Are You the Fourth Monkey? Are You Deaf, Dumb, Blind, and Lost Your Mind?

I get some silly comments on my blog but one of the silliest and most patently absurd is this:

"[T]he Pope, no matter how sinful he might personally be, can never mislead you spiritually."

Of Validity and Excommunication and the Insanity of the Present Time

I have some really smart readers and how blessed I am to learn from them. In fact, I appreciate and pray for all my visitors even the trolls. They are particularly helpful to my retaining my sense of humor. 

But as for my fellow well-catechized Catholics, often I'm humbled by what they share.  So today I'm offering a few recent comments that are so smart and insightful they deserve wider viewing. Thank you to all my faithful readers for your kindness and prayers.

The first comment is about Pascal's wager. You've no doubt heard of it. Pascal defended the wisdom of living and acting as if you believe in God. You have nothing to lose (unless you consider living a virtuous life instead of a licentious one a loss). When you die, if there is no God you will be none the wiser. If there is a God and you lived the virtuous life of the believer, you go to heaven to glorify God forever. On the other hand, if you lived a sinful life ignoring God's laws, you will meet the God you didn't believe in and go to hell. Isn't the wiser course obvious?

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!

Sunday Meditation: "Take up your cross and follow me."

The Carthusian martyrs of England joyfully accepted martyrdom. St. Thomas More seeing them  from his own prison cell wrote to his daughter Margaret, “these blessed fathers be now as cheerfully going to their deaths as bridegrooms to a marriage." (Source)

My friend and colleague, Dexter Duggan, reported in last week's Wanderer on Cardinal Raymond  Burke's address to Catholic Health Care Workers in Phoenix, AZ. His comments on suffering seem especially poignant during this month dedicated to the suffering souls in Purgatory.

I Hate to Think the Pope is a Liar...

...but it's hard to ignore the facts.

Burke: Cardinal Caffarra “Personally Delivered” Dubia Letter to Papal Residence

But the pope says he only learned about the dubia when he read about  it in the media. Cardinal Burke says it was hand delivered to the papal residence and the CDF (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) several months before they made it public.

So who gets the Pinocchio award?

Keep Praying for the Consecration of Russia by Name

Cardinal Burke calls for Consecration of Russia to Immaculate Heart of Mary

According to ZENIT the Pope is Bringing Cardinal Burke Back into the Curia

to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The Confusion is Spreading! "It Can't be Loving not to Live the Truth!"

In an interview with LifeSiteNews, Cardinal Raymond Burke warns that the confusion is spreading:

LifeSiteNews: Since the extraordinary synod on the family, we have entered a period of uncertainty and confusion over several “hot-button” issues: communion for divorced and “remarried” couples, a change of attitude towards homosexual unions and an apparent relaxing of attitudes towards non-married couples. Does your Eminence think that this confusion is already producing adverse effects among Catholics? 

There's a "Catholic Man Crisis" in the Church...

...and feminism has helped bring it about according to Cardinal Raymond Burke.

In a recent interview Cardinal Burke had this to say:

I think there has been a great confusion with regard to the specific vocation of men in marriage and of men in general in the Church during the past 50 years or so. It’s due to a number of factors, but the radical feminism which has assaulted the Church and society since the 1960s has left men very marginalized. 

Unfortunately, the radical feminist movement strongly influenced the Church,

Alice von Hildebrand: Human Demotion, Supernatural Promotion

Alice von Hildebrand doesn't mention a word about Cardinal Raymond Burke in this touching article, but there is no doubt in my mind that her beloved friend is whom she had in mind. It was Alice von Hildebrand who requested a spiritual bouquet of masses to be said for the cardinal several months ago when the rumors about his demotion from the Apostolic Signatura began to fly. I also heard via friends how grieved she was by his demotion. But I didn't need to be told. I only had to read the words below:

Well known, alas, is the human temptation of making reproaches to God for “ill-treating his friends” – in contrast to Satan who favors his “children” in every possible way… until they die. Power, success, fame, riches: these are the gifts that the Evil one generously distributes to those who have sold their soul “for a mess of pottage.” 

Cardinal Burke, Doctor of Souls

Cardinal Raymond Burke, a lion when it comes to defending the faith, is often portrayed as rigid and lacking in compassion. As a matter of fact, anyone who stands against the tsunami of progressivism in the Church is portrayed as a pharisee clinking to the rule book laying burdens on poor, suffering humanity. But are the progressives truly the compassionate ones?

What would you think of a surgeon who refused to operate to remove a child's diseased appendix because the operation would cause pain to the patient?

"But my child will die if you don't operate!" you cry.

The Crux of the Matter? To Enable Dissent and Sin!

The Crux -- is a web project of that oh-so-friendly-to-Catholics Boston Globe to feature "Catholic" news. John Allen, former columnist for the National Catholic Reporter (aka, the fishwrap), is heading up The Crux and the site has hired Margery Eagan as a columnist. To see how "Catholic" she is read this column where she goes after those terrible people on the right who oppose the contraceptive mandate and abortion. This paragraph exposes her as one more pro-abortion feminist zealot:

What Hobby Lobby really represents is a continued chipping away at reproductive freedom -- women's reproductive freedom -- which is a necessary prerequisite to our economic freedom.

It's pretty clear that The Crux is the on-line version of the anti-Catholic fishwrap not only enabling, but encouraging dissent from core doctrines of the Church.

So somebody explain to me why Cardinal O'Malley is cheering on this latest assault against the faith?

It seems today that we have a large number of high level clerics who believe sowing confusion is a virtue. They call it "mercy" to encourage people to walk a tightrope across the pit of hell laden down with unrepented mortal sins. One can only hope that the sinners are ignorant of the seriousness of their condition. It's hard to believe the clerics are!

Considering it's the feast day of St. Robert Bellarmine, I recommend reading his meditation on hell. Hell is real and we should strive to do everything we can to see that no one goes there. Will tickling ears and spreading a faux "mercy" really help save souls? Will saying "Bravo!" to mortal sin save a single soul? Will holding pre-pride Masses with rainbow decorations that signal approval of the sinful gay lifestyle bring a single soul to repentance? What do you think!

Jesus said "Zeal for your house consumes me!" Meanwhile, our modern pharisees turn the house of God into an amusement park where "all are welcome" and everyone is assured of heaven. I wonder what St. Robert Bellarmine would say if he were here today. He would no doubt be on his way to Malta with Cardinal Burke.

More Bad News from the Vatican

Exile for Cardinal Raymond Burke

What to make of this? Sandro Magister is one of the most respected reporters on Vatican doings.

The more I see coming out of Rome, the more I shake my head.

Lord, your people are starving for lack of authentic teaching. Please help us!

Vatican Shakeup: Levada and Wuerl Named to Bishops' Board

...Cardinal Burke off.

Hmm....what does it mean?

Cardinal Burke retains his many posts at the Vatican, including head of the highest Vatican court so he definitely hasn't been packed off to Mongolia as some fear...at least not yet.

But how should a faithful Catholic take the news that Cardinal Levada and Cardinal Wuerl will be vetting new U.S. bishops? What will that mean for the quality of men selected for the U.S. Church which has improved in recent years? Will it be back to the Bernardin era which saw the rise of the lavender mafia and the "Good-bye, Good Men" style of seminary gatekeepers?

Check out the news here and here. Thomas Peters is optimistic, the Badger Catholic not so much. As for me, I think I'll imitate Mary and ponder all these things in my heart. I think an extra hour of adoration this week is a good response.

Pray for Holy Mother Church.

Cardinal Burke Says Nancy Must be Denied Communion!

Cardinal Raymond Burke is the senior prelate from the United States. He is the head of the highest Vatican court and a Canon lawyer. When he speaks, his words come from the center of the Church:

This is a person who obstinately, after repeated admonitions, persists in a grave sin — cooperating with the crime of procured abortion — and still professes to be a devout Catholic....I fear for Congresswoman Pelosi if she does not come to understand how gravely in error she is. I invite her to reflect upon the example of St. Thomas More who acted rightly in a similar situation even at the cost of his life. (Read more...)

Wow! There's a man who's not afraid to speak truth to power. Nancy doesn't seem to realize that she will face a higher power one day than the president she seems to worship. In her arrogance, she apparently thinks there is no reckoning. Does she really believe she is a "devout Catholic?" If so, Cardinal Burke's admonition is a wake-up call. There is a higher power to whom Nancy will one day answer. Pray for her that she "wakes up."

I fear, however, that Nancy is unreachable at present. As a friend of mine once said, "You can wake up a sleeping person; you can't wake up a person pretending to be asleep."

Cardinal Burke Calls on Individual Bishops to Preach Humanae Vitae

The root of abortion is contraception! Let me say it again. The root of abortion is contraception! The court decision that ushered in Roe v. Wade was Griswold v. Connecticut. And until Humanae Vitae is preached and preached and preached, attacking abortion is like cutting the snakes off the head of Medusa. They will grow back stronger than ever. Cardinal Burke recognizes the importance of individual bishops fighting the culture of death relentlessly. But it must include calling people back to the integrity of the sexual act itself. Contraception is a love-killing act that precedes the baby-killing act. Both need to be fought vigorously by our shepherds. Instead of giving awards to pro-abortion politicians and leaders, they need to start acting like supporting the murder of the innocent is the atrocity it really is. Cardinal Dolan (and other princes of the Church in the United States), stop honoring and kowtowing to the modern Hitlers in our midst. Hitler didn't kill the innocent personally, he developed the policies and authorized the atrocities.  When you honor our modern Hitlers and Stalins and Pol Pots and Maus, you become a serious part of the problem. Please act like men, like shepherds who defend the sheep from the wolves and fathers who face death rather than let their children be slaughtered. Please, Your Excellencies, stop giving us stones and snakes when we ask for bread and fish!

Vatican Cardinal: ‘Individual bishops’, not just conferences must fight culture of death