Wednesday, April 30, 2014

UNCHECKED PASSIONS: WHEN THE BISHOPS IGNORE THEIR DUTY TO TEACH

When at some future time the history of the Roman Catholic Church is written historians will be scratching their heads in wonder as they review the 20th-21st century suicide march of the Church. Some Catholics are shaking their heads even now.

These historians will be dumbfounded by the silence of the clerics while a veritable stampede of perversion swept over much of the world and the Church Herself.  They will stand in awe at the power of God who made certain His Church would survive and flourish after such a catastrophe. After all the treachery, cowardice, heresy and apostasy that overwhelmed the Faith in those two centuries the writers of history will kneel down and thank God that, despite an army of Judases within, He contrived to refresh and replenish the Church.

They will note that in the early years of the 21st century the situation in the Church had deteriorated so rapidly that a priest or nun who dared speak the truth about simple moralities would be shouted down not only by the world, which is to be expected, but Catholics themselves.

That is what future Catholics will read about in their history books.

For the present Catholics can remind their leaders that we arrived at this state due in large part to their utter silence in the face of this growing malignancy.  They allowed the passions of the Faithful to proceed without restraints, without preaching against what happens to people when they become slaves to those passions.  Here is an example of those passions when they go unchecked:

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2014/what-really-happened-at-charlotte-catholic-hs?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CrisisMagazine+%28Crisis+Magazine%29

To Your Lordships: This is the here and now.  This is what you and the faithful you have been entrusted to teach are going to have to face with increasing regularity and viciousness.  The entire mechanism is now aligned against you: a federal government, drunk with blood and perversion, is in the camp of your enemies, as well as the media, the elites; all the centers of power are flying in the same orbit, the one encircling the Church.  They are not necessarily going to suddenly pounce upon her; they seem to prefer a slow encirclement, feeding the passions of the people so that they will naturally oppose the one force on earth God put there to teach them to stop their spiritual self-destruction.

All smiles....after stabbing Fr Guarnizo in the back?


No comment
You, Your Lordships, are greatly responsible for this.  You and the priests you lord it over have refused to tell them the hard truths about faith and morals..You have ceased reminding the faithful that there is but one true Church, one guardian of the truth, one gate of Heaven.  True, the chaos unleashed in Rome in the 1960s has been demoralising to those who want to see the Church once again act like the true Church of Christ and not some minor sect of no importance.  But where are your voices now, dear Bishops?  Silence in the face of the enemy is not a policy.  And silence, as we all know, denotes agreement.  Ask yourself: are the faithful to construe by your silence that you condone this demolition of Catholicism?

Humor in red


Your Lordships inherited a world that stank, it is true.  But what have you done to teach the world the truths of the one, true Faith and remove some of that stench?

In Milwaukee a few days ago the County Board passed a new ruling giving special protections to sex perverts which means, in effect, that any opposition to their juggernaut, be it a baker who refuses to bake cakes for their faux "weddings" or a photographer who cannot stomach the sight of two men kissing each other, will face legal trouble.  And where was the Milwaukee Ordinary, Jerome Listecki, during all this?  Just the usual silence from his Chancery.  Where were you, Bishop Listecki, when all this was playing out?  People all over Milwaukee County were protesting this outrage but from you we heard nothing.

Archbishop Listecki passing along the Faith at a baseball game


Every time one of these manifestations of malignant hatred against the Church and Her teachings arises we wonder if the Bishops - any of the Bishops - are taking note.  Some do, with glee.  Let God judge them.  Some cower in fear.  Again, let God judge them.  A few will rise up again, and God will protect them.

While I wont live to see the restoration of the Faith I do note that there are small green shoots sprouting from the scorched earth.  When the despotism that is now oppressing Americans implodes and the Church recovers from its stupor Churchmen will again discover who they are, and what their duties are, and then the flowering will begin.


Saturday, April 26, 2014

ORA PRO NOBIS

"There was a voice heard in Ramah; there was weeping and great mourning.  

It was Rachel....weeping for her children....because they were no more."


I find that I can do nothing tomorrow, April 27th, but get on the knees and pray the Rosary.

There is nothing else I can do.




EASTER GREETINGS FROM AMERICA

The USA celebrated Easter last Sunday in the usual way: murder. arson and terror:

http://rt.com/usa/drone-yemen-dozens-dead-880/

And the Catholic Bishops thundered their outrage:

http://youtu.be/Re72di5phM0

Of course, these are all militants, sayeth the US government and its media.  Right, and ducks fly backwards, too.

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice can not sleep forever."

- Thomas Jefferson

Friday, April 25, 2014

THE VATICAN'S TAR BABY

In the back-and-forth history of the Church's recent pontificates, where one day the Pope says or does something marvellous and the next day destroys all the good he has done by some ill-advised word or action, nothing is more disheartening and dangerous than Rome's fatal embrace of what must honestly be termed the zionist dream.  That the Vatican even treats the Israeli occupation force as a legitimate government is bad enough; that they are about to enrage the Muslim world with another agreement with that regime which basically legitimizes their occupation is the summit of lunacy and in no way can be considered a Catholic action.  This Vatican agreement, if it happens, will unleash forces against Christians too terrible to contemplate.  While this doesn't bother Mr Netanyahu in the least, it should bother the leaders of the Church.

I would suggest that the Vatican Secretary of State read the stories of American author Joel Chandler Harris, particularly the one about Brer Rabbit and the tar baby.

The Vatican-Tel Aviv Agreement (which was the rejection of the Church's wise and just stance on Palestine, a stance confirmed by the wisdom of Pope St Pius X) tragic as it originally was, is about to be amended by the Holy See and Israel to the greater detriment of the Christians in the Holy Land and the other innocents caught in the crossfire.  King Mohammed VI has sent a pleading message to the Vatican not to go through with this, as it will bring even new hatreds to the region and will create a feeling of despair among the peoples of the Arab world:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312051422.html        

Surely Rome is not blind to what is going on in the Holy Land?  Why then are they so willing to throw away cordial relationships with the majority of the Muslim world just so that they can placate what one French politician notably called "this shitty little country" namely, Israel?  Is Rome so terrified of the world's media which is, shall we say delicately, "influenced" by Jewish opinion?  Have our leaders in Rome, who have seemed to have stopped trying to bring the saving grace of the Faith to the Jews, become mere water-carriers for their hated regime?  What drives the fear at the Holy See, a fear so all-pervasive that they are willing to re-ignite a Mohammedan siege against the Church not to mention the spectacle of the Middle East in flames?  One wonders if the Vatican realizes that both Zionism and Naziism are ideologies based on racial superiority, or rather opposite sides of the same coin.

Cardinal Bechara Rai has remarked on the respect given to the Papacy by the generality of the Muslim world.  If this Roman move goes ahead that respect will suffer a serious, and potentially mortal blow.  It could destroy the trust that many Muslims have and have had for the Popes, a situation that would obviously delight the Israelis who are keen to get the moral leader of the world on their side and pour holy water on their nazi-istic control of Palestine.

I've always viewed the action of throwing gasoline on a roaring fire a poor judgment call.  Would that the current leaders in Rome had a similar view.


Wednesday, April 23, 2014

SAINT VATICAN, THE SECOND

Pity Joan of Arc.  She had to wait 400 years before the Church would canonize her.

The proposed canonization this coming Sunday of two problematic Popes, John XXIII and John Paul II, must be viewed as a canonization not of these particular men but of the Council called Vatican 2.  I cannot imagine how else one would view this given the fact that both of these pontificates were extremely troubled for so many diverse reasons and given the fact that chicanery had to be employed to fast-track the canonization process.  In the case of Pope John no miracle was required suddenly; in John Paul II's case a rather ordinary medical misdiagnosis had to be claimed to be a miracle.

Humanly speaking I do not see how these canonizations could be stopped.  The politics as well as the mechanisms are firmly in place for it to happen.  It is like the steamroller effect.  The long period of discernment, reflection, prayer and investigation required should, in the interests of the Church's credibility, have been observed.  But it was not.  Given the turmoil of these past five decades a prudent Church should have put this whole idea aside for a century or more.  We know that there are diligent Churchmen in Rome who have been against this move for many years but for reasons either of obedience or of not wanting to bring even more scandal upon their beloved Church will now remain silent.  I have pity for these men.  Do they want to make a stink about a move that is going to drive an even larger wedge between those Catholics hanging on to the unchangeable teachings of Christ and those Catholics who for whatever reason have made the decision to simply accept?  Yes, these Churchmen who remain silent are in anguish and do deserve our pity.

It is not difficult to find good things to say about John Paul II personally, particularly his sterling defense of the unborn.  One wants to find good things to say.  But always there is the nagging in Catholic hearts about the negative things, of which there were too many.  We can hope he made his peace with God before death.  Of John XXIII, he who was the front man so to speak of this catastrophe, I have little to say.

The confusion among the faithful that will occur if these canonizations go through will be on a scale such as the Church has never seen before.  These acts cannot fail to throw even more Catholics off-balance, create more division among an already much too divided Church and God only knows what else.  In past epochs the leaders of the Faith have acted imprudently and brought down upon the world the ill-effects of those decisions.  The Church survived them, yes.  But at what a cost.

On Sunday, April 27th, 2014 the Church will die a little more.


Monday, April 21, 2014

FRANCIS: DON'T SMELL THE SHEEP. FEED THEM....


.....and don't let them fall of the cliff.

We have taken into account your recommendation to your Bishops to get close to the sheep and discover their odor. 

But you see, Your Holiness, sheep have to be fed not sniffed at.

Sheep also have to be led by a shepherd.  Leading means two things: keeping the lambs from falling off a cliff into the abyss and also giving them nourishing food so they can live.  It is terrible to point this out but the Church in recent decades doesn't seem to be overly troubled about its sheep falling into the abyss, nor does it seem to care whether or not the sheep are fed.  Do not call this statement exaggerated: we have the evidence of our own eyes.

Rome has let heresy abound all over the world, and the sheep who absorb it fall over the cliff.  Rome rarely if ever mentions the word "sin" and it never, not ever, mentions the words "mortal sin".  This, too, leads her sheep to fall over that cliff.

Rome has starved the sheep by withholding from them the life-giving food of doctrine and dogma.  The silence of the Church on these matters is starving the sheep to death, to eternal death.  And while they starve we are encouraged to smell them, a smell that will gradually become the putrescence of a rotting corpse.

The Church has been governed by Vicars of Christ for 2,000 years.  Some of these Popes have been great Saints.  Others have been average.  Some have been disastrous.  Some have brought souls to salvation by their words and actions; others have seen Catholics leave in disgust.  Some have governed the Church with a fair and firm hand; others have governed little or not at all.

Your Holiness has now the opportunity to be either a great and heroic Pope, an average or mediocre Pope or a disastrous Pope.

All the world is watching to see which one Your Holiness chooses.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

KRISTOS VOSKRES! VOISTINU VOSKRES!


Christ is risen; indeed He has risen, as is written in Ukrainian/Russian at the headline (These two countries have been on my mind of late)..

To an old man of the cinema like the present writer, religious holy days bring my heart and mind back to that special class of music which once adorned films, and it brings me back to thoughts of the one or two composers who were masters at it.

And the great Alfred Newman always comes to mind; and he has also been on my mind recently as regular readers have already guessed.  An ethnic, non-practicing Jew, Newman yet had an affinity for Christian themes and Christian music.  His music for films dealing with these things came not from his heart or mind exclusively; they came, I am convinced, from the very depths of his soul.  He had that gift, like the ancient composers who put music to liturgy, of expressing in his music about Jesus Christ at one and the same time a sense of both profound sadness and yet inner exaltation.

When he was approached to score his biggest and as it turned out his last religious film he produced perhaps his finest film score.  But soon troubles came that would eventually disfigure a part of that beautiful score. We are speaking, of course, of The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).

When this film was in its final editing stage a very sad thing happened.  Director George Stevens decided to eliminate the gorgeous Resurrection and Ascension music composed by Alfred Newman and to replace it with Handel's "Halleluiah Chorus" from his Messiah.  The mistake was not in including music by one of the world's great masters; the mistake was not taking into account its over-familiarity, which suddenly jarred audiences, and which brought on criticism.  To place a very recognizable 18th century piece of music and mix it with a a modern romantic-style composition instantly took the viewer out of the film which, admittedly, had an adverse effect on the viewer.  He replaced Newman's Raising of Lazarus music in the same way with the same Handel piece.  (For those interested in how these things happened an entire book was written about the trials and tribulations of that film score: "Hollywood Holy Land" by Ken Darby, who served as Newman's choral master on this and many other films.)

Thankfully the original Newman "Hallelujah Chorus" from The Greatest Story Ever Told was preserved and can be heard at the following link:.

http://youtu.be/BZRylP6Ads0

Other writers will offer more meaningful short essays on this blessed Feast Day.  For my part I will only attempt to acquaint my readers with the work of a master as he illustrates the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ as only he, one of the screen's great originals, could.

A very Blessed Easter to you and yours.


Thursday, April 17, 2014

THE HOUR HAS COME: MAUNDY THURSDAY

Bouveret: The Last Supper
More musical beauty from Alfred Newman, the music for the Last Supper sequence from the 1965 film, The Greatest Story Ever Told.

http://youtu.be/HwwslEdvG5E

Sunday, April 13, 2014

ALFRED NEWMAN: PALM SUNDAY


One of the composers who worked in the cinema who had a special sort of affinity for religious themes was Alfred Newman whose long and distinguished career included such famous films as WUTHERING HEIGHTS, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, THE SONG OF BERNADETTE, ANASTASIA and numerous other fine works.  He was a composer, and a conductor, of the first rank.

In two films he was called on to score Christ's entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, first for the 1953 film THE ROBE and next for the 1965 production THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD.  the Sunday of the Having been introduced to the world of fine music by eminent film composers I suppose it is unavoidable that the music that fills the ear on Palm Sunday should be by Newman.

The following piece is from the soundtrack to THE ROBE.  It is entitled, by the composer, "Christ's Entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday of the Palms".

http://youtu.be/fd9_UwQiAUU

Some photos of Catholic and Orthodox celebrations of the day:

http://rt.com/in-vision/palm-sunday-world-celebrate/

Thursday, April 10, 2014

TO CONVERT OR NOT TO CONVERT, THAT IS THE QUESTION

The Good Friday prayer is back in the news again with the announcement that Pope Francis is going to tamper with it.  It had already been tampered with by John XXIII, Vatican 2 and Pope Benedict XIV all to the detriment of the prayer itself and to the detriment of the Jews themselves, the beneficiaries of the prayer.

With this abysmal prospect once again on the horizon we believe it is essential to re-visit the controversy from 2008 when Benedict did the tampering.  We present here Anthony Fraser's take on the situation, which appeared in APROPOS in 2008.  It seems likely that all the old arguments are going to resurface once again, which proved at the time to be another rending of Catholic unity, so let us prepare for what is undoubtedly coming.


To Convert or not to Convert, that is the Question.

(Or, Reflections on that Good Friday Prayer)

by Anthony Fraser

(This article first appeared in Apropos No. 26, Our Lady of Mount Carmel 2008 and is now posted on the Apropos website www.apropos.org.uk )

In response to a claim by the editor of the Catholic Herald that the Good Friday prayers in the Traditional liturgy were offensive to the Jews, Fr Thomas Crean OP wrote the following in a letter to that paper:

‘You claim that the language of the traditional Good Friday prayers for the Jewish people is offensive. Some may take offence from it, but the language is scriptural. It seems to be inspired by the second letter to the Corinthians. St Paul, a baptised Jew, speaking to his brethren according to the flesh, states that “even until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.” (2 Cor 3:15).
 

The Good Friday prayer asks that the veil be taken from their hearts. A few verses later, speaking in general of those who do not believe the gospel, St Paul says that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers” (2 Cor. 4:4). The prayer applies this to the particular case of the Jewish people, and asks that this blindness be taken away. If, as you claim, the traditional missal is deficient because it “lacks the insight of our own generation” does the same apply to Holy Scripture?’

Fr Crean wrote his letter prior to the Holy Father’s change to the 1959 prayer, but one cannot find fault with Fr Crean’s reasoning, and it is surely perfectly reasonable to ask why this prayer, already altered at the behest of Jules Isaac (1) and his brethren on account of the alleged anti-Semitic nature of the pre-conciliar era version, ought to have been changed again? Far be it from me to suggest conspiracy but something definitely was afoot. Let us recall that this latest objection to the prayers of the Traditional liturgy did not arise until Benedict XVI acknowledged that liturgy’s never-abrogated status as a legal rite of the Church, and requested that its celebration be liberated from the illegal constraints which had bound it for nigh 40 years. The Traditional liturgy had been celebrated in terms of the indult during that period but its liberation meant that the Easter Triduum could also now be celebrated in the Traditional liturgy. That this should have sparked such a Jewish reaction was not altogether unexpected but may have seemed strange nevertheless. These were, after all, the same liturgical prayers which had been used at the Council - prayers which had been altered at the request of Jewish lobbyists.

Conversion – hurtful and insulting

The American Jewish Committee report referred to in footnote (1) also added that Pope John ‘felt the Second Vatican Council should provide an opportunity for the Church to clarify officially its attitude towards Jews and Judaism, and to repudiate traditions that had too long perpetuated tension and hatred’. One can reasonably assume that this was effected in the Council decree Nostrae aetate. John XXIII’s change to the Easter liturgy, however, predated Vatican II and therefore Nostrae aetate (2) and Paul VI’s Novus Ordo both of which gave effect to some aspirations of the Jewish leaders [Joseph Roddy refers to these as a latter-day Sanhedrin] who had arranged and held secret meetings with Cardinal Bea (3), his representatives(4), and with Paul VI (5) prior to and during the Council. The “restoration” of the Traditional liturgy, even that already modified to assuage Jewish concerns, was enough to raise the ire of such Jewish bellwethers as Abe Foxman, but why? Not, as Zenit and others suggested, because of confusion that it was the “perfidious Jews” prayer that was to be reinstated (which was clearly untrue) but because the revised prayer of 1959, in the words of Abe Foxman, ‘would now permit Catholics to utter such hurtful and insulting words by praying for Jews to be converted’ (6)

Profoundly Anti-Semitic Elements


In other words, the liberalisation of the Traditional Mass, despite the Jewish-inspired changes already effected to it, was obviously a backward step in the judaisation of the Catholic liturgy which had progressed since Vatican II to the extent that in the Novus Ordo ‘the prayer for the conversion of the Jews was replaced by a positive prayer recognising the Jews’ eternal covenant with God, a principle to which Pope John Paul II was deeply committed.’ (7) Indeed the Traditional Mass was described by Israelinsider as having ‘profoundly anti-Semitic elements’ (8) on account of its pre-conciliar outlook, one which the editor of The Catholic Herald would no doubt hold as “lacking the insight of our own generation”. As Thomas Reese SJ, former editor of America magazine was to suggest: ‘The treatment of the Jews in the 1962 missal was not ideal. It prayed for the “conversion of the Jews”. (9)

If it is not necessary to change……..

The mere fact that the present Pope sought to change the 1959 Good Friday prayer for the Jews indicates that he bowed to pressure from the Jewish lobby outwith the Church and its ecumenical supporters within the Church who share an hostility to the very concept of conversion of the Jews. The question one felt compelled to ask, therefore, was whether the Holy Father’s new Good Friday prayer answered those Jewish and ecumenical concerns, and if not, why change the prayer at all? In this regard we bring to mind that old French proverb: ‘If it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.’

The traditional movement has suffered no little internal tension regarding the Holy Father’s decision to alter the traditional prayer at the behest of Jewish lobbyists and we do not think any less of our traditionalist friends who have taken an opposite view from us. Some find the new prayer entirely satisfactory while others see it as a retrograde step watering down the Church’s concern for the Jewish people. Even if the prayer is as orthodox as its predecessor, the very act of changing the prayer in response to pressure from those outwith the Church can only lead to distrust of the change no matter how well it be constructed. If the existing 1959 prayer is offensive to Jews on account of its unambiguous call for their conversion, why change it at all if, as some would say, the new prayer equally calls for their conversion and is almost equally offensive to Jews?

An unambiguous call for conversion?

But does the new prayer really and unambiguously call for the conversion of the Jews as understood in the traditional sense? True, the first plea that they acknowledge Our Lord as saviour mirrors that of the traditional Good Friday prayer, although as one anonymous commentator has demonstrated the prayer has been stripped of any apportioning of fault or indication of error in the Jewish people. Thus, as an editorial in Forward states, ‘The prayer no longer speaks of Jewish “blindness” or “darkness” much less “perfidy”. This begs the question: If there is no fault or error, why is there any need to change i.e. to make an act of conversion? But it could be equally argued that although the prayer makes no direct reference to blindness, there is an indirect connection in the scriptural reference in the prayer to ‘the fullness of the Gentiles’ entering into the Church. This text comes from the Epistle of St Paul to the Romans 11:25 which reads in full: ‘ For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery (lest you should be wise in your own conceits) that blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in.’ But, if Vatican II has taught us anything it is to beware of that ambiguity, expertly described by Romano Amerio in Iota Unum’, of which the current controversy is a perfect example.

Major Departure from Vatican II?

Abe Foxman of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League acknowledged ’that some of the deprecatory language has been removed’ from the new version of the prayer, i.e the direct Pauline scriptural references. He dismissed the prayer overall, however, as ‘cosmetic revisions’ because in his view it retained the most troubling aspect for Jews, namely the desire to end the distinctive Jewish way of life, and thus constituted ‘a major departure from the teachings and actions of Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, and numerous authoritative Catholic documents, including Nostrae aetate.’

Full Conformity with Vatican II

Within days of the Feb 2008 new Good Friday prayer, Cardinal Kasper, President of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews (10) had responded to a letter from Chief Rabbi David Rosen, Chairman of the IJCIC in which the Cardinal confirms that, in the reformulated prayer, ‘nothing is withdrawn from Nostrae aetate: indeed this text remains totally valid and fundamental for our Jewish-Christian relations.’ Cardinal Kasper specifically reassures his Jewish interlocutor that: ‘The reformulated text no longer speaks about the conversion of the Jews, as some Jewish critics wrongly affirm. The text is a prayer inspired by St Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter II, which is the very text that speaks also of the unbroken covenant. It takes up Paul’s eschatological hope that at the end of times all Israel will be saved. As a prayer the text lays all in the hands of God and not in ours. It says nothing about the how and when. Therefore there is nothing about missionary activities, by which we may take Israel’s salvation in our hands. We leave all in the hands of the one who is the only master and Lord of history.’

Nor was Cardinal Kasper’s obsequious apologia a mere presidential aberration. It was followed by a more measured Vatican statement which confirmed that. ‘The continuation of the position found in Nostrae Aetate is clearly shown by the fact that the prayer contained in the 1970 Missal continues to be in full use, and is the ordinary form of the prayer of Catholics’ (11)

The 2008 Good Friday prayer in the “extra-ordinary” liturgy allegedly seeks the conversion of the Jews sought by the 1959 and the earlier unamended prayer, but both Cardinal Kasper and the Vatican statement of 4th April 2008 advise us that the scandalous 1970 Good Friday prayer and the 2008 amended “Traditional” Good Friday prayer reflect the spirit of Nostrae aetate which the Jews consider as a bar on attempts to convert them. This affair demonstrates that despite the liberalisation of the Traditional Mass, and despite the protestations of those who claim that the new Good Friday prayer in the traditional liturgy equates to the old, the reality is that the mark of Modernism is stamped on the whole affair. First, the irresistible need to change where such is not necessary, to introduce novelty, and by that very act creating an air of uncertainty in the Traditional liturgy where none existed before. Furthermore we find in this affair of Good Friday texts what Fr Calmel described as ‘the double advantage for Modernism of not being able to be accused of clearly heretical propositions but nevertheless of being able to be drawn in a sense opposed to the faith’. One finds in the text or the explanation of the text that ambiguity which Arnaud de Lassus tells us is connatural to Modernists. Thus the text of the new Good Friday prayers is held wholly orthodox by many traditionalists in that it calls for the conversion of the Jews, whereas Cardinal Kasper assures his Jewish friends that it no longer speaks of their conversion. Does not scripture itself warn us that : ‘If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle’ (12)

If that battle be the missionary task of the Church to “convert all nations” who indeed shall prepare himself for such. The fruits of this policy are all too clear to see.

The question still remains as to why the Holy Father felt constrained to alter the 1959 Good Friday prayer for the Jews. As the resulting brouhaha demonstrated, the change satisfied neither traditional Catholics nor most Jews. Nor are we fully aware of whether the objections to the 1959 prayer arose primarily from a Jewish or Modernist Catholic source. One thing is certain, however, the Holy Father felt constrained to change the prayer in response to Jewish representations. To appreciate why one must consider the background to the Second Vatican Council. We are aware of the Rome-Moscow agreement, conducted by Cardinal Tisserant and the KGB agent Nikodim, the outcome of which was that Rome would no longer criticise Communism and that Moscow would permit the Russian Orthodox to attend the Council. The agreement between Rome and Jewish leaders is also now well documented (13). Jean Madiran in his article “Rome’s Secret Accord with the Jewish leaders” recounts the report by Lazare Landau in issue 903 of Tribune Juive in which Landau wrote:

On a misty, freezing winter’s evening in 1962-63, I went to the Centre communautaire de la Paix at Strasbourg in response to an extraordinary invitation. The Jewish leaders were holding a secret meeting in the basement with an envoy of the Pope. At the conclusion of the Sabbath, a dozen of us were there to welcome a white-robed Dominican, the Reverend Father Yves Congar, whom Cardinal Bea, in the name of John XXIII had charged with asking us, on the eve of the Council, what we expected from the Catholic Church (…)
 

The Declaration of ‘Nostrae aetate’ – Fr Congar and the three authors of the text assured me – represented a real revolution in the Church’s doctrine on the Jews (…)
 

Homilies and Catechisms changed in a few short years (...)
 

Since the secret visit from Fr Congar in a concealed part of the synagogue, on a cold winter’s night, the Church’s doctrine had indeed undergone a total change.

Madiran comments:

Such was the origin of the new perspective which would be imposed on Catholic doctrine: ‘we must no longer speak of the infidelity of Israel, but of its fidelity.’
 

The Rome-Moscow agreement ostensibly had the “benefit” to the Church of allowing the Russian Orthodox to attend the Council. There appears to have been no benefit to the Church in whatever accord was drawn up between the Vatican and the Jewish leaders unless it amounted to some sort of ecclesiastical Balfour Declaration the terms of which are yet to be realised. One thing is certain, however, whatever agreement was arrived at it has been faithfully adhered to by every pontiff since Vatican II and any breach must be immediately remedied by the Church. How else can one explain the heretical 1970 Good Friday prayer and paragraph 840 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. How else can one explain the indecent haste of the Vatican’s response to Jewish representation about the revised 1959 prayer and its 2008 amendment following the Motu Proprio, a haste unknown in response to requests by the faithful regarding matters of grave concern in faith or morals. Whatever constraints arose from these secret accords they are clearly still in place and the Church will not have liberty to pursue her mission until they are removed.

With all the sentimental talk, writing, and bloviation about Love and all that, why is there so little talk about our true love for the Jews - our selfless and generous Charity for the Jews here and now, not just at the end of time (about which there is a somewhat vague prophecy about their conversion)? If we truly love them, we will desire and work for their true conversion to the Catholic Faith and its more abundant life in Heaven. Conversion and Baptism is a necessary condition toward that end, and grace is indispensable. God created us without our help but, as St Augustine says, He will not save us without our help, hence the need for our free response to His generous Divine Grace.

Postscript:

Following our writing of this article we learned about a previous incident in the history of the Church when pressure was put upon the Church to change its Good Friday prayer regarding the Jews. It is recounted in Professor Robert Anderson’s Pope Pius VII 1800-1823. (14)

After the Napoleonic invasion of the Papal States, the Treaty of Tolentino was concluded with the French in 1797, the conditions of which required Pope Pius VI to give up all his rights over the Papal territories, known as “The Legations” which included Imola, the seat of Cardinal Chiarimonti, and which became part of the Cis-Alpine Republic proclaimed by Napoleon before his departure to Egypt. Cardinal Chiarimonti, the future Pope Pius VII, called upon his flock to submit to the new Republican order and when he returned to Imola he was welcomed by all. However, as Professor Anderson relates:

‘Nevertheless, he was shortly afterwards enjoined by the New Minister of Police to order the suppression of prayers for the Emperor and princes and to substitute prayers “for all in authority and the good of the people in the Cis-Alpine Republic.” He was next required to suppress the Good Friday and Holy Saturday prayers pro perfidies Judaeis.
 

Then “Citizen Chiaramonti” was informed by the local commissars of the Parisian Directory that “a religion such as that of Christ, founded on humility, is incomprehensible with pomp and display.” So as once again “to put into force the simple maxims of the Gospel,” the Cardinal-Bishop was invited to remove from the altars every sign of ecclesiastical and aristocratical distinction, diametrically opposed to principles of Republican equality, and to take away the dais, steps and baldequin of the Episcopal throne.’

It is worthy of note that, even in that era, the removal of the traditional Good Friday prayer for the Jews should be seen as a primary concern of a revolutionary Masonic regime. Worthy too of note is the Revolution’s interest in securing changes in liturgical architecture and prayer. Reflecting on this might help some to realise the true source of inspiration for the liturgical changes which arose in the era of Vatican II almost two centuries later.

A S Fraser.

NOTES:

1 A confidential publication by the American Jewish Committee, The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Jews – A Background Report (November 1965) advises us that: ‘ During the two years following his accession in 1958, Pope John gave repeated indications that the time might be ripe for such decisive action. [ i.e. ‘revision of the traditional attitude towards Jews and Judaism’.] He entered into searching discussions with Professor Isaac. He ordered certain phrases offensive to Jews, such as perfidi Judaei ( “perfidious” or “unbelieving Jews”), stricken from the Holy Week liturgy.(p.9)
2 While recognising that Nostrae aetate signals a historic turning point, The AJC admit that it ‘falls somewhat short of its supporters’ highest hopes.’ Ibid. p.48.
 3 Those attending the meeting ‘were connected in leading capacities with such organisations as The Jewish Theological Seminary, the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the Synagogue Council of America, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and Yeshiva University …’ Ibid. p.19.
4 See meeting with French Jewish leaders and Yves Congar OP at the Strasbourg synagogue described in Jean Madiran’s article “Rome’s Secret Accord with the Jewish Leaders” in Apropos 9.
5 See the detailed report in “How the Jews Changed Catholic Thinking” in Judaism and the Vatican by Leon de Poncins. Britons Publishing Co. 1967.
6 Israel Insider 7-7-07
7 Israel Insider “Vatican OK of Old Mass a “body blow” to Jewish-Catholic relations.” 7-07-07
8 Ibid, 30-06-07
9 Reported by Rebecca Nappi in the Spokesman –Review.
10 Which lies within the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian [sic] Unity
11 Zenit 4th April 2008 ZE08040406 -2008-04-04
12 1 Cor. 14:8
13 Cf. Joseph Roddy, Look magazine, “How the Jews changed Catholic Thinking” - see Chapter 15 of Judaism and the Vatican, by Leon de Poncins; The Second Vatican Councils Declaration on the Jews – A Background Report [‘A Private Communication Not for Publication’] published by The American Jewish Committee Institute of Human Relations NY; Rome’s Secret Accord with the Jewish Leaders by Jean Madiran , published as a supplement to Apropos No 9. [NOTE by Editor, The Eye-Witness: this article is also available here,]
14 Tan Books, Rockford, Illinois 61105, 2001.

A BOUGHT AND PAID FOR CONGRESSMAN





Many in America do need to have their eyes opened.  Call it a Plutocracy, an Oligarchy or a Despotism, or a combination of the three, America is a land where lawmakers are bought like cattle in a Texas stockyard.  It is a sorry spectacle but we do need to see just how graft and corruption works.


Enter Republican Congressman Mike Pompeo, bought and paid for by Monsanto and Koch Industries, two of the most hated corporations in America.

Here is what Mr Pompeo is up to at the moment:

http://rt.com/usa/congress-considers-blocking-gmo-labeling-480/

As the old saying goes, we have the best Congress money can buy.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

http://rt.com/usa/nevada-ranch-armed-feds-520/

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

CATHOLICS PROPELLED BY DEMONS

Sister Jane Dominic

It took an insightful post by Brother Andre Marie over at Saint Benedict Center to wake me up to the fact that 150+ years of not teaching firmly what the Church believes and teaches has brought us to the point where a nun can speak to high school subjects on elements of basic morality and be hounded by drooling jackals demanding her head on a platter.  The hounding jackals?  They were Catholics.  Supposedly. Catholics who have in the last century (at least in the USA) heard little to nothing about sexual morality from the pulpits of their churches.

An angry mob of uncatechized Catholics went into a meltdown and screamed to all who would listen that it was an affront for a Catholic nun to teach the truth about sodomy and personal morality to high school students.  Little did these supposed Catholics realize that they were dancing with the Devil.

Every blogger on earth is writing about this incident so I wont bore my readers with more of what has already been well said by others.  But I will say, let this be a stern warning to any cleric who might be reading this.  The time to start preaching the truth about Catholic morality is now, no matter how lackadaisical it is taught by Bishops, Cardinals or Popes.  You now have a vivid example of what happens to Catholics when they are deprived of the nourishment of Catholic teaching: they turn into a vicious mob when someone actually speaks the truth to them.  Could this happen to you as well, Reverend Fathers and Reverend Sisters?  Yes, it could.  But that must not stop you from doing it.  God will be with you.

Happily, it now appears that the Bishop of the diocese in question has come out publicly in support of this nun.  That is a case of rare but welcome courage in these days.  Read about that here at LifeSite News:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/mobile/news/charlotte-bishop-backs-nun-who-gave-school-talk-promoting-church-teaching-o

[Unhappily, it appears our accolades to the Bishop in question may need some revision: see here.]

Let us send our expressions not of gratitude but of encouragement to the Bishop, Peter Jugis.  I say "not gratitude" because he is expected to do what is right.  Rather, send him expressions of encouragement, and after the encouragement then a note of thanks.  When a Bishop acts like a Bishop let us not fail to let him know that not only is Jesus Christ at his side but also his soldiers-in-the-pew who will be with him.  He can be reached in this manner:

Diocese of Charlotte
Phone: (704) 370-6299
chancery@charlottediocese.org

I have read that a certain public figure, dressed in white, has said we talk too much about abortion and homosexuality.  It would seem that given the circumstances of this incident, this man might want to re-think that statement.

Monday, April 7, 2014

FATHER CLETUS HEALY, SJ

At 6 a.m. this morning, Monday in Passion Week, the world and the Church lost a courageous and well-loved priest, Father Cletus Healy, SJ.

It is one of those losses we can ill-afford.  Please pray for the soul of this good, humble and kind man.

UPDATE:

For those who might be able to attend his Friday wake and Mass, here is the obituary from the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/jsonline/obituary.aspx?n=cletus-j-healy&pid=170562910&fhid=5948

And a write-up of this priest, from the same newspaper:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/obituaries/jesuit-priest-championed-conservative-catholic-values-in-era-of-change-b99243049z1-254742001.html

Friday, April 4, 2014

ANOTHER CATHOLIC MONASTERY VANDALIZED IN THE HOLY LAND

Deir Rafat Monastery, 26 kilometers from Jerusalem
From RT Today:

http://rt.com/news/catholic-jerusalem-monastery-vandalism-773/

(How odd that I didn't see this in any American media outlets.  Did I miss it?)

As we get nearer and nearer to Passion Week we can observe that after 2,000 years some things never seem to change.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

THE WAR MONGERS NEVER SLEEP

With thanks to earloftaint.com
Like Satan, the war mongers never sleep.  They really do want to want the USA to fight more - yes, more - wars.  Lunacy does not begin to explain the thinking of these people.

The usual suspects are still furious that they didn't get their wars in Syria and Iran.  Like belligerent little children who have had their toys taken away from them they will scream and kick until they get their way.  Now the Ukraine business has breathed new life into the neocons (you might say they breathed new life into themselves for they were the ones who fomented and babysat the coup in Kiev).

How many dead bodies will it take before the citizens begin to rein in their leaders?

Two compelling articles which we can highly recommend:

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/03/19/neocons-ukraine-syria-iran-gambit/

and

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/03/lets-play-along-and-say-that-putin-did.html

Please offer a prayer or two, or a bit of fasting, for the innocents in the cross hairs.
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