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.

Champion of Child Killing Dies and Biden Pardons His Criminal Cronies

Cecile Richards, former head of Planned Parenthood, died this morning after battling an  aggressive brain cancer. During her 12-year tenure at PP, she oversaw nearly four million executions of babies in the womb. While the murder-for-hire organization operates in supposedly sterile rooms and their killers dress in white lab coats, they are as efficiently deadly as Mafia hit men. The media is celebrating her legacy of death. How did the court of heaven react today?

Sunday Meditation: Why do the Evil Prosper?

Do you ever ask why the evil prosper?

Pope Francis Papacy Timeline 2015

Mercy and compassion are used to
justify undermining God's truth and justice.

To see previous years go here.

The beat goes on in 2015 as Pope Francis continues undermining the faith. This will be an important year particularly because of the document Laudato Si on the environment and the second synod on the family which will be used as references to support heterodox interpretations later, particularly in preparation for the Amazon Synod.

January 12 - 19: Apostolic Visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The press conference on the way home from this papal visit was, to say the least, interesting. It gave the pope one more opportunity to put his foot in his mouth when he said Christians didn't need to act like rabbits. He talked about "responsible parenthood" in a way that implied small families. He also said some good things. Unfortunately, we're used to him saying some good things while he acts in a way that undermines his words. See more here.

Fr. Tom Collins talks about Truth and Lies.

“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.”
                 John Pilger – Attorney for Julian Assange

As the McCarrick scandal has dramatized, this observation seems to apply even to Church government, some of whose members continue to penalize those who have dared to expose the truth about how various ecclesiastical “safe environments” have been provided over the years to give canonical and legal protection to predatory priests and prelates.

What the H, E, Double L is the Pastoral Approach? Well, I'll Tell You

The definition of “pastoral” when used as a noun means, “a work of literature portraying an idealized version of country life.”  In other words it is romanticized and washed of things like drought, weeds, wolves, snakes, insect pests, and life threatening injuries that can occur in the course of performing the duties of life on a farm. 

Guest Post: In Response to "This Disastrous Papacy"

Take the key of repentance and
unlock the treasury of mercy

Editor's Note: I thought the insights and comments in this article were interesting enough to deserve a separate post. I hope my readers agree. Repentance is the key that unlocks the treasury of mercy. When was the last time you went to Confession?

by Catherine Donner

This article is in response to your post from Friday, May 5, 2017 entitled ‘This Disastrous Papacy and the Big Question!’ However, my comments will not address your Big Question.

My first comment is on your quotation from EWTN: ‘This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra…’ Surely the important word here is authentic. The current pope frequently makes statements contradicting the perennial teaching of the church. How can these be regarded as authentic?

There's No Such Thing as Cheap Mercy

An ocean of mercy flows from the pierced side of Jesus.
Repent and hear the good news!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said about grace: “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” Plenty of people out there want cheap grace and cheap mercy. They want mercy without conversion, mercy with the pleasure of continued sinning. But just as there's no cheap grace; there is no cheap mercy. Fr. Tom understands that and explains it all for you.

On Mercy and What it Requires!

Pope Francis talks a lot about mercy and, in fact, we will soon begin the year of Mercy. So what exactly is the Mercy of God? And what does it require of us?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about "cheap grace," the grace we bestow on ourselves, grace without the cross and without Jesus Christ. I think we might also talk about "cheap mercy."

In the wee hours at adoration this morning I was reading the first essay in Eleven Cardinals Speak on Marriage and the Family. (You know, the book hijacked by Fr. Lombardi and co.) Cardinal Carlo Caffarra addressed Mercy and Conversion. The cardinal began by saying, "These reflections focus on the act in which God's mercy shines forth in its preeminent form: the forgiveness of a sinner."

Quote of the Day - But it's not about cheap forgiveness!

"God's greatest pleasure is to pardon us. The good Lord is more eager to pardon a repentant sinner than a mother to rescue her child from the fire." -- St. Therese of Lisieux

Underline the word "repentant." Even God can't forgive the soul who rejects his mercy.

Jesus paid for our sins with every drop of His precious blood. Those who preach universal salvation and God as the Sugar Daddy in the sky waiting to welcome us to Candyland paint a false picture of Divine Justice. Jesus is on the cross with arms outstretched to welcome every repentant sinner. He does not rejoice in our destruction. In fact those who are lost must wrench themselves away from His loving embrace.

When was the last time you went to Confession? We are weak and sick from sin. Only by running often to the Divine Physician can we hope to survive in this corrupt age.

Shouldn't a Bishop be a Loving Father?

My internet friend, Robert Kumpel, is a freelance investigative reporter and a home-schooling dad who used to live in California and did some great articles for the L.A. Mission and San Diego News Notes. He moved to Georgia and got into big trouble in his parish in Valdosta (St. John's) for protesting the inappropriate behavior of his pastor with the office manager, a woman (Isn't that a change?). To make a long story short, Robert ended up in court with a restraining order and was banned from setting foot in his parish. Valdosta, Georgia isn't exactly a thriving metropolis and the next closest parish is an hour away. So now Robert, who has four young children, can't go to daily Mass, can't take his children for visits to Our Lord in the tabernacle, can't be a member of the parish Knights of Columbus (or anything else) and is seriously inconvenienced even to go to Mass on Sunday. It has been a real hardship on this Catholic family.

Ironically, the pastor is dead now; he was killed in a traffic accident. And the woman involved moved away, but Bishop Boland still won't let Robert and his family go back to church together. Is that uncharitable or what?

During the trial everyone who testified said Robert never did anything violent or threatening. And yet the bishop several years later continues to refuse to allow him to attend Mass at his local parish. Oh, his wife may go alone with the children, but not with their dad. What's with that? Shouldn't the bishop encourage intact families? They're a rarity these days.

What a tragedy for a bishop to be so unforgiving that two years after something occurred (which has since been overtaken by events) he continues to treat his spiritual son like a dangerous outlaw. I wonder how often the bishop preaches about mercy.

Robert's canon lawyer said he would win the case if he fought, but it would be years before resolution and cost beaucoup bucks which the Kumpels don't have. So what's a fella to do? The bishops always have a royal flush to your pair of deuces. Maybe that's why they call them princes.

Please pray for my friend. You can visit his blog and leave him an encouraging message. If you'd like to read more about what got him into trouble go here.

And if you really want to do his family a good turn, could you send a polite note to the bishop asking him to let the family return home. Remember the song Tie a Yellow Ribbon? Why not tuck one into the note.

Bishop Kevin Boland
Catholic Pastoral center
601 E. Liberty Street
Savannah, GA 31401

If you'd rather send an e-mail go here.