The Shameful Letter from Bishop Burbidge about Fr. Ron Escalante.......

Derek and Ann Humphry

....Or how to clear a priest while implying his guilt about.......about .....something?

Well, after almost a year, here is the final outcome of the diocese's "investigation" of Fr. Ronald Escalante, a good priest accused of a "boundary violation." As someone who has watched the damage done to faithful priests in this diocese for decades, I am angry and disgusted.

As I studied the letter, it reminded me of Ann and Derek Humphry, founders of the Hemlock Society. Ann watched Derek kill his first wife, Jean, who was dying of cancer. He smothered her with a pillow although the story put out was that she took deadly drugs. They also killed Ann's parents.

Later, Ann herself contracted cancer although it was in remission and she wasn't depressed. At least not until Derek urged and pressured and bullied her to kill herself. They divorced, but Derek continued to harass her unmercifully. One day she rode her horse up into the Oregon hills, took a deadly cocktail, and left behind a note basically saying, "Derek wins." (Read more here.)

I'm Taking Heifer International off my Charity List!

It's funny sometimes how the Lord leads me to information. Last week I was blogging about beekeeping since we were getting our hives ready for the winter. I decided to include information about the patron saints of beekeeping. St. Valentine is one. While I was researching him and several others I came upon an article from Heifer International about St. Valentine. That intrigued me because we've supported the group in the past. Last year we included among our children's Christmas gifts a card for each saying a beehive was purchased and donated in their name for a poor family. Here's Heifer's promo for the honeybee gift:

HONEYBEES SWEETEN A FAMILY'S FINANCIAL FUTURE 

A Heifer honeybee gift donation includes a bee package, hive, box and training in beekeeping techniques. When you buy bees for a family in need, your gift:

St. Matthew's Cathedral in Salerno, Italy

Sometimes it is the unexpected that gives us the most joy.  This was the case for us last week when in Salerno, Italy we had a chance to visit the Cathedral of St. Matthew.  After visiting many old churches, I thought I had probably become a little ho hum about what I might find in the next one.  Statues and columns and grand works of art by the masters can be found in all of them.  What’s left to amaze you after you’ve seen the grandest there is to offer?  The answer is simplicity.  The kind of thing even a child could recognize and appreciate. 

We were in Salerno because it was one of the ports of call  our ship docked in for a day.  Many aboard went off on long excursions on buses that would take hours.   We opted to stay nearby and see what we could find on foot.  We were told to consider the Cathedral of St. Matthew, built between 1080 and 1085, so with no other particular goal, we took the shuttle from the dock to the center of Salerno and were told to follow the street we were on to the clock tower several blocks away in the distance, and then, turn left and go up the hill.  Italians always tell you, “It’s about a ten minute walk.”  I’ve learned their ten minutes means nothing. 

When we reached the tower I expected a large intersection and a street wide enough for passing cars, but what we found was hardly more than an alleyway.  Up the hill we went expecting some grand plaza in front of an imposing cathedral, but instead, tucked in among apartment buildings and shops there was only a well worn set of marble steps leading to the front door of the church.  Inside the doors we were then in an atrium.  Michael Rose describes it this way in his book, Ugly as Sin:

“On a much smaller scale than the piazza is the atrium, an open courtyard (recalling the forecourts of Solomon’s Temple) that’s more of an integrated element of the church building.  In the center of the atrium, which is surrounded by colonnades of a cloister, is a fountain, where our pilgrim

Fr. Tom Collins' brief comment on Greta Thunberg Gets Me Thinking...

The left crucified Nick Sandmann, but
Greta is untouchable. 

Fr. Collins sent a very short comment yesterday morning about Greta Thunberg and those using her
to advance the climate change meme:

It is interesting how so many, who vehemently assert that Greta Thunberg had no right to be born, are now asserting that her voice must be heard and taken seriously by those who condescended to allow her to be born. Having already been born, she now proclaims that other pre-born children must be denied the right to live before they can accelerate global warming by their presence on our planet.

On target as usual! Thank you, Father.

The Greta Thunberg phenomena is certainly puzzling. Here we have a young girl, who appears even younger than her 16 years, being paraded around as a climate expert.

Really?

The See of Peter Is in the Captivity of a Marxist Heterodox Jesuit

If you want to know what Francis is doing to the Church, and why, read Malachi Martin's book and the conundrum will become crystal clear. Archbishop Vigano said that he was studying the history of the Jesuits "with great care" and this book surely must be one of his sources.

First read this article: The Papacy in Jesuitical Captivity; Archbishop Vigano and the "60-Year-Old Plan" Then read this article: Praise for The Political Pope: A Book Worth Supporting

Then read Malachi Martin's book → → → → → → → → → → → → 👉
Order it HERE. Then read George Neumayr's book The Political Pope found at bookstores everywhere or order it HERE.

"Were St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, alive today, we know one thing for certain: this modernist Jesuit pope wouldn’t ordain him." - George Neumayr

And I know one thing for certain. If Pedro Arrupe and Pope Francis had presented themselves to St Ignatius of Loyola as potential Jesuits, St Ignatius would never have ordained them. 

I Never Thought I'd be Featuring a Member of the Rock Band KISS...

In fact, I once ripped a KISS poster off the wall of one of my teenage children's rooms.

Nevertheless, Gene Simmons' story is too good not to share. And I give two thumbs up to his message, "Never be ashamed to say, 'God Bless America!'"

But frankly, what I loved best about this was the tribute to his mom and the obvious love he had for her.

Blessed Mother, intercede for him for whatever graces he needs to be in union with your Son.

Getting the bees ready for the winter!

A Vermont honey bee collects nectar from asters.

I love being a beekeeper! And I love the saints who talk about bees. Did you ever notice how often St. Francis de Sales mentions bees?

He must have had hives or at least visited with those who did. He's not a patron saint of beekeepers, but how often he used the busy bee as a model for the spiritual life. And so I thought of him today when we were working on our hives and admiring the busy girls bringing in colorful pollen: bright yellow and orange.

If you want to see what we were doing today, you can visit my grandma blog, The View from Camp Kreitzer.

Message from the League of St. Peter Damien -- Study Guide # 7

Randy Engel is doing a great service through the League of St. Peter Damian. St. Peter Damian, Doctor of the Church, is surely a most important man for our time. The crisis of sodomy in the Church is not new and seeing how Peter Damian fought it can help give the faithful insight and instructions. See Randy's previous guides: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5&6.

Randy's study guides would be a great project for a Catholic book club or study group.

September 23, 2019

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Welcome, once again, to the League of Saint Peter Damian. Two-thousand nineteen anno Domini is the year of the League’s formation. Catholics who register with the League during 2019 are considered founding members. This September 2019 issue of Study Guide #7 features Saint Peter Damian’s Letter 119 On Divine Omnipotence.

Pope Francis, Who Are You?

Close friend & advisor to Francis, Cardinal
Mariadaga, is notorious for his gay enabling! 

I'm working on the papal timeline for 2015 and was reading the text of the pope's press conference on his return flight following the trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January 2015. I found some of the questions and answers particularly interesting. Below  is one where I was not only in agreement with Pope Francis, but wishing this was what we got all the time, not only in words, but in deeds as well:

Jan Cristoph Kitzler (German- speaking group): You have spoken of “ideological colonization”. Would you expand on the concept? You also mentioned Paul VI, speaking of the particular causes that are important to the pastoral care for families. Can you give an example of these particular cases and maybe say also if there is need to open the way, to have a corridor, for these particular cases? 

The Primitive Charism of the Amazon - Arrupe's Dream Realized Through Francis

 The testosterone lacking 
in the Church, found in
the Amazon

Here's a joke I made up...

Jesuit Father General Pedro Arrupe (RIP) - "We (the Jesuits) are looking for a primitive charism."

Jesuit Pope Francis - "Found it!"

In the Amazon, Pope Francis found the primitive charism Arrupe, that old agent of change, was looking for in the Society of Jesus, except now that primitive charism is for the entire Catholic Church which Francis is changing into Arrupe's Marxist secular humanist dream.

The following is taken verbatim from Malachi Martin's 1987 book The Jesuits: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church. While reading, please remember that Pope Francis is a Jesuit.

"The mortal remains of hope and change (Obama?) were buried in a continuing landslide of dedication to Liberation Theology and its redefinition of the Church and its teachings; of Jesuit magazines plugging away without pause at the erosion of papal and Church authority over morality and doctrine; and of ever bolder attacks, in Jesuit writings and sermons, on the person and the papacy of John Paul II and the basic dogmas of the Church he leads." p 484