The Shakesperean Feast of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian, October 25

You didn't think I would forget, did you?

Movie Review

From a review of a new movie, "Novitiate" on the National Review site::

 

 

What caused the ranks of these women (nuns and sisters)of deep devotion so rapidly to diminish after that 1965 peak? American life certainly started changing rapidly in the 1960s, but factors such as the sexual revolution, the explosion in drug use, and the Vietnam War didn’t apply so much to the Catholic sisters. What did apply to them — what tore the foundations out from under them — was the 1962–1965 work of the Second Vatican Council, known as Vatican II, which ordered several steps meant to moderate and modernize Church practices. Henceforth, Mass would be celebrated in English or any other contemporary language rather than Latin, by a priest facing the congregants instead of standing with his back to them. And nuns learned that they could no longer consider themselves closer to God than anyone else. Their lifelong devotion to sacrifice seemed to be rendered moot.

I Imagine It's Been A While

A Capuchin dies and goes to heaven, humbly knocks on the door, and is let in without any fanfare. One day, a long time later, he notices lots of commotion. Flowers are arranged, all the candles are lit, and a red carpet is rolled out. He asks an angel what's going on, and is told that they are preparing to welcome a Jesuit into heaven. Perplexed, he asks St. Peter, "I always thought there would be justice and equality in heaven, with no one receiving preferential treatment. Why are you going to such great lengths to welcome a Jesuit, whereas you hardly took any notice of me when I arrived?" St. Peter tells him in reply, "Don't you see? Another Capuchin enters heaven almost every week, but you can't imagine how long it's been since we welcomed the last Jesuit up here!"

Chain Sawing is Thirsty Work

Sr. Margaret Ann’s prowess with a chainsaw, which launched her into internet fame during the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, is now being commemorated in a new craft beer made by Due South Brewing Company in Boynton Beach, Florida.
The brew is an Indian Pale Ale entitled “Nun with a Chainsaw”, with a can design reminiscent of horror movie posters just in time for Halloween – the words ‘A Chainsaw’ scrawled in jagged red print across a light blue can.

Canon 1184

 The left-leaning blog, Pray Tell, received a memo sent by the Vicar General of the Diocese of Madison, WI, which had been sent to the priests of the diocese. They originally attributed it to Bishop Morlino. Gay marriage advocates like the Jesuit, James Martin, hurrumphed and got pouty.

Consideration of Funeral Rites for a Person in a Homosexual Civil or Notorious Union – You may encounter the situation in which a person in a homosexual civil union (thereby in a public union gravely contrary to the natural law) or in an otherwise notorious homosexual relationship gravely contrary to the natural law dies, and the family wants Catholic funeral rites for the deceased. My short answer to pastors and parochial vicars in these cases is to think through the issue thoroughly and prudently and likely call the local ordinary early in the process to discuss the situation. The main issue centers around scandal and confusion (leading others into the occasion of sin or confusing or weakening people regarding the teachings of the Catholic Church in regards to sacred doctrine and the natural law), and thereby the pastoral task is to minimize the risk of scandal and confusion to others amidst the solicitude for the deceased and family.
If the situation warrants (see canon 1184 – specifically canon 1184.1.3), ecclesiastical funeral rites may be denied for manifest sinners in which public scandal of the faithful can’t be avoided. If there is a doubt, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment is to be followed (canon 1184.2).  Here are some general considerations in such situations that may be of preliminary assistance to you:

• Was the deceased or the “partner” a promoter of the “gay” lifestyle?  What is the attitude of the deceased’s family members, especially towards the Church?
• Did the deceased give some signs of repentance before death?
• If ecclesiastical funeral rites are allowed, should they occur without a Mass?
• To minimize scandal, should there merely be a short scripture service at the funeral home?  Or maybe merely a graveside service? Maybe a later “Mass for the Dead” with or without explicit mention of the name of the deceased or “partner” could alternatively or in addition be offered at the parish or even at another parish (to avoid scandal), with or without family members present.
• Any surviving “partner” should not have any public or prominent role at any ecclesiastical funeral rite or service.
• A great risk for scandal and confusion is for the name of the celebrating priest and/or the parish to be listed in any public (e.g., newspaper) or semi-public obituary or notice that also lists the predeceased or surviving “partner” in some manner. This can’t happen for obvious reasons.
• There should be no mention of the “partner” either by name or by other reference (nor reference to the unnatural union) in any liturgical booklet, prayer card, homily, sermon, talk by the priest, deacon, etc…
• It may be wise to keep the priest or deacon involvement to the minimum (i.e., limited to one priest or deacon and at merely essential times of a service or rite, if one occurs).

 So what is Canon 1184? Please note the word MUST:

Can.  1184 §1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:

1) notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;

2/ those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith;

3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.

§2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.

Can.  1185 Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals.

The Trouble With Jesuits, Part 67

Washington D.C., Oct 20, 2017 / 09:53 am (CNA).- A pro-marriage student group at Georgetown University (a Jesuit School) is in danger of being defunded and barred from campus facilities, after fellow students have petitioned that it be recognized as a “hate group.”

The Hoya, Georgetown’s student newspaper, reported on Oct. 20 that Love Saxa, a student organization promoting Catholic doctrine regarding marriage, will undergo a Student Activities Commission hearing on Oct. 23, to defend itself against charges that the group fosters hatred and intolerance. The hearing is a response to a petition filed by a student-senator in the Georgetown University Student Association, and supported by leaders of gay pride student organizations at Georgetown.

Stop Disrespecting Me! 

In a Sept. 6 column in The Hoya, Irvine wrote that “we believe that marriage is a conjugal union on every level – emotional, spiritual, physical and mental – directed toward caring for biological children. To us, marriage is much more than commitment of love between two consenting adults.”

Leaders of gay pride student organizations at Georgetown denounced this language as “homophobic,” and claimed it violated university standards.  

The university’s Student Organization Standards state that: “Groups will not be eligible for access to benefits if their purpose or activities … foster hatred or intolerance of others because of their race, nationality, gender, religion, or sexual preferences.” Love Saxa is accused of fostering hatred and intolerance, because of its support for Catholic teaching regarding marriage.

We Thought You Was a Toad!

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- Two prisoners from the Italian town of Napoli used a lunch meeting with Pope Francis as a chance to escape. The prisoners were part of a group of 20 that was invited to a lasagna lunch with the Holy Father in the city of Bolonga on Oct. 1.
Volunteers noticed two of the prisoners were missing and alerted police. The escaped inmates have not been found. The prisoners were housed in a facility that holds prisoners for rehabilitation as well as people who are considered a danger to society. It is unknown if the escapees were in the facility for rehabilitation or because they were dangerous.

Here's the Eye of the Tiber version:


Two prisoners in Bologna, Italy escaped during their lunch with Pope Francis yesterday, reportedly fleeing back to their jail cells after what they called a “harrowing experience.”
The two inmates, who are serving time at a social reintegration facility in Castelfranco Emilia, told EOTT that, though the few bites of lasagna they ate before ditching the lunch were amazing, they just “couldn’t stomach” another minute listening to His Holiness apologize for everything the Church has ever done.
“Don’t get me wrong, it is quite an experience to meet the Pope,” said inmate Giovanni Rotunda. “But he kept bowing to me and asking me to pray for him. By the tenth time I was really beginning to miss the prison food.”
Fellow inmate Dominic Bapideeboopi told EOTT that Pope Francis spent nearly half an hour explaining why the death penalty was contrary to Church teaching.
“I’m like, ‘Dude, let me eat.’ Of course I didn’t say that out loud, but the thing is is that I was just trying to have a pleasant afternoon, and to be honest, I’m a prisoner and I still believe in the death penalty! For goodness sakes, between all the praying for him, apologies on behalf of the Church, his near constant request to wash my feet, I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

That’s when, Bapideeboopi said, he and Rotunda looked at each other and nodded.
“That was all it took. We knew we just had maybe another hour or two there, but life is short—and we’d rather be spending our time in jail trying not to get shanked than being spiritually shanked by odd catechesis, if you know what I’m saying.”

The Centennial of the "Dancing Sun" of Fatima, October 13

Father Z reports:

Are any of you reading stories about an event in Nigeria on 13 October 2017, the 100th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun?  Apparently the bishops of Nigeria consecrated Nigeria to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  After the Mass, the Sun supposedly… did things….
There are videos on YouTube.
I don’t know what to make of this.  I haven’t heard anything official.

 I'm not sure what to make of this. It seems to me that the people there don't seem to be paying the sun much attention...

The Way My Mind Works

A headline on the Catholic News Agency website:

Hunger must be fought by actively going to the roots, Pope Francis says

And my mind immediately went to:

 

News From the Archdiocse of Verapoly

Kochi, India, Oct 14, 2017 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Both Hindu and Catholic schoolchildren in India claim to have witnessed an apparition of Christ and several appearances of the Virgin Mary accompanied by the scent of jasmine, the gift of contrition, and the healing of a girl’s ear problem.
The site of the alleged apparitions is St. Ambrose Church and Lower Primary School in Edavanakkad, in the far southwestern state of Kerala, 16 miles northwest of Kochi. The parish and adjacent school are under the Archdiocese of Verapoly. The Marian apparitions are said to have happened on at least two separate dates.
The apparition reportedly began Sept. 28 when a student at the school, a Hindu girl named Krishnaveda, went to the church to pray for her ear problem. She put some holy water on her ear. She later told her fellow students that the holy water immediately helped her ear.
When the children left the school to pray in the church, they looked up and saw in the sky a vision of Christ being scourged. They recited the name of Jesus and went into the church to thank God for healing the girl’s ear.
The only Catholic girl among them, Ambrosiya, volunteered to lead the students in praying the rosary. However she did not know the Luminous Mysteries recited on Thursday and sought a teacher’s help. The children were in prayer when the teacher reached them at about 1:45 in the afternoon.

I am impressed that the little Catholic girl even KNEW Thursday is the Luminous Mysteries.


When D’Silva took the children back to the church so they could pray, the children claimed to see the Virgin Mary standing under the altar. The adults could not see anything.

Under the altar?

 

Columbus Day Redux

Yesterday I listened to an interesting interview with the author of this book on 88.3 FM from Murphysboro :

Providence, R.I., Oct 9, 2017 / 10:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The controversies surrounding Christopher Columbus are sometimes misplaced and should not overshadow Columbus’ Christian motives in his voyages, a scholar of religious studies and anthropology has said.
“In recent times, Christopher Columbus has become the symbol for everything that went wrong in the New World, so much so that it has become difficult to celebrate the holiday commemorating his discovery of the New World,” Carol Delaney, a visiting scholar of religious studies at Brown University, told CNA.
“I have been dismayed by the lack of knowledge about the man by those who are rushing in judgment against him and changing the day that commemorates his extraordinary achievement.”
“While we may not agree with the scenario that motivated Columbus, it is important to understand him in the context of his time,” she added.
Delaney, who holds a doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago, is author of the 2011 book “Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem,” which examines Columbus’ religious motivations for his voyages.
Her book warns against misjudging Columbus’ motivations and accomplishments “from a contemporary perspective rather than from the values and practices of his own time.” 

National Review has even more.

Not To Be Confused With the Anna Baptists

Visitors to St. Lambert’s church in Münster, Germany may notice something odd about the building’s facade. Three gleaming iron cages, 7 feet tall and a yard wide and deep, hang empty from the church spire. Once home to the mutilated bodies of three revolutionaries who shaped one of the strangest chapters in the Protestant Reformation, the cages have hung there for nearly 500 years. They remain on the spire as a testament to their former occupants’ experiment in religious utopia—and the tremors they sent through German religious and political life for years after their occupants' deaths.

Here's where things went south for the citizens of Münster:

 On February 11, 1534, the Münster city council granted full religious toleration to Anabaptists, who began referring to Münster as the “New Jerusalem.” They sent out messengers far and wide to recruit new believers to the city. As the month went on, armed city employees reportedly moved through the city warning those who refused adult baptism to flee, reportedly crying "Get out of here, you godless. God will punish you!" When Matthijs arrived, he delivered a sermon calling for the execution of Catholics and Lutherans alike. He preached, "Everywhere we are surrounded by dogs and sorcerers and whores and killers and the godless and all who love lies and commit them!" When the execution idea failed to fly, his advisors convinced him to settle for expelling the Catholics and Lutherans from the city.

It turned out poorly for the Anabaptists in the end:

With von Waldeck's victory, events took an even more gruesome turn. On January 22, 1536, the prince-bishop gathered a crowd in front of city hall to see Jan of Leiden, Knipperdollinck, and Kretchtinck tortured and killed. Executioners ripped the flesh from their bodies with hot tongs for an hour before stabbing them each in the heart. Their bodies were bound into iron cages and then hoisted from the tower of St. Lambert’s church.

You Know You're a Catholic When...

From this site.

It Was Only A Matter of Time

Catholics parishioners across the U.S. protested during the Our Father Sunday in defiance of Pope Francis, who said that parishioners who kneel during the “Lord’s Prayer” should be denied communion.
Many parishioners sat, kneeled, or stayed inside restrooms during the recitation of the Our Father, with some pastors encouraging parishioners to express themselves.
Demonstrations began Sunday when nearly two dozen parishioners of Our Lady of Good Counsel parish took a knee. Other laymen who chose to remain standing locked arms, as opposed to holding hands.
Seattle parishioners announced they would not participate in the anthem as a city, saying, “We will no longer stand for the crappy catechesis in this country. Out of love for our Church, and in honor of Christ’s sacrifice made on our behalf, we unite to oppose those that would deny our most basic religious instructions. We remain committed in continuing to work towards better homilies and for better motu proprios.”

The 1980 Winter Olympics Feast of Saint Placid, October 5

Disciple of St. Benedict at Subiaco and Monte Cassino. He is known mainly through the Dialogues of Pope St. Gregory I the Great and is closely associated with St. Maurus of whom little is known outside of legend and the Dialogues . The son of a patrician named Tertulus, the very young Placid was placed into the care of St. Benedict at Subiaco, supposedly being saved from drowning through the aid of the renowned saint. Placid subsequently accompanied Benedict to Monte Cassino, which was evidently given to Benedict by the obviously grateful Tertulus. The name Placid was thereafter at­tached to assorted legends, including one assigning him credit for founding St. John the Baptist Monastery at Messina, in Sicily. While there, he was said to have been martyred by Saracen raiders with two brothers, a sister, and thirty companions. It is known that he was never in Sicily, and the bones discovered in 1585 at the monastery and widely believed to be Placid's are not, in fact, his. Among his disciples are counted Eutychius, Faustus, Donatus, and Firmatus. 

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES???

 

I Am Going To Start Watching Watching NBC Again!

 Not really.

Oakland, Calif., Oct 4, 2017 / 03:37 pm (CNA).- Whether he’s navigating a harrowing obstacle course in front of the camera or doing behind-the-scenes content editing for an evangelization website, Sean Bryan wants people to know that he is proud to be Catholic.
Also known as the “Papal Ninja,” Bryan competed for a second time this season on NBC’s obstacle course competition show, American Ninja Warrior.
“I hope (the audience) can see that the faith is not something extra-ordinary, but rather, something that is meant to be extraordinarily ordinary,” Bryan told CNA.
When he’s not training for daredevil feats of strength and agility, Bryan is working for Lay Mission Project, a website dedicated to equipping lay people with the tools to live their faith within the secular culture.

The Clairol Feast of Sts. Ewald and Ewald, October 3

Martyred in Old Saxony about 695, Northumbrian brothers, companions of St. Willibrord. Both bore the same name, but were distinguished as Ewald the Black and Ewald the Fair, from the difference in the colour of their hair and complexions.From Northumbria, they were educated in Ireland. These priests of the Benedictine Order went with Willibrord to Frisia, Netherlands. The pagan Saxons, understanding that they had Christian priests and missionaries in their midst, began to suspect that their aim was to convert their over-lord, and thus destroy their temples and their religion. Inflamed with jealousy and anger, they resolved that the Ewalds should die. Ewald the Fair they quickly despatched with the sword, but Ewald the Black they subjected to torture, because he was the spokesman and showed greater boldness. He was torn limb from limb, after which the two bodies were cast into the Rhine. This is understood to have happened on 3 October at a place called Aplerbeck.

"But of That Day or Hour No One Knows, Not Even the Angels in Heaven, Nor the Son, but the Father Alone"

Eschatology: The Last Things

Catholic Catholic Christians believe that all men and women will experience the end of this human life. The Word of God teaches us that each person will be judged immediately after death.
Catholics believe that the souls of the saved who are in need of further purification before facing God will be purged in purgatory.
Heaven awaits those souls found to be in the state of grace or perfection.
Hell or eternal damnation awaits those souls who die without repentance for their sins.
At the end of the world, Jesus will come again in power and glory--the Parousia.
At this time the bodies of all the dead will be resurrected.
Those still living will be taken up into the air to meet Jesus. General judgment of all people will then be made.
The blessed will possess heaven for all eternity; the damned will suffer hell for all eternity.
Catholic Christians are so aware of the Biblical theme of the last things of this life that they devote four weeks every year to a special time--Advent--a season for the faithful to listen again to the Word of God on the end of this life and the Second Coming of Jesus in glory and judgment.
All professed Christians look to the Bible for their acceptance and understanding of the end of human life and what follows human death. The study of last things is called eschatology from the Greek word eschatos, meaning "the last or extreme."
The stages of escatology include individual human death, particular judgment, the choices of heaven, purgatory or hell, the end of the world, the living being "taken up," the resurrection of the body, the Second Coming of Christ, general judgment, and the New Creation.
Christians accept that the first of the "last things" of human life is physical death. Natural death is the separation of the immortal soul from the physical body. Divine Revelation tells us the origin of human death--the sin of Adam and Eve. The punishment for the original sin is found in Genesis.

Gen 3:19

By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.

---

Bishop Gregory...NO, Not THAT One!

I was surprised tor read this in the New York Times, until I saw who wrote it (Matthew Schmitz is senior editor of First Things and a Robert Novak journalism fellow). Read the whole thing!

UMUAKA, Nigeria — In August, under a bright blue sky and in front of 2,500 worshipers, Bishop Gregory Ochiagha performed the first traditional Latin ordination in Nigeria since the vernacular liturgy was introduced after Vatican II. Near the end of the Mass, the 86-year-old bishop nearly fainted. “I am so happy, I am so happy,” he whispered as he was led to a chair.

Catholics attached to the Latin Mass have suffered a great deal since the introduction of the vernacular liturgy after Vatican II. But 10 years ago, they enjoyed a sublime vindication. Pope Benedict XVI declared in his document “Summorum Pontificatum” that all Catholics have the right to the traditional liturgy. “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too,” Benedict wrote. Bishop Ochiagha generously distributed copies of “Summorum” to his brother bishops in Nigeria, many of whom had criticized his support for the Latin Mass.

Bishop Gregory Ochiagha

  Though traditionalists remain a tiny minority in Nigeria, as throughout the world, their number is growing. Catholic traditionalists see the ancient language of the Latin Mass as a sign of their faith’s stability and unity, an indication that Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. They would like to see it return worldwide, but for now, some of its strongest adherents have been in places like Nigeria, where historical tumult and ethnic strife have given traditionalists special reason to value this aspect of their faith. Six years ago, Bishop Ochiagha buried his friend Emeka Ojukwu, who had led the Biafran Republic in its rebellion against the Nigerian state. Bishop Ochiagha served Biafra as a diplomat and watched the rape and pillage that accompanied its defeat in 1970.

At that fraught moment, foreign priests were expelled from Nigeria by the government, and the vernacular liturgy was introduced by the Vatican. “The time of the liturgical change was not easy,” Bishop Ochiagha told me. “People thought the church was collapsing.” In one stroke, Catholics were cut off from their past. They also found it harder to pray. “The traditional Mass encourages reflection and prayer,” he said. “The new Mass gives itself to jamboree.”

 Traditional Catholicism is sometimes considered superstitious for the stress it places on formal devotions like the Rosary and meatless Fridays, but such practices are what have made the faith appealing to all nations and classes. When bishops began to discard traditional devotions at the time of Vatican II, the British anthropologist Mary Douglas accused them of turning the faith into an airy set of bourgeois ethical commitments. Liturgical change was a kind of class war. Available statistics bear her argument out: In the United States, Mass attendance remained stable among rich Catholics when the Latin Mass was abandoned, but dipped among the poor.

Good Advice from Florida

I Wonder if the USCCB is OK With This?

United Methodist Church bishop Dr. Karen Oliveto is not only a lesbian, she also believes (and publicly teaches) that Jesus was a bigot filled with prejudices. She does say that Jesus grew and changed, and that's her point. Bishop Oliveto admonishes, "If Jesus can change, if he can give up his bigotries and prejudices, if he can realize that he had made his life too small, and if, in this realization, he grew closer to others and closer to God, than so can we."

The United Methodist Church has been on the descent into apostasy for years now. While the denomination is currently in the midst of their 75 weeks of praying about accepting homosexuality, they have long allowed pastors of their churches to go against their current beliefs on the matter. In 2005, Karen Oliveto, a non-celibate lesbian, officiated several same-sex marriages that were held in the United Methodist church she pastored.

Oliveto's teachings cover the range of normal progressive "Christian" beliefs — the denial of the exclusivity of the Christian faith and the denial of the authority of the Bible, to name two. However, it's her direct attack on certain Bible passages and Biblical figures that has caused some within the UMC to be concerned.

This past August, Oliveto delivered a weekly message that has been posted on Facebook. Her text, Matthew 15:21-28, is the story of the gentile woman who came to Jesus for healing and then delivered the famous phrase, "“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.”

Exegetically, and in short, the passage reveals that gentiles will be brought into God's family. It's a beautiful picture of how spiritual birth trumps physical birth in God's family. Oliveto has a completely different take on the passage, though. In her interpretation of the passage, Oliveto preached:

Jesus, Jesus, what is up with you? Where is the gentle Jesus, meek and mild, the one who said, “Let the children come to me”? What happened to Jesus, the one who said, “Consider the lilies”. Where did his compassion and love go?

But as I ponder the story, as I look at the verbal jousting between Jesus and this female who is considered less than human because of her gender and ethnicity, I can’t help but note how Jesus comes around.

Too many folks want to box Jesus in, carve him in stone, create an idol out of him. But this story cracks the pedestal we’ve put him on. The wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting one, prince of peace, was as human as you and me. Like you and me, he didn’t have his life figured out. He was still growing, maturing, putting the pieces together about who he was and what he was supposed to do. We might think of him as the Rock of Ages, but he was more like a hunk of clay, forming and reforming himself in relation to God.

That lengthy passage leads into Oliveto's comment about Jesus being a bigot with prejudices that he discarded as he learned from the woman.

If Jesus was imperfect, if he was bigoted and unloving, there is very little reason to listen to what he had to say or to look to him for salvation. Frankly, that's probably exactly what Oliveto is moving toward — a complete discarding of Jesus and the Bible altogether.

The World is Not Your Oyster

I was unable to embed this video, but give it a look:

Fr. Andrew Younan, Professor of Philosophy, gives the charge to the graduates. This speech was given at JPCatholic's 9th Annual Commencement Ceremony on September 1st, 2017.

https://youtu.be/r32qesOktLY