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, March 28, 2018

The Rest of the Story is Even MORE Depressing

At Providence College, a Catholic college operated by the Dominican Order of Preachers, a resident assistant has come under fire from the student community afte



Michael Smalanskas, a senior at Providence and an RA in the St. Joseph’s Hall dormitory, put up a display on his hall bulletin board on March 1 that read, “Marriage: The Way God Intended It . . . One Man, One Woman,” with several images and a quote from the Bible.
Smalanskas tells National Review that the bulletin board wasn’t intended to target his residents or any students for their beliefs or their sexuality. In fact, he says it had nothing to do with Providence students at all. “It was basically to expose a double standard on campus that certain positions — mainly conservative and Catholic positions — are not welcome here and are treated with hatred,” he says to me in a phone interview.
When students returned from a week of spring break, they discovered the board and immediately became incensed. The board itself was completely torn down within a few hours, and groups of students began congregating in the hallway just outside Smalanskas’s room. That night, campus security approached Smalanskas and asked to bring him to another building to spend the night because they were concerned about his safety.
In addition, a drawing was placed in a dormitory restroom depicting Smalanskas being raped. He received harassing text messages from other RAs and fellow students, accusing him of creating a hostile and unsafe environment on campus. Students attacked him on social media, calling the board an act of homophobia. Another RA let himself into Smalanskas’s building and put up his own sign reading, “Providence College Welcomes Everybody.”
Shortly thereafter, students took their complaints to the Providence College administration, demanding that Smalanskas be removed from his RA position and be punished in some way. They also asked the school to create a policy governing bulletin boards so that what they consider harmful material can no longer be posted; currently, there are no rules dictating what can appear on the boards.
“Essentially what they’ve been asking for is a safe space from Catholicism,” Smalanskas tells me of the students’ demands.

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Shut Up, I Explained

With the “March for our Lives” rally fresh in the minds of hundreds of thousands of gun control supporters who took to U.S. streets in protest this weekend, the leader of the Catholic Church has called on young people not let themselves be silenced. 


Kicking off Holy Week services on Palm Sunday, in the lead up to Easter, 81-year-old Pope Francis addressed the tens of thousands of people who had gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, and referenced a number of bible passages including lessons that could be learned from the story of the crucifixion. 
“Young people, you have it in you to shout.” Francis said. “It is up to you not to keep quiet. Even if others keep quiet, if we older people and leaders keep quiet, if the whole world keeps quiet and loses its joy, I ask you: Will you cry out?”

Keep Shouting, David Hogg!
 
It's Good Preparation for the Future!




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Cardinal Dolan and the Democrats

Cardinal Timothy Dolan in the Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall, so you can check it out on Fox News):



...the dignity and sanctity of human life, the importance of Catholic schools, the defense of a baby’s civil rights—were, and still are, widely embraced by Catholics. This often led Catholics to become loyal Democrats. I remember my own grandmother whispering to me, “We Catholics don’t trust those Republicans.”
Such is no longer the case, a cause of sadness to many Catholics, me included. … the needs of poor and middle-class children in Catholic schools, and the right to life of the baby in the womb—largely have been rejected by the party of our youth. An esteemed pro-life Democrat in Illinois, Rep. Dan Lipinski, effectively was blacklisted by his own party. Last year, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez insisted that pro-life candidates have no place in the modern Democratic Party.
Talking about New York, he noted:
what is already the most radical abortion license in the country may soon be even more morbidly expanded. For instance, under the proposed Reproductive Health Act, doctors would not be required to care for a baby who survives an abortion. The newborn simply would be allowed to die without any legal implications. And abortions would be legal up to the moment of birth.
The “big tent” of the Democratic Party now seems a pup tent….
I’m a pastor, not a politician, and I’ve certainly had spats and disappointments with politicians from both of America’s leading parties. But it saddens me, and weakens the democracy millions of Americans cherish, when the party that once embraced Catholics now slams the door on us.

 Last year, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez insisted that pro-life candidates have no place in the modern Democratic Party.

Noted Catholic, Democrat and Noted Theolgian Nancy Pelosi was Unavailable For Comment

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Thursday, March 22, 2018

A Nun? At a Jesuit School?



.- In the first weekend of the March Madness tournament, the most tweeted-about person might not have been a basketball player, but a 98-year-old religious sister.
Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt, BVM, is the chaplain of the Loyola University Chicago Men’s Basketball team, and the unlikely breakout star of the college tournament.
Sister Jean burst onto the scene when her beloved Ramblers upset the University of Miami in the first round of the tournament with a down-to-the-wire three-point basket.

Following this win, Twitter featured Sister Jean in a Twitter moment, and she received shout outs from high profile accounts including ESPN and former President Barack Obama. The New York Times also ran a profile on her.
Sister Jean leads the team in prayer before each game, and she prays for her players to be safe, for the referees to be fair, and for God’s assistance during the game. She also admitted to praying for the opposing team, but “not as hard."

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I Hope He Remembers to Put Sand in the Stoup

Pope Francis will be washing the feet of prisoners again next Thursday...

For Pope Francis, this will be the fourth time during his pontificate that he has celebrated Maundy Thursday Mass at a prison. The first was in 2013, just after becoming Pope, when he visited the Casal del Marmo youth detention center.
This occasion was notable for being the first time a Pope included females and non-Christians among those whose feet he washed. At the time, liturgical law permitted only men's feet to be washed in the Holy Thursday ceremony.
In January 2016, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments modified the Roman Missal to allow for women's feet to be washed at the Holy Thursday Mass, though it added that those chosen are to be “from among the People of God.” 

Jesus Spent 40 Days in the Holy Water Stoup



Some poor parisheners (sic) are suffering this from the “progressive” and trendy practice of emptying holy water fonts and baptismal fonts during Lent. Some parishes have even been known to fill the font with sand after the water is emptied out. I guess this is to symbolize the desert. 

Clever, trendy, but not in line with the teaching and instruction of the Church.

Hopefully, fewer parishes each year are playing with unacceptable and silly  innovations.
On a recent Catholic Answers Live segment Jimmy Akin called this kind of new practice a “stupid” idea, if I remember correctly. I agree. Though we are to deprive ourselves of certain things during Lent, the Sacraments and sacramentals are not one of them.

We may set aside chocolate and soft drinks, but sacramentals, no. Sorry!

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Lenten Penance Service Tonight, March 22 at 6:30 PM; St. Joseph in Cobden


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Saturday, March 17, 2018

The Problem With Famous People

Grain of salt...it's from the Daily Mail. But it IS a true story.
Sister Rita

Struggling with ill-health, including breast cancer, Sister Rita Callanan looks into her pantry for scraps of food and sees, yet again, only cereal.


Her bank balance is zero, her healthcare cheque has bounced on more than one occasion and she's not sure who's going to foot the bill for her next round of cancer treatment.
Now 80 years old, she scratches her head in bemusement as to how this has all happened. A few years ago, she had hundreds of thousands in the bank and was a paper millionaire.
As one of the few remaining sisters alive, who belong to the historic Order of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Los Angeles, her future was secure. Their historic convent sits in the uber trendy Los Angeles suburb of Los Feliz and is today worth in excess of £10 million.
That is until Katy Perry came along. The 32-year-old singer tried to buy it without the nuns' permission. She agreed a deal with the Royal Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles (RCA), headed by Archbishop Jose Gomez, who claims the convent is under its ownership and sold it to Perry for £10 million in July 2015.
She says: 'On March 9th, 2018 we tragically lost Sister Catherine Rose, my beloved fellow IHM Sister and original organizer of this GoFundMe campaign. She was my cherished partner in this ongoing legal battle to keep our convent. It is now more important than ever to continue this fight and for our cause to prevail.'
Beat up nuns.

Independent of who is right or wrong, amid such a complex legal battle, there's the human cost. Sister Callanan is suffering from cancer and diabetes while multi-millionaire Perry told the nuns that she wants the stunning 22,000ft Mediterranean-inspired property so that she can 'sip green tea and find herself'.

I'm Not A Doctor....but I Play One on TV!

Kansas City Royals bench coach Dale Sveum had a medical appointment on Wednesday afternoon for a stiff neck, missing the team photo shoot. 
Instead of just carrying on without him, the Royals decided to find a stand-in.
Jim Caviezel, who is best known for his role as Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ,” stood in for Sveum in the team photo.
“(Caviezel) put on Dale’s uniform and did a good job filling in,” manager Ned Yost said. “We’ll just photoshop Dale’s head for his later on.”
Caviezel took batting practice with the team too and even threw out the ceremonial first pitch before their game against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday. The team also a private screening of his latest movie, “Paul, Apostle of Christ,” too.



“I think it’s more humbling for me to pop into a picture and impersonate some guy,” Caviezel told  the Associated Press. “I enjoyed it, just getting into a team photo. How many times would you ever be on a MLB field?”
Caviezel looked like he was having a good time throughout the day, even stopping to take multiple selfies in his custom Royals jersey.
Look, Jesus is over there taking selfies,” Yost laughed.

Monday, March 12, 2018

Catholic Mass Being Conducted Aboard LST-782 Off the Coast of Iwo Jima WW2

Wow! The priest had his back to them the whole time! This took place one week before the invasion. And this is my 2,200th  post.


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The Ohio Paprocki

Father Z passes this along:

 The Archbishop. sent out a note distancing the Church from an upcoming homosexualist event featuring homosexualist activists Jesuit James Martin, Sr. Jeannine Gramick (silenced by the Holy See and by her own congregation) and Jamie Manson (open lesbian writer for the Fishwrap with a coveted MDiv, tutored by the dreadful Margaret Farley).

March 9, 2018
Dear Fathers and Deacons,
You may hear from some parishioners about an upcoming event at the University of Cincinnati subtitled, “A Dialogue on Faith, Catholicism, and the LGBTQ Community.” To be very clear, despite its billing, the event is in no way sponsored by, sanctioned by, or associated with the Catholic Church. In fact, one of the scheduled speakers has been ordered to not speak on behalf of the Catholic Church in the United States due to the grave error of her teaching..The Code of Canon Law (Can. 216) states in part that “no undertaking shall assume the name Catholic unless the consent of the competent ecclesiastical authority is given.” My permission was not sought in this case, nor would it have been given.
If you receive any media inquiries regarding this event, please direct them without comment to our Communications Department: […]
Fraternally in Christ,
Archbishop Schnurr

Find the Catholic:
Martin

Pope B-16 and Bishop Schnurr

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What Kind of Monsters Dwell Among Us?



CNA/EWTN News).- The states of Utah and Pennsylvania are considering legislation that would ban abortions solely due to a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis, in an effort to protect babies with disabilities from discrimination.
In Pennsylvania, it is currently legal for a pregnant woman to obtain an abortion until 24 weeks gestation, unless the decision for an abortion is based solely on the baby’s gender.
House Bill 2050 and Senate Bill 1050, which are being introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, aim to make Down syndrome selective abortions illegal in the state. 

Is it true that 90% of children diagnosed with Down Syndrome prenatally are aborted? Get this:

 “The 90 percent number is only shocking if you’re the kind of person who thinks babies with Down syndrome should be born,” says Amy Julia Becker, author of the just-released e-book on prenatal testing and Down syndrome, What Every Woman Needs to Know About Prenatal Testing: Insights from a Mom Who Has Been There.

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A Durbin Democrat, and a Durbin Catholic

From National Review:

The Democratic politician supports late-term abortion, despite both the teachings of his Catholic faith and the scientific reality of human life.
Any reasonable person, Catholic or not, would acknowledge that being pro-life on the issue of abortion is a non-negotiable teaching for members of the Catholic Church. Even so, yet another Catholic politician has made a Faustian bargain on abortion, and his recycled excuses haven’t aged well.
“I just want to say, I don’t use the term ‘pro-life’ to describe what I personally believe, because that’s a political term. It’s not one that you learn in Catholic school or anywhere else in the church,”  said Conor Lamb, who is running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district. This was his response to a question about whether he would vote for a bill to ban late-term abortions after five months of pregnancy.
Hard to Stand When You Haven't a Spine
  Terminology aside, is Lamb really suggesting that the Catholic Church is not pro-life or that it sees no use for pro-life laws? In either case, he ought to go back to Catholic school — and we know just the teachers to educate him on the responsibility of being a public servant faithful to the teachings of the Church he claims to be a part of.
First is Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., who recently issued a much-needed corrective to Illinois senator Dick Durbin, telling him in no uncertain terms not to present himself for Holy Communion until he repents of his support for late-term abortion. Sadly, Durbin used to be pro-life and has abandoned those principles.
Second is Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who at the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast spoke truth to the those attending in Washington, D.C., about the war being waged against our smallest brothers and sisters when she said, “The greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”

Drop the mic moment at the end of the article:

Lamb’s position is not “separation of church and state” — it’s separation of politician and spine. It’s the maneuver of a man who dares not offend the Democratic party, which is increasingly united in lock step with the abortion lobby. If he won’t learn from giants of his own Catholic faith, from science and reason, or from the young survivors of America’s abortion-on-demand regime, only a sound schooling by the voters will get through to him.

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Thursday, March 08, 2018

I Blame Legalized Pot

Five years into Francis’ papacy, the vast majority of U.S. Catholics continue to have a favorable opinion of the Argentinian pontiff, and most say he represents a major – and positive – change for the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, a new Pew Research Center survey finds signs of growing discontent with Francis among Catholics on the political right, with increasing shares of Catholic Republicans saying they view Francis unfavorably, and that they think he is too liberal and naïve.


Currently, 84% of American Catholics say they have a “favorable” view of Pope Francis, which is virtually identical to the share who expressed a positive view of the pope after the first year of his pontificate. Furthermore, roughly nine-in-ten U.S. Catholics describe Pope Francis as “compassionate” and “humble.” And though the share of Catholics in the U.S. who think Pope Francis represents a “major change” for the better is down from a high point in 2015, nearly six-in-ten still express this view.
But while Francis remains quite popular, there are signs that American Catholics are less enamored with him than was once the case. For instance, the share of American Catholics who say Pope Francis is “too liberal” has jumped 15 percentage points between 2015 and today, from 19% to 34%. And about a quarter of U.S. Catholics (24%) now say he is naïve, up from 15% in 2015.

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San Francisco Residents are Disrespectful, Misleading, and Racist

ACI Prensa).- California missionary St. Junipero Serra will be among the figures removed from a prominent location near San Francisco City Hall after the city’s art commission unanimously voted to remove the statue March 5.

The bronze statue, titled “Early Days,” shows three figures: a Native American sitting at the feet of English seafarer Francis Drake and of Serra, the eighteenth-century Spanish missionary who founded the missions at the center of many Californian cities.
St. Junipero’s statue is shown bending down, looking at the Native American with his palm facing downward. The statue’s other arm is stretched skyward, with a finger pointing to the heavens. 

 According to the San Francisco Examiner an arts commission memo said people had called for the statue to be removed because “the allegorical sculpture’s depiction of the degradation and genocide of Native American peoples, utilizing visual stereotypes common at the turn of the twentieth century to depict all Native Americans which are now universally viewed as disrespectful, misleading, and racist.”

Meanwhile, at City Hall..... 



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Dick Durbin and Nancy Pelosi's Irish equivalent

The Catholic Church is “an empire of misogyny” and must reform its traditionalist outlook if it wants to stay relevant, former(self-proclaimed Catholic) Irish President Mary McAleese has claimed.
McAleese, who led Ireland from 1997 to 2011, was speaking in Rome, Italy, ahead of the Voices of Faith conference, the BBC reported.


The meeting—taking place on International Women's Day—invites prominent Catholic women from around the world to speak at the conference, and campaigns for greater inclusion of the church’s female members within its leadership.

 “The Catholic Church is one of the last great bastions of misogyny,” McAleese said. “It's an empire of misogyny.”

 She also warned that church doctrine must change to stay current, suggesting that a hierarchy that is “homophobic and anti-abortion is not the church of the future.” McAleese, whose son is gay, has campaigned for same-sex rights in the Catholic church for 40 years, Irish broadcaster RTE said.

 I'm sure Pope Francis finds nothing wrong with this. Oh....wait:

Pope Francis has refused to attend the Voices of Faith meeting or to celebrate mass for those attending. Vatican Radio has also censored its reports on the group’s demands for gender equality.
 
Unlike in previous years, the 2018 Voices of Faith event will not be held in the Vatican because church authorities did not approve its list of speakers. The BBC reported that senior church officials disagreed with the inclusion of a woman who campaigns for lesbian and gay Catholic rights in Uganda, and a British Catholic theology professor. McAleese’s invitation to speak was also opposed by the Vatican.

U.S. cardinal Kevin Farrell, who was born in Ireland and is a senior Vatican official, said it was “not appropriate” for the women to be taking part in the conference. He was also reportedly the official that blocked McAleese's inclusion in the list of speakers for the event.
Pope Francis has said he supports greater inclusion of women in top Vatican jobs, but is not in favor of allowing women to be ordained as priests. McAleese dismissed opposition to female priests as “codology dressed up as theology.”

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Wednesday, March 07, 2018

Paul: Apostle of Christ - Opens March 23






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Tuesday, March 06, 2018

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

The World Meeting of Families will be held in Dublin from Aug. 22-26, 2018 with the theme “The Gospel of the Family, Joy for the World.” Pope Francis will participate in the event, marking the first time in nearly 40 years that a pope has been present in the country.
According to Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, the papal visit will be treated as a State visit, which will “be given the full support of the State in terms of protocol, security and any other matters.”

Of course, it didn't take long for the social justice warriors to get into high dudgeon: 



Ahead of the upcoming World Meeting of Families in Ireland this August, a government minister has warned that the event should not express “intolerance” of LGBT groups or same-sex couples.
“There should be a welcome for all. And never again should public statements or remarks which seek to isolate certain families be tolerated,” said Katherine Zappone, the Irish Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, according to the Irish Times.
Zappone continued to say that she hopes the World Meeting of Families will “not be used as a platform for remarks which exclude, isolate or hurt any family.”
She criticized the absence of LGBT families in promotional literature for the Church-sponsored event, calling it a “source of serious concern,” and denounced that Ireland’s former president, Mary McAleese, was prohibited from speaking at a Vatican conference, apparently because of her stance on LGBT issues. 

She was born in America, is openly lesbian, and has a "wife". She attended Boston College (you KNEW there were going to be Jesuits involved) and the Catholic University of America, which claims to be "faithfully Catholic".


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Friday, March 02, 2018

All Our Problems WIll Be Solved When Priests Are Allowed to Marry

.- A married Catholic priest in the Indianapolis archdiocese faces several criminal domestic violence charges after he allegedly assaulted his wife in September 2017.
The priest serves the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, a special church jurisdiction set up for Anglicans who wished to enter the Catholic Church, often as a group, while retaining many of their customs. Because they come from the Anglican tradition, some priests in the ordinariate are married.
The ordinariate said in a statement that it is “committed to collaborating with authorities to ensure justice is provided for all concerned, and affirms the Catholic Church’s clear teaching that domestic violence is never justified,” the Indianapolis television station FOX59 reports.
He Coulda Been Somebody

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It Depends on What the Meaning of Is Is

.- The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops has suggested churches in Texas sever ties with pro-life group Texas Right to Life, encouraging Catholic to volunteer with other pro-life groups in the state.
The TCCB’s advisory was read after Masses and printed in church bulletins in the Diocese of Fort Worth last Sunday. Texas Right to Life is the state affiliate of National Right to Life.
The TCCB urged in a parish advisory notice that Catholics not be involved with Texas Right to Life’s activities and that parishes not allow the organization to use their sites for events.
So what did the Texas Right To Life do that so upset the bishops? The CATHOLIC bishops?
The TCCB cited Texas Right to Life’s opposition to incremental pro-life reforms, such as laws that restrict certain types of abortion rather than outlaw the act entirely, and mentioned “conflicts on end-of-life reform” and issues with the organization’s voter guide among their concerns about the organization.
Apparently,they took that whole "Right To Life" thing a little too literally.

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Thursday, March 01, 2018

Time To Start Baking a Cake With a File In It Because SOMEONE is Going To Jail



Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, and leader of the Anglican Church in England, said yesterday that Islamic rules are incompatible with Britain’s laws, which have developed over 500 years on the principles of a different culture.
He added that high levels of immigration from Muslim countries can “have an impact on the accepted pattern for choosing a partner, on assumed ages of maturity and sexual activity, and especially on issues of polygamy.”
Archbishop Welby’s comments, reported by Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspondent for The Daily Mail, follow the release earlier this month of a highly critical Home Office report that said all couples marrying in mosques should also have to go through a legally-binding civil marriage ceremony to shield wives from injustices under sharia.
They also reverse the position taken by his predecessor Lord Williams, who, observed Doughty, backed incorporating sharia into the British legal system. Archbishop Welby set out his reasons why sharia should not win official status in a book, Reimagining Britain.

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Islamic Outreach, Part CIV

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...


JAKARTA—Two Indonesian Christians were publicly whipped for gambling, a rare case of non-Muslims being punished here under Islamic law, as the country shifts toward a more politicized brand of the religion associated with the Middle East.
Laughing and taking photos while thinking about "dialogue"

The man and woman are residents of Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra island, a province that has imposed strict Shariah law. They were whipped at least six times each on Tuesday by a robed man wearing a mask and wielding a rattan cane. Hundreds of onlookers jeered them as the punishment was carried out on a stage next to a mosque in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

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