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| Operation Choke Point |
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Posted by: Stone - 02-24-2021, 09:09 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Political article with wide-ranging implications/extrapolations:
Biden Administration Prepares Way For Banks To Refuse Service To Democrats’ Enemies
By abusing the powers of federal regulators, Operation Choke Point 2.0 would stifle the bipartisanship, unity, and healing President Biden claims to desire.
The Federalist | February 19, 2021
Amongst the record-breaking number of executive actions taken by President Joe Biden was one related to a little-known, frightening Obama-era program called Operation Choke Point. The program, dubbed so under former Attorney General Eric Holder, uses the power of the federal government to target legal yet leftist-disfavored businesses. These include gun sellers, pawnshops, and short-term money lenders.
The Trump administration did its best to end this blatantly unconstitutional program that sought to discriminate against legal industries. In 2017, the Justice Department declared the program “formally over.” At the end of Trump’s term, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency established the Fair Access rule to solidify its culmination.
But on Jan. 28, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency under President Biden announced it would pause the Trump-era rule intended to prevent another Operation Choke Point from happening again.
The Backstory of Operation Choke Point
The Obama administration rule appeared innocuous enough, instructing banks to “conduct risk assessments of individual customers, rather than make broad-based decisions affecting whole categories or classes of customers when providing access to services, capital, and credit.”
Under Operation Choke Point, federal regulators instructed banks to do the opposite — to openly discriminate against entire industries the Obama administration found objectionable.Weaponizing the power of banking regulators at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Obama administration realized it could block entire industries from the banking system that it didn’t like. This made it difficult — if not impossible — for politically unfavored businesses such as gun sellers and short-term lenders to operate.
Essentially, by using the power of federal banking regulators to intimidate banks from providing their services to these industries, the administration choked off their access to the financial system, leaving them paying more for essential banking services, or unable to use a bank at all.
The Obama administration claimed the program was intended to root out fraud by cutting off “high risk” industries from the banking system. But the administration didn’t make any differentiation between legal and illegal “high risk” industries, intentionally grouping lawful industries such as firearms sellers with patently illegal activities like Ponzi and credit-card schemes.
Different agencies within the Obama administration denied wrongdoing in various ways. At least one bank, however, admitted to choking off three legal enterprises at the government’s behest. Dozens of business owners — many of them gun sellers and short-term lenders — said their bank accounts and access to credit card processing platforms were suddenly stymied or shut down with no explanation and no opportunity for recourse.
Given its stained reputation, we shouldn’t expect the Biden administration to bring back Operation Choke Point under the same shameless name. But the return of the larger strategy behind Operation Choke Point appears here to stay.
Whereas seven years ago the idea of using the powers of the federal government to choke certain Americans from public life was controversial enough for the Obama administration to deny wrongdoing, in today’s era of social justice and cancel culture, it’s applauded.
Build Your Own Banks
Within corporate America, an employee was run out of Boeing over an article he published 33 years beforehand arguing women shouldn’t serve in combat (a position many Americans hold today). In the media, a Jewish, pro-Israel, pro-choice, bisexual writer was choked from The New York Times for not being leftist enough.
In Hollywood, a conservative actress was choked from Disney for expressing politically incorrect views on her private social media account. In the beauty blogging world, a conservative blogger was ousted from her role as a Sephora representative.
For all intents and purposes, Operation Choke Point is happening every day on a massive scale. Yet instead of “just” choking off access to capital and banking services, we’re witnessing a stranglehold on information, speech, and the broader marketplace of ideas. Concerningly, the government is now playing an active role.
As exemplified by Parler and the recent Twitter purge, Big Tech is choking conservatives off their social media platforms while Democrats cheer it on. In an attempt to choke conservatives out of entire industries of employment, critical race theory training and pledges are being forced on schools, government workplaces, and the armed forces.
This Dynamic Is Now Worse
Signs of Operation Choke Point’s formal resurrection are symbolic of the larger attempt by government actors to choke politically disfavored industries and individuals from the mainstream. While cancel culture has led to a politicized economy, the federal government’s arbitrarily targeting of individuals, groups, and entire companies will increase the politicization of the country, where the only acceptable views are from those in power.
Operating in the dark corners of the federal bureaucracy, Operation Choke Point bypasses public input and the legislative process, leaving politically unpopular individuals and businesses to fend for themselves. If the Biden administration’s rule reversal is any sign, the next four years won’t be about unifying the country to “Build Back Better.”
After being choked from essential services in the economy, conservatives and right-of-center businesses will have no choice but to Build Your Own — if that’s even still tolerated or allowed. Build your own banks, build your own credit card processing companies, build your own web hosting platforms, build your own social media platforms, build your own companies, build your own media, build your own schools, and build your own country — because you’re choked from “ours.”
Of course, all this will do nothing to further the causes of bipartisanship, unity, and healing President Biden claims to desire. Capitalizing on the trend of cancel culture, a return of Operation Choke Point would devastate an already damaged country. By abusing the powers of federal regulators, Operation Choke Point 2.0 would solidify what most right-of-center Americans already know: Instead of unity, Democrats want you choked from everyday life.
Three years ago, former President Obama infamously claimed his administration “didn’t have a scandal that embarrassed us.” While it’s tempting to point to Operation Choke Point to refute this, perhaps Obama was right. With Biden sitting by Obama’s side, the Obama administration wasn’t the least bit embarrassed about using its powers to choke legal businesses from existence. Indeed, it was the entire goal and they appear poised to do it again.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| Big Tech project to judge 'truthfulness' of online information |
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Posted by: Stone - 02-24-2021, 08:51 AM - Forum: General Commentary
- Replies (2)
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Microsoft heads Big Tech project to judge truthfulness of online information
Critics view the Big Tech coalition's 'content provenance specifications' as the makings of a dystopian future in which free thought is effectively banned.
![[Image: fact_fake_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg]](https://assets.lifesitenews.com/images/made/images/remote/https_www.lifesitenews.com/images/shutterstock/fact_fake_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg)
February 23, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Several of the world’s largest tech and media companies have joined forces in a new globalist effort to combat “disinformation, misinformation and online content fraud” in a move that has raised concerns about the complete governance of the internet.
A press release issued February 22 by Microsoft stated that the computer and software company would be joined by Adobe, Arm, BBC, Intel, Microsoft, and Truepic, who would together form the “Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA).” The C2PA would have as its aim the tackling of what Microsoft termed the “prevalence of disinformation, misinformation and online content fraud through developing technical standards for certifying the source and history or provenance of media content.”
In order to effect this, the C2PA announced its plan to “establish a standardized provenance solution with the goal of combating misleading content.” Under the “solution” mentioned, the C2PA seeks to enable vast numbers of internet users to take part in locating any piece of information deemed “misinformation.” The statement reads: “C2PA member organizations will work together to develop content provenance specifications for common asset types and formats to enable publishers, creators and consumers to trace the origin and evolution of a piece of media, including images, videos, audio and documents.”
C2PA’s announcement pointed to the nature of the internet necessitating such an organization to build “trust” and stressed the need for collaboration among companies, whose purview extended to nearly all corners of the digital world: “Collaboration with chipmakers, news organizations, and software and platform companies is critical to facilitate a comprehensive provenance standard and drive broad adoption across the content ecosystem.”
The C2PA is not a novel idea, as Microsoft acknowledges that it builds upon the similar, pre-existing Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) and Project Origin. The latter is a joint effort of Microsoft, the BBC, CBC/Radio Canada, and the New York Times. These four organizations referred to the “growing threat” of “misinformation” and wrote that Project Origin would “establish a foundation for trust in media.”
“With the foundation of the C2PA, technical standards will be unified while these two entities [CAI and Project Origin] continue to pursue adoption, prototyping and education within their respective communities,” Microsoft announced.
Microsoft’s chief scientific officer and Project Origin executive sponsor Eric Horvitz mentioned that there was a “critical need to address widespread deception in online content.” In a blog post about the C2PA, Horvitz revealed that the organization is a brain child of the 2019 Davos meeting, the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting to organize and promote globalist agendas and social engineering.
Horvitz wrote that a key part of the “fight against disinformation is to develop and field technologies for certifying the origin, authenticity and history of online media.” With the arrival of the C2PA, headed by the U.K. news group BBC and software company Microsoft, online media looks set to be subject to the certifying, and authentication of organisations which are part of the C2PA, or merely conform to its directives and standards.
Such news of the formation of C2PA met with backlash from some online, as people were quick to comment on the potential dangers of the new organization. “‘Combat disinformation’ = ‘information we deem fit to be released to the pleb’,” wrote one Twitter user.
Irish media outlet Gript noted that the plans to vet information on the internet raise “all sorts of potential issues surrounding the accuracy and trustworthiness of so-called “official” information.” Gript noted the example of the World Health Organization’s messages in early January 2020 claiming that there was no evidence of any person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 before having to change its “official” statements shortly after.
The formation of the C2PA comes shortly after an opinion piece in the New York Times, one of the four members of the C2PA’s parent group Project Origin, advocated for the appointing of a “reality czar,” who would “tackle disinformation and domestic extremism.” The author, Kevin Roose, called for U.S. president Joe Biden to appoint someone who would solve what Roose styled a “reality crisis,” particularly with regard to COVID-19 and the recent U.S. presidential election.
One of the “experts” Roose appealed to in making his self-confessed “dystopian” argument mentioned how a “centralized task force” would join with “tech platforms” and thus “push for structural changes that could help those companies tackle their own extremism and misinformation problems.”
Only days before, Fox News host Tucker Carlson had warned that a “profound change” was taking place due to moves by the Biden regime to eradicate “forbidden ideas” — namely, those held especially by conservatives. “Your mind belongs to you. It is yours and yours alone,” stated Carlson. “Once politicians attempt to control what you believe, they are no longer politicians. They are by definition, dictators. And if they succeed in controlling what you believe, you are no longer a citizen. You are not a free man. You are a slave.”
Big Tech is increasingly censoring conservative and pro-life voices, particularly since the November presidential election. LifeSiteNews itself was recently completely banned from YouTube, resulting in the deletion of all videos from the channel, which had over 300,000 followers.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| April 9th - St. John the Almsgiver and St. Mary of Egypt |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 02-23-2021, 11:54 PM - Forum: April
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Saint John the Almsgiver
Patriarch of Alexandria
(556-619)
Saint John, born on the Island of Cyprus, was married, but when his wife and two children died he considered it a call from God to lead a perfect life. He gave away all he possessed in alms, and became known throughout the East as the Almsgiver. He was appointed Patriarch of Alexandria; but before he would take possession of his see, he told his servants to comb the town and bring him a list of his lords — meaning the poor. They brought word that there were seventy-five hundred of them, and these he undertook to feed every day.
On Wednesdays and Fridays of every week he sat on a bench before the church, to hear the complaints of the needy and aggrieved; he would not permit his servants to taste food until the wrongs were redressed. A man whom he had helped thanked him for his assistance one day, but he interrupted him, saying: My brother, I have not yet shed my blood for you, as Jesus Christ, my Saviour and my God, commands. On another occasion, after he gave his habit to a poor man who passed by, a person he did not know appeared immediately afterwards and gave him a sack containing a hundred gold pieces. After that, when he gave an alms, he always said, I am going to see whether Jesus Christ will fulfill His promise of giving me a hundredfold. The accomplished promise occurred so many times that he ceased to say these words, which were, in any case, for the benefit of those surrounding him.
Saint John never spoke an idle word. He put out of the church those whom he saw talking, and forbade all detractors to enter his house. He left seventy churches in Alexandria, where he had found but seven.
A merchant received from Saint John five pounds in gold to buy merchandise. Having suffered shipwreck and lost all, he had again recourse to the Almsgiver, who said, Some of your merchandise was ill-gotten; and he gave him ten pounds more. But at the next voyage the man lost his ship as well as its cargo. John then said, The ship was wrongfully acquired. Take fifteen pounds of gold, buy grain with it, and put it on one of my ships. This time the merchant was carried by the winds to England, where there was a famine. He sold the grain for its weight in tin, and on his return to Egypt he found the tin changed to fine silver.
Saint John was solicited to come to Constantinople to give his blessing to the emperor Heraclius, about to go to war against pagan neighbors; but the great bishop was called to his reward during the voyage, and died while praying on his knees, in Cyprus, his birthplace. The year was 619. The final resting-place of his relics was Presbourg, a city of Hungary, where they were transferred in 1632.
Saint Mary of Egypt
Penitent
(† 421)
At the tender age of twelve, Mary left her father's house that she might be without restraint in her life of debauchery, which she pursued for seventeen years at Alexandria. Then she accompanied a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. She was in that city on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and went with the crowd to the church which contained the precious wood. The others entered and adored; but Mary was invisibly held back. In that instant her misery and degradation burst upon her. Turning to the Immaculate Mother, whose portrait faced her in the portico, she vowed to do penance if she might enter and stand like Magdalene beside the Cross. And then she was able to enter.
As she knelt before Our Lady before leaving the church, a voice said to her, Pass over the Jordan, and you will find rest. She went into the wilderness and there, in the year 420, forty-seven years later, the Abbot Zosimus met her. She told him that for seventeen years the old songs and scenes had haunted her; but since then she had had perfect peace. At her request he brought her Holy Communion on Holy Thursday. She asked him to return again after a year, and this time he found her corpse upon the sand, with an inscription saying, Bury here the body of Mary the sinner.
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| To Jesus crowned with Thorns - Devotion to the Passion |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 02-23-2021, 11:49 AM - Forum: In Honor of Our Lord
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DEVOTION TO THE PASSION
To Jesus crowned with Thorns.
Our sins, our evil thoughts, were the wicked thorns which pierced the head of Jesus Christ.
(Taken from St. Alphonsus’ Prayer-Book – pages 448-449)
O Sinful thoughts of men! It was you that pierced the head of the Redeemer. Yes, my Jesus, by our criminal consent to sin we have formed Thy crown of thorns. I now detest this compliance with sin and abhor it more than death or any other evil. To you, O thorns, consecrated with the blood of the Son of God, I again turn with an humble heart; ah, pierce this soul of mine, make it always sorrowful for having offended so good a God. O my afflicted Saviour! O King of the world! To what do I see Thee reduced? I behold Thee a king of mockery and sorrow! In a word, I see the laughing-stock of all Jerusalem! From the wounded head of Our Lord streams of blood flow down His face and breast. I am filled with astonishment, O my Jesus! At the cruelty of Thy enemies, who are not content with having, as it were, excoriated Thy flesh from head to foot, but still continue to torment Thee with fresh cruelties and insults; but I admire still more Thy meekness and Thy love in suffering and accepting all with so much patience for the love of us: “Who when He was reviled, did not revile; when He suffered, He threatened not; but delivered Himself to him that judged Him unjustly (I Peter ii. 23). Ah, my Jesus, true, indeed, it is that love makes Thee sweet and merciful, as regards us, sowing Thee to be a passionate lover of our souls; but it makes Thee pitiless towards Thyself, causing Thee to suffer such bitter torments. Thou wast willing to be crowned with thorns to obtain for us a crown of glory in heaven: “He was crowned with thorns, that we may be crowned with the crown that is to be given to the elect in heaven.” O my sweetest Saviour, I hope to be Thy crown in paradise, obtaining my salvation through the merits of Thy sufferings; there will I forever praise Thy love and Thy mercies: “The mercies of the Lord will I forever sing; yea, I will sing them forever.” Amen.
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| China is buying up British schools to teach positive view of Chinese politics |
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Posted by: Stone - 02-23-2021, 08:27 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism
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China is buying up British schools to teach positive view of Chinese politics
An investigation by conservative British tabloid Daily Mail discovered increasing influence of China on British education and its institutions.
February 22, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — An increasing number of expensive independent schools in the U.K. have been bought by Chinese investors whose objectives are far from being merely economic, according to an investigation by conservative British tabloid Daily Mail.
While the trend has been visible over the last four years, with seventeen deals being put through by Chinese companies, many of them linked to high-ranking Communist Party officials, it is expected that further “hundreds” of schools are presently being targeted, as many face a substantial shrinkage of their revenue due to COVID-19 restrictions, including lockdown. According to the Daily Mail, the new Chinese owners are in some cases using their position to foster a positive view of Chinese politics and commercial initiatives.
Fall of assets was caused by a decrease in enrollments, but also in fees, as children remained at home because of lockdowns, bringing down the amounts charged for boarding and on-the-spot tuition: 20 percent less for day-pupils and up to 35 percent less for boarders. At the same time, tuition expenditures could not be slashed because the schools needed to continue giving classes to “online pupils” and to welcome children of key workers who could not follow school from home.
Bringing schools onto the market is a corollary of the fact that they can be “for profit” companies with high tuition and boarding fees seeking the patronage of the wealthy and powerful. They are often designed to cater to the offspring of an actual or perceived elite, both British and from abroad, offering their academic excellence to help pupils achieve enrollment in the most desirable universities in the U.K. and in the U.S.
This means that the kind of education they give will ultimately express itself in the private or public careers in which their students hope to succeed – leaving their mark on the world inhabited by lesser mortals.
The Mail on Sunday’s latest edition — the Sunday edition of the Daily Mail — began its story with a dire warning: “The British schools selling out to Beijing: Not only are private institutions being bought by Chinese firms but some are giving communist-approved lessons that are a threat to free speech.”
It added that “experts anticipate a ‘feeding frenzy’ as firms, including some run by high-ranking members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, seek to expand their influence over Britain’s education system.” The newspaper’s investigation revealed that “nine of the 17 schools” already under Chinese control “are owned by firms whose founders or bosses are among China’s most senior Communist Party members.”
One of the key companies buying up schools in Great Britain is Bright Scholar, which acquired Bournemouth Collegiate School, St Michael’s School in Llanelli, Carmarthanshire, and Bosworth Independent College in Northampton in 2018 and 2019. Its owner is Yang Huiyan, the richest woman in Asia with a reported net worth of almost 30 billion dollars, and heiress of the business founded by her father, Yang Guoqiang, a member of the Communist Party’s highest-ranking advisory council, revealed the Mail.
Bright Scholar is one of the largest “education providers” in China and is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange; its aim is “to educate the future leaders of China as well as the future backbone of Chinese society.”
A Financial Times story in 2019 showed that the group was already gaining revenue from its international acquisitions and that these are also aimed at offering foreign students, many of which come from China, a better chance of entering the best universities in the U.K. and the U.S. Its schools in China are operated in full concord with the communist authorities and the mandated teaching curriculum.
Two further independent schools, Bedstone College (the equivalent of an American high school) in Shropshire and Ipswich High School (where famous author Enid Blyton was educated) are now owned by Chinese Wanda Group, the Daily Mail notes. Wanda was founded by Wang Jianlin, a former People’s Liberation Army soldier whose fortune is estimated at some $15 billion. He is a member of China’s senior Communist Party advisory council.
Other communist party officials quoted by the Daily Mail include senior members on the board of China First Capital Group (CFCG), whichs owns Kingsley School in Devon and Heathfield Knoll School in Worcestershire. CFCG specialized in the automotive parts business until 2014, when it expanded its main activities to financial services.
Two years later, the Group “continued to diversify its business, with a mission of ‘Finance Empowers Education, Education Lights Up Future’ and to establish a trinitarians [sic] interactive business mode, which capitalised educational investment as base and both educational management service and educational financial service as cradles. The Group aspires to become ‘a globally influential financial services group focusing on education,’” to quote its own company overview.
This overall Chinese influence on British education is set to grow as schools in England face financial difficulties linked to lockdown and hyper-rich Chinese groups have the wherewithal to help them bridge the gap to better times.
It should not be forgotten that lockdowns as a response to COVID-19 “originated on the order of Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, and were propagated into global policy by the World Health Organization with little analysis or logic,” according to a noteworthy analysis by a group of lawyers and politicians who believe that “China tricked the world into committing economic suicide.”
The Daily Mail does not hesitate to claim that British schools owned by Chinese groups “are using educational tools for teaching children a ‘whitewashed view of China.’”
The Ray Education Group, which bought the Adcote School for Girls near Shrewsbury in England and the Myddelton College in Wales in 2018, has plans to use its British schools to expand to other countries as part of Communist China’s president Xi Jinping “Belt and Road Initiative” to boost China’s global economic and political influence. Calling the groups’ schools a “brand,” Ray Education’s chief executive James Hu, secretary of the Communist Party’s Hongkou district committee, called the Adcote acquisition part of its “global campus plan.” Ray’s website makes clear that the group is “relying on British brand schools and responding to the Belt and Road call to target expansion in Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, South Africa, Nigeria and other countries.”
The Belt and Road initiative aims at creating terrestrial and maritime routes linking China with the rest of the Eurasian continent to promote exports and Chinese influence right into the heart of Western Europe, as well as East Africa and Australia, to “enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future” with China at the heart of a new international trade network: a super-regional unified market stretching from Ireland to Australia and East-Africa to Vladivostok.
The network of China-owned schools will add to the already existing, openly (communist) Sinophile “Confucius Institutes.”
LifeSite columnist Steven Mosher told EWTN that China “has set up ‘about a thousand’ schools across the USA, called ‘Confucius Institutes,’ which teach American students the Chinese government’s take on Chinese history and culture,” noted Dorothy Cummings McLean last December.
Confucius Institutes are at present under scrutiny in the United Kingdom and other Western countries because of claims that their educational resources are used as propaganda for Communist China.
The Mail on Sunday concluded its story about British schools being bought by Chinese capital with an op-ed by Nigel Farage, head of the anti-lockdown Brexit Party.
Calling for action on the part of the British government at a time when “the integrity of the education of thousands of British children [is] at stake,” he wrote:
Quote:The world is being taken over by stealth by the Chinese Communist Party. Under a neo-colonial project, President Xi Jinping hopes to achieve global economic domination via massive international investments.
It extends way beyond buying up mineral assets or Western telecommunication systems. There’s a cultural dimension that reeks of propaganda and indoctrination.
Not content with financing some British universities, we now learn that Chinese companies directly linked to the highest ranks of the Communist Party have serious financial interests in our schools …
The Government must wake up to the dangers and act quickly.
The Mail on Sunday published the results of a similar investigation last December, following a leak of 1.95 million (out of a total of 92 million) CCP member identities showing that faithful Chinese Communist Party members have “massively infiltrated” major British and European countries, including AstraZeneca, producer of one of the COVID-19 vaccines, Rolls Royce, HSBC, Jaguar and Land Rover, and that others are working in British consulates, universities and large companies.
While it is true that Communist party membership — with its requirement of secrecy and loyalty to the CCP — is a prerequisite for any kind of professional success or access to public employment in China, the Mail underscored that it is impossible to believe that at least some of these people are not involved in espionage for China.
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| Pope Francis accepts resignation of traditionalist African Cardinal Sarah |
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Posted by: Stone - 02-23-2021, 08:07 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Francis accepts resignation of traditionalist African Cardinal Sarah
Various mainstream media sources interpreted the event as Francis removing a vocal opponent to his vision for the Catholic Church.
![[Image: CardinalSarah_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg]](https://assets.lifesitenews.com/images/made/images/remote/https_www.lifesitenews.com/images/local/CardinalSarah_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg)
ROME, February 22, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis unexpectedly accepted the resignation of Cardinal Robert Sarah as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments eight months after Sarah submitted his resignation, as is customary, on the occasion of his 75th birthday.
Last June, when the Cardinal submitted his resignation, he stated publicly at the time that he was “happy to continue my work within the Congregation for Divine Worship.” It is not unusual for a pope to let a cardinal serve a few years beyond his 75th birthday, as is the case with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who at 76 still heads the Congregation for Bishops, and Cardinal Beniamino Stella, who at 79 still heads the Congregation for Clergy.
The Vatican Press Office announced Cardinal Sarah’s departure on Saturday without naming, as is usually the case, who will take his place.
“Today, the Pope accepted the resignation of my office as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship after my seventy-fifth birthday,” tweeted the Cardinal.
“I am in God's hands. The only rock is Christ. We will meet again very soon in Rome and elsewhere,” he added.
Vatican observers may see some similarity between the Pope’s acceptance of Sarah’s resignation and the Pope’s 2017 acceptance of the resignation of traditional-minded Cardinal Gerhard Müller as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the end of his five-year term. With outspokenly orthodox Cardinal Raymond Burke being demoted by Pope Francis from the Vatican’s highest court in 2014, there are now three less traditionally-minded voices within the Curia.
Sarah was born in Guinea in 1945. He was ordained a priest in 1969. Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Conakry 10 years later, when Sarah was 34. He was appointed secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 2001. Nine years later, Benedict XVI appointed Sarah president of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum.” He was made a Cardinal in 2010. Pope Francis appointed Sarah Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2014.
Various mainstream media sources interpreted the event as Francis removing a vocal opponent to his vision for the Catholic Church.
“In accepting Cardinal Sarah’s resignation, the pope has removed a subordinate out of step with his approach to liturgy, homosexuality and relations with the Muslim world,” wrote Francis Rocca in The Wall Street Journal.
NPR shared the Journal’s perspective.
“Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea as head of the Vatican's liturgy department, removing a conservative who was seen as an opponent of the pontiff's vision for the church,” reported NPR, adding later in its report, “By accepting the cardinal's resignation, Pope Francis ousted a proponent of more traditional Catholic liturgy.”
Even so-called Catholic media saw a similar significance to the Pope’s action. The Jesuit-run America magazine that carries articles by pro-LGBT priest James Martin said Sarah’s views “contrasted” with those of the Pope.
“A number of the cardinal’s public statements on the liturgy and other topics reflected a pre-Vatican II traditionalist outlook that at times openly contrasted with the direction given by Pope Francis, who is continuing to implement the teachings of the Second Vatican Council,” wrote Gerard O’Connell.
Cardinal Sarah has defended traditional Catholic practices, such as receiving Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue and celebrating Mass facing the east (ad Orientem). He has warned that the Church is facing a “grave risk” of schism over morality. He has told priests that they cannot shy away from the “hard” teachings of the Church on abortion and homosexuality. He has rebuked Martin for misrepresenting the Church’s teaching on homosexuality, saying that same-sex attraction is “at odds with human nature” and same-sex relations are “gravely sinful and harmful to the well-being of those who partake in them." He has called Catholics to “revolt” against lies that attack traditional family values.
In his 2017 book The Power of Silence, Sarah outlined what he saw as a crisis in the Church.
“The Church today is going through unprecedented exterior and interior trials. Something like an earthquake is seeking to demolish her doctrinal foundations and her centuries-old moral teachings,” he wrote.
He wrote that he opposes shepherds within the Church who no longer believe in the Bible and who depart from Catholic teaching and sacred tradition.
“I will untiringly denounce those who are unfaithful to the promise of their ordination. In order to make themselves known or to impose their personal views, both on the theological and the pastoral level, they speak again and again. These clerics repeat the same banal things. I could not affirm that God dwells within them,” he wrote. Sarah wrote that “Bishops that scatter the sheep that Jesus has entrusted to them will be judged mercilessly and severely by God.”
In a 2019 interview, however, Sarah said that it is not correct to say that he opposes the Pope.
“The truth is that many write not to bear witness to the truth, but to pit people against each other, to damage human relations. They don’t care about the truth. The truth is that those who oppose me to the Holy Father cannot present a single word of mine, a single phrase of mine, or a single attitude of mine to support their absurd, and I would say diabolical statements. The Devil divides, pits people against one another. The truth is that the Church is represented on earth by the Vicar of Christ, that is, the Pope. And whoever is against the Pope is ipso facto outside the Church,” he said.
While Sarah may not oppose the Pope, the Pope has certainly opposed the Cardinal.
In 2017, Pope Francis issued a public correction to Sarah over the cardinal’s attempt to interpret the Pope’s liturgy reform in an orthodox manner. Sarah had claimed in an article that the pope's directives on the Liturgy, titled Magnum Principium, did not allow bishops’ conferences, but the Vatican, to have the final word on Mass translations. He was simply reading the Pope’s directives through the lens of a 2001 instruction titled Liturgiam Authenticam. But the Pope told Sarah that those norms had been abrogated and that the Cardinal had misunderstood the Pope’s directives.
In 2016, the Vatican made it clear that it had rejected the Cardinal’s invitation to priests around the world to begin celebrating Mass facing the east (ad Orientem) during Lent the following year.
While Sarah has issued strong words defending traditional practices of the Church, he has nevertheless, as head of the Congregation for Divine Worship, overseen the introduction of novel practices within the Church that would be unthinkable in previous generations. This includes overseeing in 2016 the “innovation,” at the request of Pope Francis, of allowing women to participate in the Holy Thursday ceremony of the washing of the feet. Until that point, the ceremony was reserved exclusively for men following the historical example of Christ, who washed his male apostles’ feet during the last supper prior to making them priests.
Last December, the Congregation for Divine Worship backed a decision of a U.S. priest to ban reception of Holy Communion on the tongue in his diocese on account of the coronavirus outbreak. The statement, from which Sarah’s signature was missing, contradicted a 2009 letter from the same Congregation regarding the same question in the midst of the H1N1 influenza pandemic. At that time, the Vatican under Pope Benedict wrote that Church law on the subject stipulates “each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue" and that this law may not be abrogated.
The Cardinal was the center of two significant controversies last year that may have complicated his relationship with Pope Francis.
Sarah found himself at the center of controversy last May after a historic appeal of Catholic prelates and lay leaders decrying the crackdown on basic freedoms over the coronavirus was published with the Cardinal being listed as one of the signers. Sarah claimed that he had withdrawn his signature at the last moment despite the appeal’s organizer, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, claiming that he had evidence to the contrary.
A few months earlier, Sarah found himself facing attack over his publication of a book co-authored with Pope Benedict that defended the male priesthood and priestly celibacy just months after the Church had concluded the Amazon Synod, which was viewed by many observers as setting the stage to an acceptance of female deacons and married priests.
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| France considers slowing vaccine rollout for hospital staff, with many unable to work following jab |
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Posted by: Stone - 02-23-2021, 07:26 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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France considers slowing vaccine rollout for hospital staff, with many unable to work following jab
In the university hospital of Brest in Brittany, during the first week of the vaccine rollout, 20 to 25 percent of the recipients of the vaccine
had to stop work because of influenza symptoms including bad headaches, high fever and sore muscles
February 22, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The AstraZeneca experimental COVID-19 vaccine currently being given to health workers in France has caused so many side-effects that the French vaccination task force (Conseil d’orientation de la stratégie vaccinale) has recommended “a staggering of the vaccination schedule for people working in the same care unit” as well as “the systematic intake of paracetamol just before the injection and in the two following days.”
The vaccine was developed by Oxford University together with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca by cultivating the weakened SARS-CoV-2 virus in the HEK-293 cell line derived from the kidney of an aborted baby. According to the Oxford Vaccine Centre, these weakened viruses “are purified several times to remove the cell culture material,” adding that “this makes it unlikely that any human material remains in the final vaccine.” “Unlikely”, it is worth noting, does not mean “impossible.”
The French restrictions on the AstraZeneca jab follow a series of undesirable incidents registered in several hospitals in different parts of the country where personnel were being massively inoculated from the start of the campaign on February 5. These were so numerous that the hospitals were finding themselves facing personnel shortages in ICU and COVID-19 units. In one hospital, half of the physiotherapists were on sick leave at the same time after having received the vaccine.
In the most western town of France, the university hospital of Brest in Brittany was particularly hard hit. During the first week of the campaign between 20 to 25 percent of the recipients of the vaccine had to stop work because of influenza symptoms including bad headaches, high fever and sore muscles. The hospital authorities subsequently took the decision to stop vaccinations.
Similar scenarios played out in other hospitals in Brittany and have been documented by the local media in towns such as Quimper and Morlaix. In the town of Vannes 18 percent of the vaccinated health workers were reportedly compelled to take sick leave after receiving a vaccine.
In Normandy, the hospital of Saint-Lô suspended vaccinations on February 11 after ten of the fifty or so employees vaccinated on February 10 presented symptoms of fever and nausea. By that date 10, 000 shots had been delivered to health workers and 149 “pharmacovigilance declarations” had been filed. The mRNA Pfizer and Moderna experimental vaccines that are being used for elderly people have not led to such declarations, although several reports suggest that their administration has been followed by COVID-19 contaminations and deaths in care homes.
In the Dordogne, near Bordeaux, hospital workers no longer want to get the AstraZeneca jab according to local media, since the “Hygiene and Security Committee” of the hospital of Périgueux reported that a “considerable number” – between 50 and 70 percent – of those who received it “experienced very heavy side effects,” as compared with a “tolerance level” of about 10 percent.
By February 16, no less than 363 adverse events – high intensity “pseudo-influenza syndromes” in most cases – had officially been reported in France among health workers aged 50 and under (with an average age of 31) following reception of the AstraZeneca shot. This did not prevent sanitary authorities in France from proclaiming that the frequent side-effects do not “call into question the risk/benefit ratio of the vaccine.”
This is remarkable, considering that the risk of falling ill following a SARS-CoV-2 contamination is very small at that age, while the vaccine – that boasts a mere 62 to 70 percent “efficiency rate,” – is apparently causing real symptoms bad enough to prevent work in about one in five of the young people who have received the shot.
It is not clear whether the AstraZeneca jab actually prevents contagion, as it appears that the virus has been found present in people who had received it during trials.
In France, the AstraZeneca vaccine is only administered to people under 65, as beyond that age there is currently no data proving its efficiency. The shot is at present recommended only for health workers and people aged between 50 and 65 with comorbidities making them vulnerable to a severe form of COVID-19.
Interestingly, France appears to be the only European country where the AstraZeneca vaccine is causing such an extent of illness among health workers.
According to a pro-vaccine researcher specializing in immuno-oncology, Dr. Eric Billy, the situation is linked to the age of the people being vaccinated. While the mRNA shots are being given to the elderly aged over 75 and health workers over 50, the median age of those who get the AstraZeneca shots is 34.
“The older a person is, the slower the immune system’s response to the vaccine, so by default, older people develop fewer side effects from the vaccine because their immune system reacts too weakly,” explained Eric Billy. Inversely, he said, younger people have a “very reactive immune system, and it’s rather reassuring that there are these kinds of side effects, it shows that there is an immune response.” If the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, for example, were in turn administered to much younger people than at present, the side effects would also probably be more intense than those currently seen, he argued: “It’s not as if 10 percent of vaccinations were followed by hospitalization.” He simply recommended staggering administration of the vaccine in order to avoid practical issues.
The question that he did not answer is the one regarding the giving of vaccines to people over 75 with weakened immune systems. Is this useful? Can it be dangerous?
Another specialist interviewed by a mainstream television station, BFMTV, reacted to the news by suggesting that the AstraZeneca shot should not be used for health workers at all. Dr. Jérôme Marty, president of the French Union for Liberty in Medicine, stated that it would be better to “keep it for young, healthy people who are at a small risk” of developing a severe form of COVID.
One wonders why it would be useful to vaccinate this category of healthy, low risk individuals at all, given Marty’s subsequent remarks.
“If a caregiver is vaccinated with this vaccine, it will not prevent the caregiver from transmitting the disease to the patient,” Dr. Marty said. “Very often in health care institutions, the disease is transmitted through the caregivers, this is called a nosocomial infection, and this vaccine doesn’t reduce contagiousness, or only slightly. It is therefore not the most effective vaccine for this purpose.”
The AstraZeneca shot is also reportedly inefficient as regards the South-African variant of COVID-19, so much so that it has been banned in South Africa but also by the French authorities in the eastern “département” of Moselle where this variant is predominant.
Another interesting point was raised by Dr. Alain Fischer, a senior advisor to the French government on vaccines, following the multiple side-effects registered in Saint-Lô, Normandy. Downplaying the importance of these events, he said that the stronger immune system of young people was probably to blame, but added that symptoms after the shot could be linked to the fact that they had “already had COVID.”
The head of the emergency unit of the Avicenne Hospital in the suburbs of Paris, Frédéric Adnet, told the mainstream television news station LCI that the most probable hypothesis explaining the wave of debilitating side-effects among French caregivers is that they had contracted COVID during previous weeks.
“When we vaccinate people who have had the disease, there can be some rather explosive reactions,” said Adnet. “As they already have antibodies, and therefore immunity, the body thinks it is infected again and reacts violently. Our hypothesis is that we observe this type of reaction in people who are vaccinated too soon after the end of the disease.”
This again raises questions as to the safety of giving the shot to people who have already developed immunity to the disease and who are exposed to it not as they would normally be via outside infection but through an intramuscular shot, short-circuiting the ordinary barriers and defenses of the body.
In France, the official recommendation is that people who have had COVID-19 during the last three months should not receive any anti-COVID-19 vaccine or experimental shot.
Adnet believes this should be taken more seriously, asking: “Shouldn’t systematic serology be carried out on caregivers who are vaccinated to find out whether they have not contracted the disease asymptomatically?”
Meanwhile, there is little enthusiasm for the AstraZeneca vaccine in France. The government has bought 550,000 doses of which only half have found takers among general practitioners, and pre-ordered a total of 44 million shots, whose recommended usage in France involves two jabs nine to twelve weeks apart.
Last Wednesday, days before the first doses will reach the offices of those family doctors’ who have ordered them for their patients over the age of 50 (less than 30,000 general practitioners out of a total of 101,000), the General Health Office (DGS) recommended that patients who receive the AstraZeneca vaccine be placed under observation for at least 15 minutes in order to screen for possible adverse reactions.
The same mistrust is visible in hospitals. “There’s nobody around. We have 100 doses, we’ve registered between 15 and 20 people” deplored Benjamin Davido, vaccine referent at the Garches hospital near Paris last Friday.
Side effects and less efficiency than that presented by Pfizer and Moderna for their experimental mRNA shots are the reasons put forward. Before the vaccination campaign started, health minister Olivier Véran stated that people would have not be able to choose which of the experimental COVID-19 vaccines they would take, but rather would have to take the one provided by the health services.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| Please Pray for Father William Welsh |
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Posted by: Pax Vobiscum - 02-22-2021, 11:47 PM - Forum: Appeals for Prayer
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Father William Welsh was found frozen outside in the snow and was brought to a nearby hospital a couple days ago. They may have to amputate both his hands and feet. He is 67 years old and was a former SSPX priest before going independent.
The latest is that he still has no feeling in his hands and feet. Please pray for his hands and feet to be saved. But if they cannot be saved, please pray that he will have the strength to go through such a difficult change in his life. I will share any updates I have.
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| April 8th - Blessed Mary Assunta and St. Perpetuus |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 02-22-2021, 11:40 PM - Forum: April
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Blessed Mary Assunta
Franciscan Missionary
(1878-1905)
Saint Pius X promulgated his decree Quam Singulari, recommending frequent Holy Communion for all and early First Communion for children, just two years after the death of Blessed Mary Assunta. This holy young nun, especially devoted to the Blessed Sacrament in her youth, though she could not yet benefit from the decree, is a living proof to the wisdom of his decision. Saints among children and youth, whom he foretold would multiply, have always had such devotion, and thus God shows us that it is not the number of years that counts. Rather it is intensity of love, and the practice of spiritual childhood, in the spirit of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, which please God.
Maria Assunta Pallotta was born in Italy in 1878, during the octave of the Assumption. The oldest of five children, she was always calm, gentle, peaceful, never seen to have fits of anger or caprice, never disobedient. Her parish priest would say later: Every Sunday afternoon, when the church was deserted, we would find little Assunta kneeling there, praying; then she would go to the catechism lessons and help him to instruct the youngest little ones. Frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament marked all the years of her youth. At the age of fifteen she already had the maturity of an adult, being very serious and hard-working; she was wearing a hair shirt often, and fasting three times a week, even sleeping on stones.
To answer the call of the Lord which she heard while still young, she perhaps would not have been able to free herself from the many duties involved in the life of a poor family, had not a kind prelate, when he visited her village, taken her cause in hand. He obtained her admission without a dowry to the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, whose mother house was in Rome. She was twenty years old at that time.
Always smiling and cheerful, she became a subject of edification for all. She scarcely knew how to read and write and was assigned to very humble tasks: with love she cared for the animals and did the laundry. Ever more humble, she would often go to ask for permission to do supplementary penances to expiate her sins, which permission was ordinarily refused. But she would return again to ask, and she made a vow to do everything for love of God, consecrating herself to His Sacred Heart.
One day in 1904 she requested of her Mother General to remember her when there would be a mission to the lepers, to whom her institute devoted itself. She was sent to China in that same year, to the mission where seven of her Sisters had already shed their blood for Christ four years before. Her beautiful resolutions prove her sanctity: I came to the convent to become a Saint: to what purpose would I live a long time if I did not attain my goal? I will therefore not pass up anything profitable for my soul, though the whole world be given me in exchange. Never will I excuse myself, never speak of myself, imitating the Most Blessed Virgin in humility and charity toward God and neighbor.
Soon the cross re-appeared in the peaceful halls of the orphanage, in the form of a typhus epidemic; and in March of 1905 three of the six newly-arrived Sisters were ill. Two departed for their heavenly reward, including the youngest of them all, and Sister Mary Assunta was the third to fall ill. She immediately asked for the Last Sacraments, saying she would die in a few days. Her condition afterwards seemed to improve, but after a week of severe sufferings, she too expired in peace. An odor of flowers was noted shortly before her death; it soon filled the room and the entire house. The Sisters were impressed, and when her body was exhumed in 1913 it was found virtually intact, though the robe was disintegrating. Miracles followed, and Mary Assunta was beatified by Pope Pius XII in November, 1954.
Saint Perpetuus
Bishop of Tours
(461-494)
Saint Perpetuus was the eighth Bishop of Tours, who governed that see for more than thirty years, from 461 to 494. During all that time he labored by zealous sermons, many synods and wholesome regulations, to lead souls to virtue.
Saint Perpetuus had great veneration for the Saints and respect for their relics; he adorned their shrines and enriched their churches. As there was a continual succession of miracles at the tomb of Saint Martin, Perpetuus, finding the church built by Saint Bricius too small for the concourse of people coming there, directed its enlargement. When the building was finished, the good bishop solemnized the dedication of this large new church, which a writer of that time said was one of the marvels of the world and worthy to be compared with the temple of Solomon. The translation of the body of Saint Martin was carried out on the 4th of July in 491. It is believed that either Saint Martin or his Angel assisted on this occasion, for the coffin was so heavy that no means were found to move it, until an unknown elderly gentleman came forward and offered his aid, immediately efficacious.
Saint Perpetuus had made and signed his last will, which is still extant, on the 1st of March, 475, a number of years before his death. In this testament of love, he remited all debts owing to him; and having bequeathed to his church his library and several farms, and establishing a fund for the maintenance of lamps and the purchase of sacred vessels, he declared the poor his heirs for all the rest. He added exhortations to concord and piety, and begged a remembrance in prayer. His ancient epitaph equals him to the great Saint Martin. He died on the 8th of April, 494.
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| To Jesus being scourged - Devotion to the Passion |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 02-22-2021, 12:39 PM - Forum: In Honor of Our Lord
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DEVOTION TO THE PASSION
To Jesus being scourged
“Ah! Let us love this divine Bridegroom of our souls,” says the loving St. Augustine, “and the more He is disfigured by suffering, the more sweet and precious let Him seem to us.”
(Taken from St. Alphonsus’ Paryer-Book – pages 447-448)
Yes, my sweet Saviour, I see Thee all covered with wounds; I look into Thy beautiful face; but, O my God, it no longer wears its beautiful appearance, but is disfigured and blackened with blood, and bruises, and shameful spittings: “There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness; and we he held Him, and esteemed Him not” (Isa. Liii 2). But the more I see Thee so disfigured, O my Lord, the more beautiful and lovely dost Thou appear to me. And what are these disfigurements that I behold but signs of the tenderness of that love which Thou dost bear towards me? I love Thee, my Jesus, thus wounded and torn to pieces for me; would that I too could see myself torn to pieces for Thee, like so many martyrs whose portion this has been! But if I cannot offer Thee wounds and blood, I offer Thee at least all the pains which it will be my lot to suffer. I offer Thee my heart; with this I desire to love Thee more tenderly even than I am really able. And who is there that my soul should love more tenderly than a God, Who has endured scourging and been drained of His blood for me? I love Thee, O God of love! I love Thee, O Infinite Goodness! I love Thee, O my Love, my All! I love Thee, and I will never cease to say, both in this life and in the other, I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee. Amen.
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| Litany of St. Joseph |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 02-22-2021, 12:31 PM - Forum: Litanies
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![[Image: 300px-stjoseph.jpg?w=640]](https://stormfields.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/300px-stjoseph.jpg?w=640)
The Litany of Saint Joseph
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us .
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Illustrious son of David, pray for us.
Light of the patriarchs, pray for us.
Spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us.
Chaste guardian of the Virgin, pray for us.
Foster-father of the Son of God, pray for us.
Diligent defender of Christ, pray for us.
Head of the Holy Family, pray for us.
Joseph most just, pray for us.
Joseph most chaste, pray for us.
Joseph most prudent, pray for us.
Joseph most courageous, pray for us.
Joseph most obedient, pray for us.
Joseph most faithful, pray for us.
Mirror of patience, pray for us.
Lover of poverty, pray for us.
Model of artisans , pray for us.
Glory of family life, pray for us.
Guardian of virgins, pray for us.
Pillar of families, pray for us.
Solace of the wretched, pray for us.
Hope of the sick, pray for us.
Patron of the dying, pray for us.
Terror of demons, pray for us.
Protector of Holy Church, pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
V. He made him the lord of His household,
R. And prince over all His possessions.
Let Us Pray.
O God, Who in Thine ineffable Providence didst vouchsafe to choose Blessed Joseph to be the Spouse of Thy most Holy Mother, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may be worthy to have him as our intercessor in Heaven whom, we venerate as our protector on earth. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.
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| UK group launches trial to test experimental COVID-19 vaccine on children as young as six |
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Posted by: Stone - 02-22-2021, 12:19 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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UK group launches trial to test experimental COVID-19 vaccine on children as young as six
The threat of a COVID-19 infection remains essentially irrelevant to school-aged children due to their 99.997% survival rate
OXFORD, England, February 22, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Oxford University’s Vaccine Group is recruiting children from the age of 6 to participate in an experimental COVID-19 vaccine trial, despite young children facing almost no danger from the virus.
“We have a new COVID-19 study open for recruitment. If your child is aged 6-17 years and in good health they may be eligible to participate,” the group tweeted earlier this month.
The study seeks to assess the safety and effectiveness of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (also known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 ), and enroll 300 children to participate. Up to 240 kids will be injected with the experimental COVID-19 vaccination while the rest will receive as a control group, a licensed vaccine for Meningitis B (MenB, Bexsero).
British mental health ethicist and academic, Niall McCrae condemned the encouragement of parents to enter their children in a COVID-19 vaccine trial as “very wrong,” Church Militant reports.
“Children should not be lab rats for the benefit of Big Pharma and the Great Reset. I would go as far as saying this is tantamount to child abuse,” Dr. McCrae warned.
“Vaccinating children against coronaviruses is unjustifiable, given the minimal risk of infection and transmission,” The King’s College lecturer continued. “I sat on a National Health Service (NHS) ethics committee for 11 years, and I'm very worried about the apparent disregard for established scientific and ethical standards to serve the COVID regime.”
Established scientific and ethical standards with regards to experimentation on humans, can be found in the Nuremburg Code of 1947, which came about as a result of the post-World War II trials and convictions of Nazi doctors who had conducted deadly experiments, without the subjects’ consent, on prisoners of war.
The Nuremberg Code’s first principle provides the strict conditions for establishing voluntary consent, including that the subject “should have legal capacity to give consent,” along with “sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved.” In addition, such consent “may not be delegated to another with impunity.”
Thus, McCrae urged parents to understand “that they will be held responsible, not only the pharma company, for any serious harm caused by this experiment” on their child.
The sixth principle of the Code affirms that the “The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.”
Given that the threat of a COVID-19 infection remains essentially “irrelevant” to school-aged children due to their 99.997% survival rate, McCrae notes that subjecting them to any dangers from an experimental vaccine remains “unjustifiable.”
Other moral concerns derive from the fact that the development of the AstraZeneca experimental vaccine used the HEK-293 cell line made from fetal cells harvested from the kidney tissue of a baby girl who was aborted in the Netherlands in 1972.
As confirmed by the Vatican’s recent “Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines,” at the very least, to consider the use of such a morally tainted vaccine, there must first be a “grave danger” which no one has alleged is the case for children.
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| The First Week of Lent [Monday - Saturday] |
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Posted by: Stone - 02-22-2021, 10:03 AM - Forum: Lent
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Monday of the First Week of Lent
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fonartandaesthetics.file...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fonartandaesthetics.files.wordpress.com%2F2015%2F11%2F7-works-of-mercy-meester-van-de-levensbron.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
Each Feria of Lent has a proper Mass; whereas, in Advent, the Mass of the preceding Sunday is repeated during the week. This richness of the Lenten Liturgy is a powerful means for our entering into the Church’s spirit, since she hereby brings before us, under so many forms, the sentiments suited to this holy time. From these Ferial Masses we intend giving for the respective days the Collect(which is always the principal prayer), the Epistle, the Gospel, and the Prayer which is said “over the people” at the end of the Mass. All this will provide us with most solid instruction; and as the selections from the Bible, which are each day brought before us, are not only some of the finest of the Sacred Volume, but are moreover singularly appropriate to Lent—their attentive perusal will be productive of a twofold advantage.
At Rome, today’s Station is in the Church of Peter-ad-vincula. It was built in the 5th century by the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Valentinian 3rd, and possesses the venerable relic of St. Peter’s Chains. We shall speak more fully on this Basilica when we keep the Feast of the Apostle’s deliverance from prison on the 1st of August.
Collect
Converte nos, Deus salutaris noster: et ut nobis jejunium quadragesimale proficiat, mentes nostras cœlestibus instrue disciplinis. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. Amen.
Convert us, O God our Savior: and instruct our minds with thy heavenly doctrine, that this fast of Lent may be beneficial to us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Lesson from Ezechiel the Prophet. Ch. xxxiv.
Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and will visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered; so will I visit my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land; and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land. I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel: there shall they rest on the green grass and be fed in fast pastures upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my sheep; and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and that which was driven away I will bring again; and I will bind up that that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve; and I will feed them in judgment, saith the Lord Almighty.
Quote:Our Lord here shows himself to us as a Shepherd full of love for his Sheep. Such, indeed, he truly is to men, during this Season of mercy. A portion of his flock had gone astray, and was wandering to and fro amidst the darkness of this world; but Jesus did not forget them. He went in search of them, that he might gather them together. He sought through lonely deserts, and rocky places, and brambles. He now speaks to them through his Church, and invites them to return. He sweetly encourages them, for perhaps they might fear and be ashamed to appear before him after so many sins. He promises them that if they will but return to him, they shall be fed on the richest pastures near the river bank, and on the mountains of Israel. They are covered with wounds, but he will bind them up; they are weak, but he will strengthen them. He will once more give them fellowship with the faithful ones who never left him, and he himself will dwell with them forever. Let the sinner, then, yield to this tender love; let him not refuse to make the efforts required for his conversion. If these efforts of penance seem painful to nature, let him recall to mind those happy days when he was in grace, and in the fold of his Good Shepherd. He may be so again. The gate of the fold is open; and thousands who, like himself, had gone astray, are going in with joy and confidence. Let him follow them, and remember how his Jesus has said: There shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine who need not penance. (Luke 15:7)
Gospel
Sequel of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew Ch.xxv.
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: When the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the Angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the King say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me. Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in; or naked, and clothed thee? Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee? And the King answering, shall say to them: Amen, I say to you, as long as you have done it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me. Then shall he say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then shall they also answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee? Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least ones, neither did you it to me. And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting.
Quote:We have just been listening to a Prophet of the Old Testament, inviting us to return to the Good Shepherd;—our Lord there put forth every argument which love could devise, to persuade his lost sheep to return to him: and here, on the very same day that the Church speaks to us of our God as being a gentle and compassionate Shepherd, she describes him as an inflexible judge. This loving Jesus, this charitable Physician of our souls, is seated on his dread tribunal, and cries out in his anger: Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire! And where has the Church found this awful description? In the Gospel, that is, in the very Law of Love—But if we read our passage attentively, we shall find that He who pronounces this terrible anathema is the same God whom the Prophet has been just portraying as a Shepherd full of mercy, patience, and zeal for his Sheep. Observe how he is still a Shepherd, even on his judgment seat: he separates the sheep from the goats; he sets the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left; the idea, the comparison of a Flock, is still kept up. The Son of God will exercise his office of Shepherd even to the Last Day: only then, time will be at an end, and eternity will have begun; the reign of Justice, too, will have succeeded the reign of Mercy, for it will be Justice that will reward the good with the promised recompense, and that will punish impenitent sinners with eternal torments. How can the Christian who believes that we are all to stand before this tribunal refuse the invitation of the Church, who now presses him to make satisfaction for his sins? Truly, man is his own worst enemy, if he can disregard these words of Jesus, who now is his Savior, and then will be his Judge: Unless ye do penance, ye shall all perish. (Luke 13:3)
Humiliate capita vestra Deo.
Bow down your heads to God.
Absolve, quæsumus, Domine, nostrorum vincula peccatorum: et quidquid pro eis meremur, propitiatus averte. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Loosen, O Lord, we beseech thee, the bonds of our sins; and mercifully turn away from us whatever we deserve for them. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us close the day by reciting the following Hymn, which was composed by St. Gregory the Great, and is used by the Church in her Matins during Lent.
Hymn
Ex more docti mystico,
Servemus hoc jejunium,
Deno dierum circulo
Ducto quater notissimo.
Let us observe this most solemn fast of forty days, which has been handed down to us by sacred tradition.
Lex et Prophetæ primitus
Hoc prætulerunt, postmodum
Christus sacravit, omnium
Rex atque factor temporum.
The Law and the Prophets first introduced it; and afterwards, Christ, the Master and Maker of all seasons, consecrated it by his own observing it.
Utamur ergo parcius
Verbis, cibis et potibus,
Somno, jocis, et arctius
Perstemus in custodia.
Let us, therefore, be more sparing in our words; let us retrench somewhat of our food, and drink, and sleep, and merriment, and redouble our watchfulness.
Vitemus autem noxia,
Quæ subruunt mentes vagas:
Nullumque demus callidi
Hostis locum tyrannidi.
Let us shun those noxious things, which play such havoc with unguarded souls: and let us avoid whatsoever could strengthen the tyranny of our crafty enemy.
Flectamus iram vindicem,
Ploremus ante judicem:
Clamemus ore supplici,
Dicamus omnes cernui.
Let us appease the anger of our Judge, and pour out our tears before him: let us prostrate ourselves, and thus cry to him in suppliant prayer:
Nostris malis offendimus
Tuam, Deus, clementiam;
Effunde nobis desuper
Remissor indulgentiam.
“We have offended thy goodness, O God, by our sins: forgive us, and pour out thy mercy upon us.
Memento quod sumus tui,
Licet caduci, plasmatis:
Ne des honorem Nominis
Tui, precamur, alteri.
“Remember that we are the work of thy hands, frail though we be: we beseech thee, suffer not another to usurp the honor of thy Name.
Laxa malum quod fecimus,
Auge bonum quod poscimus:
Placere quo tandem tibi
Possimus hic et perpetim.
“Pardon us the evil we have done, and grant us good things, even beyond our prayer: that thus we may be well-pleasing to thee, now and forever.
Præsta, beata Trinitas,
Concede simplex Unitas,
Ut fructuosa sint tuis
Jejuniorum munera. Amen.
“O Blessed Trinity! O Undivided Unity! grant us, thy servants, to reap fruit from the Fast thou hast given us. Amen.”
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LESSON. (Ezech. xxxiv. n — 16.) Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and will visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his flock, in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered: so will I visit my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places, where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land. I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel: there shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my sheep: and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and that which was driven away, I will bring again, and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong, I will preserve: and I will feed them in judgment, saith the Lord Almighty.
EXPLANATION. After these words to the Jews, to whom God promised, that He would free them from the Babylonian captivity, and then pasture and protect them like a good pastor, the prophet describes, in a higher sense, the time when all nations will be united in one fold, under one shepherd, namely, Christ Jesus. These words may be applied, at the same time, to a soul, which by a true conversion has been released from the power of Satan by the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who has followed it everywhere, and is now carefully nourished by Him, by His word and His blessed Sacraments and filled with heavenly consolations. Hasten back to Him, O Christian soul, if you have strayed away from Jesus, the Good Shepherd; He will receive you joyfully, and give you His love!
GOSPEL. (Matt. xxxv. 31 — 46.) At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: When the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty: and all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: naked, and you clothed me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and feed thee: thirsty, and gave thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in: or naked, and covered thee? Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee? And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me. Then shall he say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord when did we see thee hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee? Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me. And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.
EXPLANATION. From the words of this gospel we see how necessary it is to be charitable to the poor, since Jesus gives such great reward to the charitable, and so severely punishes those who do not practise this virtue. St. Francis the Seraph says: “In the poor Christ reveals Himself to us as in a mirror; as often, therefore, as a poor or feeble person meets you, remember the poverty and weakness Christ took upon Himself for us, and revere in him Christ Himself, who says: As long as you did it to one of these least in my name, you did it to me."
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