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"Pandemic Treaty" Will Hand WHO Keys To Global Government

Posted by: Stone - 04-23-2022, 05:56 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism - Replies (2)

"Pandemic Treaty" Will Hand WHO Keys To Global Government

[Image: adobe-stock-global-government-2000x900.j...k=FgRNhMYD]

ZH | APR 22, 2022 - 09:00 PM
Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

The first public hearings on the proposed “Pandemic Treaty” are closed, with the next round due to start in mid-June.

We’ve been trying to keep this issue on our front page, entirely because the mainstream is so keen to ignore it and keep churning out partisan war porn and propaganda.

When we – and others – linked to the public submissions page, there was such a response that the WHO’s website actually briefly crashed, or they pretended it crashed so people would stop sending them letters.

Either way, it’s a win. Hopefully one we can replicate in the summer.

Until then, the signs are that what scant press coverage there is, mostly across the metaphorical back-pages of the internet, will be focused on making the treaty “strong enough” and ensuring national governments can be “held accountable”.

An article in the UK’s Telegraph from April 12th headlines:

Quote:Real risk a pandemic treaty could be ‘too watered down’ to stop new outbreaks

It focuses on a report from the Panel for a Global Public Health Convention (GPHC), and quotes one of the report’s authors Dame Barbara Stocking:

Quote:Our biggest fear […] is it’s too easy to think that accountability doesn’t matter. To have a treaty that does not have compliance in it, well frankly then there’s no point in having a treaty,”

The GPHC report goes on to say that the current International Health Regulations are “too weak”, and calls for the creation of a new “independent” international body to “assess government preparedness” and “publicly rebuke or praise countries, depending on their compliance with a set of agreed requirements”.

Another article, published by the London School of Economics and co-written by members of the German Alliance on Climate Change and Health (KLUG), also pushes the idea of “accountability” and “compliance” pretty hard:

Quote:For this treaty to have teeth, the organisation that governs it needs to have the power – either political or legal – to enforce compliance.

It also echoes the UN report from May 2021 in calling for more powers for the WHO:

Quote:In its current form, the WHO does not possess such powers […]

To move on with the treaty, WHO therefore needs to be empowered — financially, and politically.

It recommends the involvement of “non-state actors” such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation and International Labour Organisation in the negotiations, and suggests the treaty offer financial incentives for the early reporting of “health emergencies” [emphasis added]:

Quote:In case of a declared health emergency, resources need to flow to countries in which the emergency is occurring, triggering response elements such as financing and technical support. These are especially relevant for LMICs, and could be used to encourage and enhance the timely sharing of information by states, reassuring them that they will not be subject to arbitrary trade and travel sanctions for reporting, but instead be provided with the necessary financial and technical resources they require to effectively respond to the outbreak.

It doesn’t stop there, however. They also raise the question of countries being punished for “non-compliance”:

Quote:[The treaty should possess] An adaptable incentive regime, [including] sanctions such as public reprimands, economic sanctions, or denial of benefits.

To translate these suggestions from bureaucrat into English:

If you report “disease outbreaks” in a “timely manner”, you will get “financial resources” to deal with them.
If you don’t report disease outbreaks, or don’t follow the WHO’s directions, you will lose out on international aid and face trade embargoes and sanctions.

In combination, these proposed rules would literally incentivize reporting possible “disease outbreaks”. Far from preventing “future pandemics”, they would actively encourage them.

National governments who refuse to play ball being punished, and those who play along getting paid off is not new. We have already seen that with Covid.

Two African countries – Burundi and Tanzania – had Presidents who banned the WHO from their borders, and refused to go along with the Pandemic narrative. Both Presidents died unexpectedly within months of that decision, only to be replaced by new Presidents who instantly reversed their predecessor’s covid policies.

Less than a week after the death of President Pierre Nkurunziza, the IMF agreed to forgive almost 25 million dollars of Burundi’s national debt in order to help combat the Covid19 “crisis”.

Just five months after the death of President John Magufuli, the new government of Tanzania received 600 million dollars from the IMF to “address the covid19 pandemic”.

It’s pretty clear what happened here, isn’t it?

Globalists backed coups and rewarded the perpetrators with “international aid”. The proposals for the Pandemic treaty would simply legitimise this process, moving it from covert back channels to overt official ones.

Now, before we discuss the implications of new powers, let’s remind ourselves of the power the WHO already possesses:

The World Health Organization is the only institution in the world empowered to declare a “pandemic” or Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

The Director-General of the WHO – an unelected position – is the only individual who controls that power.

We have already seen the WHO abuse these powers in order to create a fake pandemic out of thin air…and I’m not talking about covid.

Prior to 2008, the WHO could only declare an influenza pandemic if there were “enormous numbers of deaths and illness” AND there was a new and distinct subtype. In 2008 the WHO loosened the definition of “influenza pandemic” to remove these two conditions.

As a 2010 letter to the British Medical Journal pointed out, these changes meant “many seasonal flu viruses could be classified as pandemic influenza.”

If the WHO had not made those changes, the 2009 “Swine flu” outbreak could never have been called a pandemic, and would likely have passed without notice.

Instead, dozens of countries spent millions upon millions of dollars on swine flu vaccines they did not need and did not work, to fight a “pandemic” that resulted in fewer than 20,000 deaths. Many of those responsible for advising the WHO to declare swine flu a public health emergency were later shown to have financial ties to vaccine manufacturers.

Despite this historical example of blatant corruption, one proposed clause of the Pandemic Treaty would make it even easier to declare a PHEIC. According to the May 2021 report “Covid19: Make it the Last Pandemic” [emphasis added]:

Quote:Future declarations of a PHEIC by the WHO Director-General should be based on the precautionary principle where warranted

Yes, the proposed treaty could allow the DG of the WHO to declare a state of global emergency to prevent a potential pandemic, not in response to one. A kind of pandemic pre-crime.

If you combine this with the proposed “financial aid” for developing nations reporting “potential health emergencies”, you can see what they’re building – essentially bribing third world governments to give the WHO a pretext for declaring a state of emergency.

We already know the other key points likely to be included in a pandemic treaty.

They will almost certainly try to introduce international vaccine passports, and pour funding into big Pharma’s pockets to produce “vaccines” ever faster and with even less safety testing.

But all of that could pale in comparison to the legal powers potentially being handed to the director-general of the WHO (or whatever new “independent” body they may decide to create) to punish, rebuke or reward national governments.

A “Pandemic Treaty” that overrides or overrules national or local governments would hand supranational powers to an unelected bureaucrat or “expert”, who could exercise them entirely at his own discretion and on completely subjective criteria.

This is the very definition of technocratic globalism.

RI bill would force vaccination under threat of doubled income tax, monthly penalties

Posted by: Stone - 04-22-2022, 11:51 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism - No Replies

Rhode Island bill would force vaccination under threat of doubled income tax, monthly penalties
Recently proposed legislation would force all Rhode Islanders to get jabbed or pay monthly penalties of $50 as well as double their normal income tax.

Thu Apr 21, 2022
(LifeSiteNews) – Rhode Island state Senator Samuel W. Bell has introduced a bill that would force adults and children alike to get jabbed for COVID-19 under the threat of doubled income taxes and fines that could amount to thousands of dollars.

S2552 would require all who live or work in Rhode Island, including eligible minors under age 16, “to be immunized against COVID-19, including with “any additional” COVID jabs that may become available and deemed “in the interest of public health.”

The bill further demands that exemption petitions “must be for medical reasons,” and must list no less than three notarized signatures by licensed physicians declaring the person unfit for “vaccination.” Minors 10 years of age and older must also sign the exemption form.

All the unjabbed lacking exemptions would be “required to pay a monthly civil penalty of fifty dollars,” and would “owe twice the amount of personal income taxes as would otherwise be assessed.”

Employers must also provide “proof of compliance” for each Rhode Island employee, which they can waive for “purely remote work.” Employers would be required to pay a monthly penalty of $5,000 “for every violation.”

Bell said he introduced the legislation because there is “a crisis with the pandemic,” citing the deaths of “thousands of Rhode Islanders” and “painful calls from constituents who can’t go to the store because they’re immuno-compromised,” The Boston Globe reported.

On Monday, the young Rhode Island Democrat pointed to a survey which he said shows that “Rhode Islanders still strongly support a vaccine mandate.” The poll, which was conducted by the COVID-19 Consortium for Understanding the Public’s Policy Preferences Across States, reportedly “found 64 percent of residents believe everyone should be required to get the vaccine.”

One Twitter user has pointed out, however, that Dan McGowan, the reporter who shared the survey via The Boston Globe, did not share that the survey of 391 respondents was, by its own admission, “non-probability,” meaning the sampling was not random and is not intended to reflect responses of the general population.

State Senator Jessica de la Cruz, a North Smithfield Republican, is fighting the legislation through an email campaign, in which she has provided constituents with a template to sign and send to Bell and the bill’s co-sponsors, The Boston Globe shared.

“I hear my constituents and others around the state loud and clear – this is dangerous legislation and sends the message that our government doesn’t trust you to make the right choice for you and your family. This is an unconscionable overreach of legislative powers,” de la Cruz wrote in an email to voters.

In protest of Bell’s portrayal of the bill’s opponents as “anti-vax,” one social media user remarked, “You can support vaccination without mandating, coercion, and threats of financial hardship. Literally no other place on earth has gone this far with vaccine mandates.”

As of April 8, there have been 2,096,166 reports of vaccine adverse events, including 26,976 reported deaths, according to OpenVAERS. While causation is not explicitly confirmed through the VAERS reporting system, neither can it be presumed that all side effects are reported. Indeed, one study in 2010 found that “fewer than 1% of vaccine injuries” are reported to VAERS, suggesting the actual numbers of deaths and injuries are significantly higher.

Coronavirus vaccine trials have never produced evidence that the vaccines stop infection or transmission. They do not even claim to reduce hospitalization, but the measurement of success is in preventing severe symptoms of COVID-19 disease. Moreover, there is strong evidence that the “vaccinated” are just as <likely to carry and transmit the virus as the unvaccinated.

CT House passes bill to make state an abortion sanctuary, allow non-doctors to abort

Posted by: Stone - 04-22-2022, 11:29 AM - Forum: Abortion - No Replies

Connecticut House passes bill to make state an abortion sanctuary, allow non-doctors to abort
Abortion allies are bracing for a potential Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Thu Apr 21, 2022
HARTFORD, Connecticut (LifeSiteNews) — The Connecticut House voted 87-60 on Thursday to advance legislation allowing more non-physicians to perform abortions and shield abortionists from potential lawsuits for violating the pro-life laws of other states.

HB 5414 would establish that the governor can only extradite Connecticut residents for violating other states’ laws if those violations are also illegal in Connecticut (while placing similar limits on courts, public agencies, and health providers), allows abortionists sued by out-of-staters for violating those states’ abortion laws to counter-sue to recover certain costs, and empowers allows advanced practice registered nurses, nurse-midwives, and physician assistants to commit first-trimester aspiration abortions as well as dispense abortion-inducing drugs.

Supporters of the measure, which has been endorsed by Democrat Gov. Ned Lamont, framed it as making Connecticut into a “sanctuary” for abortion in anticipation of upcoming Supreme Court rulings that could potentially impact the judicial “right” to abortion-on-demand asserted by Roe v. Wade, by broadening the range of permissible abortion regulations or even overturning the infamous 1973 precedent and fully restoring states’ ability to set their own abortion laws.

“That right is under threat like never before,” claimed Democrat state Rep. Matthew Blumenthal, the Hartford Courant reported.

House Republican leader Vincent Candelora, meanwhile, criticized the bill for “essentially impos[ing] Connecticut laws on all 50 states.”

“If you’re in Louisiana and they have a parental consent provision for an abortion, and a 13-year-old gets an abortion without parental consent, that 13-year-old sues the doctor and gets a money judgment against the doctor for violating her rights,” he argued. “The doctor can come to Connecticut and sue the 13-year-old in Connecticut to recoup the money that he lost out because Connecticut doesn’t have parental consent.”

“We honor each other’s laws. We’re the United States of America,” Candelora added, an apparent reference to the Full Faith & Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution that requires that “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State.”

Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut noted that pro-life activists won a victory when HB 5414 was amended to only apply to abortions that take place in Connecticut, whereas an earlier version of the bill “would have protected an abortionist who breaks the law in Texas and flees to Connecticut to escape enforcement.”

Pro-lifers argue that laws allowing non-physicians to commit abortions not only increase the number of innocent lives lost to abortion but also put the women seeking abortions in greater danger by subjecting them to abortionists with less training or experience.

The danger was most dramatically illustrated by the case of infamous Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who delegated parts of the abortion process, such as administering anesthesia, to non-physician employees, one of whom was only 15 years old. In 2015, Gosnell was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of one patient, and of first-degree murder of three born-alive infants.

Even when abortions are committed by fully-licensed physicians, they are frequently anything but safe for the mother, as evidenced by the records of numerous abortion facilities across the country, including chains embraced by abortion allies as leaders for their cause.

New social credit app to reward Italian citizens for ‘virtuous behavior’

Posted by: Stone - 04-22-2022, 09:48 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism - No Replies

New social credit app to reward Italian citizens for ‘virtuous behavior’
Citizens using the app will be rewarded for things such as recycling, using public transports, managing energy well, and not getting fined.

Wed Apr 20, 2022
BOLOGNA, Italy (LifeSiteNews) – A new app recently released in Italy presents striking similarities with China’s social credit system by rewarding some citizens for their behavior through a point system.

“Smart Citizen Wallet” was presented at a March 29 press conference on digital innovation in Bologna, where mayor Matteo Lepore, and Massimo Bugani, director of the city’s “Digital Agenda,” discussed the project.

According to local newspaper Corriere di Bologna, which described the concept as “similar to a supermarket points collection,” the app is already active in Rome, where it’s currently in its experimental stages. It is set to be launched in Bologna this fall.

Citizens using the app will be rewarded for things such as recycling, using public transports, managing energy well, and not getting fined.

So-called “virtuous behaviors” will allow citizens to improve their score and win points that they will be able to “spend” on various awards such as discounts and free cultural activities.

Discussing the project at the March 29 conference, Bugani explained that the app was part of a wider effort by the city of Bologna to invest in digital innovation.

“What we call a new ‘water system’ for the city is being built,” he said.

“In the coming years many services will go digital in Italy; we have an ambitious project here is built on solid foundations.”

Bugani stated that the new smart citizen wallet app will be made available to the citizens of Bologna after this summer.

“Obviously no one will be forced to participate,” he said.

“Those who want to will be able to give consent when downloading and using the app.”

He believes, however, that “many people will want to participate.”

“We want to make them understand that they are not ‘losers,’ but that their behavior is rewarded,” Bugnani explained.

Some journalists, writers, and bloggers in Italy, France, and Germany have pointed out that the concept behind the app bears striking similarities with China’s social credit system. This, too, rewards citizens according to a system of points.

This was not lost on many users of social media, either. Twitter user Nat described the project as “terrifying.”

Others have pointed to similarities with other digital projects such as the Digital ID Wallet by Thales, and have warned that such projects could allow government to usher in a social credit system like China’s in the West.

Privacy Network, an Italian tech company that specializes in digital privacy, issued a statement on their website that warns about the legal, ethical, and social implications of such apps.

“These practices, if poorly developed or used, can lead to serious limitations on, and violations of, citizens’ rights and freedoms, as well as discriminatory practices, which are also achieved through technological means, such as ‘social credit’ systems (or social scoring),” the statement read.

“Our concern is increased by the fact that similar systems have already been introduced in other Italian cities as well; first of all, in Rome, where the Smart Citizen Wallet is already being tested.”

Privacy Network said that it had sent a legal request for information about the methods and characteristics of any processing of personal data used by the app, the methods of using artificial intelligence or automated systems, as well as the names of the suppliers and third parties involved in the implementation of the project.

History of Devotion to the Passion of Christ

Posted by: Stone - 04-22-2022, 08:56 AM - Forum: Resources Online - No Replies

History of Devotion to the Passion of Christ
Taken from here.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XI, pp. 527-530
Nihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

[Image: ?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vvprints.com%2Fvvp%2...f=1&nofb=1]

[Image: ?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vvprints.com%2Fvvp%2...f=1&nofb=1]

The sufferings of Our Lord, which culminated in His death upon the cross, seem to have been conceived of as one inseparable whole from a very early period. Even in the Acts of the Apostles (i, 3) St. Luke speaks of those to whom Christ "shewed himself alive after his passion" (μετα το παθειν αυτου). In the Vulgate this has been rendered post passionem suam, and not only the Reims Testament but the Anglican Authorized and Revised Versions, as well as the medieval English translation attributed to Wyclif, have retained the word "passion" in English. Passio also meets us in the same sense in other early writings (e.g. Tertullian, "Adv. Marcion.", IV, 40) and the word was clearly in common use in the middle of the third century, as in Cyprian, Novatian, and Commodian. The last named writes:

"Hoc Deus hortatur, hoc lex, hoc passio Christi
Ut resurrecturos nos credamus in novo sæclo."

St. Paul declared, and we require no further evidence to convince us that he spoke truly, that Christ crucified was "unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness" (I Cor., i, 23). The shock to Pagan feeling, caused by the ignominy of Christ's Passion and the seeming incompatibility of the Divine nature with a felon's death, seems not to have been without its effect upon the thought of Christians themselves. Hence, no doubt, arose that prolific growth of heretical Gnostic or Docetic sects, which denied the reality of the man Jesus Christ or of His sufferings. Hence also came the tendency in the early Christian centuries to depict the countenance of the Saviour as youthful, fair, and radiant, the very antithesis of the vir dolorum familiar to a later age (cf. Weis Libersdorf, "Christus-und Apostel-bilder", 31 sq.) and to dwell by preference not upon His sufferings but upon His works of mercifulness, as in the Good Shepherd motive, or upon His works of power, as in the raising of Lazarus or in the resurrection figured by the history of Jonas.

But while the existence of such a tendency to draw a veil over the physical side of the Passion may readily be admitted, it would be easy to exaggerate the effect produced upon Christian feeling in the early centuries by Pagan ways of thought. Harnack goes too far when he declares that the Death and Passion of Christ were regarded by the majority of the Greeks as too sacred a mystery to be made the subject of contemplation or speculation, and when he declares that the feeling of the early Greek Church is accurately represented in the following passage of Goethe: "We draw a veil over the sufferings of Christ, simply because we revere them so deeply. We hold if to be reprehensible presumption to play, and trifle with, and embellish those profound mysteries in which the Divine depths of suffering lie hidden, never to rest until even the noblest seems mean and tasteless" (Harnack, "History Of Dogma", tr., III, 306; cf. J. Reil, "Die frühchristlichen Darstellungen der Kreuzigung Christi", 5). On the other hand, while Harnack speaks with caution and restraint, other more popular writers give themselves to reckless generalizations such as may be illustrated by the following passage from Archdeacon Farrar: "The aspect", he says, "in which the early Christians viewed the cross was that of triumph and exultation, never that of moaning and misery. It was the emblem of victory and of rapture, not of blood or of anguish." (See "The Month", May, 1895, 89.) Of course it is true that down to the fifth century the specimens of Christian art that have been preserved to us in the catacombs and elsewhere, exhibit no traces of any sort of representation of the crucifixion. Even the simple cross is rarely found before the time of Constantine (see CROSS), and when the figure of the Divine Victim comes to be indicated, it at first appears most commonly under some symbolical form, e.g. that of a lamb, and there is no attempt as a rule to represent the crucifixion realistically. Again, the Christian literature which has survived, whether Greek or Latin, does not dwell upon the details of the Passion or very frequently fall back upon the motive of our Saviour's sufferings. The tragedy known as "Christus Patiens", which is printed with the works of St. Gregory Nazianzus and was formerly attributed to him, is almost certainly a work of much later date, probably not earlier than the eleventh century (see Krumbacher, "Byz. Lit.", 746).

In spite of all this it would be rash to infer that the Passion was not a favourite subject of contemplation for Christian ascetics. To begin with, the Apostolical writings preserved in the New Testament are far from leaving the sufferings of Christ in the background as a motive of Christian endeavour; take, for instance, the words of St. Peter (I Pet., ii, 19, 21, 23): "For this is thankworthy, if for conscience towards God, a man endure sorrows, suffering wrongfully"; "For unto this are you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps"; "Who, when he was reviled, did not revile", etc.; or again: "Christ therefore having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought" (ibid., iv, 1). So St. Paul (Gal., ii, 19): "with Christ I am nailed to the cross. And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me"; and (ibid., v, 24): "they that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences" (cf. Col., i, 24); and perhaps most strikingly of all (Gal., vi, 14): "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." Seeing the great influence that the New Testament exercised from a very early period upon the leaders of Christian thought, it is impossible to believe that such passages did not leave their mark upon the devotional practice of the West, though it is easy to discover plausible reasons why this spirit should not have displayed itself more conspicuously in literature. It certainly manifested itself in the devotion of the martyrs who died in imitation of their Master, and in the spirit of martyrdom that characterized the early Church.

Further, we do actually find in such an Apostolic Father as St. Ignatius of Antioch, who, though a Syrian by birth, wrote in Greek and was in touch with Greek culture, a very continuous and practical remembrance of the Passion. After expressing in his letter to the Romans (cc. iv, ix) his desire to be martyred, and by enduring many forms of suffering to prove himself the true disciple of Jesus Christ, the saint continues: "Him I seek who dies on our behalf; Him I desire who rose again for our sake. The pangs of a new birth are upon me. Suffer me to receive the pure light. When I am come thither then shall I be a man. Permit me to be an imitator of the Passion of my God. If any man hath Him within himself, let him understand what I desire, and let him have fellow-feeling with me, for he knoweth the things which straiten me." And again he says in his letter to the Smyrnæans (c. iv): "near to the sword, near to God (i.e. Jesus Christ), in company with wild beasts, in company with God. Only let it be in the name of Jesus Christ. So that we may suffer together with Him" (εις το συμπαθειν αυτω).

Moreover, taking the Syrian Church in general – and rich as it was in the traditions of Jerusalem it was far from being an uninfluential part of Christendom – we do find a pronounced and even emotional form of devotion to the Passion established at an early period. Already in the second century a fragment preserved to us of St. Melito of Sardis speaks as Father Faber might have spoken in modern times. Apostrophising the people of Israel, he says: "Thou slewest thy Lord and He was lifted up upon a tree and a tablet was fixed up to denote who He was that was put to death – And who was this? – Listen while ye tremble: – He on whose account the earth quaked; He that suspended the earth was hanged up; He that fixed the heavens was fixed with nails; He that supported the earth was supported upon a tree; the Lord was exposed to ignominy with a naked body; God put to death; the King of Israel slain by an Israelitish right hand. Ah! the fresh wickedness of the fresh murder! The Lord was exposed with a naked body, He was not deemed worthy even of covering, but in order that He might not be seen, the lights were turned away, and the day became dark because they were slaying God, who was naked upon the tree" (Cureton, "Spicilegium Syriacum", 55).

No doubt the Syrian and Jewish temperament was an emotional temperament, and the tone of their literature may often remind us of the Celtic. But in any case it is certain that a most realistic presentation of Our Lord's sufferings found favour with the Fathers of the Syrian Church apparently from the beginning. It would be easy to make long quotations of this kind from the works of St. Ephraem, St. Isaac of Antioch, and St. James of Sarugh. Zingerle in the "Theologische Quartalschrift" (1870 and 1871) has collected many of the most striking passages from the last two writers. In all this literature we find a rather turgid Oriental imagination embroidering almost every detail of the history of the Passion. Christ's elevation upon the cross is likened by Isaac of Antioch to the action of the stork, which builds its nest upon the treetops to be safe from the insidious approach of the snake; while the crown of thorns suggests to him a wall with which the safe asylum of that nest is surrounded, protecting all the children of God who are gathered in the nest from the talons of the hawk or other winged foes (Zingerle, ibid., 1870, 108). Moreover St. Ephraem who wrote in the last quarter of the fourth century, is earlier in date and even more copious and realistic in his minute study of the physical details of the Passion. It is difficult to convey in a short quotation any true impression of the effect produced by the long-sustained note of lamentation, in which the orator and poet follows up his theme. In the Hymns on the Passion (Ephraem, "Syri, Hymni et Sermones," ed. Lamy, I) the writer moves like a devout pilgrim from scene to scene, and from object to object, finding everywhere new motives for tenderness and compassion, while the seven "Sermons for Holy Week" might both for their spirit and treatment have been penned by any medieval mystic. "Glory be to Him, how much he suffered!" is an exclamation which bursts from the preacher's lips from time to time. To illustrate the general tone, the following passage from a description of the scourging must suffice:

"After many vehement outcries against Pilate, the all-mighty One was scourged like the meanest criminal. Surely there must have been commotion and horror at the sight. Let the heavens and earth stand awestruck to behold Him who swayeth the rod of fire, Himself smitten with scourges, to behold Him who spread over the earth the veil of the skies and who set fast the foundations of the mountains, who poised the earth over the waters and sent down the blazing lightning-flash, now beaten by infamous wretches over a stone pillar that His own word had created. They, indeed, stretched out His limbs and outraged Him with mockeries. A man whom He had formed wielded the scourge. He who sustains all creatures with His might submitted His back to their stripes; He who is the Father's right arm yielded His own arms to be extended. The pillar of ignominy was embraced by Him who bears up and sustains the heaven and the earth in all their splendour" (Lamy, I, 511 sq.). The same strain is continued over several pages, and amongst other quaint fancies St. Ephraem remarks: "The very column must have quivered as if it were alive, the cold stone must have felt that the Master was bound to it who had given it its being. The column shuddered knowing that the Lord of all creatures was being scourged". And he adds, as a marvel, witnessed even in his own day, that the "column had contracted with fear beneath the Body of Christ".

In the devotional atmosphere represented by such contemplations as these, it is easy to comprehend the scenes of touching emotion depicted by the pilgrim lady of Galicia who visited Jerusalem (if Dr. Meester's protest may be safely neglected) towards the end of the fourth century. At Gethsemane she describes how "that passage of the Gospel is read where the Lord was apprehended, and when this passage has been read there is such a moaning and groaning of all the people, with weeping that the groans can be hear almost at the city. While during the three hours' ceremony on Good Friday from midday onwards we are told: "At the several lections and prayers there is such emotion displayed and lamentation of all the people as is wonderful to hear. For there is no one, great or small, who does not weep on that day during those three hours, in a way that cannot be imagined, that the Lord should have suffered such things for us" (Peregrinatio Sylviæ in "Itinera Hierosolymitana", ed. Geyer, 87, 89). It is difficult not to suppose that this example of the manner of honouring Our Saviour's Passion, which was traditional in the very scenes of those sufferings, did not produce a notable impression upon Western Europe. The lady from Galicia, whether we call her Sylvia, Ætheria, or Egeria, was but one of the vast crowd of pilgrims who streamed to Jerusalem from all parts of the world. The tone of St. Jerome (see for instance the letters of Paula and Eustochium to Marcella in A.D. 386; P.L., XXII, 491) is similar, and St. Jerome's words penetrated wherever the Latin language was spoken. An early Christian prayer, reproduced by Wessely (Les plus anciens mon. de Chris., 206), shows the same spirit.

We can hardly doubt that soon after the relics of the True Cross had been carried by devout worshippers into all Christian lands (we know the fact not only from the statement of St. Cyril of Jerusalem himself but also from inscriptions found in North Africa only a little later in date) that some ceremonial analogous to our modern "adoration" of the Cross upon Good Friday was introduced, in imitation of the similar veneration paid to the relic of the True Cross at Jerusalem. It was at this time too that the figure of the Crucified began to be depicted in Christian art, though for many centuries any attempt at a realistic presentment of the sufferings of Christ was almost unknown. Even in Gregory of Tours (De Gloria Mart.) a picture of Christ upon the cross seems to be treated as something of a novelty. Still such hymns as the "Pange lingua gloriosi prælium certaminis", and the "Vexilla regis", both by Venantius Fortunatus (c. 570), clearly mark a growing tendency to dwell upon the Passion as a separate object of contemplation. The more or less dramatic recital of the Passion by three deacons representing the "Chronista", "Christus", and "Synagoga", in the Office of Holy Week probably originated at the same period, and not many centuries later we begin to find the narratives of the Passion in the Four Evangelists copied separately into books of devotion. This, for example, is the case in the ninth-century English collection known as "the Book of Cerne". An eighth century collection of devotions (MS. Harley 2965) contains pages connected with the incidents of the Passion. In the tenth century the Cursus of the Holy Cross was added to the monastic Office (see Bishop, "Origin of the Prymer", p. xxvii, n.).

Still more striking in its revelation of the developments of devotional imagination is the existence of such a vernacular poem as Cynewulf's "Dream of the Rood", in which the tree of the cross is conceived of as telling its own story. A portion of this Anglo-Saxon poem still stands engraved in runic letters upon the celebrated Ruthwell Cross in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The italicized lines in the following represent portions of the poem which can still be read upon the stone:

I had power all
his foes to fell,
but yet I stood fast.
Then the young hero prepared himself,
That was Almighty God,
Strong and firm of mood,
he mounted the lofty cross
courageously in the sight of many,
when he willed to redeem mankind.
I trembled when the hero embraced me,
yet dared I not bow down to earth,
fall to the bosom of the ground,
but I was compelled to stand fast,
a cross was I reared,
I raised the powerful King
The lord of the heavens,
I dared not fall down.
They pierced me with dark nails,
on me are the wounds visible.

Still it was not until the time of St. Bernard and St. Francis of Assisi that the full developments of Christian devotion to the Passion were reached. It seems highly probable that this was an indirect result of the preaching of the Crusades, and the consequent awakening of the minds of the faithful to a deeper realization of all the sacred memories represented by Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre. When Jerusalem was recaptured by the Saracens in 1187, worthy Abbot Samson of Bury St. Edmunds was so deeply moved that he put on haircloth and renounced flesh meat from that day forth – and this was not a solitary case, as the enthusiasm evoked by the Crusades conclusively shows.

Under any circumstances it is noteworthy that the first recorded instance of stigmata (if we leave out of account the doubtful case of St. Paul) was that of St. Francis of Assisi. Since his time there have been over 320 similar manifestations which have reasonable claims to be considered genuine (Poulain, "Graces of Interior Prayer", tr., 175). Whether we regard these as being wholly supernatural or partly natural in their origin, the comparative frequency of the phenomenon seems to point to a new attitude of Catholic mysticism in regard to the Passion of Christ, which has only established itself since the beginning of the thirteenth century. The testimony of art points to a similar conclusion. It was only at about this same period that realistic and sometimes extravagantly contorted crucifixes met with any general favour. The people, of course, lagged far behind the mystics and the religious orders, but they followed in their wake; and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries we have innumerable illustrations of the adoption by the laity of new practices of piety to honour Our Lord's Passion. One of the most fruitful and practical was that type of spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Places of Jerusalem, which eventually crystalized into what is now known to us as the "Way of the Cross". The "Seven Falls" and the "Seven Bloodsheddings" of Christ may be regarded as variants of this form of devotion. How truly genuine was the piety evoked in an actual pilgrimage to the Holy Land is made very clear, among other documents, by the narrative of the journeys of the Dominican Felix Fabri at the close of the fifteenth century, and the immense labour taken to obtain exact measurements shows how deeply men's hearts were stirred by even a counterfeit pilgrimage. Equally to this period belong both the popularity of the Little Offices of the Cross and "De Passione", which are found in so many of the Horæ, manuscript and printed, and also the introduction of new Masses in honour of the Passion, such for example as those which are now almost universally celebrated upon the Fridays of Lent. Lastly, an inspection of the prayer-books compiled towards the close of the Middle Ages for the use of the laity, such as the "Horæ Beatæ Mariæ Virginis", the "Hortulus Animæ", the "Paradisus Animæ" etc., shows the existence of an immense number of prayers either connected with incidents in the Passion or addressed to Jesus Christ upon the Cross. The best known of these perhaps were the fifteen prayers attributed to St. Bridget, and described most commonly in English as "the Fifteen O's", from the exclamation with which each began.

In modern times a vast literature, and also a hymnology, has grown up relating directly to the Passion of Christ. Many of the innumerable works produced in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries have now been completely forgotten, though some books like the medieval "Life of Christ" by the Carthusian Ludolphus of Saxony, the "Sufferings of Christ" by Father Thomas of Jesus, the Carmelite Guevara's "Mount of Calvary", or "The Passion of Our Lord" by Father de La Palma, S.J., are still read. Though such writers as Justus Lipsius and Father Gretser, S.J., at the end of the sixteenth century, and Dom Calmet, O.S.B., in the eighteenth, did much to illustrate the history of the Passion from historical sources, the general tendency of all devotional literature was to ignore such means of information as were provided by archæology and science, and to turn rather to the revelations of the mystics to supplement the Gospel records.

Amongst these, the Revelations of St. Bridget of Sweden, of Maria Agreda, of Marina de Escobar and, in comparatively recent times, of Anne Catherine Emmerich are the most famous. Within the last fifty years, however, there has been a reaction against this procedure, a reaction due probably to the fact that so many of these revelations plainly contradict each other, for example on the question whether the right or left shoulder of Our Lord was wounded by the weight of the cross, or whether Our Saviour was nailed to the cross standing or lying. In the best modern lives of Our Saviour, such as those of Didon, Fouard, and Le Camus, every use is made of subsidiary sources of information, not neglecting even the Talmud. The work of Père Ollivier, "The Passion" (tr., 1905), follows the same course, but in many widely-read devotional works upon this subject, for example: Faber, "The Foot of the Cross"; Gallwey, "The Watches of the Passion"; Coleridge, "Passiontide" etc.; Groenings, "Hist. of the Passion" (Eng. tr); Belser, D'Gesch. d. Leidens d. Hernn; Grimm, "Leidengeschichte Christi", the writers seem to have judged that historical or critical research was inconsistent with the ascetical purpose of their works.

Several very large food processing plants in the US have blown up/burned down recently

Posted by: Stone - 04-21-2022, 10:24 AM - Forum: General Commentary - Replies (2)

Several very large food processing plants in the US have blown up/burned down recently:

1) 4/19/22 - Fire destroyed Azure Standard headquarters in Oregon, the largest independent food distributor in the US
2) 4/14/22 - Taylor Farms packaging building in Salinas, CA deemed a total loss
3) 4/13/22 - Plane crashes into Idaho potato and food processing plant
4) 4/11/22 - Crews battled fire for 16 hours at East Conway Beef and Pork, New Hampshire
5) 3/31/22 - Massive warehouse fire at large fresh onion packing facility Rio Fresh in south Texas
6) 3/24/22 - Massive Potato Processing Plant Fire Burns In Belfast, Maine
7) 3/19/22 - Fire destroys Walmart distribution center, Plainfield Indiana
8) 3/19/22 - 50,000 lb of food destroyed after fire ripped through Maricopa, AZ Food Pantry
9) 2/22/22 - 7 Injured in Explosion as Fire Engulfs Shearer's Food Plant, Hermiston Oregon
10) 2/16/22 - Louis Dreyfus reports fire at largest U.S. soy processing plant, Claypool Indiana
11) 1/14/22 - Explosion and Fire Reported at Cargill-Nutrena Feed Mill, Lecompte, LA

Other:
a) 4/18/22 - Union Pacific significantly cuts fertilizer shipments during spring planting season
b) 27 million chickens and turkeys - and counting - are being culled because of bird flu

Sources in comments.

Fr. Goffine's Devout Instruction: Explanation of the Sacraments

Posted by: Stone - 04-21-2022, 10:19 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching - No Replies

Explanation of the Sacraments
Goffine's Devout Instructions, 1896, Part Third, pp. 466-478

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In the celebration of her worship the Catholic Church makes use: 1, of speech; 2, of those visible acts and symbols known as ceremonies. These ceremonies have been ordained in order that we may more easily lift up our heart to God and the contemplation of heavenly things.

How do the ceremonies help us to raise our minds to God and heavenly things?
They help us: 1. By making the worship of the Church impressive and solemn, thereby fixing our attention, and directing it from things of this earth to God. 2. By placing before us visible symbols of invisible mysteries, thus enabling us more easily to reflect and meditate upon them.

Have all the ceremonies of the Church a peculiar sense and meaning?
Certainly; every ceremony which the Church, inspired by the Holy Ghost, uses in the celebration of her worship has a mysterious significance, and should awaken holy thoughts in our breasts.

Are not these ceremonies idle observances?
By no means, since: 1. God Himself in the Old Law prescribed for the Jews many ceremonies, with heavy penalties for their non-observance. 2. Christ our Lord made use of various ceremonies, as, for instance, when He fell flat on the ground, and prayed (Mark 14:35); when He spat on the ground, and making clay of the spittle, spread the clay upon the eyes of the blind man, who thereupon recovered his sight (John 9:6,7.); when He touched the ear of the servant of the high priest and healed him (Luke 22:50, 51).

THE SACRAMENTS

A sacrament is a visible sign instituted by Jesus Christ through which invisible grace and sanctification are communicated to us. Christ instituted seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, Matrimony.

Whence do we derive the ceremonies which, with the signs instituted by Christ, are used in administering the sacraments?
From the Church which, with the assistance of the Holy Ghost, has ordained these ceremonies to increase our reverence and respect.

Baptism

BAPTISM is a sacrament in which by water and the word of God we are cleansed from all sin, and regenerated and sanctified in Christ to life everlasting.

What are the different ceremonies of Baptism?
1. The preparatory ceremony. 2. The Baptism proper. 3. The concluding ceremonies.

The preparatory ceremonies at the church door during the first period of instruction, namely the period of hearing, are as follows: 1. The candidate remains outside the church, since he can enter the Church only by Baptism. 2. He is given a saint's name so that he may have an advocate before God, and an example after whom to model his own life. 3. He is asked if he desires Baptism, and through it eternal life. 4. The priest breathes upon him three times, saying: "Depart from him, thou unclean spirit, and make way for the Holy Ghost, the Comforter" (John 20:22). 5. He makes the sign of the cross upon his forehead and breast as a sign that he belongs to the crucified Saviour, Whose teachings he must cherish in his heart and openly proclaim. 6. He places blessed salt in his mouth, with the words: "Receive the salt of wisdom; it will be a propitiation for thee unto eternal life." Salt is a symbol of Christian wisdom) and protection from the foulness of sin. 7. Through repeated exorcisms the power of Satan, who "has the power of death" (neb. ii. 14), is ~ broken in the name of the Triune God. 8. For the second time, the priest makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of the person to be baptized, saying: "Defile not, accursed spirit, this sign of the cross which we place upon his brow." 9. The priest by the imposition of hands symbolizes the protection of God, and the stole placed upon the candidate as he is led into the church is a sign of the Church's power by virtue of which the priest receives him into its fold.

The ceremonies at the second period, namely, for the supplicants, are performed within the church. They are: 1. Since Baptism is the sacrament of faith, the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer are recited while entering the church. 2. The priest, after the example of Jesus (Mark 7:33), touches the ears and nose of the person to be baptized with spittle, saying, "Ephpheta," which means, "Be thou opened." This signifies that man's spiritual sense through the grace of Baptism is opened for the reception of instruction in heavenly truths. 3. The person being baptized must renounce Satan with all his works and pomps; for without this renunciation no man can follow Christ. By the words Satan and his works we mean sin, and by his pomps the spirit and vanities of this world by which Satan dazzles the eyes of men and leads them into sin. (Matthew 4:8,9) Here follows the profession of faith, in the recital of the Apostles' Creed. 4. Next comes the anointing of the shoulders and breast with holy oil, since from now on the newly-baptized person must be a soldier of Christ in the battle against the world and the devil.

How is the actual Baptism performed?
The person baptizing pours water upon the head of the person to be baptized, at the same time saying these words: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

What ceremonies follow Baptism?
1. Anointing the head with chrism, because the person baptized is now a Christian, one of God's anointed. 2. The presentation of a white cloth, and 3, a lighted candle. 4. Dismissal, with a blessing.

Of what are we admonished by the white cloth which we receive at Baptism?
That we should preserve our innocence, throughout our whole life, pure and unspotted. At its presentation, therefore, the priest says: "Take hence the white garment and bear it unstained before the judgment-seat of Jesus Christ our Lord, that thou mayest reach everlasting life."

What is the meaning of the lighted candle which the person just baptized must hold in his hand?
That the Christian by his virtuous life should be a guide to all the world. "So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16) On presenting the candle the priest says: "Receive this burning light; keep thy Baptism without stain; obey the commandments of God, that when the Lord shall come to the nuptial feast thou mayest go forth to meet Him with all the saints of heaven, and mayest have life everlasting and live forever and ever. Amen."

Why has the Church ordained the presence of sponsors?
1. That they may make the vows and promises in the name of the child to be baptized. 2. In the event of the death of the parents to see that it is brought up a Christian. The sponsors, who should be good Catholics, are the spiritual parents of the child baptized. They become spiritually related both to child and parents, and cannot marry with either. In order that this relationship and consequent impediment to marriage might not extend too far, the Church has ordained that there shall be at most two sponsors, one of each sex.

Besides Baptism by water, there is also a Baptism of desire and a Baptism of blood, which may take the place of the Baptism of water when that cannot be obtained.

Baptism of desire is an earnest wish to obtain Baptism, joined to perfect contrition and love for God. In such a case those conditions are present that are necessary to a valid reception; for if the possibility do not exist God regards the good will, and takes the will for the deed.

Baptism of blood is a voluntary martyr's death for the sake of Christ. The constancy which gives up life itself includes faith, charity, desire, and contrition.

Confirmation

CONFIRMATION is a sacrament in which, through the laying on of the bishop's hands, prayer, and anointing, those who have been baptized are strengthened by the Holy Ghost so that they may firmly profess their faith and sincerely live up to it.

How does the bishop administer Confirmation?
1. He extends his hands over those to be confirmed, and prays the Holy Ghost to descend upon them with His sevenfold gifts. 2. He then lays his hand upon each one, and anoints him with holy chrism. 3. He gives him a slight blow on the cheek, saying, "Peace be with you." 4. He concludes by giving them all the episcopal benediction.

What does the imposition of hands signify?
It signifies the descent of the Holy Spirit, and particularly the protection of God under which the Christian is henceforth to remain.

How does the bishop anoint those to be confirmed?
He makes the sign of the cross with chrism on the forehead of each one, saying at the same time: "I sign thee with the sign of the cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

Of what does the chrism consist?
The chrism, which every year on Holy Thursday is blessed by the bishop with great solemnity, consists of the oil of olives and balsam.

What does the oil signify?
The oil signifies inward strength for the struggle against the enemies of our salvation. Oil was formerly used by soldiers and athletes to make their limbs supple and strong. As oil strengthens the limbs of the body, so does the Holy Spirit strengthen our souls for combat with sin.

Why is fragrant balsam mixed with the oil?
To signify that he who is confirmed receives grace to keep himself pure from the corruption of the world, and by a pious life give forth the sweet odor of virtue. Balsam serves to preserve wounds from corruption, and gives forth a pleasing and fragrant odor.

Why does the bishop make the sign of the cross upon the forehead of the one to be confirmed?
To signify that a Christian should never be ashamed of the cross, but confess without fear his faith in Christ crucified. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believeth" (Romans 1:16).

Why does the bishop after anointing him give him a slight blow on the cheek?
To remind him that, as he is now strong and accountable, he should be ready to suffer patiently any humiliation for Jesus' sake.

Why does he at the same time say, "Peace be with you"?
Because, having now received the fulness of divine grace and heavenly peace, he should carefully guard it as a consolation in every sorrow.
A priest thereupon dries with a piece of cotton the brow of the person being confirmed, in order to prevent the sacred chrism from being desecrated in any way.

What are the words of the benediction given by the bishop after Confirmation?
May the Lord bless you out of Sion, that you may see the goods of Jerusalem all the days of your life, and have life everlasting. Amen.

Why are sponsors also ordained for Confirmation?
That they may first see that the person is confirmed, and then by deed and word aid him in the spiritual combat to which by this sacrament he has been dedicated. The sponsor binds himself to the fulfilment of this duty by laying his hand. on the right shoulder of the person being confirmed. He thus becomes his spiritual parent and guardian for the preservation of the grace of Confirmation. The same spiritual relationship and impediments of marriage exist as with sponsors in Baptism.

What does the Church require of sponsors in Confirmation?
They must be Catholics; they must be confirmed and old enough to be able to fulfil their duties as sponsor. Parents cannot be sponsors for their children; nor can the same person be sponsor both at Baptism and Confirmation.

The Holy Eucharist

THE HOLY EUCHARIST is the true body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is really and substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine for the nourishment of our souls.

When do we receive the Holy Eucharist as a nourishment for our souls?
At holy communion, when we actually partake of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Communion means "union with". We also speak of receiving the Holy Eucharist, the Lord's supper, and the heavenly banquet.

When and where is Communion given?
For those who are well Communion is given in the church either during Mass after the priest has received, or it may be given when no Mass is being celebrated. Those who are sick can receive in their homes at any time.

How is Communion administered in church?
1. The server or acolyte repeats the Confiteor, or general confession of sin. 2. Turning to the people, the priest. recites two prayers imploring the remission of sin. 3. He exposes the consecrated Host with the words: "Behold the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sins of the world." He then repeats three times: "Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof; say but the word and my soul shall be healed." 4. He places the consecrated Host upon the tongue of the communicant, saying: "May the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy soul unto life everlasting. Amen." 5. Returning to the altar, the priest recites the communion prayer of the Church, and then gives the benediction.
When the attendant recites the Confiteor, he does so in the name of those who are about to receive. The following are the prayers of supplication at the end of the Confiteor: "May the Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and lead you unto life everlasting. Amen." "May the almighty and merciful Lord grant you pardon, absolution, and full remission of all your sins. Amen."

How is Holy Communion given to the sick?
A bell is first rung, then the Sacred Host is borne in procession to the house of the sick person, placed upon a table prepared for it, a prayer is said, and the place and those present are sprinkled with holy water. The priest then gives communion the same as in the church, except when the sick person receives it as viaticum; at such times the priest presents the consecrated Host, saying: "Brother (or, sister), receive as a holy viaticum the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ; may it protect thee from the evil spirit, and lead thee to eternal life. Amen." When the communion is not given as viaticum, the priest repeats the same formula as is used in the church. The table on which the consecrated Host is placed must be covered with a clean white cloth, a cross, two lighted wax candles, and a vessel with holy water must also be provided. In this country the Blessed Sacrament is, of necessity, carried privately, with all out-door ceremonies omitted.

Why is the Holy Communion sometimes called Viaticum?
Because it is given to the sick person as food and sustenance for the last dangerous road to eternity.

For what other purpose besides being given in Communion is the Holy Eucharist kept in the Tabernacle?
In order that on appointed days and particular occasions it may be exposed to the devotion of the faithful, and bestow blessings upon them. At least six lighted candles must be used at the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. For this ceremony the ciborium may be used; or when it is desired to give it more solemnity, an elegant receptacle called the monstrance, in which the consecrated Host may be seen. Benediction is given both with the ciborium and monstrance; when the latter is used it is called solemn benediction.

Why does the Church give this Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament?
Because in the Blessed Sacrament Jesus Christ is actually present and still blesses His followers, as when on earth He blessed the people and His disciples.

How is the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament given?
A hymn in honor of the Blessed Sacrament is sung, and the priest makes the sign of the cross over the people with the sacred Host, because every blessing comes from Christ's death upon the cross. During the Benediction proper, as a mark of reverence the priest covers his shoulders and hands with a white silken cloth called the veil. During the exposition and benediction incense is offered up to the Blessed Sacrament as a sign of adoration.

Why do we have processions of the Blessed Sacrament?
That we may in a solemn manner present our adoration to the Saviour in the Sacred Host, and openly profess our belief in His Real Presence.
On Corpus Christi we have the most solemn and imposing ceremonial for the exposition, benediction, and procession of the Blessed Sacrament.

What is the meaning of the perpetual light that is kept burning before the altar on which the Blessed Sacrament is placed?
The perpetual light which must be kept burning continuously signifies: 1. The continued presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. 2. The reverence and worship which are constantly due to Him. 3. That Jesus Christ is the light of the world.

The Sacrament of Penance

PENANCE is a sacrament in which the priest, as the representative of God, forgives sins when the sinner is heartily sorry for them, confesses them sincerely, and is determined to do penance for them.

Where is the Sacrament of Penance administered?
In the church, where confessionals are erected. The sick and those who are deaf may make their confession in some other suitable place.

What vestments does the priest wear when hearing confession?
In addition to the cassock, the usual priestly garment, he wears a violet stole and the surplice. The priest is seated, as a sign of his judicial power; the penitent, however, kneels, as a sign of reverence and humility.

How is the Sacrament of Penance administered?
1. The priest gives the penitent his blessing, and prays that God may give him grace to confess his sins fully and with contrite heart. 2. The penitent confesses his sins. 3. The priest gives him fatherly advice and warning, imposes the penance, and then, if worthy, gives him absolution.

What are the words of absolution?
"I absolve thee from thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." As he pronounces these words, the priest makes the sign of the cross over the penitent. Before and after absolution the priest repeats other short prayers, and finally dismisses the penitent with the words, "Go in peace, and pray for me," or some other suitable formula.

Indulgences

What punishment is remitted in the Sacrament of Penance?
The eternal punishment is remitted in full; the temporal only in part. What remains, however, can be expiated by indulgences.

What is an indulgence?
It is a remission made, outside the Sacrament of Penance, of the temporal punishment still due for our sins already forgiven, and which punishment must be undergone here or in purgatory.

How does the Church remit the punishment due to sin?
The Church satisfies the divine justice out of the inexhaustible treasury of the merits of Christ and His saints.
The virtue and efficacy of indulgences flow from the spiritual treasury of the Church, which consists of the infinite merits of Christ and His saints. This treasury is to be considered the common property of the faithful which the Church administers and from which, by virtue of the communion of saints, making us all members of one body, the abundance of one supplies the want of the other (2nd Corinthians 8:14).

How many kinds of indulgences are there?
Two: plenary indulgences, which remit all the temporal punishment due to sin, and partial indulgences by which a portion of the punishment is remitted.

What do you understand by an indulgence of forty days, seven years, etc.?
A remission of so much temporal punishment as would have been remitted to him who under the ancient law of the Church did penance for forty days or for seven years. An indulgence of forty days is also called a quarantine.

What is the indulgence for the dying?
A plenary indulgence which the Church gives to the dying at the hour of death, after receiving the Viaticum. This is likewise called a general absolution. There is no fixed formula for bestowing indulgences; they may be gained by fulfilling the conditions prescribed at the time. The Church has a fixed formula only for the indulgence given to the dying. The assertion that the Church by indulgences pardons past or future sins, or that she dispenses indulgences for money, is a slander. True, the Church in bestowing indulgences sometimes prescribes, in addition to sincere repentance, that alms be given for worthy objects, as for example to build a church or found a hospital. This custom, praiseworthy in the beginning, in time became subject to abuse. All abuses were discontinued by order of the Council of Trent; the same council declared, however, that "the custom of granting indulgences to Christian people is exceedingly beneficial, and is confirmed by the authority of the holy council."

The Sacrament of Extreme Unction

EXTREME UNCTION is a sacrament in which, through the anointing with holy oil and the prayer of the priest, the grace of God is imparted to the sick in danger of death, for the welfare of the soul, and often also for that of the body. This sacrament is called Extreme Unction, because it is usually the last sacred anointing administered by the Church.

How is Extreme Unction administered?
1. The priest, having presented to the sick person a crucifix to kiss, sprinkles him, others who are present, and the place itself with holy water, and then recites a series of prayers. 2. The Confiteor, or general confession, is then said in the usual manner. 3. The priest, making the sign of the cross three times, prays that through the imposition of his hands, and the intercession of the angels and saints, all power of the evil spirit may be extinguished in the sick person. 4. He anoints the five senses with holy oil in the form of the cross, repeating this prayer at each anointing: "Through this holy unction and His most tender mercy, may the Lord forgive thee whatever sins thou hast committed by thy sight, by thy hearing," etc. 5. The priest then prays for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the sick man, and gives him his blessing.

Why is oil used in this sacrament?
Because oil softens, strengthens, and helps, and is strikingly significant of the effects of the sacrament.

Why are the five senses anointed?
The five senses are anointed because, being the instruments of sin, their anointing signifies that our soul is cleansed from guilt. Extreme Unction is usually given immediately after the Viaticum. Penance, the Holy Viaticum, and Extreme Unction are sometimes called "the sacraments of the dying", or "the last sacraments".

How does the Church show her loving solicitude for the dying?
By ordaining special prayers and litanies to be offered up for them by the priest to obtain the grace of a happy death. These prayers are sometimes called the recommendation of a soul departing.

Holy Orders

What are Holy Orders?
A sacrament in which the priestly power is conferred on the candidate, together with a special grace to discharge its sacred functions.

What is the outward sign of this sacrament?
The laying on of hands and the prayer of the bishop, and the presentation of the chalice with bread and wine, together with the verbal communication of authority to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, and to remit and retain sins.

When did Christ institute this sacrament?
At the Last Supper, when, after changing the bread into His true body, and the wine into His true blood, He said to His apostles, "Do this for a commemoration of Me" (Luke xxii. 19).

Are Holy Orders reckoned a Sacrament by the Apostles?
Yes; for St. Paul admonishes His disciple Timothy to stir up the grace of God received by the imposition of his hands. Hereby St. Paul teaches expressly that by the imposition of the hands of the apostles, or of the bishops, who are their successors, the grace of God is imparted to priests, in which consists the substance of the sacrament. Pray, then, for the priests; asking fervently of God, particularly on ember-days, to give His Church faithful pastors. Jesus Himself commands it, saying, "The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He send laborers into His harvest" (Luke x. 2).

The Sacrament of Matrimony

MATRIMONY is a sacrament in which a single man and a single woman are united in marriage, and receive grace from God to fulfil the duties of their state faithfully until death. This sacrament imposes on the married couple the duty to live together in peace and love and conjugal fidelity, to bring up as Christians the children God may send them, and cheerfully share one another's joys and sorrows. The free consent of both parties to the sacrament is absolutely essential.

How is the Sacrament of Matrimony received?
The bridal pair declare before their pastor and two witnesses that they take one another as husband and wife, whereupon the priest blesses their union. A priest other than the pastor can officiate at this sacrament only when he has the permission of the pastor or bishop.

What is the ceremonial of this sacrament?
1. The bridal pair emphasize their consent by giving each other their right hand. 2. The priest with a blessing confirms their union in these words: "I join you in matrimony in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." In some places the priest winds the stole about the hands of the newly-married couple as a sign that this confirmation and ratification is done in God's name. 3. He blesses the wedding ring, which is a symbol of their indissoluble union, and the love and fidelity of the married pair. 4. The bridal pair then receive the special and solemn matrimonial blessing. This is given during the bridal Mass, immediately after the Pater Noster 4. . When the bride is a widow, or when the marriage takes place at a prohibited time, this special blessing is not given, since a second marriage does not truly represent the union of Christ with the Church.

The Definition of Emeritus

Posted by: Stone - 04-21-2022, 09:48 AM - Forum: Sedevacantism - No Replies

The Definition of Emeritus

Adapted from here.

As you can all see, emeritus is not a new office, nor is it an office. It is an honorific to someone who once held an office.

So, my brothers and sisters, it does not prove in the slightest that anyone still holds that he office they are the Emeritus of.

This is why English is important, and why we should learn what words mean, lest we be led astray by lying, tax evading, schismatic frauds. ?

e·mer·i·tus
/əˈmerədəs/

adjective - (of the former holder of an office, especially a college professor) having retired but allowed to retain their title as an honor.

St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622): Papal Infallibility and Papal Error

Posted by: Stone - 04-21-2022, 09:44 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching - No Replies

St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622): Papal Infallibility and Papal Error
Taken from here.

[Image: st_francis_desales11.jpg?w=428&h=537]

“Under the ancient law, the High Priest [of Israel] did not wear the Rational except when he was vested in the pontifical robes and was entering before the Lord. Thus we do not say that the Pope cannot err in his private opinions, as did John XXII; or be altogether a heretic as perhaps Honorius was. Now when he is explicitly a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church must either deprive him or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See, and must say as St. Peter did: let another take his bishopric [as was said of Judas Iscariot, Apostle of Jesus Christ]. When he errs in his private opinions he must be instructed, advised, convinced; as happened with John XXII, who was so far from dying obstinate or from determining anything during his life concerning his opinion, that he died whilst he was making the examination which is necessary for determining in a matter of faith, as his successors declared in the Extravagantes which begins Benedictus Deus. But when he is clothed with the pontifical garments, I mean when he teaches the whole Church as Shepherd, in general matters of faith and morals, then there is nothing but doctrine and truth.

And in fact everything a king says is not a law or an edict, but that only which a king says as king and as a legislator. So everything the Pope says is not canon law or of legal obligation; he must mean to define and to lay down the law for the sheep, and he must keep the due order and form. Thus we say that we must appeal to him not as to a learned man, for in this he is ordinarily surpassed by some others, but as to the general head and pastor of the Church: and as such we must honor, follow, and firmly embrace his doctrine, for then he carries on his breast the Urim and Thummin, doctrine and truth. And again we must not think that in everything and everywhere his judgement is infallible, but then only when he gives judgement on a matter of faith in questions necessary to the whole Church; for in particular cases which depend on human fact he can err, there is no doubt, though it is not for us to control him in these cases save with all reverence, submission, and discretion. Theologians have said, in a word, that he can err in questions of fact, not in questions of right; that he can err extra cathedram, outside the chair of Peter, that is, as a private individual by writings and bad example.

But he cannot err when he is in cathedra, that is, when he intends to make an instruction and decree for the guidance of the whole Church, when he means to confirm his brethren as supreme pastor, and to conduct them into the pastures of the faith. For then it is not so much man who determines, resolves, and defines as it is the blessed Holy Spirit by man, which Spirit, according to the promise made by Our Lord to the Apostles, teaches all truth to the church, and, as the Greek says and the Church seems to understand in a collect of Pentecost, conducts and directs his Church into all truth; But when that Spirit of truth shall come, he will teach you all truth, or, will lead you into all truth…”

(St. Francis De Sales, The Catholic Controversy, Rule Of Faith – Chapter XIV)

St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622): Papal Infallibility and Papal Error

Posted by: Stone - 04-21-2022, 09:44 AM - Forum: Sedevacantism - No Replies

St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622): Papal Infallibility and Papal Error
Taken from here.

Biden admin moving to strip conscience rights from medical professionals

Posted by: Stone - 04-21-2022, 09:09 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism - No Replies

Biden admin moving to strip conscience rights from medical professionals

A proposed rule from the Biden administration ‘would abandon health care professionals to being forced to perform medical procedures
that directly violate their religious beliefs or risk losing their jobs,’ ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman warned.

Wed Apr 20, 2022
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The Biden administration appears ready to strip conscience rights from medical professionals and potentially require them to commit abortions, provide transgender procedures, and euthanize people.

The White House regulatory affairs office has published a placeholder for a “Rescission of the Regulation” of the “Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority” rule finalized under the Trump administration in 2019.

That regulation provides conscience protections for professionals who do not want to engage in “abortion, sterilization, and certain other health services,” “assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing,” and for “managed care organizations with moral or religious objections to counseling or referral for certain services.”

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) flagged the pending regulation in a news release.

ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman stated:

Quote:No American should be forced to violate their ethical and religious beliefs. Doctors, nurses, and other medical providers should enjoy this same constitutional protection, free to live and work in a manner consistent with their faith.

Yet the Biden administration’s proposed rule would abandon health care professionals to being forced to perform medical procedures that directly violate their religious beliefs or risk losing their jobs. This is an illegal and gross overreach of executive power, and we urge the administration to withdraw this harmful proposal immediately.

Since taking office, the Biden administration has consistently sought to undermine religious freedom protections while promoting abortion and “gender-affirming care.”

For example, under Biden, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped its lawsuit against the University of Vermont for allegedly coercing a pro-life nurse to assist with an abortion. The decision drew criticism from Roger Severino, former Director of the Office of Civil Rights at the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who initiated the case while working in the Trump administration.

“Such a politically motivated backstab means it’s open season on pro-life doctors and nurses,” he warned last year.

The administration also released two documents in March of this year that encouraged the chemical and genital mutilation of gender-confused children under the guise of providing healthcare.

The administration has also ignored established rule-making processes to try to force Americans to pay for abortions, in violation of provisions of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that explicitly forbid insurance companies from charging individuals to cover other people’s abortions.

The HHS, under Secretary Xavier Becerra, has sought to remove pro-life regulations, including a prohibition on fetal experimentation from aborted babies. Becerra also sent millions to Texas abortion facilities in the wake of the state’s Heartbeat Act.

The Catholic Benefits Association recently warned that the administration plans to force health plans to cover abortion and “sex change” operations.

How Old is Your Church?

Posted by: Stone - 04-20-2022, 09:07 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

How old is your Church?
Taken from here.

If you are a Lutheran, Martin Luther, an apostate of the Roman Catholic Church, founded your religion in Germany, in the year 1517.
If you are a Mennonite, your church began in Switzerland with Grebel, Mantz, and Blaurock, in the year 1525.
If you belong to the Church of England, also know as Anglican, your religion began with King Henry VIII in 1534, who established his own church because the Pope could not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.
If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox, in Scotland, in the year 1560.
If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was founded by Robert Brown, in Holland, in 1583.
If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam, in 1606.
If you are a Unitarian, John Biddle in London founded your religion in 1645.
If you are an Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England, founded by Samuel Seabury in the American Colonies in the 17th century.
If you are a Quaker, your religion was founded by George Fox, in England, in 1647.
If you are a Methodist, your religion was founded by John and Charles Wesley, in England, in 1739.
If you are a Universalist, John Murray founded your religion in New Jersey, in 1770.
If you are an Evangelical, you owe the founding of your religion to Jacob Albright, in Pennsylvania, in 1803.
If you are a Mormon (a "Latter Day Saint"), then Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, New York, in 1829.
If you are a Seventh Day Adventist, your religion originated in New York, by William Miller, in 1831.
If you worship with the Salvation Army sect, then you acknowledge William Booth in London as your originator, in 1865.
If you are a Jehovah Witness, then your church was founded by Charles Taze Russell, in 1872, and renamed in 1931 by Judge Rutherford, his successor.
If you are a Christian Scientist, then Mary Baker Eddy founded your religion in Massachusetts, in 1879.
If you belong to the Assembly of God religion, then a General Assembly in Arkansas started it in 1914.
If you claim the Church of the Nazarene as your religion, then Union at General Assembly launched it in 1919.
If you are an Evangelical Reformed, then Union at General Assembly created it in 1934.
If you belong to "Pentecostal Gospel," your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men in the last 100 years.
If you are a Roman Catholic, you know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Our Lord Jesus Christ.

What "Catholic" Means

Posted by: Stone - 04-20-2022, 09:03 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors - No Replies

What "Catholic" Means
Taken from here.

The Greek roots of the term "Catholic" mean "according to (kata-) the whole (holos)", or more colloquially, "universal." At the beginning of the second century, we find in the letters of Ignatius its first surviving use in reference to the Church. At that time or shortly thereafter it was used to refer to a single, visible communion, separate from others.

Ignatius of Antioch - "Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop or by one whom he ordains [i.e., a presbyter]. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church" (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).

The Martyrdom of Polycarp - "And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna. For every word which came forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled" (Martyrdom of Polycarp 16:2 [A.D. 155]).

The Muratorian Canon - "Besides these [letters of Paul] there is one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in affection and love, but nevertheless regarded as holy in the Catholic Church, in the ordering of churchly discipline. There is also one [letter] to the Laodiceans and another to the Alexandrians, forged under the name of Paul, in regard to the heresy of Marcion, and there are several others which cannot be received by the Church, for it is not suitable that gall be mixed with honey. The epistle of Jude, indeed, and the two ascribed to John are received by the Catholic Church. . . . Of [the Gnostics] Arsinorus, also called Valentine, and of Miltiades, we receive nothing at all. Those also who wrote the new book of psalms for Marcion, together with Basilides, the founder of the Asian Cataphrygians [we do not accept]" (Muratorian fragment [A.D. 177]).

Tertullian - "Where was [the heretic] Marcion, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago--in the reign of Antonius for the most part--and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherius, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled" (Demurrer Against the Heretics 30 [A.D. 200]).

Council of Nicaea I - "But those who say: 'There was [a time] when he [the Son] was not,' and 'before he was born, he was not,' and 'because he was made from non-existing matter, he is either of another substance or essence,' and those who call 'God the Son of God changeable and mutable,' these the Catholic Church anathematizes" (Appendix to the Creed of Nicaea [A.D. 325]).

Council of Nicaea I - "Concerning those who call themselves Cathari [Novatians], that is, 'the Clean,' if at any time they come to the Catholic Church , it has been decided by the holy and great council that, provided they receive the imposition of hands, they remain among the clergy. However, because they are accepting and following the doctrines of the Catholic and apostolic Church, it is fitting that they acknowledge this in writing before all; that is, both that they communicate with the twice married and with those who have lapsed during a persecution" (canon 8).

Council of Nicaea I - "Concerning the Paulianists who take refuge with the Catholic Church, a decree has been published that they should be fully baptized. If, however, any of these in times past have been in the clerical order, if indeed they have appeared spotless and above reproach, after being baptized, let them be ordained by the bishop of the Catholic Church" (canon 9).

Cyril of Jerusalem - "[The Church] is called Catholic, then, because it extends over the whole world, from end to end of the earth, and because it teaches universally and infallibly each and every doctrine which must come to the knowledge of men, concerning things visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly, and because it brings every race of men into subjection to godliness, governors and governed, learned and unlearned, and because it universally treats and heals every class of sins, those committed with the soul and those with the body, and it possesses within itself every conceivable form of virtue, in deeds and in words and in the spiritual gifts of every description" (Catechetical Lectures 18:23 [A.D. 350]).

Cyril of Jerusalem - "And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not inquire simply where the house of the Lord is--for the others, sects of the impious, attempt to call their dens 'houses of the Lord'--nor ask merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the name peculiar to this holy Church, the Mother of us all, which is the Spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God" (ibid., 18:26).

The Apostles Creed - "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen" (Apostles Creed [A.D. 360 version, the first to include the term "Catholic"]).

Council of Constantinople I - "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke through the prophets; in one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church" (Nicene Creed [A.D. 381]).

Council of Constantinople I - "Those who embrace orthodoxy and join the number of those who are being saved from the heretics, we receive in the following regular and customary manner: Arians, Macedonians, Sabbatians, Novatians, those who call themselves Cathars and Aristeri, Quartodecimians or Tetradites, Apollinarians--these we receive when they hand in statements and anathematize every heresy which is not of the same mind as the holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church of God" (canon 7).

Augustine - "We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is Catholic and which is called Catholic not only by her own members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers, willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For they will not be understood unless they distinguish her by this name which the whole world employs in her regard" (The True Religion 7:12 [A.D. 390]).

Augustine - "We believe in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church; for heretics and schismatics call their own congregations churches. But heretics violate the faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations, although they believe the same things we do. Consequently, neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church; not heretics, because the Church loves God, and not schismatics, because the Church loves neighbor" (Faith and Creed 10:21 [A.D. 393]).

Augustine - "In the Catholic Church . . . a few spiritual men attain [wisdom] in this life, in such a way that . . . they know it without any doubting, while the rest of the multitude finds is greatest safety not in lively understanding but in the simplicity of believing . . . [T]here are many other things which most properly can keep me in her bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15Against the Letter of Mani Called 'The Foundation' 4:5 [A.D. 397]).

Augustine - "If you should find someone who does not yet believe in the gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, 'I do not believe'? Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so" (ibid., 5:6).

Vincent of Lerins - "I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical depravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect:: that whether I or anyone else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they arise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways: first, by the authority of the Divine Law [Scripture], and then by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. But here some one perhaps will ask, 'Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it the authority of the Church's interpretation?' For this reason: Because, owing to the depth of Holy Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, another in another, so that it seems to be capable of as many interpretations as there are men. . . . Therefore, it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such various errors, that the rule for the right understanding of the prophets and apostles should be framed in accordance with the standard of ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation" (The Notebooks 2:1)

Council of Chalcedon - "Since in certain provinces readers and cantors have been allowed to marry, this sacred synod decrees that none of them is permitted to marry a wife of heterodox views. If those thus married have already had children, and if they have already had the children baptized among heretics, they are to bring them into the communion of the Catholic Church" (canon 14 [A.D. 451]).

St. Athanasius: Short Excerpt of a Letter to his Flock

Posted by: Stone - 04-20-2022, 08:56 AM - Forum: Fathers of the Church - No Replies

St. Athanasius: Short Excerpt of a Letter to his Flock
Taken from here.

[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3...%3DApi&f=1]

May God console you! ...What saddens you ...is the fact that others have occupied the churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside. It is a fact that they have the premises-but you have the apostolic Faith. They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true Faith. You remain outside the places of worship, but the Faith dwells within you. Let us consider: what is more important, the place or the Faith? The true Faith, obviously. Who has lost and who has won in this struggle-the one who keeps the premises or the one who keeps the Faith?

True, the premises are good when the apostolic Faith is preached there; they are holy if everything takes place there in a holy way ...You are the ones who are happy: you who remain within the church by your faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the Faith which has come down to you from apostolic Tradition. And if an execrable jealousy has tried to shake it on a number of occasions, it has not succeeded. They are the ones who have broken away from it in the present crisis.

No one, ever, will prevail against your faith, beloved brothers. And we believe that God will give us our churches back some day.

Thus, the more violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate themselves from the Church. They claim that they represent the Church; but in reality, they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going astray.

Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ.

St. Robert Bellarmine: On Papal Authority

Posted by: Stone - 04-20-2022, 08:44 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching - Replies (11)

The Fifth Book of Controversies over the Supreme Pontiff
by St. Robert Bellarmine

Chapter 1 - The question is proposed about his temporal power
Chapter 2 - That the Pope is not Master of the Whole World
Chapter 3 - That the Pope is not Master of the Whole Christian World
Chapter 4 - That the Pope has no merely temporal power by divine law
Chapter 5 - Opposing Arguments are Resolved
Chapter 6 - That the Pope possesses the highest temporal power indirectly
Chapter 7 - The Opinion of Theologians is Proved by Reasons
Chapter 8 - The Same Points Proved by Examples
Chapter 9 - That one man should be the Ecclesiastical and, at the same time, a political Head
Chapter 10 - Opposing Arguments are Solved

Pages (359): « Previous 1 … 160 161 162 163 164 … 359 Next »

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