Clericalism is Alive and Well and Begins at the Top!

This is NOT clericalism!

If you're going to talk about something, you better define it. What exactly is clericalism? Modernists would have you believe that it relates to the laity giving the priests too much honor and respect merely because they are priests, when they are really just like the rest of us, just "one of the boys." Their antidote to clericalism is to drag them off the "high altar," call them Fr. Bob or Fr. Joe or drop the "Father" altogether and engage in back slapping camaraderie. They don't stop there, however. The next move is to divide up the priestly functions among the laity. After all, priests are nothing but "presiders" at the communal meal where the Eucharist can be distributed like appetizers by the lay wait staff. "Joe" can help if he likes or sit in the "presider's" chair until Communion is finished.

The Fullness of the Faith the Apostles Knew

I looked and I looked but I never found,
In the bricks and mortar of a church in the round,
The fullness of the Faith the Apostles knew,
Peter and James, John and Andrew.
 
I sighed and I sighed and in despair,
Frustrated and tired I searched for You,
While time slid by and the decades flew,
The heresies heard burned my eyes with tears,
While my heart was torn and trampled upon,
And my Faith shriveled until it was nearly gone.
 
Oh, I looked and I sighed but could never find,
The depth of the Faith I knew God had designed.
I searched and I searched for the pearl of great price
In the pablum-laced modern Church of nice.
 
And I in my longing, my face turned to the sun,
Spiritually bedraggled, worn and rundown,
With tears in my eyes, asked God where He’d gone.
Silly in the sunlight crying like that…
Was it silly to cry for a vanished Faith,
Ripped from the world, now with no grace?
 
I looked with gloom at the bleak rot and decay,
And saw one church still waiting to try,
Though for years I’d always believed in the lie.
“They’re in schism", I had been warned away.
“What? More in schism than Covid churches with no Mass?”
So I marched into the SSPX and never looked back.
 
The longing is over, the Faith is still there,
The Old Mass in its glory almost too beautiful to bear.
Never changing the Faith since the years of Our Lord’s call,
The SSPX, through God’s mercy, thankfully kept it all -
The fullness of the Faith the Apostles knew,
Peter and James, John and Andrew.

Got Logic? Part II: Listen to the Praxis of Pope Francis -- "Make a Mess!"

Must we return to the catacombs?

 See Part I here. This post continues the commentary on Fr. Laurent-Marie Pocquet's article, “Very Instructive Paradoxes” about the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) using the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes and the Responsa Ad Dubia.

The fourth paradox is an ecclesial paradox:

Pastors are invited to develop a pastoral care of “accompaniment,” open to all moral and psychological situations. They must practice an unconditional welcome—but there is a part of the people of God to whom this benevolent welcome is obstinately refused. The setting up of a real liturgical apartheid (no traditional Masses in the parish churches, no doubt for fear of contagion or bad example!) shows the face of a suspicious, stepmotherly Church, to which one must present one’s papers under penalty of being excluded. The traditional faithful must look for a cave, since there is no room for them in the inn... In short, what a merry Christmas!

Got Logic? Part 1: Two Things that are Diametrically Opposed Cannot Both Be True....

Fr. Laurent-Marie Pocquet

 ....They can both be false, but they cannot both be true. 

Which brings me to an excellent article posted at Rorate Caeli by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski. Written by Reverend Fr. Laurent-Marie Pocquet du Haut Jussé, former superior of the Servants of Jesus and Mary (SJM), it discusses paradoxes raised by the problematic motu proprio Traditionis Custodes and the response to the dubious dubia. 

The first is a moral paradox:

Fr. Z Calls for an Association of Prayer for the Reversal of Traditionis Custodes!

Those who join make a simple commitment to make these two offering to the Blessed mother for the reversal of Traditionis Custodes and the draconian crackdown on the Latin Mass associated with it:

• recite the beautiful and powerful Memorare prayer DAILY;
• make an act of physical or material penance for the two intentions ONCE A WEEK.

Monday Morning Musing: Good Questions from The Soul of the Apostolate

In my morning prayer time today I came across this paragraph from The Soul of the Apostolate which stopped me in my tracks:

When we see the repeated victories of our infernal foes, we
well wonder, in our anxiety, where to look for the salvation of our society. When will it be the Church's turn to win a few battles?

Sunday Meditation: Never Be Discouraged at the State of the World or the Church!

Let us rejoice during this Christmas season and never ever lose hope!

Take courage and hear these words of advice from Dom Benedict Baur, German theologian and spiritual writer:

God does indeed give Satan and evil men a certain power over the Church and her virtuous children. The evil they inflict on the Church is taken into account in the plans of God's providence. Godless men and their leader, Satan are made to serve the ends of almighty God. We are at all times under the powerful protection of God, even though it may appear that we have been delivered into the hands of our enemies.

Unto Us a Child Is Born; Unto Us a Son is Given!

Merry Christmas from Les Femmes! 

As Midnight Mass Lights Up Our Dark World, Welcome Him with The First Noel

 

Pray for Bishop Burbidge: He is Obviously Not Going to Question or Challenge the Right of the Pope to Abuse Us!

Virginia diocese announces massive restrictions on traditional
sacraments following Vatican crackdown

From the article:

Thu Dec 23, 2021 - 10:15 am EST

ARLINGTON, Virginia (LifeSiteNews) – A bishop in a U.S. diocese recognized for its ample provision of the traditional liturgy (Latin Mass) has become one of the first prelates to announce a ban on certain sacraments in the Old Rite, following the Vatican’s latest restrictions on the Latin Mass.

Bishop Michael Burbidge, 64, of the Diocese of Arlington sent an email to priests of the diocese December 21, in which he outlined his implementation of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments’ (CDW) December 18 document.

Of Church Militant's Red Alerts and their "RETREATS" -- Ya Just Gotta Laugh!

Church Militant (CM) is putting out "red alerts" every day. Why? 

Duh! Because they want your money, of course. 

Hey! "Nobody impacts the intersection of the Church and the world like Church Militant!" Just ask them. 

After the Vatican Directives, What's Next in the Diocese of Arlington for the Latin Mass?

And so it begins. 

My bishop, Michael Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington, spoke about the Vatican directive that came out last weekend in his 12/20 podcast, a portion of which I've transcribed below. The bishop won't be issuing his own implementation document until the new year, but it's pretty clear that it will be bad news for those of us who attend the "extraordinary form" at diocesan parishes, even if only occasionally. 

Why Islam has no Christmas

We know this because Muhammad
had a hairy mole on his back.

"Jesus, the Son of Mary, said, 'O Children of Israel, indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Muhammad." - Quran 61:6

"But I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send him to you." - John 16:7

However, by "Paraclete" or "Comforter", Moslems here mean Muhammad and say that the very name of Muhammad, both here and in five additional places in the Bible, was expressly mentioned but that Christians, out of malice, blotted out Muhammad's name thereby corrupting the Bible.

Muhammad, narcissistic impostor that he was, taught that his coming was prophesied in the Bible as the Seal of the Prophets (wait until I tell you what that "seal" was) which proves that Islam is the fulfillment of all other religions. Judaism came first, then Christianity, then they were completed by Islam. 

From this errant belief, Moslem scholars have desperately sought to find verses in the Bible supporting the fulfillment theology of Islam, which is their assertion that Islam is the final successor and completion of the Abrahamic faith(s).

Will Ben Carter and Mundabor be the Next Targets for "Church Malevolent" Lawsuits?

From the Asperges; "Mundabor"

Thanks to Mundabor's blog, I recently discovered Ben Carter's YouTube channel, the Garden Shed. Carter has a series of videos spoofing "Church Malevolent." Carter is an SSPX member living in Portugal and he considers Michael Voris a dangerous individual, the "enemy of tradition," who "insults and condemns every decent Catholic out there" and is "undermining the entire office of the episcopacy." Carter describes himself as a "nobody... just a layman...trying in [his] poor way to be a Christian." He describes Church Militant as a "horrible, gutter, tabloid, disgusting, lying, dissembling, wicked organization" whom he believes are "dangerous and doing a lot of damage" to the Church.

Did You Ever Think the Grinch Would be Elected Pope?

The Grinch Who Stole Tradition

Written by  Chris Jackson | Remnant Columnist

Every Trad down in Tradville loved the Old Mass a lot.

But the man in the papal apartment, Did NOT!

The Pope hated that Mass and all of Tradition!

“If they love Mass in Latin, they favor sedition!” 

(Read the rest; it's hilarious and sadly too true! But ends with hope for Pope Francis. Share this everywhere!)

Is This Bergoglio's Last Hurrah? Will Traditionalists Wave the White Flag?

Yesterday was the Christmas Massacre coming from the Vatican. Supposedly responding to dubia (questions) about the implementation of the Motu Proprio, Traditionis Custodes, coming from a handful of bishops, the Vatican Congregation on Worship responded. My first question: Is this a setup? 

Think about the dubia from the cardinals with regard to Amoris Laetitia. We're still waiting for answers to those questions after, let's see, almost six years. But the dubia for Traditionis Custodes and the answers come only six months after publication! There's something rotten in the state of Vatican City. Are the rumors true that Pope Francis is terminally ill and not long for this world and is that what's spurring this latest smackdown? Hurry up and finish the demolition?

Many in the World are Hypnotized! They are Victims of "Mass Formation Psychosis!"

What's happening in the world doesn't make sense! It's causing mass, free-floating anxiety. COVID is being used to bring about something even worse and scarier than the virus. What can that be? Totalitarianism and tyranny! But you can do something about it!

STORY AT-A-GLANCE [Dr. Joseph Mercola's analysis is powerful! The population is hypnotized and have been brainwashed by propaganda over the Wuhan virus. What can we do about a world gone mad filled with scared chickens? READ THIS! Global totalitarianism is inevitable, but we have alternatives. How do we respond?]

This is Major! Sue the Hospitals if they Won't Give Ivermectin to Your Loved Ones!

Don't let hospitals kill your loved ones. If it's money they care about, you can be certain that a good stiff financial threat will give them the motivation to do the right thing! If you can avoid going to the hospital do it. If you can't, be sure you have an advocate to demand treatment that actually helps. The current standard Wuhan protocols are killing a lot of patients. Many of those put on Remdesivir and the ventilator die. Even the World Health Organization advises against use of Remdesivir for hospitalized patients. [Source] Do the research. Be prepared to fight the medical establishment to protect your loved ones.

Hospital backs down, allows patient to receive ivermectin rather than pay $10K a day in fines

Dying COVID-19 patient recovers after court orders ivermectin treatment

More Hospitals Sued over Use of Ivermectin

Medical Kidnapping, Patients Sacrificed on the COVID Altar

Flee New York if You Value Your Life and Your Freedom!

It's not just taxes and high real estate anymore. Flee New York
before they kill you and your children or put you in COVID camps!

January 5th is a watershed day for the people of New York state. A number of bills will be introduced in the legislature that endanger the life and freedom of that state's residents. Let's look at a few.

Bill A.416 : 

Commentary from Tom McFadden of Front Royal on Yesterday's Rosary Crusade

My husband and I attended the rosary at St. John the Baptist in Front Royal yesterday to pray for our poor country and the world as part of the world rosary crusade. Christ the King and Mary His Mother represent the greatest hope for our poor, deluded civilization immersed in a putrid swamp of evil. Yes, we need to fight on the secular level: fight to get sane people on our local supervisors' boards and school boards, fight for decent national representation. But the battle begins on our knees storming heaven for the supernatural help to fight the real enemy -- Satan, the lord of the world. 

Does This Help Explain Sacrilegious Communions?

I'm reading Peter Kwasniewski's book, The Holy Bread of Eternal Life: Restoring Eucharistic Reverence in an Age of Impiety. I read several pages each day and reflect, savoring the information and the wisdom. Yesterday I came across something of which I was unaware that exploded like fireworks in my brain! Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi: "the law of prayer is the law of belief," immediately came to mind. Let's see if you have the same reaction. 

I was reading Chapter 13, The Omission that Haunts the Church. Since Vatican II there've been beaucoup omissions, but this seemed especially explosive in view of loss of belief in the Real Presence. Speaking of the expanded Lectionary devised after Vatican II with the three-year cycle of readings, Kwasniewski writes that one would expect that the expanded Lectionary would have:

CALLING ALL PRAYER WARRIORS! Join the worldwide Rosary Crusade!

Editor's Note: I received the email below from a friend about the rosary tomorrow at St. John the Baptist in Front Royal. if you live in the Front Royal area, join in person If you don't, why not go to your local church at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time and join in. Or light your Advent candles and join from your own home. We desperately need Mary's help to end the bloodbath of abortion and the tsunami of evil engulfing our world. We can all be part of the solution through prayer and fasting.

CALLING ALL PRAYER WARRIORS!

This Thursday, December 16, at 1:00 pm, a worldwide Rosary Crusade will be inaugurated with the first Rosary being said publicly at St. John the Baptist church right here in Front Royal. Fr. Gee and Fr. Tom have graciously agreed to open the parish to this event, which will be the first in a series of Rosary gatherings that will form a country-wide and world-wide Crusade asking the Blessed Virgin and her Merciful Son to heal the world which we see falling into an unprecedented darkness before our eyes. The event will also be live-streamed.

The Song Running Through My Head This Morning: My God, My God, Why Have You Abandoned Me?

This hymn has been running through my head ever since yesterday. It started up again this morning, but the words are a little different: It's not "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" Instead, the words are, "My God, my God, why have I abandoned You?" 

It's a good question for Advent. 

Stop Drinking the Kool-Aid; the Spike Protein in the Vax Damages Organs, Especially the Heart!

Why are so many people, especially young people, experiencing heart conditions after the jab? Studies are showing that the spike protein is extremely dangerous. It's the SPIKE PROTEIN in the "vaccine" that is killing and injuring the jab victims from massive inflammation! The immune system attacks the body because of the jab. Those who take the jab are, indeed, victims, victims of massive human experimentation.

Church Militant's Christine Niles exposes the most dangerous member of the SSPX!

Susan Matthiesen and Mary Ann Kreitzer

This is a follow-up article to Susan's post from December 5th here.

Above is how Chubby Checker did The Twist. 

Below is how Christine Niles does The Twist.

*Good evening. I'm Christine Niles, cracker-jack investigative journalist and reporter coming to you from our Church Militant studio on loan from God. We're bringing you our special Spotlight Report tonight on a woman in Florida, Susan Matthiesen, making serious defamatory statements about Church Militant in general, and myself in particular including one particularly outrageous statement that I bite other people. That is a vicious lie! 

Matthiesen's hate-filled statements must be - and will be - met head-on with a defamation lawsuit by our team of good and faithful, well paid Catholic attorneys. Be sure to sign up as a Premium supporter so we can keep those lawsuits coming. 

Anyway here are the facts: [creepy music starts playing]

On Gaudete Sunday, Let Us Sing Praises to the Holy Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven!

 And a hat tip to Vox Cantoris for alerting me to this breathtaking Ave Maria!

Censorship on My Bookshelf -- I Rejoice to Burn the Works of Heretics!

The book burner is at it again. I'm organizing my library of Catholic books and have been going through my Mary shelves.

I have a lot of books that I inherited from a Catholic priest, many of which were gifts to him. The one I picked up this morning has an inscription indicating it was a Christmas gift. The book, Mary and Your Everyday Life by theologian Bernard Haring, C.SS.R., has an Imprimi Potest (approval by a religious superior that a book may be printed) and an Imprimatur (approval to publish by an ecclesial authority which can be the author's own bishop). 

So...does this book about the Mother of God cut the mustard, so to speak, to remain on my bookshelf? 

Short answer?

#realnotrare: Damage from the Faux Vaccine is Spreading. Break the Silence, Spread the Truth

#RealNotRare: Vax-Injured Women Release Video To Raise Awareness About Adverse Reactions

Real people are being impacted by the gene therapy mislabeled as a vaccine. More and more real people are collapsing, dying, suffering serious side effects -- all at the hands of the liars at the CDC and NIH led by their liar-in-chief, Anthony Fauci. How many healthy young athletes have collapsed and died from heart damage due to the jabs? How many more will in the days ahead?

Biden's Christmas Gifts to the Nation! Don't Forget to Send Him a Thank You Note.

Democrat politicians don't care about inflation, because they can afford it. (Hey, maybe Hunter can get even more for his "art.") But those already struggling among the poor and middle class are losing ground. Many in the middle class will be thrust into poverty by these "Let them eat cake" liberals. Think 2024 and start working for pro-life, fiscally conservative candidates now! Read: Inflation hits highest point in 39 years!

Hatred of God and Our Holy Mother and our Church is Growing!

Spread this around and pray that the culprit be caught and prosecuted. This act of vandalism took place at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the Feast of Our Lady yesterday. See the WTOP news report here.  

Fr. Tom Collins: Warnings about the Synodal Process

Editor's comment: Another synod, another scandal. Up to now I haven't said anything about the latest Vatican synod which opened in October. It's clear from past synods that each of these events is just one more opportunity to stir the slop bucket of change. Change the Church. Change the family. Change the worship. 

Been there done that. 

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for Us!

There isn't a canonized saint in heaven who did not embrace devotion to Our Lady. One of the reasons they became saints is they faithfully walked in the footsteps of Our Queen. She escorted them straight to the King and taught these humble, little followers to bow before His Majesty! Even the great ones among them, had a humble servant's heart. On this Feast of the Immaculate Conception I offer a few golden nuggets from The Imitation of Mary. She is there to help us in all circumstances:

USCCB Document on the Eucharist Part III: When Will the Bishops Act Like St. Ambrose?

Today is the feast of St. Ambrose, whose election to the see of Milan was by acclimation of the people while he was still a catechumen. Think about that! He was baptized, ordained, and made a bishop within a week of becoming a Catholic. God raised him up as one of the greatest bishops of His Church, a saint-maker instrumental in the conversion of St. Augustine who inspired the repentance of an emperor. I invoke his intercession for this post!

St. Ambrose, refusing Emperor Theodosius entrance to the cathedral of Milan for his massacre in Thessalonica in retaliation for the murder of a state official. Theodosius' crimes pale in comparison to those of our modern pro-abortion Catholic politicians.

We're approaching the finish line as we look at the last nine paragraphs of the bishops' document, The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church (#50-59).

Thou Shalt Not Cross Church Militant

Me, navigating this post

I'll just go ahead and admit a few things here so that Church Militant can get all their legal ducks in a row if they're thinking of suing me, dragging me into court, making me lose my job (hahaha), doxing me, searching my dark mysterious past, etc. So here goes....

I've never had a fundraiser on the Internet for myself or others, I own my own little home left to my brother and me by our mother when she died (I bought my brother's half since he already had a home). I live alone, I've been married twice, I have 3 children, 6 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. I'm poor, never lonely, converted to Catholicism 41 years ago, attended Novus Ordo parishes but now am a member of the SSPX. 

Guest Post by Fr. Tom Collins: THE KENOSIS THEOLOGY PROMOTED BY POPE FRANCIS

It certainly doesn't mean what the liberal language twisters mean!

Editor's note: I had never heard of "kenosis theology" before reading Fr. Collins' article, but it sounds like one more liberal word game to take a legitimate term and pervert its meaning to fit a "progressive" agenda. Those who resist the liberal agenda, they say, are ignorant and benighted idiots who fail to understand the notions of their more intelligent betters. But liberal elitists are the ones who exchange the bread of doctrine for the stone of moral relativism and social action with man as the world's savior. Who needs God when you have Bill Gates and Dr. Fauci?

THE KENOSIS THEOLOGY PROMOTED BY POPE FRANCIS

by Fr. Tom Collins

There is a lot of confusion and concern among orthodox Catholics concerning some of the statements and actions of Pope Francis since he began his pontificate. However, if we look at these by embracing the premises of the ever-evolving kenosis theology, they do make sense.

USCCB Document on the Eucharist Part II: Sin Alienates us from God

The section of the Eucharistic document on sin, sacrifice, and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist (paragraphs 10-50) reaffirms and summarizes the truths Catholics believe about the Eucharist. The bishops affirm the truth that sin separates us from God, and that Jesus came to save us from sin and reunite us to the Father. The sacrifice on Calvary and Christ's resurrection are the "eternal sign of His love," and the Mass is a re-presentation of that sacrifice. The holy Mass acts as a doorway "through which we, like the saints and mystics before us, may enter into a deeper perception of the mercy and love manifested in and through Christ’s sacramental presence in our midst." We should approach Almighty God, present in the Eucharist with holy fear (awe) and trembling. 

USCCB Document on the Eucharist - Part I - Longing for the Eucharist

St. Charles Borromeo, a true shepherd,
 ministers to plague victims in Milan.

I'm reading the USCCB document on the Eucharist approved at their do-nothing November conclave. 

It didn't take me very far into the document before I laughed sardonically and rolled my eyes. In fact it was the third paragraph:

Many of the faithful appear to have had their faith and their desire for the Eucharist strengthened by such a long separation.

Really? 

I don't think so, just judging from the sparser attendance at my local novus ordo parish since Wuhan and the bishops' kowtowing to Caesar. But that's a subjective observation of one small faith community. 

So let's take a look at a recent survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) which interviewed several thousand young Catholics between the ages of 18 and 35 from all over the country.

Guest Post: A Hero's Life by Fr. James Sobus

Dr. Donald Hofreuter, M.D.

 Editor's comment: There are many saints     who walk among us who will likely never be canonized. They simply go quietly about their days doing the duty of their state in life. They touch so many using their talents to do God's work.

I never had the privilege of knowing Dr. Hofreuter, but I know many others who are grace-filled, kind, humble souls who bless those whose lives they touch. You can read more about Dr. Hofreuter here.

Please, in your kindness and gratitude for the life of this man, pray for the repose of his soul. This is an especially appropriate post for the start of Advent when we remember two very special babies growing in the wombs of their mothers, our Lord, Jesus Christ, and his messenger, St. John the Baptist.