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

Thursday, October 29, 2015

What Could Possible Go Wrong?

 This is frightening - not so much that something may harm someone, but rather, that anyone would think this is a good idea,.


ST LOUIS- Friday night a cable TV show will broadcast a live exorcism inside a St. Louis County house.
And it's not just any home. It's the house where Catholic priests performed an exorcism on a young boy in 1949.
The true events that inspired the famous movie, 'The Exorcist', in 1973.



NewsChannel 5 got an exclusive first look at the made-for-TV event that leading Catholics in St. Louis are calling an unholy ritual. 

It could be a house on any street in any town. But what happened here in Bel Nor, in 1949, is one of the most talked about paranormal events in modern history.

Jesuit priests from Saint Louis University performed an exorcism on a 14-year-old boy. A boy they believed was possessed by the devil himself.

The famous movie, "The Exorcist", is based on the extraordinary events that happened here.
The most shocking details came straight from the diary of one of the SLU Jesuits involved.
The diary describes the boy's bed shaking violently, and mysterious scratch marks that appeared to spell words on the boy's body.



"Many of the things you see in that movie ('The Exorcist')," said SLU archivist John Waide. "Evidently things like that or almost like that did happen."
But since 1949, nothing much out of the ordinary happened at the Bel Nor home, until just a few years ago.



In 2008, radio host Dave Glover invited people to spend a half hour in the room where the exorcism happened. Three tried--no one made it past five minutes.

"The look on one of the young lady's face is as close to horror and terror that I ever want to see," said the host of The Dave Glover Show on 97.1 FM.

Based on the genuine chills and screams from Dave Glover's video shoot at the house, cable TV channel Destination America will have a crew and a bishop from an offshoot of the Roman Catholic church perform an exorcism on the house---on live TV, Friday night.
"Exorcism is not entertainment," says Bishop Robert Hermann with the Archdiocese of St. Louis. "Exorcism is serious business."

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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

It's Funny Every Time!




A Jewish rabbi and a Catholic priest met at the town's annual picnic. Old friends, they began their usual banter. "This baked ham is really delicious," the priest teased the rabbi. "You really ought to try it. I know it's against your religion, but I can't understand why such a wonderful food should be forbidden! You don't know what you're missing. You just haven't lived until you've tried Mrs. Hall's prized Virginia Baked Ham. Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and try it?" The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin, and said, "At your wedding."

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Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Brawl at the Synod!

This just in from the Synod (from Eye of the Tiber, of course):

A massive brawl broke out Thursday morning at the Synod during the 90-hour opening address by Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdo, witnesses are reporting.
The brawl broke out just after Cardinal Erdo appeared to have concluded his four day opening address to the bishops before informing them that he would begin the second half of his address after a short restroom break.

Cardinal Kasper, the Nancy Pelosi of the College of Cardinals

Footage obtained by EOTT shows a tired and disgruntled Cardinal Walter Kasper screaming at Erdo to “shut up and get on with the communion divorce stuff” when Archbishop Charles Chaput picks up what looks to be a thurible, lights it on fire, swings it around a few times before finally launching at the head of the German Cardinal.
“It was amazing how quickly it all escalated,” one witness told EOTT. “Next thing you know, a German bishop comes in throwing copies of Laudato Si like ninja stars at people. Lot of people were hit. Blood everywhere.”
At one point, Pope Francis is seen trying to separate the Cardinals, but is eventually pushed out of the way by the rival groups.
The video also shows Cardinal Robert Sarah being helped up on a horse before being handed a shield and sword, and is then heard trying to motivate his side of cardinals during a 15-minute hiatus in the brawl.
Cardinal Sarah
 “I am Cardinal Sarah,” Sarah is seen shouting to a large number of cardinals in front of him. “And I see a whole army of my fellow bishops, here in defiance of sin! You have come to fight as orthodox men. And orthodox men you are! What will you do without orthodoxy? Will you fight?”
One cardinal in the video is heard saying that they are outnumbered before shouting “No! We will run…and give communion to divorced couples!”
“Yes!” Sarah is heard shouting back. “Fight and you may die. Run and you will live and give communion to divorced and remarried couples at least awhile. And dying in your rectory many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as aging and balding men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never distort our doctrine! Oh, wait, they’re distorting our doctrine. Aren’t those German bishops a sneaky bunch. Everyone run.”
 
NOT SO FAST!

At press time, Benedict has shown up and is quoted as telling Sarah and the rest of the bishops, “Not so fast,” before hiking up his cassock to get up on his own horse.

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Indulgence

So the question of what indulgences are and how they are obtained has been raised. Good question...if you are really, really interested in understanding indulgences I recommend this book:


From the Amazon.com description:

Grow in the life of grace with this official handbook, which contains the list of prayers and pious practices for faithful and repentant Catholics. This exclusive English-language translation of the Manual of Indulgences explains what indulgences are and provides the many devotional prayers associated with them.

It's published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

By the way, you can claim an indulgence for a soul in purgatory on All Souls' Day. All you have to do is:


Requirements for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence on All Souls Day (2 Nov)

  • Visit a church and pray for souls in Purgatory
  • Say one “Our Father” and the “Apostles Creed” in the visit to the church
  • Say one “Our Father” and one “Hail Mary” for the Holy Father’s intentions (that is, the intentions designated by the Holy Father each month)
  • Worthily receive Holy Communion (ideally on the same day if you can get to Mass)
  • Make a sacramental confession within 20 days of All Souls Day
  • For a plenary indulgence be  free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin (otherwise, the indulgence is partial, not plenary, “full”).
You can acquire one plenary indulgence a day.
A partial indulgence can be obtained by visiting a cemetery and praying for the departed.  You can gain a plenary indulgence visiting a cemetery each day between 1 November and 8 November. These indulgences are applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory.

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Monday, October 26, 2015

The Theology of Cremation