Cardinal Kasper continues to push his destructive course April 21, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, disaster, episcopate, error, foolishness, General Catholic, persecution, Sacraments, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, Society, the return.comments closed
There was another piece on Cardinal Kasper’s initiative to permit those persisting in a manifest state of bigamy to receive the Blessed Sacrament last week. As I’ve stated in numerous posts, the reason for German prelates pushing this very sad and destructive effort is one of naked self-interest – divorce rates are high in Germany, especially among Catholics, and the bishops hope that if they permit all those divorced people to receive, more will check the “church tax” box on their tax returns and the Church will get more state funding.
But the entire argument has been founded on errors so great it is difficult not to call the outright falsehoods. I’ve already written about the error that is being used to support this move to permit those persisting in a state of bigamy to receive the Blessed Sacrament- that somehow, the early Church permitted this, too. That is simply false.
But as Eponymous Flower related last week, Cardinal Kasper is pushing another falsehood, in the form of a false choice. Kasper is trying to claim there is some moral conundrum facing the Church, that by denying, at least tacitly, the Blessed Sacrament to those who persist in a state of public sin, the Church is somehow being uncharitable or unmerciful:
“The decisive statement in this presentation is: ‘Penance and the Sacrament of Penance are the way to connect both aspects. Commitment to the word of the Lord, and the never-ending mercy of God’ (p. 65) It turns to the question which has not been answered by the critics: Are you allowed to refuse absolution in such a situation in which the penitent has repented and testified honestly and in good will with their best efforts to live by faith? Is it not possible with God that someone could fall into a hole from which there is no way out? If that is impossible with God, then why not in the Church …? “
The part in bold is the attempted conundrum. Kasper is claiming that these people who have divorced and remarried, without ever obtaining an annulment, are somehow being denied “mercy” if they are not permitted to receive the Blessed Sacrament. The insidious claim – which reveals the depths to which Kasper will stoop – that God would be opposed to this denial, or that God would “somehow find a way out” is simply a false dichotomy.
The fundamental error is twin: that those who have divorced and remarried are somehow being “punished,” and that simply stating that one is sorry for their state of bigamy is enough to permit them to receive the Blessed Sacrament. There is actually a third error, which claims that the Church simply doesn’t “know” how to address this situation. All are demonstrably false.
Taking the last first, the Church has counselled people who are bigamists (for whatever reason) for centuries on how to demonstrate atonement for this sin – terminate the occasion of sin! That is to say, end the romantic, physical relationship that is the cause of the sin, in this case, adultery. If there is no annulment for the first marriage, that marriage is still valid and operative in the eyes of God. Whatever relationship takes place outside that first marriage is adultery. Christ Himself stated this very clearly. But Kasper apparently wants to take us back to the days of Moses, when the wickedness of men was so great divorce and remarriage had to be permitted. That is a sad commentary on the state of the Church, and even more so on Her shepherds.
There is a further option: if this relationship has persisted for some time, if children have resulted from it, and if the original spouse (often devastated, often abandoned for little or no cause) has somehow moved on with their life – for truly pastoral reasons such as these, the couple could be permitted to remain together provided they make a solemn vow to live a chaste, celibate life as brother and sister. This would permit the offspring to retain their family life, but can really only be permitted in situations where there is truly great remorse and an advanced spiritual life on the part of the individuals in question. Otherwise, the temptation to relapse into sin would likely be too great.
I do not buy claims that times are somehow different today, and that it is unrealistic to expect people to abandon relationships they have been in for years. The Church defended the sanctity of marriage at great cost for centuries, and somehow people managed to generally abide by Her wisdom during that very long period of time.
The Church has never recognized a simple apology to be sufficient to atone for public sins of this type. There must be some amends in cases such as these, which end the scandal caused by them and assure the faithful (and the souls in question) that the sin is no longer ongoing. Kasper proposes that souls basically be given carte blanche to go into a priest’s office, shed some tears, make a onetime statement of contrition, and then continue doing exactly what they have been doing before! Which is conducting an adulterous relationship. That has never been OK, it has never been permissible for such souls to receive the Blessed Sacrament. It is truly sad we have to even argue this point, with a prince of the Church, no less.
Finally, the bigamists/adulterers are not being punished, per se’. The sanctity of the Blessed Sacrament is being preserved from sacrilege, the faithful from scandal, and the souls of the bigamists preserved from piling egregious sin on sin for receiving the Blessed Sacrament unworthily. Hence, as in the case of the application of Canon 915, the Blessed Sacrament is not being used as a weapon, or politicized, but preserved from disgrace, and the Church is actually extending a great mercy (and medicine, one prays) to the souls in question by preventing them from giving such great offense to God.
I must point out here that the Church’s position on divorce is the only consistent, biblically-based position remaining among all the Christian Churches and sects, and is the only one in accord with Tradition from the earliest Fathers. That the Orthodox and virtually every protestant sect embrace divorce (and often, repeated divorce) is not a testament to their charity or wisdom, but to their falsity, and their separation from the Church Christ founded. They have fallen into error. The Church could not have made this more plain when She permitted one of the most devoutly Catholic countries in the world at that time, England, to be wrested away from Her sanctifying bosom, with great violence and enormous suffering, due to the egregious lusts of one fallen man. That is how much the Church has always valued the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, that it would rather suffer grievous loss than see the dignity of one marriage sulllied.
And yes, I know that fallen men within the Church have sometimes permitted annulments which were/are less than obviously justified, and that such has given great scandal to the faithful. We presently have a situation in the United States where such a scandal persists in truly egregious form today. But the exception only proves the rule. Those cases are departures from the normal, holy practice and belief of the Church.
This Cardinal Kasper is relentlessly pushing an agenda that is very dangerous and poses the threat of wreaking havoc in the Church. I am having a very hard time not comparing him to some of the great arch-heretics of the past. Pray for him! Pray for his conversion! And pray that the Synod stay strong against all the wiles of satan and allurements of the world, preserving constant Catholic Dogma and the plain, merciful wisdom of Christ!
Margaret Sanger knocks softball question deep into foul territory April 21, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Abortion, asshatery, contraception, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, sickness, Society, Spiritual Warfare.comments closed
As the video I have ripped off from CMR indicates, the media has long had a very soft spot in its heart for totalitarian population control measures. This interview from 1940s era BBC of Margaret Sanger is particularly egregious. Note the very domestic setting, the easy set up questions, the lack of rebuttal for answers that are nothing but naked assertion, and the final close up camera angle showing her oh-so-earnest demeanor. Notice she even got the interviewer to call her “Mrs. Slee,” which she never accepted in other venues (remaining, always, Margaret Sanger, her maiden name), a further bid at domestication:
Now CMR is making hay over the fact that, at the end, Sanger appears to say that the best baby is one that doesn’t exist. The edit seems a bit rough, so who knows what got cut off, but if that edit is genuine, wow did Sanger foul off a fat softball of a question. Irrespective of the genuineness of that particular response, we can see what kind of thinking a life of sanctimonious self-aggrandizing pleasure seeking can get up to. Sanger is, after all, a woman who:
- freely admitted marrying for money to fund her pet leftist causes
- freely admitted to constantly cheating on her spouses (she had two) and engaging in what could be described as orgies. Mind you, this was in the period 1900-1920, when such things were essentially unheard of.
- freely admitted to believing white people were/are inherently superior to those of other races and advocating for satanic population control measures, up to and including government-forced sterilization, in order to keep the wrong sorts of people (non-white, non-liberal) from being born. But Sanger was hardly alone, the early 20th century “progressive” movement widely embraced both totalitarian government and the murder of whole swaths of people for the “greater good” of mankind. These progressives were the spiritual fathers and grandfathers of today’s American left, and are essentially indistinguishable from Nazis.
- freely admitted to having no faith whatsoever in a transcendent god, and opposed Christianity in general and the Church in particular for encouraging people to adhere to timeless, God-given morality, which she, again, rejected.
- spearheaded the development of the birth control pill, which she knew would catch on like wildfire, and, more importantly, spur demand for her ultimate goal: legalized abortion.
- was, of her own admission, highly conflicted regarding being a mother. Which, I think, is obvious.
In her private, early writings, Sanger reveals a white-hot hatred for traditional female roles and motherhood in particular. This was one sick woman.
But the BBC tries to present her as Mrs. Rational Forwardthinker. So you can see where they were at, even 70+ years ago. We did not arrive at this point of cultural decay by accident. The culture has died because it was murdered, murdered by people who wanted to be free from having to answer to God – or at least, fool themselves into believing such.
Good luck with all that.
Report – Easter TLM in Brownsville April 21, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Latin Mass, Liturgical Year, priests, sanctity, Spiritual Warfare, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
Reader La Gallina sent in a photo and a report on the Easter Sunday TLM offered yesterday at the Sacred Heart church in downtown Brownsville. A few details from this reader:
As you can see, there was a decent turn out. This church normally only has one Mass a week — at 11:30 on Sunday. So this 9:30 Mass had a pretty good crowd. What was interesting was that pretty much every one was brand new to the TLM. I’m sure this was the first traditional Mass for nearly every one.
About half the women wore veils. The congregation was on the youngish side, with a few older folks who seemed to be there out of curiosity. We brought my 75-year-old father who served as an altar boy in his youth. I found it exciting that all these people are discovering the Mass, and I pray and pray that they will become truly devoted to it.
Not only did the churchgoers seem new to the TLM, but most of the people involved were new to it. One altar server, a young man, knew the Mass pretty well, and he whispered instructions to the other alter server, a boy of about 12. The choir practiced for two months, and I’m pretty sure it was their first TLM. I spoke with the organist afterwards. He said they will try to celebrate a Missa Cantata on the big feast days.
The website for Sacred. Heart said that the TLM is celebrated every Thursday, but I also found a little flyer with a schedule of weekday TLMs. It is a sporadic schedule. Some months have 2 Masses, some months have eight. Usually on Thursday, Fri, or Sat. (So I’m not sure which schedule is correct.) The flyer included some information on summorum pontificum, and had a note asking women to please wear a veil. I find it very encouraging that this priest seems to have a dedication to the TLM. His name is Father Michael Amesse, OMI, and he is rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception a few blocks from the Sacred Heart Church. (Sacred Heart is considered a mission of the cathedral.)
The cathedral is undergoing renovations and I asked the organist, “They aren’t going to make any drastic changes to the cathedral, are they?” (The cathedral is a beautiful 150-year-old building.) The organist looked at me with a mischievous gleam. “Actually they are going to make some drastic changes,” he replied. I started to panic. Then he continued, “They are going to restore the high altar so that they can celebrate the Traditional Mass there too!” So there it is. The cathedral’s organist told me that there are plans to celebrate the TLM in the cathedral itself!! [That is such a great blessing. I long for the day when the Traditional Mass will be offered at our own cathedral in Dallas! It really seems to come down to having a bishop that is in favor of doing so. I had been told that Bishop Flores in Brownsville was going to be a good bishop. That seems to be the case. You can see how other bishops in other dioceses have also made offering the TLM at the cathedral a priority. Bishop Slattery certainly comes to mind, among others]
It was truly a blessed day, and such an answer to prayer to find a TLM in the Lower Rio Grande! I pray that people in the area will embrace it. Thanks be to God!!
That’s not a bad crowd. Deo Gratias! I pray we’ll see the TLM grow and grow and grow, in Brownsville and everywhere else!
As an aside, I’ve noted before, this certainly seems to be a very appropriate parish for the TLM. And now that rather sad figure who didn’t like their pictures being shared can’t say anything about it!
Thank you very much for the report!
Area abortionists sue to get privileges back April 21, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, contraception, Dallas Diocese, disaster, disconcerting, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, sadness, scandals, secularism, sickness, Society, unadulterated evil.comments closed
So we spent half the day on Holy Thursday outside the death house called Routh Street Women’s Clinic. Business was booming. I was pretty defeated by the end of our time there, I saw no turnaways and encountered only truly demonic hostility in all my attempts to engage with the moms and dads seeking to have their children killed. There was one bright spot, a young Hispanic couple was wandering around looking for a place to get an sonogram, and they almost walked into Routh Street. Once in, who knows what lies they might have been told to convince them to get an abortion they weren’t even seeking. I got them into White Rose and they were taken care of in a Catholic manner.
The mill was tragically busy. People were parking literally blocks away. That’s what made the refusal to respond to counseling all the more difficult, we had some pretty good opportunities but I am telling you, I have not seen such hardened hearts in a very long time, if ever. Just rough brushoffs or stone-faced passing by. The men in particular were rough, it’s been some time since I’ve been threatened by a very lost father, but it happened to me twice on Thursday. I was told by another counselor that she had several turnaways, for which I give thanks, but I did not see them.
Anyway, the mill was so busy because they are absorbing business from Robinson’s abortuary, which stopped performing abortions when his privileges were pulled by University General Hospital (UGH) – and God bless them for it. Unfortunately, Robinson lawyered up, bringing in, I am told, some high-priced attorneys from the diabolically named Center for Reproductive Rights to do his arguing for him. Whether it was the slick Manhattan attorneys, or the judge’s own personal predilections, Judge Ken Molberg (remember his name when election time comes around) issued an order demanding the hospital reinstate the privileges for two local abortionists, including Robinson:
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, two Texas abortion doctors allege a Dallas-area hospital revoked their admitting privileges shortly after it became the target of anti-abortion protesters. [That’s not at all what happened. What happened is that the hospital found out what the two doctors did for a living, and didn’t want to be associated with murder]
The plaintiffs, Dr. Lamar Robinson, owner of Abortion Advantage, and Dr. Jasbir Ahluwalia, the medical director of Routh Street Women’s Clinic, allege that University General Hospital in Dallas revoked their admitting privileges four days after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled new abortion regulations requiring doctors to have nearby hospital admitting privileges were constitutional. The lawsuit does not seek monetary relief but asks the court to require immediate reinstatement of their admitting privileges. [Yeah, they’ll make enough money off the abortions they perform, they don’t need any from the hospital]
Dallas County District Judge Ken Molberg granted the doctors’ request for a temporary reinstatement of admitting privileges and scheduled a hearing on the merits of the case on April 30. [I understand Robinson will start performing abortions again April 28. There is nothing in state law that says hospitals have to provide privileges for any “physician” that petitions for them. This judge way overstepped his bounds, there shouldn’t be anything to debate.]
New abortion regulations passed by the Republican-led Texas Legislature last summer require doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of where the abortion is performed, among other terms. The rules took effect in November.
Think of how many hospitals there are in Dallas. There are dozens and dozens within 30 miles of Robinson’s mill near Mockingbird and I-35. That extends even over into Fort Worth. And yet, he can only get privileges at a small start-up hospital, and that only because the hospital was new, did not understand the details of his “practice,” and quickly moved to disassociate themselves from him once they did. That says quite a bit.
Speaking of, the “doctor” that is butchering babies at Routh Street while Abhuwalia tries to get his privileges back is 80 years old. Just top-notch care at those places.
Please pray this reprieve for these abortionists is only temporary! We are making great strides, it is getting very much harder for these abortionists to operate, but they are not going away without a fight.
I tell you what Routh Street needs now is a heavy presence of priests. The demonic oppression associated with that place, always palpable, has grown ever heavier as their business has ramped up. Seeing that place ringed with priests performing at least minor exorcisms, praying, sprinkling holy water…..that would run the demons that power that place off for good. It’s worked before……..
Resurrexit Sicut Dixit! April 21, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Latin Mass, Liturgy, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
Just a quick reminder, if you aren’t already aware, the Regina Caeli replaced the Angelus starting on Easter. We will keep with the Regina Caeli until Saturday noon before Trinity Sunday.
I pray you had a most blessed Easter. We certainly did. I thought I might share some scenes from the Triduum at our local parish. For the first time at Mater Dei, we assisted at the Vigil Mass. It was most impressive. I must say, I am unused to staying up so late, and I was unable to take a nap during the day, so I was sort of dragging during the actual Mass portion. But aside from that, it was something I was very glad to have been able to participate in, to assist in something so ancient, timeless, and sublime.
I’m glad someone took these and posted them to Facebook, my camera was on the fritz at the Vigil Mass. I do have some items I took on Holy Thursday and Good Friday I hope to upload later.
It was quite a scene seeing the church suddenly light up and the vestments change from somber violet to radiant gold.
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