A Crucial Time for the Laity

Posted on by Beckita

(Over these last weeks since learning of the revelations which gave rise to the current crisis in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in America, I hear, as most likely do you, many a lay person initiating a discussion with the question posed: “What CAN we do?” Many have been and continue to pray and sacrifice and, at the same time, do not wish to bypass concrete actions that contribute to setting things right. Enter Msgr. Charles Pope with an assessment of what is before us and with encouragement to pray and stand strong. In answer to that question which keeps popping up, Msgr. gives outstanding counsel to harness our anger, allowing it to be impetus for action. Emboldened text is my own in the excerpts presented. Msgr.’s full article is here. ~Beckita)

I am not sure how many of the bishops realize just how angry, disheartened and disturbed God’s people really are… Each day there are new articles published that cannot be simply dismissed as rantings in an overheated “blogosphere.” These are the thoughtful essays of good Catholics, faithful writers, journalists and lay leaders who love the Church and have spent most of their energy building and defending the Church and the faith. However, they cannot defend the indefensible nor simply repeat Church-issued statements insisting that no one knew anything. Doing so strains credibility, and they, to whom many Catholics look for guidance and information, have had to say so. Thus, they have written with saddened hearts, justifiable anger and sober concern.

I hope our bishops, especially the highest ranking and those closest to the epicenter of the Archbishop McCarrick case, hear just how angry the faithful are. I think it is hard to overestimate the storm that is brewing. If any of our prelates think this latest storm will soon pass, they should ponder the more likely case that these are merely the outer bands of a Category 5 hurricane that is closing in and will likely make landfall in Baltimore at the November meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)…

This is where we are today. As a Church hierarchy, we have worn on folks’ last nerve. We have come to a point where only penance and a complete housecleaning can restore credibility and trust. As a lower-ranking priest I cannot issue demands or send binding norms to those in wider and upper ranks of the hierarchy, but I do want to say to God’s faithful how powerfully aware I am of their justified anger and agree with their insistence that something more than symbolic action or promises of future reform is necessary.

I also would like to say to God’s faithful that this is a critical hour for you. I have learned from Church history that reform almost never comes from the top; it comes from religious life and from the grass roots, from among God’s people. Please stay faithful to the Lord and His Body the Church. Pray as never before. Realize that the devil would like nothing more than for you to walk away from the sacraments. However, please also feel freer than ever to confront Church leadership and insist upon reform. There is at times an unhealthy deference to authority that leaves those in authority unaware of the impact of their action or lack thereof.

I encourage each of you to write personally to your bishop. It is not enough to sound off on social media or in comments sections on the internet. Be old-fashioned: write a physical letter to your bishop and request a written reply, at least acknowledging receipt. Be brief and charitable, but also be clear about the crisis of trust in episcopal and clerical authority and your deepening concerns over what this means if trust cannot be restored…

I am grateful that many lay faithful love the Church enough to be angry. Sometimes one must be angry enough to be willing to act for change and to persevere in that work. I hope you will honor your anger and use it to creative ends: to tirelessly demand real reform in all the ways God gives you to see. Be careful to target your anger and speak it in love and for the good of all.

So, this is a crucial moment for God’s people. As a member of His clergy, I want to say that we need you now more than ever and to remind you that you will be essential to reform by insisting on it and refusing to accept a return to business as usual. Let us pray for one another and work for the reform we all know is necessary and long overdue. Many lay leaders are stepping up, leading the charge to insist on reform. For those of you who are on Facebook, Janet E Smith, moral theology professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, is using that platform to share articles and encourage action. She responded to Msgr. Pope’s piece with the following suggestions to incorporate in writing one’s letter to the local bishop:

1) Commend the bishop for the good works he has done. 2) Demand a clean up of whatever homosexual network exists in the diocese. Carefully give evidence if we have some, “I have heard; I don’t know if it is true but I have heard it enough to think queries if not an investigation should be made.” Demand that if there are credible accusations against priests and more evidence is needed, that private investigators need to be hired, 3) Tell the bishop that if cleaning up the homosexual network means that there will be such a priest shortage that parishes will close and services will be curtailed, say that we laity will stand by him and support his action.s 4) Insist that a lay board be set up to which priests and others can make charges of sexual harassment by the bishop himself and by priests and, particularly, that priests can report any mistreatment from the bishop without fear of reprisals. 5) Send the bishop copies of the best articles published expressing lay outrage. 6) Promise to pray and fast for your bishop. 7) Send copies of your letter to Cardinal DiNardo (President of USCCB) and the current papal nuncio, Archbishop Christophe Pierre. 8) Get signatures of others who may not be inclined to write. 9) Ask for a reply. Be polite but firm. And write again every month until something is done. If we don’t get a satisfactory reply, we need to consider writing to the public newspaper.

As the Storm swirls, the mission, message and community of TNRS-ASOH becomes the more precious, ever inspiring action and instilling peace.

398 thoughts on “A Crucial Time for the Laity”

    1. It already did! Take courage, no matter how grim and grief filled the moment, we are clearing the foundation for the new temple where God will dwell in us, the Church.

      Liked by 3 people

    1. I saw that–I wish they’d just cancel that thing. It’s hard to imagine they would still be pushing their agenda in light of all the revelations– so sad.

      Liked by 8 people

    2. Let me vent a bit of anger and frustration.

      What is the Pope thinking?? The root of this problem is not clericalism. It is not pedophilia. It is homosexuality. The great vast majority of the abuse incidents are of male clergy victimizing post-pubescent male victims. That is homosexual, sexual abuse. The catechism calls homosexuality a grave disorder. Why, oh why, is the church putting gravely disordered people (with this particular disorder) un charge of the seminaries and in charge of the church in general (as bishops, archbishops and cardinals)?! It’s worse than putting an alcoholic in charge of the bar!!

      Btw, I have people in my family that struggle with both same sex attraction and alcoholism, and I love them dearly. And I am a sinner just like everyone else. But, my question remains. Why are people with this particular grave disorder admitted to the clergy? Why will so few people call it what it is? These abuses are largely homosexual in nature. Not pedophile in nature. Of course, when they take place against children, they are particularly reprehensible, and I believe those perpetrators will have a special place in hell (barring utter and complete repentance), but that is a small fraction of the sexual abuses overall.

      Liked by 3 people

      2. I see what you see, Joe, concerning the root of the problem being homosexuality. Bishop Morlino said it best in his pastoral letter. In case you may not have seen it, here’s a link to it. That said, clericalism certainly, in my opinion, intensifies the grievous sins and problems stemming from actively homosexual clerics within the Church. In clericalism, the predators are readily enabled in their sordid deeds and I especially mean this in the sense of the lack of accountability on the part of the bishops who, then, fall at the temptations to abuse their incredible power.

        Perhaps, this piece from Fr. Edwin Palka – who wrote an insightful and instructive series on the topic of “active homosexuals/homosexual activist’ for his parish bulletin in Florida – may begin to, but not fully, answer your why questions, Joe. An excerpt:
        “But understand this: There is not a single thing — or even a dozen things — we can do which will solve this problem. We must, must, must have divine intervention. After all, if every guilty bishop and priest is not removed and charged, those remaining will simply keep doing business as usual. Moreover, even if every AH/HA bishop were removed today, the bishop of Rome (not unlike his predecessors who named them in the first place) would simply replace them with clones. He has, after all, openly surrounded himself with, praised and promoted those who are openly championing and living the AH/HA life. Mull that over and then pray and fast some more.” Full piece here.

        Picking up on Fr. Palka’s mention of the dangers of homosexual activists in the Church are two pieces which speak to their presence at the World Meeting of Families. One is this editorial at the National Catholic Register. The other is a piece at a popular resource priests use in preparing their homilies. It is here.

        We’ve got a LOT of praying and work to do.

        Liked by 3 people

  3. What dawned on me today. I expect most readers here will remember that the star formation on 23rd September 2017 was exactly as revealed in the Book of Revelation chapter 12. By that I mean the description of the woman clothed with the sun about to give birth etc. Worthy to note star formation also appears on Our Lady of Guadalupe image

    Then we read a third of the stars were swept down by the dragon. Does it not seem like we are witnessing all this. I remember reading the Priests are represented by the stars. And I would not be surprised to hear eventually one third of the Priests will have fallen due to the work of the devil. You see not only those who misconducted themselves will be cast down; but also those who condoned the sins by their silence along with those who were in positions of authority and failed to protect the flock.

    It also grieves me that souls of Priests should be lost in all this scandal, along with faithful who have been led astray. Jesus loves every soul. In fact Divine Mercy is precisely the tool given by God for these very times. Jesus told Saint Faustina the greater the sinner the greater His Mercy, if only we can Trust Jesus. He will save many souls Priests and people alike if we just pray Divine Mercy Chaplet.

    I hope readers are remembering to try and join in a fast on Wednesdays or Fridays or both. This was brought up earlier in the posts. I have tried to fast on Fridays since reading the suggestion.

    Liked by 9 people

    1. Agreed.

      “…Jesus told Saint Faustina the greater the sinner the greater His Mercy…”

      If only we (& our Clergy) will remember this! Repentence. Forgiveness. Remission of all punnishment due to sin.

      => Ask God forgiveness, now and in the confessional. Then (strive to) obtain a Plenary Indulgence. Either pray the Stations of the Cross {or Rosary with another} to gain the full remmission of punnishment {Justice} due to the sin.

      A Plenary Indulgence, through the Church, allows a person ro ERASE all punnishment owed by our sins. It may be obtained once per day, for either ourself or a Soul in Purgatory. Prayers for the Intentions of the Pope are required usually a “Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be…”

      In order to obtain a Plenary Indulgence, one must be free if all sin, Venial and Mortal. The only time I know this is true is immediately AFTER Mass (reception of the Eucharist).

      Idealistically, if everyone after mass sought to obtain such an Indulgence (for themselves or Souls) we would change the World in short order.

      I wrote a letter to my Bishop requesting just that.

      Liked by 2 people

  4. Just a bit of Irish humour in all this dismal news.

    I have read Father Palka’s series of articles about the crisis in the Church and though hard reading he ends up by advising us to fast and pray; because it really is the only solution.

    Anyway his final article was posted this week and it ends with, in Julias’ words…..”These perpetrators need their but’s kicked not kissed.”

    Liked by 4 people

  5. Okay – that symbol on the vestments for World Meeting of Families is way too similar to the sexual perversion group..BDSM..noted by Fr. Z – creepy, creepy, creepy. Unbelievably tone deaf on the part of Church leadership.
    Our Deacon gave the homily today and addressed the problem of recent abuse revelations head on and challenged us to have faith in Jesus, not in man. When he finished, the congregation clapped. The faithful in the pews are desperate for leadership of out this horrid darkness.
    I know that there have been some here who do not care for Cardianal O’Malley – but he is my bishop and I have seen him frequently. Thankfully, he has pulled out of the Irish conference. He is a good man in a very left state. The majority of Catholics in this state are hard left Democrats, supporting the feminist, LGBT, and abortion agenda. He has a video statement here: https://vimeo.com/285548145 I don’t think I have ever seen him look so much in pain as he is in this video. I pray for our Priests and Bishops for face a formidable task of restoring trust.

    Liked by 7 people

    1. Hi Marianne. There was a time when Cardinal O’Malley was one of the Bishops I most admired. His mindless persecution of Bishop Robert Finn – and then his persecution of a janitor that everyone believed- and investigation revealed – as innocent and harmless changed that. It seemed to me his zeal for “righteousness” had led him to destroy the innocent and vulnerable while remaining largely silent about the guilty and powerful. I would like to one day admire him again. I still pray for him almost every day. I do know he truly suffers internally from the sorrow of all of this. He has done some wonderful things in Boston and helped some great new orders (the Primitive Franciscans, for example, which has ministered to many young men in street gangs and gotten many out of it, for example) get their start. I don’t worry that he will be tolerant about sexual abuse in your diocese…rather, I worry that he has a self-righteous mentality that would destroy everything and let God sort it out. I am very glad he has pulled out of the hideous Irish conference. I well know he led the charge against legalized euthanasia in New England. His zeal would be most welcome if it were directed at the powerful predators and coupled with an equal zeal to protect those wrongfully accused. But I am very glad he has someone as dedicated and faithful as you in his corner.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. As someone who has lived in both the Archdiocese of Boston and in the Diocese of Fall River where Sean O’Malley was bishop, I have to agree with your assessment, Charlie. Cardinal O’Malley is at a major crossroads in his faith walk. May he trust the Holy Spirit completely.

        Liked by 3 people

  7. 1 roll of toilet paper = 2,600,000 bolívares (Venezuelan currency)

    With the bolivares to dollar exchange, this calculates to be about $10.00 for the roll. On my pilgrimages to Betania to honor Our Lady and spend time with my spiritual mother, Servant of God Maria Esperanza, we could do a lot of things with just 20-30 bolivares.

    Our brothers and sisters in Venezuela continue to need our prayers.

    Liked by 8 people

    3. Been praying and will continue. I remember Maria Esperanza saying that it would begin with Venezuela. Thank you , Beckita, for reminding us in the midst of all these other terrible swirlings, to remember Venezuela.

      Liked by 4 people

  8. Here is a true shepherd of God’s people addressing his brother priests, the laity and the victims of clerical sexual abuse. Fr. Lankeit’s homily begins at 20 minutes.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Greetings, Hans. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for Fr. Wang. He’ll be delighted to be reminded of this.

      Thanks, too, for this message to Vassula. Pretty amazing is this excerpt: “Last night at 3.10 am our Lady kept me awake until 4.00 am to give me a message for all of us. Our Lady made me understand that at this time Christ is being attacked more than any hour. Our Blessed Mother spoke to me from 3.30 am until 4.00 am.” Also amazing are the ways Jesus and Mary have done everything possible to awaken humanity in preaparation for this hour of decision in which we find ourselves.

      God bless you, Hans, and all your good works (they are many), including the translations of the messages of Our Lady of Akita which you have accomplished.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Hans and Beckita, many of us can relate to the 3 a.m. awakening, I have read that it is an hour when much evil is done because the devil mimics Jesus (in reverse, you might say). The traditional belief that Jesus died on the Cross at 3 p.m. means that the devil causes much evil to take place at 3 a.m., thus the need to pray.

        One year on Halloween, another time for evil (Satanists) 2 friends and I from our prayer group went to the empty church and prayed at the altar before the beautiful, large, crucifix. Two of us saw Our Lord’s arm move down towards us. I remember thinking, “I didn’t know Our Lord’s arm was positioned that way.” Later it dawned on us what had happened! He was showing His appreciation for keeping Him company and it brings tears to my eyes after all these years. That is one of my greatest pains – the lack of reverence towards Jesus in Church also.

        Liked by 8 people

        1. I knew about 3 am being the hour that Satan does the most attacking. I feel like it is the Holy Spirit that has been waking me up at 3 am for about the last three years. I didn’t realize it was happening to so many others. I say the Hail Mary as many times as I can until I fall back to sleep, if I fall back to sleep! Payers and fasting during the Passion of our church 🙏

          Liked by 4 people

          1. I read many years ago that if you are awakened at 3 AM, you are being called to pray the Chaplet of Devine Mercy for Peace, Mitigation and Mercy, for all who have died today or who are going to die today and for any of your own special attentions. I have done so ever since and invariably do wake up at 3 AM. This prayer is needed today more than ever.
            I hope this is not so buried that few will see it.
            May God bless you all.

            Liked by 4 people

    1. This Fox News writer reports with errors. The issue of homosexuals being denied ordination is not a mere push from conservatives. Both Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict have addressed the problem: https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/05/24/pope-doesnt-want-practicing-gays-in-seminaries-reports-say/ To name “the outspoken Rev. James Martin” as a moderate is missing the mayhem which Fr. Martin inspires in the Church. Far from moderate, his supported agendas reveal his heart regarding Church teaching. As Fr. Dwight Longenecker notes: “…since he (Fr. Martin) is an avid supporter of New Ways Ministry, who openly endorse gay sex, it does not seem unreasonable to therefore challenge Fr Martin on exactly what he does mean by ‘celibacy.'” Full article: https://dwightlongenecker.com/celibacy-gay-fr-martin-whazzat/

      Liked by 7 people

  11. The good news about this Unpleasantness is the fact that it will not be swept under de rug. It’s too late for that and there is “blood in the water”. All here, I believe, know that God is in Command and this will result in a New Church & Day 😉

    “The Cost of Homosexual Catholic Abuse”

    https://patriotpost.us/articles/57746-the-cost-of-homosexual-catholic-abuse

    “Theologians, Lay Leaders Call for ‘Collective Resignation’ of U.S. Bishops”

    https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/08/18/theologians-lay-leaders-call-collective-resignation-u-s-bishops/

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 9 people

    1. CD, we’d better pray there is no “collective resignation”!! Think of the fantastic bishops that we would lose. One that comes to mind is Bp. Cordileone who was sent to San Francisco to tackle the mess there. We in SoCal had to give him up. Several others I can think of are wonderful

      Liked by 6 people

  12. On a lighter note: # 15 is classic.

    HOW TO SIMULATE BEING A SAILOR:

    1. Buy a steel dumpster, paint it gray inside and out, and live in it for six months.

    2. Run all the pipes and wires in your house exposed on the walls.

    3. Repaint your entire house every month using gray paint.

    4. Renovate your bathroom. Lower all showerheads to four and one-half feet off the deck.

    5. When you take showers, make sure you turn off the water while you soap down.

    6. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, turn water heater temperature up to 300 degrees. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, turn water heater off.

    7. On Saturdays and Sundays tell your family they used too much water during the week, so no bathing will be allowed.

    8. Put 5W-20 lube oil in your humidifier, instead of water, and set it on high.

    9. Leave your lawn mower running in your living room 24 hours a day to maintain proper ambient noise level.

    10. Once a month, disassemble all your major appliances and electric garden tools, inspect them and then reassemble them. Do this every week with your lawnmower, weed whacker and other gasoline powered tools.

    11. Once a week blow compressed air up through your chimney, making sure the wind carries the soot across and onto your neighbor’s house. Laugh at him when he curses you.

    12. Raise the thresholds and lower the headers of your front and back doors, so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass through them.

    13. Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling, so you can’t turn over without getting out and then getting back in.

    14. Have a fluorescent lamp installed on the bottom of your coffee table and lie under it to read books.

    15. Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Have your spouse whip open the curtain about 4 hours after you go to sleep, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and say “Sorry, wrong rack.”

    16. Make each member your family qualify to operate each appliance in your house i.e., dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc.

    17. Find the dumbest guy in the neighborhood and make him your boss for the next two years.

    18. Have your neighbor come over each day at 5 am, blow a whistle so loud Helen Keller could hear it, and shout “Reveille, reveille, all hands heave out and trice up.”

    19. Have your mother-in-law write down everything she’s going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in your back yard at 0600 (6 A.M.) while she reads it to you.

    20. Empty all the garbage bins in your house and sweep the driveway three times a day, whether it needs it or not.

    21. Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item before delivering it to you.

    22. Watch no TV except for movies played in the middle of the night. Have your family vote on which movie to watch, and then show a different one.

    23. When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone shouting that your home is under attack and ordering them to their battle stations.

    24. Post a menu on the kitchen door informing your family that they are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for an hour. When they finally get to the kitchen, tell them you are out of steak, but they can have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they ignore the menu and just ask for hot dogs.

    25. Bake a cake. Prop up one side of the pan so the cake bakes unevenly. Spread icing real thick to level it off.

    26. 26. Get up every night around midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread.

    27. Set your alarm clock to go off at random times during the night. At the alarm, jump up and dress as fast as you can, making sure to button your top shirt button and tuck your pants into your socks. Run out into the back yard and uncoil the garden hose.

    28. Every week or so, throw your cat or dog into the pool and shout, “Man overboard port side!” Rate your family members on how fast they respond.

    29. Put the headphones from your stereo on your head, but don’t plug them in. Hang a paper cup around your neck on a string. Stand in front of the stove and speak into the paper cup “Stove manned and ready.” After an hour or so, speak into the cup again “Stove secured.” Roll up the headphones and paper cup and stow them in a shoebox.

    30. Place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4-hour intervals. This is best done when the weather is worst. January is a good time.

    31. When there is a thunderstorm in your area, get a wobbly rocking chair, sit in it and rock as hard as you can until you become nauseous. Make sure to have a supply of stale crackers in your shirt pocket.

    32. Buy a trash compactor but only use it once a week. Store up garbage in your bathtub.

    33. Invite at least 375 people, most of whom you don’t really like, to come and live with you for about 6 months.

    34. Lock-wire the lug nuts on your car wheels.

    35. Start your car and let it run for 4 hours before going anywhere, to ensure the engine is properly “lit off”.

    36. Walk around your car for 4 hours checking the tire pressure every 15 minutes.

    37. Make coffee using eighteen scoops of budget priced coffee grounds per pot and allow the pot to simmer for 5 hours before drinking.

    38. Have the paperboy give you a haircut with sheep shears.

    39. Submit a request form to your father-in-law, asking if it’s OK for you to leave your house before 1500 (3 PM).

    40. Take a two-week vacation visiting the Far East and call it “world travel”.

    41. Lock yourself and your family in the house for six weeks. Tell them that at the end of the 6th week you are going to take them to Disney World for “liberty.” At the end of the 6th week, inform them the trip to Disney World has been canceled because they need to get ready for an inspection, and it will be another week before they can leave the house.

    42. Needle gun the aluminum siding on your house after your neighbors have gone to bed.

    Now, who’s ready to go back to sea…?

    Liked by 11 people

    1. Hilarious, Sean. #24 resonates with some of my life’s experiences. My wildest sailor’s voyage happened when my husband and I finished our two year commitment in the Peace Corps. We hitched a ride, as crew members, on a Danish logging ship and sailed away from West Africa. It was like being on a tug boat in the Atlantic. The eating table had a 1 1/2″ high lip around its perimeter to keep dishes from sliding off the edges. I was to be on hand to assist in the galley. The night we boarded, there was mutiny against the cook with plates flying and a great uproar so that the captain forbade me from even entering that space. So rough were the seas that we abandoned ship in the Canary Islands and our heads continued spinning through the night and into the next day as we flew into Madrid. And that wee storm doesn’t even begin to hold a candle to the current Storm.

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Number 6 reminds me of my hunting camper.
        If you shower early in the morning while the air is frigid the water in the garden hose hooked up to the camper is ice cold and the little water heater barely warms it up.
        If you shower in the afternoon, the sun bakes the hose and the cold water side is 120 degrees hot!

        Liked by 4 people

    4. Sean, half way through I was laughing out loud, totally cracking up. My husband was a Navy pilot, and landed aboard carriers, so I could really picture these hilarious items. Thank you for the humor that we need!

      Liked by 4 people

  13. Tomorrow is the Memorial of St. Pope Pius X, the great defender of the Faith and of Truth. Ask him to intercede for our Church during this time of corruption and confusion. It was Pius X who famously said that modernism is “the synthesis of all heresies.”

    Liked by 7 people

  14. I know I am late to this conversation but after much praying to the Holy Spirit for guidance I’m still unsure about what my next action should be.
    I am fairly new to this church even though I do volunteer quite often, sadly you learn more of the inner workings then I care to. However with that said I was bothered on Sunday at Mass that nothing was said about the horrors that are going on. In the bullentin there was a 2 page insert signed by the bishop saying how he will be standing for the victims and trying to cause change. (Not that any of these things exist here of course!)
    My question is. Would a written letter have any effect, assuming I could find the right words?
    Everyone here is so much more knowledgeable then I and I would like to thank you for enlightening me on so many levels. God Bless all.

    Liked by 8 people

  16. Beckita, SteveBC or whoever is moderating comments, can you please change my name in the last comment. I The form autofilled with my full name in it. I’m happy to be just Tabitha, or 7kidsinTX. Either way. Thank you for all that you do!!!

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Hey 7kidsinTX, no one can change the name but the commenter himself/herself. So, I’m going to delete your first comment and paste your great recommendation right here. Thank you for this news!

      Hi everyone. I haven’t commented here in a while, but I keep up with all of the posts and as many comments as my state in life allows me (5 kids at home, 2 in college). I am so heartsick over all that is being revealed about the hierarchy of Christ’s beloved church. But I know that good will come out of this. I know many here are praying the 54 day Rosary Novena, but if you aren’t for some reason, or would like to add your prayers and fasting to this initiative, as well, I’d like to share this opportunity with you. Our Heavenly Father sees our unity as the body of His Son, and Mother Mary intercedes with us and for us no matter what prayer group we join! Many blessings to all here! Love in Christ.

      http://www.catholicallyear.com/2018/08/sexual-abuse-sackcloth-and-ashes.html

      Liked by 7 people

  18. 16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.-Matthew 6:16-18

    I’m changing my gravatar to a smiling fish in the hopes that it’s not obvious that I’m fasting because I feel we might have to do Wednesdays and Fridays the way things are going.

    Liked by 7 people

    1. As the usual lector at daily Mass, I’ve been proclaiming them aloud and, yes Erin, so apropos, such as today’s first reading:

      Ez 34:1-11

      The word of the Lord came to me:
      Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
      in these words prophesy to them to the shepherds:
      Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel
      who have been pasturing themselves!
      Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep?
      You have fed off their milk, worn their wool,
      and slaughtered the fatlings,
      but the sheep you have not pastured.
      You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick
      nor bind up the injured.
      You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost,
      but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally.
      So they were scattered for the lack of a shepherd,
      and became food for all the wild beasts.
      My sheep were scattered
      and wandered over all the mountains and high hills;
      my sheep were scattered over the whole earth,
      with no one to look after them or to search for them.

      Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
      As I live, says the Lord GOD,
      because my sheep have been given over to pillage,
      and because my sheep have become food for every wild beast,
      for lack of a shepherd;
      because my shepherds did not look after my sheep,
      but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep;
      because of this, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
      Thus says the Lord GOD:
      I swear I am coming against these shepherds.
      I will claim my sheep from them
      and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep
      so that they may no longer pasture themselves.
      I will save my sheep,
      that they may no longer be food for their mouths.

      For thus says the Lord GOD:
      I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

      Liked by 8 people

  20. YUP!!
    “The Resistance Shows Its Anti-Christian Bias–JONATHAN S. TOBIN”
    https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/trump-resistance-shows-anti-christian-bias-religious-freedom-debate/

    “VATICAN: ‘Shame and sorrow’ – Holy See responds to Pennsylvania report”
    https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/shame-and-sorrow—holy-see-responds-to-pennsylvania-report-16263

    “Who is going to save our Church? Not our Bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops.”
    Fulton J Sheen, Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus in 1972

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 6 people

  21. A quote from Pope Pius XII for today’s feast day of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    “Let all try to approach with greater trust the throne of grace and mercy of our Queen and Mother, and beg for strength in adversity, light in darkness, consolation in sorrow.”

    and the hymn Hail Holy Queen to help lift our spirits:

    Liked by 6 people

  22. Special prayers for the Church and the World Meeting of Families (edit: and the upcoming Synod, in October, based on the theme of Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment) in light of the perspectives expressed in this video:

    Liked by 7 people

  23. Hi everyone! I miss you all! I ran across this video today and when I started watching it I started crying for joy! God is so wonderful in the ways He reaches out to his people! I LOVE their joy! and I wanted to share it with you in case you haven’t seen it. 🙂 Praying for all of you.

    Liked by 7 people

    1. Hey Snowyjean! We’ve missed you too. I, also, saw the headline story at Spirit Daily today. It reminded me of how much Our Lady’s children yearn to see her. Thanks for your prayers. Praying for you and all who pass this way.

      Liked by 5 people

    4. There’s snow business like snow business and its good to see you back on show Snowie, my comrade in arms. I’ve just got back from Garabandal and am here in Scotland for my mum’s 90th today. Then flying over with my cuzzies to Ireland for Mass with Pope Francis. I am trying to organize a flying visit to the shrine of The Lady of All Nations in Amsterdam on my return trip to New Zealand but so far the flights are fully booked. All prayers for a seat to become available will be gratefully accepted.

      Liked by 5 people

      3. JoeCro, sorry, I could not comment before- I’m soooooo jealous 🤭! You just got back from Garabandal and now you want to go to Amsterdam-AND Mass with Pope Francis?? (fainting 😋)Wow, how fun! Will pray for you! 🙏🙏🙏

        Liked by 3 people

    5. Snowy!! You’ve been on my mind and in my prayers, as are all here. So glad to hear from you. The video is wonderful! XO

      Liked by 4 people

      1. CG, yes, was owl… but it’s been snowyjean for a long time now…had to delete my gmail account which somehow deleted my WP account too. Me + computers equals purgatory and complete disaster! 🤗🤭 and now I’ve dumped Firefox because they gave into Soros and went to the dark side! I installed Brave and nothing is working as per usual! Hahaha..never ends.
        Anyway, usually just leave it at snowy and forgot to shorten it! 😊

        Liked by 2 people

        1. Well I’m glad to ‘see’ you again! Looks like I’m late to the party, but that’s nothing new. 😂 I’ve missed your cheerful countenance, literally and figuratively apparently since you’ve been here all along. Because of *my* techno issues (sighs of empathy) I have a hard time getting through all the comments. Which is terribly disappointing as they are so often as instructive and encouraging as the original post. All my ‘boxes’ are checked in the settings but Word Press still fails to send me the new comments. It takes forever to go over and over comments for new threads when there are 300+of them. That and WP never lets me stay signed in so I’m logging in over and over. Good memory training! Sorta, lol. Anyhoo, it’s good to have a chat with you 😄

          Liked by 3 people

          1. CGrandma, I might be able to help a little. The next time you’re forced to log into WordPress again, before you hit the login button, look for a checkbox that says something like “Keep me signed in.” Check that box before you click on the Log in button. Perhaps that will help keep you logged in thereafter. Of note though is that if you do not have Cookies enabled in your browser, previously set settings will not stick when you quit your browser or shut down your computer. If you have someone who is a little tech-savvy, have that person check your browser’s cookie setting or cache deletion setting. 🙂

            Liked by 3 people

            1. Steve, I love it when I see your photo under one of my complaining posts because I know I’m about to receive timely help. 🌈Thanks for the tips! I do know that cookies are not enabled so I’ll address that first. All my ‘reliable’ help just left for college so I’ll have to scrounge around for the rest. Thank you for taking the time 🤓

              Liked by 2 people

              1. CGrandma, thank you so much for the nice compliment! I’m glad my help has actually been helpful. 😀

                I hope you can find some reliable help before Thanksgiving, when I assume the reliable help you refer to will be visiting.

                Liked by 3 people

          2. Oh CG I’m glad to see you here again too! I went a few weeks, maybe a month or two and wasn’t commenting but still popped in to read when I could take it in.
            I see I’m not the only one who is dealing with WP issues… which may actually be more my browser than WP?! Who knows- only know it drives me batty! 🦇and makes me 🦆<- pretend that's a Loon😋

            Liked by 3 people

            3. Ha, Snowy! I was reading your message and got to the duck. It stopped me cold (so I didn’t see the loon reference). I was thinking, “And makes me… a duck? And makes me… ducky? And makes me… quack?” Thanks for the translation; and I had so missed your cute emojis, delightful quirkiness, and ever-present sense of humor. Welcome back! 🙂

              Liked by 2 people

          3. CG, until your get the kinks out of WP, there’s another way to check new posts daily, if on desktop,
            you can use the Ctrl F keys and just type in the date i.e. August 25 n keep clicking the up/down arrows. On smartphone, once the comments are displayed, click on the icon as if to send it via text or email, but instead go down to the next roll of options and scroll sideways till you see a magnifying glass and type in the date there also and use the up/down arrows. If you’re already aware of these tips, please disregard this blurb 🙂
            Now I need to get up to speed and get my own WP acct. I just saw the ‘how to’ in the FAQ’s

            Liked by 3 people

            1. Oh Lordy Marie! Now I really know I’m a dinosaur. These look like they will be really fun tools if I can figure them out. 😂 I’m going to write out your instructions so I can practice without looking back and messing something up. Thanks for helping to teach an old 🐶 new tricks!

              Liked by 2 people

  24. Gee, sure makes me wonder about confession………….I think perhaps, when I am in confession, I should also, first, ask the priest if he is an active homosexual……..before I confess my own sins? Makes me wonder about confession at all. This whole sexual abuse thing has many heads spinning and including my own. I mean, to whom do I confess? Who do I trust has God’s Holy Spirit to forgive my sins when they themselves might be Pedophiles or homo’s or whatever… . I LOVE the Catholic church, but don’t like where it has gone. The local church here has said NOTHING about any of the abuse that has been uncovered. Makes me quite upset, like they don’t know what to say, or don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. Gee, if they ever lay a rainbow banner on the aisle or the altar here…I will get up and say something! I will not tolerate anything of the sort. I don’t really care what any of the people in the pews think of me, at least I will have stood up and said something. I have been listening and watching this whole sordid ordeal unfold and I think it may be a huge particle of what Charlie has been talking about. My ship is being rocked and I will do anything, even if it takes my life, to save this great ship which is the Catholic Church. More than half of my family does not agree with me and this includes my own kids (7) sadly this is what it is. I cannot stand by and watch, I have to take action when the action is needed even if it means for me life or death, I defend my faith. Catholicism all the way…I stand up and defend my faith. Turning and looking for more who feel the same way I do….Are you out there?

    Liked by 4 people

    1. It is a heartbreaking time, Mary. Actually, if a priest is in the state of mortal sin, the Church has assured us that the sacraments, ministered by such a priest, are still valid. In a piece by Fr. Edwin Palka, the priest from Florida who ran a series of articles in his church bulletin concerning priests who are active homosexuals and homosexual activists, Father gave this advice: “It is also danged sure time for you, whether you have children or not, to change parishes and schools if your priest is AH/HA, heretical or a “don’t make waves”-er.” (https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/one-proposed-solution) So, if you are reasonably sure that your priest is a holy, faithful one, simply trust God and continue receiving the sacraments in your parish. If, as Fr. Palka suggests, you are concerned about how true to the Church is your current pastor, change parishes… even if it is an inconvenience.

      I think you’ve struck an important chord, Mary. We cannot let the current revealing push us into a feeling jaded, despairing and completely distrusting zone. I’m holding on to the truth that we were MUCH WORSE OFF before knowing what we now know about that state of the Church in America… and many places in the world. In darkness, the cancer of abuse and cover-up virulently grew. Now, in Christ’s Light, it can be completely uncovered and fully addressed by and with the Grace of God.

      Your willingness to speak truth is a golden next right step. Praying for prudence and discernment is also needed. And every prayer, fast and sacrifice offered is a powerful way to next right step. We CAN choose HOPE in the darkness, for we are children of the Light not of the darkness. The Holy Spirit IS with us! Christ HAS carried every bit of this current misery to Calvary and remains by our side with the One whose Immaculate Heart is inseparable from His. And every saint in Heaven, ever ready to assist, awaits our call for help. Let us together seek the intercession of Pope St. John Paul II for the sake of the conversion of our children who need to make a return to the Lord. For God, NOTHING is impossible.

      Liked by 6 people

    2. Has the agenda of these homosexual priests always been gay marriage? They would first have to reduce the importance of the Eucharist. Just like protestants who emphasize the ‘Do this in remembrance of me” (over “This is My Body…My Blood”) , therefore not the actual body and blood of Christ. (This is exactly what I argued for at least an hour years ago with my Presbyterian neighbor when she was asked not to receive Communion at a Requiem Mass for a neighbor.)

      Liked by 1 person

  25. The below came in my MILINET Blog today. A response by “Anonymous”. If I had to guess???? …… it’s a Navy Chaplain?”

    MILINET: Response
    ===================
    Resp “Pope Francis: Letter to the People of God (full text)
    https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-08/pope-francis-letter-people-of-god-sexual-abuse.html

    “The recent release of the Pennsylvania Diocese Victims Report involving sex abuse in six Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses has made international news. Even though Catholic Church leaders have argued that the sexual abuse crisis is history, the 900-page report says otherwise. If Pope Francis would like the Roman Catholic Church to enjoy any degree of moral credibility, he needs to ensure that all the abusers are removed from ministry; that the bishops who failed to remove abusive priests are themselves removed from office; and that those who were reprised against for confronting abusive priests and corrupt bishops are invited back to ensure that the disease has been completely eradicated.
    No one in the church or the media to this date has ever addressed who buried the 1985 Report, “Sexual Molestation by Roman Catholic Clergy,” co-authored by Dominican Father Thomas Doyle that laid out all the steps the Catholic Church needed to take to correct its very serious and systematic clerical sexual abuse problem. While it was thought to have been hand carried to the Vatican by Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia, what is not known is if and how much of it was shared by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with Pope John Paul II. Had either of them acted on the recommendations contained in the report, tens of thousands of young people could have been prevented from having been abused and the Catholic Church in the United States could have found better use for the over $4 billion dollars it has spent on abuse settlements and legal fees.
    While the Spotlight team at The Boston Globe is given credit for initiating a chain of events that called international attention to widespread sex abuse carried out and covered up within the Archdiocese of Boston, few people know what was the spark that prompted two Pennsylvania Grand Jury investigations of eight Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses. The answer to that question dates back to a three month Blair County Pennsylvania Civil trial in 1994 that centered around Father Francis Luddy who admitted to having molested a teenage boy. When retired Bishop James J. Hogan of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese testified in court when he first became aware of Father Luddy’s abusive sexual behavior, he never realized that his testimony would be contradicted the following day by Monsignor Philip Saylor who had no idea what date the bishop provided the previous day in court. Because the court believed that Bishop Hogan failed to report Father Luddy to civil authorities years before he said he first learned of the problem, the diocese lost the lawsuit and paid the former altar boy $1.2 million.
    Instead of learning from the mistakes of his predecessor, Bishop Joseph Adamec only made matters worse when he transferred Monsignor Saylor from a large and prestigious parish to a small and remote church in the extreme northwestern part of the diocese. If the transfer for telling the truth under oath was not bad enough, Adamec also issued Saylor a “precept of silence” threatening him with excommunication if he were to preach or talk about the bishop’s mishandling of the sex abuse problems in the diocese. By reprising against Saylor while allowing a number of abusive priests to remain in ministry, Adamec planted the seeds that would grow into a scandal of international proportions.
    When the 37th statewide investigating grand jury got underway in April of 2014 supervised by Cambria County President Judge Norman A. Krumenacker III, one of the first and key witnesses to offer testimony was Monsignor Saylor. Church leaders who feared what the almost 90 year old priest might say would have succeeded in preventing him from testifying were it not for an off-duty police officer who drove him the four hour distance from State College to the Court House in Pittsburgh. It was the startling results of the grand jury investigation of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese and the Philadelphia Archdiocese conducted by Attorney General Kathleen Kane that led Attorney General Josh Shapiro to purse an investigation of the remaining six Pennsylvania dioceses that included Erie, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Scranton, and Allentown.
    If similar grand jury investigations were undertaken in other states throughout the country, the results would be the same in showing that the sexual abuse problem in the Catholic Church is far more serious than what the media and Church leaders were led to believe in the wake of the 2004 John Jay Report. How is it that the authors of that 143-page report estimated that 4.3 percent of US Catholic priests from 1950 to 2002 were accused of sexually abusing minors when the figure during that same time period in the Boston Archdiocese was 10.75 percent? The answer is that bishops lied about the extent of the problem within their dioceses. For example, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, reported that only “two such cases have come forward where active duty priest chaplains have been found guilty of engaging in immoral acts with minors.” When one examines even the incomplete list of abusive Catholic military chaplains composed by bishopaccountabilty.org, one sees the real number is not two, but rather around 100. While Archbishop “O’Brien lied in 2004 about the extent of sex abuse among military chaplains lest he be deprived of a cardinal’s red hat which he received in 2012, he is certainly not the only church leader who lied to the National Review Board.
    Bishops will sometimes use the excuse that they do not have to report priests if the people they are having sex with are 18 or older. This happened in the case of Father John “Matt” Lee, a Catholic Navy Chaplain stationed in Hawaii who was reported in 2002 to Archbishop Edwin O’Brien for having a “live-in boyfriend.” No investigation was undertaken of Lee whose close friend in Hawaii was Captain (Monsignor) Joseph Estabrook whom Archbishop O’Brien made his auxiliary bishop in 2004. Lee was later assigned to the U.S. Naval Academy and then to the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, VA where in 2007 he was charged and convicted of aggravated assault, sodomy, conduct unbecoming an officer, and failing to inform his sex partners that he was HIV positive. When the media contacted O’Brien at the time of Lee’s arrest, he said “When the Archdiocese for the Military Services became aware through Chaplain Lee that there was an accusation against him of immoral behavior with military personnel, we, along with the Archdiocese of Washington, removed his faculties immediately.” That quote is a perfect example of how to lie without technically lying. The real truth, however, is that the Military Archdiocese as early as 2002 became aware through another chaplain of an accusation against Lee of immoral behavior and did nothing. After serving a two year sentence, Lee was released only to be arrested again in 2014. Lee is currently serving a thirty year sentence in a Delaware State Prison. Had O’Brien and Estabrook (who died in 2012) not “looked the other way” as many bishops did in the case of Theodore McCarrick, several young Naval Academy Midshipmen and young Marines might not have been subjected to Lee’s predatory behavior.
    If the John Jay Report grossly underestimated the extent of the problem based on false information provided by the bishops, the report also came under attack by Al Notzon III, a former chairman of the National Review Board (NRB) that advises US bishops in combating clerical sexual abuse. Notzon strongly disputed one of the study’s findings that there is no link between homosexuality and clerical abuse when in fact the abusers were males, and 80 percent of the victims were post-pubescent males. Another NRB member and former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Paul McHugh, also rejected attempts to ignore the link between clerical abuse and homosexuality when he argued that the Church is dealing with a crisis of “homosexual predation on American Catholic youth.” If it is true that the percentage of homosexual bishops is higher than the percentage of gay priests in the United States, then that might help explain why sexual abuse mainly involving males was underreported and why male on male abuse is being misinterpreted as something other than homosexual behavior.
    It remains to be seen how much Pope Francis can combat clerical sexual abuse when so many US bishops are believed to have the same sexual orientation as Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Bishop Roberto Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin, in a pastoral letter released on August 18, 2018, wrote, “It is time to admit that there is a homosexual subculture within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church that is wreaking great devastation in the vineyard of the Lord.” Not all bishops are willing to make this admission. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich was able to get Pope Francis to echo his belief that the real cause for the abuse crisis is “a culture of clericalism in which some who are ordained feel they are privileged and therefore protected so that they can do what they want.” The main reason many people have difficulty in accepting this thesis is because 80 percent of abuse victims are teenage males. If many Catholics are responding to Pope Francis and Cardinal Cupich by saying, “Clerical sex abuse has everything to do with homosexuality,” it’s because the “clericalism” argument would only hold water if there were as many teenage girls being abused as teenage boys. Rome based journalist Robert Mickens wrote, “While no adult who is of sound psychosexual health habitually preys on those who are vulnerable, there is no denying that homosexuality is a key component to the clergy sex abuse crisis. With such a high percentage of priests with a homosexual orientation, this should not be surprising.”
    In response to media reports that many members of the US Catholic hierarchy were aware of Cardinal McCarrick’s sexual escapades with seminarians and did nothing, Bishop Michael F. Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, wrote “Justice also requires that all of those in Church leadership who knew of the former cardinal’s alleged crimes and sexual misconduct and did nothing be held accountable for their refusal to act thereby enabling others to be hurt.” When the late Richard Sipe, the foremost expert on clerical sexual abuse, brought the sexual escapades of Cardinal McCarrick in great detail to the attention of Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, McElroy did nothing. Following Sipe’s death on August 8, 2018, McElroy defended his failure to respond to the abuse allegations by saying that it was “impossible to know what was real and what was rumor.” However, many people who have read Sipe’s July 28, 2016 letter concluded that there was more than sufficient evidence to justify a recommendation on McElroy’s part that McCarrick be investigated.
    The sexual abuse scandal has had a negative impact on vocations to the priesthood. At the end of 2000, twelve months beforeThe Boston Globe called attention to sex abuse problem in the Catholic Church, there were 41,399 priests in the United States. At the end of 2017, six months before Cardinal McCarrick resigned amid abuse accusations; there were 37,181 priests – a decline of a little more than 10 percent over a seven year period. When Archbishop Edwin O’Brien was informed in a letter dated May 6, 2002 that one of his chaplains heard that a senior enlisted sailor who retired from the Navy and entered the seminary left after he grew tired of being “hit on” by gay seminarians, he did nothing when this was brought to his attention. This is the same archbishop who not only grossly underreported sexual abuse among military chaplains, but also the same cleric Pope Benedict chose to oversee a 2005-2006 study of all Catholic seminaries in the United States. The results of the study he coordinated concluded that US seminaries are “in general, healthy.” If the results of this seminary study are as reliable as the results of the John Jay Study, one might be led to question how “healthy” US seminaries really are. A large number of predator priests found guilty of sexual abuse (including Father Francis Luddy whose abuse case was the spark that ignited the Pennsylvania investigation) admit to having been sexually abused themselves while they were seminarians. What Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was guilty of doing, and what other homosexual bishops, rectors, faculty members, and priests do to and with seminarians, can result in creating more predator priests.
    If the pope does not remove bishops who carry out, underreport, or cover-up sexual abuse; if the true health of seminaries is misrepresented as much as sexual abuse was underreported; and if studies are accurate that show that no more than 50 percent of priests and bishops practice celibacy at any given time, then what hope does one have that the current crisis will be resolved?”
    Anonymous

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 6 people

  26. Now we got this!!
    Does anyone doubt that the very same Usual Suspects that destroyed the Boy Scouts and are on a mission to destroy Trump plus his God/Constitution/Gun Clinging Deplorables …. are the very same humanoids that wish utter destruction upon Christendom in general and the Catholic Church in particular??
    Besides all of the obvious horrors of 75 years of Homosexual Predator Scandals that The Faithful will have to endure and pay for, let’s think of the unpleasant and not so obvious. When the Church decides to Purge the Perverts, I can guarantee that in the USA/EU The Usual Suspects will file lawsuits claiming discrimination on the grounds of “Sexual Identity”. Perverts have a “Right” to be a Priest/Nun/Brother just like Boy Scout “Leaders” ….Right!!??.
    Yeah!! It’s Manifest Evil On-Parade!
    …….. and we haven’t even thought about the Lesbian “Issues” …. Yet! ;-(

    “Advocates of Women Priests Cite Scandals to Make Their Case”

    https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/women-priests-scandals-ordain/2018/08/23/id/878332/

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 4 people

  28. Here’s a window into the depths of the pain and anger born of priestly sexual abuse. As excruciating as the abuse is, so, too, is the experience of being disbelieved and/or the validity of the horror being discounted. What a long-suffering man is Michael O’Brien with a brave heart in giving testimony.

    “This clip from a 2009 Irish public affairs program called Questions And Answers. The man in the clip is Michael O’Brien, then 72, a former mayor and member of the Fianna Fáil party. In the 1940s, he and his seven siblings were removed from their home after their mother died. He was put into an “industrial school” — a boarding school meant to house poor, neglected, and orphaned children — run by the Irish branch of the Rosminians, a Catholic religious order, where he was abused. He had given testimony before the Ryan Commission investigating sexual abuse by the Catholic Church. In the 2009 televised forum organized after the release of the commission report, O’Brien, in the audience, stood and lacerated the Minister of Transport — a member of his own political party — for the way the government handled the investigation. At the end of his statement, he urges the government to change the Irish constitution to defund Catholic religious orders.” https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/michael-obrien-anger-catholic-ireland-sex-abuse/

    Liked by 4 people

  29. Yesterday, our local Knights of Columbus held our annual BBQ/grill dinner in honor of our Priests and Deacons. It consists of active and retired Priests in our area who usually do not get together in a social manner. One of the most ‘senior’ Priests got up and thanked us for our continued demonstration of loyalty, especially in light of current events.

    His remarks ‘cut to the bone’ as the heartache among one and all is clearly evident. One Deacon remarked his parish community is fasting on Thursdays.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Actually, Little One, The Silence Stops Now rally is in the works, to be held during the next meetings of the USCCB on November 13 & 14. You can sign up to attend or, at least, receive email updates if unable to attend, here.

      Liked by 2 people

  31. I would like to precede this comment with a sound of frustration but I can’t spell it as it has too many syllables in it!!!! Can anybody help me out?

    Maybe as recently as Charlie’s previous post I had said that the rest of us outside the US should be watching, and learning from, what is happening behind the political scenes there. Today, somehow, Australia will have a new Prime Minister!!! The situation is so ridiculous I have to ask myself is it just a distraction from something more sinister running in the background.

    Liked by 4 people

  32. I add a link to a very powerful homily on the current sorrows in our Church. I apologize if it has already been referenced. I have listened to it many times for enlightenment, encouragement and hope and counsel. It gives me chills to realize that we were born for just this time.
    Reflecting on these current troubles, I am inclined to think that the three days of darkness is mental anguish – horrible, hopeless, mental anguish. I have my blessed candles at the ready. Sigh

    http://wdtprs.com/blog/2018/08/a-sermon-by-an-old-friend-about-the-present-crisis/

    Liked by 5 people

    2. Wow! Excellent, and beautiful., Thank you for posting this. Very powerful. He really says it like it is, and wasn’t afraid to tell the truth. And in the end added what we all know…..God wins.

      Liked by 2 people

    3. It’s funny you should say the 3 days of darkness could be mental anguish. I only share this with you all because i am thinking it may be of some help or consolation to any one else that might suffer what I just wernt through. I suffered 3 days of the worst mental anguish, the most deepest darkest deppression so debilitating. I was so helpless. My logical part of my brain knew that something was wrong but it was as if something was blocking my advancement or overcoming the mental anguish as if I knew something was wrong intellectually in my spirit but I was completely helpless to get out from underneath the dispair and intense trial of faith and hope. It is beyond me to be able to fully explain it. I prayed and cried and affirmed over and over my trust in God’s goodness and love and mercy for me, and just offered up as best as I could what was so painful and bewildering. This horrible affliction lasted 3 days but mercifully ended (inexplicably fairly suddenly) in time for me to celebrate Sunday evening Mass.

      I have had blessed candles in my home for many years now, knowing of the possibility of the 3 Days of Darkness, but never did I dream of any kind of 3 days of mental darkness. My only light was the memory of God’s goodness, mercy, love, and providence He has faithfully shown me and knowing that He was with me through it all and wouldn’t forsdake me. But it was terrible and frightening, non the less.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Wow, breadoflife! What an example of faith you are! I LOVE this: “I prayed and cried and affirmed over and over my trust in God’s goodness and love and mercy for me, and just offered up as best as I could what was so painful and bewildering.” Sounds like a very awesome next right step for anyone afflicted in life’s storms.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. A few years ago, I had something similar which I spoke about on the TNRS blog. I had three days and nights of utter mental anguish over simple tasks. It broke on the third day of which I visited my pastor a few times in a matter of hours. I remeber him somewhat chuckling saying don’t worry… don’t you know we win. Have confidence in the Holy Spirit.

        Liked by 4 people

  33. Hi, everyone. Sister Bear checking in.

    I’ve been on the road a lot since early August and, when alighting, burrowing in on issues concerning the Church, America, and the world. I’ve also been checking this blog several times a day for new posts.

    A metaphor comes to mind. Recently a local contractor repaired the side porch flooring and its understructure of our family cabin, built in 1931. The old boards had gotten squishy in recent years. We didn’t know what we would find underneath. The carpenter removed necessary boards to look below the surface and found a lot of dry rot that had been expanding over the years. His remedy? To shore up the sound foundations, replace the supports under the floor, and install completely new flooring with strong plywood underneath. My brother and his family primed and painted the new floor. It is attractive and solid.

    As awful as the latest revelations from Pennsylvania and elsewhere are, they are necessary for the cure. Half-measures have been insufficient (e.g., simply repainting the squishy floorboards).

    Pope Francis, this is your moment in salvation history.

    Liked by 7 people

  34. (The 11:00 am hour) http://luisapiccarreta.co/?page_id=2864
    from Hours of the Passion
    “O my Jesus, I can no longer stand it! I unite myself to Your Supplications, to Your Pains, to Your suffering Love! Give me this Heart of Yours so that I may feel Your own thirst for souls consecrated to You and, with my heartbeats, return to You the love and the affections of all of them. Permit me to go around to everyone and place Your Heart in them. And, by Its contact, may the cold be warmed, the tepid shaken, the wayward called back; and may the so many Graces rejected, return to them. This Heart of Yours is suffocated by the pain and by the bitterness of seeing that the designs that You had upon these consecrated souls, because of their incorrespondence, were not realized; and that so many other souls which, through them, were to have Life and salvation, suffer the sad consequences! But I will show them Your Heart so embittered for their sake. I will hurl darts of Fire from Your Heart into them, and I will present to them all of Your Supplications and all of Your sufferings for them. It is not possible that they not surrender to You, and thus they will return repentant to Your Feet; Your Loving designs upon them will be re-established, and they will be in You and around You no longer to offend You, but to make reparation to You, to console You and to defend You.”

    Liked by 4 people

  35. I ran across this piece early this morning..and wow. It is on the Divine Mercy website. I think it is one of the best I’ve read.
    “Sometimes chastisement is a Mercy”
    https://www.thedivinemercy.org/news/Sometimes-Chastisement-is-a-Mercy-7906

    “The Church is not the Bride of Christ because we are worthy on our own merits.

    No. All of lasting value, life, and strength in the Body of Christ comes through grace, through the inspiration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, through the Cross of Christ, through the love and gift of the Father. All that is good in us comes from God; all that is misery comes from man. Our Lord taught St. Faustina that truth in a particularly memorable way, asking her for the gift of what was truly hers to give: her misery; that is, her sinfulness and her miserable state as a concupiscent, weak, tempted human being (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1315).

    The current scandals are, in some sense, the continuation of the scandalous sinfulness and weakness of the clergy recorded in the Gospels. Going by the example of the apostles in the Gospels, 100 percent of the clergy will at some point run from Christ and avoid sharing His suffering. At least one in 12 will flatly deny knowing Him, like Peter. At least one in 12 will be filled with the devil and betray Him, like Judas. And only one in 12 will be there at the foot of His Cross, like John.”
    (There’s more and it is really worth reading.)

    Liked by 6 people

    1. It IS a great one, Snowy, and in its content are some of the very steps we’ve been discussing here as ways to move through these days into healing, reform and renewal. God’s Justice is the very fiber of His Mercy.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Yes, I noticed that and also that it speaks the truth with hope but without the anger and judgement! I want , as we all here do, true justice but also the conversion of all! Lord have mercy! 💕✝

        Liked by 2 people

  36. Yup!!! My passed SanFran KinFolks are Spinnin’ in de Grave! ;-(
    I’m quite happy to Hang-In like, Menagerie, with the Red State-Red Necks! 😉
    Somebody quipped awhile back that: “If God gives San Francisco a pass, then He must give an apology to Sodom & Gomorrah. Just another “SIGN” methinks!!

    “No Thanks To a Poop Patrol Career. And The City That Needs It.”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/08/24/no-thanks-to-a-poop-patrol-career-and-the-city-that-needs-it/#more-153200

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 1 person

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Published by Beckita

Beckita, widow, mother and grandmother, lives in Missoula, Montana. After more than thirty years of service, she retired from two careers: elementary school educator and director of liturgical music ministry in a local parish. Serving the Catholic Church in many capacities since early childhood, she now provides care for a nearly 90 year old priest of Chinese origin and collaborates with him in evangelizing the Chinese people. For more than twenty-five years, she has welcomed words from heaven concerning these sobering times in which we live and, like so many, takes seriously Our Lord and Our Lady’s call to intercede for the return of souls to God. Responding to heaven’s call for prayer, for her, included making pilgrimages to shrines in Europe, Asia and South America. She says these travels, added to her years as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa in the mid-seventies, have expanded her heart to hold dear all peoples of the world. She is a longtime member of TNRS community and when she began reading Charlie’s posts, immediately, she found that his mission and message harmonize well with Church approved private revelation of our times. In September 2015, she accepted an invitation to become part of TNRS Answers Team. As events of the Storm evolved, last fall (2016), she accepted Charlie’s invitation to become managing editor of TNRS should he need to leave the site. With great gratitude to and for Charlie, founder of TNRS, and with great respect and admiration for the lifelong experiences and God-given gifts he brought to bear on his work at this site - she knows we all know he’s irreplaceable – still, she considers it a great privilege to serve the TNRS community.