Sometimes you just want to throw up your hands. Hey, we went through it in the 60s and 70s and 80s. Send your beloved son or daughter to a typical “Catholic” college and forget about having a “Catholic” young man or woman graduate. I know I am preaching to the choir here. I mean, lesbian “witches” teaching in theology departments, as one parent told me happened to his son in a Jesuit University in New Orleans; and this was not just that University, but other “Catholic” colleges gave similar tenures to radical feminists and other subversives. But, now we’ve had a “study.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas, whose feast day on the new calendar was yesterday, died at the age of forty-nine in the Cistercian monastery of Foss-Nuova on his way to the second ecumenical council of Lyons. He died on the seventh of March, 1274, exactly two months before the council opened. Even …
Our chaplain, Father Michael Jarecki, is now back home after a three-day hospital stay. He needs more care and attention than he did prior to his recent illness. The brothers, with the help of visiting nurses, are attending to him 24/7. We thank everyone who prayed for him. And he, …
Our longtime chaplain, Father Michael Jarecki, was hospitalized Saturday evening at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, NH. He has an infection in his leg. The problem is not life-threatening per se, but at Father’s advanced age (92), such a condition is of concern. We ask for you prayers for an indefatigable alter Christus, who has been wondrously conformed over the years to Christ the Victim-Priest. He is an edification to us all.
One need not be a neoconservative, a Rush Limbaugh fan, or a partisan of Israel to appreciate this Jewish lady’s frank words to Abe Foxman. I’m none of those things and I appreciate them immensely. She is not alone. There are many Jews who resent Foxman’s profiteering lefty-liberal …
Father Franz Schmidberger, the German District Superior of the Society of St. Pius X, sent a message of gratitude to the Holy Father on the anniversary of the lifting of excommunications from the Society’s four bishops. Included in his video recorded message to the Holy Father were these comments:…
A recent little talk I gave on the sin of schism — part of my comments on the Chair of Unity Octave — prompted a question from one of my auditors: “Is sedevacantism schism?” I had to reply in the affirmative.
In the last analysis, sedevacantists reject the jurisdiction of the Pope over the universal Church. While their schism is different than that of most schismatics — who reject his authority in principle — they have withdrawn themselves from communion with the Vicar of Christ. Since that is precisely what schism is, sedevacantists are in schism.
Dr. Jeff Mirus has an article in the Commentary section of his Catholic Culture website called “The Coming of Christ in the Flesh,” in which he attempts to convince a biblical fundamentalist that people need not have explicit knowledge of, and divine Faith in, Christ in order to be saved. He says that this is the teaching of the Catholic Church, which Christ founded upon Saint Peter, and that, without the guidance of this magisterium, the Bible can be misinterpreted, even on so basic a teaching as whether or not explicit faith in Christ is necessary for salvation.
Patrick J Buchanan shows how those itching to spread “our way of life” throughout the world, instead of forming a pro-American network across the globe, are forging the alliances that will ultimately destroy us. It’s a form of geo-political suicide that seems inherent in democracy. Let’s dump the phony pieties; democracy is “the god that failed.”
Today begins the traditional Chair of Unity octave, originally planned to last from the feast of Saint Peter’s Chair at Rome (today) until the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25. The devotion has evolved into the “Week of Prayer,” since the removal from the calendar of the feast that opened the octave. But even in the 1962 rubrics, a priest may offer the votive Mass of Saint Peter’s Chair at Rome, so we still have our octave in the traditional rite. Readers may find an inelegant but useful PDF file with the appropriate prayers.
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Dear Mr. Kelly, Who are you to tell us who to vote for. I am opposed to abortion, and have openly said so. Senator McCain, although personally saying he felt that Roe. vs. Wade was wrong gave NO indication during the campaign that he would do anything to overturn that decision. That includes not nominating to the supreme court avowedly pro-life candidates who would or could presumably overturn that decision. The Catholic hierarcy would have the public believe, and especially their adherrents, that by simply overturning that court decision abortion would virtually cease. This is complete folly, as anyone with half a brain and a knowledge of not only recent history but also polls done of ALL American citizens would know. I will publicly say that I feel that Roe vs. Wade should be overturned, and I am disturbed by some of Pres. elect Obamas opinions on this matter. However no one in the Catholic hierarchy seems to want to go beyond that. The question is what happens after the Supreme court decision is overturned. Correct, it goes back to the states where you will undoubtedly find a whole myriad of different laws on the matter, with perhaps only a handful of states totally banning abortion, if even that. I have not broken down every poll done in every state, but nationally even Catholics by a majority support some kind of legalized abortions at least in certain instances. Evangelicals oddly enough are probably the greatest bloc of pro-lifers, however amongst even them at least a significant minority support legalizing abortions in cases of rape, incest, or the health of the mother. When you throw in the mainline protestants and the un-churched into the mix it becomes apparent that the strict teachings of the Catholic church will not be the law of the land. Imagine that. Like it or not this is a pluralistic society, that never will become any kind of theocracy, and definitely not a Catholic one. Instead of threatening hell-fire and damnation to its adherrents perhaps the Church and its esteemed Bishops would do well to actually work WITH the people who may not share all of the Church’s views but would be willing to work towards helping the president and this government take measures to educate the people, and to increase their willingness to see other alternatives to abortion. We also as a nation, not just as a church need to not only give aid and support to mothers who want to keep their baby, but also to give aid to those mother’s who will probably, in many cases need help after their pro-life decision. I do, as you undoubtedly do, pray for the end of all abortions. Furthermore the Church cannot back down from it’s teachings which clearly state that abortion is wrong. However as I said before if the Church wants to be the effective weapon it wants to be in reducing and someday ending abortions, it cannot do so in the threatening way it has done. The people have spoken, and it obviously does not work.
You may not have noticed, Mr. Wheeler, that Mr. Kelly did not tell anyone whom to vote for. He is simply advancing the elemental notion that to vote for a candidate who has a pro-abortion agenda is sinful. You assumed that Mr. Kelly was promoting John McCain. But the senator from Arizona was not mentioned in the piece at all.
Mr. Kelly, by the way, is in agreement with a vocal group of our bishops who have made the Catholic teaching on this matter quite explicit in their public statements.
You speak (naively, it would seem) as if Senator Obama’s pro-abortion stance is an Achilles heel in an otherwise good statesman. That will not do. Barak Obama is enthusiastically pro-abortion, to the point of exceeding Hilary Clinton in that arena. He is also pro-homosexual. His agenda for the nation — anti-life, anti-family — is diametrically opposed to Christian polity.
It is a mortal sin knowingly to vote for such a candidate.
Dear Brother Andre Marie, There were as you know only two candidates with any viable chance of winning the presidency, and when someone suggests that Catholics in their vote just added “another grave sin to their dark soul” by voting the way they did (54-45 per cent for Obama) it’s rather obvious that that person was not referring to “Mickey Mouse” as the correct candidate to vote for in order to avoid perdition. Just thought you might not have “noticed”. Mr. Kelly is indeed in agreement with that vocal group of bishops you speak of who did speak out against pro-choice candidates, but that did not constitute a majority of bishops in the U.S. That isn’t to say that the other bishops are pro-choice. Far from it, and neither am I. But they did not threaten the laity of the Catholic Church with eternal separation from God by their vote. Furthermore, no one, including the bishops of the United States can say with certainty what will actually happen once a president takes office. In the 35 years since Roe vs. Wade was passed the party that was supposedly “pro-life” has been in power all but 12, and yet the law still stands. Talk is cheap. I am not pleased with Pres.-elect Obama’s views in regard to pro-life issues, and although I feel he was the best candidate for the nation at this time with the most talent to tackle all of the problems we as a nation face, I admit that I could withdraw my support if he does in fact take measures that will increase abortions or to try to force in any way the Church to compromise it’s principles on this moral teaching. I do respect the Church and as I said before in my previous entry I pray for the day when abortions cease. However as I also said before I resent being told how to vote. No one but God knows my conscience and my true intent. Not you or the bishops. It’s interesting to note how as each election year has come around the language and tenor has consistently changed. First, it was that one could vote for a pro-choice candidate as long as they did not vote for that candidate BECAUSE of that position. Then it became that one could vote for a pro-choice candidate so long as they felt there were proportionate reasons for doing so. (i.e. then Cardinal Ratzinger’s 2004 decree). This year that statement was re-iterated by the bishops, with the typical addendum that there could be NO proportionate reasons. My own archbishop said that. It should be noted that the Pope at no time during this election season made any kind of statement that went as far as the vocal bishops of the U.S. I do agree that it could be possible to vote in such a way that you could indeed commit a mortal sin, but that would have to be in the form of a referendum on abortion specifically. The Church in that case would of course have every right and duty to declare such persons de facto excomunicated, and certainly refuse the sacraments to those who openly stated that they supported a pro-abortion vote. I did promise myself [and most importantly God] that I would increase activities in regard to pro-life issues, and will encourage others to do so. I pray for God’s blessing upon us all, and specifically upon our nation. Pax Vobiscum.
Catholic Politicians who support abortion have already excommunicated themselves!
Hell awaits them unless they repent, and eternity is a long,long time to burn.