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Let those who have eyes to see……. April 29, 2014

Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, Basics, disaster, episcopate, error, General Catholic, Holy suffering, Papa, priests, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, the return.
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A few data points from around the Church:

  1. Severe sanctions continue against the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and their holy founder. Fr. Stefano Manelli.  According to Pray for the Friars, Fr. Manelli’s literal house arrest continues, he was not allowed out of his house to celebrate his 81st birthday nor to visit the graves of his parents.  Hundreds of lay faithful in the MIM tied to the FFI were denied entry into Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii near Naples, and thus had to cancel their annual pilgrimage to the site.  But this is simply another means of mortification for these very holy souls, and a sure sign of God’s beneficent approval of this order.
  2. Meanwhile, it appears that Pope Francis has intervened directly to lift sanctions imposed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on a dissenting Irish priest. Six years ago, the CDF banned public discourse by Fr. Sean Fagan and threatened to laicize him if he continued spreading error.  The priest has attacked Church Dogma on, what else, contraception, abortion, sexual morality, and all the other groinal issues people of a certain generation simply cannot get past.  It is being proffered by the entire heretical “Association of Catholic Priests” in Ireland that other heretical priests may be similarly rehabilitated. It should be mentioned there was also intervention by several members of the extremely problematic Irish episcopate and the heads of some religious orders.  Great.
  3. The Bishop of Lancaster has ordered the pious, faithful blog Protect the Pope to be shut down.  Deacon Nick
    Donnelly, who created the site to defend Pope Benedict from attacks by atheists and others prior to his visit to England in 2011, was ordered to stop blogging earlier this year.  Now the entire site is ordered to be closed, even though Deacon Donnelly has obeyed the order. His wife had kept the blog up in the interim, but no more.
  4. In another intervention, and quite contrary to the mantra of collegiality, it appears Pope Francis is intervening against Cardinal Cipriani in the case of the frequently dissenting/heretical faculty of the Pontifical University of Peru.  The university is the very center of liberation theology, and has served as a battleground between various elements of the hierarchy, including Peruvian Primate Cardinal Cipriani and former Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone on one side, and a bunch of progressive priests and theologians and Cardinal-designate Muller, head of the CDF, on the other.  Muller is a disciple of Fr. Guterriez, the founder of the liberation theology movement. The university has been a hotbed of dissent and error for decades, and Cardinal Cipriani had moved to strip the university of its Pontifical and Catholic titles/associations.  Now it appears Pope Francis demands a reconciliation between elements which appear, from a distance, at least, to be totally irreconcilable.

All these matters trend in one ideological direction.  The grave problem of being beholden to an ideology is that it blinds one to all contrary evidence.

Events are heading to a conclusion.  The upcoming Synod is being hyped as a sort of mini-Vatican III.  All the sacred shibboleths of the progressives are being trotted out as on the table for discussion.  I think we need to start preparing ourselves, internally, for the unthinkable, while praying like Desert Fathers that somehow the Church comes through this new trial unharmed.

Domine, miserere nobis.  Quaesumus!

Awesome video examines religious basis of “evolution” April 29, 2014

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Ecumenism, error, foolishness, General Catholic, sadness, secularism, silliness, Society.
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It is amazing how Providence works.  Just yesterday I had some folks show up to comment on a post from last week.  The comment period was just about to time out, and yet I got two very hostile comments, one from what I think is a liberal Catholic/protestant type and another from a young atheist.  This atheist seemed rather proud that they were studying for a career in the “mental health profession” and that they were “fact-based, scientifically-minded,” not dumb superstitious religious people.

I left a very long response to the atheist this morning, wherein I questioned whether or not he does not accept many scientific principles as a matter of faith.  No one has ever seen evolution in action, for instance, nor is it possible to observe the so-called Big Bang, sub-atomic particles, quantum physics, the rotation of galaxies, “black holes,” or many aspects of modern science.  People just accept the claims of science on faith, and then, rather temerously, look down their noses at supposedly ignorant, superstitious religious people.  Even though the Truth of the Christian Faith has remained constant for far longer than the vast majority of accepted scientific “facts.”

The video below, from our nasally quick-talking, and even quicker-thinking, Aussie protestant friend exposes how many, many people have been carefully shaped in schools (propagandized might be a better word) to accept evolution as “fact,” when even scientific specialists in the field acknowledge their best evidence for evolution is only indirect and inferential.  It’s worth a watch, to see the scales of preconceived notions slowly fall from the eyes:

It is very revealing to watch people go from stating that evolution is “fact,” to making appeals to authority, to then claiming it’s basically all on faith.

Who knows if there was much editing here with the PhD types, but all evolutionary theory hinges on the claim that species can change from one type to another – a fish became a frog became a dinosaur became a bird, or a frog became a rat became an ape became a man, all that.  And evidence for that is very weak.  It’s all one giant assumption based on adaptation seen in some species.

Anyway, I wouldn’t say Darwin’s entire theory was obliterated with this video but it’s fun and informative watch.

We go by what we have been told.  But the existence of God can be proven from first principles and has been by Augustine, Aquinas, and many others.

And it is devastating how many people have fallen away from the Faith over this matter of evolution, which supposedly so “disproves” God’s role in creation.  Much of the modernist heresy and all of the Teilhardian variety was an attempt to meld Catholicism with belief in evolution, with evolution obviously dominant in that exchange.

Some really important questions posed by local priest April 29, 2014

Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Interior Life, Latin Mass, Papa, pr stunts, priests, sanctity, scandals, secularism, Tradition, Virtue.
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I was at a talk given by a local priest the other night, and he posed some questions that I think are of the highest import for all of us.  Even pious souls need to stop occasionally and ask themselves some very basic questions, which have the potential to reveal a great deal about the status of our life in the Faith:

  1. What difference does Jesus make in my life?
  2. How would someone who doesn’t know me know that I am a Catholic?
  3. Why do I go to Mass?

These questions really cut to the core. Hopefully we can answer these questions well.  Another point made by the priest is that it is only in the Christian context that the Holy Name of God in the First and Second Persons of the Trinity have been turned into cuss words.  To blaspheme allah in an islamic context is to wind up dead, very quickly, so it doesn’t happen.  And I don’ t think hindus or buddhists use the names of their deities as curse words.  But Christians and those in Western nations certainly do use the Name of Our Blessed Lord as a curse all the time.  And I think that is very revealing.

Another very important point, also made by this priest: “neo-Catholics” or “neo-conservative” Catholics are in a deadly danger with this pope.  These are people, almost universally ultramontanists, who define their adherence to the Catholic Faith according to the vagaries of whatever pope happens to be in charge at any given moment.  But the Church is larger than the Pope or the office, and Jesus Christ remains the Head of the Church, with the Pope his Vicar on earth.

Of course we must respect and venerate both the office and man of the See of Peter, but I think the problems associated with defining one’s faith according to whatever the current pope says should be manifest by now.  These include wild swings in emphasis, and the fact that there have been many bad popes in the history of the Church, and there will be bad popes in the future.  Should a less than stellar pope gain the office (or hold the office now, ahem), and cause/precipitate/allow some great scandal, the potential for people to fall away from the Faith over this is substantial.

While popes are hugely influential and absolutely vital to the life of the Faith, and they should have strong influence on us, there is danger in reducing our practice of the Faith down to whatever Pope ‘X’ does, says, promotes, or opposes.  Jesus Christ is the center of the Faith, and we have Scripture and Tradition to look to for guidance.  The Church is bigger than any man.

On a related note, here is a pretty good article here about Catholic media attempts to apologize for Pope Francis.  At some point I think we’re going to have to realize that the problem is not bad translations, it is not a hostile media, it is not rotten traddies and their protestant pharisaism, the problem is the messages conveyed at the highest levels of the Church and a certain imprudent tendency towards spontaneous, impromptu communications.  Pope Francis is not dumb. He knows what effect saying things like “who am I to judge?” and “go out and make a mess” will have.

And at this point, I will stop damning myself.

Shoot, I had one more point to tie in with this.  There was a Saint named Richard Gwyn that was martyred during the Elizabethan persecution of the Church.  There is a quote about his practice of the Faith that has great bearing on where we are today as a Church:

…..his enemies to this day could never charge him with any fault other than following of his faith and conscience- which nowadays is accounted madness.

Could we be similarly convicted?  And is it madness nowadays to observe the Faith and follow a virtuous conscience?  I was told by an atheist yesterday he has no conscience!  And he wants to be a “mental health professional!”

Sounds like he is well-suited to the task!

Help support a new movie on the true nature of the French Revolution – UPDATED April 29, 2014

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Christendom, Ecumenism, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, history, Holy suffering, persecution, sadness, Saints, secularism, Tradition, Virtue.
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If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know how I feel about the French Revolution.  That epic was one of satan’s masterstrokes, wherein he foisted a demonic sexularist pagan government – the first, the prototype for all the rest! – upon the eldest daughter of the Church.  All the diabolical elements of leftist politics that have carried through to the present day were present in the French Revolution.  The repression, the enforced atheism, the economic collectivization, the rhetoric of “freedom” and “liberty” which turned out to be an utter sham, enjoyed only by a very few at the top of the power structure, and, of course, rabid, insane hatred for God and His Church.

But the true nature of the French Revolution is not well known outside traditional/faithful Catholic circles. Most secular educators present the French Revolution as basically akin to an American Revolution that got slightly out of hand.  While there is an extremely strong corollary between the two – the American being a “conservative” liberal revolution, the French one a left liberal revolution – they were in practice radically different.  The French Revolution was violent, repressive, savage, and cruel.  Disaffected, even insane individuals, were given massive power and unleashed that power on their fellow citizens, especially committed Catholics, with grim determination.

To help make the nature of the French Revolution known, there is an effort underway to tell the story of the heroic sufferings of the people of the Vendee in France.  This new film is a something of a collaboration between Jim Morlino of Navis Pictures, who previously produced the great War of the Vendee movie, and Daniel Rabourdin, formerly of EWTN.  I say something of a collaboration, because I spoke with Jim Morlino at Navis Pictures and he informed me he performed the cinematography on this upcoming movie.  I am told it will be tradition-friendly.

As far as I’m concerned, Jim Morlino is a genius when it comes to getting movies made for virtually no money.

The film has already been shot on location in France, but they need more funding to complete the editing and printing process. There is a crowd-funding site for donations.  You can donate at varying levels, up to and including getting an executive producer credit on the film with numerous perks (private dinner with the producer, being on production conference calls, etc).

This campaign has a goal and they are a long way from reaching it.  I know there are so many very upright, valuable causes out there to support, but perhaps this is one worth praying about and considering. I had saved some money via my mortifications over Lent, and was thinking of supporting a certain priest but I used it to help this effort out, instead.  Movies are very powerful, emotionally, and can be great tools of evangelization.  But so few good movies are made.

If we want to see more and better Catholic entertainment, supporting efforts like this out of our own pocket is probably going to be necessary for the foreseeable future.  The culture is turning increasingly hostile.  We shall have a hard time preserving what we have, let alone reaching out to other souls.  But movies like this have the potential to touch hardened hearts.  Since Hollywood is pretty much dead to the Faith, if we’re going to see Catholic movies made, we’re going to have to do it ourselves, which is what this effort is really about.

Consider helping see this movie to completion.

Much more on the film below:

Key point made above: all the horrors of Nazism and communism were simply exercises in repeating the horrors of the French Revolution on a modern scale.  Nazism and communism are belief systems that take the errors of the French Revolution to their logical conclusion.  And both Lenin and Stalin deliberately modeled their systems of terror on those established in the French Revolution.

And the film will stress the truth of the genocide carried out by the French revolutionary government against the people of the Vendee, which pre-figured the Holodomor, Holocaust, and other genocides.

A trailer for the film:

Jim Morlino on the movie:

The parallels between the War in the Vendee and the Cristero rebellion are many.  Same revolutionary hatred of the Church, same effort to keep knowledge of the evil repression covered up.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that Navis Pictures has their own new development underway, a movie called The Sanctuary, which will feature a professional cast and many professional film people in the production. It’s going to be a fully professional feature film designed to compete at film festivals.  So please keep Jim Morlino and Navis Pictures in your prayers as they work to complete this new movie.

UPDATE: Dumb me, I forgot to include the movie website.  It’s here.  I should add that Bishop Dominic Rey of Toulouse has granted his apostolic blessing to all that participate in the movie, including those who help fund it.  So, if you send in even $10, you get an apostolic blessing!!

Fruit of the “new evangelization?” Santa Muerte now as popular as the Blessed Virgin in Mexico April 29, 2014

Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, Our Lady, sadness, scandals, secularism, sexual depravity, sickness, Society, Spiritual Warfare.
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Here is a most disturbing article from a secular source, which seems to find this development appalling, for once.  A Tuscon TV station has a report about the explosive growth of satanic worship in the form of “santa muerte” – holy death – in Mexico.  This worship is specifically associated with the drug trade which is rapidly destroying what remained of Mexican culture.  But it has spread out of the “narcos” and into mainstream Mexican life, so that one report below indicates sales of demonic santa muerte statues are as popular as those of the Blessed Virgin:

Studies show that most people believe in angels.  However, not all angels are associated with goodness and light.

In fact, some are all about the exact opposite.

Right now in Mexico, one is surging in popularity, as another fades…..

….Even along a busy highway in Nogales, Sonora.  You will find shrine after vandalized shrine, dedicated to death.

Jaime Torres told KGUN9, “what do people get out of Santa Muerte, out of death, they ask for something out of faith.  And when it delivers, it delivers in quantities.”

At a shop in Nogales Sonora, the owner pinpoints the reasons people come here to buy statuettes of death and then pray to them.

The two main reasons are for love and for money.

In case you’re wondering, the owner says statuettes of death are equal in sales to those of the Virgin Mary.  The Virgin Mary pulls ahead only at Christmas time.

Here is the video report that is the source of the text:

This just breaks my heart.  80 years ago, Mexico was as Catholic a country as there was on the planet.  After 30 years of persecution, the Faith had been wounded, but was still vibrant. Then the post-conciliar changes happened, and the Faith in Mexico, as in so many other lands, has not recovered.  One might even say it has been shattered.

Mexican society obviously has many problems.  The lure of the drug-trade, with quick riches, incredible power, and adulation from many sectors of society, has caused many people to fall into immoral activities.  But to go over, overtly, to demon worship, is just incredible.  It’s more than just a sign of people falling into sin, it is a sign of people so spiritually starved that they are turning to DEMONS for sustenance. That is a tragedy of mass proportions, unspeakable in a different time, but it is also a sign of how unfulfilling, how unmoving, the post-conciliar pablum served up in almost all parishes really is.  Finding holy, reverent Masses in Mexico, is, I am told, quite difficult.

But it’s not just in Mexico. I go into Mexican grocery stores near our house, and what do I see?  Lots of Saint Novena candles, a really great variety, but down at the bottom, in numbers exceeding those of any other Saint including the Blessed Virgin, row after row of demon worship santa muerte candles.  I would like to buy them all and ostentatiously smash them right out in front of the store.  I hope to do that someday.

Just for the obvious: this demon worship has been condemned by the Mexican Church, with the Cardinal Archbishop of Guadalajara making a a particularly strong condemnation (Guadalajara/Jalisco, home of the Cristeros, is still the most Catholic region of Mexico, and the one with the most TLMs).   So it’s not like there is a question about it.

Oh Blessed Mother, crush this particular demon under your heel!