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.

Your Peter's Pence Money is Being Used to Meddle in US Affairs

The pope is sending $500,000 to assist the Mexican parishes and charities that are taking care of the Guatemalans,  El Salvadorans, and Hondurans in the caravans who are attempting to flood into the US.  How much, if any  of the Peter's Pence money is being sent to Sri Lanka or to help the Nigerians Catholics has not been reported. I've been  looking at the reactions on Twitter and news forums and you know what?  People wrote that their Faith had been battered in recent years but this was the final straw and they are leaving the Church. Others wrote that they aren't putting anything in the collection basket not only on Peter's Pence day but any day.  I also saw a lot of comments from non Catholics who now see the Church as a force that is actively working against our country. This is very bad. Americans give more to Peter's Pence than any other country and our money is being used to meddle in our affairs and drive a wedge between us and our countrymen. This whole scenario looks like ten miles of bad road to me and it's not going to end well.

random thoughts on a Saturday afternoon

• There is an organization called the Bail Project that pays bond for people who can't come up with the money on their own. On their website they say that they "... pay bail for people in need, reuniting families and restoring the presumption of innocence." Well, Marcia Johnson didn't want to be reunited with her husband after he struck her back in April. The police were called and he was arrested. His bond was $5000. Marcia certainly had no intention of paying it and apparently nobody who knew her husband wanted to pay it either. The well meaning do-gooders at the Bail Project decided to meddle and as soon as Scott Johnson was released he went home and killed his wife. What do you think went through that poor woman's head when she saw him come through the door? Marcia Johnson was in need and the Bail Project certainly made everything worse for her and her children.The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and I hope that Mrs. Johnson's family sue the Bail Project and the employee/volunteer who thought that bailing out a wife beater was a good idea.  

• Today is the feast of St. Pere de Roquart, who served Our Lord by rescuing slaves from the Muslims. 

• Back in the 70s a young husband and father was taking his parish's bingo money to the bank when he was robbed and murdered. Although his death was a horror and he was a good man who was highly respected by his priest and other parishioners, nobody called him a martyr. Dying on the way to Mass, at Mass or after Mass does not make one a martyr. The Romans, other pagans, Communists and heretics of all kinds said to Christians over the centuries, "Reject Christ and we will leave you alone." They were answered with a refusal. To be a martyr, one must consciously refuse to deny Our Lord and His Faith. 

Easter Vigil

We went to St. Vincent dePaul's in DC for Easter Vigil and it was very sweet. The people are kind.  You never know what you're going to get with the Novus Ordo but the  priest and deacon did nothing outside of the rubrics. The Exultet was sung beautifully and the choir was very good.  It was a joyful night.

Holy Saturday... the King sleeps

"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. ‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise. ‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person. ‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden. ‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image. 'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one. `I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you. ‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God. "The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages." A reading from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday

Good Friday

I beg pardon and mercy, by the merits of Thy holy wounds, Oh Lord!

King of Kings 1927

In this scene the Last Supper is almost over and a smooth pretty boy Judas slinks out early to betray Our Lord. He runs into Our Lady who is waiting outside the  hall  and Judas is so ashamed he can't even look her in they eye.

Spy Wednesday -- King of Kings 1927

Music for Holy Week

Notre Dame

I'm sitting here watching Notre Dame burn.... when the roof caved in and the spire went down I almost screamed at my desk.

Holy Week begins

My husband's prayer corner with this year's palm

In defense of Pope Benedict

• After Pope Benedict's letter from retirement was published I noticed that there was the same old tiresome crap that happens every time he makes a peep. Some people said the letter was a hoax. Others got mad because it appears to be genuine.  I was reminded of something I wrote last Palm Sunday that still, weirdly enough applies to the situation at hand. I'm posting it again with a few additions.
  
  
  
  All this week I've been reading that Benedict was never the orthodox prelate whom we thought he was and that he's really just Francis with class. That is hyperbole. Joseph Ratzinger was never mean, he was never even crude in private, much less in public and not a single person has come forward to tell a story about how Fr. Ratzinger used to swear and scream when he was unhappy or that he mocked them for being pious.  Although he said some things in his books on the life of Our Lord that raised my eyebrow I don't recall him being openly heretical in his statements. I don't recall ever cringing at his daily reported utterances or wondering if he was non compos mentis. 
  
   Maybe Pope Benedict was just a nice conservative, okay I'll accept that. Church and a social conservatives haven't won a single battle in 50 years but they've tossed off some cute witticisms and I  think deep down the leaders are content with that and many of them dislike the embarrassing Trads more than the out right heretics. Pope Benedict may not have had the courage or ammunition to fight the St. Gallen mafia and it probably would have been better for him if he had refused the papacy to begin with, but I don't think he's sipping on a beer in his apartment thinking, " Francis and I sure fooled those suckers. Hah!" 

Palm Sunday

One of My favorite scenes from King of Kings

Passiontide

St. Vincent Ferrer, pray for us

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.

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.

Where did Theodore McCarrick come from?

 Susan Matthiesen at the Les Femmes blog wrote back in January about how young Ted McCarrick was expelled from high school at age 15, and was apparently was a ghost for 16 months.  That post deserved a lot more attention than it got. Where was he?  Did the boy sit in his room sulking? Was he with his late father's family in Virginia? Was he running the streets? Who was advising the boy and his mother? I don't know what the truancy laws in New York were in the 40s but surely there must have been some busybody neighbor  or agent of the court who wanted to know where this kid was.

Young McCarrick started high school again at 17, and attended Fordham Prep on scholarship. McCarrick has said that his indefatigable  mother talked to a Jesuit or an family friend alumni, (exactly who has been lost to time), about her bright son and got him into Fordham and that may be true.  I remember reading a speech by a man who said his success began because his father who was a West Virginia miner walked into a rich man's office and told him about his son and the rich man was so impressed by the nerve and devotion of that poor man that he arranged for the boy to be educated at a very good school. At any rate some important person made it possible for young McCarrick to attend Fordham Prep despite his having been expelled from Xavier High School. When I went to high school every girl knew that if you messed up and got expelled that was it. Unless your dad could pull some long strings no other Catholic school in the diocese would take you.

Theodore McCarrick graduated from Fordham prep and although he was a poor boy on scholarship with a widowed mother he was able to afford to go to Europe with a friend on what we now call the gap year. At one point, according to McCarrick  he was in a Carthusian monastery in Switzerland discerning his vocation.  Before James Grein's testimony one could only assume that Mrs. McCarrick was doing quite well at her factory job. Grein, who is believed to be McCarrick's first victim says that his wealthy family took young Ted to Switzerland with them on their vacations so that could be how the plane and train tickets, food and accommodations were taken care of.

After his gap year he comes back to the States goes to Fordham University and then to St. Joseph's Seminary. From there he takes off like a rocket. Les Femmes concludes that young Ted caught some influential perverts eye early on and he used that to further his career and because one or more of his superiors were already compromised nobody was in position to say anything when he began preying on the innocent.  Church Militant and Complicit Clergy have proposed another theory.  What if young Ted met some nasty old perverts and joined in ,but these particular nasty old perverts were part of the school of darkness with Bella Dodd?  As you may have read, Bella left the Communists and converted thanks to Archbishop Sheen. She said that her job in the party was to help with the seminarian project. The project was to get rotten young men into the priesthood, create a network that would serve the party and degrade the Church from within. The young men were promised all the sex they wanted and protection so long as they served. A match made in Hell. No matter who McCarrick's sugar daddy really was it's clear that he had one or several and in turn he played that role for others. This is distasteful but every Cardinal, every bishop and every priest who owes his position to McCarrick has got to be asked two questions: What did you know about McCarrick's beach house and why did he like you so much?

Stella Maris

Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us. 

at prayer

A Woman to Admire

Chief Warrant Officer Oscar and Mrs. Grammer 

Every war leaves a mess of immorality for decades to come. The black children of American soldiers stood out and suffered in Germany. A good Catholic woman named Mabel Grammer tried to do something about it and found homes for 500 of them.

In the Closet of the Vatican and other random thoughts

1. A number of people in the office were gleefully talking about this book. Last Ash Wednesday Catholic co-workers heard some jokes from  non-Catholic co-workers. Heaven only knows what it's going to be like this year.  I am not complaining. A few just on the edge of louche remarks  are nothing compared to the Know Nothings attacking Catholics in the streets or burning convents but it is just a little unnerving. Between the  the pedophile scandals the perception that the Church supports  illegal immigrants whether the locals are happy about strange men wandering around the neighborhood or not, the jokes are going to get worse and I have a feeling that the day is coming when complaints to HR about it will fall on deaf ears.

• An anonymous homosexual priest says to the New York times that he's not in the closet but a cage since he doesn't dare tell his parishioners about his sexual interests.  I'm guessing this priest is so self observed that he does not even dream that many of his parishioners already know about him. He also would probably be surprised to know how many young males in his parish were completely turned off of parish life because of him and his gushing fans. 

• She and her daughter, Queen Catherine will never be canonized but there is an open cause for Queen Isabella of Spain's canonization.
  
  
• Yes, that is Theodore McCarrick in stained glass to the right of John Paul II. As my father-in-law once said, never make a memorial to a man until he's dead. I would add that  even then you might want to wait a few years in case something embarrassing comes out about him. 

The end of a dirty game or have the cards just been reshuffled?

The ever charming, ever smiling Cardinal McCarrick is now Mr. McCarrick.  His former roommate and protege Cardinal Farrell, (who claims that he NEVER saw anything freaky or suspected anything untoward about Cardinal McCarrick the whole six years he lived with him),will be in charge of the entire Church in the event of the pope's death until the end of the conclave. His favorites are still in charge of the Church in America so McCarrick-ism lives on. 

Is this the end of Teddy?

There are reports from foreign sources that Archbishop McCarrick going to be cast out of the priesthood. I'll believe it when I see it.

The higher the monkey climbs

The higher the monkey climbs the more he exposes..... If Dr. Ralph Northam had stayed out of public life and hadn't chosen to use his power to try to kill babies  this never would have come to light. 

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 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.

Darkness over Virginia

I'm living In this world, of hell that I made (chorus) 

When darkness falls, I fall with it Into the dark abyss, dead I fall I've got no limit, 

I walk alone When darkness falls, I fall with it)  from Darkness Falls

I’d advise you not to look up the full lyrics to this song because it's from the psycho-billy genre and grim doesn't even begin to describe that music but I heard the song once and it’s the only thing that came to mind when I think of Governor Northam and all the people who supported the infanticide bill. Mary Anne at Les Femmes has done an excellent job showingwhat really motivates my state’s governor. Lord have mercy on this country. In just my life time we've fallen so far it's shocking. 

The Conversion of St. Paul

This image of St. Paul being knocked off his high horse isn't famous like the great Caravagio painting but I like it.  Paul looks completely shocked, completely helpless and when he gets up from the ground after having heard Our Lord he will completely converted.

Random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon

• All the priests and Catholic influencers who Tweeted condemnation of the kids from Covington High School should be ashamed.  I'm really disgusted. They were so eager to go with the crowd that they disengaged their brains.  Don't completely trust an initial media report. Good grief! My father told me that when I was eight! When Princess Diana died, my local news reported that she was okay and then 15 minutes later they said she was dead. A few weeks ago, we were told that a middle aged white man in a truck shot a little girl in Houston. It turned out to be young black man in a car.  In my town we read an initial report that there was an unattended death  (these are usually illness or accident related) in an apartment near me. A week later the report is that it was the first murder of the year for my town.  Not only are initial reports are almost always wrong but the smart person ALWAYS considers the source. 
  
  
• That thought reminded me of something I wrote years ago only now I have include Twitter priests:
  
  Should Priests Blog Pt. II 

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  Fr. Pinot, French martyr

  
  
  I've said before that priest's really shouldn't blog (or Tweet several times a day about  worldly matters such as what food he's eating right now, politics, movies, gaming) unless it's strictly their homilies and catechetical or apologetic material or posts about parish events. I've seen blogs by priests that were downright scary. A priest is an alter Cristus. He should not seem like a pop star tossing PR tidbits to his fans or a guru communicating his wishes to his groupies. His blog should never  leave readers wondering about how his lifestyle is financed or speculating that Father has too much time on his hands or if what they just read was written by a real priest at all.
  
  

  Blessed Fr. Pinot, of France courageous example for priests and us all, pray for us.

  Mother Vogl, pray for us.

  St. Pio, pray for us.

  Blessed Fr. Pro, pray for us.

  Blessed Fr. Popieluzko, pray for us.

  Cardinal Mindzdenty, pray for us.

  St. Fr. Edmund Campion, pray for us.

  Priest martyrs of Nagasaki, pray for us.

  Priest martyrs of Gorkum, pray for us.

  
  

Catholic parents, it's past time to rethink the whole way you play the college game

Catholic blogland has been discussing reports on the professor and head of the English department  at Franciscan University at Steubenville who assigned a mandatory reading assignment of a blasphemous and pornographic book, which I will not name, to his students. At first the university defended him. Now, after parents and alumni said they were closing their check books the professor has been fired and replaced. The school president has apologized.  Steubenville was once considered to be a safe, solid Catholic school.  Although the Newman Society says things at the university are still pretty much okay  people are beginning to wonder about that.

Supposedly the  "safe" schools are what? Christendom, Thomas Aquinas, Wyoming, Steubenville  and Ave Maria? Except for Wyoming and Aquinas I've read complaints that didn't seem frivolous or stupid about all of them.  College is not required to keep your Faith and there are devout Catholics who never went to college or who chose went the two year route. Frankly, unless your kid is majoring in a hard science or technology program  like biology, nursing, architecture, engineering, etc., you are probably paying a fortune and running up a massive debt for a useless degree that won't lead to a good paying job.
 I read the suggestion of one writer who plans to have his kids go to the state school but live at home. His argument is that his son will probably be able to handle the nonsense at the secular school better than the sly Faith undermining that would take place in a Catholic school with an impious faculty. I think it's time for Catholic parents to stop being sentimental. Your grandpa may have gone to Notre Dame and you may have gone to Trinity but you can't just send your kid off to a "Catholic" school and think that everything is going to be okay. As it turns out the professor has an agenda and is looking for victims at a Catholic school so he may be worse than he would have been at a secular school.

What kind of untity are you talking about?

 I keep seeing all these dreary posts on Catholic Twitter demanding that people be nice and stop disagreeing with one another in the name of unity. Unity ofwhat?  If you're going to call people stupid, weird, uncouth, and so far beneath you that it's not even worth being civil to them because they dare to disagree with you on a non dogmatic matter then you're way too much like the initially bland but ultimately vicious pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers screaming at some survivor who managed not to get assimilated into the alien union.

 Think how boring Catholic Twitter and Catholic blogland would be if everyone was the same. I don't want unity with the pod people. One person that I really liked became downright ugly towards anyone who has questions about Pope Benedict's abdication. I lost respect for this person and just feel a bit sad when I see this individual's posts, articles, and Tweets. It's rather like the moment when Nancy in Invasion realizes that Donald Sutherland didn't make it and has become one the aliens.

Pray for us, Holy Mother!

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.

Holy Innocents, pray for us

Merry Christmas

Fiat

The Promise of Ages

I wish Bishop Barron would say something like this....

Contrary to what some may say, the god of Islam & the God of the Christian faith are not the same. The God of the Christian faith is Creator of the Universe & sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to save us from our sin. He can change every heart who will put their faith in Him. 2/2

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) December 15, 2018

So let me get this straight....

The pope has been  openly meddling in the secular affairs of Western nations by telling us that we should cheerfully accept millions of Third World migrants but Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin says when asked about Catholic Asia Bibi and her family said, “It’s an internal question that regards Pakistan, I hope it will be resolved in the best ways possible”. 

The Annunciation

Thanks

Thank-you to everyone who prayed for Rocky before his surgery. It went well and he's home.