Monday of Holy Week: Are You a Christian?

Only Christians celebrate Holy Week, but is everyone who celebrates Holy Week really a Christian? I thought about that while reading a column by Msgr. Charles Pope in The Wanderer, Be Different, Be a Christian. I generally read Msgr. Pope's weekly article because he offers insightful and challenging thoughts that make me think. This particular column began:

Are you a Christian? Before you answer, consider these other questions: Do you love your enemy? Do you do good to them who hate you? The honest answers to these questions are at the very heart of Christianity and represent what distinguishes a Christian from others.

"We Need Formal Acts of Repentance!" What Will You Do Today to Make Reparation for Idolatry?

Like Msgr. Pope says, there are many ways a person can make reparation for what happened at the Vatican during the synod. Can you give up coffee today, say an extra rosary, take a virtual Jericho walk around St. Peter's and St. Maria in Traspontina? As Catholics we MUST make reparation to console the Sacred Heart for blasphemy and sacrilege. Please join me in acts of reparation and ask your bishop to offer a Mass of reparation and to instruct his priests to do the same. And pray for the pope who is bringing such evil into the heart of the Church.

Say NO! Loud and Clear to Cardinal Donald Wuerl's Participation in the Youth Event for the March for Life

Update: January 5, 2019. This video disappeared yesterday or the day before. I suspect Fr. Goring was instructed to take it down and complied out of obedience, although I haven't seen any statement from him. It's important for us to pray for this courageous young priest. We've seen what the corrupt bishops do to those who stand up boldly for the truth. Fr. Goring needs to be surrounded with prayer. Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy, pray for him and for your poor flock of battered sheep.

Below, find a list of those who need to hear about the necessity to remove Cardinal Wuerl from public ministry, particularly as a voice to youth.

Really, Some People Just Can't Read!

I read a blog post the other day that raked Msgr. Charles Pope over the coals because of an article titled "Kindness is not the same as love." After I read Msgr. Pope's article I wondered if the blogger knew how to read. The monsignor was making the point that "Love should not be reduced to mere kindness." It's much more. He specifically said that "Kindness is certainly a good thing and has an important place in our relationships" and "Kindness is an aspect of love." But, Monsignor Pope goes on, "it is necessarily distinct from it, for it sometimes happens that love, which wills what is best for the other, may deem it best not to remove all suffering." And then he writes about parents disciplining their children, etc.

A Monday Morning Potpourri

Elitists in the culture of death win the battle to eliminate Baby Charlie:

Despite all of his problems, Charlie’s parents – and millions like them – believe that Charlie is a valuable, living human being who should be given a chance to live. [The doctors and judge playing God did not agree and made sure they got their wish -- to kill one more useless eater. If they released the baby prisoner, Charlie might be improving today.] 

"The West is Crumbling...." Enlist in the Battle for Souls!

Revelation 12: The battle between the Woman clothed with the sun with twelve stars for her crown and the dragon 

Msgr. Charles Pope is a prophetic voice for our times. I was reading his article on the Book of Revelation this morning and came to this statement:

The West is crumbling and decadence abounds. Confusion about basic reality is so widespread that our current cultural situation can credibly be described as a lunatic asylum. Even within the Church, voices that should speak out prophetically are silenced by fear and infected by worldliness. There is among Church leaders, clergy, and laity a widespread softness and a feeling that the risk of speaking out is too great.

What rational, faithful Catholic can argue with this? And yet his message is not one of "despair and die" but rather one of hope. Understand the signs of the times and fight the good fight:

Disappearing Blog Posts: Poof, No Criticizing Cardinal Dolan Allowed!

I received the following forwarded email sent out by Christian McDonnell. I'm happy she copied the text of Msgr. Pope's blog article before it disappeared in a puff of incense! 

Here’s the full text of the post, copied from blog before it was apparently removed:

Time to End the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Al Smith Dinner?
By: Msgr. Charles Pope  

The time for happy-clappy, lighthearted engagement of our culture may be nearing an end. Sometimes it takes a while to understand that what used to work no longer works. Let me get more specific. 

Decades ago the “Al Smith Dinner” was a time for Republicans and Democrats to bury the hatchet (even if only temporarily) and come together to raise money for the poor and to emphasize what unites us rather than what divides us. But in the old days the death of 50 million infants was not what divided us. We were divided about lesser things such as how much of the budget should go to defense and how much to social spending. Reasonable men might differ over that.  

Famous Last Words about Iraq! I Wonder how "Impressed" Uncle Joe is Today...

...as Iraq sinks into chaos.



But we can all take comfort from the fact that the U.S., under the policies of neo-cons with bogus "weapons of mass destruction" claims, deposed Saddam Hussein to liberate Iraq. Lucky Iraqis, eh?

 Isn't it high time the U.S. recognized that the Middle East is a cauldron and has been for centuries? Here's what Pat Buchanan wrote about our intervention in Iraq last year on the 10th anniversary. Was Iraq worth it?

Of course not, but once we got in we had an obligation to those people.

And now what have they got? Civil war between battling factions, mass murders, and complete chaos. Frankly, it reminds me of Vietnam. We went in and the politicians tied the hands of the military and didn't fight to win. Then we abandoned the south and let the Communists take over.

We're pretty good at abandoning our friends. (Check out this New York Times article from 18 months ago. It's truer today than it was then.) Heck! Obama and Clinton abandoned our own American family in Benghazi; why would they hesitate to abandon anyone else? And, as Hillary says, "What difference at this point does it make anyway?" Let the Iraqis pay the price for our insane foreign policy. (Do we have a foreign policy?)

Pray for the Iraqis and the entire Middle East. Imagine what it would be like for your family if you lived in Baghdad. Pray the rosary for peace. Our Lady of Fatima is the answer. 

The Five Stages of Religious Persecution

Msgr. Charles Pope has written an article about the five stages of religious persecution. It's a sobering perspective, especially when you consider that the stages coincide in many respects with Alinsky's strategy in Rules for Radicals to gain power for community organizers and Kirk and Madsen's strategy in After the Ball to advance the homosexual agenda. Here are Msgr. Pope's five stages:

Step 1: Stereotype the targeted group

Step 2: Vilify the targeted group for alleged crimes or misconduct

Step 3: Marginalize the targeted group's role in society

Step 4: Criminalize the targeted group or its works

Step 5: Persecute the targeted group outright

These steps fit nicely with Alinsky's strategy for attacking particular groups. "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Since Alinsky also preaches that the "end justifies the means" and portrays the organizer's goal as a "war,"