Askmeaboutgod.org is the new “home” of The Catholic Treasure Chest website

I’ve lost touch with my old friend Bob Stanley,
of The Catholic Treasure Chest
and the original domain name is no longer available.

Bob’s site has been (for the last 20 years or so) one of the finest, most complete, truly Catholic websites on the planet.

According to the informal plan that Bob and I worked up together, many years ago: Should such an event occur, I was to restore the site from a comprehensive backup and get things up and running again, ASAP.

The Catholic Treasure Chest is once again, up and running
and may be accessed through available links
on this (www.AskMeAboutGod.org) site.

Click here to view

Please tell all your friends and let me know ASAP about any outages or malfunctions.

Does Catholic Answers think it is more Catholic than the pope?

Apparently Staples is assuming that the priests of the SSPX, and possibly other Traditional laity, are not united with the Church as a part of Her “visible bodily structure” or bonded to Her by “ecclesiastical government.” But is this true? The SSPX was instituted with full approval from the local bishop in 1970 and its ministers are currently under no censure of excommunication, but simply lack a canonical status. Rome has readily admitted that their situation is not like the Orthodox in that they are still considered subject to the Code of Canon Law and are not schismatic. Pope Benedict even went so far as to say in 2007 that the situation of the SSPX is, “a matter of coming to an interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church.”_[5]

Of course, if Staples would look at paragraph eight of Lumen Gentium, he would learn that the “Church of Christ” merely “subsists in” the Catholic Church. Thus, even if the SSPX were not in “full Communion” with the Catholic Church, they could, according to Vatican II, still belong to the “Church of Christ” and thus contain “many elements of sanctification and truth.” Furthermore, even if the SSPX were formally schismatic, as Staples claims the sedevacantists are, paragraph fifteen of Lumen Gentium makes this seem like a pretty good state to be in:

The Church recognizes that in many ways she is linked with those who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter. For there are many who honor Sacred Scripture, taking it as a norm of belief and a pattern of life, and who show a sincere zeal. They lovingly believe in God the Father Almighty and in Christ, the Son of God and Saviour. They are consecrated by baptism, in which they are united with Christ. They also recognize and accept other sacraments within their own Churches or ecclesiastical communities. Many of them rejoice in the episcopate, celebrate the Holy Eucharist and cultivate devotion toward the Virgin Mother of God. They also share with us in prayer and other spiritual benefits. Likewise we can say that in some real way they are joined with us in the Holy Spirit, for to them too He gives His gifts and graces whereby He is operative among them with His sanctifying power…_[6]

Thus, according to Lumen Gentium, even if the SSPX is not “fully incorporated into the Society of the Church” they can still “in some real way” be joined with the Catholic Church in the Holy Spirit, receiving gifts and graces whereby God “is operative among them with His sanctifying power.” If this is the case, what is the real importance of full incorporation “into the Society of the Church?” As this exercise demonstrates, trying to pin any precise definition on the shifting, ambiguous, and contradictory language of Vatican II documents is a recipe for utter disaster; hence, the Traditionalists’ critique of the Council texts themselves.

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Editor’s note: There’s much more to this wide ranging article.

133 various comments on the Catholic Answers website pretty much describe all the problems being experienced in the present day Catholic Church

For example:

…If the the SSPX are radical traditionalists then so are the rest of us! Attack one Catholic and you attack us all. That’s the message to Catholic Answers the SSPX are in the boat stop trying to push them out.

Religious Liberty, False Ecumenism and Collegiality all coming from Vatican II are a problem for most thinking Catholics who are going to the Traditional Latin Mass. This is not limited to the SSPX or those other groups your radio show talked about. The other huge problem and this is where the southern poverty law center comes is supersessionism and Vatican II. The southern poverty law center calls faithful Catholics “anti-semites” and “radical traditionalists” due to our holding to the reality of supersessionism. This is an injustice.

The topic of the Jews must not be pushed under the rug because it makes people feel icky. Michael Voris was not allowed to speak in my diocese because he was faithful to Christ and the truth about the Jews & the reality the matter. This also is an injustice. So let’s have at it in Charity gentlemen…

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Catholic Answer’s double standard

Catholic Answers Live
Attacks “Radical” Traditionalism As Church Falls Apart

“Catholic Answers” is an organization made up of lay apologists whose stated mission is to “Explain and Defend the Faith.” Despite a growing contingent of Tradition friendly personnel, Catholic Answers remains, for the most part, a staunch defender of all post-Conciliar novelties.  This is no more apparent than in the organization’s radio show, “Catholic Answers Live.” The show consists of a host and an apologist who discuss important Catholic topics and take calls from listeners…

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Financial problems at Catholic Answers said to be related to big salaries, loss of support from traditional Catholics

Click here. Then Scroll down to the com box to see the comments.

Read the whole “back story”

Church politics and show-biz: Vindictive bishops strike back …PLUS… Catholic non-profits pulling down big bucks, thanks to your generous donations.

The American Catholic Church: Bending over backwards
to appease and promote the far left, for over 40 years.
At your expense, of course!

.. a war in the Catholic blogosphere has broken out over the news coming out of Catholic Answers that they are in dire financial straits and are laying off staff due to a steep drop in donations and other revenue.

Catholic Answers has done fine work in the area of apologetics and is to be commended for any souls they might have influenced to come to the Catholic Faith. Bravo! But .. a few weeks ago, it seems like they made a major miscalculation .. or perhaps inadvertent blunder .. highlighting something we have talked about here recently in the Vortex.

It seems they may have insulted a large portion of their own audience by doing .. what appeared to many .. of making fun of traditional Catholics in a Catholic Answers Live radio show heard from coast to coast.

You see .. with the ever shrinking Church of Nice .. of which many .. rightly or wrongly have accused Catholic Answers of being a vested player .. the most invested players left in the Catholic world .. on the ground .. really are the more traditional crowd. To insult them apparently has proven to be a bad move.

Then .. on top of it .. some enterprising comm boxers dug up official numbers that the top dogs at Catholic Answers all make at least a hundred thousand a year .. with Karl Keating pulling down a cool quarter a million and Jimmy Akin and Tim Staples each over a hundred thousand. That  apparently set off a race among some bloggers to investigate how much other big name Catholic media people are pulling down. And a number of Catholics in the blogosphere are expressing shock.

EWTN bigwigs are all well into the six digit figures with funded retirement packages. Doug Keck and Michael Warsaw are each north of $130,000 and Raymond Arroyo is over 100K. Ave Maria Radio’s Al Kresta makes $115,000 a year and Relevant Radio’s Drew Mariana earns around 150K. All of these figures by the way come from viewers who dug into the official IRS public numbers, and posted them online, available because these are all nonprofits and must report salaries. They were spurred on by Catholic Answers’ recent financial plea.

Various viewers who have seen these salaries have expressed feelings ranging from surprise to shock to outrage. In various communications .. the term “professional catholic” has been asserted time and again and they are bothered that people are profiting from the Church in such a manner while at the same time begging for more money.

One viewer said to us in particular, no wonder these groups NEVER say anything about the collapse of the faith being pinned on the bishops. They all make HUGE salaries and aren’t about to bite the hand that feeds them.

With recent revelations a few months ago that in Boston, the top few chancery personnel there are pulling down hundreds of thousands in salaries each year, all this begins to undermine the peasant Catholics view of how things run in the Church.

Text and video

Editor’s note: My, how things have changed!

Matthew 10:5-10 These twelve Jesus sent: commanding them, saying: Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles, and into the city of the Samaritans enter ye not. (6) But go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (7) And going, preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (8) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely have you received, freely give. (9) Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your purses: (10) Nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff; for the workman is worthy of his meat.

Video provides straight talk and expert guidance for Catholic voters on difficult issues of the day

The video runs about 10 minutes, but by 2:10 you should know everything you need to cast a proper vote. – Doug

 Watch the video by Catholic Answers

Catholic Answers sues IRS, alleging ‘intimidation’ on political issues

El Cajon, Calif., Jun 6, 2009 / 07:58 am (CNA).- The apologetics organization Catholic Answers has filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service claiming the federal tax collection agency has “intimidated” churches and non-profit groups into silence on politically controversial moral issues.

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