Liturgical Abuse: Blessing pagan stones at Mass in Minnesota April 14, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, Liturgy, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, sickness, Society, Spiritual Warfare.comments closed
Warning, the music in the video below will require significant amounts of brain bleach to eradicate.
It seems there has been a severe abuse ongoing at Masses in the troubled Archdiocese of Minneapolis for some time. Stones used in what seem obviously to be pagan worship services are blessed during Novus Ordo Masses. According to Tancred at Eponymous Flower, these stones are said to be the bones of the “Earth Mother” and are heated by fire for use in sweat lodges and accompanying spirit journeys:
This profanation you see above? The priest calls it “The Transubstantiation of the Blessed Earthen Rock Ceremony.” It is confirmed this takes place as part of the, ahem, Mass. So, what….the rock turns into our Lord and Savior? That is straight up blasphemy, in addition to being the gravest sacrilege.
First of all, much Native American spirituality is animist and overtly pagan. Secondly, these rituals and their use have strong new age overtones, finding the “god” within, and all that. Thirdly, the entire practice of sweat lodges and “spirit journeys” (the latter very common in new age, which has adopted a great deal of Native American spirituality) is disordered to say the least, since it involves self-hypnosis and opens one up to potential demonic influence. Some might argue the entire pagan, animist practice is demonic.
As such, do we really have to say it has no place in a Catholic Mass? Is this the much vaunted “inculturation” about which we hear so much with regard to disordered/abusive presentations of the Novus Ordo?
Tancred reports this has gone on in Minneapolis for years, and that the Archdiocese is well aware. In a normal time, one would have to ask, how can this be, but we are not in a normal time. In fact, things like this are so common, and exasperation so rife among the faithful, that many have become either beaten down or cynical.
It is difficult not to see scandals like this, and the failure to terminate them immediately, as just one more sign of a profound lack of faith among our Church leaders, and one more tendency towards being far more concerned with men and their opinions, than with God and His just Rights. It is also difficult not to see in this, once again, the perversion of incredibly sacred Catholic practice with some foolish, uninspired, and dangerous “ecumenism.” This seems the trend in almost all Catholic ecumenism: sacred rites are profaned to grant some special privilege to a separated sect or some completely alien (and incompatible) religion, while there is rarely if ever a quid pro quo from the other side. It’s just more banality, more watering down, more humanism, more laziness, more cowering, and more soft leftism.
I’m very tired of it. But I don’t matter. What matters, I wholeheartedly believe, is that it is profoundly offensive to God. And all these abuses will have to be answered for some day.
This priest, Fr. Michael Tegeder, obviously needs a lot of prayers. An aging hippy with a well receded hair line and a sad ponytail…….he’s like a walking cliche of the nightmare post-VII priest. I also strongly suggest making Communions of reparation for this blasphemy against Our Crucified Lord and the Holy Ghost.
Here’s some brainwash:
Mas. If have a hard time seeing that lollipop garbage in the nightmare video at the top as being in the same religion:
Fr. Peyton was right all along! April 14, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Domestic Church, family, fun, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, Our Lady, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
No overly verbose message, with way too many parenthetical expressions. Just some good, clear truth:
God Bless Fr. Peyton and his Rosary crusade.
h/t JP Sonnen
Archbishop Aquila begs assistance to defeat abhorrent pro-abort bill April 14, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, contraception, Dallas Diocese, disaster, episcopate, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, sickness, Society.comments closed
I can remember when Colorado was a normal state. Conservative, even. Then hundreds of thousands of Californians, having wrecked their own state, moved in. The state is now really divided, but the leftists have the upper hand in the state government. Lord, please never let that happen here.
The radicals, who have also passed stupid laws against certain kinds of firearms, have a new bill called Senate Bill 175. According to Archbishop of Denver Samuel Aquila, it basically seeks to enshrine abortion in Colorado law forever, and forestall any future pro-life legislation:
If you haven’t yet heard, there is a very troubling bill being debated in the Colorado State Senate next week. Senate Bill 175, touted as the “Reproductive Health Freedom Act,” passed on a party line vote in committee this past Thursday. I am grateful to every person who showed up to oppose the radical bill.
This over-reaching piece of legislation would essentially shut down any attempt to pass life-affirming legislation in Colorado ever again. More than that, it enshrines the “right to abortion” into Colorado law. It’s being praised by anti-life organizations such as NARAL and ThinkProgress as “the first of its kind” in the country and “ambitious.” It enshrines the culture of death into law and ignores science.
This bill would prevent lawmakers from enacting laws such as ultrasound requirements, which we all know—particularly from the work of the Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Initiative here in Colorado—have done so much to give mothers vital information about their pregnancy, and thus save countless children from imminent death.
It prevents common sense regulations like waiting periods, restrictions on abortion pills (particularly for minors), and parental notification policies. Advocates of this bill seek the absolute “right to abortion” for girls as young as 10 or 11 without a parent’s knowledge, guidance or advice. Parents are seen as unfit in the moral guidance of their children.
Finally, this bill would eliminate abortion clinic health code regulations, which pro-abortion advocates label as “burdensome.” Remember Kermit Gosnell in Philadelphia, and the horrific images and stories of women nearly dying on the abortionist’s table?
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that pro-aborts are trying this. Over the past few years, state legislatures around the country have imposed numerous restrictions on abortion, one of the most effective being that enacted here in Texas just last year. 
Abortion is absolutely, 100% critical for the entire sexular pagan program to destroy Christian culture. The very destructive culture that has been deliberately visited upon the former Christendom over the past 100 years requires abortion. All these things: contraception, fornication, adultery, sexual depravity, divorce,etc., require abortion as their backstop. It is fornication, “living together,” hooking up, etc,. among “heterosexuals” that drives the entire sexular pagan agenda. There simply are not, as of yet, enough sodomites, polyamorists, and other perverts to destroy a culture. But getting the vast majority of “normal” people, even “Christian” people, to engage in these immoral activities has been the very vehicle of the sexular pagan revolution.
Fornication sells. Fornication/adultery backed up with the use of contraception has led millions to leave any true semblance of the practice of Christianity, and into lives of wantonness that are unprecedented in their scope and banality. But since contraception often and always (over enough time) fails, abortion is 100% absolutely vital to the entire sexular pagan leftist program. The entire advance of leftism in the West has been due to decay in sexual morality. So the entire leftist program depends utterly on abortion.
So, they are willing to do anything, give up anything, to keep abortion around. And since there has been much recent success in nibbling away at baby killing at the state level, they are now seeking to stop that through their own legislative activity. I take this as a very serious attempt to stop all progress in pro-life laws, at least in Colorado. Which is a shame, because Colorado did not used to be a state that would embrace such a thing, and I know there are still many, many good, faithful souls there.
Archbishop Aquila asks for everyone to take some time to pray that this bill be stopped. You can also contact the Colorado Catholic Conference, or, better yet, look up the bill’s supporters in the Colorado Senate and contact them directly. The bill’s two sponsors are Senators Andy Kerr and Jeanne Nicholson.
Perhaps you could, in your charity, offer up a Rosary that this horrific bill be blocked and defeated. Or a Novena. There have been many small steps to see abortion made more difficult to obtain around the country. There has been a good deal of progress in the past few years. But that could all be undone should measures like this gain support, and, God forbid, one day wind up at the Supreme Court, where anything can happen.
As a final aside, I will also pray that we will one day see our own good Bishop Farrell offer a Mass directly outside a mill, as Bishop Sheridan just did, or at least have a constant presence of priests offering prayers, performing exorcisms, and the like. A 20 mile Good Friday procession is a wonderful thing, but one Mass offered outside one of these mills would be such a blow to satan and his many eager human acolytes, that the pro-aborts may never recover.
That’s something I’ll keep praying for. And I’ll also pray that Archbishop Aquila grow ever more faithful and participate more and more in the restoration of the Faith.
More TLMs will help.
Why aren’t we Saints? Very little reverence, very little humility April 14, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, manhood, sanctity, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
Why aren’t all of us who have received the stupendous Grace of First Communion, Confirmation, and so many other receptions of the Blessed Sacrament all incredible Saints? One drop of the Precious Blood was of such infinite worth it is capable of converting and saving the entire universe. So why are there so few saints?
Sin is the answer. We all know that one unconfessed mortal sin will damn us (yes barring perfect contrition). But even much smaller sins block the work of God’s Grace in our souls.
The priest in the video below outlines the root causes for the failure of so many of us to be saintly. The two principle failures are lack of humility (the virtue contrary to the essential sin of pride, the root of all sin), and lack of reverence, which is humility in action in a context of receiving supernatural Grace.
Our Blessed Mother is the holiest Person who ever lived because She was the most humble person who ever lived.
But what is humility? When someone has the virtue of humility it means he has the habit of performing acts of humility – humility inclines us out of reverence for God to abase ourselves, and to keep ourselves in the place that is due to us. Pride is the opposite of humility.
What follows is some very deep catechesis from Blessed Dom Marmion, whose writings I hope to start reading soon.
Please say 3 Hail Mary’s for the priest in the video.
Quick Flightline Friday – F-20 Tigershark – 041414 update April 14, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Basics, Flightline Friday, fun, silliness, Society.comments closed
Since I am going to be out most of the week, I am going to update this post today, instead of on Friday, when, God willing, I will be at church pretty much all day.
The F-20 
Tigershark. It is another of the great also-ran’s of American military aviation. Derived from a design dating back to the late 1950s, incredibly, with the installation of a modern engine, updated digital avionics, and some minor aerodynamic changes, the F-20 Tigershark emerged as a very potent low-cost 4th generation tactical aircraft. Itcould have been, and maybe should have been, a big seller to third world NATO allied nations. But it didn’t sell.
The Tigershark got its start as a Northrop design submission for a new trainer for the United States Air Force back in the late 1950s. The design originally started out as a speculative lightweight fighter (the N-102 Fang), but when the USAF competition for a new advanced trainer began, Northrop realized their little fighter design would be a nice fit. Northrop had sort of specialized in idiosyncratic designs, and small and light weight were sort of a fetish at the company for decades.
The trainer became the T-38 Talon, which is still in use as the USAFs advanced trainer for fighter and attack aircraft today, over 50 years after it entered service. But when Kennedy entered office in 1961, his administration sought to support a lightweight fighter for lower-rung, less-advanced allies that could serve in all the Cold War brushfire wars that administration was interested in prosecuting. So Northrop returned to their trainer design, called the N-156, and produced a new model, the N-156F, that became the F-5A Freedom Fighter.
The Freedom Fighter had several advantages. It was cheap. It was designed to be very easy to maintain, even in an 
austere environment without a great deal of advanced support facilities. But it had very short legs and was certainly not overpowered. Even by the late 60s, the F-5A was obsolescent for combat in all but the most permissive air defense environments, and competitors from other countries posed threats to this low-end fighter market. So, USAF fired up a competition for an F-5 follow-on, to ameliorate some of the Freedom Fighter’s shortcomings.
Naturally enough, Northrop won that competition, too, and what came forth was the F-5E Tiger II. By adding 
afterburners to the small J85 turbojets, a small ranging radar, ability to carry infrared air-to-air missiles, and some other improvements, the F-5E and its two seat variant, the F-5F, went on to be best sellers throughout the 1970s, with nearly 1400 built. The F-5E received a big boost when, in the early 70s, USAF bought a couple hundred to serve as aggressor aircraft in the air-to-air training role. Air combat in Vietnam showed that USAF’s priority on fighting a nuclear war did not work out well in a conventional environment, with large, heavy aircraft designed to carry a nuclear weapon a long distance being rather poor performers in the air-to-air arena. Even more, the pilots had not been trained hard in that vital area, skills had deteriorated, and our guys had a hard time dealing with the very maneuverable aircraft used by the North Vietnamese. Nonetheless, at least as many losses were attributed to bad tactics and bad airmanship, as were due to unsuitable aircraft types.
The Navy had started its own intensive air-to-air training program, the famous TOPGUN program, in the early 70s. As always, USAF did one better, developing a massive training environment at Nellis Air Force Base called Red Flag, where extremely realistic and difficult training was implemented. F-5Es played a key role in that training, simulating such very maneuverable communist aircraft as the MiG-19 and MiG-21.
But by the early 80s, the F-5E was running out of steam. Many newer types were available, foreign competition was intense, and there had been so many incredible advances in engines and avionics that the Tiger II was looking pretty tired. It was at this time that Northrop decided to try to refresh the design again, putting in a modern engine, very modern avionics, and some aerodynamic changes to improve performance. And improve performance it did.
Originally called the F-5G, to seem newer and sexier, Northrop petitioned the Air Force for a new number for their aircraft, and was given F-20. Northrop lobbied pretty hard for this number, to try to sell the fact that this new plane was a big advance on the “teen-series” fighters – the F-15, -16, etc.
The primary changes to the F-20 were the replacement of two small GE J85 engines with one F404 engine, a 
remarkably lightweight and durable powerplant. This engine was much, much more powerful than the two previous engines, as well as being much more reliable and fuel efficient. Thrust increased from 10,000 lbst at sea level to 17,000 lbst. This gave the F-20 a thrust-to-weight ratio of about 1.1:1 at combat weight, meaning it could accelerate going straight up. In addition, the airframe was strengthened to permit 9 G maneuvering. Coupled with the basic Tiger II aerodynamics, the F-20 was extremely competitive in terms of air combat maneuvers.
What really improved the Tigershark over the Tiger II, however, was the avionics. The very simple and limited ranging radar was replaced with a modern pulse-doppler set from GE, digitally controlled, with all kinds of modes: sea strike, synthetic aperture, track while scan, etc. It could detect fighter size targets at about 40 miles (about the same as the APG-66 radar in the F-16), and could track 10 targets while engaging two. The old Tiger II cockpit, which was a sea of analog gages and switches, was cleaned up remarkably with a good sized HUD and two large electronic multi-function displays (see below).
A huge selling point for the Tigershark was that its avionics were all brand new, 8-10 years newer than those used in the F-15 and F-16. We all know how much digital electronics advanced in the late 70s and early 80s, and the Tigershark reaped the benefits of those advances. This meant lighter weight, for one. But more importantly 
compared to even the F-16s avionics, it meant much higher reliability. At least, according to Northrop. Northrop claimed that the Tigershark would have mean time between failures for major systems (engine, radar, inertial navigation system, etc) several times better than that of the F-16, and an order of magnitude better than the F-15. The F-20 was projected to consume 53% less fuel, require 52% less maintenance manpower, had 63% lower operating and maintenance costs and had four times the reliability of average front-line designs of the era
Typical A2A load: 2 AIM-9J, 2 AIM-7F
All this resulted in a very hot little fighter which would sell at a price substantially lower than any other American or even foreign aircraft of similar capability. The Tigershark was a very modern, Mach 2 fighter on the cheap. And in some areas, the Tigershark was more capable than the F-16 it ultimately competed against: the F-16 could not fire Sparrow radar guided missiles in 1984, whereas the Tigershark could. The Tigershark had the quickest point intercept reaction time of any aircraft in the world at that time (and possibly today): from getting the launch command, the F-20 could be at Mach 1.2 at 30,000 ft in less than 3 minutes.
However, there were also a number of problems with the F-20. This all had to do with Northrop recycling a design that started out as a 1950s training aircraft. Because it was not designed from the start to carry large loads, the
Note minimal ground clearance
Talon/Freedom Fighter/Tiger II/Tigershark all shared very short landing gear and a low mounted wing. This wing meant there was little ground clearance for ordinance. This dramatically limited both the quantity and types of ordinance that could be carried. In addition, the F-20, being both very small, and always rather limited in fuel capacity, had a much shorter range than aircraft like the F-16. As an attack aircraft, the F-20 came up very short in comparison to other types. Even the very design of the wing limited payload capability. In addition, the F-20 was so small and cramped inside that, as vastly improved as it was, it did not show much promise for future growth. The F-20 was an amazing improvement to the basic 1950s design, but it wasn’t going to go much further.
Nevertheless, the F-20 should have been very attractive to a number of air forces, especially those of countries 
that don’t make a practice of going to war with their neighbors and blowing up their stuff (like we do). As a point defense interceptor/fighter aircraft, the F-20 was hard to beat on price and capability. And it was thought many countries would be interested in it.
Bu the Tigershark ran afoul of political maneuvering and typical USAF obstinacy. The F-20 was far cheaper than the competing F-16, but the F-16 happened to be built in the home district of the House Majority Leader, Jim Wright. Wright put a good deal of pressure on the USAF to not give any support to the F-20. In addition, many elements within USAF did not want to see F-20s built, since they might take away F-16 customers, resulting in marginally higher price on the F-16 due to a lower production run. So the USAF kept 
buying more and more F-16s, even for missions the F-16 was not particularly suited for, while the F-20 was never purchased by the Air Force. Without a US endorsement, foreign clients were reluctant to sign on – and General Dynamics sold F-16s at a loss to keep Northrop and its F-20 out of the marketplace.
I always felt this attitude by USAF was a bit ugly, and unreasonable. The F-20 would have made a perfect replacement/addition to the F-5E in the aggressor role (a role the Navy still uses it for today), since it could better represent more advanced competition from Soviet types like the MiG-29 and Su-27 than could the F-5E. But USAF steadfastly refused to purchase the type for that purpose, for which it was eminently suited. Today, the dissimilar air combat training that so benefited USAF pilots in the 70s and 80s, making them the best of the
world, is defunct, since the Air Force does not have a dissimilar (that means, other than what is in service) type to train against, save for occasional Navy or foreign participation. So F-16s fight F-16s, F-15s and F-15s, etc.
The F-20 wound up also being hurt by a couple of crashes that had nothing to do with the aircraft. Two of the three prototypes were lost due to what is called “G-induced loss of consciousness” – basically, the pilot pulls such hard Gs that he passes out, crashing as a result. This was a problem back in the early 80s (and not just in the F-20), as the mega-capable modern fighters were going beyond the limits of what some humans could endure. 
I am not one to say that the F-20 was a world beater that got entirely robbed by political shenanigans. Like any aircraft, it had its upside and its downside. But it is probably one of the most capable aircraft ever to fail so totally, never garnering a single significant sale. And that sad end is, unfortunately, primarily due to politics, and not capability. There was no reason, for instance, for a country like Venezuela to buy 18 F-16s, when they could have had 40 F-20s at the same price.
Anyhoo, now the important part, plane Pr0n.
I love these defense vids from the 80s. So over the top in their earnestness and seriousness. Of course, the Cold War was serious business.
More Yeager greatness:
Uno mas vez:
I always thought the F-20 had a really great, clean cockpit design. It was very good for its time, and fully modern even today:
Amazing Witness: Long Catholic Procession across Dallas Good Friday April 14, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, Ecumenism, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Liturgical Year, North Deanery, Our Lady, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
I know the priest who is helping organize this. He’s one of those young priests so many of us have such hopes for. Another organizer I know well. I haven’t seen him as much as I used to, but he’s also a great young Catholic with a burgeoning family and who has been helping try to restore the Faith.
What is planned is an all day, 20+ mile pilgrimage from Downtown Dallas to the Shops at Legacy in Plano. The hike is scheduled to take 12 hours. Since a lot of folks may find such a long hike a bit beyond their capabilities, the organizers are asking people to fill 3 hour shifts. You can sign up here for one of those shifts. There are various stops along the way where you can join up with the group. At the Shops at Legacy end, there will be prayers and recitation of the Gospel of St. John. After that, the group is going over to St. Sophia Catholic Church for Jerusalem Matins.
That’s my friend J Schwartz you can contact there for more info.
For now, here is more from the Facebook page:
At 9am on Good Friday we will meet in Downtown Dallas (exact place TBA) and we are going to begin with reading the Scriptures, prayer and worship. Then we are all going to carry Crosses (life sized wooden crosses) from Downtown Dallas to the Shops at Legacy near Frisco! Google maps estimates “walking” this will take around 9 hours. We will also take 15-20 minute breaks every 3 hours to read the Scriptures on what happened to Jesus at that time, pray, eat, drink (12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm) and conclude by 9pm at the Shops at Legacy. Who knows whom God will bring into our path on this journey to share Christ with and pray for as we walk across the Metroplex?!
Now I KNOW that not everyone can do this all day because of work and other reasons. So we are asking people to sign up for either one hour blocks to do this or, what I would prefer is, to at least commit to a 3 hour block (9am-12pm, 12pm-3pm, 3pm-6pm, 6pm-9pm). Obviously, we as Catholics should take into account the different devotions at our parishes (i.e. Stations of the Cross and Veneration of the Cross). However, I am asking everyone try to commit to some time block. For those of you interested in the 6-9pm block of time, we will end the walk portion of the pilgrimage at the Shops at Legacy pond, where we will pass out the Gospel of John and pray together. Afterward, we have been invited to join St. Sophia Catholic Church (a Byzantine Rite Catholic Church) to pray the Jerusalem Matins with them at their parish (5600 N Colony Blvd The Colony, TX 75056). What a great way to conclude a phenomenal day of pray and ministry!
In addition, we are asking for volunteers to bring water and food to the 4 rest stops throughout the day. Let me know if you would like to help with that. Here is where you can sign up: http://goo.gl/R2mgXh
———–End Quote———–
We are going to be so involved at Mater Dei literally all day Friday I don’t think I can participate in this, which is a shame, because I’d love to.
This is exactly the kind of activity we need to engage in if we are going to not just evangelize the culture, but to show the world the Church is not going to slip quietly away, leaving the world in darkness and evil. Who knows what hearts might not be stirred to repentance by seeing this procession? It looks like some of the time slots have some pretty good coverage, others, not so much. So if you are not already committed to devotions at your parish all day Friday, perhaps you could try to help out with this. Note, you will be carrying a large cross. But that’s what makes it doubly awesome!
I do have to note, I did see on Facebook I believe this procession will have some ecumenical overtones. I believe some evangelicals are participating. I know that may rub some traddies the wrong way, but in this case, as a nascent effort requiring a substantial commitment, I am tending to overlook it. Hopefully there will be some evangelizing not only of the pagan culture with this procession, but also of any separated souls who participate. Knowing the priest and the other organizer well, I don’t have much concern that there will be any indifferentism or watering down of the Faith.
But just to make sure, you might want to make sure Our Lady is well represented.
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