Is the USCCB Even Catholic Any More?

The USCCB seems to have lost the faith decades ago, not to mention their minds! I offer the letter below as exhibit A. Why would any right-minded bishop continue to belong to this Good Old Boys Club of Nonsense? In the name of ecumenism we are told that all faiths are paths to God including paganism. And now we have a Jewish woman, Amy-Jill Levine elected as head of the "Catholic" Biblical Association who wants to rewrite the Bible because the pharisees were misunderstood. It reminds me of the song Officer Krupke from West Side Story. 

Another Confusing Head Scratcher: Pope Leo Tells Material Heretics "We are One! We Already are!"

If anyone wondered whether Pope Leo XIV is Francis II, he only had to listen to the pope's address to the band of material heretics joining him for the week of Christian unity. Don't get me wrong. I love my Protestant friends, but I would never (and neither would they) agree that we are "already one". But that's what the pope said:

"Outside the Church there is no salvation." False ecumenism attacks the dogma!

Jesus gave us the roadmap to happiness. Love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. That's the highway to heaven? And once we get to the finish line Peter and his successors hold the keys to heaven's gates.

The Church tells us, "Extra ecclesiam nulla salus," Outside the Church there is no salvation. But what exactly does that mean? Can only baptized Catholics go to heaven? 

Sunday Meditation: "My People Shall Not Be Confounded Forever." Joel 2:27

There's a saying often attributed to Abraham Lincoln that echoes the prophet Joel. It goes something like this:

You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

It's tie to never be confounded and fooled again by liars and deceivers working for the enemy. Some people become deceivers out of ignorance. We saw a lot of that during COVID. Low information folks trying to convince those of us doing the research that all the scientists and doctors questioning Fauci et al were quacks and we needed to get with the program. Most of them were just foolish not malicious. But others among the doctors, pharmacists, those profiteering, the mainstream media, etc. were not innocent. They deliberately lied and withheld the truth. And many people died because of it.

Francis, Who Talks about the "God of Surprises," Inflicts His Own Surprise on the Upcoming Synod

Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P.

Hey, Bishops! Surprise! 

The pope has chosen pro-sodomy, heterodox priest, Timothy Radcliffe, for your pre-synod retreat in Rome from October 1-3, 2023. Catholic News Agency reports:

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich announced Monday that the October 2023 session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality will begin with a three-day retreat led by a Dominican preacher whose statements on homosexuality have previously sparked controversy.

Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe will lead the Catholic bishops and participants in the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in a retreat near Rome from Oct. 1–3 at the invitation of Pope Francis, according to the cardinal....

Is the Other Shoe (or should we say atomic bomb) about to Drop on the TLM (and the Novus Ordo)?

Novus Ordo Clown Mass celebrated in Orlando in 2008.
The craziness continues in many places!

We all know Francis hates the Traditional Latin Mass and all the other Sacraments 
celebrated according to the traditional form. Despite having at least 1500 years behind them and faithfully transmitting the dogmas of the faith, all the sacraments as practiced before the Vatican II revolution must be trashed! Francis seems determined to crush all things traditional in the name of ecumenism. 

Ultimately, that's what this is all about, ECUMENISM.  And it has been since Bugnini (secretary to the Consilium that created the new Mass) vowed to remove anything that was a stumbling block to our separated brethren. If the Protestants wouldn't like it, out it went. 

What Difference Does it Make?

         

Upon this rock

A book fell into my hands last week that I never expected to read, but which I am excited to tell you about because it has given me yet another reason to be grateful that I found my way to the Catholic Church 49 years ago.  At first, I planned only to read the introduction, but I knew from the first few words, this was going to be a book I would not be able to put down.  The title is  Let There Be No Divisions Among Them, Why All Christians Should be Catholic, by Rev. John MacLaughlin, first published in 1891.  It begins this way,

Introduction

       "In the following pages, I propose to answer the question, ‘Is one religion as good as another?’

In other words, I propose to discuss indifferentism, the popular theory that teaches that all Christian creeds find equal favor in the eyes of God and that it doesn’t matter which branch of Christianity a man belongs to, provided he be a good man after his own fashion."

Joint Communion with Lutherans? Oh my!

Bishop Denis Madden and Lutheran Bishop Elizabeth Eaton

Bishops Committee Recommends Opportunities for Shared Communion with Lutherans

Well....

According to the bishops' press release reporting on their dialogue with the Lutheran Church, Declaration on the Way:

The document...also suggests that the expansion of opportunities for Lutherans and Catholics to receive Holy Communion together would be a sign of the agreements already reached. The Declaration also seeks a commitment to deeper connection at the local level for Catholics and Lutherans.

Carmelite Nuns Pray with Hindu for a "better world"

I'm on the email list of a Hindu named Rajan Zed. I have no idea how he got my email address, but sometimes his posts give me the opportunity for a head-shaking laugh. Today's was a case in point. Here's the email in part:

In a remarkable interfaith gesture, Carmelite nuns and well-known Hindu statesman Rajan Zed prayed together in Reno (Nevada, USA) today for making the “world a better place”.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, prayed from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world...with lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. The nuns prayed from Songs of David and Intercessions, and read from Gospel of Luke in New Testament.

According to Sr. Susan Weber, Prioress of Carmel of Our Lady of the Mountains Monastery...it was always nice to share the prayers and have dialogue....Sr. Rosey Klupfel led the prayers.

Rajan Zed started and ended his prayer with “OM”, the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work....Reciting from Taittiriya Upanishad, Rajan Zed said, “Om saha naavavatu, Saha nau bhunaktu, Saha viiryan karavaavahai, Tejasvi naavadhiitamastu, Maa vidhvishhaavahai”, which he then translated as, “May we be protected together, May we be nourished together, May we work together with great vigor, May our study be enlightening, May no obstacle arise between us”. Nuns repeated after Zed—“Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti” (Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all).

My mind's picture of the event is priceless. Sr. "Rosey" leading the pack of nuns in jeans and jerseys closing their eyes swaying and intoning "om" as they repeat after Zed, "om shanti, shanti, shanti." Maybe they taught him to sing, "Peace is flowing like a river." Did they end with the coke song, "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony." Can't you see them all arm in arm swaying back in forth in a living metaphor of unity. It's so nice to share.

I had to check the website to see if they are real nuns, but they seem to be and recently hosted an international Carmelite meeting. I checked out the rest of their website including a "transfer celebration" welcoming a new member with this prayer poem:

Flame-dancing Spirit

Come sweep us off our feet

and dance us through our days.

Surprise us with Your

rhythms;

dare us to try new steps,

explore new patterns

and new partnerships.

Release us from old routines

to swing in abandoned joy

and fearful adventure.

And in the intervals,

rest us in Your Still Center.

Amen

This seems to be one more group of holdovers from the sixties who traded their tie-dyed t-shirts for the "habit" of the Amchurch nun. There is something particularly bizarre about joining in the "holy word" that "contains the universe." Sorry, Sr. Rosey, but the universe only exists because the WORD MADE FLESH, Jesus Christ, called it into being. Intoning "om" seems blasphemous to me. No surprise, then, that these "nuns" all have gray hair and only seventeen vocations after fifty plus years. But, hey, they're having a good time even if they are contemplating their navels.

N.B. In 1996 Pope John Paul II wrote an Apostolic Exhortation, Vita consecrata which included this paragraph:

§25 … The Church must always seek to make her presence visible in everyday life, especially in contemporary culture, which is often very secularized and yet sensitive to the language of signs. In this regard the Church has a right to expect a significant contribution from consecrated persons, called as they are in every situation to bear clear witness that they belong to Christ. Since the habit is a sign of consecration, poverty and membership in a particular Religious family, I join the Fathers of the Synod in strongly recommending to men and women religious that they wear their proper habit, suitably adapted to the conditions of time and place.Where valid reasons of their apostolate call for it, Religious, in conformity with the norms of their Institute, may also dress in a simple and modest manner, with an appropriate symbol, in such a way that their consecration is recognizable. Institutes which from their origin or by provision of their Constitutions do not have a specific habit should ensure that the dress of their members corresponds in dignity and simplicity to the nature of their vocation.

What don't you understand about the virtue of obedience, sisters?