TO KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE – PART II

Posted on by Beckita

By Desmond A. Birch

As previously stated, numerous voices are now commonly heard to proclaim or hint that St. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI knew about the depth of the clerical abuse all along – and chose to do nothing. Recently, I was asked if I knew whether this was true. After verbally describing what I knew about the gross error in that claim, the man to whom I was speaking strongly admonished me to put my knowledge on this in writing. So here we go with the ‘high spots.’

 As part of this vista, I begin with some background on how and when I became aware of this as I was immersed in a somewhat similar timeline of the learning curve which occurred with both JP II and Benedict XVI.

John Paul II was born just over 20 years before I was and Benedict XVI is 14 years older than I am. From the perspective of time and culture, we are not all that far apart. We began our lives in more or less the same pre-WWII era – a time of pre- nuclear weapons, pre-TV, pre-jet plane globe-trotting – when news was dispersed very slowly. 

 Up til well into the 1950’s, we got our news from papers and magazines as well as over the radio, short wave radio with its ‘howls’ from foreign broadcasts. What is referred to in these days as the ‘24 hour news cycle’ did not exist. News moved at a snail’s pace compared with today.

During WWII my family lived in Canada. Every night my parents would listen to the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) news programs about ‘The War’. I would get out of bed, and with my ear turned to the heat grate in the floor – would listen to the broadcasts and my parent’s comments. I probably understood 40 to 50% of what the broadcasters were saying.

With that background – which in large part I share with JP II and Benedict XVI, I now start with a pointed list of the history of how and when I gradually, slowly, came to be aware of the abuse crisis. I have concluded they knew about as much as I did concerning the sexual abuse crisis – and in about the same time frame. Most people today have only read of that period. I actively lived through its moral and doctrinal breakdown which began to become really pronounced in the late 1950’s & early 1960’s. In many instances, I was actively involved with others in combating it. 

FIRST, let’s begin with a quite brief review of some highlights of the period. When I entered college in 1959, as far as the general public was concerned, the lid was still – for the most part – on the boiling pot of moral and doctrinal dissent within the Church. It had, however, been brewing amongst some ‘Catholic’ groups since well before the end of the 1800’s. The philosophy and theology classes at the Benedictine college I first attended that year were straight and faithful as a pin. I had no sense that anything was doctrinally and theologically amiss.

But by a handful of years later in the early 1960’s, we had moved and I had transferred to a Jesuit university in our new city. Vatican II began in 1962 and, by 1964, I had discovered that a number of both the Jesuit and lay profs were dissidents from many of the Moral and Doctrinal teachings of the Church.

I was somewhat in a state of shock – and frankly began to wonder if the dissidence was emanating from the ongoing Ecumenical Council in Rome. I went to my mentor, the Jesuit Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at that university, because I knew he was doctrinally and morally solid as a rock. 

I asked him if the Jesuit priests and lay staff who were speaking out in dissidence from Church teaching were getting these ideas from the Council, ideas such as; Contraception was not intrinsically immoral, that Purgatory did not exist, questioning (a) Catholic teaching that man came from one set of parents created by God, (b) the Doctrine of Original Sin, (c) hinting that the Sacrament of Order might be open to women, (d) the promotion of Situation Ethics, etc., etc.

Father responded to me, “Do you really think it is possible that mature men who were totally faithful to Church Teaching in 1962 could have become dissidents in a couple of years?” When I thought about it that way, I realized that was highly unlikely, virtually impossible. Then he said, in essence, the type of men I was thinking about and speaking of had generally had dissenting tendencies for years. He said even when he was in school, whenever possible, ‘you had to pick and choose your profs very carefully.’ [He had begun his university studies in 1941 (the year I was born.)]

POINT: THE MORAL & DOCTRINAL DISSIDENCE WE NOW SEE ALL AROUND US – THAT DID NOT BEGIN EITHER DURING OR AFTER VATICAN COUNCIL II – WAS ALIVE AND WELL FOR DECADES LONG BEFORE THE COUNCIL.

NEXT: Early in the 1970’s, my best friend and colleague for years, told me on the phone that he had been researching and studying a connection between (1) those promoting dissidence, particularly toward the Church’s Moral teaching and (2) what he then called ‘the homosexual mafia’. He said it was manned by a small minority of priests in the Church. 

I was taken completely by surprise and said so. I told him I had never run into such a connection. He observed that most of my time outside of direct Church work had been in the area of politics since the late 1960’s. But since the mid-60’s, he had been actively searching out, in particular, the sources of morally dissident opinions and teaching within the Church.

POINT: SEXUAL ABUSE BY PRIESTS STILL WAS NOT A COMMONLY KNOWN ISSUE – WASN’T AN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM UP FOR DISCUSSION.

LATTER 1970’S

In 1975, a fateful appointment was made to the Archdiocese of Seattle, in the person of Raymond Hunthausen as its new Archbishop. 

He made headlines for; (a) liturgical abuses, (b) showing great openness to the LGBT community’s active engagement in Church affairs and liturgies [that one is an understatement], (c) an emphasis on local Church governance without sufficient emphasis on communion with Rome, (d) permitting Catholic hospitals to perform surgeries of sterilization.  Additionally, many dissident doctrinal positions were allowed to go unchallenged in the Seattle Archdiocese.

BEGINNING IN THE LATE 1970’S and continuing for years; 

MANY LETTERS OF PROTEST went out to Rome and the Papal Nuncio’s office from various individuals in the Seattle Archdiocese – CITING THE VARIOUS DOCTRINAL AND MORAL & SACRAMENTAL ABUSES. The responses were basically form letters, thanking them for expressing their concerns.

PROBLEMS IN SEATTLE ARCHDIOCESE  – Due to persistent complaints sent to Rome [and in particular one specific document written in Polish – handwritten and delivered in person to JP II by a Polish speaker at a private audience in the Vatican], these complaints led to an official investigation. At the end of the investigation – conducted under the watchful eye of Cardinal Hickey of Washington, D.C., serious unaddressed issues were cited; procedural abuse in the Diocesan Tribunal, in the liturgy, Catholic Health Care, Homosexual issues [but not disclosing any sexual abuse problems – but rather that they were not being given Catholic definitive teaching on the subject], Inactive Priests, and Clergy Formation in the Archdiocese of Seattle. SPECIFICS IN EACH AREA WILL BE FOUND AT BOTTOM OF PART II. **

BERNARDIN IN CHICAGO – Bernardin was appointed to be Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1983 by JP II. The Pope had serious doubts about him due to Bernardin’s apparent reservations concerning Humanae Vitae. However, JP II still lacked serious knowledge of just how committed Bernardin was to the Leftist – often dissident – agenda.

Bernardin has many defenders even today. However, many of those who were actively involved in the Pro-Life battle knew that Bernardin’s promotion of the ‘Seamless Garment’ theory would effectively diminish the primacy of the ‘Life Issues’ which the Church has always taught. 

Shortly after his appointment as Archbishop of Chicago, Bernardin was virtually running the affairs at the USCC & USCCB. I can recommend articles, to those who are interested, on the subject of his rise to almost absolute power in the USCCB. He enforced his will with an iron fist for years.

The U.S. Bishops in 2000, 4 years after Bernardin’s death, were finally able to publicly announce that the Life Issues are paramount for Catholic Voters. [This became possible due to the wave of very solid episcopal appointments by JP II beginning in the early 1990’s.] No one who fully bought into Bernardin’s ‘Seamless Garment’ theory fully accepted that teaching – not even the primacy of the life issues which were publicly reiterated from Rome.

Bernardin – in effect – used his power to bludgeon Bishops and Priests who would not bend to the ‘Liberal’ mindset – both socially and politically, and in other cases theologically. Such who spoke their minds soon found themselves isolated from opportunities to speak with force and clarity on many such issues within the Conference. As syndicated columnist George Weigel phrased it, Bernardin’s Modus Operandi was to exercise intimidation of those who wouldn’t bend to Bernardin’s agenda. Those who would not, soon “felt the sting of authoritarian Catholic liberalism“. 

Soon after the appointment of Bernardin, John Paul II experienced a reactive backlash to the systematically ‘liberal’ mentality and policies of Bernardin and his “seamless’ agenda. Nothing in John Paul II’s background, in either Poland or Rome, had prepared him to deal with the kind of subtle ‘Leftism’ which emanated from Bernardin and the clique which followed him at the US national level of the Church. 

John Paul II had now seen that recommendations for replacement bishops to two major U.S. Dioceses had many of the same major flaws. Within a relatively short time after that, the faithfulness index of appointees to bishoprics in the U.S. began to go up like a rocket.

STILL … even in the early to mid-80’s, THERE WAS NOTHING IN THE PUBLIC’S VISION WHICH BROKE OPEN THE UNARGUABLE FACT OF TODAY’S SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDAL, PERPETRATED BY A VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE OF PRIESTS. 

THE GREAT SILENCE/DUPLICITY OF THE MEDIA

Significant numbers of the media (that I know of) knew about the basic ABUSE problem fairly early but remained silent about it. The silence enabled the crisis to mushroom in virtual secrecy. For a favored few, consistent silence of the media about scandalous behavior continues to this day. 

For example, the media has – for the most part – covered for Cardinal Roger Mahoney, retired Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, by speaking lightly of his promotions, transfers, and cover-ups for priestly abusers in the Los Angeles Diocese. But the media crucified Cardinal Law in Boston for transferring some problem priests to different parishes [for much less damage than Mahoney had done]. Why the relative silence in the case of Mahoney? It is because of the shared leftist principles between Mahoney and the media.

Media Complicity through Silence and Walling of Information

A dear and old Catholic friend of mine was intimately connected with many key figures at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) during much of the 1980’s. During that decade, he was supplied with incontrovertible evidence that some clergy in two American cities were flying boys back and forth – for statutorily criminal purposes. He went to some leaders of the USCCB with that evidence. They appeared reticent, if not afraid, to touch it. He then went to a scheduled meeting of that organization and approached a broader number of Bishops to help him stop the abusers. He said many of them looked flat out scared to death. No help there.

He then called a news conference for the media – many of whom were in attendance – and not one word was ever printed or shown on TV about it. That media silence later helped pave the way toward misleading impressions that Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI knew all about the abuse – and did nothing. To the contrary, it usually took Herculean efforts to get critical information directly into the hands of either Ratzinger or (especially) John Paul II.

Bernardin died in 1996. Four years later, in 2000, the U.S. Bishops then, independently and courageously, declared that the ‘Life Issues’ were paramount to Catholic voters making decisions about which candidates for whom to vote. This was an intolerable break with the leftism of the media. The media’s honeymoon with the U.S. Bishops was over after that single necessary and courageous act on the part of the U.S. Bishops.

Two years after that act of a majority of the U.S. bishops, in 2002, the dam broke. Suddenly, information that a number of media had sat on for up to 15 years started surfacing in news reports. The honeymoon was over; divorce papers were now publicly being filed. They crucified a doctrinally faithful bishop who had made many errors in judgment – while they kept silence about a host of others who exercised more than bad judgment.

That same year, the book exposing the work of an aggressive homosexual network in a number of U.S. seminaries broke on the world stage, Goodbye Good Men. While it is now dated – for those who have not yet viewed its contents, it’s a very revelatory read.

In 2002, the world began to gradually learn of the problem of priestly abuse of young boys and young men. We’ve been dealing with a magnified aftermath ever since. CAUSE: The percentage of priests involved in such behavior is significantly less, for one example, than that of teachers. But the anti-Catholic media sings dumb about any other source of sexual predation than that of some priests. 

Neither JP II nor Cardinal Ratzinger even in 2002 was fully aware of an extensive problem in this regard. Reason – primarily, poor mail delivery. Critical letters and documents sent to them more often than not did not reach them. 

THE END OF PART II

(Part III will begin in a few days.)

________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Discovered Areas of Concern vis-a-vis Hunthausen’s administration of Diocese of Seattle;

The Tribunal – The misunderstanding and systematic misapplication of the so-called internal forum solution and the lack of a plan to employ degreed personnel in the Tribunal.

The Liturgy – The widespread use of general absolution on a regular basis and the practice of first communion before first confession; repeated instances of intercommunion, e.g., permitting non-Catholics to receive communion at Catholic Masses and Catholics in Protestant services.

Health Care – The continued inadequate response in both teaching and practice to the directives of the Holy See and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops regarding contraceptive sterilization in Catholic hospitals.

Homosexuals – The need to develop a ministry to homosexuals that is at once unequivocally based on the teachings of the Magisterium, rather than on erroneous doctrines and which avoids affiliations with groups promoting doctrines contrary to the Church’s teachings.

Inactive Priests – The employment of those who have left the active ministry and/or who have been laicized, in teaching positions and for service in the liturgy, contrary to the directives of the Holy See and the terms of their rescripts of laicization.

Clergy Formation – Because of concern regarding the admissions practices for candidates for the priesthood and because of concern and questions surrounding the continuing formation of the clergy, efforts must be taken to ensure that the continuing education of priests be done in ways that emphasize the bonds of the local church with the universal church, and which are firmly rooted in sound theology, especially in these areas: Christology, anthropology, the role of the Magisterium, the nature of the church and priesthood and moral theology.

[The immediately above is text from a Vatican statement mailed to all bishops in the United States on its actions involving the Archbishop of Seattle. It was published by the NYT on Oct 29, 1986. Key in this regard is the item cited in the section titled “Homosexuals”. i.e., A consistent problem existed in the proper formation of candidates for the priesthood in a number of Dioceses and seminaries. They were not being taught what the Church teaches about homosexuality, but were instead being introduced to and taught “erroneous doctrines”. This was part and parcel of the various problems which led to the sexual abuse scandal.]

RE – BERNARDIN: ALSO SEE FIRST THINGS ARTICLE RE – BERNARDIN: ALSO SEE FIRST THINGS ARTICLE https://www.firstthings.com/article/2011/02/the-end-of-the

(This three-part series by Desmond Birch appears exclusively at A Sign of Hope, but blanket permission is given to anyone to republish it, provided it gives full acknowledgment to the author. – CJ)

188 thoughts on “TO KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE – PART II”

  1. Thank you, Desmond, for the work in pulling this information together and sharing it in one article. Many parts of this story I have known, but to see the pieces brought together like this causes a jaw-dropping moment. And it lays out THE most compelling evidence supporting the truth that in NO WAY was either Pope St. John Paul II or Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI responsible for or complicit in covering up.

    Dear Lord and God how low into depravity and sordidness some of the clergy have descended and are descending. How they need our prayers! So do the victims with heartache and brokenness they have borne through a personal storm – some for a lifetime – yearning to reconcile and heal that they may reach the shores of the Peace only Jesus can give. Mercy isn’t cheap… but it’s absolutely free and Christ knew, He knew, who and what He carried to the Cross for EACH of us.

    In considering some of the research on the impact of family brokenness and struggles with cycles of sin as they become inter-generational, I am grateful that God Alone judges hearts. Most likely, the majority of the priestly abusers were abused in childhood. A Priest is formed in his family before he is formed in the seminary. And as you convey, Dez, it isn’t just the clergy who have had this problem. ALL sectors of society where children and young adults are vulnerable have been impacted by the horror of this type of sexual abuse. Even the most messed up person engaging in grave sin is not totally black in the Eyes of the One Who came to save, not to condemn. In fact, He told St. Faustina that the greater the sin, the greater right that sinner has to His Mercy. Oh Mercy! That Mercy which is the very fiber of His Justice.

    Tears streaming here, Friends. I know we all were born for these times with a baptismal call to serve and I will be eternally grateful for The Next Right Step: the antidote to paralysis born of fear, the lamp lighting the path forward in even the darkest darkness. And while we strive to do our part, there remain parts of moving forward that cry out for God Alone to act. Praying we each cry and cry out with unshakeable trust, with undying hope and with confidence born of relying totally on our Abba Father – even as we do what Jesus asks each of us to do, for in every age and every time, God has been our Refuge. He is worthy of our total abandonment to Him. Come what may… and part of what may come is a sense that we are alone, that we have been abandoned… but that is a lie. Jesus p.r.o.m.i.s.e.d. to be with us til the end of time. When we declare this truth to ourselves and to others, we claim the promise and we proclaim our absolute TRUST in Him. We ARE not alone. We are NEVER alone. Blessed be God forever! Ave Maria eternally!

    Liked by 15 people

    1. Beckita that was so beautifully put…pit tears in my eyes too😢😢😢

      I agree with you wholeheartedly. ..we are all…mostly all…a pretty messed up people these days.

      Michael and I had to run to Meijers after Mass to get some ribs (buy one get one…woo woot) and as he was searching for just the right two, I just got the thought (prob from this mornings wonderful homily on Zechues (sp?)) about how horrible he was in the people’s eyes, and yet how Jesus searched him out, was kind to him, went and had dinner with him. And filled Zeachis with such great joy!!!

      Then it dawned on me Our God loves each and every soul so much right here and right now in this Meijers.

      Everyone looked so sad. Most do these days.

      So…I asked the Blessed Mother to come into Meijers right then and there and zap all of God’s children and give them the grace of hope. Sort of surreal to think about, right?

       “He told St. Faustina that the greater the sin, the greater right that sinner has to His Mercy. Oh Mercy! That Mercy which is the very fiber of His Justice.” -Beckita

      Desmond I can’t wait to read ur piece…Brown about to play…I’m soon to read ur piece!!!

      Thank you.. I hope everyone gets a copy of ur book here Trial, Tribulation and Triumph before during and after the coming of the antichrist. ..then pass it down the lineage 🤗😇😘

      Liked by 9 people

        1. Thanks so much Beckita..hahaha i really butchered Zacchaeus name..lol…sonheres the gopel…im going to try m darndest to remember that God loves every soul so much. Sure made me look at them differently, like from God’s view and not a judgemental view.

          LK 19:1-10

          At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
          Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
          who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
          was seeking to see who Jesus was;
          but he could not see him because of the crowd,
          for he was short in stature.
          So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
          who was about to pass that way.
          When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
          “Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
          for today I must stay at your house.”
          And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
          When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
          “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”
          But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
          “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
          and if I have extorted anything from anyone
          I shall repay it four times over.”
          And Jesus said to him,
          “Today salvation has come to this house
          because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
          For the Son of Man has come to seek
          and to save what was lost.”

          ––––––––––––––––
          Please visit: http://www.TodaysGospelReading.com

          Desmond your new piece is just stellar!!! So very informative. I remember watching the ussbc and thinking that Cardinal Bernadine and many others sermed “off”…couldn’t put my finger on it but it seemed the good holy ones…Chaput comes to mind…couldn’t get a lick of respect or applause. I was clapping from where i was. Im so glad all evil is being revealed these days. God plz help them help us all to see where we have erred and need to repent.

          Looking forward to part 3😇

          Liked by 5 people

            2. Hahahaha. ..that is just hilarious and so sad at the same time. I can’t help wondering if maybe you were able to read his soul at that time….yikes…that would have been awful😣

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              1. Padre Pio like? Can you imagine Pio facing Bernardin? This piece fills in so many of the questions I had. The church and our country are facing parallel crises. If you don’t understand why the left hates Donald Trump then you aren’t paying attention. It’s all about life issues and control of your life by them. Trump is pro life and they are not. The left wants to kill babies before and after birth, use abortion for population control and euthanasia to reduce population at the other end. If you listened to any Obama speech on healthcare that is exactly what he said. The UN just came out with a policy to limit births by force. Their agenda was always apparent if you paid attention. But people don’t pay much attention. They like living in their personal bubble. Make your children aware of what’s coming down the pike for them. The USA is going the way of communist China. We even have a kangaroo court here. Say goodbye to the U. S. Constitution unless good people fight back. I lost hope last week. My sin and apology to Christ. I forgot to surrender myself to Him because He will take care of it in his time not mine. I do still remember election night 2016 not expecting anything other than HRC to become President even after a multitude of Masses and Rosaries.

                Liked by 2 people

  2. Beckie, I can do nothing better than second your reference to the reality of God’s Mercy towards sinners – and especially to the wonderful message of St. Faustina in her Diary that, ‘He told St. Faustina that the greater the sin, the greater right that sinner has to His Mercy.’ In response, I have encouraged people for some time now to give heartfelt prayer for Cardinal McCarrick and all those like him in this regard. Jesus loves us all, no matter what we have done. Satan wants us for forget that Mercy is for all and he wants us to judge others rather than to love and pray for them. If and when I refuse fully or in part to pray for sinners – especially notorious sinners – Satan wins. When he wins then, he does so at the expense of numerous people – first me, and then the ones I am supposed to love and pray for.

    Dear Jesus, please help me to learn that I’m just another sinner, no better than anyone else. All the great Saints know that in the very depth of their spiritual being. As St. Theresa of Avilla states, “I am nothing plus sin.”

    Liked by 17 people

  6. It is certainly believable that the press covered more for the egregious actions of a Cardinal in California, that was more ‘secular’ or ‘liberal than the errors of a Cardinal in Boston, however this is the FIRST many of us have ever learned this!? We are aware that Bill Donahue of Catholic League pointed out the bias of the press in Boston and in the movie ‘Spotlight’. (Which we refused to see but negatively influenced some in our family ) Can someone please explain more, did any faithful priests or bishops ever point this injustice out? (Regarding the Great Silence / Duplicity in the Media: “For example, the media has – for the most part – covered for Cardinal Roger Mahoney, retired Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, by speaking lightly of his promotions, transfers, and cover-ups for priestly abusers in the Los Angeles Diocese. But the media crucified Cardinal Law in Boston for transferring some problem priests to different parishes [for much less damage than Mahoney had done]. Why the relative silence in the case of Mahoney? It is because of the shared leftist principles between Mahoney and the media.” )

    First time response, but grateful reader/follower since Mr. Johnston’s ‘Next Right Step’ message in Lansing, MI back in 2012 or so?

    Liked by 8 people

  7. Well, no. There was great publicity about sex abuse in the mid-80’s in Louisiana (See Jason Berry’s reporting), and in the late 80’s and early 90’s in Chicago papers. Fr. Andrew Greeley wrote on the Chicago corruption extensively. Many letters and reports went to Rome throughout this time, and many Catholics were aware of the moral rot. In 1985, the bishops in closed assembly were warned by a canon lawyer priest (Tom Doyle) and a lawyer for victims (Ray Mouton) that the sex abuse pot was simmering and was going to soon overflow into lawsuits that would cost the Church a billion dollars. The prophets were shut down and marginalized. The Church even deprived Fr. Doyle of his faculties shortly before his military retirement, so that he had to leave his chaplaincy and not receive retirement. By that time they must have realized that they were preaching to the perpetrators. Yes, the doctrinal problems were long incubating, and there was moral rot hiding behind lace surplices. But the failure to counter the pill, the revolt against Humane Vitae by bishops, and the cultural revolution (urged among religious by Rogerian sensitivity groups) resulted in a mass collapse that was amazing to live through. Those hideous pagan light shows projected on Rome churches give some idea of what it was like….and they also prophesy what is desired and being accomplished in the synods.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Catholic readers or viewers in a few isolated cases heard about sexual abuse by clergy. It was the national nets and news bureaus which mushroomed the story about Boston which made it a publicly recognized issue. But in all previous examples I saw or heard of, the ownership of the major news outlets smothered all stories at the national level – til after the U.S. Bishops declared that the ‘”Life Issues” were paramount for Catholic voters to make their voting decisions. People who have known me since that time will attest I predicted that result at the time. I predicted on a major Catholic internet venue that at that point, the “honeymoon will be over” between the U.S. Bishops and the Media. And that is what happened. The Secular powers that be regularly destroy their own if and when one of their own bucks them on a key issue.

      And yes, as covered many times before, the failure of the American hierarchy goes back to Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical, ‘Castii Conubii’ – promulgated in December of 1930. He covered all the major bases later restated in ‘Humanae Vitae’ by Paul VI. Silence about contraception led to silence about relative silence about many other things.

      Liked by 7 people

  10. Thank you so much Desmond. What you said about Seattle really hit a nerve. I sent my youngest to Seattle U thinking it would be a great Jesuit institution-my father, uncles and I all had excellent Jesuit educations. But the BS she was taught there horrified me. I really regret sending her there…

    Liked by 7 people

    1. I attended Seattle U from Sept of 1965 to June of 1969. At that time I didn’t notice undue laxness being taught there. Being in Engineering I took only the basic Philosophy and Theology courses. I was taking Right and Reason taught by a Jesuit priest when Humane Vita was released and it so upset him that he did not hold class the next day. I had taken two years of General Engineering at Centralia Junior College then gotten married, went to work for five years before going to Seattle U to get my Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering graduating with a high Magna Cum Lauda. After a few weeks, the Jesuit teacher would not call on me for class discussions anymore. I liked him and I asked him after class why he no longer called on me for discussions. He responded that I usually was one of the first to raise my hand and my answers were so good that it was stifling further participation by the other students. I guess my few years of greater maturity made a difference. I hadn’t really studied my religion that well yet and hadn’t taken the wrong courses. However, about fifteen years ago after having overcome the liberal effects of the general attitudes in the Church and my own ignorance and seeing what Seattle U had become, I asked the alumni association to stop calling me. “I was still Catholic and they no longer were.” They haven’t called me since. I worked out of state during most of Archbishop Hunthausen’s years and only knew he was forced to retire but I never really knew why. My current pastor who was ordained by him had nothing but praise and adulation for him and was greatly saddened by his death. The sad state of the Church has been very troubling but having come to a greater understanding of the teachings and history of the Church, my faith is based on the Catechism and scripture and not on the clergy and the poor leadership of too many of the Hierarchy even Pope Francis’ growing questionable words and actions.
      May God continue to guide and bless all here. jas

      Liked by 7 people

      1. In the interests of brevity because of the late hour, I made and error in statement after my comment ” I guess my few years of greater maturity made a difference.” The following comment should have said, Even though I had already studied the teachings of the faith thoroughly, my lack of depth of understanding did not allow me to notice any errors in the courses I took. Thus I was not able to properly interpret the implications of the teacher’s reaction to Humanae Vitae. jas

        Liked by 6 people

      2. I remember being appalled by Humanae Vitae. It seems all the people at the council were all in favor of saying that if throught the course of your marriage, you were open to life, then each individual act needn’t be. Then the Pope turned around and said, Nope, it is all as was. Priests refused to preach it. I had priests tell me in Confession to stop confessing sins about contraception: that it was not a sin.

        Then, we did not like the Pope’s response. Well, we certainly saw the evil that has been happening from ignoring him!

        Now, I pray Pope Frances pull the same stunt and says about the synod – Nope, all will be as it was!

        Liked by 1 person

      3. JaS, my husband grew up in Hunthausen’s Seattle. If I remember correctly, Hunthausen confirmed him. He has so many horror stories about the goings-on in that archdiocese, it’s heartbreaking.

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  11. Desmond,

    This is a very good article, but I would add the following anecdotal evidence that buttresses your work.

    1.) The abuse crisis had already developed in certain locations and would spread from their elsewhere, places such as New York under Cardinal Spellman, for example. My father, 82, has attested me to the abuse existing amongst certain priests in the mid-1940s towards altar boys and how the nuns often cooperated in recruitment. My uncles and father all laughed about Cardinal Spellman and his boyfriends when I was a teenager in the 1980s. My father used to identify Bishops as ” he is one of Spellman’s boys.” He told me that was one of the reasons Ven. Bishop Sheen was so hated by Cardinal Spellman, he (Sheen) would not join “Spellman’s club.”

    2.) Spellman had permission from Pius XII not to say the Breviary as he (Spellman) was too busy. My father told me, and the late Father Peter Scagnelli confirmed that a sign of status was the “gift” of not having to say the office. Peter emailed me back in 2014, “Since Pius X we have been told the breviary is too burdensome to pray. In the 1950s I remember hearing that the obligation to pray the the eight hours prevented us from doing our work. So they shortened up our obligations with the LOTH in the 1960’s and early 1970s. In the 1970s we were encouraged to concelebrate as the obligation to say Mass was supposedly too time consuming because Mass and the LOTH prevent us from doing the social justice of the gospel mission. BUT PRAYER AND MASS IS THE WORK OF THE PRIEST!”

    3.) My late great Aunt, Sister Jean Marie, a Holy Ghost nun located in New York who died in 1999, told me that in the 1940s the nuns were encouraged to relax, not do so many sacrifices and to reduce the time in prayer. They were allowed to drink and smoke. My aunt saint, “when we spent less time praying to our bridegroom, Jesus, we began to die. That is when we began to go downhill”

    4.) A former nun, N….. O….. stated to me: “In Buffalo after 1966 there was a purge in the order. I do not want to make generalizations, but it seemed like all the straight girls were shown the door. I was one of the ones kicked out . We had priests hit on us and ask us for dates, even in the confessional . . . . Our prayer life was turned upside down. We used this [St. John’s Abbey 1954 Short Breviary] but then the order had to buy all new books and we no longer said rosary together. The change in our prayer life was said to be renewal. We were told we had to pray less so we would have time to do our job. . . . Looking back, there was a pre-purge in the early 1960s – those who would oversee the reform got themselves in power and then systematically used the vow of obedience to institute the changes none of us had foreseen.”

    5.) At St. Bonaventure University in the 1950’s old Father Ermin Klaus (died 1968) told my father that the Holy Name Province would wither the further the Franciscans moved away from living the gospel as St. Francis did. My father’s college experience was similar to yours, but he observed that even then there was a connection between “light in their loafers priests” and dissent. The dissent was subtle, with those who would praise William of Ockham, criticize Pius X, favor “pretty boys,” and push for “liturgical renewal.”

    6.) Old Brothers Methodius Tokar and Ferdinand Woerle OFM (who fought for the Kaiser in World War One and I met him in 1979) both told my Father in 1979 that the province was in trouble and it would get worse as the friars no longer lived the gospel and great evil had entered the order. They would only say that the evil was not just the changes in liturgy and prayer life from Vatican II, but something else. They were, however, not happy with the reduction in community prayer life and the abandonment of the rosary, the Franciscan Crown.”

    7.) Father Robert “Bob” White OFM would tell me in the 1989 when I was a student at St. Bonaventure and other when I was a student at St. Bonaventure that the problem was not Vatican II, but that the problems had (a) pre-existed the Council and (b) used the Council as an excuse to more obviously manifest themselves. Father Bob said “the love of God had grown cold, it was all a show.”

    7.) My mother went to Stella Niagara in the late 1950’s a Catholic girls boarding school. Per my mom, it was fairly “busting at the seems” with vocations. Then, a nun told my mother that things began to fall apart in 1962 “[a] devil got into the convent” and vocations began to collapse, compounded by the liturgical changes and those in the order’s prayer life.

    8.) When my grandmother went to get married in 1936 in St. Mary’s of the Angel’s in Olean, Monsignor Edward Rengel told her she could use birth control. When she protested that Pius XI had said otherwise, Monsignor Rengel was very dismissive of the Pope. Rengel oversaw the building of the basilica of St Mary of the Angels during World War One. Later, in the 1930’s he had the original beautiful art work on the walls painted over. Related? I do not know, but it is one of the earliest cases of “wreckovation” I have found.

    Your comments on Hunthausen and Bernardin are spot on. Desmond, as you discuss, the attempt to block communication with Cardinal Ratzinger and Pope John Paul II was more than poor mail delivery, it was deliberate obstruction. The real question is, who were the obstructors? Not all of the obstruction/ file it in the circular basket was malicious, but some was.

    And who suggested Bernadin to JPII? It was not Jean Jadot (dismissed in 1980), or John Cardin Wright (dead in 1979), but it had to be someone ostensibly “conservative/orthodox” that Pope John Paul listened to.

    Thank you for this.

    Liked by 12 people

    1. Wow, James. Rod Dreher has written extensively about his research into the problems with Cardinals Spellman, Cooke, Wright, Cushing and additional Bishops as Dreher delved into what he called, “Uncle Ted’s Family Traditions.” I mentioned to Desmond that Hunthausen left his mark on the Diocese of Helena. Born just 100 miles east of Missoula, he was first consecrated a Bishop for this Diocese from 1962-1975. I am told he spent hours before the Blessed Sacrament in his waning years and I attended his funeral in the summer of 2018. As I prayed with all gathered, I could hardly wrap my head around the damage I was aware of which had occurred under his watch.

      Prayerfully pondering: can the pervasive rot in the hierarchy sustain its current structure as we know it OR does God desire to inspire a new structure as part of His greater Plan for rescue and renewal? What a Via Dolorosa, a true Passion, it has been for our beloved Church!

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      1. Beckita,
        Around Ten years ago I started to draft a book on the effects of hte changes in the Litrugical Prayer life of Nuns and Sisters from 1940 to 1975. I would say the end result was negative. I shared excerpts with Peter Scagnelli and Peter Kwasniewski, but here are a few points:

        1.) The orders of sisters (teachers, nurses, etc) almost all used the Little Office of the Virgin Mary in Latin pre 1945 and prayed the rosary.
        2.) Contemplative Nuns normally said the whole Breviary in Latin.
        3.) At home, in house translations began in the 1920s into the 1960s. Some, such as those of the now infamous Sinsinawa Dominicans where actually quite beautiful and I gave a copy of their 1962 gilded leather beautifully illustrated Latin-English in house Dominican Breviary to Father Augustine Thompson, O.P. of the New Liturgical Movement site.
        4.) The in home translations were printed at quite a cost to the Nuns, and changes had to be made every time Bugnini and company tinkered some more. These were very financially draining to the nuns, I was told by sisters in several orders.
        5.) The so called renewal began in the late 1050’s in orders such as the Glenmary nuns. Attacks on the habit, the Little Office, and the rosary accelerate from 1958.
        6.) When Pope Paul VI stupidly went ahead Apostolic Letter Ecclesiae Sanctae of 6 August 1966, at one stroke he destroyed the main prayer life of all active orders of sisters – sisters understood they were no longer to use the Little Office, but the Roman Breviary, and of that, only Lauds, Vespers, and Compline per Sacrosanctum Concilium. Yes, Pope Paul VI did not say to give up the Little Office, but in the name of “renewal” or “the spirit of Vatican II,” the Little Office was tossed along with rosary saying as a community in all too many orders. The destabilization of their prayer life was devastating.
        7.) Sisters who resisted these changes found the vow of obedience being used against them. It was “Shut up, shape up, or ship out,” one sister told me. More than one former nun told me how she did not want to give up community rosary or wearing the modified habit and she found herself shown the door. Many former sisters were abused and ended up in bad relationships and left the Church. I knew of nuns who made an effort to find former sisters and “reconcile” them with the order, this work brought a lot of healing
        8.) All of these constant changes bred resentment and rebellion among many of the surviving sisters. More than one said to me, “The boys in Rome changed their mind again. If we had women priests this would not happen!” One sister pointed out Ecclesiae Sanctae of August 6, and then Pope Paul VI’s later Apostolic Letter Sacrificium Laudis of August 15, 1966, which upheld Latin. She said, “[w]hat did the Pope expect, but chaos? He made it”

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        1. Yes, it’s been a saga with the sisters and the polar division between the two major associations in the USA. BTW, we had our fill of the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters in this area. One grew up in the same town as Hunthausen, God rest his soul. (I wonder what was in the water in that town?) The pastor at my parish allowed this nun to “preach” on Good Friday. Her opening lines were to wonder aloud at why Jesus had to even die on that fateful Good Friday so long ago. But then, Sister also slurped up and spewed out all the cosmic goo of Creation Spirituality from, then, Dominican Father Matthew Fox. Thanks be to God that horrific period is behind us.

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        1. It IS sad, Dear Linda, and thank God it’s not the end of the story. Look at the opportunities we have to become instruments of faith, hope and love as we welcome home a great harvest of souls! We have good and rewarding work ahead of us as we live, with Love, our duties in life even right now.

          As far having a chance, St. Paul tells us he was told by God, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Jesus, in the Divine Mercy revelations, conveys that He is SO ready and actually yearning to pour His graces of forgiveness and Mercy into our souls. We can’t go back and in the Book of Micah it is written: “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Can’t get any better than that, so let’s let go of yesterday and focus today on loving God and all those around us.

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        2. Take heart, a new day dawns; many young people aren’t buying the new modernist refuse and aren’t embracing what their fathers threw away. (As they say, every generation rebels from the one before it). For a consolation check out the young, Austrian man who came forward after throwing the Pachamamas into the Tiber. Lifesite, Church Militant, Taylor Marshall interviewed him—gave me hope for the future and proud to be of Austrian descent! Here is one who proclaims the living Christ and out of the spiritual wasteland of Western Europe no less! Alexander is his name.

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    3. Ha! My dad use to use the phrase, “Stella Niagara!” …a reference none of us kids understood. His nickname for my sister was “Stella” which I assumed meant clumsy or something. “Way to go, Stella!” and “Easy there, Grace!” He had tons of funny expressions that I still think of today.

      My dad went to St. Bonaventure. He lived in Salamanca with relatives at the time. Don’t know the years, maybe early to mid-1950’s. He probably knew Fr Klaus.

      I really know next to nothing about his life during this time. He did mention attending Junior seminary. It’s interesting to have this connection with you, Jim.

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            1. This really is something else, Jim! I will make every effort to visit you on my next WNY trip, which will hopefully be next year. (And I think there’s a Mr. Sullivan too that I must get in touch with.)

              Here’s a photo of Immaculate Conception Church in my hometown of Eden. The attached school is where I attended grades 1-6, taught by the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, since long gone. That magnificent stained glass window was front and center in our little church. I was home in September to see my father’s grave….but my first stop was ICC where I prayed a Rosary (the Glorious Mysteries).

              I spent an hour with dad in the hazy sunshine, sitting in a lawn chair with a Navy cap on, praying a Chaplet. I chatted a bit with him about our troubled family. He’s praying for us. Since I did not attend his burial, this gave me much needed closure. I have so much peace and joy in my heart now.

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              1. Pat, for a modern church, that one you grew up in Eden is better stained glass than many. IF you look up St. Philomena’s in Franklinvilel New York, athttps://sites.google.com/site/saintphilomena14737/picturesofst.philomena’s
                you will see the church I was an altar boy in. The altar pic is a good one, and in the 1970’s there were no step support or angels around the altar.

                That weird statue of St Joseph is one of four, the exterior of St, Philomena, the Sacred Heart, and the Blessed Mother. All of that metal artwork and the Church design is by Larry Griffis, Jr the artist behind the Griffis Art Park. The Church came across as cold and ugly. When the late Father Robert Marino came along in 2011, he turned things around and filled the church with beautiful Catholci statuary rescued from closed churches.

                Now, I know you are the Eden Corn Maze Dude!

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    4. Jim, I welcome additions which are written based in knowledge, and not just in feelings – as yours was..

      I agree with you there is much much more that could have been said. However, in discussions with Charlie while planning this series, my original goal became to keep it to 2000 to 3000 words for readability’s sake. I failed terribly at that, but even so, it contained the central guts of the factual record – but very far from all the facts – many of which you filled in above.

      In the spirit of both goals, brevity as much as possible, and details, where useful and needful, – I will offer several posts in companion responses to the spirit within which you wrote. 🙂 There will be no special order to it – all of them are disparate subjects.

      Your comments about the Spellman Sheen bout, included knowledge I did not possess prior to reading it in your comment. But I DID previously know about a long standing kerfuffle between them. The first I heard of it was in reading an account of them speaking after they had just had a joint meeting with Pius XII in the Papal apartments in the Vatican.

      Evidently, Cardinal Spellman for years had been trying for some time to compete intellectually with Bishop Sheen. [Spellman got where he got through charm and politics – not brains. But Spellman fancied himself to be some kind of intellectual giant.] As the discussion between them became heated – at least on Spellman’s side of it – he asked Sheen why he contradicted and argued with Spellman so often [evidently this had just happened in front of Pius XII].

      Spellman capped it off by asking what Sheen had against Spellmans thinking? [or something like that]

      Sheen – probably in exasperation with the wanna-be intellectual which Spellman absolutely was, Sheen finally replied with one word, “mediocrity”. To the best of my knowledge, Spellman could not speak civilly to Sheen after that vignette.

      For those who aren’t aware of it, Bishop Sheen was one of the very few American bishops at Vatican Council II who could theologically hold his own with any of the other bishops attending the Council – or any of their ‘periti’.

      All my love in Christ

      Desmond

      Liked by 7 people

      1. My father would tell us what Bishops come from New York City. One Bishop my Dad stated to be one of Spellman’s boys was the late Edward Head of Buffalo. Cunningham of Syracuse and Trautman of Erie were Head’s proteges. Both were Chancellor’s of Buffalo before they received their promotions.
        For brevity, I will avoid the story of what Trautman did to my pastor Henry Romanowski in the early 1980’s. Al Huntz, who ran the Buffalo NY Una Voce chapter and was a good friend of Michael Davies, had his own Trautman stories. How Trautman acted in Erie was no surprise to me.

        Thank you, Desmond. People needed to hear this. God have mercy on the souls of these men.

        Liked by 4 people

        1. I knew the Trautman gambit quite well – with all its quirks and turns. I never considered hin to be a ‘faithful’ shepherd.

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    5. Jim, You asked who recommended Bernardin to JP II. It wasn’t just one person. It was significant numbers of the American Hierarchy who were personally contacting JP II, asking him to name Bernardin to be the episcopal replacement in Chicago. As I said, John Paul II had some doubts due to Bernardin’s role in opposing both Humanae Vita, and its core message against contraception. One of Bernardin’s Chicago buddies in that attack on Humanae Vitae was the good Fr. Andrew Greeley – who was as far left/dissident as Bernardin ever was.

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      1. Desmond, as I mentioned in a comment to JaS above, my husband grew up in Hunthausen’s Seattle. He told me that one of the religion textbooks used at his high school was written by Fr. Andrew Greeley. It’s a miracle that he managed to maintain his faith after the nonsense that he was exposed to growing up. (P.S. He made his First Holy Communion at a home Mass, in his living room.)

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    6. Jim, another totally disparate but closely related subject contributed to the moral and doctrinal slide of the 20th century. What was that?

      It was the virtual destruction of the classical Liberal Arts program in American Catholic Colleges and Universities. While it is making an agonizingly slow comeback, it is in process of resurrecting in our time.

      The biggest problem in leading people to the truth in God’s Revelation is that they be able to follow the logic, proofs, evidence of God’s existence and His Law. Numerous men in my generation, certainly many in my father’s, have seen the downhill slide in the general public’s ability to think logically, to follow a solid proof of something, OR, see for themselves the flaw in a fallacious ‘proof’.

      All of that element of the problem tracks back to the virtual death of the Liberal Arts program in American and other Catholic colleges and Universities.

      The Jesuit Dean of the Liberal Arts & Sciences College I attended, the man I spoke of earlier, was the man who put me on to an incredible book,’The Poor Old Liberal Arts,’ by Fr. Gannon, published in 1961.The author entered Georgetown University in 1909. Their education was based upon the ‘Ratio Studiorum’ – the traditional Jesuit program for teaching the liberal arts. It was envied by the Protestant Universities – and beginning with Yale University a century had been emulated by them in an attempt to catch up to the developing Catholic educated class in the USA.

      IN ANY CASE, this book tells the story of the systematic destruction of that system over the course of the first half of the 20th century.

      Liked by 4 people

      2. Desmond, compared to what you and my father received in the 1950’s (a visit from Jacque Maritain and S.L.A. Marshall while he was there), I received a much diminished form of this in the late 1980s. But I had Father Conrad Harkins, O.F.M. of the Franciscan Institute, and later of Steubenville for late medieval Europe. Boy, that was fun stuff.

        One of my philosophy professors, Patrick Dooley, was a former seminarian who left on the eve of ordination in 1965. He was a superb Thomist, and fed us Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Boethius, Augustine, Thomas. He also had us read Joseph Fletcher and Thoreau. Uggh. Situation Ethics, but Dooley played Socrates with Fletcher and then mocked Fletcher’s work in a subtle manner. I threw the book in the trash at the end of the semester “Situation Ethics: The New Morality.”

        Later, I had Scotus and Bonaventure. I even met the late great father Allan Wolter, O.F.M. I just gave away my signed copy of his translation of Scotus’s Ordinatio to a Capuchin Professor Timothy Noone. Prof Noone explained Scotus and the Immaculate Conception. Absolutely wonderful.

        Liked by 4 people

        1. Jim, some people cannot comprehend how it is possible for anyone to have as their two favorite theological writers, Sts. Thomas Aquinas & Bonaventure. However that is my case [but I must also admit to an addiction with Bernard of Clairvaux]. I read Thomas theological works to study, I read Bonaventure to be lifted up. [I read Bernard of Clairvaux to be transported to some other dimension. He is in my opinion, one of the greatest mystics in the history of the Church.

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          1. Desmond,

            They are all wonderful mystics on fire with the love of God. Desmond, we have to get to heaven because there is not enough time on earth to really get to know them. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by it all, the light too bright, and find my mind too small to comprehend. So, all I can do is hold onto the love, bask in the love. Charlie’s description of us as moles is especially apropro at those timest

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            1. This semester, I’m tutoring and teaching Aquinas’ ‘Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics’ of Aristotle. It is being read and studied in Latin – the Cambridge University Latin Edition.

              This has reminded me once more of the old adage that, ‘It you wish to study and truly understand either Aquinas or Augustine, you must do so in Latin. [The same if true of Sts. Bernard, Anselm, etc.] It is true, but it doesn’t mean that if you don’t know Latin it is not worth your while to Study either man. To understand Benedict well you should be familiar with Augustine [& Aquinas]. To really understand John Paul II, you should be familiar with Aquinas [and Augustine].

              I’ll share something with you which I’ve not done with all but a few of my closest friends. For decades I was in a sense depressed over what I viewed as the fact that Latin was dying as a language understood by modern man. But in the last few decades, it has become obvious that this one of two mother tongues of the Church is making a big comeback [the other mother tongue is Greek]. That Latin comeback has taken away a certain sadness of my elderly years.

              Then there is the understanding that there is a new young generation of Catholic men and women filled with a radicality of Catholic spirit which I had in mine. That has filled me with a new spike in my hope for the future Church. [I’ll be writing about that new radicality on my FB page today or tomorrow.]

              All my love in Christ

              Desmond

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    7. Jim, your comment upon my discussion of how mail to JP II & Ratzinger failed due to poor mail delivery: “that the attempt to block communication with Cardinal Ratzinger and Pope John Paul II was more than poor mail delivery,” tells me that either you were engaging in subtle humor – or I was too subtle in my remark in that regard. The reason I put it that way us that, despite the massive number of letters and documents sent to them during the pontificate of JP II — I wasn’t there to witness what did happen. Therefore I did not state what i cannot PROVE – that chicanery was involved. 😉 However, I have some suspicions – even strong ones. 🙂

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  12. Such a great summary; thank you, Desmond! I’m grateful that I have learned a little at a time over the years so that I am not devastated completely by hearing all these things at once. There have been wonderful, informative voices fighting for justice for years. My education probably began with reading the “Wanderer” newspaper which exposed so much when i read it in the late 80’s and beyond. Then the “Goodbye..” book you mention, and of course reading some Malachi Martin books and so much more. Here in So Cal, what Cardinal Mahoney did for years was abominable. The atrocious “Cathedral” he built seemed to reflect all the ungodliness.
    Come Holy Spirit, bring Mama’s Triumph!

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  13. I had another thought as I re-read the whole article. Desmond spoke to the doctrinally sound Dean of his Jesuit college and heard him say that the outspoken, rebel professors didn’t just become that way in the last couple of years. It reminded me of the stories about “priests” being planted in the seminaries “way back” by the Communists to destroy the Church. AA-1025 is one book, and it is quite believable IMO. Then there’s Bella Dodd’s testimony. No, this took a long time to unfold and grow.
    Still, we keep praying!

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  14. My thanks to you, Dez, and to other commenters. I had no idea whatsoever about any of this other than occasional news stories I noted in passing. I knew nothing of the struggles inside the Church to get news up to the popes. My time in Catholic grammar school to 1963 was free of this. I’m heartened to know JPII and Benedict were indeed working on these problems whenever they became aware a problem existed. I feel like a kind of anchor has been placed with that knowledge, something we can know about these two men that helps hold us a bit steadier in the storm.

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  15. Des

    Great articles….have a question

    I’ve heard the term “feminization of the liturgy”….are you familiar with that and can you give us your take on what that means?

    I have always found the new mass difficult to endure, primarily on Sundays (I go daily and don’t mind the shorter daily masses without music)

    I particularly object to the lousy music, and the fact that there is no silence during the entire mass. Every single moment between the 4 different phases of mass is filled with mediocre music. Even after communion, someone’s tickling the keys of the piano until the priest finally sits. Then we might get 30 seconds of silence. That’s it!

    When I came back to the faith a dozen years ago, I forced myself to sing, even tho i felt it unmanly, primarily because of the choice of music. I’d be happy to pitch in on Gregorian chant, but that’s not an option.

    Is this what they are talking about by the “feminization”?

    I would think the goal would be to develop a liturgy that is actually beautiful, one that attracts. The typical Sunday liturgy I find off-putting, even ugly, primarily due to the constant singing of crappy music, often led by a cantor with little talent who acts like she’s on stage. So I usually find an early mass where, mercifully, there is no music. I’m an early bird anyway so it’s no big deal for me.

    Is it possible the miscreants who redesigned the mass did this intentionally, knowing it was a vulgarization and that it would drive people away?

    Appreciate your thoughts

    Liked by 5 people

    1. I’m not sure it’s unsuitable music that is the real problem, Paul R. Rather, I think that it’s what you also touch on – the lack of silence, the constant, unnecessary, BLATHERING that is very common, even in places where the music is good. Liturgical loquaciousness. .

      It begins right from the start with the too often prolonged greeting, which can range over anything from football to the weather (and what heroic little martyrs we are for braving it!), and then goes on (and on), the “main” homily being followed by all the other homily-ettes and instructions (“now we stand” etc.) up to the final Blessing – which is usually an excuse for another go. Verbal sandbagging from beginning to end.

      Ok, *all* of the above doesn’t *always* happen everywhere, but in my now almost 50 years of experience of the NO too much of it is too common. It’s the preachy tendency, to be always talking AT people, instead of letting the actions of the Mass speak for themselves – and letting people interiorly draw them in. The time for telling and explaining is in the Homily, if necessary.

      It was amusing some time ago when the electricity failed in our Church before Mass – so no amplification. It’s a big Church, and poor Father’s voice wasn’t up to filling it, even when he used the grand old pulpit which is about one third of the way down the main aisle. That was some short Homily, I can tell you. By the Eucharistic Prayer his voice had pretty much given out but he did sing the Doxology, which was fine – because the Church was acoustically built for that back in the 1840s. It was one of the most reverent Masses I’ve attended there for quite some years, the relative silence contributing so much.

      Liked by 5 people

      3. Amen, JayKay!! I once asked if we could just have music after Communion, and not something everyone had to sing (N.O. obviously). That went over like a lead balloon. Can you imagine trying to speak intimately with Jesus after Communion and someone talking at the same time?! That’s what it feels like to me.

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      4. I appreciate the silence too, jaykay. Quite often when I arrive to Mass early in order to pray with Jesus in the tabernacle, the choir is rehearsing as if I/we are not even there. Sometimes they even go through a drill of having us to practice a refrain before Mass begins with them. So much for quiet prayer/reflection time. More often than not, the leader of the choir then informs us to turn of our cells phones, and not be chewing gum before the procession starts in order to be respectfully present to the Lord. Followed by, I kid you not a *moment of greeting*. We are instructed to stand up and *greet* those around us, sort of like one might be asked to do at a social event. Awkward! I personally find it hard to pray with loud music and signing playing in the background, especially during Communion. Lastly our parish, after most Masses, robustly applaud the musicians, like an encore at a Broadway play. One priest actually asked us to applaud the choir and those who play the accompanying instruments separately before the final blessing. Heavy sigh.
        I am one persons perspective. I have not ever been a church choir/band participant and therefore am not familiar with the ins and outs. There are certainly bigger fish to fry, yet I am glad to have shared my two cents about the *subject* matter with others who can relate to some degree. ❤

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        1. Jen, those elements you described are applicable to my Parish as well. To a T. I can only add to that the incredibly friendly/chatty usher who loudly makes the rounds (shoot, I’m the last guy who needs a big hug), and the busy/restless Eucharistic Minister (yeah, that’s a whole other topic) with the Tommy Bahama shirt replete with witty meme on back.

          Fortunately, I discovered the natural ability to go unnoticed when I was six years old (you and B will laugh at how outrageous that sounds, but wanting to be invisible at times and wanting to be conspicuous when necessary can be managed). Took me another few decades to realize that it didn’t have anything to do with being invisible and everything to do with focus. Like a pro pitcher that can blot out the crowd noise before he goes into every wind up.

          So, I’ve learned to get focused and blot everything else out. Eyes for Our Lord only. Funny thing about that… how He sometimes directs some of that focus to the other folks I find challenging at best, totally distracting at worst. His little joke on me, maybe.

          I’ve always gotten the sense that we share certain stuff in common. Certain ways of looking at things… some of which we’re working on overcoming.

          Wouldn’t it just be a hoot if that usher was really attentive to Our Lord too, discerning that… hey, there’s cowboy boot guy and boy does he need a hug right now. You’d swear he was on Holy Fire with purpose, what with the way he can practically hurdle pews, making a beeline to my place of concealment (strategically positioned as far from the choir as physically possible).

          Honestly, I don’t have any idea what’s going on with the sideshow at many Masses these days, but I do know this: gotta be focused and nimble, lest I potentially derail other characters like those mentioned above.

          All that said, there are times when it gets to be too much and I have no qualms about saying something or doing something about it. Silently enduring has its limits.

          Liked by 7 people

            1. In our recent mission, Fr. Alar, MIC took the 2nd night to go through the ordinary mass, step by step. He explained to a huge audience why each part of the mass, prayer, or action was and how it relates to scripture or actual events Jesus performed at the last supper. It was awesome! – much like Dr. Hahn’s book “The Lamb’s Supper”, though a live version. Fr. Alar didn’t discuss a lot about the music, but he did touch on the Tridentene and the Novus Ordo styles, prayers, and the structure (like not raising your hands to match the priest during the Our Father, etc). He convinced me that all valid forms of the mass are both beautiful and awesome.

              His presentation has reaffirmed (refocused?) the feeling of grace that I get in mass – the blessing it is, regardless what others are doing (I used to think to myself people should or should not do something a certain way….), what is sung or not sung, or the form of the mass…. it’s Jesus and though I struggle still to focus at all times to be reverent, it is why I’m there – to give my Guardian Angel all I can to fill their vessel to offer with and for me, to worship the Father, through Jesus’s presence and sacrifice. Fr. Alar helped me realize better that we are there to worship God by offering up God with the help of God (Fr. Alar said it much more eloquently than that!) Some churches worship with music in the form of chants, great sounding music, horrible sounding music….. but boil it down and it’s all so miraculously and complexly designed! I know that I am actually anxious at times if the homily is long or distracting – because I want to get to consecration (impatience is one of the things I will probably struggle with for all my days here on earth). Ideally I am sure there are a lot of things that could be different I suppose, but I am more and more frequently just blown away… it’s Jesus at the mass and we are at the
              re-presentation of Him and his sacrifice for us and we are at the foot of the cross on that Good Friday (God is outside of all time, so we are actually there!)… just amazing every time I go because as a meal AND a sacrifice… it is all I want here on earth it seems like.

              God bless all!
              Bill

              Liked by 1 person

          2. Oh dear, I can visualize that MP! Focus, for sure, and patience in adversity is what I keep telling myself. We have a few Eucharistic Ministers that will offer the handshake of peace from the back of the church all the way to the altar with everyone they recognize down the aisle. Hugs are included at times to. It is quite the attention grabber too followed by all ministers going to the sides of the altar before ascending the steps and vigorously applying hand sanitizer as if they were in scrubs and ready to perform a surgical procedure. Sideshows, indeed. It is tricky focusing spiritually with all the errant spotlighting, I must confess.

            ❤

            Like

    3. Paul R. Will break my answer down into two part. This part will deal with the music issue. The second post on it [sometime today hopefully] will be that dealing with the ‘feminization’ issue.

      The purpose of sacred music is to lift the mind and heart to God. Any music which fails at that either in whole or in part is not good Sacred Music.

      You mentioned Gregorian Chant. OK, let’s start there. Was trained in music as a boy first by my mother [who was a trained Coloratua soprano], then by Mr. Elger in the then famous ‘Elger Boys Choir’, and they by others too numerous to mention.

      So I know the difference between good and bad music, as music per se.

      Gregoian Chant which is capably well done is a joy either to sing or to listen to. Gregorian music which is butchered to any degree – to that degree resembles the sound in my ear of finger nails running down a blackboard.

      Polyphonic [multipart harmonious] music from men such as Palestrian, Gabrielle, Victorio, Allegri, etc., when ‘well done’ are likewise a joy to my ears, and consequently raise my mind and heart toward God.

      AN ASIDE: You cannot fully appreciate even a great choral composition [whether it is an ‘a capella’ piece, or polyphonic] — IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WORDS ARE SAYING. Those words are at least equal to the music per se in the ability to raise the mind and heart toward God. If the choir does not capably pronounce and project the words properly, the mustic loses much of its intended effect in that regard.

      WORST CASE SCENARIO: If you do not understand the language the hymn or psalm is written in, that is very detrimental to the music’s ability to lift your mind and your heart to God. [It can be overcome to a degree by having a side by side translation at hand. But it doesn’t completely deal with the problem.

      Example: People who do not know any language besides English – are in large part kidding themselves if they go to the Opera and attend a work in say, French, German, Italian, etc., of which they do not understand a word. They are merely titillated by the melodies – missing the nuances of the spoken/sung word.

      This issue is immeasurably worsened when it is Sacred Music someone is listening to.

      If the mustic itselt is amateurish at best, or has Protestant underlying theology built into it – or worse -heathen themes – it is not the kind of music which should be played at Mass. There is far too much of that kind of thing.

      Retreating to good Latin MUSIC – containing lyrics someone doesn’t understand is an option – but not one that fully fulfills the role of Sacred Music – to raise the mind and the heart toward God.

      I happen to attend a parish which actually has Latin hymns mixed with English hymns – at two of the five Sunday masses. I usually attend one or the other. so at least that part is good. Depending upon the ensemble doing the singing – it can be sung well – or poorly – in which case while I try not to do so – it sounds like a blackboard with nails scraping down.

      But I’ll take anything over someone going flat in their singing. It drives me right up the wall. I can stand someone standing next to me singing flat – but not a voice in the choir or worse leading the assembly.

      All my love in Christ

      Desmond

      Liked by 4 people

      1. I have heard the adult choir at Desmond’s Parish – and I must say it is one of the best amateur choirs I have ever heard.

        Ah, well, I suppose I better confess before Dez narcs me out: I sing in the choir at that Parish when I am home. My judgment still stands, though. Our music director, Andi Weber, is absolutely fabulous, one of the two best I have ever worked with on an amateur level.

        As to Jen’s concern about choir warming up, I understand. I have been at Parishes where they have a choir room so the choir can warm up or make last-minute checks without disturbing the congregants. Certainly, if the Church is directly attached to a school, you can solve the problem by using a classroom as a choir room. But, in a Parish such as ours at St. Joan of Arc, there is no choir room and the school is not attached. We sing a 9 a.m. Mass routinely. Previous Mass lets out about 7:30, so we literally have about 15 usable minutes to warm up and take care of last-minute issues – and nowhere to do it except the choir loft. (We DO have a wonderful Parish, that also has, by far, the worst choir loft I have ever dealt with.)

        Liked by 4 people

      2. Pursuant to a question. If one wishes to attend Masses in Latin, and wishes to have both their mind and heart lifted to God as originally intended, there is an option to learn some Latin. It doesn’t take that much to be able to comprehend the lyrics in Latin Sacred Music.

        Liked by 5 people

    4. Interesting you should say that. We have had the same thing for YEARS. I drive 1/2 hour to another church. There is an organist who plays during the Entrance, Collection, Communion and Recessional. No singing except Christmas & Easter. It’s so peaceful and prayerful. The Pastor gives great homilies. We have a new bishop & it’s my understanding there is a petition to oust the Pastor. ??? Evidently he is somewhat of a control freak. He’s been there 20 or so years. Hope they aren’t successful, however since I participate in my home church activities & ministries I can’t say much.

      Liked by 2 people

  16. I agree with Desmond’s timetable. I was born in 1944. I worked in the Catholic press and by 1978 was aware unofficially of the homo pit in the local seminary. But we would not report on such pejorative things, heaven forbid! I don’t think my editors believed me and naive but stubborn little me, I was removed from the press. And for a while thought it my duty to remain silent. I thought God had sovereignly removed me from the situation. I deeply regret those decisions. The whole Catholic milieu was protective back then; even the local secular daily newspapers were run by protective Catholics. Unreal when seen with today’s eyes.

    Liked by 5 people

  17. I believe that The Shroud and all the ME archaeological finds, of late, that confirm Scriptural texts are “reminders” for us to hold fast to The Faith of Our Fathers …. and all The Faithful who have endured over centuries past.

    https://townhall.com/columnists/myrakahnadams/2019/11/03/shroud-of-turin-interview-with-researcher-who-debunked-the-1988-medieval-dating-n2555665

    https://amgreatness.com/2019/11/02/a-great-awakening-to-the-fight-is-upon-us/

    https://townhall.com/video/gov-evers-saying-abortionists-execute-babies-is-blasphemy-n2545690

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15108/connecticut-ridicule-censorship

    https://nypost.com/2019/11/02/cops-keeping-low-profile-hesitant-to-engage-amid-anti-nypd-angry-mob-protests/

    https://nypost.com/2019/11/02/democrats-are-stealing-old-ideas-from-europe-just-as-europe-abandons-them/

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/11/how-wikipedias-far-left-operatives-use-fraud-and-citogenesis-to-smear-trusted-conservative-websites-like-the-gateway-pundit/

    Yep! Hanoi Jane pretty much is the “Poster Child” for the godless ‘elite’ Socialist Democrats and their opinion of US God-n-Gun Clingers in the hinterlands.
    https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jane-fonda-dismisses-critics-of-her-climate-protests-those-people-dont-matter

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15116/turkey-boko-haram-weapons

    SOUTH KOREA: Permission sought to hold queer festival in South Gyeongsang Province on Nov. 30
    http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20191103000161

    https://apnews.com/45a6cfc2e90d41c5a5155cbc3b4e1a02

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 8 people

    1. I agree, Crewdog. Watching people’s reaction to the facts of the Shroud of Turin has been instructive for me. It has helped me to understand how we, as humans, generally prefer to believe what we want to believe, and that evidence only matters when we learn to love truth. I’ve spoken to a few people who are more comfortable with the theory that it was planted by aliens rather than it is what it appears to be. I don’t mind saying that, a couple of decades ago, the Shroud was instrumental in opening my eyes to miracles and thereby deepening my faith.

      Liked by 7 people

  18.     

    SOURCE The Great Monarch

    We must PUT ON ‘ASHES’ and say a Rosary of repentance / penance everyday. I’ve added the new message plus an explanation to this page of Our Lady of Akita here, scroll down to see the new message:

    !!! UPDATE – October 6, 2019 – NEW MESSAGE recently given to Sr. Sasagawa by her Angel.   –  a private message was given to her, then she was told to tell everyone “Put on ashes  and pray for a repentant rosary every day. (i.e say a Rosary for repentance / penance)   You (Sr. Agnes) must become like a child and make sacrifice every day.” (Source: EWTN CATHOLIC RADIO)

    Re- ‘ashes’: the site that has reported this in Japan has noted that the first Mass reading that occurred two days later on October 8, 2019 was from the book of Jonas 3: 1-10 where the prophet was sent to warn the city of Nineveh that it was about to be destroyed by God because of the grave sins of its populace.  The King and people repented however, and putting on sackcloth and sitting in ashes, they and all their animals fasted and did penance.  They appeased the wrath of God and He withheld the destruction of the city.

    Since we are getting a warning about ‘ashes’ from the Angel after so many years of silence at Akita, it is obvious this is a warning the chastisements are getting very close.  Of note, this message came on October 6, the day the ‘Pachamama’ demonic idol was worshiped in St. Peter’s Basilica. We are getting another warning to step up our penances and repent if we wish to appease the wrath of God and withhold the foretold destruction for a little while longer.

    Akita : The THIRD APPARITION – THE CHASTISEMENTS TO COME

    October 13, 1973

    Our Lady: “My dear daughter, listen well to what I have to say to you. You will inform your superior.”

    After a short silence: “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son.

    (NOTE: This is in accordance with other mystics that say the Three Days of Darkness will actually be catastrophic fire falling from the sky.)

    Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests. The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres…churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them. With courage, speak to your superior. He will know how to encourage each one of you to pray and to accomplish works of reparation. It is Bishop Ito, who directs your community.”
    And she smiled and then said, “You have still something to ask? Today is the last time I will speak to you in a living voice. From now on you will obey the one sent to you by Father Yasuda and your superior. Pray very much the prayers of the rosary. I alone am able to save you from the calamities that approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”

    SR. AGNES SASAGAWA (b. 1930 – ) / OUR LADY OF AKITA (1973)

    CHURCH / LOCAL BISHOP APPROVED APPARITION

    Agnes Sasagawa was born in Japan in 1930, and was originally from a Buddhist family. She was born premature and suffered poor health most of her life. She also had a poorly performed appendix operation and was immobile for over a decade.
    The institute of Handmaids of the Eucharist was founded in Akita after Sumako Sugawara settled in the city in 1946.  Agnes’ health reportedly improved after drinking water from Lourdes while under the care of a Catholic nun. Obviously, she converted to the Catholic faith for after she became totally deaf, she entered the convent near Akita on May 12, 1973.
    Shortly thereafter on June 12, 1973, Sr. Agnes encountered on several occasions a bright light emanating from the tabernacle in the chapel and “spiritual beings” worshipping the Eucharist. She reported these experiences to the local bishop, Bishop John Ito. That same month Sr. Agnes began to experience the stigmata. On Thursdays she felt initial pain and on Fridays and Saturdays had a cross of blood on her left hand.

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    Medjugorje. The comment of Father Livio -Radio Maria: ‘Your soul is the most precious thing that really belongs to you!

    Message of Medjugorje. The comment of Father Livio (Radio Maria): ‘Your soul is the most precious…

    Medjugorje: The Last Message — A Powerful reminder: “In the Gospel there is always something new” Read them today November 3, 2019

    Tears from heaven: Our Lady comes in the rain in last apparition https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=19&v=adzeQckAbHg Our Lady…

    Liked by 4 people

    1. May our ashes be our humility, simplicity, complete surrender to and reliance on Abba, our loving service in every next right step and the clinging to Christ in Hope as we welcome the Holy Spirit to radiate through, with and in us. And let’s “step up” our offerings in complete Peace because a chaotic, fearful, frantic state is not of God. May the Peace of Christ dwell deeply in us to maintain a calm, serene interior even as the world around us may be crazed and crumbling.

      PS Linda, I gently ask if you might have time to do some checking on the authenticity or lack thereof of this Eucharistic miracle. I could see nothing unusual at that 28 second mark and the footage is blurry and wobbly already. My concern is that people too often want something to be what it isn’t. If it’s the real deal, we’ll keep the link; if it’s questionable, let’s remove it. Thank you.

      Liked by 3 people

        1. Beckita that floating host and words of authenticity just amazed me…thanks so much for doing the detective work on that one…just surreal…could you just imagine that dear priest up there trying not to get all excited by God’s miracle…lol…I’m in bed today..fevered and a darned cold and wheezing..lol…now I have time to look up the reparation rosary our beautiful Lady has asked for by Sisters guardian angel. Do you know anything about it? How honored you are by Charlie to be hlosing that statue for the day we all put it into its place at Mount meeker. ..wow…what a great great honor🤗😇😘

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Oh Linda, I’m praying for you to feel better. ‘Tis the season for such bugs, isn’t it? May it be swiftly booted from your system. You know, those Eucharistic Miracles are meant to draw us to greater focus and fervor with reverence in worship and adoration in all the Masses any one of us is so blessed to attend in our own churches, wherever in the world we may live.

            The reparation Rosary is none other than a Rosary prayed in reparation for the sins/disorder in the world. That simple, yet, of so powerful. Our Lady of Akita is the same Lady of Fatima who came with the exhortation to offer prayer and sacrifice in reparation for sins.

            I’m so grateful for the honor of Charlie entrusting me with the guardianship of that beautiful statue, thereby ultimately honoring Our Lady and her endless care and concern of us, her children. Thankful, as well, for Joe’s great faith and his love for Our Lady which compelled him to commission the carving of a statue for each continent. The hardwood which grows in New Zealand is strikingly beautiful, elegant, gorgeous.

            Liked by 2 people

      2. HI Beckita…I didn’t realize that part would come up too…I have heard it happened but have heard otherwise too…plz feel free to take down as we are best not to spread falsehood. ..simply loving new akita message. It has invigorated me personally.

        Liked by 4 people

      5. and Fr. Heilman’s suggestions for the first paragraph of your post of 11/4, 10:48. We have come to a “Neneveh time”. https://www.romancatholicman.com/about-the-october-6-message-to-sr-agnes-sasagawa-of-akita/
        “I believe November 3rd, the day this message from Sr. Agnes of Akita went viral, is meant to be day 1 of 40 days … like Nineveh. Day 40, providentially, lands on The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12).” Father Heilman

        Liked by 2 people

  19. Since I live and work in PA, the news last year hit hard. Two of the CATECHISTS quit the Church. Two others retired from teaching. When I complained to my pastor that the news was surely exaggerated, that many well-known priests were likely falsely accused, that the ratio of abuse in public schools was greater and covered-up, he said, “I agree with you but we have been instructed to not fight back, to be repentant and not make excuses.” This boiled my blood even more.
    All I heard was “lay down and take it.”

    This good priest stopped coming to religion classes, said it gave him a sick feeling in his stomach. I know why. Children, especially the ones from good families, know the priest represents Christ. They run up to him, hug him and want to be sheltered in his arms. Now, this good priest had to be cautious, worried that someone might interpret his affection wrongly. God showed Him mercy and he was transferred to a Diocesan position. The children miss him.

    It is satanic. This attack on priests, the good priests, is an attack on Christ Himself. And I agree that the Amazonian Synod is a wake-up call. If we are to believe reports, the Virgin Mary spoke to Sr. Agnes again. If this is verified, it will prove what many of us believe, we are in the heart of darkness of this terrible Apostasy. Though I wait for the Church to speak to disseminate the message, I have always believed Sr. Agnes.

    Peace and blessings to all who remain here.

    Liked by 7 people

    1. Marisa, thanks to an old friend of ASOH, Joe Crozier, I saw the initial report on the return of the Angel who recently came again to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa in Akita. It was in 2016 that Joe was bringing to completion his project of placing – one on every continent – the exquisite replicas of the statue from which Our Lady of Akita emerged to speak to Sr. Agnes. I remain the temporary guardian of this statue, thanks to Charlie and Joe, until the statue is placed in its intended place in the future.

      While those apparitions in the early 70’s were fully approved by the local ordinary, Bishop John Shojiro Ito, I doubt the Church will look into the currently reported reappearance of the Angel. If the Church does study this event, I think it will be years before it is officially deemed authentic or not. I privately believe it is the real deal. Since the end of the apparitions in Akita, Sr. Agnes has remained secluded in prayer and suffering much for what Our Lady of Akita forewarned if humanity did not turn back to the Living God. I have refrained, out of caution, from bringing this report here for it could instigate a prolonged time of getting sidetracked from what we’re about.

      Rather than getting all panicked because of what the Angel recently said, we can acknowledge – if we believe the appearance of the Angel to be true – that it is a kindness from the Lord to send the Angel in a desire to stir up our fervor in doing what we must be about, whether or not the Angel actually appeared again: We must continue remaining faithful to prayer, penance and fasting. We known we’re in this process of renewal which includes revealing our hearts, making a choice for or against God and then living through the commensurate judgement at such a juncture as this. Jesus told St. Faustina that after a Time of Mercy would come a Time of Justice. We know Our Lady of Fatima pleaded for reparation, reparation, reparation, from those who would heed her call, and she exhorted us to keep our rosaries ever by our sides to faithfully implore her intercession for souls. We know Salvation History and the consequences which visited our ancestors for being stiff-necked and it is evident that we are living out a new cycle of rebellion in this minor apostasy. So, yes, here we are with a great need to live the faith with fidelity, to lay down our lives in Love and to BE the Light of Christ wherever we are, whatever we are doing.

      Honestly, with the state of the world and Church right now, I think the suffering of living through the cleansing will include more joy than the suffering of living such repugnant and vile disorder because Purification = a Great Harvest, please God! Maranatha!

      Liked by 9 people

      2. Beckita, Re “until the statue is placed in its intended place in the future.” Where is the ultimate destination for the statue replica which you are blessed to be the guardian; and
        what is causing the delay?

        Liked by 2 people

        1. Hey Maggie, that beautiful statue’s final destination is the Shrine of Thanksgiving and the timing is determined by how long we must traverse this stage of transitioning to the New Beginning as well as how long it will take to construct the Shrine.

          Liked by 3 people

      3. Oh beckita..yes…it makes sense..I’m going to print this out. I too feel it will be easier to live in a world that loves God and neighbor rather than this world where most isolate you because of your beliefs. Lol…God save us all and the whole world too🤗😇😘

        Liked by 4 people

  20. Yes, of course, it all had to be…

    There’s were always problems before the 100 years of evil began, but it seems a lot clearer in the hindsight presented above that the devil wasted no time spreading his smoke of liberalism throughout the Church in a attempt to destroy it. It is very clear to us now that it is the liberalism in the Church that is the source of the Church’s fall from grace, it’s the liberalism that is the cancer eating away at the foundation of the Church ignoring immortality to being downright permissive & inclusive of immortality.

    What Pope Francis seems to be doing is addressing the symptoms instead of dealing with the source of the problem.

    Liked by 4 people

  21. ✝️ Blessed Pius IX, 1846.

    ✝️ Pope Leo XIII, 1878. “St Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle…..”

    ✝️ Saint Pius X, 1903.

    ✝️ Benedict XV, 1914. New Code of Canon Law, devoted to the B.V.Mary, authorized Feast of Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces.

    ✝️ Pope Pius XI, 1922. Canonized St Thérèse of Lisieux and had devotion to her.

    ✝️ Venerable Pius XII, 1939. Saved thousands of Jews. (I have a devotion to him)

    ✝️ Saint John XXIII, 1958.

    ✝️ Saint Paul VI, 1963. Humane Vitae.

    ✝️ Venerable John Paul I, 1978. The smiling Pope. His papacy lasted 33 day. (A wink from God).

    ✝️ Saint John Paul II, 1978.

    ✝️ Pope Benedict XVI, 2005.

    ✝️ Pope Francis, 2013.

    Look at these men we’ve had leading our church for the past 173 years! Wow!! A couple I know nothing about, but the last 7 I certainly do. I put this up to say that, in light of the latest crises with our Holy Church — and there have been so many since Pentecost — we’ve had some phenomenal pontiffs.

    Not to make light of the serious problems today and the “atypical” man at the helm of the Barque of Peter, dare I add:
    …….11 out of 12 ain’t bad?

    Liked by 9 people

    2. PD, I also dearly love Pope Pius XII. I am grateful to have a rosary blessed by him. My Dad was in Europe with the military and had an audience with the great Pope. He was devoted to Mother Mary and wrote great encyclicals, one on the Eucharist as I recall.

      Liked by 7 people

  22. I am not sure if I am reading it correctly, but is the 2011 First Things article on Bernardin stating that his influence on the Catholic church/politics has diminished? Is that really accurate, since many of the current bishops, including Archbishop Gregory from Atlanta, who is now in DC, were proteges of Bernardin? Gregory stated multiple times the influence Bernardin had on him.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. DM, diminished does not mean extinguished. Thank God Bernardin’s influence has diminished and we continue to pray for a complete renewal in the Church in America and all over the world.

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Thanks for the response Beckita. I completely agree on the continuous need for prayers of renewal; however, I am not convinced that Bernardin’s influence has been diminished. Much like Saul Alinksy’s Rules for Radicals, it appears Bernardin left a “playbook” for many of these bishops, including Gregory, which they continue to follow to this day, with some tweaks along the way. Gregory was my archbishop in Atlanta. He is very adept at working a leftist social justice agenda under the radar.

        Liked by 5 people

        1. Oh I see your point about the lingering influence from Bernardin, dmg. I also see Desmond’s take concerning the diminishment of that influence. The article by George Weigel for which Desmond posted a link drives that point home very well.

          Liked by 3 people

          1. I believe the article was published in 2011. I am very grateful that Desmond make this link available, I just think, based on my observations in the Atlanta diocese and from credible sources of information on the state of the American Catholic church, that Weigel’s assumption of Bernardin’s diminishing influence may have been a premature assumption. Much has been revealed in the last two years. I am not trying to start an argument, just too much has been revealed and so much of it points to the work of Bernardin’s boys.

            Liked by 4 people

    2. Till the 90’s it was virtually all Bernardin’s men – and old bishops getting ready for retirement. There are many very good bishops in the USA today, many. They were appointed almost [n=but not exclusively] by JP II and Benedict XVI after 1990

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Proof that you are right – the growth of the EF mass, as noted by Father Z. Impossible under Bernardin’s men 30 years ago.

        Desmond, ou were very blessed to have Cardinal Stafford. Desmond, could you tell everyone hear some of the good things he did that are now forgotten? I remember him as one of the “good guys” like Cardinal O’Conner back then. And, Stafford is still kicking!

        Liked by 5 people

      2. I don’t doubt that good men were appointed, but why do many of these good men stay silent ? Are they good, yet not courageous? So many of the laity and our youth especially, feel abandoned by these appointed leaders.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. That is encouraging to hear. Will these many good American bishops start to speak out? Only a handful seem to do so. Are they good, but lack courage? Goodness does not always mean that we have the courage to stand and fight in very difficult circumstances. I think of Bishop Athanasius Schneider. It would seem what we need is good and courageous American bishops at this time.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. There are plenty of good and courageous bishops who are not deemed to be ‘newsworthy’ by the national press in the USA. I’m not interested in debating this point – because there are some who will believe that there aren’t any good and courageous bishops – no matter what the evidence.

          EXAMPLE: The end of October, our Bishop hosted a national seminar for priests – the speakers being Cardinals Burke and Mueller [their joint appearance in the USA should have been newsworthy in and of itself].They spoke on the subject of how to regain the glory of the Church [I doubt anyone here could fail to understand why they would choose that subject in todays world]. VERY newsworthy.

          It wasn’t covered at all by the national media.

          Many bishops instruct their priests and the faithful courageously about the perils of our time – but the national press rarely covers it.

          I deal with this all the time – people assuming that since they don’t hear in the national press about courageous deeds done by American bishops – that there aren’t any – or, that they are virtually non-existent. Judging men we don’t even know by the press they do or do not get can be very tempting. But it isn’t accurate and can’t be expected to be.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. That was not the angle I was coming from at all. I was simply asking a question. Please don’t make assumptions on my position or where I go to receive my news (it is not mainstream media by the way). I was not debating, but trying to ask questions. I don’t happen to have a good and courageous bishop and trying to keep authentic faith alive for my children is a constant battle, which I try my best to fight each day. I was just looking for guidance and maybe some fortitude, because from my foxhole, I don’t see a lot of courageous bishops fighting with all their might. Sorry I asked. I am sure it gets tiring to deal with all the time. I will search elsewhere for answers.

            Like

            1. Of course, Dez can speak for himself, DM. I simply note that he stresses there ARE many more good Bishops and Priests in this current state of affairs who ARE courageous and working diligently to proclaim and defend the faith. I understand that your own Diocesan situation has been difficult – as has been my own – yet I readily accept Desmond’s points, for I do not have the eyes and ears which he has as one who has worked in the Church for a lifetime.

              Liked by 2 people

    3. If anything has diminished, it’s authentic Christian morality among the population, elected governments simply reflect the diminished presence of Christianity in society.

      Liked by 2 people

  23. hard to find serious Good -News …. It’s coming though …one day!!

    https://nypost.com/2019/11/01/a-godly-gem-in-hells-kitchen/

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/staffordshire-hoard-most-important-find-anglo-saxon-history-archaeology-book-a9179781.html

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/traditional-catholic-parishes-grow-even-as-us-catholicism-declines

    I’m guessing this article could be re-written to reflect The “Elite” who have infiltrated The Catholic Church and are now doing their “best” to destroy her ;-(
    https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2019/11/04/trump-is-derailing-the-elites-gravy-train-n255578

    Jesus had Druze ancestry??

    https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/druze-0011656

    https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/breaking-man-who-threw-pachamama-idol-into-tiber-speaks-out?

    https://www.steynonline.com/9818/internal-contradictions-of-the-multicultural

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/11/katie_hill_affair_and_its_aftermath_are_signs_of_americas_decline.html#ixzz64Iw70TmB ;

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/11/female_offenders_perpetrators_predators_and_pedophiles.html#ixzz64IxNfxSn

    https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-04/california-conservatives-republicans-leaving

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 5 people

    1. The evidence supporting the authenticity of the shroud continues to pile up. Considering just the hard data collected over the years, it’s mathematically impossible for any human to have forged it a few centuries ago. They simply didn’t have the scientific knowledge or the means: authentic 1st century coins on the eyes, the 3D encoding of a face, the concept of negative images in photography which wasn’t invented yet, microscopic pollen and dust from the Jerusalem two millennia ago, cellular mitochondria and blood typing, forensics, etc., etc., etc., etc.,…………

      The Shroud is the actual burial cloth of Our Crucified Lord, which was wrapped in the linen purchased by Joseph of the Arimathea, and the image we see today is the very moment of His Resurrection.

      Liked by 6 people

  24. These articles of Desmond’s have made me ponder why I feel our current crisis is unprecedented, despite the debauchery witnessed within the Church throughout its history. I recommend this article by Douglas Farrow in First Things. I think he is hitting the mark: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/10/reading-the-signs-of-the-times

    The difference between this crisis and those of the past is the difference between a pree and post Christian epoch. It is the rejection of Christ vs. the supplanting of Christ; ignorance of Christ vs. superiority to Christ. In short, it is anti-Christ. It should be stressed that neither Mr. Farrow, nor I, nor any serious writer I’ve ever read, is inferring in any way that Pope Francis is the Antichrist, only that this is the particularly sinister spirit of this age.

    We’ve all seen the fervent self-righteousness behind our society’s new, bizarre moral standards. What is good is decried as evil; what is evil is celebrated. In this new moral framework humans have replaced demons as the evil scourge of creation, a virus infecting Mother Earth. That the Church appears to be embarking upon a path of integrating itself with this twisted teaching is what is most troubling.

    This is not to be sensational. I’m also troubled by what seems like overreaction and hysteria in reaction to this. The opposite of faith is fear, and this is no time to be fearful. It’s a time to pray and cling to Christ all the more. Early Christians were awaiting Christ’s imminent return, and we’re still waiting. I will do my best to assume he’s coming today, and be ready.

    Liked by 4 people

  25. The Arian Heresy began after the Roman Empire had formally proclaimed that it was no longer a crime to be a Christian. The Emperor Constantine, in his words, was openly sympathetic with and favored Christianity [at least as far as he understood it].

    The Roman Emperor was giving Basilicas to the Catholic Christian Bishops for their places of worship. It is quite a stretch to call The Council of Nicea – called by the Emperor himself – part of a a pre-Christian era. To do so – just off the top of my head – sounds strange for someone who really knows the history of the Church.

    But, on the other hand, if one is pre-convinced [let alone is pre-inclined to believe] that the century which bore two of the four greatest Doctors of the Church, Sts. Augustine and Jerome into the world is “pre-Christian, then in that case it would not sound passing strange to them as it does to me.

    I’ve read many articles in First Things I heartily agreed with, and, a number of things which upon further reflection, I did not.

    The one referenced is classically called an ‘opinion piece’. He has a right to his opinions. I simply have a very difficult time jibing his caricture of the fourth century as ‘Pre-Christian’ – with the historic facts as I have studied and teach them.

    BTW, an extensive array of centuries bore the title – anti-Christian & even anti-Christ throughout salvation history. Two of the most recent, the 19th and the 20th both were called this by a myriad of important well educated men. Napoleon Bonaparte was called the Antichrist by quite a number of people, especially after he imprisoned the Pope and told that Pope that, “I’ll destroy the Catholic Church.” The Popes rejoinder was, “I doubt you will succeed where hundreds of Cardinals have failed.”

    In the 20th century, Adolf Hitler was commonly being touted as the Antichrist when I was a boy. That was especially true after the world discovered the butchery of Jews, Catholic clergy and religious, Gypsies, and homosexuals which went on in the German concentration camps.

    The century of Jerome and Augustine was Pre-Christian? Not in the history I studied and teach.

    All my love in Christ

    Desmond

    Liked by 4 people

  26. Thank you for the reply, Desmond. To be fair to Douglas Farrow, he mentions the Arian conflict as having occurred “at the outset of Christendom”, not in a “pre-Christian” era. The pertinent passage, which I think is quite incisive:

    “The Church has of course been through rough patches before, rough patches that tried and tested it and eventually produced renewal. At the outset of Christendom, for example, the Church was rocked by the Arian crisis. Over the past two centuries it has been rocked again by what amounts to the same crisis. But we should not overlook the fact that Christendom has now come and gone. In its place is something quite different, which is being tried in various forms, from communism to Nazism to militant secularism to religious environmentalism to a new and potent global technocracy that looks increasingly likely to combine all these “isms.”

    These are not attempts to return to the status quo ante, to the kind of paganism that did not know Christ. Even at their most benign, they are attempts to supplant and replace Christ. ”

    In any case, your points are well taken, and I grant that you may be right. While the current crisis appears to me as different in kind, not just degree, I admit that my powers of discernment and foresight are limited, and my words, like DF’s, are indeed no more than opinion. I greatly appreciate your input and having taken the time to address my comment.

    In Christ,
    Dan

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Dan, a heresy is a heresy is a heresy. All attempts to deny the Divinity Jesus Christ – whether subtle or blatant – are forms of heresy. When they are emanating from sources claiming to be Christian they are all equally types of heresy.

      Attempts to distinguish between them as to one or the other being more evil – are frankly – just exercises in dialectics, futility.

      However, when the day comes when many dozens of bishops faithful to Christ have been condemned at phony show trials by judges and faithless bishops – and sentenced to outright death, or to a living death in work camps/mines, or had their tongues cut out of their mouths, or their eyes burned out of their sockets, or had one of their Achilles tendons severed to mark them as a condemned criminal —

      THEN – then, I will take seriously the charge that our time is even as bad as that of the Arian persecutions, let alone worse.

      All my love in Christ

      Desmond

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Beautifully put. A lie is lie no matter what colour or shade it is, sometimes the worst lies are the “white lies”.

        There’s different ways of thinking:
        Absolutes – One truth & infinite non-truths (God’s Word is absolute) also the language of mathematics.
        Black & White – Half the options are true & the other half is false.
        Relativism – Everything is true from a certain point of view.
        Anti – The denial of… To set oneself against…

        Is it any wonder Liberals have been attacking mathematics in schools? Any form of critical “absolute” thinking is a threat to their cause. This is how society has been sabotaged & fooled into straying from God, by adopting a false mode of thinking that justifies sinful living & nullifies Christian morality.

        Liked by 2 people

  27. I’ve never thought for a second that Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI were ever consciously negligent, much less anywhere close to being among the bad set of characters. I compare the bad characters to that cheap switch and faulty line that caused the crisis on the Apollo 13 mission. A small portion compared to the larger whole of the ship, but still capable of causing a ton of damage and scuttling the mission they all planned on.

    Getting the boys safely home was a tremendous challenge met, in no small part, with a tremendous amount of focus. In fact, Gene Kranz, Flight Director at NASA, had this to say during the crisis: “Lets look at it this thing from a… uh, from a standpoint of status. What do we got on the spacecraft that’s good?” Focus on the good.

    And this… “Gentlemen, at this moment, I want you all to forget the flight plan. From this moment on, we are improvising a new mission: How do we get our people home?” Keep the team nimble and focused on what they can do under the circumstances.

    And this gem… “Let’s work the problem people. Let’s not make things worse by guessing.” Keep ’em focused with what’s real/true.

    And my personal favorite… “Failure is not an option.”

    Enjoyed the history and perspectives here. Not so much a rapt student of history, but do find it important and useful. Certainly I can appreciate the good characters, and count Gene Kranz as such in his particular field of expertise.

    I truly believe we have the numbers, folks.

    Liked by 13 people

    1. We are called to “judge them by their fruit”. I think JPll and Benedict XVl both fulfill the criteria for having produced good fruit and are only being attacked because of the demonic agenda to change the narrative of the church as a holy institution to one of “toxic masculinity” or “white supremacy” or any number of titles used to demote something not in line with the “woke” agenda.
      The agenda of the day is to disqualify every act of goodness as some type of abuse/neglect or financial/power grab. From the very beginning the satan has
      worked his wiles and his cloven footprints are all over the place these days. The blame game is now the new normal for the liberal types in government or religion and lying, the language of the devil, is a tool of extreme effect especially if one is in a position of authority or power where they can seem authoritative even when bald-faced lying!
      I think the agenda of the enemy is Apostacy not death and torture. A documentary on the early church described that the more the faithful were persecuted the more adherents it gained. Tertullians phrase
      ” The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” is a confirmation of this reality. If the enemy has learned from the past, wouldn’t it that they rather we deny God’s existance than risk the same mistake Tertullian contends occurs by our torture and death? If this be the “greater evil” that these days portend, than the even torture and death that Jesus warns of is not as great as Apostacy which leads to eternal death; “And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt 10:28). And His fearful words ” when, the son of man returns, will He find faith on earth?(Luke 18:8).
      This may be the example of why so many consider these to be the most evil of days, because of the loss of faith by the deception of the enemy not just by physical persecutions.
      Matthew 24:1-35 speaks of many things, much of which we have already seen happen in the last 2000 years, some over and over again.
      One of the things Jesus says to look out for is: “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
      Isn’t this what we are seeing today?
      And isn’t the last line
      “but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” what Charlie has been leading us toward all along?

      Liked by 6 people

      1. The “blood of the saints” seems to me to be “abortion” at least in part, there’s a strong overtone of the female act in the harlot mentioned in Revelations , but

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Check my reply to Desmond above regarding different modes of thought, false prophets will avoid the Bible’s teachings on truths as absolutes, absolutes are too restrictive and too hard to confuse, so alternate ways of thinking were introduced to society to add smoke to true Christian morality.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Yes, our thinking is the same on this. Desmond laid out excellent and highly informative comparisons from different historical periods where the enemy tried to snuff out the Church. Certainly those challenges, persecutions and martyrdoms were horrific with the Church teetering on the brink at times.

        Types of persecutions and martyrdoms aside, I look at the simple math to gauge the level of the crisis:

        where X = the volume of faithful (or anyone for that matter) living on earth
        where Y = the volume of souls lost in a time period
        where Z = the value of a soul to God

        (X – Y) x Z = A measure of the crisis in this time (i.e. – as measured by total value of souls lost)

        Fortunately the satan can NEVER snuff out The Church.

        On this issue of persecutions and martyrdoms, I don’t downplay physical sufferings in the least, but doesn’t our time seem to be marked by particularly ferocious mental persecutions and martyrdoms more than anything else?

        Whatever the case, I really don’t like to think in these terms other than to look at the challenge at hand and try to meet it head on.

        To borrow another example from “Apollo 13,” take a square filter and make it fit into a round hole using only this pile of stuff on the table.

        All hands on deck… and pass the duct tape.

        Liked by 3 people

        1. Whoops, I jotted down the wrong equation ’cause I changed my measure midstride:

          Y x Z is all I meant to say.

          Like

          1. The Good News is that all martyrs suffering all types of martyrdoms are sustained by God and assisted by Heaven in all ways.

            Doesn’t make it easier at the time, but surely will make it fruitful now and in the end. Is there another way, Lord?

            We can do this, B.

            Liked by 2 people

            1. Sure can, MP. Amen. Look how grace poured down on the Protomartyr St. Stephen, giving him a vision which heartened him in his dying. When the martyrs of Uganda were told of their death sentence, the 13 year old, St. Kizito awakened with zeal and it has been told he was skipping with joy down the path proclaiming: “I get to see Jesus today!” I’ve known from life’s trials that the grace is there at the time it’s needed. No other way than to follow Him, striving to be faithful.

              Liked by 2 people

              1. Yes B,
                The story of Felicity and Perpetua recounts this exact thing and makes Tertullians phrase even more poignant.
                Felicity fell into esctacy and even after being mortally wounded by a bull, which she didn’t even notice, kept praising God and heartening her fellow Christians. This witness converted a great number of people who originally came to mock the Christians in the colosseum but instead, were amazed by them.
                Almost every great conversion story or growth period in the church was begun by a saints martyrdom (whether physical or by them dedicating their lives completely). I had noticed this fact even before I read Tertullians phrase. And as MP mentions, a bloodless martyrdom is all to common these days but they tend to be more personal (unless your Judge Kavanaugh or President Trump)!
                But the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. It is his nature and he cannot but act on it and his fruits show through even when he acts subtly. The slow erosion of faith to Apostacy is the frog in the boiling water trick that has been playing out. One day we woke up and our faith and freedom are gone (at least as a PC ideal) and the saturation of the PC mindset eroded the moral compass from right to centrist to leftism then finally to “good is evil” speak!
                The Mark of the Beast scenario finds a good analogy in the above sentence: ” it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark” (Rev 13). We see how this “Mark” on the head (how we think) or the hand (how we act) as the key to success or to ruin and that the PC power is becoming more and more capable of shutting down “deplorables” with new laws being enacted all the time. This new martyrdom is of our very being. Even though Desmond has shown us these divisions have been on track for decades, those who still follow the old ways are marginalised and ostracized and relegated to the dustbins both corporately, academically and even spiritually in a much more open and public way than before- very colosseumesk! They are put on display to warn others who do not follow the new narrative that this is your lot if you do not think and act (the Mark) as we want you to!

                Liked by 1 person

                1. Amen, Phil. Pulled out Narnia last weekend for some heartening inspiration.

                  “But courage, child: we are all between the paws of the true Aslan.”

                  And…

                  “Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.”

                  C. S. Lewis

                  Liked by 1 person

    3. MP, I too never believed that either of these great popes turned a blind eye or attempted to hide these problems within our church — despite media efforts to smear them. They are men of integrity.

      I like the Apollo analogy which applies well to the Storm:
      “I believe this is going to be our finest hour.”

      Liked by 5 people

  28. Such a lot to think about in this post and all the informative comments. Having grown up in Los Angeles and attended Catholic schools through college taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet I thought I was fairly well ” indoctrinated” in my Catholic faith. My family knew Cardinal McIntyre and Cardinal Manning who seemed to be good leaders… may they rest in peace. My husband and I heard some rumors in the late 50’s-early 60’s about the seminaries but had a hard time believing them. Such shame I feel as a layperson for the Bishops and priests who knew of these acts and those who participated in them. I pray every day for my children and grandchildren to stay strong in their faith and belief in our Lord’s great gift to us; His divine presence in the Eucharist.
    It has taken me a while to realize that even the priest that I looked up to and believed unconditionally as a youth is still a human being subject to temptation and sin.
    Prayer, fasting and good works is definitely a priority in these turbulent years. And the fasting part is not easy for me! God Bless.

    Liked by 9 people

  29. My opinion only, on the subject of the sins of the Catholic church, is that the truth of its beginnings lies in what happened to Father Charles Coughlin, a popular radio evangelist in the 1930’s. With a weekly following of 30 million listeners, he was taken off the airways, and forbidden from broadcasting by the then President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was also forbidden from using the U.S. Postal service to mail out his weekly newsletter. I believe the president used the authority of the Sedition Act, the same one that was used to intern the citizens of Japanese decent during World War II. If you do enough research into this, a very clear picture of the current situation will emerge. If you want to know, the the truth is out there. Also I would recommend that you read about the Prophecy of La Sallette, which took place in 1846. There are two parts to it, one that was approved by the Catholic church, and the other which though given an imper mater by the local french Catholic bishop in 1857, was condemned by the Catholic church later.

    Liked by 5 people

  30. Obama learned about community organizing in the 1960s from 2 Catholic Churches in South Chicago; they were following Saul Alinsky and doing what the Dems are doing now.

    Liked by 3 people

  31. Ha hahhaha I’m home sick today…darn cold & fever so I am trying to find out what the penetential rosary is that Sister S. from Akita guardian angel just this past Oct 6th asked us all to say and all of a sudden, I was led to pic of Charlie and his radio talk with Patrick Madrid..lol..it was wonderful to see you and hear yoyr great talk with him, Charlie…I can tell Patrick likes you very much. 🤗😇😘

    Anyone know what penetential rosary is???

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fr. Rick Heilman made this comment: “The second part, “pray for a repentant rosary every day,” is best translated as pray a rosary for repentance and reparation every day.”

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Thanks Beckita. ..I tried looking it up today and found nothing so I appreciate your help in understanding it…I guess there is just so much to offer up these days…lol

        Like

  33. Thank you for this Desmond! There is so much rush to judgement and speculation today. I just assume there is too much I do not know. And critical information is being redirected, discarded and “squashed”. I have trusted commentary sources, but this is one of the first places I come to put the pieces together.

    Well now it’s “puzzle time” at our parish. My husband Tom and I met doing ministry at our church. We have weathered many storms there, played many roles and have deep roots. We just heard (and verified) that our parish is officially registered on New Ways Ministry’s website as “gay friendly” and our new Priest/ Parish Administrator is a pro-LGBTQ commentator. He is bringing in his own people right and left – I feel like we are being hi-jacked! Please pray for us as we seek and speak the fullness of the truth, avoid gossip, love courageously, navigate next right steps and be signs of hope!

    I also need to share my good good news! Our niece Shannon went through chemo and had surgery and Dr. said “they all rejoiced in the operating room!…initial pathology showed NO CANCER!” PRAISE GOD! and thank you for your prayers!!

    Liked by 4 people

  35. from Bishop Sheen, who spent an hour a day in adoration.

    Jesse Romero’s Blog
    DAILY REFLECTIONS WITH
    ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN
    On the cross or under it?

    We learn this great mystery before the Eucharistic Lord: to think of our prayer life as embracing all the circumstances and details of life, interpreting them in that hour. I believe that every single person in the world in his heart is either on the cross or underneath it. On the cross with Christ – “I am crucified with Christ,” says Paul. Those of us who are suffering are more physically on the cross. The Blessed Mother and St. John and the women at the foot of the cross were on the cross by sympathy. So everyone in the world is either on the cross by recognizing the merits of Christ and by sharing that cross, or else under the cross. And many of the faithful today are under it, saying, “Come down, come down and we will believe.” There is a new disease creeping into the Church, staurophobia. Stauros in Greek is “cross,” and phobia, “fear:” staurophobia, fear of the cross. Anything but discipline. The holy hour, therefore, will train you in abandonment and resignation, in acceptance of God’s will and in utilizing all of the actions of the day. For on the last day the Lord will say, “Show me your hands” and we will have to have the scars as he had them. And once we take that one scar of the hour and give it to him every day, then we can be sure that he will say to us, “’Come, beloved of my Father in heaven.”

    Liked by 8 people

    1. It would seem as individuals, the Church, & nations we’ve been handed a cup of suffering (like in the garden) and we’ll have to go though our own Calvary before we’re rescued. (from comparative point of view)

      Like Job, it seems we’ll be tested in conflict & suffering. Faith is not fully tested in good times, but faith is fully tested in moments of loss & suffering…

      I’ve got no clue how bad things will get, nor how long will these events last, I know only that the only way out of the fire is through it…

      Liked by 2 people

  36. …… but Old Man River ….. he just keeps rolling along.

    https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/the-crusades-were-an-act-of-love

    https://mailchi.mp/thomasmore/15-popes-whose-islamophobia-saved-the-christian-world-from-muslim-takeover?e=3b7c597bb1

    https://nypost.com/2019/11/04/92-year-old-woman-reunites-with-siblings-she-saved-during-holocaust/

    https://fox5sandiego.com/2019/11/04/la-mesa-church-sues-state-over-requirement-to-provide-abortion-coverage-with-health-insurance/

    https://www.lifenews.com/2019/11/06/episcopalian-church-priest-becomes-president-of-national-pro-abortion-organization/

    https://www.lifenews.com/2019/11/06/judge-strikes-down-trump-pro-life-rule-protecting-doctors-from-being-forced-to-do-abortions/

    https://www.catholicleague.org/atheists-who-are-haters/

    https://patriotpost.us/alexander/66626-our-patriot-veterans-keep-america-great-every-day-2019-11-06

    https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/abp-vigano-the-abomination-of-idolatrous-rites-has-entered-the-sanctuary-of-god

    https://www.lifenews.com/2019/11/06/episcopalian-church-priest-becomes-president-of-national-pro-abortion-organization/

    https://www.lifenews.com/2019/11/06/judge-strikes-down-trump-pro-life-rule-protecting-doctors-from-being-forced-to-do-abortions/

    https://amgreatness.com/2019/11/03/the-military-intelligence-complex/

    GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

    Liked by 4 people

  37. Desmond I read your book a little each day…TTT…it is truly amazing all that must happen yet before coming of antichrist…just an amazing book

    Like

  40. Has anyone read “AA 1025: Memoirs of the Communist Infiltration into the Church” by Marie Carre? It is the purported memoirs of a man who died in a French hospital in the 1960s with no identification papers. The handwritten memoirs state that the man was a Communist agent, who along with more than 1000 other Communist men, entered the priesthood to destroy the Catholic Church from within. Dr. Bella Dodd, a former Communist, testified before the U.S. Congress that the Communist party infiltrated 1100 men into the Catholic Church in the 1930s and 1940s. At the time she testified in 1953, she indicated 4 had risen to the rank of Cardinal. Presumably these participated in Vatican II.
    the methodology used by the Communists, according to “AA 1025” was:
    *Provide twisted theological concepts to writers, journalists, and theologians so they would become imbedded in Church thinking and practice
    *Disguise distorted actions as a form of charity or assert that certain Catholic beliefs/practices are uncharitable to Protestants
    *Transform the language and attitudes of mind
    *Promote aspects of non-Christian religions that exalt man
    *Water down the Catholic Church so that it becomes more Protestant in nature

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Welcome to commenting, ksasa. Surely have read the Memoirs book as well as the information which Bella Dodd shared. Both have been mentioned on site from time to time. SO grateful God has a Plan and that Charlie continues to write and we’re in this Storm together as we all take those next right steps, day by day.

      Liked by 1 person

  41. This discussion brings the following to mind;

    – The design that we see throughout the Universe, and
    – The Apostle Paul’s admonishment of worldly knowledge as opposed to that which comes from God, its links to all kinds of sin, and the practice of a homosexual lifestyle.

    1. Nature By Numbers

    2. Romans 1:16-32

    “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

    For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

    For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

    Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

    For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

    And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

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    1. Beautiful video, Dave. And we embrace Our Lady’s plea that we pray in reparation to God the Father for the ugliness inflicted upon people and events by our own sins and those of others, that in making reparation new space is made for regeneration in each soul… a regeneration born of repentance with a firm purpose to change. “That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.“

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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.