Non Tasarmi, Fratello!

“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, There’s always laughter and good red wine. At least I’ve always found it so. Benedicamus Domino!” Hillaire Belloc

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Missing a Good Opportunity to Shut Up

I was writing this post in my head yesterday, but this morning the Powerline blog beat me to it:

Pope Francis, Put A Lid On It. Please.

 Pope Francis has already caused consternation among knowledgeable Catholics with his criticisms of economic freedom. Some have tried to defend him or reinterpret his words, but it is hard to sugarcoat the fact that he is instinctively hostile to free enterprise. Perhaps this is because, as a native of Argentina, he has never seen free enterprise at work and doesn’t understand what it can do for the average citizen.

Now Francis has taken on the global warming cause. Again, it is hard to interpret his words as representing anything but ignorance of the relevant science. Catholic Online reports:
This March, following a visit to the Philippines, Pope Francis will publish an encyclical on the environment that insiders say will tackle the issue of global warming head on. Pope Francis is hoping to have some impact when world leaders meet to discuss climate change in Paris next year. …
 Read the whole thing. Here's the ending....

I am a Lutheran, not a Catholic, but my understanding is that the Pope’s statements are deemed infallible only when he pronounces ex cathedra, and that the sort of ill-informed scientific nonsense that he now contemplates would not be entitled to any such deference. Nevertheless, even the Pope’s most casual comments may be influential. It therefore behooves Francis to either 1) learn what he is talking about when it comes to climate science–probably a poor idea, since the field is in its infancy and there is no consensus about virtually any important proposition, or 2) go back to saving souls and keep his mouth shut about the climate. I recommend the latter course.

I agree with my separated bretheren.

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Sunday, December 28, 2014

Under the Big Top!

I am starting to be convinced that the least valuable (and academically rigorous) degree offered on university campuses today is the Bachelor of Science in Journalism. At least I think it's a B.S. - it could be a Bachelor of Arts. I can't tell, since the SIUC Journalism website doesn't say.  Anyway, here are the first lines of a story with the byline:

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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Islamic Outreach, Part LVI - CHRISTMAS EDITION!

From an earlier post on this blog:

Pope Francis spoke to the diplomatic corps and amongst other things, said, "Hence it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam."






Atlas Shrugged reports:

Muslim children and a teenager disturbed the nativity celebrations for children in the Rheydter St. Mary’s Church. The Muslims screamed, Sh*t Christians!” and, “F*cking Christians!” during the Christmas Eve mass. The sexton held two of the five Muslims before police arrived. Police identified the troublemakers and turned them over to their parents. Police would not say whether it was a deliberate action to disrupt worship on Christmas Eve or a thoughtless prank children in the incident.

And from National Review:

 In some places in the Muslim world and the Middle East, there were just no Christians to be attacked. There was no public Christmas Mass celebrated anywhere in Nineveh Province, Iraq, this year for the first time for more than 1,400 years, Nina Shea recounted in an NRO piece earlier this week.

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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

All Dogs Go To Heaven

Earlier this month, the New York Times reported, "at a general audience at the Vatican, (the Pope) comforted a boy whose dog had died by saying: "One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God's creatures."


 Except   he never really said that, as a later correction explained.

But that did not stop the intrepid reporters from the Eye of the Tiber from investigating further....

Pope Francis continues to show he’s not your average pope. During a public appearance this afternoon, Francis attempted to comfort a girl whose cat had died, saying, “One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures. All of them except for cats. In that case, little girl, the only way you will see your cat again is if you reject God’s grace and end up in hell.”

The Pope’s comment has reignited a debate on the subject, with the Humane Society saying that if Pope Francis believes animals have souls, then “we ought to seriously consider how we treat them,” a representative said. “We have to admit that all animals, save for cats, panda bears, and sloths are sentient beings, and they mean something to God.”

St. Roch, Patron Saint of Dog Owners, Pray for Them.

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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

St. Joseph Christmas Mass SPECTACULAR!!

From Saturday Night Live, of all things...




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Is it Legal To Say "God" in an California Shopping Mall?

From Catholic Vote:

The word “mob” gets a bad rap, since when large groups of people suddenly coalesce in a public space, unfortunate things often happen. But in the case of a musical or dance or theater flash mob, the result can be lovely.
In a world stripped of the sacred and starved for real beauty, the ongoing phenomenon of flash mobs actually singing sacred music in public venues offers a rare moment of grace.
 


I am even willing to forgive "Go Tell It On the Mountain."

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Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Picturing Mary

The National Gallery of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. is holding an exhibit entitled, Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea". I don't know what the idea is, but the paintings are amazing! There is an interactive on-line version located here. Check it out!

Madonna with the Child, Sandro Botticelli (1467)

Interestingly, one of the sponsors of the exhibit is Jacqueline Badger Mars, whsi weird because her husbands last name is Badger. ANyway, she is ranked as the 15th richest person in America, worth more than $19,000,000,000 as an heiress to the Mars candy bar empire.

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QUIET!! The Monks Are Singing!

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Mr. Bean's Nativity Set is Livlier Than Mine




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Barbarians at the Gate

The Pope better hope not.....

From The Guardian:

He has dismissed and demoted cardinals, bishops and the Vatican secretary of state, and now Pope Francis’s reformist zeal has claimed a new scalp – the head of his own private army, the Swiss Guard.
In a dispassionate one-sentence notice, the Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, announced on Wednesday that Daniel Anrig will no longer serve as the commandant of the 500-year-old corps after the end of next month.
No official explanation was given for the decision, but it was widely rumoured that the Argentinean Pope, who has established a warmer, more inclusive style of governance since being appointed pontiff in March last year, found the commander’s manner overly strict and “Teutonic”. 

 

T he Swiss Guard was formed in 1506 as a body of mercenary fighters by Pope Julius II.
The tiny force, which consists of around 110 officers and men, is responsible for the Pope’s safety and the security of the Vatican in general.
They can be seen on guard outside the Vatican every day, dressed in striped blue, red and gold uniforms and carrying halberds as their traditional weapons.
The Swiss Guard’s most significant military engagement was in 1527 when 190 guards died fighting Holy Roman Empire troops during the Sack of Rome, allowing Clement VII to flee to safety through a stone passageway. 

Speaking of old battleaxes, maybe he could replace them with:


 

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Monday, December 01, 2014

Christmas Ideas For the Priest on Your List


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Islamic Outreach, Part LV

 From Catholic News Service:

 ISTANBUL (CNS) -- A day after hearing Turkish leaders demand the West show more respect for Islam, Pope Francis prayed alongside a Muslim cleric inside Istanbul's most famous mosque.

Meanwhile....


 From Jihad Watch:


Fresh surveys show that a new generation, Generation Jihad, is part of European reality today 80 percent of young Turks in Holland see “nothing wrong” with jihad against non-Muslims. 27 percent of 18-24 year-old Frenchmen, and 14 percentof under-25 year-old British, presumably including the vast majority of these countries’ young Muslims, sympathize with the Islamic militant group ISIS. ISIS, or the Islamic State, has declared war against Europe, and is sending jihadis to the West as part of its plan to destroy our lands and install the barbaric sharia and forcibly convert, subdue or kill all non-Muslims, following the same playbook (the Qur’an) as in Syria.

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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Bill Murray - Theological Ghostbuster

From Catholic Vote:

 As if Bill Murray fans needed another reason to love Bill Murray, the actor muses candidly about missing the Latin Mass, saints, and the power of sacred music during an interview with The Guardian.  Murray’s unselfconscious candor in interviews is a great example of his unique appeal.  He charges straight into conversational minefields like religion and politics in the same bafflingly graceful way he navigates celebrity.

 From the interview:

 His parents were Irish Catholics; one of his sisters is a nun. This conspicuous religion adds to his broad church appeal. You don’t need to ask if his faith is important to him. He talks about how 19th-century candidates risk not getting canonized because the church is keen to push ahead with the likes of John Paul II and Mother Teresa. “I think they’re just trying to get current and hot,” he smiles.  One new saint he does approve of is Pope John XXIII (who died in 1963). “I’ll buy that one, he’s my guy; an extraordinary joyous Florentine who changed the order. I’m not sure all those changes were right. I tend to disagree with what they call the new mass. I think we lost something by losing the Latin. Now if you go to a Catholic mass even just in Harlem it can be in Spanish, it can be in Ethiopian, it can be in any number of languages. The shape of it, the pictures, are the same but the words aren’t the same.”

And to top it all off, his sister is a Sister!

Nancy Murray, OP is a Catholic nun, a member of the Adrian Dominicans.  Like her more famous brother, Sister Nancy finds beauty in the Catholic Church–and like her brother, she is comfortable on the stage.

Sister Nancy Murray is making her mark on audiences across the country and throughout the world, bringing to life the Dominican saint Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church.  With simple props and a fertile imagination, Sister Nancy portrays Catherine as the colorful, strong, passionate and enthusiastic personality that she was. Thanks to Sister Nancy’s gift of transforming herself into this 14th century saint and patroness of the Dominican Order, numerous churches, schools and organizations have become acquainted with Catherine’s fierce devotion to and love for God.

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Eastbound and Down

Father Z reports:

His Excellency Most Reverend James Conley has determined that Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Lincoln will be ad orientem (Latin for "to the east").

Bishop Conley


" Since ancient times, Christians have faced the east during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to remember to keep watch for Christ. Together, the priest and the people faced the east, waiting and watching for Christ. Even in Churches that did not face the east, the priest and people stood together in the Mass, gazing at Christ on the crucifix, on the altar, and in the tabernacle, to recall the importance of watching for his return. The symbolism of the priest and people facing ad orientem—to the east—is an ancient reminder of the coming of Christ.

 During the Sundays of Advent, the priests in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ will celebrate the Mass ad orientem. With the People of God, the priest will stand facing the altar, and facing the crucifix. When I celebrate midnight Mass on Christmas, I will celebrate ad orientem as well. This may take place in other parishes across the Diocese of Lincoln as well."

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The Gay Army Mobilizes!

Be forewarned!

General Gadabout plans to go after ISIS after he's done with the bishops
 A leading gay-rights group is targeting several Catholic bishops, hoping to influence the results of the 2015 Synod of Bishops, the National Catholic Register reports.
The Human Rights Campaign has prepared a pamphlet encouraging activists to plan public events and distribute literature in order to put pressure on eight bishops, identified by the organization as the prelates “most outspoken in their rejection of LGBT Catholics, their civil rights and their rightful place in the Church.”
The pamphlet—which contains several factual errors, and claims that Pope Francis will announce “new doctrine” after the October 2015 meeting of the Synod-- urges gay activists to make “the voice of the people” heard, demanding support for homosexual Catholics.

Go ahead - see if you can guess....

Here's a hint. No current or former Bishop of Belleville is mentioned.


The bishops targeted by the Human Rights Campaign are: 

The Holy Goalie, Bishop Paprocki, dons protective head gear.
 
The bishops targeted by the Human Rights Campaign are:
  1. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who will host the World Meeting of Families in September 2015;
  2. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who chairs the US bishops’ committee on marriage;
  3. Cardinal Francis George, the recently retired Archbishop of Chicago;
  4. Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, the president of the US bishops’ conference;
  5. Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, who chairs the bishops’ committee on religious freedom;
  6. Archbishop John Nienstadt of St. Paul-Minneapolis;
  7. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois; and
  8. Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati.

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Monday, November 24, 2014

The Trouble With Jesuits, Part 23


 From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE):

Marquette University, a Jesuit institution, is in hot water with both Catholic conservatives and free speech advocates for a philosophy instructor’s alleged discrimination against a student for privately disagreeing with gay marriage.

 Philosophy instructor Cheryl Abbate’s “Theory of Ethics” class took an awkward turn a few weeks ago when Abbate, a graduate student at Marquette, declared to the class that “everyone agrees on” gay marriage, so “there is no need to discuss it,” unlike other modern issues such as immigration, civil rights and the death penalty, the anonymous student told The Fix in a phone interview.
 
The student said he raised the issue with Abbate after class and questioned her apparent dismissal of one set of views, which could make some students feel like they cannot share their opinion.
The student said he told Abbate he disagrees with gay marriage. Abbate suggested that gay students could be offended if he shared his view, and told him that he did not have the right to make “homophobic comments or racist comments” in class.

 The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education said the academics’ alleged behavior toward the student not only violates Marquette’s stated commitment to free expression in its student handbook, but their “hostility towards Catholic viewpoints is just bizarre.”

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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

A Short Article That Raises More Questions Than it Answers

From Catholic Culture:



The body of Father John Ssenyondo, a Ugandan missionary priest who served in the southwestern Mexican state of Guerrero, has been found in a mass grave.
On April 30, Father Ssenyondo was allegedly abducted by armed men after refusing to baptize a girl who was suspected of being the daughter of a local gangster,” the Reuters news agency reported. 

Why in the world is an African priest doing missionary work in Mexico? And why not baptize the baby? I mean, I can see  vetoing a godparent, but the baby didn't do anything wrong.

Weird.

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Just One More Reason Our Religion is Cooler Than Yours

 Oh, those wacky Benedictines!

From Statesman Journal:

Six years ago, Mount Angel Abbey's serene hilltop campus shook, as leather-clad Bobby Love rolled in on his motorcycle. Love removed his helmet revealing pierced ears and a mop of dreadlocks. With tattoos on his hands, arms and neck, he looked like an extra on "Sons of Anarchy" not a someone attending a retreat for those who might become Catholic monks....



Six years later, Love's lean frame sports a black tunic and scapular. His brown hair is trimmed close to the scalp. As he stands in his choir stall praying Noon Prayer with nearly 50 monks, John Lennon glasses and a 3-inch goatee distinguish him from the others. So do his tattoos.
Above the neckline of his black hood, his neck tattoos remain. His hands are marked with a spiderweb, women's faces, an alpha and omega, and "HOLD FAST" on his knuckles. A red heart marks his palm. His name is Love after all.
His first name is no longer Bobby. He's "Brother Andre," named after an uneducated man who wanted to join the highly-educated Order of the Holy Cross. They didn't know what to do with him so they made him the church's doorman. Andre prayed with visitors. His prayers were answered, and he's remembered now as a saint.

 In 2010, Mount Angel's monastic leadership made Love assistant to the curator of the abbey's museum.


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Monday, November 17, 2014

The Panera Bread Company Feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, November 17





Born in 1207, married in 1221 at the age of 14, widowed at 20 years old, and dead in 2031, age 24. In between she built a hospital where she tended the sick, gave away state treasures to the poor, took a vow of celibacy,  was chased out of town by her brother-in-law, and received a letter of blessing from St. Francis of Assisi.

Did I mention her husband died on the way to fight in the 6th Crusade?

Her patronages are : hospitals, nurses, bakers, brides, countesses, dying children, exiles, homeless people, lace-makers, widows and the Third Order of St. Francis.

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It's Worse Than I Thought

The newspapers are full of the "conflict" between Cardinal Burke and Pope Francis. Originally, Cardinal Burke was reported to have been "demoted " from "Cardinal Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostalic Signatura" to patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta." But Eye of the Tiber reports it's even worse than I thought:

Akron, OH–Pope Francis has reportedly planned to remove Cardinal Raymond Burke from head of the Apostolic Signatura, demoting him to the largely ceremonial role as Head Chaplain for the Akron RubberDucks minor league baseball team.
Although his removal from the Roman Curia (the body of Vatican-based Cardinals who are close advisers to the Pope,) appears to be a slight to many conservative Catholics, some Akron-based Catholic  RubberDucks fans believe Burke’s new role as chaplain and adviser to the minor league team will help revitalize the beloved Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians.
President of the Akron RubberDucks Jacob Wallace told EOTT this morning that the team has been playing liberally in the past few years, and that it was time for a change. “We need to begin playing a lot more conservative…the way we used to play when were winning,” Wallace said. “We believe that his spiritual impact on the team will help us reduce errors. I have personally spoken to Cardinal Burke and he has assured me that there will no longer be anymore stealing bases. Anyone caught stealing will be removed from the team immediately. If we’re going to win, we’re going to win with integrity.”
Burke, who is not only a liturgical conservative, but also a baseball conservative, is also expected to change the RubberDucks jersey back to the old-fashioned retro jerseys the team wore when it was founded in 1997.

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Islamic Outreach, Part LIV

From an earlier post on this blog:

Pope Francis spoke to the diplomatic corps and amongst other things, said, "Hence it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam."


Meanwhile..... 
 
Muslims made an official declaration that they will invade the Vatican. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, made the statement, saying:
So take up arms, take up arms, O soldiers of the Islamic State! And fight, fight… So raise your ambitions, O soldiers of the Islamic State! For your brothers all over the world are waiting for your rescue, and are anticipating your brigades. …The time has come for you to free yourself from the shackles of weakness, and stand in the face of tyranny, against the treacherous rulers – the agents of the crusaders and the atheists, and the guards of the Jews … Rush O Muslims to your state. Yes, it is your state. Rush, because Syria is not for the Syrians, and Iraq is not for the Iraqis. The earth is Allah’s… This is my advice to you. If you hold to it, you will conquer Rome and own the world, if Allah wills"
OOOOOO! I AM SO SCARED! We will be all right....





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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Hispanic Ministry in Catholic Parishes

 Interesting study from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry....



How Integrated Would You Say The Following Hispanic/Latino(a) Subgroups Are to the Larger Life of the Parish (e.g. Leadership Collaboration with Non-Hispanic/Latino(a) Groups, Participating in Common Social Projects, Liturgical Life)?

                                                                               Visibly, Not
                                                                 Fully             Fully                Minimally  Not at All


Hispanic Immigrants                                9%              37%                      34%             20%

Children of Immigrants                            6%               30%                     39%             25%

Born and raised in US under age 18         6%              28%                      41%             25%  

Born and Raised in US over age 18          9%              33%                      35%             23%

I recently attended a seminar to learn the "Rite of Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest". There were 54 people in attendance - no Hispanics that I could tell.


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Thursday, November 06, 2014

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy....GUST!


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Thursday, October 30, 2014

Think About This Guy the Next Time St. Joseph Church Needs Some Volunteers




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Friday, October 24, 2014

Islamic Outreach, Part LIII


From an earlier post on this blog:

Pope Francis spoke to the diplomatic corps and amongst other things, said, "Hence it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam."



Meanwhile, Pope Francis' smarter, older brother Pope Benedict XVI had this to say:

VATICAN CITY - Retired Pope Benedict XVI said dialogue with other religions is no substitute for spreading the Gospel to non-Christian cultures, and warned against relativistic ideas of religious truth as "lethal to faith." He also said the true motivation for missionary work is not to increase the church's size but to share the joy of knowing Christ.
The retired pope's words appeared in written remarks to faculty members and students at Rome's Pontifical Urbanian University, which belongs to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household and personal secretary to retired Pope Benedict, read the 1,800-word message aloud Oct. 21, at a ceremony dedicating the university's renovated main lecture hall to the retired pope.

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Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Trouble With Jesuits, part 22


 The College Fix reports:

 
Loyola University Chicago (ed. - A Jesuit School)  recently christened a new pagan student club, with its student organizer saying the group aims to help pupils at the private Catholic college find the God they seek, not just the one featured in the Bible.



“Loyola’s mission states that ‘seeking God in all things’ is one of the main tenants of the university,” said the group’s student president, Jill Kreider, in an email to The College Fix. “While the mission primarily focuses on the Abrahamic God, there is no reason a Pagan student (or a Hindu, Baha’i or Sikh student) cannot seek using his or her own faith, regardless of which god they are doing it for.”

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Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Synod of Bishops Bafflegab

From Jimmy Akin:

 The last couple of days have brought some good news from the current synod of bishops on the family.
Where things are going is still far from certain and there is still reason for concern, but there have been a number of welcoming signs.
Here are 12 things to know and share . . 




 4) What’s substantively wrong with the document?
Among other things:
  • It’s written in turgid ecclesiastical bafflegab.
  • It is written in a one-sided way that deliberately favors a particular point of view.
  • It contains elements that are difficult to square with Church teaching.
It also has been subject to various other criticisms.


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"God's Gonna Cut You Down"

The "You" Johnny Cash  is talking about is this....thing, seen here talking to with St. Wofgang:











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Friday, September 12, 2014

How to Make Karl's Head Explode

Let's but Father Uriel one of these chasuble beauties!


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Shut Up, I Explained

Cardinal McCarrick retired in 2006 and for that, I am grateful.


From the Daily Caller:

 Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick offered Islamic religious phrases and insisted that Islam shares foundational rules with Christianity, during a Sept. 10 press conference in D.C.
“In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate,” McCarrick said as he introduced himself to the audience at a meeting arranged by the Muslim Public Affairs Council. That praise of the Islamic deity is an important phrase in Islam, is found more than 100 times in the Koran, and is akin to the Catholic prayer, ”In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
McCarrick next claimed that “Catholic social teaching is based on the dignity of the human person… [and] as you study the holy Koran, as you study Islam, basically, this is what Muhammad the prophet, peace be upon him, has been teaching.”

Mohammed the prophet? Since when?  Does saying "Allah Akbar" before you blow up innocent people mean you are praying - like making the sign of the Cross?




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Thursday, September 11, 2014

Chickens Are Dumb

From Savage Chickens, via Fr. Z:
Father Z writes:

New Hell!  How jolly.

While we, as a preaching teaching Church, shouldn’t be incessantly pushing the Four Last Things in a dire and threatening way, we should be pushing the Four Last Things clearly and often.

Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell.  These are not options.   Everyone of us will face three out of the four.

We have a say about which three.

But let’s be clear about something: Hell is not nice.  It isn’t nice for those in Hell now and it won’t be nice for anyone in Hell in the future.

There won’t be ice cream.

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The Ruins of New York


 Oh how quiet it is after the black night
When flames out of the clouds burned down your cariated teeth,
And when those lightnings,
Lancing the black boils of Harlem and the Bronx,
Spilled the remaining prisoners,
(The tens and twenties of the living)
Into the trees of Jersey,
To the green farms, to find their liberty.

 
How are they down, how have they fallen down
Those great strong towers of ice and steel,
And melted by what terror and what miracle?
What fires and lights tore down,
With the white anger of their sudden accusation,
Those towers of silver and of steel?

From Figures For An Apocalypse, VI - In the Ruins of New York (1947) by Thomas Merton

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Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Two And A Half Men...and a Bishop

I don't understand this article. Is the quest for sainthood for Bishop Sheen derailed because Cardinal Dolan won't send back the remains?



WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The canonization cause of Archbishop Fulton Sheen has been suspended indefinitely, according to a statement issued Sept. 3 by the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, where the archbishop was born. 


The diocesan statement said the Archdiocese of New York denied a request from Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria, president of the Archbishop Sheen Foundation, to move the archbishop's body to Peoria.

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Friday, September 05, 2014

I'm So Old, I Remember When Notre Dame Was a Catholic School

NOTRE DAME, INNotre Dame is complying with the contraceptive mandate in renewing its student health insurance program for 2014-15. Aetna, the insurer, will now provide students with free abortifacients and contraceptives. Moreover, the university will itself enroll all otherwise uninsured graduate and foreign students in the plan. 


Notre Dame has declared in court that that to do what it is doing now would be scandalous. And it is doing this voluntarily. It could have dropped the program or switched to a self-insured program free of the mandate.

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The Day Cardinal Dolan Jumped the Shark, and Monsignor Pope Became a Favorite

To begin with:

A gay group will march under its own banner for the first time in the world's largest St. Patrick's Day Parade, organizers said Wednesday.
The prohibition on identified gay groups in the centuries-old New York parade had made participation a political issue. Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to march this year, and Guinness beer dropped its sponsorship.

The parade committee, in a statement made available to The Associated Press, said Wednesday that OUT@NBCUniversal, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender resource group at the company that broadcasts the parade, would be marching up Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on March 17 under an identifying banner.

Archbishop Dolan of New York weighs in:
 
NEW YORK (AP) - There is no more natural spot for Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan - a proud, ebullient Irish-American - than grand marshal of the city's historic St. Patrick's Day Parade. But the honor now has an added significance: Parade organizers said Wednesday they will allow the first gay group to march under its own banner.

Dolan was quick to issue a statement of support for the parade organizers, accepting their decision. While supporters of gay and lesbian Catholics are cheering, some conservatives want the archbishop to withdraw from the event.

But Monsignor Pope says ENOUGH!. I intend to buy a purple shirt for St. Patrick's Day.


It’s time to cancel the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Al Smith Dinner and all the other “Catholic” traditions that have been hijacked by the world. Better for Catholics to enter their churches and get down on their knees on St. Patrick’s Day to pray in reparation for the foolishness, and to pray for this confused world to return to its senses. Let’s do adoration and pray the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet unceasingly for this poor old world.


But don’t go to the parade; stay away from the Al Smith Dinner and all that “old school” stuff that hangs on in a darkened world. And as for St Patrick’s Day, it’s time to stop wearin’ the green and instead take up the purple of Lent and mean it. Enough of the celebration of stupidity, frivolity, and drunkenness that St Paddy’s day has become. We need penance now, not foolishness. We don’t need parades and dinner with people who scoff at our teachings, insist we compromise, use us for publicity, and make money off of us. We’re being played for (and are?) fools.
End the St Patrick’s parade. End the Al Smith Dinner and all other such compromised events. Enough now, back to Church! Wear the purple of Lent and if there is going to be a procession, let it be Eucharistic and penitential for the sins of this age.

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Tuesday, September 02, 2014

Mark Your Calendar!



The Catholic Gentleman has proclaimed September 9th as "International Buy Your Priest a Beer Day"!




Believe it or not, priests are real people, and they enjoy socializing over good food and drink as much as anyone. They also have a thankless and difficult job, a job that we couldn’t get to heaven without. Priests are the lifeblood of the Church, and they deserve some appreciation.
So with that in mind, I would challenge you to do something concrete to show appreciation to your priest in the month ahead. Yes, it could be taking him out for a beer, or it could be inviting him over to share dinner with your family. Be creative if you want, but give back to your priest somehow, and let him know that his ministry is making a difference.
Of course, your priest may be insanely busy and unable to schedule a time for a lengthier visit. That’s okay. You could offer a rosary or a holy hour for him and his intentions (or better yet, more than one), and let him know that you are regularly praying for him. At the very least, express to him your gratitude, in person or via a note, for his faithful ministry and his answering God’s call to the priesthood.
Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, Brussels

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Monday, September 01, 2014

I First Noticed It At the Confirmation Mass

From The Curt Jester:

 The World Health Organization (WHO) has been tracking a disturbing trend in chronic inflammation of knee joints. Currently it is not known if this is a vector-borne disease or is spread in another manner. While currently not an epidemic world-wide, it has surprisingly confined itself to only Catholics and its effects can be easily observed. In a long-awaited report that will be debated by member states at a meeting in October in Moscow, the United Nations health agency also voiced concern about chronic inflammation of knee joints in various Catholic communities.


Dr. Peter Capaldi (WHO), has been voicing concerns about Genuflectitis since he first started noticing the effects in Catholic parishes as he traveled worldwide. “I started noticing the number of people not genuflecting when entering the vestibule. First I thought this was simple irreverence, then I noticed that many people instead of kneeling during the Consecration were leaning forward instead of kneeling. I felt the most charitable explanation was a serious knee inflammation preventing proper kneeling. This might also be connected to spinal cord injuries since I also noticed people unable to make a profound bow, but just a head-nod instead.” It has also been noted by many other orthopedic surgeons that this inflammation comes and goes. For example during Mass knee-bending is painful, but this usually does not effect motion when sprinting to their car as soon as the concluding rite is finished.





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Sin Duda, Las Autoridades de Supervisión Deben Tener Poder.

  I copied the heading from here.

No, nothing strange about this. Nope. Move along....





A Jesus statue that has lived an unassuming life in a small town in Mexico for the last 300 years has been hiding a strange secret: real human teeth.
Exactly how the statue of Jesus awaiting punishment prior to his crucifixion got its set of choppers is a mystery.
But the statue may be an example of a tradition in which human body parts were donated to churches for religious purposes, said Fanny Unikel Santoncini, a restorer at the Escuela Nacional de Restauración, Conservación y Museografía at the Instituto Nacional de Antropología E Historia (INAH) in Mexico, who first discovered the statue's teeth. 

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Let Nothing Disturb You

 This is from Elizabeth Scalia, who writes atPortico.com:

This impressive both technologically and musically. With a few exceptions among apostolic communities — and of course, the Third Order laity — when you think Carmelite, you think enclosure; you think grilles; you think of interior castles and humble cells.
And yet, thanks to the wonders of digital recording and the internet, we can listen to a virtual choir of Carmelite women, singing — and wonderously — a new piece of music set to the most famous prayer of the great Carmelite foundress and reformer, Saint Teresa of Avila:




The prayer — which is more of a sort of contemplative pulse — is this:

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.
We certainly need to remember that.

Stunning work. Still, it reminded me a little of...


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Islamic Outreach, Part LII

 For a change, I will quote someone other than Pope Francis...

Remember: Christians in the West are not to speak of such things. To do so would harm the “dialogue”: “Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.” — Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, February 8, 2013.

Meanwhile....




(Vatican Radio) Fr. Gideon Obasogie, the Director of Social Communications in Maiduguri Diocese, Nigeria, says the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram has taken over the town of Madagali LGA in Adamawa state, Northeast of Nigeria forcing Fr. Aiden Ibrahim of St. Denis to flee from his parish. Several Christian residents of Madagali are said to have fled from the town many months ago in fear of rampaging Boko Haram sects. In Madagali, Boko Haram are said to have looted parish property, vandalized and then set alight buildings belonging to the church. Fr. Obasogie was not sure of the number of people killed or of other causalities in the Madagali attack but he says there are many.

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