the founders were living rather high on the hog instead of helping elderly conservative or traditional-minded priests who had been cast out of their dioceses by liberal bishops. I called the Michigan Attorney General's office and  asked them about OBS and if an investigation was going on and I also called the organization. I wasn't happy with the answers I heard and Opus Bono was off my list, forever.  Considering what I've been seeing online and the what's going on with co-founder, Fr. Perrone  I'm relieved.  

I never want to hear this song sung in a church again

This spectacle took place in Saint Peter Apostle Church in Montreal. I cannot imagine that the pastor was unaware of it. The bishop must be okay with it as well because the priest has not been removed from his duties, nor has an exorcism been done at the church that we know of. I know a lot of people love this maudlin song and consider it to be some sort of modern hymn. I remember one Catholic writer getting teary about it and writing that it was bringing people back to Mass. It's not a hymn and I dismissed that once very popular writer as a flake. Hallelujah if used on a church context is a blasphemous song about hopeless lust and unhealthy relationships. Samson had no business being with Delilah. David had no business being with Bathsheba. Both men reaped suffering for rest of lives due to their choice of woman. 

Samson and Delilah by James Tissot

David and Bathsheba by James Tissot

Kyrie Elieson

Random thoughts on a hot and humid Thursday

• Rocky has a friend who works at the DC Basilica. He says that the morale among the staff is terrible.  He was so happy when he got that job and now he's thinking about quitting. 

• I've said this before but it should be obvious to everyone by now that lionizing new converts is not a good thing. Protestant preachers who convert should get a job and grow in the Faith before becoming insta-Catholic apologists, if ever.  

• Rocky is a Third Degree Knight of Columbus. He was listening to Supreme Knight, Carl Anderson's  speech at the KoC annual meeting which was broadcast on EWTN and he was not happy. The Knights are going to give money for relief of migrants at the border. Rocky just sighed and asked why that money couldn't rain down on US homeless shelters or to the Little Sisters of the Poor nursing homes instead. 

• Before you give to any Catholic non-profit check their Form 990. This is the form that non-profits must file with the IRS. I have used Foundation Center, Guidestar   and  Charity Navigator . If they don't have one think long and hard before you proceed. Think about the longevity of the organization, pay attention to outside news about the organization and demand to know how the head of the organization lives, especially if they talk about living modestly but post photos of themselves traveling all over the US and Europe. Last year I received an anonymous letter from someone warning me not to donate to Opus Bono Sacredotti. The letter alleged that the founders were living rather high on the hog instead of helping elderly conservative or traditional-minded priests who had been cast out of their dioceses by liberal bishops. I called the Michigan Attorney General's office and  asked them about OBS and if an investigation was going on and I also called the organization. I wasn't happy with the answers I heard and Opus Bono was off my list, forever. Considering what's been in the news and the what's going on with co-founder, Fr. Perrone  I'm relieved.  

• The word "awesome" is too often used but this was an awesome moment of serendipity. 

Let's be honest for a moment?

Star Trek: Beyond was a terrible movie.

— Fr. Ryan Hilderbrand (@FrHilderbrand) August 7, 2019

💀: try to acknowledge the unimportance of amusement and the importance of charity

— dust to dust (@mementomorial) August 8, 2019

Dust to Dust was not responding to Fr. Hilderbrand. This just happened to the next thing on my timeline.

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.

random thoughts on a Monday afternoon

• I grew up in a non-coffee drinking household so I never understood the lure of Starbucks. Every time I've been in one with friends I either ordered nothing or purchased my lime fizzy water and left. I didn't feel cool, or have some sort of religious experience. I mean, it's just coffee, the stuff that my grandparents used as a remedy for constipation. People act like going to Starbucks is a secular version of walking the Camino del Santiago.

• John Zmirak called Cardinal Cupich "one of the meanest and one of the dumbest." Standing in front of that foul looking crucifix I'd like to add "vicious". 

• I sat through a homily where the priest railed at us about the need to offer tender care for vulnerable, pitiful immigrants. I thought, "Wait a minute. If these people are so helpless and need to be taken care of like babies, how in Sam Hill did they get themselves from their countries to the US?   Why was Father talking about some very tough, resourceful people as if they were sub-normal intellectually or physical invalids? 

•  John Zmirak is talking about heart breaking things -- the venal US bishops who sell us out for government money, the immigrants legal and illegal who lose their Faith after being exposed to parish life in the US, etc. ---but he's so funny it's bearable.
  
  
  
• I dropped my American Association of Law Librarian membership years ago and never renewed. I also did not attend the 2019, convention that was in DC this year. This Federalist article confirms my decision.
  
  
  
• Fr. Faucher of Idaho was a filthy, sadistic pervert to put it as mildly as possible. He used drugs, drank so much that he claims to be suffering from alcoholic dementia and dabbled in Satanism. He hated God, the Church, and his own parishioners so much that he  urinated on a cross,  and into the wine used for Communion. He was so spiritually polluted that the diocese had his house exorcised before putting it on sale. 
  
  Why didn't he just leave the priesthood? I strongly suspect that quietly leaving wouldn't have been any fun. He probably got enormous satisfaction standing there at Mass watching his poor parishioners take the tainted Precious Blood. How he must have mocked them in his mind!  He also probably got pleasure by grinding the Faith down day after day. Can you imagine what he was saying in the confessional or what sly, careful heresies were contained in his homilies? I completely missed coverage of his story in Catholic news and only found mention of it at Ann Bernhardt's blog. 

Home alone is a dangerous practice

Some people say that if you have a heretic for a priest and your parish is just poison and you have no other parish near you then you are justified in staying home and just reading the Mass in your missal.   The temptation is strong for many people to say,"Nuts to this. I'd do better worship to the Lord at home," or the more tragic, "This parish is killing me but I can't go anywhere else so I'm staying home."

 I sympathize and I'm thankful that I've never been in that position. My geographic parish was weird but Rocky and I were to join another parish a few miles down the road. Thank you, Lord. Now that Rocky's work schedule has changed we go to another parish that is also very good. I know many people in different parts of Virginia and the country can't do this and they have to suffer through bad Masses or move. I  read comments from people who have gone the home alone route and they all seem came off as unhinged, (understandable-- faithful Catholics have been gas-lighted   by heretical clergy and the lay professional Catholics for decades), and distrustful of everyone. I've been dismayed by comments from home aloners who finally do get a chance go to a traditional Mass and find fault with everything-- the priest's hair wasn't neat enough, a woman had on short sleeves, the conversation over doughnuts and coffee after Mass was wordly and they conclude that staying home alone is better. This is a dangerous practice. You run the risk of turning into your own pope. You run the risk of turning into an irascible hermit and you might go down the road to being so  so personally  repulsive that anyone who meets you decides to never go to a traditional Mass. And of course, you're running the risk of going to Hell.