Category: Catholicism

Sanctity is different now because of …. pollution?

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment

The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints is running a conference for theologians, scholars, and “communications experts” aimed at redefining what it means to be a saint. Apparently the world has changed so much that what made the saints of old will no longer make the saints of the future.

“Fame of sanctity,” and “heroic virtue” are the sticking points for Rome’s Modernists. So in other words, the defining features of sanctity are going to be excised from the canonisation process, leaving us with garden variety “good people” becoming “saints.”

Bishop Fabio Fabene, Secretary of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, tells us that “the challenge is to find ways in which the Church and the world can share a religious and ethical code of ideas and experiences.“

But, My Lord, such a collaboration already exists: I believe it’s called “Freemasonry”.

The banal Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery asks, “What is fame today? If we measure it with “likes” then there are many people much more famous than any saint. What do we mean by being heroic in exercising virtue? Is sanctity something muscular?”

Sanctity isn’t measured with ‘likes”, Your Excellency. It is measured with perseverance on the narrow path already trod by Our Saviour.

And just why are today’s prelates so preoccupied with gyms and muscles? See the last sentence below for a clue.

Cardinal Semeraro continues: “Living in today’s world as Christians means responding, which has been the case before. For example, when St. Francis of Assisi sang brother sun, sister moon, sister water, there were not the same problems with pollution that we have today. So there is a different way of addressing the topic, it is not enough to love the water, love nature, birds, today we have different applications.” [Emphasis added. Eye-roll added, as well.]

SOURCE

And if you’d like to know a little more about Marcello Semeraro, a VERY interesting appraisal from a few years ago may be found here. It was around the time he took part in that little “Christian” LGBTI event.

The Amazon continues to haunt the Church

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment

Ever since the Pacha-scandal, Catholics haven’t been able to think of the Amazon region without an interior spiritual shudder. That day marked the sickening beginning of a nightmare that still continues, for Scripture tells us that pestilence is a punishment for idolatry. Worse than even a “plandemic” is the thought of God’s remaining punishments for idolatry: famine and war. And these have not been closer to our shores than at any time during the past seventy years.

So it is with grave misgivings that I see the Amazonian Rite is still being fabricated in ‘full steam ahead’ mode. One can only ask, why that is? Pope Francis is all for reducing the number of Rites, is he not? Yet, here we see a gaggle of Commissions working away to create – out of thin air – a Rite which will allow the “Local Churches to live and celebrate their faith, according to their native expressions”. Because, as is only too evident whenever the Modernist Church casts its net to the peripheries, it believes that the indigenous people caught in its snare of opportunism lack the intelligence to comprehend the Mass as it has always been offered.

Why else must every prayer, hymn and symbol be dumbed-down for the locals? Surely not, say, to enable paganism to sit side-by-side with true worship? Surely not to see demons usurp the place reserved for Christ alone? Because that is precisely what will happen if the Church continues its headlong path towards syncretism and idolatry.

If we hadn’t had enough of redundant terms, such as a absurd-sounding Synod on Synodality, the South American bishops, (Liberation theologians almost to a man) have given us a new one: inculturation in interculturality. Our shepherds are sounding more like Dr Seuss every day.

Anyone concerned about this new Rite being completely orthodox, decorous and edifying can rest easy. Cardinal Roche has it in hand. As a sworn enemy of the Latin Mass, he will no doubt ensure that the Amazon Rite displays the least possible resemblance to the usus antiquior.

Don’t forget that at the time of the Synod on the Amazon, it was suggested that women deacons be ordained in that region and that married men be allowed to become priests.

Move over Troy, the Amazonian horse is on its way. When it comes to the creation of this new Mass, we can be sure that Tradition will be tossed into a pot with some herbs and a baby llama or two, then burned as an offering to Pachamama.

Did God will a diversity of ministries?

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment

The 72nd National Liturgical Week is currently underway in Italy with the theme “Ministries at the Service of a Synodal Church.”

As you can see, the switch from the “Catholic Church” to the “Synodal Church” is almost complete now, with “synodality” being tossed freely about at every Catholic committee meeting, conference and talkfest.

“Synodality” and its converse – the death of Tradition – is almost a fait accompli. Of course, being of Divine origin, Tradition can never really die, but it certainly can languish in a dungeon while the ape of the Church ploughs on with its programme.

Cardinal Parolin is there at the conference, drawing attention to the great transformation currently underway. He reminds us that these nouveau ministries hold “particular significance for the Church in the present historical moment.” Well, of course they do. These Synodal Ministries will ensure the extermination of the Latin Mass by making the new generation of lukewarm Catholics complicit in the destruction.

Speaking on behalf of the Pope, Cardinal Parolin quoted the pontiff and his desire that the legion of Made-Up Ministers become “experts in the art of encounter,” something with disconcerting undertones in these days of gay-cruising priests, semi-naked liturgical dancers, and episcopal beach houses.

But he probably just means that the Apostles of the Church of Nice will be trained (at the pew-sitter’s expense) to speak nicely about nice topics, referencing the nicest parts of Scripture and generally promulgating the virtue of niceness.

Except when dealing with Trads. Because they don’t count.

Thankfully, the Pope can rest his novel schemes on the solid basis of a predecessor. Who says Francis only relies on his own ideas? What balderdash.

Francis has reached back through the mists of time to draw on the perennial wisdom of the magisterium as it has existed for ……. the last fifty years …… to remind us of the reforms of Paul VI and to dreamily cast his vision for “the renewal of the Church in an increasingly “communal” and less clerical direction.”

What a relief for those billions of victims of heterodox teaching clericalism. After all, clericalism really is the main problem facing the Church today.

Parolin, ever the dutiful son of the Church, reminds the more skeptical among us that the universal priesthood must not be confused with the ministerial priesthood.

Whew. Thanks for that, Your Excellency. I’m sure placing those two terms in the same sentence and in the context of expansion of ministries for the laity definitely won’t produce confusion.

We are all priests now.

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment

Francis serves up another heresy sandwich with Desiderio Desideravi.

The documents of Vatican II are often likened to a cake to which a teaspoon of poison has been added, rendering the whole thing unfit to eat. Our present Pope has taken that to a new level with his regular offerings of heresy sandwich: two wholesome slices of brown bread (sound doctrine) with a thick layer of heresy sandwiched between them.

His Apostolic letter, Desiderio Desideravi, is a prime example of this. With its calls for more reverent celebration of the Mass, and for congregants to be better educated about the nature of the Mass, most of its content is as solid as the homemade loaves baked by grandma on her woodstove.

Then we hear from Giovanni Zaccaria, professor at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce who really knows how to draw attention to that soul-snatching poison found lurking in the sandwich. (“Wait!” I hear you say. “The Pope didn’t say this.” To which my response is: this is how he operates; this is “his style”, as he is so fond of saying. Bergoglio’s “style” is to get a mouthpiece to explain what is really going on in his mind.) Back to Zaccaria:

“The first need is to understand the priestly dimension of the baptized. That all the baptized are priests, they participate in the priesthood, through the common priesthood of the faithful, they participate in the priesthood of Christ. Therefore, in that celebration, they are also protagonists”.

Well, not really.

In the Mass, there is ONE priest, a ordained man who gave up the promise of comfort and family life for the sake of Jesus Christ. But even HE is not the “protagonist” of the Mass: the protagonist in the Mass is Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, offering His Sacrifice of Himself to the First Person of the Trinity, God the Father, through the action of the Third Person, the Holy Ghost. A priest simply acts in persona Christi.

There is no human protagonist in the Mass.

Of course, the Modernists always make a fuss of this ‘Royal Priesthood” thing, and of course, they have Scripture to back them. up. 1 Peter 2:9 is a favourite reference; a look at the second part of that verse gives a clue as to why this verse is so beloved of the modern Church: “But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.“

It’s a handy little verse that can easily be co-opted by lodge-attending Modernists. They just LOVE Masonic-sounding Bible references.

Now, some might think that Fr Zaccaria is applying St Peter’s exhortation to the faithful in order to make them more appreciative of their baptismal graces and ultimately more attentive at Mass. However, reading more of his comments makes it quite clear, that this man’s intention – if not that of the original document – is to encourage the “clericalisation of the laity and the laicisation of clerics.”

The laity don’t kneel in Mass because they are a lesser form of priest, the laity (and priest) kneel as a sign of humility before the awe-inspiring sacrifice of Jesus Christ, before the grandeur of the Trinity, before the miracle of Transubstantiation.

We kneel because we deserve hell but also have a chance of avoiding it.

We kneel out of love and reverence – not because we want to be – or are, in some mysterious way – priests.

By the way, this final phrase could be taken to suggest that traditionalists, who are known for doing a lot of kneeling during a Latin Mass, simply do so because that it their personal preference – their “party.”

“When you kneel it is also a sign of the priestly dimension of everything you are doing. The gestures already exist, but they need to be understood, explained better, because if not, they become our party and the Mass is not our party”.

So what at first seems like grandma’s good and wholesome bread may in fact leave the recipient with a rather nasty taste in his mouth – if not a case of indigestion.

If only the reality was as insignificant as the analogy, since a heresy sandwich is something that harms not the body, but the soul.

Vatican doesn’t want new priests to offer the Latin Mass.

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment

Apparently not.

Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society, UK, has published a portion of a letter which suggests that this is the case. The letter was written to a bishop on behalf of a priest ordained after the promulgation of Traditiones Custodes, who wishes to offer the TLM.

The letter came from the Dicastery of Divine Worship and here is the extract:

…this Dicastery is of the opinion that this [permission] would not be an opportune decision. Therefore, we deny the request. The path established by the Holy Father in Traditionis custodes is quite clear and this has been underscored both in the “Letter to Bishops of the Whole World” which accompanied the Motu proprio and in the Responsa ad dubia of this Dicastery, which were personally approved by the Holy Father. In this latter document, with regard to this very point, it was highlighted that the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council “has enhanced every element of the Roman Rite and has fostered – as hoped for by the Council Fathers – the full, conscious and active participation of the entire people of God in the liturgy (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium no. 14), the primary source of authentic Christian spirituality”. Most recently the Holy Father’s Apostolic Letter of 29 June, Desiderio Desideravi, on the liturgical formation of the people of God, expands on the above mentioned letter to the bishops and reaffirms Pope Francis’ desire that unity around the celebration of the liturgy be re-established in the whole Church of the Roman Rite (n. 61).

There is of course no difficulty for Fr [] to celebrate Mass according to the editio typica tertia (2008) of the Missale Romanum.

Mr Shaw writes, “It is noteworthy that although the letter begins by saying that the documents supporting the request have been studied carefully, the reasons for refusing the request is entirely general, not specific to the situation of the diocese,” and asks, “Is this what pastoral care looks like?”

The Sanctity of the Church by Romano Amerio

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment

taken from Iota Unum, Chapter VI (Click here to purchase)

#58. Sanctity of the Church. An Apologetical Principal.

That the Church is holy is a dogma of the Faith, included in the creed, but the theological definition of that holiness is a difficult business. We are not here concerned with canonized holiness, which has indeed varied in style with the centuries: the holiness of Emperor Henry II is markedly different to that of St. John Bosco, as is that of St. Joan of Arc from that of St. Therese of Lisieux. There is furthermore a gap between the heroic virtue of the canonized saint, and the holiness inherent in anybody who is merely in state of grace.

In the Summa Theologica, III,q.8,a.3 ad secundum, and in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, in the section on the creed, it is explained how the sins of the baptized do not prejudice the holiness of the Church, but this remains, nonetheless a complex notion which only a rigorous distinction can render clear. A definite distinction must be drawn between the natural element, and the supernatural element which produces the new creature, between the subjective and the objective element; between the historical element and the suprahistorical element which operates within it.

Firstly, the Church is holy because it is the body which has the God-Man as its head. In union with that head it becomes itself theandric (Relating to, or existing by, the union of divine and human operation in Christ): no profane body can be conceived as living in union with a holy head. Secondly, it is objectively holy because it possesses the Eucharist which is in its very essence the Sacred and the Sanctifier: all the Sacraments derive from the Eucharist. Thirdly, it is holy because it contains revealed truth in an indefectible and infallible way. The fundamental principle of Catholic apologetics must be located here: the Church cannot display, throughout its history, an uninterrupted sequence of activity in perfect conformity with the requirements of the Gospel, but it can point to an uninterrupted teaching of the truth: the holiness of the Church is to be located in the latter not the former.

It follows from this that those who belong to the Church will find themselves preaching a doctrine that is better than their own deeds. No man can preach himself, beset by weakness and failure; he can only re-preach the doctrine taught by the God-Man, or better, preach the person of the God-Man Himself. Thus, truth too is a constituent element in the holiness of the Church, and is forever attached to the Word and forever at odds with corruption, including one’s own.

The holiness of the Church is revealed in what could be called a subjective way in the holiness of its members, that is, in all those that live in grace as vital members of the mystical body. It appears in an obvious and outstanding way in its canonised members, whom grace and their own activity have pushed onwards to the highest levels of virtue. This holiness did not fail, be it noted once again, even in the periods of the greatest corruption of society and among the clergy; an age when the papacy was depraved by pagan influences saw the flourishing of Catherine of Bologna (+1464), Bernadino of Feltre (+1494), Catherine dei Fieschi (+1503), Francis of Paola (+1507), Jeanne de Valois (+1503) as well as many reformers such as Girolamo Savonarola (+1498).

Considerations and facts of this sort, however, do not clear the field of all objections. Paul VI conceded to the Church’s critics the fact that “the history of the Church has many long pages that are not all edifying” but he did not distinguish clearly enough between the objective holiness of the Church and the subjective holiness of its members. In another address, he put it in these terms: “The Church ought to be holy and good, it ought to be as Christ intended and designed it to be and we sometimes see that it is not worthy of the title.”

It would seem that the Pope is turning an objective note of the Church into a subjective one. It is indeed true that Christians ought to be holy, and they are inasmuch as they live in a state of grace, but the Church is holy. It is not Christians that make the Church holy, but the Church that makes them holy. It is also true that the biblical affirmation of the irreproachable holiness of the Church non habentem maculam aut rugam (Having neither spot nor wrinkle: Ephesians 5:27) is applicable to the Church in time only in an initial and partial way, despite the fact that it is indeed holy. All the Fathers take that flawlessness as connected with the final eschatological purification rather than with the Church’s pilgrim state in time.