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Thursday, March 23, 2023

Our Duty: To Suffer for the Truth!


Every now and then a theme crops up everywhere I look and demands attention. Over and over the echoes roll over me like a tidal wave: on social media, in news feeds I follow, in magazines I read, etc. Often it has a lot to do with what's happening in my life at the moment. "Pay attention!" my guardian angel reminds me, "This is important!"

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Take Heart: The Crisis in the Church is Terrible, But We've Seen Others!

Some say we face today the worst crisis the Church has ever experienced. Perhaps it's true. Horrifying things occur on an almost daily basis. Satan's influence pollutes the Church in many places. But take heart. The Church rose and grew in the midst of crises in the first century and has seen one after another ever since. Has there ever been a time of universal peace without difficulty and persecution? Church history overflows with periods of crisis.

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Guest Post: The Forgotten Message of Jesus to Sr. Lucy


 by Greg Diefenderfer 

"The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father to make, and to order that in union with him and at the same time, all the bishops of the world make, the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate heart, promising to convert it because of this day of prayer and worldwide reparation." The Blessed Virgin to Sr Lucy on June 13, 1929.

Monday, March 20, 2023

It was Only a Matter of Time: Bishop Schneider Gets the Hobnailed Boot from Church Militant!

Are we surprised when Church Militant (CM) attacks someone who (horrors!) defends the
SSPX? Goodness, there's a bushel full, and now one more, a good and holy bishop, Athanasius Schneider. 

Voris and company recently featured a Catholic World Report article by disgruntled former SSPXer Andrew Bartel. Bartel is not a canon lawyer and has pretty slim credentials to challenge a bishop with a doctorate in theology and patristics. 

According to his profile on Catholic World News:

Andrew Bartel is a lay Dominican of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. He lives with his wife and their three children in Montana, where he works as a glazier. He is also pursuing a degree in English and Philosophy.

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Sunday Meditation: The Main Crisis in the Church? "We banished God from the center."

 Bishop Schneider explains why we must defend the liturgy and restore the Holy Mass with its "richness." The limitations set by Pope Francis, he says, "will collapse." The Church "is in the hands of God." 

Amen! I'm buying the book.



Saturday, March 18, 2023

Liberty vs License: The Crisis in the Catholic Church - Part 2

A picture is worth a thousand words. The fact that the smoke of Satan has entered inside her walls literally with the Satanic architecture of the papal audience hall. Satan is hardly disguised there, but raises his reptilian head for all to see.

See  Part 1

Without naming Lamennais, Pope Gregory XVI addressed his errors in the 1832 encyclical, Mirari Vos: On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism:
...it is obviously absurd and injurious to propose a certain “restoration and regeneration” for [the Church] as though necessary for her safety and growth, as if she could be considered subject to defect or obscuration or other misfortune. Indeed, these authors of novelties consider that a “foundation may be laid of a new human institution,” and what Cyprian detested may come to pass, that what was a divine thing “may become a human church.”

 The pope went on to decry indifferentism which:

Friday, March 17, 2023

Chastisement is for our Purification: The Glory of the Church is Coming!

Don't fear the chastisement.


Exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger shares his witness about the crisis in the church.
"All that we are going through now....shows that the good is coming....Don't take your focus off God....If you keep your focus on God you will have peace and joy despite the tumult that is worldwide."
"God made man for rightly ordered worship....It will come!" 

"God's timing is perfect....He will correct these things."


 

From the Les Femmes Newsletter: Liberty vs. License Part I

Even secular voices recognize that license is accompanied by evil!

Editor's note: This is from the winter issue of the Les Femmes newsletter. Check out past issues at www.lesfemmes-thetruth.org.

LIBERTY VS. LICENSE: THE CRISIS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The crisis in the Church looms ever larger. With the Synod on Synodality on the horizon, informed Catholics are right to be concerned. Under assault for decades from both inside and outside the Church, the faith has been so undermined that some people have no idea what the faith even is. What a threat to souls! The crux of the matter is the divide between true liberty that frees man to know, love, and serve God versus license that enslaves man to his lower passions transforming him into a creature more like a beast than a human. The challenge for Catholics is to help save souls by waking up as many beasts as possible enabling them to cast off their slavery to sin and embrace truth and virtue and thereby become “free” in the true sense.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Thought for Thursday: Embrace "Courageous Happiness and Inner Peace"


I'm reading The Tumbler of God: Chesterton as Mystic. I've barely begun, but even in the introduction there are gems to be mined. This caught my attention this morning:

One of the tests of sanctity is said to be a contagious happiness and inner peace. Chesterton had his share of sorrows and of illness and his darker moments; but more than most people he was imbued with a kind of unpretentious beatitude that tended to convey itself to those around him. The writer Franz Kafka said of Chesterton, "He is so happy one might almost think he had discovered God." Indeed he had, and he was doing his best to live in the light of that discovery. What was his "secret"? It was to love the splendor of the real, and to live in adulthood the innocence and wonder of the child who sees everything for the first time. The Gospel tells us we must become again like little children in order to enter the kingdom. Chesterton shows us how.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Which is a more serious act of war and a greater environmental disaster?

Our blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline.

Or Russia taking down a drone?

Duh!

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Who Are the Legalists? What Comes First -- the Faith or the Law?

First things first! 

What is more important -- canon law or the salvation of souls? You don't have to wonder because the very last law in the Code of Canon Law, Canon 1752 in the chapter on procedures for transferring pastors, spells it out clearly. It calls for "having before one's eyes the salvation of souls, which is always the supreme law of the Church."

Here's the definition of "supreme" from Merriam Webster: "highest in rank or authority, highest in degree or quality, ultimate, final." In other words, the FIRST and most important principle of canon law is the salvation of souls. It is, in fact, the first reason and principle of the Church herself, to go forth and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And why baptize them? FOR THEIR SALVATION!

Monday, March 13, 2023

From the “Hey, Catholics, Did You Know...?” File: About the Mass

Offertory prayers at the Traditional Latin Mass stress the offering of Jesus Christ in atonement for sin.

Let's talk a little bit about the Holy Mass. Most Catholics today have never experienced the Traditional Latin Mass, barely remember Vatican II, and have no idea what came before and what's been lost. So let's look at just two changes effected by the Novus Ordo Missae: the offertory prayers and Communion in the hand.

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Sunday Meditation: Catholicism and Liberalism Can't Coexist! Why? Because of What it Means to be Catholic.

The fullness of the truth and the glory of God expressed in art, architecture, and music are found in the Catholic Church. She invites us to a closer union with God through the true, the good & the beautiful.

To know and understand the world you live in serves in many ways to free one from the tyranny of confusion and chaos that swirls around us. The fact is that we live in Liberalism Land. I could call it Liberalism Loony Land for it often seems we slog through a Slough of Despond where everything is upside down, backwards, and inside out. A number of isms control the narrative today, a predominant one being liberalism, a philosophy of lunacy.

Saturday, March 11, 2023

I Think St. Patrick Would Approve of Bishop Rhoades' Decree!

Let's face it...St. Patrick's Day has become more of a secular festival, an Irish Mardi Gras, than the celebration of a great saint. I don't know whether we will take advantage of the Friday dispensation or not, but if we do, I'll follow the penitential decree of Bishop Rhoades rather than the vague, easily forgotten recommendation of you-choose-it penance from my own bishop. May we all take seriously the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

Friday, March 10, 2023

German Church Votes to Approve Same Sex Blessings! One More Rotten Fruit from the Synodal Way.




While Rome crusades to stamp out the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacred Tradition in the name of "unity," the real apostles of disunity and heresy, the German Church, just passed a resolution calling on Holy Mother Church to bless sodomite unions. This is what the "Synodal Way" is giving us: a repudiation of Church teaching and putting a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance on the level of a sacramental of marriage. This resolution was spawned in the depths of hell. 

How Hard It Is to Say Good-bye!

Part of the sorrow at losing a loved one is the sense that you could or should have done more. I've been there. My mom lived with us the last four months of her life and, after she died, I remembered all the ways I failed. She died in 2002 and I still tear up when I think of specific times when I could have done something differently or showed her better that I loved her. So I wasn't surprised to get the email below from my friend whose mother-in-law died on Monday. Please keep her and my friend and his wife in your prayers.

My wife is crying often. She says she thinks she could have done more. 

I've got videos from about 5 years ago showing Mom's visible decline in her physical & mental state. Mom's reasoning & mental acuity declined. As time went on very bad decisions were made with her Pekingese, how when and where she would walk him. Especially when Mom would walk the dog at 6 am, with cars on the roadway and darkness all about; not the best of decisions.  Mom would have obvious physical coordination problems, falling off the treadmill in the basement and never alerting us about it.  I can now assume Mom knew she had problems, but was afraid of the changes we'd have her make.  She'd walk up and down staircases arns full of stuff, walking like a 17-year-old with a devil-may-care attitude; knowing I'd enlighten her if I found out. 

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Do Charity and Love Prevail in the Diocese of Arlington?


Before I get into the subject of this post, let me explain the collage above. My oldest brother, who died in 2019, created it for his Facebook page. That's him as a baby and as a teenager. He always said he was the youngest survivor at Pearl Harbor because my mom was a few months pregnant on December 7th when the attack occurred.

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Good News from Red States! Let Us All Take Our Civic Duty Seriously: Defend the Common Good!


There's plenty of good news coming from some of our great red states: banning dangerous transgender drugs and mutilation for minors, protecting children from drag queen story hours and twerking shows, expanding school choice to offer a parents an option outside government indoctrination centers, etc. 

Monday, March 6, 2023

What Goes Into the Mind of the Child You Created Depends on You

This is the 11-year-old boy and his father spoken of in my post from February 28 - Libs of TikTok creator: "This is just creepy". As the child reads the filthy smut directly from the book he checked out at his school's library followed by his father's reaction to the far left school board, ask yourself what you're doing to protect your own child from his or her school's leftist indoctrination. 

Are you looking at the books your child brings home? Have you been to the school library to peruse books available to your child? Are you reading content from classroom books? Do you know what is being taught to your child? 

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Nearing the End of a Long Road of Suffering from Dementia

If you have been following my friend's posts describing the journey his wife accompanying his dying mother-in-law who has dementia, the story is nearing it's end. You can read more at:

Sunday Meditation: Did You think the Council Fathers Created the Novus Ordo? Think Again!

Father Terrence Keehan, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Inverness, Illinois, uses a guitar to give the final blessing at a Mass livestreamed on Feb. 13. (photo: Screenshot of YouTube video / Screenshot of YouTube video via CNA)

Have you ever read the Vatican II (VII) documents on the sacraments, beginning with the Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosantum Concilium (SC published December 4, 1963)? It outlined the guidelines to be followed in revising the mass. The Novus Ordo (NO) did not spring up like the Phoenix as the council ended; it was the product of a committee with its major architect Annibale Bugnini who wanted to eliminate anything that could possibly be a stumbling block to Protestants. 

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Nothing Can Be Believed about the War in Ukraine Coming from Western Media

It's a war of propaganda and nothing in the media can be trusted. "Mainstream media is part of propaganda war... We must be skeptical of absolutely everything." (John Pilger) 



Friday, March 3, 2023

West (by God) Virginia: Almost Heaven!


My husband is from West (By God) Virginia and most of his siblings and their families still live there. Larry graduated from the University of West Virginia in Morgantown with a degree in Electronics Engineering. He had a wonderful beginning there in the mountain state and how this Navy brat enjoyed the introduction to that wonderful state! 

Vatican II is Ancient History for Today's Young Catholics.


How much do most Catholics know about all the Vatican councils of history? We hear about the Council of Trent and its significance in refuting many of the errors of the Protestant revolution. It revitalized the Church and cleared up ambiguities resulting from the spread of heresy. The importance and impact of Trent have echoed and re-echoed down through the centuries. But have most Catholics even heard of most of the other twenty councils? Maybe they remember the Council of Jerusalem since it's mentioned in Acts of the Apostles. Perhaps they faintly recall the Council of Nicaea. "Oh yes, Nicaea gave us the creed we say at Mass." How about the four councils of Constantinople and the two councils of Lyon or the councils of Chalcedon and Ephesus.  Could they describe a single thing rising out of them? I sure can't without looking them up.

Thursday, March 2, 2023

"End Stages Dementia is definitely a challenge to my Catholic Faith."

Editor's Note: I've been following the challenge my friend is facing as he and his wife, a nurse, care at home for his wife's mom who is in her 90s, suffering from dementia, and nearing the end of her life. I read a column recently by a woman who described the different stages of dementia that challenge home care givers. Home care, she said, is "not for the faint of heart!" That is certainly obvious from my friend's emails.

We Have Met the Evil Empire and It's Us!

Moral pollution of the evil empire is engulfing our beautiful country!

I'd like to believe in "American exceptionalism" and I believe there once was a time when America could be accurately described in those terms. Unfortunately, today Reagan's famous line about the Soviet "evil empire" calling Communism "the focus of evil in the modern world" can arguably be applied to us.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Love Not of This World

The world wants to demonically abort all children with Down's Syndrome, not for medical reasons, but so that the wicked among us won't have to look at love which is the opposite of their hatred.


Tuesday, February 28, 2023

First Lady or First Hypocrite? Rosary wearing Jill's Medicine Show!


Jill Biden is in Kenya promoting contraception. Liberals don't want babies at all, but especially not more black babies. Remember when Ruth Bader Ginsberg said she had concerns "about population growth and particularly growth in populations we don’t want to have too many of." Wonder whom she meant? Consider that black women are aborted at a much higher rate than white women and that Planned Parenthood is overrepresented in minority areas. Somehow, I don't think Ginsburg was talking about getting rid of the babies of the residents on Martha's Vineyard and other pricey neighborhoods populated by the elites. Nope, gotta get those welfare babies whom liberals always assume will grow up to be criminals. Kill 'em early and often!

Libs of TikTok creator: "This is just creepy"

"Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik blasts pornographic books in education, including an incident involving a Maine sixth grader who took a sexually explicit book home to his father." - Fox News

In this video Chaya Raicik says, "This is just creepy." An 11-year-old boy wanted to check a book out from the school library to show his father because the book had two men lying on a bed together. The school librarian asked the boy if he wanted more books on that subject and if he wanted the graphic novel version.

Monday, February 27, 2023

The Silent Saints: Heroes Among Us!

Our Lady, Health of the Sick
A few days ago I posted Love in the Trenches, about my dear friend and his wife who are taking care of his wife's mother as she nears the end of her life. What a challenge they have since she has dementia and often carries on like a two-year-old having a tantrum: throwing things, screaming, taking off her clothing. What a good time this is to meditate on how our own mothers cared for us when we were babies and toddlers... and teenagers. Parents put up with a lot while rearing their children! 

These dear caregivers haven't forgotten. They are among the silent saints who choose someone else over their own comfort and convenience. Please, readers, pray for them and all those caring for their loved ones at home. I have known several, and am ashamed to say that often it didn't even occur to me to offer help and respite care. We've done it a few times, but not enough. 

Sunday, February 26, 2023

The Way the Vatican is Dealing with Those who Love the TLM is "Not the Style of God!"


The papal posse and Dr. Peter Kwasniewski boldly address what the pope and Cardinal Roche are doing to those faithful who attend the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). Fr. Gerald Murray, a canon lawyer, calls it "a basic violation of Church order" to throw Catholics out of the churches. "There is no reason why any parishioner should be thrown out of his parish church. Absolutely none!...It's a persecution of Latin Mass Catholics plain and simple and it can't be justified....This is damaging the Church." Watch this episode. The first twenty minutes deal with the latest papal document restricting the TLM.


 

Sunday Meditation: Where Are You Going During Lent?

Will we accept the "pebbles" in our shoes during our Lenten journey? Will we actually put the pebbles in our shoes as a sacrifice? May God bring us all closer to His Son and his suffering during these blessed days of Lent. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, save souls. 


Saturday, February 25, 2023

Philosophy Gives Me a Headache!

Philosophy gives me a headache all right! All that talk about realism, rationalism, liberalism, modernism, Marxism, sophism, skepticism, and every other ism out there makes my head spin. I actually got an A in metaphysics in college, but don't ask me anything about it. Being and essence, mind and matter, substance and attribute.... good grief! We had to read Sartre's Nausea and it was definitely nauseating as was his entire philosophy in my opinion.

Friday, February 24, 2023

Is the Pope Catholic?: The Ambiguous World of Pope Francis


Remember the cliche response to questions with an obvious answer? Someone asks a football nut if he's going to watch the Super Bowl and he responds, "Is the pope Catholic?" 

Well...you don't hear that much these days for obvious reasons, but it really came home to me with two articles I happened to read this week. One was from the October 27th issue of The Wanderer by Raymond De Souza titled When Ambiguity Holds Sway in the Church. If anything marks this pontificate, ambiguity takes the premier position. And that reminds me of a comedy routine by Emo Philips when he ends a joke saying, "Ambiguity... the devil's volleyball."

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Love the Traditional Latin Mass? Pray Through the Intercession of Mother Angelica!

Where's Mother Angelica when you need her? Watching over us and saying it's going to be all right! "Express your needs...whatever it is!" Mother Angelica may not be a-live, but she's still bigger than life on Mother Angelica Live!

Listen to her defend the traditional and lament the loss of what has been stolen from us.

You can see the entire episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Cu38YLUGE&t=0s


 

From the "Democrats are Evil" File: If this doesn't make you a political activist protecting children, nothing will.


Virginia Democrats block bill to prevent schools from hiding a child’s gender ‘transition’ from parents


Hey, parents and guardian's have no rights when the LGBTQXYZ lunatics are in charge! 

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Ash Wednesday Silence

Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.


 

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

True Charity in the Trenches: A Love Story!


Yesterday, I told you a horror story. Today, on the cusp of Lent, I'm giving you a love story that is so touching I was overwhelmed. It came from a dear friend of mine whose elderly mother-in-law has dementia and is nearing the end of life's journey. He and his wife are caring for her at home in a way that is indescribably beautiful. I'll let him speak for himself:
Mom is dying in phases.

Not eating much just a little bit of a Snack Pack of chocolate pudding and a few ounces of oatmeal with apple sauce and milk to thin it out.

Monday, February 20, 2023

Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and Murder: The Diabolical Trinity!

From the 1978 movie, Coma, based on Robin Cook's 1977 novel of the same name.

Get ready for a real life horror story. 

But first, let me say that anyone who's not sleeping at the switch knows that euthanasia and assisted suicide are expanding  at an alarming rate. Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium have been murder capitols for years and now Canada has joined the killing spree and is considering taking it a step further - to kill "mature minors" without parental consent. (One presumes the parents will be called after death to remove the body and pay for the funeral.)

Sunday, February 19, 2023

Sunday Meditation: Practice Charity this Lent, the epitome of all virtues!

The sermon this morning was all about charity based on the Epistle, 1 Corinthians 13. Charity/love doesn't reside in the emotions, but is an act of the will and first involves our call to union with the source of all charity, God. Scripture tells us that God Himself is Charity/Love. 

"God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him."

So the virtue of charity calls us to know God better, to embrace His will and to love others for the sake of God who created them in His own image and likeness. We can only grow in that virtue by knowing God better through reading scripture, adding good spiritual reading, and prayer. Our Lady who practiced charity better than any other person who ever lived, except for her Son, can teach us if we draw closer to her. "Am I not here and am I not your mother?" she said to Juan Diego.

Every one of us, if we are blessed with a faith-filled mother, learn our prayers on her lap and at her knee. She holds our hands together and teaches us the sign of the cross. "Lord, be in my mind, be in my heart, and give me strong shoulders to carry the cross." What a blessing! But even those who never had that blessing have our holy mother to teach us now.

Saturday, February 18, 2023

An Interesting Lenten Thought - Don't Worry about having a "Failed Lent!"


I liked this meditation by Fr. Goring about planning a "failed Lent," and thought, "He's right! We can't give up before we start."

Friday, February 17, 2023

Canon Lawyer, Fr. Réginald-Marie Rivoire, Eviscerates Traditionis Custodes

Edward Pentin posted a tweet a few days ago about a new book criticizing Traditionis Custodes. Despite the fact that many canon lawyers are saying the same thing as Fr. Rivoire, most bishops have all done the proverbial bootlicking, bending the knee to Francis like he bent the knee to the leaders of the Sudan. 


Here's Pentin's tweet:

Bishop Barron and the SSPX from Fr. Z


More about Bp. Barron, the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, and the SSPX


So....Bishop Barron is letting the SSPX say Mass in the beautiful chapel he's authorized for the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). 

This will make some people happy and some people angry. Those with the mantra, "The SSPX are in schism!" will seek to explain it away and criticize the bishop for letting those schismatics enter the church. Those who are happy will be sending accolades galore to Bishop Barron.

Thursday, February 16, 2023

The COVID Scam Continues: Cartoonist Anne Gibbons Explains it all for you!


Hey! Just give all the elitists who made millions billions with their massive human experiment a pass. Really....they meant well. Killed your kid or your grandmother?...so sad. Ready for the next booster?

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Catholics! Can We Please Dispense with the Circular Firing Squads?

Who are you aiming your slings and arrows at? 

It seems today that Catholics spend more time fighting with each other than fighting our common enemy, the devil. Novus Ordo true believers shoot arrows at the wicked "rad trads." The sedevantists (who have grown since Benedict died to include all the "Benedict is my pope" people) tell the rest of us there's no pope and it's obvious so why can't we see it? And then there are the multiple attacks on those "SSPX schismatics" who cause so much division. "Go away, we don't need you here!"

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Get Ready, Get Set.....Another Week Closer to Ash Wednesday!


I'm still trying to decide what to do for Lent in addition to my usual little plan of life. This morning I read a quote from Dostoevsky from Crime and Punishment: 

"Pain and suffering are always inevitable to a large intelligence and a deep heart." 

Monday, February 13, 2023

A few random thoughts for Monday!

"A new day with no mistakes in it....yet." Miss Stacey to Ann Shirley

I'm going to see my spiritual director today, so I'm thinking about my recent challenges and how to face them.

First of all, I want to love God with my whole heart, mind, will, and strength. That's primary and it really sums up everything. What can I do this Lent to cooperate better with God's grace?

Saturday, February 11, 2023

Questions on Saturday for Curious Catholics with Inquiring Minds

 Is Cardinal Burke in Schism?

"On at least five occasions, Cardinal Burke has rejected the magisterial nature of official papal teaching (in one case, pre-emptively dismissing a hypothetical official teaching of the Magisterium)." Since this is what the SSPX also does, why does he believe they are "in schism" for holding the same positions as he does? That's a head scratcher!

Does Cardinal Burke think Pope Francis is an anti-pope?

Friday, February 10, 2023

Bishop Athanasius Schneider: "The Holy See is Occupied...by Forces Damaging the Faith."

This interview with Bishop Schneider took place last fall at the Catholic Identity Conference in Pittsburgh. It's worth watching two or three times to thoroughly understand the points the bishop is making. One wonders, after watching this, whether Bishop Schneider will be the next one accused of being in schism. May God protect him and keep him safe as he defends the faith in a way that is the epitome of charity. Pray for the pope and the unfaithful Vatican hierarchy who are doing so much damage to the Church.


I'll quote some of the video here and the points Archbishop Schneider makes for those who don't want to take the time to watch it. After describing the Holy See as being "occupied," this faithful bishop goes on to say that the occupation is a "temporal phenomena" (in time). One might also say "temporary": 

St. Cyril of Alexandria Shared Something in Common with Archbishop Lefebvre!

St. Cyril of Alexandria
I usually begin my prayer time in the morning by reading about the saints of the days in Butler's Lives. Yesterday, reflecting on St. Cyril of Alexandria I read:

St. Cyril has been called the Doctor of the Incarnation, as St. Augustine was styled the Doctor of Divine Grace: in the great intercession of the Syrian and Maronite Mass he is commemorated as "a tower of truth and interpreter of the Word of God made flesh." Throughout his life he made it a rule never to advance any doctrine which he had not learnt from the ancient fathers."

This reminded me of Archbishop Lefebvre's determination to pass on what he had received, the faith as taught by the Apostles and Fathers of the Church. Would the Fathers of the Church even recognize the faith as presented in Amoris Laetititia, Traditionis Custodes, and the synodal process? 

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Red Rose Rescue Trial in Progress: Warning - Graphic Photo of Dead Baby!


Editor's Comment: Red Rose Rescue is a peaceful attempt to save babies from death and their mothers from a lifetime of regret. Rescuers enter an abortion business to offer the mothers red roses and information about the many kinds of assistance available to them. They do not block the door or prevent anyone from entering or exiting, they use the power of prayer and persuasion to save lives and souls. They are heroes! 

Rooster Looster's "Trads of Flick Flock" Snake Oil Show

 Rooster Looster crowing about how they're getting richer but unfortunately still failures
(Dr Hook and the Medicine Show - "Cover of the Rolling Stone")

Note: In Matthew 5:38 most Bibles say "turn the other cheek" but my New Global Progressive translation says "tongue in cheek".

The following is a review of Rooster Looster's Barnyard Militant with emphasis on his show, The Geyser, where lies and falsehoods are spread across the planet on purpose in order to destroy other people. As Rooster Looster crows this he theatrically circles his wings in the air and cock-a-doodle-doos that lies and falsehoods are being set free around the globe.

At one time Rooster Looster subliminally embedded within The Geyser his animus against the SSPX, however currently he's brought his cock-fight to the forefront with Barnyard Militant's new show, The Trads of Flick Flock, wherein Rooster rants about the Vetus Ordo and the SSPX. 

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Fr. Z Weighs in Again and Reiterates that the SSPX is NOT IN SCHISM!

Editor's Comment: Fr. Z has been consistent in saying that the SSPX is NOT IN SCHISM. Can anyone out there produce a "proper decree properly composed and promulgated?" I have yet to see one! I suggest people read the blog post and then read the comments which are interesting and present both sides of the question. 


ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to contribute for a side altar at an SSPX chapel?

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Is making a sponsorship to an SSPX church a sin, if one doesn’t support being in Schism.  I have a deep love for Our Lady of Guadalupe for example and would like to support the side altar in her honor.

I assume that the SSPX chapel has a plan to create or renovate a side altar and a collection is being taken up.

A couple things.

First, we cannot accept the premise.  The SSPX, the claims of dilettantes notwithstanding, is not in schism.  When proper authority issues a proper decree properly composed and promulgated, we can review this.  Until then, charity dictates that people should back off and attend to their own affairs. [Read the rest at Fr. Z's blog.]


Monday, February 6, 2023

Monday Morning Meltdown!

Chandelier from Phantom of the Opera

I'm having a Monday morning meltdown! Not that I'm upset, I'm just feeling a little all over the place. Yesterday my daughter reminded me of a trip we took to the Kennedy Center for her 24th birthday to see Phantom of the Opera

One Problem!

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Sunday Meditation: It's Septuagesima Sunday. Hear the Church Bells of Lent Calling from a Distance


Today is Septuagesima Sunday, the beginning of a seventeen day time of remote preparation for the season of Lent. After Vatican II, it was eliminated from the liturgical calendar. What exactly did we lose by that or did we actually gain something by the loss?

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Much As I Respect Cardinal Burke, He Isn't Infallible!

Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, La Crosse, WI

I respect Cardinal Raymond Burke and have a number of his books in my library. His writings have helped me in my formation as a Catholic. My husband and I visited the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse on one of our cross country camping trips. What a delightful experience! And how grateful I am to Cardinal Burke for its creation. But building a beautiful shrine honoring Our Lady and writing some great books, doesn't make one infallible. Even Peter is infallible only when he speaks ex cathedra or speaks in union with the magisterium, not just the current magisterium either. He and they may not "make a mess" with the immutable Doctrine and Sacred Tradition of the Holy Roman Catholic Church passed on from the apostles. Novelties that conflict with Doctrine and Sacred Tradition are anathema!

Friday, February 3, 2023

Rooster Looster Mike Voris is Crowing in the Barnyard Again! "The Schismatics are Coming! Run for Your Lives!"

Check out Susan's article, Once Upon a Time in Detroit!

A friend of mine, a long-time sidewalk counseling partner from the past, sent me an email linking to Mike Voris' latest attack on the SSPX. Good grief! Give it a rest, Michael!

Ho-hum and yawn. Mikey has definitely become Rooster Looster one note, one long, screeching, discordant note. Like a cockscomb-clad court jester, he calls us all to dance to his crowing. He screeches that the SSPX is damaging the faith and driving people out of the Church. 

What nonsense! 

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Where's St. Ignatius of Antioch When You Need Him?

Yesterday was the feast of the great bishop/martyr of Antioch, St. Ignatius. Do you know him? Every Catholic should. When we intercede for our bishops, St. Ignatius must immediately come to mind. What if every one of our bishops embraced his example. What a difference we would see in the Catholic Church!

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Guest Post: Vote NO -- Virginia “Reproductive Freedom” Constitutional Amendment

Editor's Comment: Parents, protect your children from this evil legislation! And protect all people from sex trafficking! This legislation was drafted in the bowels of hell. Pray the St. Michael prayer and then contact your delegate and senator. It's easy to do by clicking on the link provided by Bob.

By: Hon. Robert Marshall, Past 26-year General Assembly Member

Contact your Virginia delegate/senator TODAY

Democrat Delegate Charniele Herring and Democrat Senator Jennifer McClellan have introduced “reproductive freedom” Amendments to Virginia’s Constitution (HJR 519 and SJR 255), which read: “That every individual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”

The term “individual” has no gender or age limit. Since the amendment protects the “individual,” and not just adults or women only, minor males as well as females, could exercise their “reproductive freedom” by consenting to being sterilized, taking dangerous puberty blocking hormones, surgically removing their sex organs without parental knowledge or consent and minor females could undergo abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy without parental knowledge or consent.

Fr. Tom Collins: Schools are Pimping Our Children. It's not just high school; it begins in kindergarten!

Editor's comment: The commentary below by Fr. Tom reacts to a mother reading from a  hard core pornographic novel being used in a local high school's English class. I won't even give the title of the book and won't link to the mom's testimony. It was so evil, describing fellatio between two men, that I listened to about twenty seconds and stopped. Let me say that "extremely graphic" hardly describes it. 

This is satanic and school board members who allow it deserve to be cast into the sea with the proverbial millstone. The public schools, and even many so-called Catholic schools, are taking our children, sexualizing them, and killing their souls. We need good Catholic parents to run for school boards all over the country and stop the insanity! This is satanic grooming of our children. Teachers who use these types of material should be fired. They are pimping our children!

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

In Which Cardinal Roche Rants about Those Pesky "Keyboard Warriors!"

Cardinal Arthur Roche
Mundabor's blog pointed me to an article at Gloria TV this morning quoting Cardinal Roche, 
head of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments. Roche laments those pesky bloggers, "keyboard warriors" he calls us, who defend the traditional Latin Mass and are having an effect on seminarians and others.

What a compliment! 

What defender of the Mass of the Ages wouldn't thrill at Roche's words! 

Monday, January 30, 2023

Mike Houck Acquitted of All Charges! Thanks Be to God! Give Him Praise and Glory!


From LifeSiteNews:

How Do We Survive Living in a Dystopian World Run by Caligula Clones?

Meanwhile we throw tanks and buckets of taxpayers' money at Ukraine!

The early martyrs no doubt had a sense of unreality as their world was turned upside down by tyranny and persecution. Vice was rampant in the first century pagan world with many of the same horrors Catholics face in our own dystopian age. Babies were exposed on the hillsides under the law of paterfamilias. Guards were placed to arrest Christians trying to rescue them. No defying the death-dealing desire of dads who wanted dead babies. [And it goes on! Think of the FBI raiding the home of pro-life activist Mark Houck on a spurious FACE charge! He is in court this morning as the jury continues to deliberate. Please pray!] 

Saturday, January 28, 2023

In your charity, spend this weekend praying for Mark Houck and his family!

The father of seven is being persecuted by an out-of-control government that targets pro-lifers as domestic terrorists. That this ever went to trial shows how evil and unbalanced our law enforcement is today. If you're an Antifa terrorist, you can loot, burn and kill with impunity. If you're a pro-life sidewalk counselor offering help to women to save their little ones, you can expect to have your house raided by armed brown shirts with rifles at the ready terrorizing your children.

Let us spend the weekend in prayer and sacrifice for this family! I'm sending my guardian angel to pray with the angels of all the jurors, the judge, and Mark's family. And may their patron saints also be interceding. Read the article for the background and then pray like you are in the dock!


Friday, January 27, 2023

Got any Good Spiritual Books on Your Reading List?

One of my favorite Catholic authors is Fr. Leo Trese. presently I'm reading his 1961 book, Seventeen Steps to Heaven. I take seriously his recommendation to make spiritual reading a part of daily life. How can we know God if we never think about Him? How can we love God if we don't know Him? Fr. Trese gives us this practical advice:
Loving God is the most important business of our lives....The truly practical Catholic, the Catholic who takes seriously his vocation to love God, will try to make spiritual reading a regular part of his weekly, if not daily, program.

And so, every day I read Scripture, or an entry in the Lives of the Saints, or a chapter in the Imitation of Christ, etc. At present I'm reading the life and ministry of Christ in chronological order in scripture. It puts things in perspective. What happened first? What did Jesus do right after His Baptism and temptation in the desert? I never thought about a lot of it before. His meeting with the woman at the well, for example happened very early in His ministry, so did the nighttime visit of Nicodemus. How does that impact my understanding of Jesus and His ministry?

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Another Priest with Feet of Clay? But Don't Let Disillusion Kill Your Peace!

Update 1/26/23: Several witnesses including two priests have confirmed Fr. Pavone's inappropriate behavior with women. One, Fr. Stephen Imberratto, who worked at Priests for Life from 2015-2018 described his experience to Church Militant:
"During my three and a half years at PFL, I counseled a woman who endured harassment from Frank Pavone and eventually left PFL employment over his inappropriate behaviors.

"PFL did not have a human resource department providing recourse to aggrieved employees, nor a safe, independent and confidential harassment committee... Having a general awareness of other victims over the years besides the woman I counseled, I resigned after the board, at my insistence, finally instituted an independent and confidential employee harassment committee to protect all employed at PFL against any future inappropriate behaviors."