Obama targeting conservatives by sending Ebola to Dallas? October 2, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Dallas Diocese, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, North Deanery, rank stupidity, secularism, sickness, Society.comments closed
Just thought I’d start a conspiracy theory. But seriously, why on earth hasn’t travel from these West African locales, always so poverty stricken and problematic under the best of conditions, been stopped, yet? And it seems Obama has no intention of stopping such travel?
It seems there might be another infected person in Honolulu. But here in Dallas, over the course of about 60 hours, the number of people exposed to this deadly disease has exploded from 1, to 5, to 18, and now to over 120, including an ambulance and crew who may have come into contact with Lord knows how many others.
It actually would make a good conspiracy theory, but I fear this is simply another conspiracy of incompetence from the least prepared, least experienced, but most arrogant and self-satisfied President in US history, and the bureaucracy he has helped transform into a self-interested politicized cabal of nincompoops.
Don’t say I never give you any reasons to pray!
On the plus side, it’s raining cats and dogs, which is desperately needed but generally disapproved of by the cats and dogs themselves. At our house, this is the first significant rain we’ve gotten in over 2 months. May it be the first of many. Yesterday, Oct 1 it was 95, more than a bit above normal even for Dallas.
Stop dressing our little girls like @#$%s! October 2, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Domestic Church, family, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, sadness, scandals, secularism, sickness, Society.comments closed
So my wife wanted to do a post on this development. As the mother of five daughters, most of them very tall but slender for their ages, she has always had a very hard time finding appropriate, modest clothes for them. I say with no shame whatsoever, we buy most of our girl’s clothes at used shops……they seem to be the only place that have long skirts! It gets worse as they get older – while there are dresses made (especially for Christmas/Easter) for little girls (<12), once they hit their teens its just skimpy city. And when your daughter is 6′, it’s even harder.
But my wife has really done a very good job of buying both used and new to keep our young ladies and girls looking very smart indeed. I’m sure it’s a problem all good Catholic moms struggle with.
Well, a mommy blogger was at Target recently and got pretty irate over the ludicrously revealing clothes being offered for even toddlers and kindergartners. She did a post and while I can’t really recommend her very secular blog, it seems she may have gotten some results. Apparently that post got picked up by some major news sites, and got the attention of Target management. They claim they are listening to this blogger’s concerns, and those of the many frustrated commenters, and may change what they offer for little girls in particular. I kind of got the impression the mom wasn’t so concerned about older girls wearing daisy dukes and tight tops, which is when it really becomes a problem. But that’s the world we are in today.
A few examples from the blog of what they are selling:
What four year old shouldn’t give gratuitous crotch shots?
Meant for 7 yo’s, inappropriate at any age
So, moms (and dads?), maybe your clothes shopping will be slightly less difficult in the future, but I tend to doubt things will improve, much. These stores stock this stuff because it sells. While there may be niche markets they are losing (like us), this is what most people want for their kids.
Prayer Request and announcement October 2, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Basics, Dallas Diocese, Domestic Church, family, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Holy suffering, religious, sickness, Society, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
Goodness me, I thought I posted this hours ago. I’m not sure it never showed up. It’s not there now. Seems like WordPress ate the post.
Reader skeinster has requested prayers for her daughter who is taking a trip today, 10/02/14. Her daughter was in a severe automobile accident last year, and is still suffering from serious physical and mental health effects. This trip may prove a challenge, so skeinster has asked for prayers. If you would, in your charity, please continue your prayers for skeinster and her family as they continue through a difficult period of adjustment.
The announcement is that the pretty solidly orthodox if not traditional Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal are hosting a presentation/Q&A for young ladies in the area. This is being held Wednesday October 15 at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Fort Worth. All details below:
Weds., October 15
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Ft. Worth
For girls grades 6th through college
12-2:30
Mass, Adoration, Pot-luck lunch, Presentation/Q&A, group break-out
Contact information on flyer —–>>>>> CFR Sisters Oct 2014
Cardinal Burke asks for prayers for Synod October 2, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Abortion, Basics, contraception, disaster, episcopate, error, foolishness, General Catholic, Papa, persecution, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, shocking, the return.comments closed
When Cardinal Burke speaks, thoughtful Catholics should listen. I received the following in an e-mail. I think the original article was in the Washington Post. There is a lot of blah blah blah in the article, but there is an important point conveyed first:
Cardinal Burke has asked for the Chaplet of the Holy Face of Jesus to be prayed by the faithful for the synod that is meeting in October. Please take the time to pray. Also please keep him in your daily prayers, he is a wonderful and very holy Cardinal. Being in his presence is an experience you never forget. Please pass this prayer request on to others
I find the prayer Cardinal Burke has asked for to be very significant. There is a Confraternity to the Holy Face here in Dallas centered on the generous nuns of our blessed Carmel. I would like to think this request will find many happy collaborators here.
Now, on to the article. When rhetoric reaches this point, you know tensions are high. Words such as those we see below, from men like Cardinal Burke, who normally speak in such a measured and careful manner, indicate major storm clouds. Well, duh, you may say, this is an F5+ tornado and it’s been bearing down on us for months, but I think it significant, nonetheless:
Kasper has said that the pope supports his efforts to find ways to fully reintegrate divorced and remarried Catholics into church life. The proposals have become a prime focus of the upcoming Vatican meeting, called a synod, which will convene on Sunday for two weeks to consider changes in family life in the modern world.
“I find it amazing that the cardinal claims to speak for the pope,” said Burke, the former archbishop of St. Louis, speaking from Rome. “The pope doesn’t have laryngitis. The pope is not mute. He can speak for himself. If this is what he wants, he will say so.”
“But for me as a cardinal to say that what I am saying are the words of Pope Francis? That to me is outrageous,” said Burke, who is reportedly set to be sidelined by Francis to a largely ceremonial post as patron of the Knights of Malta, a global church society based in Rome.
Burke also said whatever Francis thinks about a more lenient approach on Communion for remarried Catholics, the pope can’t change current church teaching because he and all bishops “are held to obedience to the truth” about marriage, and that cannot change. [Well, that is certainly the orthodox understanding. But men like Arius, Pelagius, Nestorius, Luther, and Calvin did not share that view, did they?]
Burke’s comments were echoed by others on the call and represent the latest effort by church conservatives to try to head off any possibility that the bishops and cardinals meeting at the Oct. 5-19 synod would open the door to changing any Catholic teaching, especially on marriage……..
Follows some driven about Kasper.
…….Opponents, including Burke, say that you can’t separate the discipline from the doctrine without undermining Christianity’s moral truths. They’ve become increasingly vocal and organized in lobbying against the reformers. [So, hopefully the forces of Truth won’t be caught with their pants down as they were in ’62. Allow me to rephrase: I fervently pray the forces of orthodoxy are fully organized and prepared before this Synod begins.]
And now some comments from Cardinal Kasper, who has become increasingly low and debased in his PR offensive prior to the Synod:
In an interview this week, Kasper expressed confidence that bishops at the back-to-back synods would ultimately back some change, and he hit back at critics like Burke, saying they are engaged in political maneuverings. He said they are afraid that any changes would lead to a “domino effect.” [Does this man have any shame? Who instigated the political maneuverings? Which faction in the Church has used nothing but naked power and behind the scenes maneuvers to crush opposition for the past 50 years?]
“This is all linked to ideology, an ideological understanding of the gospel that the gospel is like a penal code,” Kasper, who is retired from a curial job but lives in Rome, told America magazine. [As usual, a progressive projects his own behavior and ideas on others. If there be an ideology at work, it is the deadly and condemned error of modernist liberalism, and you are its prime public promoter, Cardinal Kasper]
Critics of change in church policies are displaying “a theological fundamentalism which is not Catholic.” [Hmmm…..now isn’t that interesting. There is Kasper using the term fundamentalism in the last week of September, and a few days later, we have it used again by a well-connected Opus Dei priest. Coincidence?]
“If fear is at work,” he said, “fear is always a bad counselor. The church should not act out of fear. The church should be the people of hope.” [Really, and I could have sworn Saint Paul said “to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” I guess he was a bad counselor.]
Well, there you go, clear as day, the public representatives of the forces of Truth and darkness arrayed against each other.
Who wins may come down to our prayers. Untold, naturally irreparable damage can be done short of “changing” Doctrine – is that not what has occurred in the past 50 years? Did Vatican II formally repudiate any Doctrine? No. It just added contradictory interpretations, subtle shades of grey, and the left’s favorite term, nuance. And look what has happened.
Please consider, in your charity, answering Cardinal Burke’s call to prayer. It would not hurt to start now.
The Chaplet of the Holy Face is below for your convenience:
The Chaplet of the Holy Face is composed of a medal and 39 beads, 6 of them being large ones, 33 being small ones, with a medal of the Holy Face.
The chaplet of the Holy Face honours the 5 senses of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and entreats God for the triumph of His Church. It is recommended that the faithful pray the Chaplet of the Holy Face to obtain from God, by means of the Holy Face of the Lord Jesus, the downfall of His enemies.
The 33 small beads represent the 33 years of the mortal life of Our Divine Lord Jesus on earth. The first 30 beads call to mind the 30 years of His hidden life. These are divided into 5 groups, with the intention of honouring the 5 senses of touch, hearing, sight, smell, and the taste of Jesus. These senses have their seat, principally, in the Holy Face and render reparative homage for all the sufferings which Our Lord Jesus endured in His Face, through each of these senses.
The last 3 small beads remind us of the 3 years of public life of Our Saviour, and have as their object, to honour all the wounds of His Adorable Face.
Begin as follows:
Make the sign of the Cross, with the Cross, and say:
“O God, incline unto my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.”
Then say 1 Glory Be….
Before each group of beads, there is a large bead. On this bead, reflect on the sense of Jesus, or the wounds of His Face, and say 1 Glory Be… and the following prayer invocation:
“My Jesus, mercy.”
On every small bead, say:
“Arise, O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee fly before Thy Face!”
At the end, say:
The Glory Be… 7 times, in honour of the last 7 Words that Jesus spoke on the Cross, and the 7 dolors of the Immaculate Virgin.
Upon completing the Chaplet, say on the medal:
“O God, our Protector,
look down upon us
and cast Thine eyes
upon the Face of Thy Christ!”
Apparently, the sufferings of the FIs are never to end October 2, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, disaster, episcopate, error, foolishness, General Catholic, Holy suffering, manhood, martyrdom, persecution, priests, religious, scandals, secularism, self-serving, the return, Virtue.comments closed
That seems to be the clear message of Apostolic Commissioner Volpi, who has taken the extraordinary step of suspending, a divinis, 6 Franciscans of the Immaculate priests who asked to be released from their religious vows so they could serve in various dioceses around the world. These six had apparently already taken up residence, and been offered priestly roles, by various bishops. This puts the report of a blacklist of bishops who offer refuge to suffering FIs in an entirely new light:
Rorate has learned that Volpi has in fact suspended “a divinis” six Friars (names withheld for their protection) who are under the care of bishops outside of Italy who have welcomed them and are awaiting their dispensations from their vows from the Congregation for Religious.The cause of this incredibly violent ecclesiastical censure is in fact their wanting to leave the Institute. This is incredible because the general rule, confirmed by a very long canonical tradition, is that a suspension “a divinis” is a penal action to be imposed only for a grave transgression, and above all, after a normal procedure that includes the right to defense and only after two admonitions administered within a certain period of time. Commissioner Volpi instead communicated to the Friars the admonitions and the suspension at the same time, sending three letters at the same time, and in this way lacking the formal conformity to norms that is expected in these situations. The “crime” committed is the fact that these Friars were outside of their monastery, an act that takes them out of Volpi’s jurisdiction and therefore an act of disobedience to the Pope. They were treated in this account as if they were schismatics…!Canon Law, together with plain common sense, has been completely trampled upon. The reason why these Friars and many other Friars left the house in the first place to find refuge among reasonable and understanding bishops is that the atmosphere within the Institute had become intolerable and suffocating for them, with extremely grave effects both physical and psychological. To save their vocations and to not lose their faith altogether, they decided to ask for the dispensation of their Religious Vows that bound them to the Commissioner, and to ask various bishops to incardinate them in their dioceses as simple priests.A number of bishops in Europe, in Asia and in Africa have welcomed these legitimate requests, which are common affairs: the Congregation for Religious grants every year in an expeditious manner thousands of dispensations to Religious of both sexes who, for various reasons, want to leave their Religious Institutes…….
There is much more at the link. This situation continues to devolve and is simply incredible. The harshness, the vindictiveness of all of this simply beggars the imagination. No matter how much they are pilloried by certain preferred members of this tragically suffering order, every single one of Rorate’s reports on this matter have been proven to be accurate and true, to date. Thus, it certainly appears that the FIs are simply to be broken and reduced to fruitless tools of the new order, or completely driven from the priesthood and/or religious life. Some choice.
At this point, I have a very hard time seeing this ongoing persecution as anything but a progressive witch hunt of the lowest kind, fired by wild straw man ideas of ideological opponents (and you know who has played, and continues to play, an enormous role in all that – he refuses to ever address the real issues at hand). I pray this is not the case, but the mounting evidence points to a bloody-minded vindictiveness in pursuit of ideological vendettas behind this infliction of suffering. There has been nothing even remotely proffered to justify this cruel treatment. It is simply beyond belief, and yet it is happening.
Pray, pray for the Franciscans of the Immaculate. In a profound sense, they are very blessed to be the recipients of this seemingly endless suffering. It speaks to the efficacy of their apostolate in light of Grace. Our Blessed Lord frequently chastises those He loves most.
But woe to those by whom scandal comes.
Another orthodox bishop going down? October 2, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, disaster, episcopate, General Catholic, manhood, persecution, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, Society.comments closed
I did not cover the removal of the Bishop of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, because it seemed pretty plain he had made a disastrous decision in giving harbor to a known pedophile. Even though that bishop has been a great friend of the TLM, has seen vocations skyrocket, and has in general done a commendable job of restoring his diocese, it did seem the Vatican had grounds for his removal. There was some scandal there, in that the bishop was removed just days after the official visitation (making the visitation, once again, seem little more than a formality), but even many traditional bloggers recognized there were grounds for dismissal.
But now we move to another apparent target of removal, one much closer to home and dearer to my heart. Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas-St. Joseph MO is being “visited” by a Canadian archbishop, and there are a lot of fears this visitation may also be a formality. In Finn’s instance, the case for removal is much less clear cut. Yes, he was naive and gave his trust to an unworthy priest, but the instances of abuse were much less severe, and this priest was not so notorious as the one in the Paraguayan case. Either way, it appears Bishop Finn may be on his way out, to the glee of his fervent opponents at the National Heretic Reporter and among Kansas City’s many progressive priests and laity.
But, in his defense, a few points regarding Bishop Finn:
• He promotes Summorum Pontificum and regularly offers the Extraordinary Form of the Mass
• He published a pastoral letter about the dangers of pornography
• He has lifted new vocations to a 40-year high, packing his seminaries with 110 new seminarians
• He has publicly warned Catholics that they cannot be Freemasons
• He cleaned up the mess he inherited from his predecessor, “company man” Raymond Boland, by slashing funding for diocesan bureaucracies
• Revising the diocese’s adult catechesis program
• Firing a lay chancellor and replacing him with a priest
• Ordering the editor of the diocesan paper to stop publishing columns by dissident Richard McBrien
• He took an oratory slated for demolition and transformed it into a thriving Latin Mass parish
• He publicly prays rosary vigils in front of abortion clinics
I’ll add one of my own. It is apparent from their regular communiques just how much Bishop Finn loves the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, and how much Bishop Finn feels at home there among those nuns. It’s possible Bishop Finn had a case of really failed judgment, but so far, it’s been one instance.
The point I’d like to make is this, however: while there may have been grounds to remove Bishop Livieres Plano from Ciudad del Este, and there may be grounds for doing the same to Bishop Finn, there is an awful double-standard at work in both cases. Both bishops are well known for their orthodoxy, which makes the treatment being meted out to them radically different from the treatment of progressive bishops with far more scandalous pasts. How many massive coverups of sex abuse has Cardinal Mahoney been involved in? And yet, there is no apostolic visitation of LA – he will be permitted to happily retire and to continue to influence events in the Church long after that. How about Tampa Bay’s Robert Lynch, and his notorious personal failings – personal, in the sense of scandalous public sin and open relationships with young men. Or, for the matter, Cardinal McCarrick – yes, retired, but never harassed and allowed to have continued influence in the Church. You know I could go on for a very long time.
Is there a new, unspoken standard emerging? Is that standard that if you are an orthodox bishop, you had better not have a single scandal in your diocese, or you’ll be your, while your progressive colleagues are allowed to remain even under the most egregious of circumstances?
I’ll admit it, I like Bishop Finn, and while he certainly made some large mistakes, he also got railroaded in an absolute travesty of a criminal case that had Church politics all over it. Somehow, Kansas City, MO is a hotbed for progressive katholycs (just over the border in Kansas there is a huge density of incredibly traditional Catholics) and they have been gunning for Finn’s head since the outset – just as progressives have been trying to oust +Nienstedt in Minneapolis.
I guess one question is, why do the progressives almost always succeed, while faithful Catholics just sit and suffer under one progressive bishop after another? Heck, it took a dossier of hundreds of pages of the most lewd, filthy, open sodomite conduct by Miami priests, and the direct intervention of a fairly orthodox pope, to get the disastrously perverse and heretical John Favalora removed.
I know faithful Catholics are loud on the intrawebs, but I don’t think that’s going to get it done. We should insist on one standard for all bishops, but dang if I know how to communicate that.
Oh:
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