Opening page – Dedication
“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history… the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”
How could a system dedicated to Lucifer become a force for social change in Catholic parishes?
Read more at Fr Hunwicke’s Mutual Enrichment Site
“Father, I’m waiting for absolution.”
“Oh. Okay. Jesus forgives you. Go in peace.”
“Would you please give me absolution Father?”
“I just did.”
“No. I’m sorry you didn’t. Maybe I’m being a bit fussy Father, but I really would like to hear you say the words of absolution.”
“Okay, if you insist, Go in peace and be forgiven.”
“I’m sorry Father, but those weren’t the words of absolution.”
He’s annoyed with me now. “Well what do you want me to say?”
“You could say the full words from the rite, but if you want you could just say, ‘I absolve you from your sins.”
Now much annoyed he said, “I absolve you of your sins.”
Has this happened to you? I’m curious because some friends of mine say the same thing happens to them. They are given a great long piece of advice which they don’t’ really want because they have a spiritual director for that, but then the priest doesn’t give them absolution.
Editor’s note: Catholics who rarely go to confession are unlikely to even know about such sloppy practices. Even good, thorough, well-intentioned priests may get a bit “loopy” after hearing an hour or two of confessions.
Know the words of absolution and before you leave the confessional, make sure you hear the priest say them:
“I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Will the favorite Bogey Man of the left succeed in scaring the world into dumping untold sums of money into an imaginary black hole called Global Warming – or will “cooler heads” prevail?
Pope Francis continued his rock star turn yesterday by breaking with tradition and publicly confessing his sins while leading a penitential liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The pope, dressed in a simple white alb and purple stole, spent about three minutes kneeling before the priest’s open confessional and received absolution.
Editor’s note: There’s nothing “groundbreaking” about a Catholic going to Confession – especially during Lent.
The six Protestant Ministers who helped design
the Novus Ordo Mass and usher in forced
Conciliar Reforms that the Catholic faithful never requested
by Doug Lawrence
Regarding the Crimea situation, Vladimir Putin recently had this (in part) to say:
Time and time again attempts were made to deprive Russians of their historical memory, even of their language and to subject them to forced assimilation.
Those who stood behind the latest events in Ukraine had a different agenda: they were preparing yet another government takeover; they wanted to seize power and would stop short of nothing.
We can all clearly see the intentions of these ideological heirs of Bandera, Hitler’s accomplice during World War II.
Putin’s words – whatever their particular object or authorship – whether truthful or mere political rhetoric – struck a “cord” with me, regarding recent Catholic Church history and politics. Change just a few of the words and see what you get:
Time and time again attempts were made to deprive Catholics of their historical memory, even of their language and to subject them to forced assimilation. (Absolutely true, right up to the present day.)
Those who stood behind the workings of the 2nd Vatican Council had a different agenda: they were preparing to take over the Catholic Church; they wanted to seize power and would stop short of nothing. (Absolutely true, right up to the present day.)
We can all clearly see the intentions of these ideological heirs of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Henry VIII and the other great heretics of the Protestant Reformation. (Absolutely true, right up to the present day.)
I don’t know who writes Putin’s speeches – but the stuff about “forced assimilation” applies to all kinds of long standing political and ideological grievances – including the Israel/Palestinian conflict, abortion, homosexual unions, the HHS Mandate and of course, the way the obtuse and destructive “spirit” of Vatican II continues to be forcibly inflicted on the Catholic faithful.
People resent having someone else’s “brilliant” ideas “jammed down their throats” and they also tend to have very long memories. Forty-plus years of dismal evidence testifies to wrong-headedness of the people who took over and implemented the Conciliar Reforms.
I wonder when “The Catholic Peace Talks” will officially begin?
Related text, photos, research
by Doug Lawrence
Last week’s Obama – Pope Francis meeting lasted for more than an hour and included a number various Obama Regime officials. The Regime claimed that they concentrated on “social justice issues” while the Vatican said it was all about religious liberty.
Odds are, it was really about Russia, Syria and Iran – and trying to get the Vatican to “butt out” this time – so the Regime might be able to avoid further embarrassment.
No matter what was actually discussed behind closed doors, it was a slam-dunk win for the President, since any time a U.S. President gets a photo op standing next to a popular pope, it’s invariably good for at least a few points in the polls.
Noah would be amazed:
An underwater family “selfie” taken by yours truly.
Big old wooden, sunken ship in background.
by Doug Lawrence
I just saw the Noah movie, investing $8 for a ticket to the midnight show. Did I like the movie? Not really! Here’s why:
It was for the most part, dark, dreary, apocalyptic, violent and much more of a “stretch” than most people would imagine.
At best, the Noah Movie might claim to be inspired by the biblical story, but there was very, very little actual correspondence between the Bible and the movie. They could have named the movie “Fred” and it would have played just as well – and been lots more believable.
They got a whole lot of biblical things all mixed up and then they threw in a whole bunch of non-biblical things they just “dreamed up”. Some of it was ingenious. Most wasn’t. To say they took liberties with the biblical truth would be a gross understatement.
Probably the worst of it was the portrayal of Noah as a confused, murdering psychopath, much like Jack Nicholson’s character in Stephen King/Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. Isolation can do that to people … but to Noah … a prophet of God? That was way over the top!
Anthony Hopkins did a nice job of playing Methuselah and the animal special effects were “cute”.
Sister Jane Dominic Laurel (The Terrible?)
The Rev. Tim Reid, pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church, sent an email lauding the nun, saying “she represented well the Catholic positions on marriage, sex, same-sex attraction and proper gender roles … The Church has already lost too many generations of Catholic schools students to … a very muddled and watered-down faith.”
Charlotte Catholic High School has invited parents to a meeting Wednesday night to air concerns many of them – and their kids – had about a recent speaker’s comments about homosexuality, divorce and single parents.
Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, a Dominican nun based in Nashville, Tenn., addressed a student assembly on March 21. Days later, some students launched an online petition that called her comments “offensive and unnecessarily derogatory.”
Editor’s note: In the roughly 4,500 year history of the Judeo-Christian religions there is a long standing tradition of killing prophets who dare to proclaim the authentic Word of God to the people. It’s amazing that so little has changed, over the years.
I ran into much the same type of thing while teaching an 8th grade Confirmation Prep Class at a local Catholic Religious Education Program. I made the “mistake” of (privately) asking each student if they were in the habit of regularly attending Sunday Mass. Since nine of twelve students did not, I devoted our next class session to a review of Church teaching on worship, Mass attendance, Holy Days of obligation, etc. I also explained that, absent extraordinary circumstances, deliberately missing Mass on a Sunday or a Holy Day, objectively constituted a mortal sin.
The resulting “firestorm” of parent complaints necessitated a special meeting before the next scheduled class, where the Religious Ed director and I personally met with half a dozen irate parents. After absorbing twenty minutes worth of critical comments and vitriol, I read aloud the three paragraphs most pertinent to the Sunday/Holy Day Mass obligation, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The Sunday obligation
2180 The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass.”117 “The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.”118
2181 The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor.119 Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.
2182 Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church. The faithful give witness by this to their communion in faith and charity. Together they testify to God’s holiness and their hope of salvation. They strengthen one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Then I asked if there were any questions. You could have heard a pin drop!
Why can’t family business owners — Conestoga Wood Specialties and Hobby Lobby in these cases — have the same freedom from government coercion as other exempt parties? Because the government says they can’t.
Not only is the government arbitrarily selective in how it doles out exemptions, it’s also arbitrary in its argument that business owners can’t exercise religious freedom.
And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.
And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren. Because no word shall be impossible with God.
And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)
Pope: only the humble, marginalized ‘obtain salvation’
.- In his daily homily Pope Francis dedicated his reflections to the virtue of humility, explaining that only the “outcasts” who recognize their need of God know what it means to be saved.
Editor’s note: Pope Francis has been marginalizing traditional Catholics and treating them like outcasts since his first days in office. Now we know he’s only been practicing “tough love”!
“Give me a drink.”
In the Old Testament, men found their spouses at wells—Moses meets Zipporah, Isaac meets Rebecca, and Jacob meets the beautiful Rachel at watering holes. And so, again at Jacob’s well, a woman comes up, alone, and Jesus is thirsty. Mother Teresa described the thirst of Jesus: “I Thirst is something much deeper than Jesus just saying ‘I love you.’ Even more—he longs for you. He misses you when you don’t come close.” The Samaritan woman approaches, and Jesus draws her close to him. How does He do it?
Submitted by Bob Stanley
Richard Wright was brightening the days of dozens of strangers in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) in Canada, by handing out C$50 and C$100 bills. As reported by Metro News , last week Wright was giving cash to different people he encountered in HRM and asking that the recipients, “thank God” for the gift and if they didn’t need the money, to pass it on to someone else.
Editor’s note: This fellow probably would have been left alone if he hadn’t mentioned God!
The surprise of the weekend was the strong performance of the independently released God’s Not Dead. It came in fifth in ticket sales with $8.6 million, despite playing on only 780 screens nationwide.
Editor’s note: My friend David S. gives this one three and a half stars. Says it is worth seeing.
CHICAGO — In a meeting room under Holy Name Cathedral, a rapt group of black Roman Catholics listened as Barack Obama, a 25-year-old community organizer, trained them to lobby their fellow delegates to a national congress in Washington on issues like empowering lay leaders and attracting more believers.
“He so quickly got us,” said Andrew Lyke, a participant in the meeting who is now the director of the Chicago Archdiocese’s Office for Black Catholics. The group succeeded in inserting its priorities into the congress’s plan for churches, Mr. Lyke said, and “Barack Obama was key in helping us do that.”
Editor’s note: This is a truly wide ranging bio on the President – probably much more revealing than Mr. Obama would prefer. And now, he may have another willing collaborator in Pope Francis.
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