A sneak preview from the Catholicism project

Learn more Fr. Robert Barron's upcoming 10-part series at his website, Word On Fire.

Warning: Ugly vestments...

...and bad theology go together.

Brought to you by the New York Times, your friendly neighborhood purveyor of anti-Catholic media, a story about dissident Belgium Catholics pretending to form their own parishes and be priests:  

BUIZINGEN, Belgium — Willy Delsaert is a retired railroad employee with dyslexia who practiced intensively before facing the suburban Don Bosco Catholic parish to perform the Sunday Mass rituals he grew up with.

“Who takes this bread and eats,” he murmured, cracking a communion wafer with his wife at his side, “declares a desire for a new world.” 

 I'd love to know what "Sunday Mass rituals" include those meaningless and trite words.The reporter doesn't have a clue what she's writing about, does she?

 At this sturdy brick church southwest of Brussels, men and women are trained as “conductors.” They preside over Masses and the landmarks of life: weddings and baptisms, funerals and last rites. Church members took charge more than a year ago when their pastor retired without a successor. In Belgium, about two-thirds of clergymen are over 55, and one-third older then 65. 

 "Conductors" drive trains and lead orchestras. Priests - men called by God and made into living icons of Christ through the sacrament of holy orders- have the authority and the responsibility to baptize, act as the Church's witness at a wedding, hear confessions, anoint the sick and dying, and celebrate Mass. Just FYI, folks, since you're apparently reeaaallly confused.

“We are resisting a little bit like Gandhi,” said Johan Veys, a married former priest who performs baptisms and recruits newcomers for other tasks at Don Bosco. “Our intention is not to criticize, but to live correctly. We press onward quietly without a lot of noise. It’s important to have a community where people feel at home and can find peace and inspiration.”

Interesting how their hero is Gandhi, and not a saint, isn't it? And that their focus is all about "living correctly" and "community" and "peace and inspiration", and not one word about worshiping, loving and serving God? But it gets even better. Here's the description of their "worship service":

Mr. Delsaert had no such qualms. He donned a rainbow sash — the church’s symbol of a worship leader — and carried his notes. “It’s the second time,” he said. “For me, it’s very intense. Reading is very difficult for me because I have dyslexia.”

Almost 150 people gathered around him for a service organized by teenage members who picked a theme of peace and music from John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Mr. Delsaert delivered a homespun sermon that drew on his years as a railroad worker, urging parishioners to wage peace by talking to people in their daily lives. By bidding hello to a daily commuter, Mr. Delsaert said, “the man opened up to talk about train delays.”

“He seemed much happier,” Mr. Delsaert said.

During services, teenage members surrounded the table while a parish statement was read aloud: “We regret the pain caused by priests and those responsible in the church. We regret the damages to the victims, to the community and our church.”

Then a young girl lighted a rainbow-colored candle in the center of the table. She watched the flame flicker in memory of the 475 Belgian victims of sexual abuse.

Those priests who committed unspeakable acts will tremble before God when they must accept responsibility for destroying lives and souls. May God grant their victims healing and peace.

But no act of evil ever justifies apostasy, schism or heresy, any more than the treachery of Judas justifies abandoning Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, I'm afraid that it wasn't the scandal that drove them out - though it certainly gives them a great excuse. I'm afraid that these folks lost their faith in the Lord and His Church a long time ago, when neither would condone today's trendy sins and become "relevant."

Or perhaps, due to the abysmal catechism of the past couple of generations, perhaps they were never taught the faith to begin with, and truly do not understand the nature of the priesthood, the Holy Eucharist, and the mission of Christ's Church.

I'm inclined to think it's a little of both, combined with the smoke of Satan, who delights in division and confusion.

St. Jude, exorcist, pray for us.

Congratulations, Archbishop Dolan!

New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan was elected president of the USCCB today.

The true treasures of the Church

The 800 Martyrs of Otranto, who died rather than convert to Islam, honored by the Otranto Cathedral in Italy.

"..but the bones were preserved by the church, and held more precious than gold and diamonds." The Martyrdom of Polycarp, Antoninus Pius. a.d. 137-161.

Martyrs of Otranto, pray for us.

(Picture source.)

Hymn of the Week

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence



Just once in my life, I want to sing this at Mass.

Perhaps someday the music director will realize that Haugen, Haas, Farrell and Schutte are sooo 1970s? And that its way cooler to be 370s? Or 1370s? Maybe?

Reasons 486 and 487 why American Catholics desperately need to be catechized:

486. Cantors who announce before the start of Mass, "Let us all rise and sing [hymn] to greet Father."

I have to think that the angels surrounding the tabernacle are rolling their celestial eyes every time they hear this nonsense.

Of course, to be fair, it's not like the first hymn is really a hymn to God, anyway. "Gathering hymns" tend to be full of Hallmark-card sentiments masquerading as theological truths. And they rarely seem to be prayers to God - mostly we sing to each other about how great we are. No wonder the cantor is confused. It makes sense to assume we're greeting the priest with the song of our awesomeness.

See "Gather Us In", "Gather the People," "All Are Welcome", etc., etc., ad nauseam.


487. Hymns that deny central teachings of the Faith.

Exhibit A: "Here at This Table" by Janet Sullivan Whitaker and Max Whitaker:

Refrain
Come and be filled here at this table
Food for all who hunger
And drink for all who thirst.
Drink of his love, wine of salvation.
You shall live forever in Jesus Christ the Lord.

How many theological problems can you find in 5 lines? I see two, with an option for three.

1.) The presumption of salvation ("You shall life forever.."). Really? Last I checked, presumption is a sin.

2.) The denial of the Eucharist. We don't drink "wine" at Mass. Ever. The average second grader preparing for his First Holy Communion is aware of this fact. The songwriter is either dangerously ignorant of the Faith or denying the Eucharistic Lord. There's no lyrical reason to use "wine" rather than "blood". Both are 1 syllable words. Either the writer is ignorant of the Faith - in which case, why is he/she writing Catholic music? - or he/she doesn't believe in transubstantiation - in which case, why is he/she writing Catholic music?

Problem 3.) is more arguable (the emphasis on "table" rather than "altar") since the Eucharist is both a meal and a sacrifice. But since millions of American Catholics are ignorant of the sacrifice aspect, can we please stop singing about tables?

End rant. St. Cecilia, pray for us.

Christmas is coming...

Reporting on the Pope

You know you're doing your job as Pope when you create these kind of headlines:

Hindus denounce Pope for being offensive to atheists

Pope's speech deemed 'wily and cunning' but 'playing it safe'

Video Ian Paisley denounces Pope Benedicts visit to Scotland

Atheists: Apologize for Adolf Hitler's crimes

European Raelian Movement Sues Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict trip: Why move John Henry Newman toward sainthood?

Steve Bell on Pope Benedict XVI and gay rights

Christians are in the world, not of it. Such bile wouldn't be spewed if the Holy Father had embraced the values of the secular world.

May God grant him many more years.

Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Benedictus.

Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius. [Ps 40:3]

(Find the English translation here.)

Media Reaction to the Pope's Visit, in Cartoon

cartoon source

A more subtle weapon of the culture of death?

From the New York Times:

A Majority of Caesareans Precede Labor

by Denise Gradey

A new study suggests several reasons for the nation’s rising Caesarean section rate, including the increased use of drugs to induce labor, the tendency to give up on labor too soon and deliver babies surgically instead of waiting for nature to take its course, and the failure to allow women with previous Caesareans to try to give birth vaginally.

Thirty-two percent of all births in the United States — nearly 1 in 3 — now occur by Caesarean section. The operations have been increasing steadily since 1996, setting records year after year, and have become the most common surgery in American hospitals. About 1.4 million Caesareans were performed in 2007, the latest year for which figures are available. The increases have caused debate and concern.

...

Caesareans also increase the risk of dangerous abnormalities in the placenta during later pregnancies, which can cause hemorrhaging and lead to a hysterectomy. Repeated Caesareans can make it risky or even impossible to have a large family. In addition, costs for a Caesarean are nearly twice those for a vaginal delivery.

Hmm. More money and less babies. Call me cynical, but that has "culture of death" written all over it.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

Reason 4,879 I'm grateful to be Catholic...

...the thought would never occur to us to replace an altar with a coffee bar.

You know you're Catholic when...

...stories like this from the Scranton Times Tribune make you shudder:

Carbondale Church descrated by theft

A golden container and the hosts for Holy Communion inside it were stolen during an overnight break-in Tuesday at St. Rose of Lima Church in Carbondale.

Called the ciborium, it was the only thing taken.

One has to hope that the thief a) only wanted the gold; b) had no idea that he/she was committing a huge act of sacrilege; and c) comes to repentance.

However,

Monsignor David L. Tressler, the church's pastor, described the Catholic community as stunned and hurt. There is a "real sense of violation," and it is all the more disheartening because the thief targeted the hosts, which are at the heart of the religion's identity, he said.

There were certainly more valuable items. "Once they were in the church, they could've had a field day," Monsignor Tressler said.

So it's very well possible that what happened at St. Rose of Lima wasn't merely a theft, but a very deliberate act by a person or persons who knew Who the ciborium held.

There's a reason satanists celebrate black masses and not twisted versions of other types of worship: the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Christ, and even the demons believe and tremble.

Mary Most Holy, Mother of the Eucharist, pray for us sinners.

Another point for the Culture of Death

From the Washington Post:

FDA approves ella as 5-day-after emergency contraception

The Food and Drug Administration approved a controversial new form of emergency contraception Friday that can prevent a pregnancy as many as five days after sex.

The decision to allow the sale of the pill, which will be marketed under the brand name "ella," was welcomed by family-planning proponents as a crucial new option to prevent unwanted pregnancies. But critics condemned the decision, arguing that it was misleading to approve ella as a contraceptive because the drug could also be used to induce an abortion.

Ella can cut the chances of becoming pregnant by about two-thirds for at least 120 hours after a contraceptive failure or unprotected sex, studies have shown. The only other emergency contraceptive on the market, the so-called morning-after pill sold as Plan B, is significantly less effective, becomes less effectual with each passing day and will not work after 72 hours.

...

Ella, known generically as ulipristal acetate, works as a contraceptive by blocking progesterone's activity, delaying the ovaries from producing an egg. But progesterone is also needed to prepare the womb to accept a fertilized egg and to nurture a developing embryo. That's how RU-486 prevents a fertilized egg from implanting and dislodges growing embryos. Ella's chemical similarity to RU-486 raises the possibility that it might do the same thing, perhaps if taken at elevated doses. But no one knows for sure whether the drug would induce an abortion, because the drug has never been tested that way.

"Raises the possibility that it might do the same thing." Saints preserve us. They know it does the same thing. If it didn't, it wouldn't be as effective 5 days after sex. Moreover, the regular old daily birth control pill works very similarly, as demonstrated by the Physician Labeling for Yaz:

Combination oral contraceptives (COCs) act by suppression of gonadotropins. Although the primary mechanism of this action is inhibition of ovulation, other alterations include changes in the cervical mucus (which increases the difficulty of sperm entry into the uterus) and the endometrium (which reduces the likelihood of implantation).

Oddly enough (I guess they think women are stoopid or something), the patient labeling lacks this information. But hey, anything to make a buck and keep a few more babies out of the world, right? After all, studies show having children makes parents unhappy, and by golly, the pursuit of happiness trumps right to life any day.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us sinners who fail to recognize the precious gift of life.

Blasphemy

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consumeraffairs@hmausa.com

Was +Bishop Padovese a Martyr?

From EWTN News/CNA:

Bishop Padovese canceled Cyprus trip to avoid assassination of Pope

An Italian Vatican expert is saying that Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and President of the Turkish Bishops’ Conference, canceled his trip to Cyprus because he feared that his driver –who later confessed to killing the bishop- might attempt an attack on Pope Benedict XVI during his stay on the island.

Analyst Fr. Fillippo di Giacomo, who writes for publications such as L’Unitá and La Stampa, revealed that “hours before Padovese was killed, the Turkish Government called him to say that his driver, who they themselves had put in his service four years before, had gotten out of hand. That is to say, he had embraced the fundamentalist cause.”

Speaking to the Spanish daily El Pais, Fr. di Giacomo added that “knowing this, Padovese canceled the tickets he had reserved to Cyprus for himself and Altun (his driver). He preferred to stay home rather than to make the trip because he feared that his driver would take advantage of his proximity to the Pope and make an attempt on his life.”

....

During the celebration of Bishop Padovese’s funeral Mass, the Turkish TV station NTV announced that the 26 year-old driver, Murat Altun, had confessed to killing the bishop. He died after being stabbed 25 times, eight of them in his heart, and was almost completely decapitated by Altun, who said he murdered Bishop Padovese because he had received a “divine inspiration.”

NTV added that Altun shouted “Allahu Akbar” a number of times after the murder, despite having presented himself as a Catholic.

I never believed that +Bishop Padovese's faith was unrelated to his brutal murder. But to think that he died in the pope's place...

May the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.

Simply Catholic

From Spirit Juice Studios.

Simply beautiful.

Obama and Catholics

President Obama has just renominated Dawn Johnsen to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

Ms. Johnsen (along with other sadly misguided souls) actually tried to strip the Church of its tax-exempt status over its pro-life stances (see Abortion Rights Mobilization Inc v. A. Baker III and United States Catholic Conference v. Abortion Rights Mobilization).

Add her to the list of bigots that Obama has nominated or appointed. She joins:

• Chai Feldblum, nominee for Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She has stated: "Sexual liberty should win in most cases. There can be a conflict between religious liberty and sexual liberty, but in almost all cases the sexual liberty should win because that's the only way that the dignity of gay people can be affirmed in any realistic manner." Ms. Feldblum also believes that the First Amendment should no longer be used to evaluate religious freedom claims: "...I want to suggest that the best framework for dealing with [the conflict between gay rights and religious liberty] is to analyze religious people's claims as belief liberty interests under the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, rather than as free exercise claims under the First Amendment."

• Harry Knox, member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He called the denial of the Eucharist to a lesbian couple "spiritual and emotional violence" and said that the Knights of Columbus were "foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression."

• Kevin Jennings, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Drug-Free Schools. In a speech to Marble Collegiate Church, he said: "We have to quit being afraif of the religious right. We also have to quit - I'm trying to find a way to say this. I'm trying not to s ay, '[F---] 'em!' which is what I want to say, because I don't care what they think.Drop dead!" Mr. Jennings is also a donating member of ACT UP, a homosexual, anti-AIDS, anti-Catholic Church organization which, in 1989, broke in St. Patrick's Cathedral, disrupted Mass, desecrated the Eucharist and posted obscene depictions of Cardinal O'Connor. Mr. Jennings was not a participant in the attack.
  

They say you can judge someone by the company they keep. Such company does not reassure me that Obama respects the Catholic faith. (We won't even go into the issue of multitude of lapsed Catholics he's appointed.)

Such nominees are especially troubling, considering that Belmont Abbey College is currently fighting a ruling by the EEOC over their health care policy, which does not cover abortion or contraceptives.

Reuben Daniels Jr., of the EEOC Charlotte District Office Director wrote“By denying prescription contraception drugs, Respondent (the college) is discriminating based on gender because only females take oral prescription contraceptives… By denying coverage, men are not affected, only women."

In other words, Catholic college aren't allowed to be Catholic if it interferes with "sexual liberty." Sounds like something Chai Feldblum would applaud.

Something is rotten in the District of Columbia...

God help us.

photo credit: Indiana University Law School