Prayer for Priests November 29, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in General Catholic.comments closed
Here’s the best prayer for priests that I have come across. Please pray for all priests every day as satan attacks them constantly. The Church and the world have such desperate need for holy, orthodox priests. The crisis in the Faith will not end until we have them.
O Jesus, Eternal Priest, keep all Thy priests within the shelter of Thy Sacred Heart, where none may harm them.
Keep unstained their anointed hands which daily touch Thy Sacred Body. Keep unsullied their lips purpled with Thy Precious Blood. Keep pure and unearthly their hearts, sealed with the sublime marks of Thy glorious priesthood.
Let Thy holy love surround them and shield them from the world’s contagion.
Bless their labors with abundant fruit, and may the souls t whom they have ministered be here below their joy and consolation and in Heaven their beautiful and everlasting crown. Amen.
O Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for us; obtain for us a number of holy priests.
Begin your St. Andrew Novena today! November 29, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, General Catholic.comments closed
Immaculate Conception Novena starts Nov. 29 November 29, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, awesomeness, Basics, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, Novenas, sanctity, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
Dom Prosper Gueranger gives an exhortation for our age November 26, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, Christendom, disaster, episcopate, error, family, General Catholic, persecution, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, Society, the enemy.comments closed
I read the following several days ago, on the Feast of St. Cecilia. Due to other commitments, I was not able to post the below until now. I find in the below exactly the kind of exhortation we need for our day, for the crises that afflict the Church and the entire world. We need great Saints. Saints rarely, if ever, are made through some secret action of Grace, just suddenly emerging one day totally imbued with sanctity and virtue. No, Saints are made through suffering and denial, but also apostolic zeal for the salvation of souls and the conversion of the world. What the Church has been missing most of all these past several decades is that latter, critical part: zeal of souls.
God have mercy on us. Gueranger, via Ars Orandi (which saved me from having to type all this in!), below:
The Church recognizes and honours in St. Cæcilia three characteristics, which, united together, distinguish her among all the blessed in heaven, and are a source of grace and an example to men. These three characteristics are, virginity, apostolic zeal, and the superhuman courage which enabled her to bear torture and death. Such is the threefold teaching conveyed by this one Christian life.
Dallas Carmel in need of your support November 26, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Grace, Interior Life, Latin Mass, religious, sanctity, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
The good nuns of the Carmel of the Infant Jesus of Prague are in need of help. Their HVAC unit has conked out. It must be replaced, it is beyond repair. I don’t have a figure for the cost of the replacement, but it is likely to be high. Could you please consider, in your charity, sending a donation to these good nuns, who have so supported the traditional practice of the Faith in this Diocese (and whose prayers likely played a huge role in the miracle that is Mater Dei)? Any amount will help.
Donations can be sent to:
Discalced Carmelite Nuns
600 Flowers Avenue
Dallas, TX 75211
You can make your checks out to Dallas Carmelites
God bless you!
Please pardon this brief editorial departure from our normal standards November 22, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin.comments closed
All you leftists out there w******g yourselves off (my apologies folks, should have at least warned you. Nevertheless, inexcusable, a big failure on my part) calling Dallas the City of Hate because your previous failed “god,” John “pass the girls around, strung out on speedballs” Kennedy happened to be murdered by a communist here (and so you desperately try to deflect that fact by claiming Dallas had some right-wing “climate of hate” before the assassination) can all go…….well, I was originally going to write something reflective of my emotions here, but……….repent and be converted.
Let’s face it, in typical leftist fashion, you are projecting your own hatred of Dallas, as a scion of free-enterprise and conservative values, onto the city itself. You’d hate it no matter what happened to your false hero here, but the assassination just gives you all the more excuse to hate. In bizarro left-think, Dallas thus becomes “the city of hate,” because you hate it. In the same way, you try to claim every lone nut with a gun who kills or tries to kill some people is always a right winger, even though more often than not, they are actually crazed leftists like Jared Loughner and James Holmes (who now, btw, appears to be muslim). Oh, but after you’d pilloried conservatives with these knowing lies, the corrections somehow never get made.
I refuse to take part in this self-loathing. There was nothing “wrong” with Dallas or anywhere else, in particular, on Nov. 22, 1963, that precipitated the Kennedy assassination. In fact, what was wrong was a very sick little man filled with typical leftist hate, who wanted to bring down a president who was not the peasnluv liberal you’ve so desperately spent 50 years making him out to be, but was actually an inept dilettante and Cold War hawk who massively expanded the US defense budget and strategic nuclear arsenal after taking office. At this point, your fingers are in your ear and you’re screaming “no no no” so I’ll leave it at that.
From a Catholic perspective, there is every reason to pray for John F. Kennedy’s soul. Given his propensity to take intoxicating drugs daily, and his near-nonstop infidelities, ruminating on his state of Grace when assassinated is a frightful prospect to consider. No matter what a disaster he was as president – and he was a substantial one, especially in terms of foreign policy – he likely needs our prayers. I’ll pray for him.
Some Church beauty for you November 22, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in Art and Architecture, awesomeness, Basics, Christendom, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Holy suffering, sanctity, Society, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
There is a truly gorgeous parish in New Bedford, Mass – St. Anthony of Padua. I found out about it because some Franciscan of the Immaculate nuns attached in some way to that parish were visiting our local TLM parish. Nuns, it seems, rate private Masses! Good for them. The nuns were awesome. I did not get a chance to speak with them, if I had, I would have surely polled their opinions on the repression of Summorum Pontificum for their order. Or limitations, whatever, for the pedantics.
Nonetheless, in finding out a bit about the nuns, I stumbled on this St. Anthony of Padua. They don’t build churches like this anymore, which is an enormous shame:
High Altar
Details of scene above high altar:
Apparently, the parish has a very elaborate lighting system with different colors that can be used to accent different parts of the nave, sanctuary, side altars, etc., depending on the season, the time of day, etc. . They have what looks like a solid gold figurine of the Good Shepherd at the opening of the Tabernacle on a side altar – you can sort of see that above.
What does a church like this say about the people who built it? It was constructed around 110-120 years ago. Even people with no attachment to the Church – or even a hostility to the Church – can recognize the beauty that is reflected here. And the sacrifice. I was speaking with someone the other day, and we both reflected on how eager we would be to sacrifice – even a great deal – to help build a church with something of the glory of this one. I hear some people say – especially those who look for reasons NOT to build a glorious structure like this – that we simply can’t build churches like this anymore. That the skills don’t exist to do so. But then again, there are some really beautiful churches being built here and there – perhaps not as ornate and amazingly detailed as this one, but quite beautiful, nonetheless. It’s not exactly to my taste, but the chapel at Our Lady of the Angels monastery in Alabama is one example.
Given how much wonderful church art is being ripped out of parishes all over Europe, literally hundreds a year, as they are being closed down, and sold at literally fire sale prices, it seems like taking the time and effort to build an amazing church like this one, which could stand for 1000 years if properly cared for, is actually quite possible.
Anything in the universe is possible given enough time, and money. We sent 24 men to the moon, for Heaven’s sake. I’m sure this church wasn’t built in a day. I’m sure it took enormous effort to make it happen. So much the better, for the greater glory of God.
Dallas Ursuline’s own Melinda Gates spending $4.3 billion on contraception November 21, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, contraception, disaster, error, family, foolishness, General Catholic, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sickness, Society.comments closed
Interestingly, I just read an article the other day on how singularly, spectacularly ineffective all the great celebrity news-hounding “charity” by the Gates has been. In effect, most of their programs haven’t even slightly improved the lives of the poor in Africa, but have only served to further enrich third-world kleptocrats. But, these huge-dollar giveaways do keep the Gates’ name in the papers, which may be the point of it all.
And not to be churlish, but once again, we see a Catholic apostate hanging her apostasy on the words of Pope Francis. Fairly or unfairly, that is the reality those words have created:
Melinda Gates, the wife of Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, is running a £2.7 billion ($4.3 billion) project to provide birth control for an additional 120 million women in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Her work has been criticised in some Catholic quarters because the Church opposes the use of contraceptives.
However, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph Stella magazine, Mrs Gates, 49, said she had wrestled with her beliefs before making her views – which put her at odds with the Catholic Church’s teaching – public.
“It took me a couple of years, quite honestly. I knew it would be controversial. But you can’t turn your back on these women you meet.”
Access to contraception led to greater opportunities for girls, as preventing unwanted pregnancies allowed them to finish their studies, Mrs Gates said. [But at what cost? How much will future productivity implode due to tiny family size? What of the long-term health effects on the mother from using often very dangerous, carcinogenic forms of contraception (the kind most preferred by the Gates, like 30 day shots of huge doses of hormones, to keep the “ooops I forgot” factor” away? None of this is mentioned, and contraception – a grave moral evil – is presented as an unalloyed good.]
“I use contraceptives. I believe in contraceptives, my friends use contraceptives. And so if I believe in this for myself – and for my daughters and other women – I said to myself, ‘How could I not speak out about this?’” [Could this be a way to rationalize her sin, by foisting it on tens of millions of other women? “Everybody is doing it” is the oldest excuse in the book for sin.]
Mrs Gates said she was heartened by Pope Francis, who has suggested that the Church is too focused on contraception and abortion. [Did he? That was just one quote, how many other quotes – and there are a number – weigh against that one?]
“I’ve been so happy to hear him say overall is that he’s focused on the poor,” she said. “That is the Church’s mission. If you go back to the Bible, it was about focusing on people who were poor and marginalised. [Yes, but NO! It was – it IS – about saving your soul! About loving God with all your heart, mind, and strength, which means ACCEPTING ALL THE TRUTH CHRIST HAS REVEALED THROUGH HIS CHURCH, INCLUDING THE EVIL OF CONTRACEPTION! But I see you are a true product of your schooling, I would imagine 90+% of Ursuline grads agree with you.]
“So I think he’s trying to put the conversation back on the roots of the Church, and I think that’s fantastic.”
There you go, systematic theology from Melinda Gates. Wonderful. It is so sad she has not been advised by a very holy priest of the danger she is putting her soul in. But then again, perhaps she has.
I know there are so many things to pray for, but perhaps a prayer for the conversion of Mrs. Gates would be in order. So sad, she is going to have a devastating impact on so many women. She has at least 4.3 billion things to atone for. I pray for her happiness in this life and in the next, and most devoutly for her sincere conversion.
Hail Mary……
There is a place for charitable criticism of prelates….. November 21, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, episcopate, General Catholic, Holy suffering, Interior Life, Papa, sanctity, Society, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
…..even at the highest levels of the Church. So says a noted Italian Catholic below.
I posted earlier today on Michael Matt’s chastisement of overly critical traddies. I wrote a response, but it was probably muddled. Here, via Tancred (who has been bringing the gold of late), is a commentary from Mario Palmaro (he who received the papal thanks for criticism from the traditional perspective) on the subject of papal criticism and bad behavior of trads. He sums up very well, even beautifully, my own feelings I could not articulate earlier today:
Whether people “like” the pope is completely irrelevant in the two thousand year old logic of the Church: the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth and must please our Lord. This means that the exercise of his authority is not absolute, but subordinate to the doctrine of Christ, which is found in the Catholic Church, in Her tradition, and is nourished by the life of grace through the sacraments. This means that the Catholics may be critical of the Pope himself and criticize under the condition that this is done out of love for the truth and that the tradition, the Magisterium is used as a standard gauge. [My sentiment exactly. And I think an excessive ultramontanism inculcated after Vatican I played a huge role in the success of the revolution after Vatican II, because Catholics had been taught to never, ever criticize.] A pope who would contradict a predecessor in matters of faith and morals should be criticized without doubt. [And failing to do so is a tantamount joining in the criticism of the predecessor?] We must be against both the secular logic and suspicious of a pope, assessed according to the good pleasure of the democratic majority, as well as to the temptation of a papolatry, according to a “the Pope is always right”. In addition, we are accustomed for decades to criticize destructively dozens of popes of the past, by applying the small historiographical seriousness of the day. So there is no apparent reason why the reigning popes should be immune from all forms of criticism. When Boniface VIII and Pius V is evaluated, why doesn’t that also go for Paul VI, or Francis? [Yes! That was the point I tried to make in my post earlier today. I read and hear some folks just blasting traditional/conservative Catholics for expressing criticisms or concerns about the current pope, and yet many of these same folks will turn around and blast Alexander VI, Formosus, etc. Why is it only the current popes, or at least the post-conciliar ones, that are above reproach? Is there a time limit, because I read critiques and analyses of popes long dead, and yet we aren’t allowed to discuss the current pope? Very convenient!]
[When asked about grouchy, uncharitable trads….] The attitude of some of the individuals or groups connected to tradition is a serious problem and can not be denied. [I agree.] One explanation advanced is that truth without love is a betrayal of truth. Christ is our way, our truth and our life, so we have to take Him as a model, who was unbeatable in the truth, always inflexible, and in love. I think the world of tradition is sometimes pointed and polemical for three reasons: First, because of a certain syndrome of isolation that they can be suspicious and resentful, and it is also expressed by problematic personalities; Second, because of the sincere scandal, the specific directions of contemporary Catholicism provokes in those who know the doctrine of the Popes and the Church well up to the Second Vatican Council; Third, because of the lack of love that is shown by the official catholicity towards these brothers on the day, who are entitled with a contemptuous tone as “traditionalists” or ” Lefebvrians”, in which one forgets, that in the Church they are definitely much closer than any other Christian denomination, or even any other religion. For the official Catholic media this reality of hundreds of [traditional] priests and seminarians isn’t worth devoting a line, while devoting entire pages to some thinkers who have not once said anything remotely Catholic.
I’ve beat you guys down with enough long posts today, so I won’t add anymore commentary. I will say again, these are difficult times, and many people are going to have to make choices with respect to how they conduct themselves, always keeping within the bounds of charity. There can be respectful disagreement on the best manner in which to handle scandal in the Church, especially when it comes from the highest level. Some may feel very powerfully that the only thing to do is to pray and practice mortification, but some may feel called to take a more active approach. I would think there might be room, and a genuine need, for both.
But, then again, that could just be some self-serving thinking on my part. But there is much of that to go around.
“Fundamentalist” protestants advocate violent spanking, beat child to death November 21, 2013
Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, Basics, disaster, Ecumenism, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, sadness, scandals, sickness, Society.comments closed
I really don’t like the term “fundamentalist,” because they are not. Unless one considers people who obsess over a few bible quotes taken radically out of context from the whole and from each other as somehow possessing a “fundamental” understanding of Sacred Scripture and Christianity in general.
A case on point. Yes, the Bible does indicate in places – in the Old Testament – that parents should discipline their children, even severely. This severity was prior to the New Covenant, which is based on love, not fear. So, these Old Testament dictums were obviated, or at least moderated to a point of reason, by St. Paul’s exhortation to parents and spouses in 1 Corinthians. Unfortunately, some protestants have once again seized on a particular bit of Scripture and gone nuts with it, and now a little girl is dead. As the father of five daughters, this just makes me so sad. I’m trying hard no to be mad.
I don’t have a problem with spanking. I have certainly spanked my kids. But I pray God I would never take to using tricks like rubber hoses – the same technique the North Vietnamese used to torture our pilots in the Vietnam War – so I can hide the damage. That, right there, indicates shame and a knowledge that what one is doing is wrong. There is a huge difference between applying one’s hand to a child’s bottom, and wailing on them with a plastic hose – to the point of death.
Yet another black eye for Christendom. Just what we needed…….
I guess that does raise a question – are protestants part of Christendom? Or are they so heretical they are not? Orthodox – I would say they are part of Christendom. The five high church Anglicans that are left – maybe. Fundies…..probably not.
h/t Christine Niles
PS – What is the Church’s ecumenical outreach to fundamentalists? It seems those to the right of the current administration of the Church don’t get much ecumenical love. Funny how that works……
A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics 