Many priests today encourage (or enable) the laity to live in a state of spiritual ruin

Pope John Paul II, in his Encyclical Letter Dominum et Vivificantem, No. 46, says that: "..whoever rejects the Spirit and the Blood remains in 'dead works,' in sin. And the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit consists precisely in the radical refusal to accept this forgiveness, of which he is the intimate giver and which presupposes the genuine conversion which he brings about in the conscience. If Jesus says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven either in this life or in the next, it is because this 'non-forgiveness' is linked, as to its cause, to 'non-repentance,' in other words to the radical refusal to be converted. This means the refusal to come to the sources of Redemption, which nevertheless remain "always" open in the economy of salvation in which the mission of the Holy Spirit is accomplished. The Spirit has infinite power to draw from these sources: "he will take what is mine," Jesus said. In this way he brings to completion in human souls the work of the Redemption accomplished by Christ, and distributes its fruits. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then, is the sin committed by the person who claims to have a 'right' to persist in evil-in any sin at all-and who thus rejects Redemption. One closes oneself up in sin, thus making impossible one's conversion, and consequently the remission of sins, which one considers not essential or not important for one's life. This is a state of spiritual ruin, because blasphemy against the Holy Spirit does not allow one to escape from one's self-imposed imprisonment and open oneself to the divine sources of the purification of consciences and of the remission of sins."

Many who believe themselves to be Catholic accept the distorted notion that they may do whatever they desire, satisfying their every appetite, addiction and fetish and that the Merciful God will somehow overlook their sins.  And this because their parish priest seldom speaks of sin, death, hell, purgatory or judgement.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines sin thusly:

"Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as 'an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.'" (CCC, 1849).

How are Christians to respond to sin and sinful structures? Again, the Catechism teaches:

"The duty of Christians to take part in the life of the Church impels them to act as witnesses of the Gospel and of the obligations that flow from it. This witness is a transmission of the faith in words and deeds. Witness is an act of justice that establishes the truth or makes it known. All Christians by the example of their lives and the witness of their word, wherever they live, have an obligation to manifest the new man which they have put on in Baptism and to reveal the power of the Holy Spirit by whom they were strengthened at Confirmation." (CCC, 2472).

This duty, this obligation, of the laity to "act as witnesses of the Gospel and of the obligations that flow from it," is too often misunderstood by even those within the Church who emphasize evangelizing in love but who disassociate love from truth. This is unfortunate since an authentic evangelization is always rooted in truth. There is no genuine love in evangelization without the truth. In the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador:

"A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good so that they become entrenched in their sinful state, betrays the gospel's call. A preaching that does not discomfit sinners but lulls them in their sin leaves Zebulun and Naphtali in the shadow of death.

A preaching that awakens, a preaching that enlightens -- as when a light turned on awakens and of course annoys a sleeper -- that is the preaching of Christ, calling, "wake up! Be converted!" this is the church's authentic preaching. Naturally, such preaching must meet conflict, must spoil what is miscalled prestige, must disturb, must be persecuted. It cannot get along with the powers of darkness and sin."

How serious is this obligation to speak the truth in love as witnesses of the Gospel? Again, Archbishop Romero:

"Not just purgatory but hell awaits those who could have done good & did not do it. It is the reverse of the Beati-tude that the Bible has for those who are saved, for the saints,"who could have done wrong & did not." Of those who are condemned it will be said: they could have done good & did not."

I remember some years back, at a spiritual conference which featured Catholic mystic Eileen George of Meet the Father Ministry (an apostolate which is approved by the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts), how Mrs. George publically rebuked (in a strong but loving way) two homosexual men who were in attendance. She told them (without ever having met these men before) that the Lord Jesus had revealed to her that they were living in a homosexual relationship and that He was very sad. She told these two men that they needed to repent and leave that sin behind.

How many priests today lack such courage to proclaim the truth in love?  At Our Lady Immaculate Parish in Athol, the "pastor" and his "pastoral team" have failed miserably in this regard and the parish is suffering as a result.  While Fr. Krzysztof Korcz has all the time in the world to jar pickles and write homilies in which he manages to say absolutely nothing for ten minutes, one never hears him mention the reality of sin, hell and judgement. 

And because the "pastoral team" at Our Lady Immaculate has lost the sense of sin, anyone who has the audacity to write or speak about sin and its disastruous effects will be shunned and ostracized.  This explains why I was blocked from leaving posts at the North Quabbin Catholic Community Facebook page and why several anonymous individuals - including one who refers to himself as "Dr. Lobotomy" - Deacon Linderman? - have left hate-filled comments accusing me of lacking charity for speaking plainly about sin.

While the parish has considered taking what it considers to be a more "tolerant" approach toward homosexual persons (see here), orthodox Catholics faithful to the Church's Magisterium (like myself) find no welcome.



The apostasy continues to spread. See here. Pickles anyone?

 

 

 

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The Catholic Free Press gets it wrong again

Once again, The Catholic Free Press [Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts] has demonstrated that it is not committed toward offering its readers an authentic Catholic teaching.  Writing in the June 14, 2013 edition, Fr. Conrad S. Pecevich, Pastor of St. Anne's Parish in Southborough, correctly notes that, "Time and again throughout the Gospels, Jesus chastised the religious people of his day, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, for their hasty judgmental attitudes."

So far so good.  But then Fr. Pecevich writes, "When we commit the sin of judgment, we place ourselves morally above others.  We forget that, like them, we are poor, miserable sinners who fall short of the glory of God.  Passing a judgment is passing a sentence on another."

Is Fr. Pecevich right?  Is all judging wrong? Those Catholics who believe so apparently believe that love of enemies means condoning vice and sin. In the words of Dr. Germain Grisez, one of the finest moral theologians of our time, "It might seem to follow that love must accept everyone, even enemies, just as they are, and to affirm them even in the error or sin which is present in them. But the law of love does not require indiscriminate affirmation of everything about other persons (see Saint Thomas Aquinas, S.t., 2-2, q.34, a.3). One's love must be like Jesus'. He loves sinners and brings them into communion with himself in order to overcome their error and sin. When the scribes and pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery to Jesus, he not only saves her from being stoned to death but warns her not to sin again (see John 8:3-11). In a true sense, Jesus is not judgmental, he sets aside the legalistic mentality, readily forgives sinners, does not condemn the world, and points out that those who refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness are self-condemned by the truth they violate (see John 3:16-21). But he realistically recognizes sinners as sinners and never accepts error as truth...

Similarly, if Christians' love of neighbor is genuine, it not only permits but REQUIRES THEM both to 'hold fast to what is good' and to 'hate what is evil' (Romans 12:9)."And again, according to Dr. Grisez, "Vatican II neatly formulates the prohibition against judging others" 'God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts; for that reason, he forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of anyone' (Gaudium et Spes, No. 28). This norm, however, does not preclude JUDGMENTS necessary for determining that one should try to dissuade others from committing sins or to encourage them to repent if they have sinned."

Judging isn't always sinful. It is only sinful when we judge another's interior dispositions, when we judge their soul. But we are entirely free to judge words, ideas and actions which fail to hold up when placed in the Lumen Christi (Light of Christ).Sacred Scripture, which confused souls such as Fr. Pecevich obviously do not spend enough time with, makes this abundantly clear: "should you not judge those inside the Church"? (1 Corinthians 5:12), and again: "the saints will judge the world and angels" (1 Corinthians 6:2-3), and again: "the spiritual man judges all things" (1 Corinthians 2:15), and again: "Let prophets speak and the others judge" (1 Corinthians 14:29).
This is just common sense. Our legal system is structured in such a way that when a person commits a crime, he or she is tried before a judge and sentenced (judged) if found guilty. Likewise, it is our right (and duty) to judge words, ideas and actions which are not in conformity with the Gospels or which fail to conform to the Magisterial teaching of Christ's Church and to expose these as fallacious and/or sinful. In so doing, we are not rendering a judgment against a person. We are following the teaching of the great Saint Augustine (Bishop, Father and Doctor of the Church), who said: "Interficere errorem, diligere errantem" - kill the error, love the one who errs. This killing of what is sinful or erroneous is necessary if our charity - our love of neighbor - is to be genuine. Otherwise, our love is counterfeit. It is a fraud.

Several years ago a priest from the Worcester Diocese, serving in Winchendon, affirmed a senior couple in their sin [engaging in sexual intercourse outside of marriage] and asserted that anyone who told them they are engaging in sinful activity is being judgmental and that such people will go to Hell for their judgmentalism.  See here.

I have been ostracized within the Worcester Diocese because I believe in calling sin what it is: sin.  And because I refuse to buy into the watered-down Catholicism which is in vogue at the moment.  But I stand with Our Lady of Fatima who warned that many souls go to Hell and primarily for sexual sins which are, objectively speaking, gravely sinful.

I have no interest in judging the internal guilt of individuals.  That is God's domain alone.  But that doesn't mean I must turn a blind eye to sin.  I refuse to say along with Cain: "Am I my brother's keeper?"  If I see someone rushing toward the abyss by embracing what is [objectively speaking] gravely sinful, I will do my best to warn that person because I truly love them.

If that means I will continue to be ostracized and labelled "hateful," so be it.  Like my namesake, I do not seek to be popular with men.  I serve the Lord Jesus.

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The New Paganism leads to Satanism

In his work entitled Essays of a Catholic, Hilaire Belloc predicted that, "when the gods of the New Paganism come they will not be merely insufficient, as were the gods of Greece, nor merely false; they will be evil.  One might put it in a sentence, and say that the New Paganism, foolishly expecting satisfaction, will fall, before it knows where it is, into Satanism."

Having succumbed to this New Paganism, many within the Church (priests, religious and laity) have come to resemble the demons they now serve (see here for example).  Our Lady of Fatima speaks of repentance and conversion, two ideas not at all popular in the "modern Church" today.  Today the psychotherapeutic revolution has replaced the concept of sin with guilt which is to be "cured" through therapy.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen noted that, "Under traditional Christianity [which is fast-disappearing], a man was a theological creature, an adopted son of God and a member of the Mystical Body of Christ; in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries man became a philosophical thing bound to God by some vague ties of creaturehood.  But man today is only a biological phenomenon with no other destiny than that of the worm he crushes under his heel.  Once man loses hold on the primary dogma that man has a moral end, and that his actions, thoughts and words in this life are all registered in the Book of Life, and therefore will one day determine his eternal destiny, sin becomes meaningless.  The modern mind has forgotten the dogma of man, and hence cannot avoid forgetting the morals of man, for one is the corollary of the other.  Deny that God is interested in the behavior of men and you immediately create a society in which man is uninterested in the behavior of his fellow man." (Essay entitled The Sense of Sin).

Today, in centers of learning, Holy Scripture is openly mocked.  Many of our priests and religious have lost their faith and, with a false show of scholarship, openly repudiate God's Holy Word and the Church's Tradition.  Others simply remain silent having succumbed to sins which they can no longer denounce since they practice them in secret.  Having reduced the Gospel message to mere superstition, these children of the Devil are robbing countless youth who need to be nourished "not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."  As a result, these poor youth are spiritually starved to death by the lies which proceed from the mouths of Satan's children.  Small wonder so many youth have abandoned the Faith altogether. 

Our Lord denounced the religious leaders of the Jews for doing the same thing - refusing to accept the truth and falsifying His message:

"You are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies...He who is of God hears the words of God.  The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." (John 8: 34-37).

Do not wait for the call to repentance to come from the clergy (generally speaking).  For many, not all but many, of these no longer hear the Word of God.  Place yourselves in the hands of the Immaculate Mother of God - your Mother.  For the Days of Noah have returned - Matthew 24: 37-41.

Many will scoff at this notion.  But look around you.  What do you see?  Sodomy is being rationalized and even sodomite "marriage."  Abortion continues to take countless millions of innocent children, sacrificed to Moloch.  Contraception is justified and is given to the youth.  Crime, terrorism, wars breaking out everywhere.  Not a Civilization of Love but a hellish Civilization of Sin and hatred of God.

God's wrath is approaching.  Those who have ears to hear will heed the Spirit and the emerging Signs of the Times.  Those destined to an eternity in Hell will continue to justify sin and a culture which embraces it.

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B Strong or B Holy?

"For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and a smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passeth by." (Wisdom 5:15).


By now you've all seen the horrible images of the terrorist attack upon the Boston Marathon which took place on Patriot's Day.  Innocent people were injured and even killed.  But while there is universal agreement as to the heinous nature of this terrible crime, few have reflected on the fact that God, in His permitting will, often allows such events to take place for a greater good.  For some forty years we have been fashioning a chastisement with our own hands.  Our sin-sick nation has permitted innocent children to be murdered in the womb - and even as they are being born (so-called "partial-birth abortion").  Our president supports such killing, even as he speaks of the heinous crime which was committed in Boston.

Years ago, Father Albert J. Hebert, S.M., warned that because of abortion and homosexuality and "the many other sins that abound today, personal, familial, social and political, we can expect that there will be expanding natural disasters and new man-made ones. Such things as California fires and Florida freezes will increase. Hail, rain and river floods, tornados, typhoons, todal waves and the hurricane will continue increasingly to be God's cleansing tools. volcanos will spout red lava and hot ash, mud slides and avalanches will roar down mountain sides. Acid rain, chemical pollution explosions too will take their toll...

Depressions, financial collapses, hunger marches, strikes, panics and riots, all will come as also more Ethiopias of famine and deprivation. Satanic and occult cults, conspirators and secret society members will grow more active. Walls of prisons and jails will bulge even more. False philosophies and isms of all kinds [such as Socialism, my note] will flourish....

But there is the good side also, which, of course, is mainly for repentant people and the suffering good. A message from the Guardian Angel and Protector of the United States of America to Sister M., Aug 22, 1981, gives consolation and encouragement: 'If the people of this land carry out faithfully the instructions and pleadings of the Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mother then they will be following me to the hour of peace. With this sword of the Divine white flame of Love and the lightning bolts of His Infinite Justice God will strike down His enemies and heal the repentant sinner. This nation and all who follow in the pursuit of peace will know the protection of God and the destruction of those, who fight and seek to destroy them through the evil powers of the infernal spirits of darkness and hate.'...

It is as simple as that!....This is a time for making great efforts that the Chastisement be mitigated. When the biggest catastrophes break it will be too late.  Violence is rooted in a rejection of the truth, a rejection of God's created order.  See here

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Right now, many are exhorting us to "B Strong."  But what we need is to 'B Holy."  What's stopping us?

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Father John Franck contradicts the Word of God in The Catholic Free Press

St. Alphonsus De Liguori, a Doctor of the Church and a moral theologian, explains that, "The Lord ordained in Leviticus that for the sin of a single priest a calf should be offered, as well as for the sins of the entire people. From this Innocent III concludes that the sin of a priest is as grievous as the sins of the whole people. The reason is, says the Pontiff, that by his sin the priest leads the entire people into sin ('Unde conjicitur quod peccatum Sacerdotis totius multitudinis peccato coaequatur, quia Sacerdos in suo peccato totam fecit delinquere multitudinem' - In Consecr. Pont. s. I.)


And, long before, the Lord himself said the same: 'If the priest that is anointed shall sin, he maketh the people to offend.' Hence, St. Augustine, addressing priests, says, 'Do not close heaven: but this you do if you give to others a bad example to lead a wicked life.' Our Lord said one day to St. Bridget, that when sinners see the bad example of the priest, they are encouraged to commit sin, and even begin to glory in the vices of which they were before ashamed. Hence our Lord added that worse maledictions shall fall on the priest than on others, because by his sinful life he brings himself and others to perdition.'...says St. John Chrysostom, the life of the priest is the root from which the people, who are the branches, receive nutriment.

St. Ambrose also says that priests are the head from which virtue flows to the members, that is, to seculars. The whole head is sick, says the Prophet Isaias;...from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no soundness therein. St. Isidore explains this passage in the following words: 'This languishing head is the priest that commits sin, and that communicates his sin to the whole body.' St. Leo weeps over this evil, saying, 'How can health be found in the body if the head be not sound?' Who, says St. Bernard, shall seek in a sink the limpid water of the spring? Shall I, adds the saint, seek counsel from the man that knows not how to give counsel to himself? Speaking of the bad example of princes, Plutarch says, that it poisons not a single cup, but the public fountain; and thus, because all draw from the fountain, all are poisoned. This may be said with greater truth of the bad example of priests; hence Eugene III has said that bad Superiors are the principal causes of the sins of inferiors...St. Bernardine of Sienna writes that many, seeing the bad example of the scandalous ecclesiastic, begin even to waver in faith, and thus abandon themselves to vice, despising the sacraments, hell, and heaven." (St. Alphonsus De Liguori, Dignity and Duties of the Priest, pp. 142-144, 149).

Father John Franck, Assumptionist assistant general in Rome, acknowledges that "we need good shepherds."  But, anxious to assign the blame for a lack of such good shepherds on the laity - the People of God - Fr. Franck has been quoted in The Catholic Free Press as having said that, "Unless the laity begins to be mindful of the demands of their own Christian commitments, of their radical other-worldliness, there is no hope that the clergy will find the strength to do so.  Only a Church of mystics can realistically expect their clergy to be saints." (CFP, August 3rd edition).

The Word of God, however,  resounds throughout the ages: "But let no one protest, let no one complain; with you is my grievance, O priests!  You shall stumble in the day, and the prophets shall stumble with you at night...My people perish for want of knowledge!  Since you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from my priesthood; since you have ignored the law of your God.." (Hosea 4: 4-6).

For years the Church in the United States (and other corners of the Church throughout the world) have succumbed to the disease of modernism and the leaven of infidelity which is dissent from the Magisterium.  This spiritual dry rot, according to Our Lady in her messages to Father Stefano Gobbi of the Marian Movement of Priests, is the direct result of unfaithful priests who have failed to offer the wheat of sound doctrine and have instead offered the chaff of theological dissent.

Our Lady has referred to such issenting and apostate clerics as "mute dogs."  God's Holy Word, which these unfaithful priests have largely abandoned, is most clear:

"Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the Lord.  Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.  You have not cared for them, but I will will take care to punish your evil deeds.  I myself will gather the remnant of my flock...Both prophet and priest are godless!  In my very house I find their wickedness, says the Lord.  Hence their way shall become for them slippery ground.  In the darkness they shall lose their footing, and fall headlong; Evil I will bring upon them: the year of their punishment, says the Lord." (Jeremiah 23: 1-2; 10-12).

The languishing head communicates his sin to the whole body.  Not the other way around.

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Terence Weldon: A pathological need to justify the sin of homosexuality

Terence Weldon, the angry homosexual activist who has blasphemed against Christ by suggesting that He had a homosexual relationship and who has accused Pope Benedict XVI of having a homosexual inclination, is at it again.  This time the sophomoric soul is advancing the strange idea that the early Church celebrated same sex relationships.  He writes, "In Jewish /Christian history, there are numerous examples of same – sex relationships: David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, Jesus and the Beloved Disciple, Sergius and Bacchus, and many more. Some of these pairs are named in the liturgical rite of church blessing for same – sex unions described by John Boswell – and also named, in pairs, in the Eucharistic Prayer of the modern Catholic Mass.

The medieval church showed many examples of honouring close male relationships for their spiritual value, from Aelred of Rievaulx’s book, 'On Spiritual Friendship', to the love letters and poetry addressed by many bishops and abbots to their own beloveds.

In the Western Church, the practice of making 'sworn brothers' included liturgical rituals, celebrated in church with the Eucharist, and created legal ties of kinship between the families: an equivalent term for 'sworn brother' was 'wedded brother'. Same -sex weddings, in church, are hardly new, although the earlier meaning was not the same as current usage.

In 4th and 5th century Macedonia, and later in the Western church, there is archaeological and tombstone evidence of another way in which these relationships were honoured by the church: same – sex pairs buried in shared graves, just as many (opposite – sex) married couples were. A much later example of this is the well – known example of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who specifically asked to be buried alongside his beloved Aubrey St John (a request that does not appear to have caused any surprise to his community)." (See full post here).

Now the lie that Cardinal John Henry Newman was a homosexual who requested to be buried next to his "lover" is a popular myth propagated by radical homosexual activists.  Deacon Nick Donnelly has addressed this lie here.

As for the early Church, the Fathers (who are witnesses of Divine Tradition) condemned homosexuality in their writings.  For example, Saint Justin the Martyr (100 - 165 AD), in his First Apology, which was addressed to the Emperor Titus, explains the Christian mysteries and highlights the immorality of the Greeks and Romans.  He writes, "But as for us, we have been taught that to expose newly-born children is the part of wicked men; and this we have been taught lest we should do any one an injury, and lest we should sin against God, first, because we see that almost all so exposed (not only the girls, but also the males) are brought up to prostitution.  And as the ancients are said to have reared herds of oxen, or goats, or sheep, or grazing horses, so now we see you rear children only for this shameful use; and for this pollution a multitude of females and hermaphrodites, and those who commit unmentionable iniquities, are found in every nation.  And you receive the hire of these, and duty and taxes from them, whom you ought to exterminate from your realm.  And any one who uses such persons, besides the godless and infamous and impure intercourse, may possibly be having intercourse with his own child, or relative, or brother.  And there are some who prostitute even their own children and wives, and some are openly mutilated for the purpose of sodomy." (See here).
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (130 - 202 AD) reiterated the Church's condemnation of homosexuality: "In addition to this blasphemy against God Himself, he [the heretic Marcion] advanced this also, truly speaking as with the mouth of the devil, and saying all things in direct opposition to the truth - that Cain, and those like him, and the Sodomites, and the Egyptians, and others like them, and, in fine, all the nations who walked in all sorts of abomination were saved by the Lord." (Adversus haereses, Book I, Chap. 27, No. 3).  See here.

Athenagoras of Athens, a philosopher who convreted to Christianity in the second century, wrote his Plea for Christians to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius around 177 AD.  In this document, Athenagoras, while defending Christians from the false charge of immorality [issued by pagans who misinterpreted Catholic worship] shows that the pagans, steeped in immorality themselves, did not even refrain from sins against nature: "But though such is our character...the things said of us are an example of the proverb, 'The harlot reproves the chaste.'  For those who have set up a market for fornication and established infamous resorts for the young for every kind of vile pleasure - who do not abstain even from males, males with males committing shocking abominations, outraging all the noblest and comeliest bodies in all sorts of ways, so dishonoring the fair workmanship of God." (A Please For The Christians, Chap. 34).  See here.
Tertullian (160 - 225 AD), an apologist of the early Church, in his work entitled "On Modesty," highlights the attitude of the Church toward sins against nature such as homosexual acts: "But all the other frenzies of passions - impious both toward the bodies and toward the sexes - beyond the laws of nature, we banish not only from the threshold, but from all shelter of the Church, because they are not sins, but monstrosities." (On Modesty, Chap. 4).  See here.
Saint Jerome (340 - 420 AD), is both a Father and a Doctor of the Church.  In his book Against Jovinianus, notes how a sodomite needs repentance and penance in order to be saved: "And Sodom and Gomorrah might have appeased it [God's wrath], had they been willing to repent, and through the aid of fasting gain for themselves tears of repentance." (Against Jovinianus, Book 2, no. 15).  See here

I could go on and on and on.  But I've made my point.  Terence Weldon's idea that the early Church was accepting of homosexuality and same-sex unions/relationships is a fantasy.  In his pathological desire to justify his sin and rationalize what is an abomination in the sight of the Lord - as well as His Church - Weldon will weave the most intricate stories.  Not just for himself.  But for all those who want to have their ears tickled.

And Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Terence Weldon's Bishop, does nothing. 

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America: Will we be inspired by Sparta or Calvary?

It can no longer be denied that America has become a "seething cesspool of filth and corruption."  America has become a haunt of demons and of every foul spirit.  Today, even those who present themselves as "Catholic" have lost the sense of sin.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen warned that, "Man is powerless to resist evil if he does not recognize it as such, and deceives himself when he becomes indifferent to evil; his whole personality immediately begins to dissolve, for the power of conscience is inseparably bound up with the denunciation of evil. And this is precisely what our world is doing today; the very beliefs on which the best culture of the world was built are now called in question.  Even the distinction between good and evil is lost, and now only a sense of civic loyalty remains.  The prophet Isaias sounded such a decadence in his day: 'Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.'  If we called sin by its name it would lose all of its seductiveness.  Hell can be made attractive, only by surfacing it with the gold of Paradise." (Essay entitled The Sense of Sin).

Today, evil is called good and good is called evil.  Catholics faithful to the Magisterium are portrayed as "divisive" and "offensive" even as active homosexuals are celebrated and told to have "pride" in their behaviors. 

On April 6, 1941, Bishop Fulton John Sheen gave a sermon on his radio show "The Catholic Hour" in which he reminded listeners that, "The basic spirit of the modern world for the last century has been a determination to escape the Cross." He told his audience as well that, "There is no such thing as living without a cross. We are free only to choose between crosses." And then he asked them: "Will it be the Cross of Christ which redeems us from our sins, or will it be the double cross, the swastika, the hammer and sickle, the fasces"? Bishop Sheen believed, as I do, that America is at a crossroads. In his own words, "We in America are now faced with the threat of that double cross...Our choice is not: Will we or will we not have more discipline, more respect for law, more order, more sacrifice; but, where will we get it? Will we get it from without, or from within, Will it be inspired by Sparta or Calvary? By Valhalla or Gethsemane? By militarism or religion? By the double cross or the Cross? By Caesar or by God? That is the choice facing America today.


The hour of false freedom is past. No longer can we have education without discipline, family life without sacrifice, individual existence without moral responsibility, economics and politics without subservience to the common good. We are now only free to say whence it shall come. We will have a sword. Shall it be only the sword that thrusts outward to cut off the ears of our enemies, or the sword that pierces inward to cut out our own selfish pride"?

Thus far, America has chosen the double cross. Fleeing from the Cross of Christ and the supernatural kingdom established by the Son of God; one of sacrifice and sanctity, America has chosen to pursue a terrestrial kingdom of pleasure and power founded upon a distorted idea of what constitutes liberty or freedom. But this city of man, which has certainly achieved astounding advancements in various spheres while increasing the affluence of some, has also contributed to a climate where men are regarded as mere machines whose only value is to be found in what they produce or consume. This in turn destroys the individual’s sense of personal dignity and responsibility. Americans, in their tragic desire to flee from the Cross of Christ, have rushed to embrace this distorted notion of "freedom" and have forgotten that, as created beings, they only possess contingent rights. That is to say, rights which are accorded by Almighty God. Consequently, in their zeal to promote the fallacious idea that the basis of public morality should be whatever the majority of citizens are prepared to accept, they have also forgotten that man does not possess, and never will possess, the right to perform or engage in any act which is displeasing to God.

And where has this flight from the Cross of Christ led us up to this point? Was Bishop Sheen being an alarmist? In the words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, taken from his Commencement Address at Harvard University entitled "A World Split Apart": "Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Society appears to have little defense against the abyss of human decadence, such as, for example, the misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, motion pictures full of pornography, crime and horror. This is considered to be part of freedom, and theoretically counterbalanced by the young peoples’ right not to look or not to accept. Life organized legalistically has thus shown its inability to defend itself against the corrosion of evil."

Getting back to Bishop Sheen. What did he mean when he said that, "Our choice is not: Will we or will we not have more discipline, more respect for law, more order, more sacrifice; but, where will we get it"? I believe Pope Benedict XVI was providing us with a hint toward an answer when he spoke of the "dictatorship of relativism." Americans who have gleefully embraced the tenets of liberalism have not learned the lesson the concentration camp and the gulag. These unfortunate souls refuse to acknowledge that atheistic ideology (and make no mistake, the current idea of "freedom" which has taken root in America is itself rooted in atheistic ideology) always, and without exception, gives birth to sheer violence. This is the lesson of atheistic humanism. A lesson which the majority of Americans would rather not think about.

Who would deny that Bishop Sheen’s warning, issued 71 years ago, was highly prophetic? America, and the West in general, is at a crossroads. We have before us two crosses: The Cross of Christ and the double cross (which may also be referred to today as the "dictatorship of relativism"). Which will we choose in the end? Will we continue on our present course or change direction and finally come to embrace the Cross of Christ? Will we embrace Christ and His kingdom of sacrifice and sanctity or continue to rush headlong into the idolatry of unbridled hedonism while declaring ourselves, even if only tacitly, to be God?

If we continue to choose the latter, then we should remember the words of Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., "When man becomes God, history testifies that then millions of men become imprisoned slaves, terrified automatons and murdered corpses. Society, in the words of Gabriel Marcel, becomes a ‘termite colony.’" (The Gods of Atheism, p. 463).

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"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last. slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"

1 Thes 5:19.

THE SECOND COMING
W.B. Yeats


Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

We are being prepared for the Reign of Antichrist. The Rev. P. Huchede, in his work entitled "History of Antichrist," explains the religious preparation, both intellectual and moral, for the Reign of Antichrist which will arrive after economic collapse:


"But how shall he deprive the world of Christianity and have himself adored as God? Alas, it is only too true that the minds and hearts of men are admirably disposed for revolution and consequently ready to accept and bear the cruel yoke of such a tyrant. Revolution as the word itself implies means a subversion, but a subversion of all that is true, good, beautiful, and grand in the universe. It is the subversion of religion, representing its dogmas as myths and its moral teachings as tyranical. It is the subversion of authority. Licentiousness under the name of liberty becomes the order of the day; each one is invested with the right to govern himself. It is the subversion of reason: and do we not find leading minds in some of the most enlightened nations denying the principle of contradiction and maintaining the absolute identity of all beings? Revolution is therefore essentially destructive, and it becomes cosmopolitan by the action of secret societies scattered throughout the world.

Is it not true to say that the 'mystery of iniquity' is prepared in secret revolutionary dens? But it does not suffice to destroy; it is absolutely necessary to build up again. The world cannot subsist long in a vacuum. It must have a religion; it must have a philosophy; it must have an authority. Revolution will furnish all these. Instead of the reasonable and supernatural religion of Jesus Christ, Revolution will preach Pantheism. The God-humanity will impart the theurgic spirit and thus lead men to adore the demon as the author of universal emancipation...What frightful immorality must follow in the train of this shameless prostitution of religion! Never has the threefold concupiscence made greater ravage among mankind. And this is the religion sought and hoped for as the cherished boon of the aspirations of our modern free thinkers. To our Christian philosophy, the honor of humanity's revolution will substitute a babel of extravagant and absurd ideas. Instead of a mild and efficient authority consecrated alike by Church and state, despotism* and anarchy will rise up and contend for the shreds of religious liberty and human policy...if the state of perversion continue for a while longer, he [Antichrist] will find the world prepared to receive and serve him." (Rev. P. Huchede, History of Antichrist, pp. 13-14, Tan Books).

As Christians we must be prepared to face various persecutions.  Most importantly, we must take all means, especially through prayer, to defeat the Father of Lies (John 8:44).  A Bernardine Sister was shown the devastation which Satan would bring into the world and Our Lady gave her the following prayer to say:

"August Queen of Heaven!  Sovereign Mistress of the Angels!  You, who from the beginning have received from God the power and the mission to crush the head of Satan, we humbly beseech you to send your holy legions, that under your command, and by your power, they may pursue the evil spirits.  Encounter them on every side, resist their bold attacks, and drive them hence into the abyss of eternal woe.  Amen." (Taken from the book Prophecy for Today).

All of those who place their confidence in themselves will be lost.  A time of unprecedented confusion and darkness is now upon us.  A period of diabolical disorientation.  Have recourse to daily prayer and regular penance.  Frequent the sacraments as often as possible.  Pray the Rosary and consecrate yourself to the Immaculata each and every day.

The rough beast is about to reveal himself to the world.

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America: Slouching toward Gomorrah, slouching toward destruction

A new Gallup Poll released this morning finds that this month 53% of Americans say same-sex marriage should be recognized in law as equally valid with traditional male-female marriages.  See here.  Father Vincent Miceli, in his book The Antichrist, writes, "Dr. Abram Kardiner, distinguished physician, psychoanalyst, and anthropologist, states that homosexuality reaches pestilential and plague proportions in morally rotting societies during the final stages of total collapse. The cult of softness is perhaps the most pronounced public phenomenon among nations today. It is certainly responsible for the rotting of the moral fibre of Western Civilization not only in sex but also, in the erosion of Christian truth, in education, in art and in letters, in the repudiation of personal responsibility and in the increasing tendency to side with the forces of crime against the forces of law and order." (The Antichrist, p. 237).

In the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's Letter to Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, Cardinal Ratzinger summarized the biblical teaching on homosexuality and explained why the Church's teaching on this subject follows necessarily from her teaching on the nature and purpose of sexuality: "The Church, obedient to the Lord who founded her and gave to her the sacramental life, celebrates the divine plan of the loving and life-giving union of men and women in the Sacrament of Marriage. It is only in the marital relationship that the use of the sexual faculty can be morally good. A person engaging in homosexual behavior therefore acts immorally. To choose someone of the same sex for one's sexual activity is to annul the rich symbolism and meaning, not to mention the goals, of the Creator's sexual design. Homosexual activity is not a complementary union, able to transmit life; and so it thwarts the call to a life of that form of self-giving which the Gospel says is the essence of Christian living. This does not mean that homosexual persons are not often generous and giving of themselves; but when they engage in homosexual activity they confirm within themselves a disordered sexual inclination which is essentially self-indulgent. As in every moral disorder, homosexual activity prevents one's own fulfillment and happiness by acting contrary to the creative wisdom of God. The Church, in rejecting erroneous opinions regarding homosexuality, does not limit but rather defends personal freedom and dignity realistically and authentically understood."

Increasingly, Americans are coming to reject God's plan for marriage and family life.  As a result, America is placing itself under judgement.

Our Lady told Fr. Stephano Gobbi on November 15, 1990, at Malvern Pennsylvania: "I announce to you that the hour of the great trial is on the point of arriving. The great trial has arrived for your country. How many times, as a concerned and sorrowing mother, have I endeavored to urge my children to follow the path of conversion and of return to the Lord. I have not been listened to. You have continued to walk along the way of rejection of God, and of His law of love. Sins of impurity have become ever more widespread, and immorality has spread like a sea which has submerged all things. Homosexuality, a sin of impurity which is against nature, has been justified; recourse to the means of preventing life have become commonplace, while abortions - these killings of innocent children, that cry for vengeance before the face of God - have spread and are performed in every part of your homeland.The moment of divine justice and of great mercy has now arrived.


You will know the hour of weakness and of poverty; the hour of suffering and defeat; the purifying hour of the great chastisement. The great trial has arrived for your Church. How great is your responsibility, O Pastors of the Holy Church of God! You continue along the path of division from the Pope and of the rejection of his Magisterium; indeed, in a hidden way, there is in preparation a true schism which could soon become open and proclaimed...And then, there will remain only a small faithful remnant, over which I will keep watch in the garden of my Immaculate Heart.

The great trial has arrived for all humanity. The chastisement, predicted by me at Fatima and contained in that part of the secret which has not yet been revealed, is about to take place. The great moment of divine justice and of mercy has come upon the world."

There will be scoffers. As in the days of Noah.  Noah and his family were mocked and ridiculed until the flood waters came.  And the laughing stopped.  And a great multitude suddenly realized that they had not chosen wisely.

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More on Father Thomas Euteneuer from the parents of the young woman identified in his public "apology"

"The Church can attest to the fact that there is a considerable body of documentation and evidence, both from third-party sources and the victims themselves, that contradicts significant elements of the public statement by Euteneuer regarding both the nature and extent of the sexual and psychological abuse Father perpetrated on his victims. Both Human Life International and the Diocese of Palm Beach have investigated the claims of our daughter (and the diocese also has investigated the claims of at least one additional victim) versus the statement of Euteneuer, and have found the victims' statements to be true, especially in contrast to Euteneuer's claim that he prayed (and preyed) alone with the victims only on "rare" occasions. Not only were these "alone" times (for at least part of the session) numerous, but his times alone with them often occurred at the end of an exorcism session when the victims were in an altered cognitive and physiological state and at the most vulnerable, both spiritually and emotionally.


To date, the statements released by HLI and the Diocese of Palm Beach also do not reveal anywhere near the full extent of Euteneuer's abuse, both psychological and sexual, toward his known victims, which includes our daughter. While we would be naive to not admit that part of their restraint is merely due to following the advice of their legal counsel, as both devout Catholics and concerned parents, we hope that some of their caution is out of a genuine concern to prevent further harm to currently known victims and/or to potential new victims. We trust that Church authorities are working diligently to insure that Euteneuer has no further access to his current victims (as he apparently did after being recalled to the Palm Beach Diocese) and pray that he is appropriately and perpetually prohibited from any kind of Church-approved position in which he could abuse his authority as exorcist, spiritual advisor, or priest.

May Our Lord's divine love and the tender love of the Blessed Virgin Mary infuse and envelope the victims, including our daughter, on their lengthy journey to spiritual, psychological, and emotional recovery. May God's grace, combined with the extraordinary strength and courage of our daughter (and other victims), our countless prayers and the tireless work of their doctors and therapists, eventually heal the victims from the abusive behavior perpetuated by Euteneuer. Lastly, believing that the resurrected Christ can bring good even out of great evil, we ask Our Lord that His Church not suffer undue harm from Euteneuer's abusive behaviors and the subsequent public outcry, but that uncovering the Truth in this case actually strengthens the Church's pro-life mission and helps us to better understand the Rite of Exorcism.

May God have mercy on Euteneuer's soul." (Full text here).

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, in his book entitled Dignity and Duties of the Priest, says that, "Every sin of a priest is a sin of malice; it is like the sin of the angels that sinned in view of the light, says St. Bernard, speaking of a priest; hence he adds, 'He has become an angel of the Lord, and sinning as a priest he sins in heaven.' He sins in the midst of light, and therefore his sin, as has been said, is a sin of malice: he cannot allege ignorance, for he knows the great evil of mortal sin: he cannot plead weakness, because he knows the means by which, if he wishes, he can acquire strength; if he is unwilling to adopt the means, the fault is entirely his own...Our Saviour prayed on the cross for his persecutors, saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But for bad priests this prayer was a source rather of condemnation than of salvation: for they know what they do.." (Dignity and Duties of the Priest, pp. 71-72).


Isn't it refreshing to hear the truth from this Doctor of the Church? There have been many scandals throughout the Church and just as many cheap attempts to offer poor excuses for misconduct, sexual and otherwise. But Our Lord Himself has said that, "Much more will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more." (Luke 12: 48).

Our age is infected with much pride.  And it has reached a level even within certain corners of the Church which can only be described as satanic.  We must remind ourselves of how unworthy we are, how sinful.  We must humble ourselves before the Lord Jesus.  For when we do so, there is no room for the Devil to operate.  Humility drives the Evil One out faster than you can imagine.  Which is why all of Hell trembles every time the words "Hail Mary" are spoken.  For Our Lady is the model of humility. 

Related reading here.

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