Tough Question

 

A Deal With Devil

 The Biden administration announced that American taxpayers will now fund the killing of unborn babies not just in Mexico – but around the world.

“It will be our policy to support women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in the United States, as well as globally,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci during his remarks at the World Health Organization Executive Board Meeting last week.

Pro-life advocacy groups were rightfully disgusted by the president's heinous actions.President Biden’s memo rescinding the so-called “Mexico City policy” on the eve of this year’s March for Life, “is a deeply disturbing move, especially when the president says he wants national unity,” tweeted Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Defense and Education Fund.

"President Biden is returning to the pro-abortion policies of Barack Obama and forcing taxpayers back into a partnership with the overseas abortion industry," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

"The abortion industry is well known for relentlessly pursuing taxpayer dollars -- and will exploit any opportunity to grab US taxpayer money. With this action, President Biden is throwing aside any notion of uniting or 'healing' America's political division and is demonstrating that 'unity' means conformity to the goals and priorities of the Left," Perkins added.

I don't blame President Biden. I blame Never Trump Republicans.I blame "woke" Evangelical Christians including the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and liberal Catholics. They knew what would happen if the Democrats gained power. But the Never Trump Evangelicals were so triggered by the former president's Twitter feed, they made a deal with the Devil.

The "Orange Man Bad" crowd was willing to sacrifice the lives of unborn babies so long as it meant the political destruction of Donald Trump. 

Mission accomplished.

On Sunday, many of those "woke" evangelicals will ask God on bended knee to bless our nation. They ought to be asking for God for His mercy and forgiveness.

You Can't Fix Stupid

 Washington D.C., Jan 27, 2021 / 01:30 pm MT (CNA).- In an interview discussing his recent admonition of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco emphasized the need for Catholics to recover the sense of worthiness to receive Holy Communion.

“Catholics no longer understand the idea of worthiness to receive Communion. It’s just seen as a sort of a token gesture of welcome and belonging,” Cordileone told EWTN Pro-Life Weekly in an interview that will air on Thursday night.

The archbishop was addressing the topic of denial of Holy Communion to someone “for the sake of their soul.” He said that Catholics must first understand the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist in order to grasp the significance of the denial of Holy Communion to a public figure.

“For that kind of action [denial of Communion] to make sense to a lot of people, we need to reclaim this sense of what it means to receive [Communion],” Cordileone said, pointing to a lack of belief in the Real Presence of the Eucharist among Catholics.

“What are you really saying when you receive Communion? To me, it goes hand-in-hand with this decline in the belief of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist,” he said.

Archbishop Cordileone was explaining to EWTN his Jan. 21 statement to Speaker Pelosi, a Catholic who hails from the San Francisco archdiocese.

Noted Theologian Nancy Pelosi

In that statement, Cordileone had said that “No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion,” referring to Pelosi’s public support in Congress for legal abortion.

Pelosi, on a Jan. 18 podcast with former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, had referred to the issue of abortion as “a woman’s right to choose” and said that Catholics should “love contraception” for reducing the abortion rate.

The John Corapi of 2021

 I loved his blog. But when the Bishop calls you a liar, maybe it IS time to go. And what is this "AS WELL" statement in the article?

A  conservative Madison priest and blogger has left the Madison Catholic Diocese after performing live-streamed exorcisms aimed at rooting out what he, former President Donald Trump and other Trump supporters have falsely claimed was widespread fraud in the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Rev. John Zuhlsdorf also claimed he had permission to conduct the exorcisms from Madison Catholic Diocese Bishop Donald Hying — an assertion Hying has said is false as well. The exorcisms have since been removed from YouTube. The National Catholic Reporter earlier reported on Zuhlsdorf's departure.

In a statement Jan. 14, the diocese said it and Zuhlsdorf had reached "a mutual decision" for Zuhlsdorf to leave.

"The Reverend Zuhlsdorf, who is in good canonical standing, will relocate from the Diocese of Madison to pursue other opportunities," the statement said. "The Bishop of Madison is grateful to the Reverend Zuhlsdorf for his faithful support of the diocese’s seminarians and priests, thanks him for his many years of steadfast ministry serving the diocese, and wishes him the best in his future endeavors.”

Read the Whole Thing (Just click on the link)

 In a recent article for Crisis, Father Dwight Longenecker voiced his frustration with trying to unify his parish in the midst of what seems like national disintegration. He is right to be concerned, because as the Church goes, so goes the nation (and the world). The odd thing is that the Church had, in her liturgy, a strong and unifying force some 60 years ago. Yet as the Church’s liturgy has splintered—licitly and illicitly—over the last 60 years, so have the people of the Church. I would suggest, as a means of unifying parishes and Churches, the promotion of the Traditional Latin Mass. 

Putting aside, if possible, the strict theology between the Traditional Latin Mass and the Ordinary Form (the form currently in widespread usage throughout the Church and which is said in the vernacular language), the change in the form of the Mass has divided us in three ways: by language, by interest, and by “personality.” The Mass in the vernacular automatically splinters a parish into linguistic groups. I am not blaming any group for this; if those whose native language is “A” can have Mass in their language, it is natural—and indeed just—that those whose native language is “B” should have Mass in their own language. And there is the problem; their own Mass. We have sanctioned, perhaps promoted, division. 

Pope Joebama

 Since Joe Biden’s inauguration, the rhetorical tongue bath he’s received in the press has been a sight to behold. I’m not sure it tops Barack Obama’s first few days on the job, but it’s darn close, and it’s the polar opposite of the treatment Donald Trump was privy to.

Even still, this seems a bit excessive, right?

President Biden is perhaps the most religiously observant commander in chief in half a century. A different, more liberal Christianity grounds his life and his policies. https://t.co/G27AWibfSe

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 23, 2021

Contrary to your typical beltway journalist’s assumptions, simply going to church does not make you religiously observant. An atheist can go sit on a pew every week. So can a dog if they were so inclined. That doesn’t mean they are actually observing the religion they claim to be a part of. Biden is not a Catholic in any real sense of the word. He’s a typical liberal that picks and chooses what he likes like from Christianity is some kind of buffet. The church is more of a social club than fits one’s political sensibilities than it is an organization of infallible truth in God. Biden is free to be that kind of “Christian,” but he’s not free to pretend he’s devout or observant when he’s clearly not.

Further, the baseline assertion by the Times is false anyway. George W. Bush not only went to church, he also held to the actual teachings of Christianity far more devoutly than Joe Biden. By every definition, he was more observant than Biden. Last I checked, his two terms were not over 50 years ago.

No matter, Biden is also like the Pope.

He’s been President for 3 days and the media has already crowned him the new pope

Absolutely mind blowing pic.twitter.com/ZrswxL50FM

— The Dank Knight 🦇 (@capeandcowell) January 24, 2021

 

Look, I’m not a fan of the latest Pope, nor am I a Catholic so my thoughts on the entire idea of such an office will differ from others. Regardless, I am confident that the Pope has about as much in common with Joe Biden as I do with Bernie Sanders. Yes, there are environmental and economic issues with which a lot of Catholics (and non-Catholics) disagree with the Pope on, but he does still affirm life, biological realties, and traditional marriage, among other long-standing teachings of the church. Biden can’t even hold to the most basic of tenants of his religion. That doesn’t make it him observant. It makes him a heretic if you want to get technical. There is no such thing as “liberal” Christianity.

I’m not a fan of having to critique someone’s else’s religion in this setting. RedState is a political website after all, but when the media (and Biden himself) so blatantly try to gaslight everyone in this way, it deserves a response. Biden may wake up on Sunday and listen to a sermon, but his actions and policy positions clearly show he’s not taking much of what he hears to heart. That’s his right in a free country, but no one should pretend he’s anything more than what he is.

I Don't Know Why They Are Protesting - "Catholic" Joe Biden is Going To Give Them Everything They Want

Eight protestors? That's more than attend our daily Masses. Actually, last Friday's Mass at St. Joseph drew about 10 people.

Denver Newsroom, Jan 22, 2021 / 05:06 pm MT (CNA).- About eight pro-abortion protesters disrupted the Respect Life Mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in downtown Columbus Friday, where Bishop Robert Brennan was presiding at an event marking the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

“Two, four, six, eight, this church teaches hate,” the protesters shouted, saying that abortion rights were under attack.

“Fund abortion, not cops,” said one of their signs. “Abortion on Demand. End Hyde Now,” said another, apparently referring to the Hyde Amendment, which bans most federal funding for abortion. At least two protesters wore vests that read “clinic escort” on the back.

Police and church officials escorted the protestors outside, where some protesters appeared to make obscene gestures at them, according to video from The Columbus Dispatch.

Friday marked the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which mandated permissive abortion laws nationwide.

The Anti-Catholics

The Biden presidency is already exposing fissures within the Church. On inauguration day, his Catholic apologists bathed him in praise and took bitter issue with Archbishop José Gomez for daring to criticize his anti-Catholic stances. Gomez, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, issued a tame statement, offering prayers and good wishes while noting, “Our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils.” But that was too much for Cardinal Blase Cupich, who declared Gomez’s statement “ill-considered.”

Other members of the bloc of bishops aligned most closely with Pope Francis also moved to undermine Gomez’s statement. San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy, building on the pope’s criticism-free approach to Biden, wrote,

Pope Francis’ message to President Biden fundamentally speaks to him in his humanity, a man of Catholic faith striving to serve his nation and his God. This is how we, the bishops of the United States, should encourage our new President: by entering into a relationship of dialogue, not judgment; collaboration, not isolation; truth in charity, not harshness.

Apart from the criticism of Gomez, Biden enjoyed almost a Catholic coronation on inauguration day. It began with a Mass in his honor at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, where the homilist, Jesuit Father Kevin O’Brien, burbled, “We have much to look forward to as a country because of your and Kamala Harris’ leadership.”

By the end of that day, Biden had already signed an executive order promoting transgenderism, the opening shot in what is sure to be the most anti-Catholic presidency ever. In his inaugural address, he had the gall to quote St. Augustine, whose warnings about the decadent “city of man” perfectly apply to Joe Biden’s vision for America. St. Augustine taught that realizing the common good requires adherence to the natural moral law. Joe Biden’s agenda is to reject the natural moral law in favor of a woke relativism that reflects nothing more than the caprice of powerful elites.

Cupich and company won’t abide any criticism of Biden’s heretical Catholicism for the simple reason that they share much of it. Indeed, he is a product of their decades-long project to reduce Catholicism to left-wing politics and modernist theology. They see in his presidency an opportunity to advance that project at the expense of the traditional Catholics whom they dislike.

It is a measure of the success of that project that secularists and leftists no longer fear a Catholic in the presidency. In the 1960s, they warned John F. Kennedy not to let the Vatican influence his politics. Now they clamor for Vatican influence on presidential politics. In the New Yorker, Paul Elie rhapsodizes,

Biden could draw on Francis’s critique of globalized society to move the emboldened Democratic majorities in Congress emphatically leftward. He could cite the vastly popular Pope to help make the case for regular payments to pandemic-stricken families (a form of basic income), tax and banking reform, a national minimum-wage increase, debt forgiveness, and aggressive action on climate change.

 Under Pope Benedict XVI, almost a hundred bishops objected to Notre Dame conferring an honorary degree upon Barack Obama. But few spoke up in 2016 after Notre Dame gave Biden the Laetare award, a reflection of the changed atmosphere under Pope Francis. Today, the criticism of Biden grows even fainter, and if the bishops closest to Pope Francis get their way, it won’t exist at all.

 

The Marsupialia Musicalia sing diei duri nox (A Hard Days Night)

I'm Sure Bishop Wilton Gregory Will Tell Her She is Excommunicated Soon. HAHAHAHAH!

 Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2021 / 05:00 am MT (CNA).- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused pro-lifers of putting their opposition to abortion over the tenets of democracy in a recent appearance on former Sen. Hillary Clinton’s podcast. 

“I think that Donald Trump is president because of the issue of a woman’s right to choose,” Pelosi said on the Jan. 18 episode of “You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton,” blaming pro-life voters for boosting Trump into office. 

“When you take the greed of those who want their tax cuts, that’s probably a small number [of voters], but nonetheless a number,” said Pelosi. Conversely, “then you take the abortion issue--and many of these people are very good people; that’s just their point of view. But they were willing to sell the whole democracy down the river for that one issue.”

Pelosi said that that support for Trump by pro-life religious voters is an issue that “gives me great grief as a Catholic.”

Noted Theologian Nancy Pelosi

Where does the Church stand on this?

Promoting Abortion

Those Catholics who publicly announce their denial that abortion is always gravely immoral, or who publicly promote abortion, or who publicly argue in favor of legalized abortion, also commit a mortal sin and also incur a sentence of automatic excommunication.

This sentence of excommunication applies to Catholics who are politicians, as well as to those Catholics who are political commentators, or public speakers, or who write or otherwise publicly communicate their erroneous view that abortion can be morally-acceptable or that abortion should be legal. This sentence of excommunication also certainly applies to those Catholics who claim to be theologians or Biblical scholars, but who believe or teach that abortion is not always gravely immoral.

Those Catholics who promote abortion are automatically excommunicated for two reasons. First, they have fallen into the sin of heresy by believing that abortion is not always gravely immoral (canons 751 and 1364). Second, these Catholics are providing substantial assistance for women to obtain abortions by influencing public policy to make abortions legal, and to keep abortions legal, and to broaden access to abortion. Those who provide such substantial assistance commit a mortal sin and incur a sentence of automatic excommunication (canon 1398).

WHAT? No Noted Theologian Nancy Pelosi?

I give this Executive Order one week before Biden cancels it.

 Washington D.C., Jan 18, 2021 / 03:35 pm MT (CNA).- The National Garden of American Heroes will include statues of many notable Catholic figures, including five saints and numerous people who are on the path to sainthood.

President Donald Trump announced in an executive order Jan. 18 that a garden will be built to “reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism,” and to serve as a response to the spate of vandalism on statues during the summer of 2020.

“On (the National Garden’s) grounds, the devastation and discord of this moment will be overcome with abiding love of country and lasting patriotism,” said Trump. “America is responding to the tragic toppling of monuments to our founding generation and the giants of our past by commencing a new national project for their restoration, veneration, and celebration.”

The executive order included a list of names who will be featured in the park; Trump referred to these figures as people who embody “the American spirit of daring and defiance, excellence and adventure, courage and confidence, loyalty and love.”

“Astounding the world by the sheer power of their example, each one of them has contributed indispensably to America’s noble history, the best chapters of which are still to come,” said Trump.

Among those who will be memorialized in the National Garden of American Heroes include St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint; St. Katharine Drexel, the first born-U.S. citizen to be canonized; St. John Neumann; and St. Junipero Serra, the first saint canonized on U.S. soil.

Ven. Fulton Sheen and Ven. Augustus Tolton, one of the first black priests in the United States, as well as Servant of God Dorothy Day, will be honored.

Ven. Fulton Sheen

Archbishop John Carroll, S.J., the first Catholic archbishop in the United States, will also be included, as will March for Life founder Nellie Gray, poet and activist Fr. Thomas Merton, OCSO, and Fr. John P. Washington, a US Army chaplain who died helping save soldiers on the sinking Dorchester during World War II.

The first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, is one of the 17 presidents who will be featured in the National Garden. Other Catholic political figures who will be honored include Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence; William F. Buckley; 20th century playwright and Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce; and Antonin Scalia.

Catholic athletes who will be enshrined in the garden include Kobe Bryant, Roberto Clemente, Vince Lombardi, Babe Ruth, and Jim Thorpe.

Not everyone on the list was a U.S. citizen, or even lived in what is now the United States. Christopher Columbus, statues of whom were frequently targeted over the summer of 2020, is set to be honored in the National Garden of American heroes.

“The National Garden will feature a roll call of heroes who deserve honor, recognition, and lasting tribute because of the battles they won, the ideas they championed, the diseases they cured, the lives they saved, the heights they achieved, and the hope they passed down to all of us — that united as one American people trusting in God, there is no challenge that cannot be overcome and no dream that is beyond our reach,” said Trump in the executive order.

BAPTIZED, Not PRACTICING

 Washington D.C., Jan 19, 2021 / 10:45 am MT (CNA).- President-elect Joe Biden invited both Democratic and Republican congressional leaders to attend a church service with him on Wednesday morning ahead of his inauguration, Punchbowl News reported on Tuesday. 

Noted Theologian Nancy Pelosi

The service will take place at the Catholic Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in downtown Washington. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are all expected to attend. 

Biden will be just the second baptized Catholic to serve as president of the United States, preceded only by John F. Kennedy. Pelosi herself is also a baptized Catholic. 

How in the World Does This Guy Get to be a BISHOP?

 

CNA Staff, Jan 20, 2021 / 05:04 pm MT (CNA).- Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, used Twitter to issue a scathing criticism of the USCCB’s official statement on the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

In his four-part Twitter thread on Wednesday, Cardinal Cupich said that “the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued an ill-considered statement on the day of President Biden’s inauguration. Aside from the fact that there is seemingly no precedent for doing so, the statement, critical of President Biden, came as a surprise to many bishops, who received it just hours before it was released.”

Three different bishops speaking on background to CNA said they were aware that Cardinal Cupich wanted a more supportive, clearly pro-Biden statement, and that he spent most of Wednesday trying to get the support of other bishops to come up with an alternative statement.

Cupich says he wats to encourage "dialogue". With whom, exactly? This guy...

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 19, 2021 / 11:00 am MT (CNA).- President-elect Joe Biden is expected to promptly roll back pro-life policies the Trump administration put in place, NBC News reported on Monday. 

Biden, who will become the second Roman Catholic president when he is sworn in to office on Jan. 20, is believed to be seeking to repeal the Trump administration’s Protect Life Rule and the expanded Mexico City Policy.

The Protect Life Rule prevents organizations which perform or refer for abortions from receiving Title X family planning funds. It effectively stripped Planned Parenthood of approximately $60 million annually in federal funding. 

The Mexico City Policy prohibits federal funding of international non-governmental organizations which promote abortion as a method of family planning.

Biden is also expected to address the contraceptive mandate, and he has previously pledged to repeal the Hyde Amendment and codify Roe v. Wade into law; the Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of federal funding for elective abortions in Medicaid. 

Just When You Think Things Can't Get Dumber...

 

Vatican City, Jan 12, 2021 / 09:00 am MT (CNA).- The Vatican gave guidance Tuesday about how priests can distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published a note Jan. 12, directing priests to say the formula for distributing the ashes once to everyone present, rather than to each person.

The priest “addresses all those present and only once says the formula as it appears in the Roman Missal, applying it to all in general: ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel,’ or ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,’” the note said.

It continued: “The priest then cleanses his hands, puts on a face mask and distributes the ashes to those who come to him or, if appropriate, he goes to those who are standing in their places. The Priest takes the ashes and sprinkles them on the head of each one without saying anything.”

The note was signed by the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and its secretary, Archbishop Arthur Roche.

Ash Wednesday falls on Feb. 17 this year.

In 2020, the divine worship congregation put out various instructions for priests on administering the sacraments and offering Mass during the coronavirus pandemic, including for the celebration of Easter, which occurred when many countries were in lockdown and public liturgies were not permitted.

 

I have a better idea :

For Our Parishes, Change "Zoom" to "Facebook"

 

U.S.—Theologians around the country have finally come forward to publish their findings on church attendance over the internet.

"Yes, faithful church attendance over Zoom still counts," said theologian Corby Mcgillicutty of Emory University. "But it will only allow you access to heaven over Zoom. Don't worry though-- it's basically the same thing. Heaven isn't a building! It's about being with the people you love, worshipping forever! You can totally do that over Zoom."

Experts say that faithful Zoom church attenders will be treated to all the same great worship, scenic views, and golden mansions that in-person Heaven attendees enjoy, but will simply have to access them from the comfort of their own home computer or cellular device. "Sounds super convenient!" said one faithful church attendee. 

Unfortunately, initial reports indicate the 5G connection beyond the Pearly Gates is a little spotty. "We're still working on it," said one archangel. "We asked China to help us build a few more towers up here so we'll see how that goes."

Johnny (Francis) On The Spot!

 

Florence, Italy, Jan 10, 2021 / 03:01 pm MT (CNA).- The Archbishop of Florence has said no new students have entered his diocesan seminary this year, calling the low number of priestly vocations a “wound” in his episcopate.

Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, who has led the Archdiocese of Florence since 2008, said in 2009 he ordained seven men as priests for the diocese, while this year he will ordain one man, a member of the Neocatechumenal Way. In 2020 there were no ordinations.

“I consider it one of the biggest wounds of my episcopate,” Betori said in a video press conference last month. This “is a truly tragic situation.”

The 73-year-old cardinal said he believes the low number of men entering the seminary in his diocese is part of a larger vocational crisis that also includes the sacrament of marriage.

 

But Not To Worry! Pope Francis is on the case!

 

 
Vatican City, Jan 10, 2021 / 05:30 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis prayed Sunday for the United States, asking the Immaculate Virgin Mary to help foster a “culture of encounter” after the recent violence at the U.S. Capitol Building.

ASK FATHER: What do we do if the upcoming administration outlaws Mass and the sacraments?

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

What are the best ways for the laity to remain in a state of grace should the Holy Mass and the sacraments eventually be outlawed by the upcoming Biden/Harris administration?

The simple answer, which isn’t simple at all, is “Don’t commit any mortal sins.”

 

Oh, and this :

It might be a good idea for people to start collecting all the things they would need for Mass should a priest be able to come around occasionally.   Have everything he needs so that he doesn’t have to bring it.   Perhaps purchase a portable Mass kit and prepare a suitable space for Mass.  Of course this also means forming a network of like minded Catholics and also supporting a priest or two.   I’d start working on networking like that anyway.

 

Available on Amazon (of course).

 

What's Italian For "Butt Out"?

Vatican City, Jan 9, 2021 / 09:51 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis has said he was surprised by the news of the incursion of pro-Donald Trump protestors into the U.S. Capitol Building this week, and has encouraged people to learn from the event in order to heal.

“I was astonished, because they are a people so disciplined in democracy, right? But it’s a reality,” the pope said in a video clip published to the website of the Italian news program TgCom24 on Jan. 9.

“Something isn’t working,” Francis continued. With “people taking a path against the community, against democracy, against the common good. Thanks be to God that this has broken out and there was a chance to see it well so that now you can try and heal it. Yes, this must be condemned, this movement…”

 

 

Set the Way-Back Machine to 2019!

Pope Francis defended the Black Lives Matter protests that unfolded in the wake of George Floyd’s death while denouncing those protesting the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

In a new book, “Let Us Dream,” the Roman pontiff decried police brutality as an affront to human dignity and encouraged people to march in opposition.

 “Abuse is a gross violation of human dignity that we cannot allow and which we must continue to struggle against,” he wrote, as reported by Fox News.

Regarding the protests against the COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe and elsewhere, Pope Francis said the people were striking against “measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom!”

The Holy Father got even more direct by comparing the two groups of people, failing to note that the Black Lives Matter protests gave way to riots and looting in the streets. Anti-lockdown protests do not appear to sparked similar widespread violence, at least in the United States.

Pot...Meet Kettle

 

Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2021 / 05:57 pm MT (CNA).- Catholic bishops strongly condemned pro-Donald Trump protesters' incursion that penetrated the Capitol Building Wednesday as Congress debated the certification of the presidential election results, leading to the evacuation of lawmakers and the deadly shooting of one protester by law enforcement.

“I join people of good will in condemning the violence today at the United States Capitol,” Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Jan. 6. “This is not who we are as Americans. I am praying for members of Congress and Capitol staff and for the police and all those working to restore order and public safety.”

What did they have to say about Black Lives Matter?

 

July 17, 2020 (Crisis) — The first step on the way to solving a problem is to understand what the problem is. Consequently, we can’t look to America’s bishops to offer solutions to our nation’s most pressing problem because most of them simply don’t get it.

The biggest problem we currently face is an attempt to overthrow our country’s system of government. In the words of one Black Lives Matter leader, we “should burn down this system and replace it.” Replace it with what? Well, nobody knows for sure. But judging by the fact that leftists, Marxists, anarchists, and nihilists are heavily involved in the movement, the “replacement” society won’t be a pleasant one.

It’s not only the United States that the protesters wish to take down, but also the Western Christian tradition upon which American society was built. Shaun King, a far-left activist and Black Lives Matter supporter with a large following, tweeted that “all murals and stained-glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down. They are a gross form of white supremacy. Created as tools of oppression. Racist propaganda.” So beneath the “black lives matter” hype, the main agenda is still, “Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Western civ has got to go!”

But apparently many bishops haven’t been paying attention. They seem to believe that the current crisis is all about racism. They seem to think that if only we can overcome the sin of racism, the nation will heal. To them it’s the sixties all over again and this is their chance to show their solidarity with the civil rights marchers of yore. Only, the current protests aren’t led by people whose primary interest is ensuring civil rights — but, rather, by people who want to bring down the system that guarantees civil rights.

Don't Be a Pig

 

The Hole in the Sand is Where the Cardinal's Head Was

 I've been saying for years this guy was a pox on the Church and Priesthood, and Cupich is FINALLY doing something about it.

Chicago, Ill., Jan 5, 2021 / 08:55 pm MT (CNA).- The outspoken activist Chicago priest Father Michael Pfleger faces an allegation that he sexually abused a minor over 40 years ago, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago has said, adding that the claims have not been proven true or false and are under investigation.

Cardinal Cupich shared what he said was “difficult news” in a Jan. 5 message to members of Saint Sabina Church and the Saint Sabina Academy. Pfleger has served as a priest at the southside Chicago church since 1983 and is presently described as its senior pastor.

“In keeping with our child protection policies, I have asked Father Pfleger to step aside from ministry following receipt by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review of an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor more than 40 years ago. Allegations are claims that have not been proven as true or false. Therefore, guilt or innocence should not be assumed.”

“Father Pfleger has agreed to cooperate fully with my request and will live away from the parish while this matter is investigated,” said Cupich.

Cupich’s Jan. 5 message on the allegation against Pfleger said the Chicago archdiocese followed its child protection policies and reported the allegation to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Cook County State’s Attorney.

“The person making the allegation has been offered the services of our Victim Assistance Ministry and the archdiocese has begun its investigation,” the cardinal said, adding “Please know that you are in my prayers. We will do our best to keep you informed of developments as they occur.”

The priest’s biography on the Saint Sabina Church website said that since 1968 he has lived and ministered in the African-American community on the west and south sides of Chicago. He worked two summers in a Native American community in Oklahoma, and as a seminarian he interned at Cook County Jail and at Chicago’s Precious Blood Church.

He adopted an eight-year-old boy in 1981 and adopted another boy in 1992. In 1997, he became foster father to Jarvis Franklin, who was killed in 1998 in the crossfire of gang shooting.

It's a Mystery, Right?

 

 

CNA Staff, Jan 1, 2021 / 10:42 pm MT (CNA).- A Catholic bishop in Nigeria, who was kidnapped on Sunday, has been released unharmed, according to the Archdiocese of Owerri.

The diocese, which is in southeastern Nigeria, announced in a social media post late on Jan. 1 that Bishop Moses Chikwe and his driver, Ndubuisi Robert, had been released by their abductors “unhurt and without ransom.”

“More details to come,” the announcement continued. “To GOD be the glory.” The post was accompanied by a photo, with the words “welcome back our beloved Bishop, God heard [the] prayers of his people.”

Chikwe, the auxiliary bishop of Owerri archdiocese, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on the evening of Sunday, Dec. 27, in Owerri, the capital of Imo State in southeastern Nigeria.

The website of the Nigerian newspaper The Sun reported that the bishop was kidnapped “alongside his driver in his official car” and that the vehicle “was later returned to Assumpta roundabout, while the occupants were believed to have been taken to an unknown destination.”

 

Let's ask our C.I.A.

 What is the religious make up of Nigeria? 

 Muslim 53.5%, Roman Catholic 10.6%

Any Terrorists?

 Boko Haram; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham – West Africa; Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis-Sudan (Ansaru) (2020)

Shouldn't That Be a Dixie Cup?

 

 LONDON––Speaking to an assembly of Catholic priests in London yesterday, Pastor of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in nearby Chigwell, England Fr. Timothy Rooney announced yesterday that he would be transforming his church into a more eco-friendly environment, and encouraged those gathered to follow his lead. “Parishioners considering our churches as a place to pray will ask about our green initiatives. It is important for us to reassure them that we are pursuing practices for a greener environment,” Rooney said, as he pulled out the new biodegradable chalice he would be using for Mass. “Gone are the days when we used precious metals for chalices. Just imagine how many wasted, jeweled chalices litter and pollute the earth ever since we switched to glass chalices. It’s sickening. We are essentially sending a mixed signal every time we say Mass using a precious metal. We’re saying, ‘Welcome and thank you for coming, Jesus…and now behold as we destroy your earth.'” But biodegradable chalices aren’t the only “green” religious supplies being used at St. Phillip Neri Catholic Church. Rooney went on to explain that he would be replacing all religious images with with the recycling symbol, or an image of the earth with the word Environment written beneath it. “The fact is, everyone gets the point that Jesus died for us. But people obviously aren’t getting the point that this earth is dying for us as well. Must everyone or everything die to prove their love for us?”