Rethink Archbishop Sheen

 You know, I really don't think Archbishop Sheen should ever be canonized. He was a great showman before Vatican II but in his old age he either really lost the plot or maybe he was just a company man all along and he moved with whatever the company said at any given time. His canonization process was probably disrupted due to spite and other bad reasons but we may have dodged a bullet here. Saint Fulton might have  been as embarrassing as Saint John Paul II, Saint Paul VI and Saint John Newman may turn out to be. Let's wait a few more decades and let a future pope and committee who aren't star struck, coolly examine the evidence for or against a canonization. 

an apology

 Years ago there was a blogger whom I thought of as the prophet of doom and overly dramatic on top of that.  I made it a point to avoid reading her because I found her to be so depressing. Well, 2020, happened and you know what? Everything that blogger predicted has come horribly true. Our courts, our governors, our universities, media and public intellectuals-- everything about them that Etherelda said would come to pass; has. Rest in peace, ma'am. You were right. 

The McCarrick Report has been released. Does anybody smell sulfur?

 I thought making JPII a saint was a mistake. I thought it was too soon and that it, like the canonization of Cardinal John Newman would come back to bite us all one day. Well, now I think the canonization was sabotage and the bite has officially started. The McCarrick Report is out today. People who have read it say that it  blames JPII and his right hand man, Cardinal Dziwisz.

The report is said to be somewhere between 400 to 600 pages which will be grim reading I'm sure.  Blaming the dead rock star pope and an 81 year old man, who let's face it, is closer to the grave than the cradle, is a masterstroke. 

You see, if Saint John Paul II, who apparently never listened to anybody who tried to tell him that Bishop So-and-So was bad news, gave McCarrick his power then it calls into question JPII's sanctity or at least, his wisdom. A seed of doubt has been sowed. Since JPII was wrong about McCarrick, what else was he wrong about? Many people see JPII as their linchpin. Catholics of my generation looked up to him as the holiest pope since Pope St. Pius X.  Discredit JPII and those people are going to be shaken. If you've ever been exasperated after reading Hilary White's rage against JPII and Benedict XVI for not satisfying her father hunger then get ready for more of the same but from all kinds of people including some of your friends and family members. 

The McCarrick Report allows Francis to say, "Hey it wasn't me. My holy predecessor trusted McCarrick so why shouldn't I have? I was misled." I think most people are going to react to the McCarrick Report the same way their parents and grandparents did when the Novus Ordo was forced on them in 1968-1970. They will sit in the pews for an hour on Sunday and that's it or they'll stop coming to Mass or they will conclude that we've all been misled and they will apostatize. 

Salve Regina

 

Random thoughts--warning I'm grouchy today

•  Well, the kidney stone has passed...… I feel humble, sore and tired. 
  
  
  
  
• So, is our republic mortally wounded? If it is, how long before most people notice?  
  
  
  
  
  
• Everyday I'm seeing a LOT of Catholics talking about going Orthodox. For various and erroneous  reasons people are saying that if Francis is a valid pope then the whole Catholic Faith must be wrong. They can't bring themselves to go full on Protestant and don't see any point in going to the Episcopalian play house so the Orthodox seem like a lifeboat. The Orthodox have beautiful churches that look like a peek into Heaven. They have priests who consistently look like men in public. They do not mock the pious. It all looks good from a distance.  Well, I can only say that you can go to an Orthodox church but you will never be Greek, Russian, Armenian, etc. To most of the parishioners you will  always that Catholic who showed up late and Heaven help you if you open your mouth to make a suggestion about parish life.  Check out Orthodox Twitter or forums or blogs and see what the folks in the pews really think about you. It's not sweetness and light. 
  
  
  
  
• Louie Verrechio at AKA Catholic is on fire lately. If you've ever distrusted Taylor Marshall because the man's positions have changed so many times or you suspect that he's Opus Dei or if you have not forgotten the Fisher Moore episode then you should read this new series.

Fear Nothing

 

Go to Confession

You might want to make that General Confession as soon as possible. 

The grocery situation and other random thoughts

•  The pope said nary a word on camera about the three people being murdered in the basilica in Nice, France. We not only have a bad pope, we have one who doesn't care one jot or tittle about his flock. I expected no better from him but it would have been a nice surprise if he could have managed to say something about that or if he refuses to comment on Europe he could have a least sent a polite, diplomatic word of condolence to the Catholics in Chile who have seen their churches desecrated. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Costco is not  allowing delivery in my area today because they're just overwhelmed with shoppers right now. I know it's the first of the month but this is not even the normal crush of people. All the folks who didn't stock up in the last few months have just realized that there will probably be riots after the Election and trying to pick up some eggs downtown might be more of an adventure that most folks are prepared for. At my mother's Costco the toilet paper and  paper towels are sold out. I wanted to get her some shelf stable milk but her brand is running low. I'll try tomorrow but I think I'll  also zip by the Spanish grocery and see if I can find some Nido Fortificado milk or cans of Media Crema. 

Holy Face

 

LITANY OF THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS     I salute Thee, I adore Thee and I love Thee, O adorable Face of Jesus, my Beloved, noble Seal of the Divinity! Outraged anew by blasphemers. I offer Thee, through the heart of Thy blessed Mother, the worship of all the Angels and Saints, most humbly beseeching Thee to repair and renew in me and in all men Thy Image disfigured by sin.     O adorable Face which was adored, with profound respect, by Mary and Joseph when they saw Thee for the first time, have mercy on us.     O adorable Face which did ravish with joy, in the stable of Bethlehem, the Angels, the shepherds and the magi, have mercy on us.     O adorable Face which did transpierce with a dart of love in the Temple, the saintly old man Simeon and the prophetess Anna, have mercy on us.     O adorable Face which filled with admiration the Doctors of the law when Thou didst appear in the Temple at the age of twelve years, have mercy on us.     O adorable Face which possesses beauty always ancient and always new, have mercy...     O adorable Face which is the masterpiece of the Holy Ghost, in which the Eternal Father is well pleased, have mercy on us.     O adorable Face which is the ineffable mirror of the divine perfection, have mercy on us.     Adorable Face of Jesus which was so mercifully bowed down on the Cross, on the day of Thy Passion, for the salvation of the world! Once more today in pity bend down towards us poor sinners. Cast upon us a glance of compassion and give us Thy peace.

Halloween thoughts

Halloween isn't what it was when you and I were kids. It's become sleazy on one level and dangerous on another. Have you noticed the explosion of demonic activity in this country and around the world in the past few years alone? And isn't there something schizophrenic about dressing your child up as a demon  and sending him out to the neighbors and demanding candy? I know of people who turn their lights out and pretend to be out on Halloween because they don't want to participate but are afraid of "pranks" and becoming  unpopular in the neighborhood. 

 Why do grown people downplay it when  a "grouchy,", "humorless" neighbor's house is attacked with eggs or his yard is strewn with toilet paper on Halloween when these same people would scream and carry on if someone did that to them on any other night of the year? What kind of Catholic says something like, "Well I don't approve but Old Jim or Old Lady Jones  is so cantankerous and never does anything in the community so no wonder the kids did the kids pulled a prank,"? It's talk like that that made me seriously rethink modern Halloween.

In your charity could you say a prayer for my Cousin Pearl? Plus other random thoughts.

• My cousin Pearl just got out of lock down. She lives in a nursing home and one of the residents got sick. The other resident was taken to the hospital and was exposed to Covid. Upon returning to the nursing home some authority decided that all the residents had to be restricted to their rooms for 14 days. Family members normally go to the porch of the nursing home and wave to her and talk to her on the cell phone. For 14 days she couldn't even do that. She and all the residents were not allowed to walk around the nursing home.
  
  Another cousin went to see Pearl yesterday on the first day when the residents were let out of their rooms.  Pearl has lost weight and looks very unhappy to me. She's 93. Folks we don't treat murderers like this. 
  
  
  
  
• Thank the Lord. My next door neighbors have finally moved. They were so nasty that I used to see roaches walking in and out under their front door. I suspect that the children in the family were the ones who were drawing on the walls of the apartment building hallways. 
  
  
  
• Archbishop Wilton Gregory is going to be made a cardinal. Some people are shocked but really folks, it was already set in stone. Traditionally the head of DC will be made a cardinal eventually whether he was a good bishop, a good priest, or even a good man. Heck look at McCarrick and Wuerl. The DC diocese is polluted. 
  
  
  
  

If your cause leads you to threaten nuns then you have a cause that I'm pretty sure is demonic

So this is where we're at, America. A male, (he's not fit to be called a man), posted photos of nuns on Twitter and  is deliberately trying to cause harm to them and their order  because they went to the Trump rally. The whole point of "doxing" is to put people's personal information on the Web in order that other evil people will harass or perhaps even harm your victim.  This  individual would have been right at home with the kind of males who went after good women in Paris, the Vendee, Poland and Spain. 

Jordan Peterson is back and Louie Verrechio speaks plainly

 I just watched a video by a priest cheering because Dr. Jordan Peterson is back from his near death experience. I have a few questions but the main one is this:  Considering that Peterson did not practice what he preached and his personal life seems to have been a train wreck what advice can he give a young man? 

Oh rank and file Knights what to do now? Have Knight families been fooled? Is the KoC running a managed opposition campaign? Does anyone think that Fr. McGiveny would approve?

Louie Makes Himself Clear

 Louie Verrechio used to annoy me when he'd carp about the March for Life or the Knights of Columbus's involvement because he'd always allude to what he thought was wrong but was  vague on details. Now,  he and the magnificent Randy Engel have spelled out their argument.  It's a thorough and disturbing one. 

It looks like Nellie Gray was betrayed either on her deathbed or after her death by the people running the March now. It also looks like the heads of the organization aren't fighting for the outright abolition of abortion but rather, a slow nibbling away at it. Essentially, the consensus idea seems to be to pragmatically ignore  babies in the first trimester for now in order to convince people that abortion in the latter trimesters is evil and should done away with. Supposedly after years of that people will come to realize that protection should be extended for all babies. 

The March leadership, Randy Engel writes, has also  made an effort to water down the Catholicism that led Nellie Gray to start the March in the first place because the current president of March for Life feels that "Nellie Gray's leadership was "too Catholic," " and continuing in Nellie's path might offend the kindly Protestants, Jews and even pagans who might be pro-life but would hold their noses and let babies die rather than rally with Catholics to stop it. 

I'm going to have to read the whole thing a few times to fully digest it but I don't like what I've read and as the wife of Knight of Columbus I really am disgusted with Carl Anderson. 

This is wrong

 Jesuit Tampa High School had the Stanley Cup on display before the Blessed Sacrament. You don't have to be a theologian or a saint to know that this is wrong. Whoever allowed this needs to step down or be removed. 

Pope St. Pius

 Dear Pope St. Pius, please pray for the Church. 

Doubtful saints

•  This book argues that French mystic Marthe Robin was a cheap fraud.

 

• Carlo Acutis was by all accounts, a sweet, pious boy and the people promoting his cause say that he was a second St. Dominic Savio but should he canonized? Have his promoters really made a good case for his sanctity?
  
   Being incorrupt is not required to be canonized but it is accepted as the great sign from God that a person was especially favored. Bishop Sorrentino says that young Carlo was not, despite what has been claimed. 
  
  His body is also clothed in branded clothing. I can't tell for certain what his jacket says but it looks like there is a Nike swoosh on his shoes. Did Nike approve of this? Does the Church now have a  named Venerable as product placement for a sports wear corporation? 
  
  
  
  
  
  

Pray for our country and other random thoughts on a Saturday night

St. Michael, pray for us. Our country is in danger. 

• Just because Judge Amy Coney Barrett is Catholic doesn't automatically make her a good Supreme Court Justice pick. Remember what a disappointment John Roberts turned out to be? And if being Catholic is your only qualifier, is she still really Catholic? She belongs to a Charismatic group. The Charismatics sprang from some pretty weird and frankly terrifying ground. The sober and careful, YouTube Ascent of Mt. Carmel channel has a lot to say about the Charismatic Movement. You might want to read up on the subject. 

• The canonization process has been so watered down that I don't trust this.  I don't trust this at all.  
  
  
  
  
• Have you noticed that the professional Catholic talkers don't seem to have anything to say about the vandalism and desecrations going on at Catholic churches in the US? Why is that?

• Peter's Pence is this weekend. I expect the poor ushers all over the country will report that they got a lot of sour looks. 

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Exposed

 Do they have the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at your parish? Before you enroll your tot you might want to read this. 

I don't want to be cool

 The same people who told your parents that they were unsophisticated rubes when they objected to Brooke Shields being a sex symbol at 10 are now telling you that you are not smart or cool enough to realize how wonderful "Cuties" is.