Unmask! Unmask!

I'd like to thank Fr. John Jenkins for finally coming clean with everyone and showing his true feelings on the issue of ND and the HHS mandate. Thanks to Riley for emailing me on this.

Recall that a court ruling against the university led to its weak-kneed capitulation to Obama's mandate that ND formally cooperate in sin. Recall also that it was Fr. Jenkins's decision to invite the president to ND where he insulted Catholicism and lied to those present about drafting reasonable conscience clauses and such.

Here is Fr. Jenkins's current take on the matter.

“Our complicity is not an evil so grave that we would compromise our conscience by going along,” Jenkins claimed, noting that it would cost Notre Dame $1 million per day if it did not comply.

Oh, so it is all about the money, then?

Then there's this:

“We’re complying under protest,” Fr. Jenkins responded. “We feel this is an infringement on religious freedom, but we have a variety of factors to consider, like legitimate government authority.” Father Jenkins sought to draw a distinction between Notre Dame giving out contraceptives directly and a third party distributing them: “I don’t see this as a scandal because we are not giving out contraceptives.”

This, dear readers, is very, very significant. ND's arguments in the HHS mandate case are pretty much the opposite of what Fr. Jenkins is saying here. In a very dirty nutshell, ND's attorneys say this is a problem whether ND is giving out contraceptives or not. The opposition says that ND should be fine because it isn't handing out contraceptives. Jenkins has effectively sided with them. This statement will probably come up again and again now.

And what is this crap about "legitimate government authority"? If it's a true infringement, then it isn't legitimate government authority. Even if the positive law allowed it, such a law would be immoral and therefore nobody would have an obligation to follow it. Whatever is going on here, trying to chalk it all up to "legitimate government authority" is just a cop out.

So again, thank you to Fr. Jenkins for letting us know whose side you're on.

Conundrum

Here's a question I can't seem to get a straight answer on. You go to a Mass. There are maybe 50 people there. Anywhere from 8-10 serve as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Ignore the violence done to the word "extraordinary" in this case.

Here are the guidelines for EHMCs:

In every celebration of the Eucharist, there should be a sufficient number of ministers of Holy Communion so that it may be distributed in a reverent and orderly manner... If such ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are not present, "the priest may call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, i.e., duly instituted acolytes or even other faithful who have been deputed for this purpose. In case of necessity, the priest may also depute suitable faithful for this single occasion (GIRM 162)..."

When recourse is had to Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, especially in the distribution of Holy Communion under both kinds, their number should not be increased beyond what is required for the orderly and reverent distribution of the Body and Blood of the Lord...

In my experience, if you ask folks why they have so many EHMCs at such a Mass, they will usually not offer the above rationale. Instead, it will generally be because they want "the lines to move faster" so that "people aren't just left sitting there waiting on everyone else."
Regardless of whether that conforms with the cited material, has nobody noticed that the purification of the sacred vessels takes longer than if the priest had to give communion to the whole parish? Today's example was worse than usual because of the 8 participants, I think 6 had chalices. Every time the priest turned around, somebody was setting down another chalice for him to clean.

Anyways, just a musing from past experiences and an inability to understand how this keeps people from sitting around and waiting.

Marriage: Important Enough To Die For

And it wasn't even their marriage at stake.

If someone is daft enough to question whether or not the issues of marriage, divorce, annulment, and the Church's views on these subjects are important, recall that these two men were martyred essentially for defending the Church precisely on these topics. If the Church's jurisdiction over marriage is really something dispensable or if first marriages really don't matter (as Cardinal Kasper suggests), then both saints died for nothing.

Of course, we tend to forget what all martyrs died for because a lot of it is stuff that many of us Catholics do on a regular basis anyway. Not being able to take the cognitive dissonance, we write it off to "dying for Christ" so that we aren't faced with "died to convert pagans to Christ," "died to defend Christ's Truth against heretics," "died for refusing to commit sacrilege against Christ by attending schismatic liturgies," and so forth.

Before The Canonizations

Something to think about. I know that a lot of folks are spending their time analyzing whether or not the act of canonization is infallible. I'd like to shift the discussion to what we should be considering in light of the fact that it's these two popes who are the ones being canonized. In doing so, specifically, I'm focusing on the most important part of the pope's job. It isn't to look good for the camera. It isn't to visit with secular leaders or any other such thing. It's to safeguard the deposit of faith. With that being said up front and with events stirring as they are today, what should we take away from this canonization?

First, let's look at John Paul II. If you were to think about JPII's magisterium, what would stand out the most? I suggest that it would be the focus on the immutability of the moral law and the unchanging nature of marriage and the marital act. These are precisely the items for which Pope Francis is currently being praised by the secular media because he is viewed, for whatever reason, as being decidedly non-Catholic on these issues.

Why would Pope Francis proceed with the canonization of a guy so opposed to his own alleged views? When you hear people say the Holy Father is going to abolish sin or sanction homosexual relationships, does that really seem likely after granting the Church's highest honor to this particular predecessor? Women priests, abortion, or divorced/remarried Catholics receiving Holy Communion, you name the "Pope Francis will change that issue" and it's going to be something that was in JPII's wheelhouse for special condemnation. It would seem kind of hypocritical, no?

With regards to Pope John, this is an opportunity to re-present his magisterium to the world. Not the fabricated person that he's portrayed by heretics and schismatics. I'm talking about the stuff he actually wrote and believed in.

Whether it's liturgical Latin, the need for non-Catholics to convert, his stance on imposing ecclesiastical penalties for political views at odds with the Church, the authority of the Pope, the (lack of) authority of Vatican II, most people have no idea what this man actually stood for. A huge numbers of Catholics and non-Catholics would be utterly shocked if they read a JXXIII encyclical or apostolic constitution or whatever. You should do just that and encourage others to do so as well.

Here is our series of posts on John XXIII and our article about him at Unam Sanctam as places to start.

If you are disturbed by these events, pray more. Fast more. Stop reading the news.

Good Grief

Have you heard the one about the Pope, the divorcee, and the phone call where the Pope approved of sinful conduct? Judging from my email, lots of folks have.

So has Fr. Zuhlsdorf and I link to his take on things for a measure of analysis.

I'd like to examine a different aspect of this, namely, the "so what?" factor. For comparison, I will now link to a prior post of mine on the same sorts of issues, and I ask the same question I did then. What would you do if we were living at the height of the Pornocracy? Or if the 24-hour news cycle was flapping its collective gums about Honorius letter to the Sergius allegedly promoting monothelitism?

Would you lose your faith as a result?

Are we at a point where Catholics are so fragile in constitution or ignorant of the Faith that second-hand accounts of phone calls make this much news?

Again, I'm leaving aside the issue of what the Pope said, if anything along these lines. My question is, so what? If someone brings it up, what is wrong with just saying "I'm not sure what the Pope said, but I know what the Church teaches. Catholics can't receive communion after a post-divorce second marriage." What's so wrong with that?

I swear it seems like we are actually buying into the secular view that the Church's teachings are transient and that the Pope is just an absolute monarch who can do anything he wants. So it would be a scandal. So were the events mentioned above. The Church survived. Some fell away. Some would fall away now if Pope Francis was St. Pius X, St. Gregory VII and St. Leo I all rolled into one.

Everybody just needs to calm down and stop letting these reports create this kind of confusion and division. Ignore them. Pray more. You'll feel better.

Thought Experiment From Today's Readings

Consider this text from the first reading:

On the day of Pentecost, Peter said to the Jewish people, “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other Apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?” Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

Acts 2:36-40

Let's think about this for a moment. What would happen to a Catholic layman, priest, bishop, or even Pope Francis himself if they spoke in these terms, whether to a crowd of Jews, pagans, or Protestants who eschew baptism?

How would they be treated by their colleagues or even their fellow Catholics by saying something so non-ecumenical?

Let's also notice that Peter doesn't engage in dialogue here. He does not speak to the crowd as though their beliefs are on equal footing with his own. Instead, he speaks to them with authority. He argues. He is in full-blown evangelization mode here. What would happen if Peter was around today?

I submit that many ostensibly Catholic parishes would call for him to be cast out at best and stoned at worst.

Christos Anesti!

Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven,
exult, let Angel ministers of God exult,
let the trumpet of salvation
sound aloud our mighty King's triumph!

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness.

Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,
arrayed with the lightning of his glory,
let this holy building shake with joy,
filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.

Therefore, dearest friends,
standing in the awesome glory of this holy light,
invoke with me, I ask you,
the mercy of God almighty,
that he, who has been pleased to number me,
though unworthy, among the Levites,
may pour into me his light unshadowed,
that I may sing this candle's perfect praises.

It is truly right and just,
with ardent love of mind and heart
and with devoted service of our voice,
to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father,
and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.

Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to the eternal Father,
and, pouring out his own dear Blood,
wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.

These, then, are the feasts of Passover,
in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,
whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

This is the night,
when once you led our forebears, Israel's children,
from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

This is the night
that with a pillar of fire
banished the darkness of sin.

This is the night
that even now throughout the world,
sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices
and from the gloom of sin,
leading them to grace
and joining them to his holy ones.

This is the night
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.

Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.
O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!

O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

O happy fault
that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

O truly blessed night,
worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!

This is the night
of which it is written:
The night shall be as bright as day,
dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness.

The sanctifying power of this night
dispels wickedness, washes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners,
drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.

On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and of your servants' hands,
an evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy Church.

But now we know the praises of this pillar,
a flame divided but undimmed,
which glowing fire ignites for God's honour,
a fire into many flames divided,
yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,
for it is fed by melting wax,
drawn out by mother bees
to build a torch so precious.

O truly blessed night,
when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human.

Therefore, O Lord,
we pray you that this candle,
hallowed to the honour of your name,
may persevere undimmed,
to overcome the darkness of this night.
Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.
May this flame be found still burning
by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death's domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.


The essence of the Gospel. Who could imagine that the message of our salvation and the ultimate act of love from Almighty God could ever be so despised as it is in our day? Pray for those who reject this message, and remember Our Savior's love for us.

Happy Easter, everyone.

Before The Resurrection

Today we recall when Christ descended into hell. Not in the disgusting Balthasarian sense, but in the knowledge that:

Because Christ also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust: that he might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit, In which also coming he preached to those spirits that were in prison: Which had been some time incredulous, when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building: wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water.

1 Peter 3:18-20

It's in the Creed, so don't ignore this part of the Triduum. There's more to it than just suffered, died, rose again, and it goes to the entire reason for the Passion. Nobody went to heaven before this. They waited on salvation with faith in the Messiah to come. That faith is why they weren't condemned.

28 Q. How, then, were the Patriarchs of old, the Prophets, and the other just men of the Old Testament, saved?

A. The just of the Old Testament were saved in virtue of the faith they had in Christ to come, by means of which they spiritually belonged to the Church.

The Catechism of Pope St. Pius X

This is significant because it truly shows that God gives sufficient grace of all to be saved, whether they lived in time to hear the fullness of His revelation or not. He makes allowances for such, which should strengthen our own hope for heaven some day.

Have a blessed Easter Vigil this evening.

For By Thy Holy Cross, Thou Hast Redeemed The World

Remember what Our Blessed Lord suffered for us.

PS: The Divine Mercy Novena begins today.

A Point To Ponder

I frequently hear folks of all stripes who find certain sinful activity "personally objectionable" make the argument that we shouldn't worry about whether or not the law sanctions such activity. This especially comes up a lot with homosexuals claiming the "right" to marry, but it also goes with stuff like the HHS mandate. "Just let them get married." "It doesn't really matter if the insurance pays for contraceptives." It's also something that tends to come up with certain businesses objecting to performing services for things like homosexual ceremonies.

Consider the following item:

For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. [27] And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. [28] And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient; [29] Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, [30] Detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, [31] oolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. [32] Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them.

Romans 1:26-32

In an interesting tidbit, St. Paul introduces this list of sins by starting with a condemnation of homosexuality. He closes it, however, with a condemnation not only of the sinners themselves, but also for those who consent to those sinners. I would think that this should be enough to give anyone thinking that we should blithely allow for the law to approve such sins or that we should devote portions of our business to activities celebrating sin at least some pause.

Maybe?

While I Was Out

Since a few people have asked, here's a musical answer:




Yeah, I know most of you probably hate Creed, but I couldn't think of another song with appropriate subject matter.

Archbishop Rummel: April 16, 1962

This is Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New Orleans. Fifty-two years ago today, he excommunicated three laypersons in his diocese. Why? Because they had actively organized against his efforts to desegregate the Catholic schools in his jurisdiction. One was a parish judge. Another was a journalist.

When you hear about how bishops can't or shouldn't invoke canonical penalties against politicians or general laypeople for agitating against the Church or flaunting the authority of the ordinary, remember Archbishop Rummel. He was 85 years old when all this happened and, as you can imagine, not in the best of health. But he went ahead with the ultimate weapon in his arsenal.

So what do we have now? Lots of excuses, to be sure. Ask your friends if they think Archbishop Rummel's actions were justified. I'm sure you'll get unanimous kudos and praise for his courage. Yet a bishop who dared to exhibit such fortitude against proponents of homosexuality or women priests or indifferentism or sacrilegious liturgies or whatever would be crucified not just by the media but even by allegedly faithful Catholics simply because he chose to act like a bishop and refuse to allow the tides of sin to sweep away his flock without there being consequences.

We live in utterly diabolical times.

Service Will Return Shortly

The Pope Warns Against Hell And The Devil

For some reason, though, I haven't seen these items in any mainstream outlets.

First, in a condemnation of the Mafia, Pope Francis said the following, per Zenit:

This life you are living now, it won’t bring you pleasure, it won’t give you joy, it won’t bring you happiness. The power, the money, that you possess now from so many dirty jobs, from so many mafia crimes, is blood money, it is power soaked in blood, and you cannot take it with you to the next life. Convert, there is still time, so that you don’t end up in hell.

Aww, man. What a buzzkill. Imagine the nerve of the Holy Father! Wanting to keep people out of hell! Or suggesting that someone might actually go to hell! Or even mentioning that there is a hell in the first place!

After all, who is he to judge?

Make sure nobody tells the universalists who have embedded themselves so firmly in the Church. I wonder if Scalfari is still holding on to that "the Pope abolished sin" crap.

To follow that up, the Pope had the audacity to bring up the reality of the Devil and demonic possession:

Pope Francis said, “There are some priests who, when they read this Gospel passage, this and others, say: ‘But, Jesus healed a person with a mental illness’. They do not read thus, no? It is true that at that time, they could confuse epilepsy with demonic possession; but it is also true that there was the Devil.”

“And we do not have the right to simplify the matter,” said Pope Francis, “as if to say: ‘All of these [people] were not possessed; they were mentally ill.’ No! The presence of the Devil is on the first page of the Bible, and the Bible ends as well with the presence of the Devil, with the victory of God over the Devil.” 

As for his comments on Satan and other demons, the Pope said, “Some may say, but, Father, you're too old fashioned. You're frightening us with these things.’ No, it's not me! It is the Gospel! And these are not lies: it is the Word of the Lord. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to take these things seriously. He came to fight for our salvation. He won against the Devil. Please, let's not do business with the Devil. He wants to come back home, to take possession … Don't accept relativism, be vigilant. And always with Jesus!”  

How disturbing and delightful at the same time! File these away for when you hear from all the alleged Pope Francis fans who like him because they think he's a modernist heretic.

Forced Indifferentism

Remember, no matter what you hear about Christians being persecuted, it isn't true.

So when you come across stories like this one, where a Catholic school in Quebec is being forced to teach that all religions are equal and that Catholicism is on the same level as the basest paganism, understand that it's for our own good.

"It is the same thought process that has been the genesis for prohibitions on blasphemy in other jurisdictions. The whole idea behind blasphemy laws in some parts of the world is that you don't want to offend different religions, and so what they (the Quebec government) do is argue that they promote tolerance and understanding, but rather they want to control what is said," Gerald Chipeur, Q.C., of the Canadian firm Miller Thompson LLP, told The Christian Post in a phone interview on Wednesday.

I wonder how long before we'll this this sort of thing in the US.

The Catholic high school has argued that it does not object to teaching the 2008 government-mandated ethics and religion course, which is required to be taught in all private and public schools, but asked to be allowed to teach the course in good conscience. The problem they found with the course was that it insisted that all religions, including Wicca and pagan rites, are equally valid. The government has also prohibited teachers from expressing preference for any one faith.

Imagine that. Catholic teachers at a Catholic school can't express a preference for Catholicism. We are truly through the looking glass.

But yeah, I know. "It could never happen here," said everyone in every country where the previously referenced "it" happened shortly thereafter.

God Bless The Church In Africa

Whether it's being persecuted by Mohammedans or being pressured into the acceptance of sodomy by the West, they are in a tough spot.

They do have a bunch of good bishops there, though, and one of them recently blasted the West for its hypocrisy on these matters. A huge hat tip to Tancred, who seems to come up on these stories earlier and more often than anyone else (yes, I know Rorate mentioned his follow-up, but Tancred was first).

Anyways, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos in Nigeria was scathing in his criticisms.

Archbishop Kaigama stressed that the position of the Church in Nigeria corresponds exactly to the teaching of the Catholic Church. He said, "We defend the moral values ​​of the Bible, the tradition of the Nigerian people." "The defense of the moral value of the Bible can never be discrimination," said the chairman of the Bishops' Conference of the most populous African country.

The archbishop also criticized the one-sidedness of the West, "though always with you when it comes to the so-called gay rights in Nigeria" you run, but to the ongoing terror attacks by the Islamic militia Boko Haram you only stammer. "Constantly new violence, burned and mutilated bodies, women and children who are killed in a terrible rhythm: this is the emergency afflicting our country," but nothing from Europe on this. But for "gay rights" the EU, the European Parliament and other international institutions will mobilize.

Such courage from this shepherd! Would that we had more like him!

He didn't stop there, though. In a shot against the Ra's al Gores of the world, he continued:

"In all the villages of Nigeria, there are women who have no education and girls who do not attend school. They can not read or write, but they have the morning after pill . When they are questioned, they know which pill they have when to take abort. How can that be? Who tells them that and gives them the morning after pill, pushing it into her hand? It is the western governmental and non-governmental organizations that impose their ideas on us. And these 'values' mean birth control. This is worth much money and effort from the West. And why do they do that? To ensure that our government gets international economic aid, they must accept this Western policy. But that is called coercion. A culture and a mentality is imposed that is not ours, for we Nigerians do not despise life."

Yet the secularists, with their boatloads of hypocrisy, will give lip service to how great they think African culture is and how refreshing it is in comparison to Western decadence. All the while, they are trying to turn Africans into us by baptizing them into the cult of Thanatos.

And for all the "who am I to judge?" groupies, Archbishop Kaigama had a final offering:

To the law against "gay marriage" said Archbishop Kaigama: "We say very clearly: We don't hate anybody. We respect homosexuals as people, and we support them when their rights are violated as a human beings. The Church has there then and defends them. But we also say quite clearly that homosexual acts are contrary to nature. They flatly contradict what we defend. Powerful organizations who blackmail our government would like us to legalize gay marriage. And when they say that there are occasional homosexual tendencies in Africa, we say quite clearly that they are aberrations. We respect the dignity of marriage between a man and a woman. We will not give in to the West, just because it has money with which it can put pressure on us," said Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos.

It's good to hear someone who isn't willing to sell their souls and those of their flock for a few dollars. Bravo, Your Excellency! Keep fighting the good fight.

Bishop Joseph Fan, Eternal Rest Grant Unto Him, O Lord

And let the perpetual light shine upon him.

Bishop Joseph was bishop of Shanghai. He passed away Monday. He was 96 years old and had been under house arrest for a long, long time. You might remember him from this article which we've posted before and which you should read and then re-read. My wife had been assigned to pray for him every day for the last several years. He was a great man.

Naturally, the scum that runs the Chinese government deprived His Excellency of a proper funeral Mass. Please pray for Bishop Joseph's soul. He suffered a dry martyrdom for the rights of the Holy Catholic Church. It's amazing how many people take communion with Rome so flippantly while guys like Bishop Joseph are basically willing to die for it.

Pray for the Church in China as well, especially Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin, who saw the error of his ways and returned to the Church after being affiliated with the fake "Patriotic Church." Pray for the government of China that they will abandon their persecution.

Finally, support the Cardinal Kung Foundation.

St. Patrick And Dialogue

At the close of this marvelous St. Patrick's Day, I have been thinking about the role of guys like him in the early days of the Church and what it must have been like to work in evangelizing the pagans.

Then I considered something that Pope Francis recently said from a Zenit article:

Jesus, the Pope explained, "firmly rejects all these temptations and reiterates His determination to follow the path set out by the Father, without compromising with sin and with the logic of the world. … This is why Jesus, instead of entering into a dialogue like Eve, chooses to take refuge in God's Word and responds with the power of this Word. We should remember this when we are tempted ourselves: do not argue with Satan, always defend ourselves with the Word of God. And this will save us".

The Pope hear criticizes the idea of entering into a dialogue with Satan. St. Paul would seem to agree with this:

Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: And I will receive you; and I will be a Father to you; and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Now, if we are to believe the Holy Spirit and the Psalmist:

For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils

Psalm 95:5

In other words, all these pagan deities are demons. The Psalmist is clear on this. St. Paul is clear on this. If you don't believe me, check with the Fathers as well. I've yet to find an interpretation in them that yields an alternative view. St. Augustine's City of God, for example.

So here's my question.

If we aren't supposed to dialogue with the Devil, it would stand to reason that we aren't supposed to dialogue with his ministers. If these false religions are demonic in nature, then their ministers are tools of Satan, regardless of how sincere they are. Why then does it seem like the Church's main interaction with these false religions nowadays consists solely in dialogue? Why are we still seeing Assisi events and the like?

Would St. Patrick have invited the pagans to such things? When St. Boniface was cutting down the pagans' sacred tree, was he interested in dialogue? These guys got results and they did it by looking at false religions for what they are, namely, things that destroy people. Out of love for these lost souls, they didn't see their false religion as something to be admired. They saw it as something to be annihilated.

But now, we have dialogue. The Fathers' view converted whole civilizations. Our current posture has led to indifferentism and ruin.

St. Patrick, pray for us.

Maybe This Makes Me A Bad Person

But when I read this article from Zenit about Cardinal Kasper, and I read comments like this:

“My main intention was not to speak about divorced and remarried people but to speak about the Gospel of the family …. I think the majority of young people want stable relationships, want to live in a family….and therefore the Church has to help them so I wanted to build up a new, better, more deep understanding of family life.”

“Then I spoke also about the situation when people fail with their family life….and the Church has to be close to them, to help, support and encourage them and there my proposal (was) to find a way between ‘rigorism’ (strictness) – which cannot be the way of normal Christians – and a pure ‘laxism’ (leniency),” he said. “I think this can be the only approach of the Church today.”

I can't help but think of this:

Further, none is more skillful, none more astute than they, in the employment of a thousand noxious arts; for they double the parts of rationalist and Catholic, and this so craftily that they easily lead the unwary into error; and since audacity is their chief characteristic, there is no conclusion of any kind from which they shrink or which they do not thrust forward with pertinacity and assurance. To this must be added the fact, which indeed is well calculated to deceive souls, that they lead a life of the greatest activity, of assiduous and ardent application to every branch of learning, and that they possess, as a rule, a reputation for the strictest morality. Finally, and this almost destroys all hope of cure, their very doctrines have given such a bent to their minds, that they disdain all authority and brook no restraint; and relying upon a false conscience, they attempt to ascribe to a love of truth that which is in reality the result of pride and obstinacy.

Pope St. Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis

Living In Miss Sanger's Paradise

The headline from the National Review says it all:

More Black Babies Aborted than Born in New York City

It even provides the actual stats:

In 2012, black women in New York City aborted over 6,500 more children than they gave birth to. Data from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows that, among non-hispanic black women, there were 31,328 “induced terminations” to 24,758 live births, according to a CNS News report.

In total, there were almost 74,000 abortions in New York in 2012, meaning that 42.4 percent of all abortions were of black children. Hispanic children accounted for 31 percent of those aborted in the city at a total of nearly 23,000.

Altogether, black and Hispanic abortions were 73 percent of the total of 73,815 abortions in New York in 2012.

For years, New York has had the highest abortion rate of any city in the nation.

Here's a weird thing. The disproportionate number of minorities who are subjected to the death penalty has long brought accusations of racism against the judicial system regarding how capital punishment is applied. Yet when we see numbers like 73% of all babies murdered in NYC were minorities, nobody bats an eye. In fact, the response to this kind of stuff is to try and make abortion more readily available. Yes, a response even by those who are allegedly Catholic.

It's not a popular book of the Bible, but it's times like this when I recall the first chapter of Habakkuk:

[2] How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save? [3] Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful. [4] Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth. [5] Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told.

Read the rest of it at the link above. At some point, God will have had enough of all this. Then, we'll be sorry. Just remember, though. We all got it comin'.

New Cardinal Appointees

Per Zenit, we now know the red hat members of the new Council for Economic Affairs that is supposed to have some sort of role with the new Secretariat for the Economy that will be charged with managing the Vatican's finances. Again, I have to wonder how all this new bureaucracy yields reform. Regardless:

The appointed members are:

- Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany (coordinator);

- Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, archbishop of Lima, Peru;

- Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, U.S.A.;

- Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, archbishop of Durban, South Africa;

- Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux, France;

- Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, archbishop of Mexico;

- Cardinal John Tong Hon, bishop of Hong Kong, China;

- Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome

If you are looking for a diverse group of views on theology and economics, this group has it all. For example, I don't think you'd normally see a lot of similarities between the views of Cardinals Thorne and Carrera vs. those of Cardinals Marx and Napier, for example. Overall, I'd say it's a more positive group than not.

I still don't quite get how all these new entities are supposed to work, though.

A Visual For Today's Gospel

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Luke 5:27-32

I love Caravaggio's work, and this one and this Gospel are good items to ponder. There aren't a lot of positives about Matthew/Levi anywhere in Scripture. He was a sinner. As was Peter. As was Paul. And so forth. As are we.

We forget that a lot, though. Not the part about others being sinners. We typically have zero problems recalling that. Ourselves? We are immaculately conceived and the swellest folk that God ever ordained to walk the earth.

We all deserve hell. All of us. It is only through an act of extraordinary and supernatural mercy that God forgives us, so much so that we can partake of His own divine nature. Yet we have people who can proclaim that sin is abolished by the authority of the Pope himself (as if such a thing were possible) and be taken seriously.

Let's ask the Holy Father about sin:

“This thing can happen to all of us,” he said. “We are all sinners and we are all tempted and temptation is our daily bread. If one of us said: ‘I never had a temptation’, either you’re a cherubim or a bit stupid, no?” 

 “Struggle is normal in life and the devil is never calm, he wants his victory. But the problem - the most serious problem in this passage - is not so much temptation and the sin against the 9th commandment, but how David behaves. And David here does not speak of sin, he speaks of a problem that he needs to resolve. This is a sign! When the Kingdom of God is lessened, when the Kingdom of God decreases, one of the signs is that the sense of sin is lost.”

Judgment for our sins will come. May God grant that we have responded like Matthew rather than Judas.

A Thought From Jeremiah

Consider this while living as a Catholic in a society that is increasingly enamored with death and sterility:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: [5] Build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant orchards, and eat the fruit of them. [6] Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters: and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters: and be ye multiplied there, and be not few in number.

Jeremiah 29:4-6

It's pretty self-explanatory, yes? Jeremiah is bringing God's message to those carried away in the Babylonian captivity. Even in their exile, God instructs them to have babies. Then make sure that their babies grow up, get married, and have more babies.

We find ourselves exiled in a world that has surpassed Babylon in our desire to insult God. And our solution has been to embrace a neo-pagan outlook and give ourselves over to sin and vice, eschewing what was heretofore known as not only a basic principle of existence, but even a badge of honor. How many times does Scripture speak of children as a blessing and the happiness of those with large families?

In our resounding non serviam, though, we have opted for fruitless couplings and the murder of the unborn accidentally conceived.

It's just weird to see things like this in Scripture and such a blase attitude about it among Catholics and Protestants alike.

75 Years Ago Today

Our Holy Father, Venerable Pope Pius XII, began his reign as the Successor of St. Peter.

Venerable Pius XII, pray for us.

A Note On Ukraine

While the world sits idly by watching Putin reconstitute the Soviet Union, please pray for our brethren in Ukraine.

First, Russia has a bad habit of periodically murdering lots of Eastern Catholics, stealing the Church's property, and generally trying to wipe any remnant of Catholicism off the map.

Second, Putin is ex-KGB, along with probably at least a good bit of the Russian Orthodox hierarchy. Old grudges die hard.

Third, in a age of widespread ecumenism (good or bad), Russia has been engaged in some hardcore ecclesiastical aggression. When you throw in the already-existing bad feelings against Catholicism in Ukraine, this all adds up to a bad situation and probably lots of martyrs.

Right now, I hope that a lot of the "traditionalist" Catholics who have been all moon-eyed over Putin as the last great defender of Christianity think a bit on all this and regain their sanity.

I also hope that Pope Francis makes a direct intervention. Sure, the Holy Father doesn't have any divisions to send in, but there might be other stuff he could do. Pope Francis has a lot of good will right now. For decades, we've tried to play nice with Moscow, despite that particular see's cold shoulder. It's time to take whatever stand is possible.

Raise Kiev to the highest ecclesiastical level possible. Make it a patriarchate. Try to demonstrate how serious the Church regards all this. It's not much, but it might be enough to at least spare some of the more overt bloodshed of our brothers and sisters.

St. Josaphat, please pray for Ukraine and the persecuted Church all over the world.