random thoughts on a Wednesday afternoon

• There is a class action lawsuit against the  "United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for its role in the fraudulent promotion of Peter’s Pence as a charity to assist individuals throughout the world who have been affected by “war, oppression, natural disaster or disease.”
  
  
  
• It just hit me how much alike Steve Skojec and Mark Shea are as far as the ability to hold a grudge and be nasty.

•  Last week Rocky and I went to Mass and the whole church was filled with kids who had been to the March for Life. They were perfectly behaved. Nobody was fooling around. Nobody was talking. Only one thing went wrong at that was due to one of the guest priests. He accidentally dropped the Host and immediately retrieved and consumed but no effort was made to be sure that all particles of the Host were removed from the stone floor.
  
  
• Death brings out interesting reactions in people. I remember reading Sucpie Dominie with great distaste when John Vennari died. People on the forum -- regulars, not trolls, made fun of  the description of his Last Rites and the care his poor wife and family took to make sure he was as ready for death as possible.  Mundabor is harping on Kobe Bryant's name not being Catholic.  Go back and time and complain to Kobe's mother but it's doesn't make a hell of a lot sense to grouse about now.
  
  
  

• Remember that book E. Michael Jones put out about Michael Voris a few years ago? I don't think anyone ever asked Jones to explain if his  priest-informant told him things that were spoken about outside the confessional or not. If he got his information from Voris's spiritual director then wasn't that a violation of the seal of the confessional?

 

Death doesn't care if you are a star or a nobody-- go to confession while you can

Pray for us, Mother

papal sabotage?

Does anyone  remember  the strange things  that  kept happening  to  Benedict  before his  abdication? Early  in  his papacy he enjoyed  putting  on a black  cassock  and  going for a  walk  around the  Vatican  at night. He'd only take his assistant  Ganswein  with him. Somebody leaked it to the press and he stopped. Who leaked it and why with the hint that something  untoward  must be going on?

One year Benedict  decided to wear one John XXIII'ds old red caps.  Well John was a big ole man and the cap did not fit Benedict. It was way too big, he looked foolish and was mocked in both Catholic and secular media. Did Ganswein or anyone else in the papal household not see that the cap was too big and if they did why did they not point it out?

Does anybody  recall his valet who was spying  on Benedict and stealing  from him, Who  hired the  valet? Who interviewed him and who besides the pope did he report to? 

The really embarrassing sight of the homoerotic acrobats performing for Benedict  could have been avoided. The Pellegrini Brothers had just performed at the Barcelona gay circus. Didn't anybody at the Vatican know that? Did nobody check out their act with all the strutting, pouting and stripper moves before booking them? The pope was polite--- too polite for his own good, he smiled and clapped. It looked like the  Holy Father enjoyed  a strip tease show and people all over the world snickered. 

The rainbow flag was displayed right below the Vatican flag when the pope visited a town in Italy back in 2008, and the as the pope processed by he was of course photographed with it. The Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith was in charge of the staging of the visit so somebody official knew about the flag and approved it. Did it not occur to this person that the pope would be seen with a rainbow flag or was that the point of the exercise?

Even security seemed to fail him. A crazy woman tackled him twice in different years and the reaction from the Vatican press office seemed to be nonchalant. 

As Ian Flemming wrote, “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”  Was everyone around Benedict, including Archbishop Ganswein, truly incompetent or was he sabotaged, in subtle as well as gross ways until he decided to leave the battlefield? 

On Fr. Z's grouchiness and other random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon

• Fr. Z. is a bit put out because nobody invited him to the protest in Germany this week. He compared it to a self licking ice cream cone which has a connotation that really surprised me coming from a priest. His criticism was not entirely fair. I believe Father was injured last year  when he was struck by a motorcyclist while crossing a street and he had a a bout with sickness around Christmas so who would expect him to be standing still in the cold for an hour? Besides he's just returned from a European trip that probably was not free. His superiors might not not have allowed him to attend anyway.
  
  I'm not picking on Father Zuhlsdorf. He's very good at what he does. I rarely go to his blog anymore but the travelogues and food photos are pleasant and cozy reading. If I were organizing a conference I'd call Fr. Z to say Mass and then hopefully cook something Italian afterwards but I wouldn't ask him to come participate in open confrontation that might get him into too much trouble. Every year when the US bishops have their meeting in Baltimore, Catholic laity and clergy show up and protest. I've never seen Fr. Z. among them, nor did I expect it of him. Open resistance has never been his thing. He's frank about using quiet action instead. He's always advising seminarians to shut up, pray and get ordained so they can make changes in their parishes slowly. 
   How many priests were at the event? Except for Archbishop Vigano, I didn't see any. Perhaps the organizers didn't want to get a priest into trouble. Bishops have been known to use extreme retaliation against annoying priests and the German bishop are aggressive in general. Archbishop Vigano's presence may have been a reason why the protest was not pre-announced.  Perhaps the organizers understand that three can keep a secret only if two are dead, as the old saying goes. At any rate, God bless Fr. Z. and keep him healthy and safe. Hopefully he cooked up some squid and garlic, had some good wine and calmed down.
  
  
• Virginia was founded when England was sunk deep in Henry VIII's religion of convenience. The Episcopalians, who were known as Anglicans before the Revolution formed the First Families of Virginia and ran the colony. There are Episcopalian churches all over Virginia and they are the sites of the USA's earliest history. There's Bruton Parish Church, founded in 1674. There's St. Luke's, Virginia's oldest church, which if I were a millionaire I'd build a replica of and donate it to the my diocese and there's St. John's in Richmond where Patrick Henry gave his "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," speech. 
  
  Bishop Barry Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond says the pastor of St. Bede's in Williamsburg, VA offered his parish  to the Episcopalians for the faux consecration of Rev. Susan B. Haynes because neither the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia nor the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia have a church  big enough for the event.  He says it was an act of charity. In Virginia's long history there have been many Episcopalian bishops. This is not the first  time they've had their version of a consecration. Surely they have some place in Richmond that is big enough to hold a lot of people. St. Bede's is a very large church and both Rocky and I got the creeps by how blandly Protestant it looks but it is a CATHOLIC church and should not be used for non-Catholic functions. Luckily, there was an outcry from parishioners and Catholics from around the state and the Episcopalians have decided to find another place for their event.  

  

  St. Bede, pray for us.
• When the annual collection for Catholic University is announced, Rocky and I pass on it. In fact, I've come the conclusion that most of the Catholic colleges should have been closed years ago. 

Stay with Jesus

Pray for poor old Benedict

I have a tender heart for the elderly and those who need someone to care for them. You may still be angry at Benedict for cutting and running out on us --- and I respect that but for God's sake, he's 93. He's weak.  Maybe he's always been weak and maybe Randy Engel is absolutely correct in the doubts she had years ago about him and maybe it's true that you can't trust any German bishop about anything ever---but this old man is surrounded by slimy people and I don't know who has his best interests at heart. I don't  trust Ganswein.

One more thing, when I was my uncle, Sonny Boy's guardian, his clothes always looked presentable. His hair was always neat and his shoes were in good shape. My laundry standards were not and still aren't up to my mother's impeccable standards so she washed and folded all of his  garments herself. I bought him new clothes and hats any time I saw that he needed something.  When we took him out for excursions no-one who saw him would have known that there was anything wrong with him unless they tried to speak to him. There is no reason why Benedict should be looking unkempt in photos.

• Every time I see Benedict XVI I wonder who's taking care of him. His hair isn't combed in photos  and Archbishop  Ganswein keeps harping on his impending  death.
  
  
  
  
  
• Theodore McCarrick must have one hell of a strong dead man switch mechanism in place. 

• My father would be 80 years old at the end of this month if he had lived. My father-in-law would be 83 if he still lived. Both of them probably would sip a beer and chuckle at Prince Harry with a, "Boy you done ---- and stepped in it."
• I've been watching the Spanish series on Queen Isabella on YouTube and it's fantastic. 

• I've been seeing a lot of attacks on Exodus 90.  One individual even accused the founders of being Catholic grifters.  I've read the plan for the 90 days of using Exodus 90 and I can't find anything objectionable. If a man really can't afford the ten dollars a month fee he could if really motivated do it on his own. There is a spiritual exercise for college women created by different people called Fiat 90 that begins next month.

• An actress who looks like she's lived a hard life won an award and stated in her thank-you speech that she never would have had her fabulous career if she hadn't had an abortion. She  seemed to think she'd actually done something brave and unique. Ridiculous. Hollywood glitter is mixed with with an unending river of blood and always has been.
  
   Read any biography of any of the old time Golden Age stars and you'll see that baby killing was common. Way back in the early 20s Gloria Swanson's husband reacted to her pregnancy by buying her a vitamin tonic that a pharmacist later told her was nothing of the kind. She divorced him but never got pregnant again. Lana Turner did it to save her career. Jeanette McDonald did it. Joan Crawford lied to her husband and told him she'd had a miscarriage.  According to people who knew her, Marilyn Monroe had so many abortions and so damaged her body it probably led to her miscarriage during her relationship with playwright, Arthur Miller. Judy Garland was betrayed by her own husband and mother who talked her into having an abortion because they feared it would affect her budding career as an adult actress. Ava Gardner was also legally married but feared that a pregnancy would get in the way of roles she wanted so she had an abortion.
  
  Two Catholic actresses were told to have abortions and rebelled in wildly different ways.  Lupe Velez  fell into complete despair and killed herself. Sweet faced but tough as nails, Loretta Young had her child and gave her up for adoption. Shortly after,Young defied the studio again by claiming her daughter and telling everyone that she was adopted. The actress at the Golden Globe awards is just one of many. 

Pray for me oh Mother of God

The March for Life and it's Catholic critics

A not insignificant number of Catholics have a problem with the March for Life because they think the marchers are just having fun. Others are displeased because Catholic marchers are mixing with non-Catholics, especially Evangelicals, and Catholics who are pro contraception.  Others are convinced that any good that happens to the souls and intellect of the  marchers is canceled out because the marchers end up going to irreverent Masses at the FedEx Arena.
Michael Voris just snapped at a young girl named Sophie for being excited about having gone to the march last year.

Might be a better idea if you went back home and worked your butt off to make sure you never have to go again. This isn’t a social thing. It’s life and death. 

— Michael Voris (@Michael_Voris) January 12, 2020

It's true that the man who is fasting and praying and doing penance at home because of abortion and the  woman praying in front of an abortion center are greater than the marchers and it's true that the march is not supposed to be a big party but I'm not sure if slapping down this kid is really doing the pro-life cause any good.

Christmas Vacation random thoughts

• I took two weeks of vacation for Christmas and I don't know why I've never done it before. This was truly restorative. Yesterday Rocky and I went to Southern Maryland and looked for birds. We stayed on the easy paths and didn't go on any long trails so we only saw 12 species. We also visited the Port Tobacco Carmelite convent. 

The historic convent and chapel. The nuns live in the modern cloister. Occasionally we see the extern sister or hear the nuns praying behind the grate in the chapel. 

Nativity scene at the convent chapel

• This afternoon to my astonishment my favorite  political and social commentator spoke about the pope. He's not Catholic. In fact, he's a Baptist but he had  a bit of respect for the pope in general and was shocked to see him yell at a woman and slap her hands. Another person who only does political commentary and is at best, a nominal Christian as far as I can tell wrote about how disgusted he was upon seeing the video.
  A non Catholic relative asked me if I saw the video and she was both surprised and disapproving about it.  I've been trying to get this relative to convert for years....... I'm back at square one.
  
• I'd heard about the South American seminarian pipeline but it wasn't until this vacation that I had time to spend a few hours reading about it. If the new priest at your parish came from Colombia, is a young man under 50 and went to certain seminaries on the East Coast you might want to find a new parish or keep an eagle eye on your son.
  
• Some people are disappointed by Abby Johnson because she came out on the side of a hospital that wants to remove life support from a sick baby. I can only say that it is a bad idea to canonize someone  before they're dead. Abby doesn't make her money from abortions anymore. That's  great but it doesn't  mean she's  now the voice of wisdom on every  subject, nor does it mean she's a saint.
  
  
• 42 million babies died from abortion in 2019. 

St. Franis de Sales, Benedict, Maryland

• On Saturday we went to the most beautiful Mass I've been to in a very time at St. Francis de Sales.
  
  

Happy New Year

Normally I don't really care for Berzosa's work but this is cute. 

A PRAYER FOR THE REDEMPTION OF BAD 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.

So......I guess this means there won't be a canonization for this one?

 He also called her a bruja which means "witch," in Spanish. Depending on which Latin American country you come from it could also mean :

• sorceress  
• hag  
• female dog  (I'm being reserved here. The actual word starts with the letter B)
• crone 
  
  To those who say ignore his moment of temper I must point out that he's the pope. The standards that Our Lord set for him are higher than anyone else's. Argentinians say he has a nasty temper and there have been reports coming out of the Vatican that when he's angry he gets loud and vulgar. Forget the photo ops. This is Franics live, raw, unedited. 

The Burning Babe

The Burning Babe

BY ROBERT SOUTHWELL SJ

As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,

Surpris’d I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;

And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,

A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;

Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed

As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.

“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,

The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

      So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”

      With this he vanish’d out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,

      And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day.

Thine almighty Word, O Lord, leaped down from heaven

 

“While all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her swift course, thine almighty Word, O Lord, leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne.”


- Wisdom 18

Christmastide

Puer Natus Est

God bless you all

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son

Puer Natus Est

How to Survive Midnight Mass as a Visitor

1. Feed the kids. Make the little one's take a nap. Don't expect a tired toddler who's off his schedule to act like a cherub. Provide them with liquid and then take them all to the bathroom before Mass.
   
2. Get to Mass early. Sit down. Do not go into the narthex  and socialize or your spot on the pew won't be there when you get back.
   
3. If you have climb over people in the pews the saints will let it go but the regular ones will give you the stink eye.
   
4. No. Nobody wants to scoot over so you can fit in if you arrive late. Sorry.
   
5. EWTN does commentary throughout for big TV Masses. You don't need to. If you need to explain to your brother-in-law who has come to Mass for the first time, do so  quietly.
   
6. Unless it is a service dog do not bring your pet to Mass. I know he's cute and he probably is better behaved than most of the kids but no, that's not right.
   
   
7. If your teenager demands to come to Mass in a strapless dress that comes down to her thigh, yes people are going to look.
   
   
8. If your teenager is angry and behaves rudely don't spend the entire Mass angrily hissing at her or you'll become bigger distraction than you realize-- yes I have seen this.
   
   
9. Remember, real life is not a Hallmark movie. Smell the incense. Calm down. Close your eyes. Rejoice, for Christ has come. 

The Nativity

Do you STILL have your Netflix account?

Why? Can't you give up one amusement for the Lord? 

At prayer

random thoughts on Saturday afternoon

• I really wasn't enthusiastic about making Archbishop Fulton Sheen a saint. However, Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal Cupich and Archbishop Matano of Rochester objecting to his beatification and getting the cause shut down is highly suspect.
  
  
  
• You know that dollar you gave to the Peter's Pence collection? It may have gone to help fund a movie about Elton John. 
  
  
• First we get Pachamama and now the Feast of the Immaculate Conception was not a holy day of obligation in the US this year. Interesting.
  
  
  
  
• I think Fr. Leonard Feeney got excommunicated not so much for heresy but because he had so many enemies in the clergy. He seemed to loathe any priest who was a public figure. He wrote critically of Fr. Knox, Thomas Merton, then Fr. Avery Dulles, most heads of Catholic colleges,  Fr. Keller of the Christophers and Archishop Sheen. He probably wasn't too complimentary to other priests he didn't like in person either. He also had quite a lot to say about Cardinal Cushing, none of which was "He's a jolly good fellow." I'm guessing that  there were many Jesuits and other priests all who had been doing a slow burn about him for years and when the excommunication happened whiskey flasks and champagne corks got opened in quite a few rectories around the country. 

Cancel your Netflix

Netflix is launching a movie that portrays Our Lord as a homosexual. Over a million people have signed a petition protesting this. That's nice but nice is worthless in a fight. People, you don't need to sign a petition. You don't need to say anything publicly at all. Just love Our Lord enough to cancel your Netflix. Jesus will know why you did it or didn't do it and that is all that matters.

A PRAYER FOR THE REDEMPTION OF BAD 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.

Before you donate...due diligence

 Before you donate to any lay-run Catholic organization please check their IRS Form 990 first. The links below are a small example of what is available for the generous public.

http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/472/472159793/472159793_201712_990.pdf

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/753087887/03_2019_prefixes_73-76%2F753087887_201809_990PF_2019031216166661
https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/030/448/2017-030448257-107c3d4f-9.pdf

https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/541/031/2017-541031437-0ea6d8fd-9.pdf

https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/953/754/2017-953754404-0f09a479-9.pdf

https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2016/131/809/2016-131809274-0eaadbb8-9.pdf

https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2018/412/011/2018-412011402-106443aa-9.pdf

I got nowhere else to go

This week a lot of people have been talking about losing their religion and going Orthodox or maybe just sitting at home in despair. Both Ann Barnhardt and Non Veni Pacem  have written masterful answers to these folks. The one thing that has long come to my mind when I read posts and hear podcasts of people who are doubting and looking at the backdoor is this scene from An Officer and a Gentleman. I got nowhere else to go. There is nowhere else to go. I watched a clip of the Russian Orthodox Easter service last year and a tear came to my eyes because I compared it to some of the appalling Masses I've been to but it didn't shake me. The Orthodox look nice* but they are not Catholic.  There is only one holy, catholic and apostolic church. There is only one Bride of Christ and outside of her is nothing. Don't let the Judases seduce you or drive you away from Christ. That's it.



*A lot of people babble about how awful Catholic Twitter is. If you want to see mean and nasty I suggest you spend an hour or two hanging out on Orthodox Twitter. 

At prayer

If you STILL give money to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception read this

A friend of my husband used to work at the Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in DC. He was so happy when he started but  eventually was so disillusioned that he quit. He used to love going to Mass at the shrine before or after work but doesn't feel comfortable even visiting to pray there anymore. According to my husband's friend, he is not the only one who has been dismayed by the odd way the monsignor runs the shrine. Morale among the employees is terrible and he's not the only one who's quit in disgust. There is an old and not at all funny joke that goes,"If you want to lose your faith, go work for your parish." I hope that hasn't happened to anyone who felt they had to leave the shrine.

If you are still donating to the shrine you might want  to read this article by George Neumayr. Something is not right.

St. Joachim and St. Anne, pray for us

rest in peace Lou Lou

My cousin in hospice has died. Her funeral is today. She had the hardest life.... I don't remember a time in my life when she wasn't either sick with cancer or suffering from depression. Eternal rest grant unto her Oh Lord. Let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace. Amen.

Ave Maria

Áve María, grátia pléna, Dóminus técum; benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus frúctus véntris túi, Jésus. Sáncta María, Máter Déi, óra pro nóbis peccatóribus, nunc et in hóra mórtis nóstræ. Amen.

I hate when people at work talk bad about their spouses

It's always to the opposite sex for some reason. Never trust someone who does that with you.

Random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon

• Whenever a a Catholic leader tells me that massive illegal immigration from Latin America is actually a good thing because these folks are natural family and tradition loving conservatives I assume that I listening to a liar or a fool. Neither one is a good thing. This Sprite commercial comes from Argentina,. 

• We are long past the point of arguing whether Francis is a true pope or not. He has the ring. He is in the Vatican and wields his power like a mace to the head of a bound victim. Benedict sits mute and hidden except for when he's trotted out by his minder, Archbishop Ganswein, and no active cardinal in good standing has the guts to say to Francis on camera, in public at a Vatican event that he's spouting heretical, idolatrous, globalist crap and is an unworthy hireling. There are those who are timidly waiting for Francis to die so that this dark night in the Church can finally end. Well if you are thinking that, stop it. Francis is probably going to live into his 90s and even if he died today his policies will live on many decades after him.
  
• Sr. Sasagawa of Akita says she's had another visitation after 46 years. I've noticed that this has been ignored by most of Catholic media. Another thing I noticed is that Sister said Our Lady spoke of penance and asked that we pray the rosary. She said nothing about Divine Mercy or loving icebergs.
  
  
• My cousin Lou Lou is in hospice. When she was 19 she had a hysterectomy and I think it led to the collapse of her first marriage.  I don't think she was ever free of depression for very long in her entire life and her siblings did not help. In your charity could you please say an Ave for her?
  
• Quite a few people were dismayed by the Virginia elections earlier this month but really what else did they expect? Catholic Charities and the Lutherans flooded Northern Virginia with Somalis.  This created a good deal of grumbling about the Catholics but it didn't stop the flood.   Northern Virginia is heavily Hispanic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somalian, Syrian, Afghani, and Iraqi. Many of my neighbors can't speak English but the Democrats were able to connect with them enough to get them onto the free van and car rides to the polls. Northern Virginia dominates Virginia because the government workers have money. The state is done. It's going to be a more southerly version of Maryland now. 

This quote haunts me....

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”

― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn , The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

For the Forgotten Dead

Words of Wisdom

“Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.”

Sadly it was not a modern Catholic woman who said this but Margaret Nadauld, a Mormon. 

Lord have mercy

Into every life a time of tragedy and great suffering must fall. Everybody has a lonesome valley to walk through. My Uncle Junior and my mother may be about to walk into that valley. She noticed in their last conversation that he did not remember telling her something that he told her the day before and she says that he was "talking crazy," this morning on the phone. Junior's son called her a few days ago to tell her that Junior looked thin when Junior Jr. visited and there seemed to be signs of cognitive decline. Junior Jr. is going to take Uncle Junior into his home. My mother is the bravest person I've ever known but I can tell that she's afraid now. My Uncle Sonny Boy's dementia and death is still fresh in both our minds.

Halloween has gotten out of hand

When I was a child Halloween was for kids. Now it has decayed into something very low and nasty. When Rocky and I stepped out of church after Mass I saw four adults in Haloween costumes. One was a vampire and one was dressed as a prostitute and one was a cowboy. I'm not sure what the last one was because I looked away before I got a good look at him.  They were loud but looked away when parishioners glanced at them. When the church bells rang the Halloween revelers began wildly rocking back and forth toward the ground. I assume it was some sort of mockery of holy things  but as we hurried into our car I  wondered why these people felt the need to come to a Catholic church.

It's been a sickening week--- I binged on some restorative talks, crafts and a big boom

Holy Day of Obligations away from your own parish can be an adventure.

Mass was weird last night. Rocky was feeling bad so we did not go to the 7:30 PM Mass but went to an earlier one at St. Anthony's in Falls Church. We sat down in our pew and four or five teen aged girls sat down behind us. One dropped something and cursed. She blasphemed. Right there in church. Right in front of the Blessed Sacrament. At first I thought I had heard wrong. Then Rocky looked at me and whispered, "Did she just blaspheme?" "Yeah," was all I said. I looked back at the girls and an usher came up and told them to move. Rocky remained upset for the rest of Mass and later told me that he wished he'd stood up and rebuked them. He did not go to Communion. I wish I had done more than glare at them. 

A PRAYER FOR THE REDEMPTION OF BAD 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.

Thank you, Maureen Mullarkey

It's fashionable in Catholic circles to screech at Catholics who attend the traditional Mass. Even some priests who only offer it zealously wield the criticism lash.  Maureen Mullarkey has written a defense of traditional Catholics-- the smallest group in the all the different groups that make up the Church. .

The pope is blessing idols. The cardinals and bishops are embezzling, smuggling illegal aliens, and taking catamites. Father Skippy is running a freak show in the rectory and his antics have driven people out the door and some right out of the Faith. Sr. Scowl of the Pantsuit is escorting women into the abortion clinic and  weird, heretical stuff is going on the various New Movements but it's the man or woman who prefer to go to the traditional Mass who is the problem... yeah sure...
This gas-lighting campaign against traditional Mass goers is good for one thing. It's shows that somebody is afraid. Thanks to Maureen Mullarkey for being the Joseph Cotton character.

Boyer, Bergman and Cotton in "Gaslight".

Somebody threw the idols into the Tiber!

What will YOU do when the earth mother idol shows up at your parish?

Holy Roman martyrs, who refused to offer so much a pinch of incense to pagan idols, pray for us.

If pachanama is good enough for the pope then look for parishes in the US to imitate him. I wouldn't be surprised if that idol shows up at the Jesuit  Georgetown University student chapel, which is a weird place anyway or in a Redemptorist parish or a Maryknoll chapel before the month is out.

Hey Catholic media! Here's an idea for you.

Who is that woman in the yoga pants tracksuit seen dancing with the Gospel, being carried in a canoe and dancing in the street? Who brought her and her buddies to Rome?

Church with an Amazonian face? Nuts!

Is this what a church with an Amazonian face means? Are we to imitate people who would have shocked even  the pagan Romans of  2000 years ago? Can you imagine how an Egyptian from 5000 years ago would have reacted to the Amazonian culture that the Vatican is celebrating in the synod? Is walking around naked, covered in dirt, exposed to insects and anything that could wound or cause infection, protected only by feathers and beads and offering one's breast to a hopefully toothless animal what Pope Francis thinks Catholic women all over the world should be doing? If we are to imitate people in such a state then is infanticide, pedophilia, sexual incontinence and paganism okay now? If all that should be overlooked  then I guess it's okay to have married*priests, priestesses, and gay priests with a live in lover.

If there were just one woman or man in Rome who'd be willing to tear this disgusting image down from the church wall I'd be proud to contribute to whatever fund was set up to pay the fine or legal defense.


* Married and having affairs with women and men--you know that would happen. Look at the Protestants. And what about the divorced priests? Will they get laicized or a do over with a new woman?

The Canonization of John Newman was an obvious trap...

The stomach turning Jesuit, Fr. James Martin is claiming newly canonized Cardinal Newman as a gay icon. Very nice people are arguing against him but this is exactly one of the reasons why Newman should not have been canonized in the first place. Both admirers and enemies have long noted his relationship with  Fr. Ambrose St. John. Some people read Newman's letter describing his feelings after Fr. St. John's death and were disgusted. Some were touched and said that Newman and St. John were just best friends and anybody who says anything else has a dirty mind. John Newman is going arlready being embraced and celebrated as the chaste gay saint and we can no more stop it than we can "take back," the rainbow symbol. The table was set and the Church's enemies inside and out are feasting. It's only a matter of time before we see artwork depicting St. John holding hands with or embracing Fr. St. John. I imagine someone is working on a variation of their 1847 portrait right now.

Portrait of John Henry Newman, right, and Ambrose Saint John by Maria Giberne, 1847

Pope Saint Pius X, pray for us.

Christ Cleanses the Temple

Trads In the Kill box?

I listened to a homily by what I'm guessing is either an ICKSP or   FSSP priest in which an earnest and devout Father X encouraged his listeners to stay calm and not worry about whether the order is sitting in a kill box and just waiting to be destroyed when Pope Francis gets around to it. After all, the Jesuits were suppressed and rose again.  Freaking out won't change a thing and a suppression may never come. I understood what the priest is saying here but I also get that people are scared and need to make decisions. People are wondering if they should  go through the trouble and in some cases the sacrifice of pulling up stakes and moving their family to be closer to a parish, oratory or monastery that has the traditional Mass when there is a possibility that it's all going to be shut down.

And then I watched this scene from King of Kings. The YouTube suggested viewing algorithm can be really funny at times.

The Fate of Fr. Escalante and other random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon

• Father Escalante of the St. Francis de Sales parish in Purcelville,Virginia  has been forced to resign from his parish. According to my bishop,  "Father Escalante freely admitted to conduct unbecoming and foreign to the clerical state involving two adults."
  What exactly does that mean? Did he make fun of a pious parish family? Did he curse during a homily? Did he mock the Blessed Mother? Did he tell a lie in front an audience and while being recorded? Did he promote sins against chastity? I can think of priests who did those things in the presence of multiple adults and despite complaints in some cases, they are still in good standing.
   If Fr. Escalante is guilty and might one day end up in my parish, I don't want this vague letter. Tell us exactly what he is supposed to have done. His main adversaries, were the director of religious education who has left the parish and the associate pastor, both of whom could land anywhere in the diocese so I'd like to hear what they have to say for themselves.  If Father Escalante is innocent then what is the real reason he's been ruined?
  
  
  
  
  
• The Devil is a liar and the uber mean joker too. So many wicked and stupid people thought that adding dancing girls to  the Mass would look like Vestal virgins or Rita Hayworth in Salome. 

Instead they got this:

Churches all over the US and Europe have been foisting liturgical dance on the Faithful for decades but it was easy to roll one's eyes in disgust and mock it ...  

There were people who were revolted but most Catholics who were even paying attention just said, "Well, it's the Germans. What do you expect?", or "It's just that one weird parish in Washington state," or "It's an unfortunate abuse but Rome has not approved it and my diocese would never allow it..."

But now someone at the Vatican served up this: 

 So I guess dancing girls who can't even dance, are official now. Click on this link  to see the whole thing. I don't care to post it on my blog.

• By the time the Pope Francis show finally has it's last act he will have to go down in history as the man who convinced more American Catholics to convert to Eastern Orthodoxy than anybody else. This ceremony in the Vatican gardens probably sent a lot of people screaming over the wall. 

St. Boniface, pray for us and may your spiritual sons get ready to swing their gospel axes.

A PRAYER FOR THE REDEMPTION OF BAD 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.