Is Pope Francis Like Cardinal Bernardin?

Several days ago I commented that Pope Francis reminds me of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. It expressed my befuddlement over what the pope says. It was common for Cardinal Joseph to articulalate a teaching of the Church in one breath and imply that personal conscience could overrule the teaching in the next. I'm not aware that he ever emphasized the importance of an informed conscience and what that meant.

Now a respected observer of the Vatican, Sandro Magister, has compared Pope Francis' approach to Cardinal Bernardin's and described him as "separating himself" from his predecessors:

What Does the Church Need? A Year of Repentance!

Now that the year of faith is nearly over (It began on October 11th of 2012), my friend Fr. Tom suggests a new year -- of repentance. I'm with him and there is plenty to repent for: our sins of omission in addressing the terrible injustices of our time: abortion, euthanasia,  usury (like title loan companies preying on the financially strapped), youth unemployment, the loneliness of our elderly, etc. Here's what Fr. Tom suggests:

It seems that we could overcome a lot of problems if Church leaders could just trust enough in God's gracious mercy to declare a Year of Repentance. Even Jesus proclaimed "Repent", before He proclaimed "Believe the Good News" (Mk 3:15). 

Sadly, the [papal] interviews seem to indicate that the Gospel is centered on a program for the renewal of humanity, rather than on the Person of Jesus. But, apart from Jesus,we can do nothing - except stagnate, decay and die. We need to stress again that salvation, including social justice, is not merely a matter of helping people move from coach to first-class on that "long black train" going to hell. 

Pastorally, I am convicted that we should have had a Year of Repentance before the current Year of Faith. After all, if my faith formation is guided by misguided theologians, all I will discover will be new excuses for old sins. And if we continue to allow the idea of the "evolving" Church to displace that of the faithful Church, novelty will supplant fidelity as the criterion of our spiritual lives (cf. II Pet 2:1-22). 

God bless you!
Fr. Tom

Thank you, Father for your always edifying emails. I'll add the intention of a year of  repentance to my rosary journal.

Have You Had it With the Government Shutdown?

Join Ken Cuccinelli in asking Congress to stop paying themselves during the shutdown. Why should Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and all those other rich fat cats in Congress stop the checks to the little people while they continue feathering their own nests. What's good enough for the hoi-polloi should be good enough for them.

Check it out at Ken's website and stand with him by signing his letter to Congress.

The Barry and Harry Show Invades the Church

I'm not sure who first called the game-playing dems the "Harry and Barry Shutdown Show" but he got it right. And the motto is "Sock it to 'em, baby!" with "them" being the American people. But now the Game has moved into the Church with all "contract" priests who come in to do liturgical services in military chapels being forcibly furloughed and told they may not even volunteer to say Mass. If they show up, they've been warned they'll be arrested. No Mass, no Baptisms, no Confessions, no Marriages by these priests! In some places it's no big deal because there are other parishes nearby where servicemen and women can worship. But what about inaccessible places out in the desert or foreign countries that aren't Christian. This is an incredible violation of the first amendment rights to freedom of worship. And it's all a very deliberate political game to make people suffer. As the anonymous park policeman told The Washington Times, “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.” Amen to that! And it ain't conservatives doing it.

This is nothing new. The Harry and Barry Show ran to rave (Democrat) reviews during the sequester when agencies were told they couldn't minimize the sequester's impact but were to make sure the results were as "dire" as Obama predicted. They weren't.

The game was bad enough when it involved monuments and open air parks that operate 24/7 with hardly any park service presence, but now it's religious persecution. Obama the tyrant speaks and the minions and peons must grovel at his feet. For the first time in my adult life I'm ashamed of my country. Well, not my country really-- but the elitist moral eunuchs who wield power, not for the common good, but for their venal powerful ambition. Namely Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and company. This shutdown has unmasked how evil the Democratic party is. They're funding their buddies at PBS who shill for them but refusing to fund NIH cancer treatment for children. Watch Harry Reid's disgraceful antics and his hypocritical response to the reporter's question, not to mention his personal insult of her "intelligence."

A Fitting End to a Life of Rejecting the Truths of the Faith?

Hans Kung is considering ending his own life by assisted suicide. Kung, 85, suffers from Parkinson's. He sees Pope John Paul II and Muhammad Ali who also suffered from the disease as models to reject rather than emulate. In the third volume of his memoirs the perennial rebel theologian writes:

I do not want to live as a shadow of myself....No person is obligated to suffer the unbearable as something sent from God....People can decide this for themselves and no priest, doctor or judge can stop them...[It is a] surrendering of life...a return of life to the hands of the Creator....How much longer will my life be liveable in dignity?...A scholar who can no longer read and write - what's next?

Can any of us be surprised that a man who has so often publicly dissented from the teachings of the Church would be contemplating the ultimate act of rejecting the God of life while framing such rejection as a virtue? Kung was banned in 1979 from teaching as a Catholic theologian which did little to moderate his heretical views which includes support for abortion. In 2007 when Mexico was debating the legalization of abortion he said, “The Church’s absolute prohibition of abortion is a merciless extremism that could be anything but Christian.” Kung himself openly said he would sign the counseling verification forms required in Germany before an abortion. He also vigorously opposed Vatican authority and promoted the spirit of the age which made him the darling of the liberal left. Kung embodied the "spirit of Vatican II" in its worst manifestation.

In a recent interview with Der Spiegel, Kung implied that "the staging of his death might be a last protest of the official Church.” If so it will also indicate a decision to walk through the gate under the sign reading, "Abandon hope all you who enter here."

Please pray for Hans Kung. I have always been chilled by his arrogance. Interestingly one of his books is titled in English, My Struggle for Freedom. Does it strike you as it did me? I immediately thought of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. Both men rejected the teachings of the Church, Hitler for a paganism reminiscent of Norse mythology and Kung for his own vision of the modernist Church. But Kung isn't dead yet and where there's life there's hope.

My husband and I are about to pray our rosary. I'm adding Hans Kung to my rosary journal and asking Our Lady, Refuge Sinners to pour out the grace of conversion on his hard heart.

Blessed Jacinta and Francisco of Fatima, please pray for him.

Governor Walker of Wisconsin Takes on the Feds

Shutdown Hero: Gov Walker Removes Federal Barricades in Wisconsin 

Let's hope more governors tell the Feds to take a hike!

The House Keeps Voting to Fund the Government

And the Democratic Senate, led by Harry Reid, votes to table every bill. So who's shutting down the government? Hmmm?

Great article at American Spectator! Here's a bit:

Since we cannot read minds, we cannot say who — if anybody — “wants to shut down the government.” But we do know who had the option to keep the government running and chose not to. The money voted by the House of Representatives covered everything that the government does, except for Obamacare. 

The Senate chose not to vote to authorize that money to be spent, because it did not include money for Obamacare. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he wants a “clean” bill from the House of Representatives, and some in the media keep repeating the word “clean” like a mantra. But what is unclean about not giving Harry Reid everything he wants? 

If Senator Reid and President Obama refuse to accept the money required to run the government, because it leaves out the money they want to run Obamacare, that is their right. But that is also their responsibility.

Yup...responsibility for shutting down the government falls squarely in the laps of the Senate Democrats and the President who's calling the shots. The Democrats are willing to shut down the government to force Obamacare on the American people who don't want it. And they will lie through their teeth that it's the Republicans who want to shut down government. The mainstream media is playing lackey as usual so it falls on the alternative media to get the word out.

Obama is a liar and its the Democrats who refuse to fund the government. And they will make it as painful on the little guys as possible to force their will on the country. That's what tyrants do.

Why Aren't We Seeing These Quotes by Pope Francis?

Can we make this go viral? Tweet it, blog it, pin it, Facebook it. Let's not let the mainstream media define the pope. I'm unsettled by the interviews, but this statement is crystal clear!

From Deacon Nick Donnelly at Protect the Pope

Pope Francis

In 2007 Cardinal Bergoglio presented pro-life guidelines on behalf of the Argentinian bishops that stated:

“We hope that legislators, heads of government, and health professionals, conscious of the dignity of human life and of the rootedness of the family in our peoples, will defend and protect it from the abominable crimes of abortion and euthanasia; that is their responsibility … We should commit ourselves to ‘eucharistic coherence’, that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive Holy Communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.”

 Writing to the Argentinian bishops in March 2013 Pope Francis re-iterated the importance  of these pro-life guidelines saying, ‘These are the guidelines we need for this time in  history.”

Coincidence? Or the Tyrant in Chief's Thugs at it Again?

It's the Saul Alinsky, community organizing strategy! 

IRS targeted Dr. Ben Carson after Prayer Breakfast speech

How Hard are You Praying?

I'm not among those wringing my hands over the government shut-down (or anything else for that matter). I am, however, totally disgusted with the establishment Republicans who continually kow-tow to our tyrannical government. They think nothing of betraying their conservative base who uphold what used to be considered "mom and apple pie" values. If you aren't concerned about the direction of our country and the forced participation in abortion and other immoralities through Obamacare, you should be. It's time to be committed to praying the daily rosary begging (and I do mean begging) the intercession of the Queen of Heaven. And speaking of our wonderful Blessed Mother, I came across this quote from Lucia of Fatima in the newsletter of The Catholic Truth:

Mary is the first living Tabernacle where the Father enclosed His Word. Her Immaculate Heart is the first Monstrance that sheltered Him. Her lap and Her arms were the first altar and first throne upon which the Son of God made man was adored. There the Angels, the Shepherds, and the wise men of the earth adored Him. Mary is the first Who took the Son of God in Her pure and Immaculate hands and brought Him to the Temple to offer Him to the Father as the victim for the salvation of the world.

If you aren't in the habit of praying the daily rosary, what better time to start than the month of the rosary? I guarantee, the Queen of Heaven will not be outdone in generosity to her faithful children who love her! And she's NOT just for Catholics. If you want to know how to pray the rosary, a biblical prayer, go here.