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  Fifth Sunday after Easter
Posted by: Stone - 05-09-2021, 05:28 PM - Forum: Easter - Replies (6)

INSTRUCTION ON THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
Taken from Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays, and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year
36th edition, 1880

[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.toperfect.com%2Fpic...f=1&nofb=1]

IN thanks for the redemption the Church sings at the Introit: Declare the voice of joy, and let it be heard, allel.: declare it even to the ends of the earth: the Lord hath delivered his people. (Isai. xlviii. 20.) Allel. allel. Shout with joy to God, all the earth: sing ye a psalm to his name, give glory to his praise. (Ps. lxv.) Glory, &c.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. O God, from whom all good things proceed: grant to Thy suppliants, that by Thy inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by Thy guidance may perform the same. Through.

EPISTLE. (James i. 22 — 27.) Dearly beloved, Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass: for he beheld himself and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless, and widows in their tribulation, and to keep one's self unspotted from the world.

Quote:EXPLANATION. True piety, as St. James here says, consists not only in knowing and recognizing the word of God, but in living according to its precepts and teachings: in subduing the tongue, the most dangerous and injurious of all our members; in being charitable to the poor and destitute, and in contemning the world, its false principles, foolish customs and scandalous example, against which we should guard, that we may not become infected and polluted by them. Test thyself, whether thy life be of this kind.

ASPIRATION. O Jesus! Director of the soul! Give me the grace of true piety as defined by St. James.


GOSPEL. (John xvi. 23 — 30.) At that time, Jesus saith to his disciples: Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto, you have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father. In that day, you shall ask in my name: and I say not to you that I will ask the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples say to him: Behold, now thou speakest plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now we know that thou knowest all things, and thou needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou comest forth from God.


+++


Why does God wish us to ask of Him?

That we may know and confess, that all good comes from Him; that we may acknowledge our poverty and weakness which in all things need the help of God; that we may thus glorify Him and render ourselves less unworthy of the gifts which He has promised us.


What is meant by asking in the name of Jesus?

By this is meant praying with confidence in the merits of Jesus, "who," as St. Cyril says, "being God with the Father, gives us all good, and as mediator carries our petitions to His Father." The Church therefore ends all her prayers with the words: "Through our Lord, Jesus Christ." It means also that we should ask that which is in accordance with the will of Christ, namely all things necessary for the salvation of our soul; to pray for temporal things merely in order to live happily in this world, is not pleasing to Christ and avails us nothing. "He who prays for what hinders salvation," says St. Augustine, "does not pray in the name of Jesus." Thus Jesus said to His disciples: Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name, "because," as St. Gregory says, "they did not ask for that which conduces to eternal salvation."


Why is it that God sometimes does not grant our petitions?

Because we often pray for things that are injurious, and like a good father, God denies them to us, in order to give us something better; because He wishes to prove our patience and perseverance in prayer; because we generally do not pray as we ought; to be pleasing to God, prayer should be made when in a state of grace and with confidence in Christ's merits, for the prayer of a just man availeth much; (James v. 16.) we must pray with humility and submission to the will of God, with attention, fervor, sincerity, and with perseverance.


At what special times should we pray?

We should pray every morning and evening, before and after meals, in time of temptation, when commencing any important undertaking, and particularly in the hour of death. God is mindful of us every moment, and gives His grace. It is therefore but just that we think often of Him during the day, and thank Him for His blessings.


How can we, in accordance with Christ's teachings, (Luke xviii. 1.) pray at all times?

By making the good intention when commencing our work, to do all for the love of God, and according to His most holy will; by raising our hearts to God at different times during the day; frequently making acts of faith, hope, love, and humility, and by repeating short ejaculations, such as: O Jesus! grant me grace to love Thee! Thee only do I desire to love! O be merciful to me! Lord hasten to help me.


What is the signification of the different ceremonies that Catholics use at their prayers?

The general signification is that God must be served, honored, and adored, not only with the soul but with the body; when we pray aloud we praise God, not only with the mind but also with our lips; when we pray with bowed and uncovered head, with folded, uplifted, or outstretched hands, on bended knees, with bowed and prostrated body, we show our reverence and subjection to the majesty of God, before whom we, who are but dust and ashes, cannot humble ourselves enough. These different ceremonies during prayer are frequently mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments, and Christ and His apostles have made use of them, as for instance, the bending of the knees, falling on the face, &c.


Which is the best of all prayers?

The Lord's Prayer which Christ Himself taught us and commands us to repeat. When said with devotion, it is the most powerful of all prayers. (Matt. vi. 9—13; Luke xi. 2 — 4.)



+++


SHORT EXPLANATION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER.


Of what does the Lord's Prayer consist?

IT consists of an address, as an introduction to the prayer, and of seven petitions which contain all that we should ask for the honor of God, and for our own salvation. The address is thus: Our Father who art
in heaven.


What does the word “Our" signify?

In the communion of saints we should pray for and with all the children of God; we should be humble and preserve brotherly love towards all men.



Who is it that is here called our “Father”?

Our Father is God who has made us His children and heirs of His kingdom through His Son.



Why do we say "Who art in heaven," since God is everywhere?

To remind us that our true home is heaven, for which we should ardently long, because our Father is there, and there He has prepared our inheritance.



For what do we ask in the first petition: “Hallowed by Thy name?”

That we and all men may truly know, love, and serve God.



For what do we pray in the second petition: “Thy kingdom come?”

That the Church of God. the kingdom of Christ, may extend over the whole earth, and the kingdom of sin and the devil be destroyed; that Christ may reign in our hearts and in the hearts of all; and that God will deign to receive us into the kingdom of heaven, when our earthly pilgrimage is ended.



For what do we ask in the third petition: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?"

We beg that God would enable us, by His grace, to do His will in all things, as the blessed do it in heaven. In these three petitions we seek, as taught by Christ, first the kingdom of God, that all the rest may be added unto us. (Luke xii. 31.)



For what do we ask in the fourth petition: "Give us this day our daily bread?"

We beg for all necessaries for body and soul.


Why does it say, “this day?"

The words "this day" signify that we should not be over anxious for the future, but place all our confidence in God who will provide the        necessaries of life.



What do we ask for in the fifth petition: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us?"

We beg that God will forgive us our sins, as we forgive others their offenses against us. Those who make this petition, and still bear enmity towards their neighbor, lie in the face of God, and will not receive forgiveness. (Mark xi. 25, 26.)



What is asked for in the sixth petition: "Lead us not into temptation?"

We ask that God avert all temptations or at least not abandon us when we are tempted. We cannot, indeed, be entirely free from them in this world , they are even necessary and useful for our salvation: for without temptation there is no combat, without combat no victory, and without victory no crown.



What do we ask for in the seventh petition: “Deliver us from evil?"

We beg that God would free us from all evil of soul and body.

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  Company rolls out new COVID Wristbands as a way to prove you've been fully vaccinated
Posted by: Stone - 05-08-2021, 07:31 AM - Forum: COVID Passports - No Replies

‘Look, I’m Safe to Be Around’ – New Covid Wristbands Are a Way to Prove You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated

[Image: IMG_0885.jpg]

GP | May 7, 2021 

Immunaband company introduced new blue silicone wristbands that will carry your Covid vax card information. The company is hoping this will catch on and that Americans will rush to purchase their wristband to let others know you’ve been vaccinated.

These wristbands will do until the microchips are rolled out and made mandatory.

God help us!

“ImmunaBand,” the blue silicone wristband, has a built-in QR code that will carry your Covid vax info and will let others know you are safe to be around – that’s according to the company that created the product.

The wristband cost about $20 and restaurants are starting to purchase them for their employees.

“It’s a way of saying, ‘Look, I’m safe,’ and try to deescalate some of the tension and fear that people feel after about a year in lockdown.” the company told CNN.

(CNN/Meredith):

Quote:ImmunaBand is a blue silicone bracelet that has two purposes — first, it has a built-in QR code that carries your COVID-19 vaccination card’s information that can be used as a back-up for people who lose or misplace their CDC vaccination card. ImmunaBand’s second function is to show an outward display that a person has been fully vaccinated, thus making them safe to be near.

So how does it work? Wearers have to upload their vaccination cards for review before they can receive the band. The documentation is stored on a server compliant with medical privacy laws and the process is end-to-end encrypted, the company said in a news release.

The company makes two bands — one with just the QR code, and another with the QR code plus the wearer’s name and type of vaccine they received. The bands are both priced at $19.99. That code can be scanned with a smartphone to prove vaccination, the company said.

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

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  Quebec to introduce QR code as ‘electronic proof’ for COVID vaccination
Posted by: Stone - 05-08-2021, 07:27 AM - Forum: COVID Passports - No Replies

Quebec to introduce QR code as ‘electronic proof’ for COVID vaccination
‘As promised, I’m following up with the proof of vaccination, electronic proof of vaccination,
and it will be actually a QR code that will be supplied by email to Quebecers.’

[Image: shutterstock_1569659563_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg]

May 7, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In what could be a first step towards the implementation of COVID-19 “vaccine passports” in Canada, the province of Quebec said that starting next week, it will send “electronic proof” in the form of a QR code to those who have had a COVID-19 jab.

In an announcement Thursday, Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dubé said that those who have had one dose of a COVID-19 shot or booked an appointment for one, starting on May 13, will be given a QR code as “proof of vaccination.”

“I must talk to you about vaccine proof,” said Dubé, as translated into English from French. “As promised, I’m following up with the proof of vaccination, electronic proof of vaccination, and it will be actually a QR code that will be supplied by email to Quebecers.”

Dubé said that people will “gradually” receive the QR code via email, adding that “the important thing is that now we have a tool, and as soon as we are ready to deploy it, we will have it ready.”

A QR code is a form of a barcode which links to information and was invented 1994. It is widely used for a variety of applications.

Canadian pro-life and pro-family advocate Mattea Merta took to Twitter regarding Dubé’s comments, writing, “Canada, we have a problem,” with a link to a video of Dubé’s comments on the QR code.

“This seems like a first step to a sort of health/social credit system”

In an exclusive, LifeSiteNews reported that the Canadian province of Manitoba may be looking into creating a type of COVID-19 vaccine record card enabled by QR code, which could be used as a sort of digital “vaccine passport,” according to a source who works with the government.

In an interview with LifeSiteNews, a source within Manitoba Shared Health’s IT department spoke on the condition of anonymity about new QR code capabilities being developed for COVID-19 vaccine cards.

The source said that information he has seen appears to show the new type of computer program using QR code technology dubbed “Vaxcard.”

LifeSiteNews asked the same source about the Quebec QR code announcement.

He told LifeSiteNews that it “certainly is interesting” that the Quebec government made the announcement at this time, but he is not sure if there is a connection to Manitoba’s coming QR code.

“As of right now there doesn’t seem to be any indication that the system they’re using will have any relation to ours, but I wouldn’t be surprised if all the provinces eventually started collaborating in sharing the data from these systems and having it be accessible through their own somehow, as that seems like a logical next step to me,” said the source.

“This seems like a first step to a sort of health/social credit system; let’s hope we can be rid of these systems before they start being widely used.”

At the federal level, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently said his government is “right now” working on “certificates of vaccination” for travel with its allies, saying they are to be “expected.”

Jay Cameron, a lawyer with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), told LifeSiteNews that any introduction of a “vaccine passport” in Canada would violate one’s rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.


[Emphasis mine.]

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  The Catacombs: A new subforum added
Posted by: Stone - 05-08-2021, 07:23 AM - Forum: The Catacombs: News - No Replies

Well dear friends, 

It seems we are moving into the next phase of global vaccination efforts and in order to differentiate between the 'saints' (vaccinated) and the 'sinners' (unvaccinated), it would appear that simultaneous efforts are underway globally to track the 'saints' and grant them privileges the 'sinners' won't have. At least that is what we are being told. And... we all know that tracking people is only done with the very best of intentions!

So to help organize articles and information relating to the planning and implementation of any and every type of COVID vaccine verification system, a sub-forum has been added to The Catacombs, simply entitled COVID PassportsHERE.

May God have mercy on us all!

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  “Worms For Dinner?” World Economic Forum Promotes Mealworms as New Protein Source
Posted by: Stone - 05-08-2021, 07:05 AM - Forum: Health - No Replies

Worms For Dinner?”
World Economic Forum Promotes Mealworms as New Protein Source in Europe’s Bid to Reduce Meat Consumption

[Image: green-planet-e1308750052882.jpg]

GP | May 7, 2021


The World Economic Forum promoted the EU’s new plan to use mealworms in food in their bid to reduce meat consumption.

The globalists are pushing for the peasants to eat bugs, weeds and synthetic ‘meat’ because bugs “consume fewer resources than traditional livestock.”

“Livestock around the world is responsible for around 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions relating to human activity. The need for land – whether for grazing animals or growing crops to feed animals – is “the single greatest driver of deforestation, with major consequences for biodiversity loss,” the paper says.


[Image: IMG_7379.jpg]
synthetic ‘meat’


The European Union will be using mealworms, eaten whole, or in powder form in food.

Yuck.

“The European Union (EU) has ruled that the larval stage of the Tenebrio molitor beetle, the mealworm, is safe for people to eat and it will shortly be on the market as a “novel food”” the WEF said.

Via the World Economic Forum [of 'The Great Reset' fame]:

Quote:Green insects

As well as being a nutritious food source, insects consume fewer resources than traditional livestock. There are, of course, many parts of the world where insects are already part of everyday diets. Industrializing their production and consumption could open up new routes to feeding the world’s growing population and alleviating some of the environmental pressures caused by conventional agriculture.

Ensuring access to safe, healthy sources of food is a key part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) drive. From zero hunger to climate action, from ending poverty to ensuring responsible use of resources, many of the 17 SDGs relate to the food people eat, how it is grown and how it is distributed.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Meat: The Future report, keeping up with the demand for animal-derived protein could put meeting the SDGs and Paris Climate Agreement targets in jeopardy.

Currently, China is the largest producer of meat, according to the WEF’s world data:

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  At Vatican conference, Chelsea Clinton calls for global crackdown on anti-vaccine social media posts
Posted by: Stone - 05-08-2021, 06:50 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism - No Replies

At Vatican conference, Chelsea Clinton calls for global crackdown on anti-vaccine social media posts
‘I personally very strongly believe there has to be more intensive and intentional and coordinated global regulation of the content on social media platforms.’

[Image: shutterstock_280261013_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg]
Chelsea Clinton


VATICAN CITY, May 7, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Chelsea Clinton has spoken out against freedom of vaccine-critical speech at a Vatican conference dedicated to dialogue.

Speaking during a pre-recorded online meeting, Clinton, 41, responded to a question about so-called “vaccine hesitancy” regarding COVID-19 vaccines by saying that there must be a global effort to crack down on vaccine-critical social media posts.

“I personally very strongly believe there has to be more intensive and intentional and coordinated global regulation of the content on social media platforms,” she said.

“We know that the most popular video across all of Latin America for the last few weeks that now has tens of millions of views is just an anti-vax, anti-science screed that YouTube has just refused to take down.”

Clinton added that anti-vaccine content created in the United States “flourishes” across the world by way of social media platforms. Her attempts to convince the managers of these sites to remove the material has not worked, she said.

“We know that — because I have tried — that appealing to the leadership of these companies to do the right thing has just not worked, and so we need regulation.”

Clinton is the Vice President of the Clinton Foundation and the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Like her parents, she is an outspoken advocate for abortion.

She appeared alongside Dr. Paul Farmer of Harvard Medical School and Dr. Walter Ricciardi, the Italian president of the World Federation of Public Health Associations, at a pre-recorded online meeting forming part of the Fifth International Vatican “Unite to Prevent & Unite to Cure” conference. Their meeting was first aired today.

Clinton said that the Clinton Foundation has been doing what it can to convince the “vaccine hesitant” and the “vaccine refusers” to take doses of the COVID-19 vaccines. She believes it is important to differentiate between people who are “hesitant” and those in the “refusal group.” The “hesitant” have questions that she can answer, for instance regarding the speed at which the vaccines were developed, their ingredients, and “conspiracies about microchips.”

The people in the “refusal group,” “often young people, don’t think they need the experimental vaccine or would prefer to wait a few years before taking it, Clinton added. They also include people in communities who “have been maltreated” by the American “health system for generations.”

Clinton said that her foundation thinks about “how we talk to black Americans, indigenous Americans, Latinos who know that members of their community have often been mistreated or even manipulated or exploited by our health care system.”

In response, the Clinton Foundation passes on advice to people trusted by those communities to convince them to take the COVID-19 injections.

“We try at the Foundation to really help equip trusted messengers, whether in health care settings or not,” Clinton said. “We’ve done work with a number of different religious communities, including some of our Catholic partners to really help ensure that whoever is able to have the conversation is really able to pre-empt or to answer any questions people may have.”

The message Clinton wants to get out to refusers is that the vaccines and vaccinators are waiting for them whenever they are comfortable.

“And we’re going to keep reaching out and try to help you get comfortable,” she added.

“So we’re just doing everything and anything we can … and we’re increasingly thinking about how we can engage in this work globally, too, because unfortunately vaccine hesitancy and vaccine refusal are not uniquely American challenges.”

Clinton made it clear that her views about “regulation” of social media content were her own and not those of the Clinton Foundation.

The COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 vaccines have been central to the recorded deliberations broadcast by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture. The three-day “Unite to Prevent & Unite to Cure” conference began yesterday and will continue into the weekend.

Earlier this week, LifeSiteNews was permanently banned from Facebook.

In a quick series of notices and emails to LifeSite’s marketing department, Facebook delivered the news, accusing LifeSite of publishing “false information about COVID-19 that could contribute to physical harm.”

Facebook also said that they deplatform Facebook pages that publish “vaccine discouraging information on the platform.”

Facebook cited a LifeSiteNews article posted on April 10, 2021, headlined “COVID vaccines can be deadly for some.” The article cited U.S. government data on coronavirus vaccine injuries and deaths.

Commenting on the deplatforming of LifeSiteNews, Tucker Carlson remarked, “Our health authorities have reserved their energy for anyone who dares to question vaccines.”


Vaccine manufacturers, Big Tech oligarchs, abortion activists speaking alongside Clinton

Apart from Clinton, speakers at the Vatican conference include prominent and diverse names such as the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna, the former of which produces abortion pills; the Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Francis Collins, who advocates using fetal tissue in research projects; the head of Google Health, David Feinberg; and COVID czar Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is another speaker. He has a history of promoting LGBT issues, and is described by TIME as “one of the most outspoken executives” for LGBT affairs.

Other speakers include United Nations representative and conservationist Jane Goodall, who supports population control; new age activist Deepak Chopra; rock guitarist Joe Perry; Mormon Elder William K. Jackson; executive chair of the British Board of Scholars and Imams, Shaykh Dr. Asim Yusuf; pro-abortion model Cindy Crawford; and disgraced ex-prefect of the Secretariat for Communication, Monsignor Dario Viganò (not to be confused with strongly orthodox Vatican whistleblower Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who condemned the event).

There were only two Catholic clergy listed amongst the 114 speakers.


RELATED
Vatican hosting Fauci, Chelsea Clinton, Pfizer CEO, Big Tech oligarchs at ‘health’ conference

Viganò on Vatican ‘health’ conference with Fauci: Holy See is ‘making itself the servant of the New World Order’

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  ‘Apostasy’: Gay ‘pride’ flag to fly over Toronto Catholic schools
Posted by: Stone - 05-08-2021, 06:43 AM - Forum: Global News - No Replies

‘Apostasy’: Gay ‘pride’ flag to fly over Toronto Catholic schools
'With this vote, the TCDSB stepped into apostasy. It is no longer Catholic.'


TORONTO, May 7, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) voted last night to declare June “Pride Month” and to fly the homosexual rainbow “Pride” flag at all schools within the board for the entire month of June in defiance of Catholic moral teaching that warns against the spiritual dangers of homosexual behavior and in defiance of the local Archbishop’s directives on the matter.

“With this vote, the TCDSB stepped into apostasy. It is no longer Catholic,” Jack Fonseca of Canada’s pro-life and pro-family organization Campaign Life Coalition told LifeSiteNews.

“Watching the trustees debate last night, I couldn’t believe that I was witnessing an official arm of the Roman Catholic Church agree to celebrate sexual sin. It was horrifying,” he added.

The vote comes in the wake of the TCDSB’s newly-established “2SLGBTQ+ Advisory Committee” recommending that the board proclaim June as Pride month and that the Pride flag be raised “at the Catholic Education Centre and at all schools in the system.”

Declaring June as Pride month “implores us to be compassionate, welcoming, and inclusive of marginalized people, including 2SLGBTQ+, as an example of our faith in action,” the pro-LGBT Committee stated in a report submitted to the board for the meeting last night.

The recommendations passed 7-5. Delegations at the meeting — which ended about 2 a.m. — included former Ontario Premier and current MPP Kathleen Wynne, a lesbian who as former Education Minister a decade ago was responsible for launching the pro-homosexual Equity and Inclusive Education (EIE) strategy that encouraged school boards to participate in Gay Pride parades, use texts by homosexual authors, and introduce into schools gay-straight alliance clubs. Pro-homosexual Toronto City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam also made a delegation.



Another delegate was Fr. Michael Simoes, a local priest and chaplain for the Vatican-approved ministry to homosexuals called Courage. He told trustees that declaring June as Pride month and flying the Pride flag would amount to “fatally undermining the mission of the TCDSB.”

“Everywhere (the Pride flag is) raised, traditional beliefs about life and family are compromised and eventually suppressed. And the brave souls who defend those beliefs are vilified, hounded and marginalized,” he said.

There were some trustees such as Nancy Crawford, Michael Del Grande, and Teresa Lubinski who made the case that to fly the Pride flag would mean to support sexual behaviors that are at odds with Catholic sexual moral teaching.

“The Pride Flag and the Pride movement go against our Catholic faith in many ways,” said Trustee Crawford at one point during the meeting.

Trustees Garry Tanuan and Joe Martino joined the above-mentioned trustees in voting against flying the Pride flag at school. Martino, however, voted in favor of flying the flag at the board’s Catholic Education Center and recognizing Pride Month.

The Trustees who voted in favor of the pro-LGBT recommendations include Frank D’Amico, Markus De Domenico, Daniel Di Giorgio, Norm Di Pasquale, Angela Kennedy, Ida Li Preti, and Maria Rizzo.

Teresa Pierre, president of Parents as First Educators, said that the outcome of last night’s meeting means that the “sex-ed agenda has taken another step in swallowing up the Toronto Catholic District School Board.”

“Last night, contrary to thousands of parents who voiced their opposition, and in defiance of a letter from Toronto’s own Catholic Cardinal Archbishop, the motion to fly the ‘Pride Flag’ at all board schools during the month of June passed,” she wrote in an email to parents.

Pierre was referring to a letter sent to the board this week from the Archdiocese of Toronto, where Cardinal Thomas Collins is Archbishop, that advised the TCDSB against voting to fly the Pride flag at its schools in June.

The Archdiocese stated in its letter that parents “make a clear choice when they decide that their children will attend a Catholic school. They rightly expect that trustees, principals, teachers — all partners in education — will ensure that Catholic teaching is presented, lived and infused in all that we do.”

Commented Pierre about last night’s vote: “Whatever happened to parents know best? Whatever happened to parents get to decide?”

“Shame on them,” she said about the trustees who voted in favor of the recommendations.

Fonseca told LifeSiteNews that Catholic parents within the board have been betrayed by those elected to safeguard Catholic education.

“Everybody knows that the Gay Pride flag and ‘Pride Month’ represent ideologies that embody the rejection of Christian doctrine,” he said. “The gay Pride flag represents the belief that homosexual relationships are equivalent to biblical marriage. It represents support for the adoption of children by homosexuals which places them in permanently and obligatorily fatherless or motherless situations. It represents the belief that sodomy and other same-sex sex acts are morally acceptable and not sinful.”

“These ideologies are diametrically opposed to Catholic doctrine and Christian anthropology of the human person. They are evil,” he added.

Fonseca said that faithful Catholics owe thanks to Trustee Del Grande and Father Simoes for giving during the meeting “prophetic witness to Catholic moral teaching, and to the reality denied by proponents on the other side, that embracing Gay Pride will result in persecution of the faithful, division, and serve as an anti-witness to the Gospel.”

He also criticized Cardinal Collins for not doing enough to protect Catholic schools and the children who attend them from the advancement of the homosexual agenda.

“The Cardinal’s May 4 letter to the board was half-hearted. The last paragraph gave the dissident trustees an out, by essentially saying they could do what they want. The Cardinal did not threaten to impose any penalty on the board or individual trustees.  The pending apostasy was grave enough that Cardinal Collins could easily have warned trustees, either privately or publicly, that they would face excommunication if they voted to embrace the sin-laden secular symbol.”

LifeSiteNews reached out to the Archdiocese for comment about the TCDSB vote last night but did not receive a response.

Fonseca said that parents within the board must take a bold stand over this matter to fight for their Catholics schools. He said that Campaign Life Coalition will work to elect faithful Catholics to replace all eight of the trustees who voted for the measures. “With a majority, this evil policy could be retracted,” he said.

He also said that pressure could be brought to bear on Cardinal Collins to “support the creation of an alternate, private Catholic school system run by faithful Catholic teachers, nuns and priests.” He also pointed out that there are also legal avenues of redress that have been already laid out by Catholic lawyer Geoff Cauchi.

“The legal path laid out by Cauchi could be explored which suggested a class action type lawsuit against the board seeking remedy against trustees who voted to violate the constitution mandate of Catholic schools.  This path would require at least one, and ideally, multiple Catholic electors in Toronto to step forward as plaintiffs,” he said.

Contact information for respectful communications:

Apostolic Nunciature to Canada
Attn  Msgr. Matjaž Roter, First Secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature
724 Manor Ave. Ottawa, ON, K1M 0E3 Canada
Phone: 613.746.4914
Email: nuntiatura@nuntiatura.ca

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Prefect: Card. Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, S.J.
Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio
00120 Città del Vaticano

Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archdiocese of Toronto
1155 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON, M4T 1W2
Phone:416-934-0606, ext. 609
Email: archbishop@archtoronto.org

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  May 8th - The Apparition of St. Michael the Archangel
Posted by: Stone - 05-08-2021, 06:36 AM - Forum: May - No Replies

May 8 – The Apparition of St Michael the Archangel
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

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David foretold that the Emmanuel’s coming into this world would be greeted by the Angels, and that they would humbly adore him on his first appearing among us.We saw this prophecy fulfilled on the Night ever blessed, when Mary brought forth the Fruit of her womb. The Angelic choirs sang one of their heavenly hymns, which led the Shepherds to the Stable; we blended our songs with theirs, in homage to our Infant-God. The Resurrection of our Emmanuel was sure to be honored by the presence of these blessed Spirits, who had witnessed, with amazement and trembling, the humiliations and cruelties of his Passion. The moment he passed through the barrier that imprisoned him in his sepulcher, an Angel, with a face beaming as the sun, and garments white as snow, came and rolled back the Stone, and proclaimed to the holy Women that He whom they were seeking had risen. When they entered the cave of the Sepulcher, two other Angels, clad in white robes, appeared to them, and repeated the tidings of Jesus’ triumph.

Let us reverently honor these princely heralds of our deliverance, and consider how respectfully they cluster round Jesus their King and God, during the forty days after his Resurrection. They adore this glorified Humanity, which they are soon to see raised up to the highest heavens, and throned at the Father’s right hand. They rejoice with us in the happiness brought to us by this Paschal Feast, which restores immortality to us in the person of our Risen Savior; and thus, as St. Gregory told us a few days back, “it is the Feast of the Angels, because, by its recalling us to heaven, it fills up their number.” It was but right, therefore, that Paschal Time should devote one of its days to honoring the Angelic Spirits. Eight days previous to the Annunciation, we kept the feast of St. Gabriel, our Lady’s honored messenger; today, it is St. Michael, and Archangel and Prince of the heavenly host, that is to receive our love and praise. He himself selected this day by appearing on it and leaving us a pledge of his presence and protection.

The very name of Michael urges us to honor this glorious Spirit; it is a cry of enthusiasm and fidelity, for it signifies: “Who is like unto God?” Satan trembles at hearing this name, for it reminds him of the noble protest wherewith the bright Archangel answered the call of the rebel angels. Michael proved his strength and prowess when he fought the great battle in heaven. On that account, he was made the Guardian and Protector of God’s people—of the Jews first, and afterwards, of the Christian Church, for the Synagogues forfeited all her honors. Michael now watches over Jesus’ Spouse, our mother; he supports her in her trials, and she wins no triumph in which he has not had some hand.

But we are not to supposed that the holy Archangel is so engaged in looking after the general interests of Christ’s kingdom on earth that he cannot attend to the prayers of each individual member of the Church. God has given him a compassionate love for men; and there is a not a single soul that escapes his notice. He wields the sword in defense of the Spouse of Christ; he wars with the dragon, who is ever lying in wait for the Woman and her Child;—but at the same time, he is attentive to each one of us; for, after having confessed our sins to Almighty God, and to the Blessed Mary ever a Virgin, we acknowledge them likewise to Blessed Michael the Archangel and beseech him to pray for us to the Lord our God.

He assists at every death-bed, for his special office is to receive the souls of the elect, on their quitting the flesh. He, with loving solicitude and princely bearing, presents them to the Light Eternal, and introduces them into the House of God’s glory. It is holy Church herself that tells us, in the words of her Liturgy, of these prerogatives of the great Archangel. She teaches us that he has been set over Paradise, and that God has given him the charge of leading to heaven the souls of them that are to be received there. On the Last Day, when our Risen Jesus is to appear on the clouds of heaven to judge mankind, Michael will have to fulfill a ministry of awful import—he, with the rest of the Angels, will have to separate the good from the bad, all of whom will then have resumed their bodies in the general resurrection. Our Catholic Forefathers, in the Middle Ages, were fond of representing the holy Archangel engaged in this dread function. They put him standing at the foot of Jesus’ judgment-seat, and holding a scale, in which he is weighing the souls of men and their works.

Devotion to St. Michael was sure to spread through the Church, especially after the worship of idols had been banished from the various countries, and men were no longer tempted to give divine honor to creatures. Constantine built in honor of the great Archangel a celebrated Church called Michaëlion; and at the time of Constantinople’s falling under the power of the Turks, there were no less than fifteen Churches that bore the name of Saint Michael, either in the City or the suburbs. In other parts of Christendom, this devotion took root only by degrees; and it was by the holy Archangel’s appearing to men that the Faithful were prompted to have recourse to him. These apparitions were local, and for reasons which to us might seem of secondary importance: but God, who, from little causes, produces great effects, made use of them whereby to excite Christians to have confidence in their heavenly protector. The Greeks celebrate the apparition that took place at Chone, the ancient Colossa, in Phrygia. There was, in that city, a Church dedicated to St. Michael, and it was frequently visited by a holy man named Archippus, who was violently persecuted by the pagans. One day, when Archippus was at his devotions in his favorite St. Michael’s, his enemies resolved to destroy both him and the Church. Hard by, ran a brook which flowed into the river Lycus: this they turned off, and flooded the ground on which stood the Church. Suddenly, there appeared the Archangel St. Michael, holding a rod in his hand: the water immediately receded, and flowed into a deep gulf, near Colossa, where the Lycus empties itself and disappears. The date of this apparition is not certain, beyond its having occurred at the period when the pagans were numerous enough in Colossa to harass the Christians.

Another apparition, which encouraged devotion to St. Michael in Italy, took place on Mount Gargano, in Apulia; it is the one honored by today’s feast. A third happened on Mount Tomba, on the coast of Normandy: we will commemorate it on the 16th October.

The feast we are keeping today is not so solemn as the one of September 29th; it is, however, more exclusively in honor of St. Michael, inasmuch as the Autumn Feast includes all the choirs of the Angelic hierarchy. The Roman Breviary gives us the following account of the apparition on Mount Gargano.

Quote:That the blessed Archangel Michael has often appeared to men is attested both by the authority of sacred Scripture, and by the ancient tradition of the Saints. Hence, the memory of these apparitions is commemorated in divers places. As, heretofore, Michael was honored by the Synagogue of the Jews as Guardian and Patron, so is he now by the Church of God. A celebrated apparition of the Archangel took place, under the pontificate of Gelasius 1st, in Apulia, on the top of Mount Gargano, at whose foot lies the town of Siponto.

A bull, belonging to a man who lived on the mountain, having strayed from the herd, was, after much searching, found hemmed fast in the mouth of a cave. One of its pursuers shot an arrow, with a view to rouse the animal by a wound; but the arrow rebounding, struck him that had sent it. The circumstance excited so much fear in the by-standers and in them that heard of it, that no one dared to go near the cave. The inhabitants of Siponto, therefore, consulted the Bishop; who answered, that in order to know God’s will, they must spend three days in fasting and prayer.

At the end of the three days, the Archangel Michael intimated to the Bishop, that the place was under his protection, and that what had occurred was an indication of his will that God should be worshipped there, in honor of himself and the Angels. Whereupon, the Bishop repaired to the cave, together with his people. They found it like a Church in shape, and began to use it for the celebration of the divine service. Many miracles were afterwards wrought there. Not long after, Pope Boniface dedicated a Church in honor of St. Michael, in the great Circus of Rome, on the third of the Kalends of October (September 29th), the day on which the Church celebrates the memory of all the Angels. But today’s feast is kept in commemoration of the apparition of Michael the Archangel.

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Holy Church tells us of the glories of St. Michael in several portions of the Liturgy;
but particularly in the following Responsory and Antiphons, taken from today’s office.

℟. Hic est Michael archengelus, princeps militiæ Angelorum: * Cujus honor præstat beneficia populorum, et oratio perducit ad regna cœlorum, alleluia.
℟. This is Michael the Archangel, the chief of the Angelic host: * He repays, by blessings, by honor shown him by the Faithful; and his prayer leads us to the kingdom of heaven, alleluia.

℣. Archangelus Michael præpositus Paradisi, quem honorificant Angelorum cives. * Cujus honor præstat beneficia populorum, et oratio perducit ad regna cœlorum, alleluia.
℣. The Archangel Michael is set over Paradise, and is honored by the citizens of heaven. * He repays, by blessings, the honor shown him by the Faithful, and his prayer leads us to the kingdom of heaven, alleluia.

Ant. Venit Michael archangelus cum multitudine Angelorum, cui tradidit Deus animas Sanctorum, ut perducat eas in Paradisum exsultationis, alleluia.
Ant. The Archangel Michael came with a multitude of Angels; God confided unto him the souls of the Saints, that he might lead them to the Paradise of bliss, alleluia.

Ant. Michael archangelus venit in adjutorium populo Dei: stetit in auxilium pro animabus justis, alleluia.
Ant. Michael the Archangel came unto the aid of God’s people; he stood as a help to the souls of the just, alleluia.

Ant. Princeps gloriosissime Michael archangele, esto memor nostri: hic et ubique semper precare pro nobis Filium Dei. Alleluia, alleluia.
Ant. O most glorious Prince! Michael the Archangel! be mindful of us: here and in all places, ever pray for us to the Son of God. Alleluia, alleluia.


The first of the following Hymns is used by the Church in the Vespers of the Feasts of St. Michael. The second is taken from the Lauds.

They speak the praises not only of our great Archangel, but likewise of St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and of all the blessed Spirits in general.

On the feasts of St. Michael, the Church includes all the members of the Angelic Host in her tribute of honor, inasmuch as she has not instituted a Feast for the collective celebration of the nine Choirs of Blessed Spirits.

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1st Hymn

Te splendor, et virtus Patris,
Te vita, Jesu, cordium,
Ab ore qui pendent tuo
Laudamus inter Angelos.


In the presence of the Angels, who obey thee, we praise thee, O Jesus, thou brightness and power of the Father, thou life of our hearts!


Tibi mille densa millium
Ducum corona militat:
Sed explicat victor crucem
Michael salutis signifer.


’Tis for thee that fights this army of a thousand thousand Princes, at whose head is Michael, the Conqueror, the Standard-bearer of salvation, who unfurls the Cross.


Draconis hic dirum caput
In ima pellit tartara,
Ducemque cum rebellibus
Cœlesti ab arce fulminat.


It was Michael that cast the cruel dragon into the depths of hell, and drove the rebels, with their chief, from the heavenly city.


Contra ducem superbiæ
Sequamur hunc nos principem,
Ut detur ex Agni throno
Nobis corona gloriæ.


Let us follow this Prince against the king of pride; that we may deserve to receive, from the throne of the Lamb, a crown of glory.


Deo Patri sit gloria,
Et Filio, qui a mortuis
Surrexit, ac Paraclito,
In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.


Glory be to God the Father, and to the Son who rose from the dead, and to the Paraclete, for everlasting ages. Amen.



2nd Hymn

Christe, sanctorum decus Angelorum,
Gentis human&æ sator, et redemptor,
Cœlitum nobis tribuas beatas
Scandere sedes.


O Christ! thou the Holy Angels’ glory, the Creator and Redeemer of mankind! grant that we ascend to the happy thrones of the heavenly citizens.


Angelus pacis Michael in ædes
Cœlitus nostras veniat, serenæ
Auctor ut pacis lacrymosa in orcum
Bella releget.


May Michael, the Angel of peace, come from heaven into this our temple, and, bringing us sweet peace, drive dismal war back again to hell.


Angelus fortis Gabriel, ut hostes
Pellat antiquos, et amica cœlo,
Quæ triumphator statuit per orbem,
Templa revisat.


May Gabriel, the Angel of strength, come and rout our old enemies; may he often visit the heaven-loved temples, which the triumphant Jesus has placed throughout the world.


Angelus nostræ medicus salutis
Adsit e cœlo Rephael, ut omnes
Sanet ægrotos, dubiosque vitæ
Dirigat actus.


May Raphael, our heavenly Physician, descend and visit us, that he may heal all that are infirm, and direct our steps that falter in the path of life.


Virgo dux pacis, Genitrixque lucis,
Et sacer nobis chorus Angelorum
Semper assistat, simul et micantis
Regia cœli.


May the Virgin Queen of Peace, the Mother of Light; may the holy choir of Angels; may all the inhabitants of bright heaven, ever assist and protect us.


Præstet hoc nobis Deitas beata
Patris, ac Nati, pariterque Sancti
Spiritus, cujus resonat per omnem
Gloria mundum. Amen.


May the Godhead ever blessed of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, whose glory is proclaimed through the whole world, grant us this our prayer. Amen.



The following Sequence is from the collection of the Monastery of Saint Gall,
and was composed by the Monk Notker, in the eleventh century.

Sequence

Ad celebres,
Rex cœlice, laudes Cuncta
Pangat jam canora
Caterva symphonia
Odas, atque solvat
Concio tibi nostra.

O King of heaven! in thy praise, may our whole assembly and choir now sound forth its instruments of sweet music, and sing its hymns to thee.


Cum jam renovantur
Michaelis inclyta
Valde festa,
Per quæ lætabunda
Perornatur machina
Mundi tota.

For this is the day of Michael’s most glorious feast, which gladdens the whole earth with beautiful joy.


Novies distincta
Spirituum sunt agmina
Per te facta.
Sed cum vis,
Facis hæ flammea
Per angelicas officinas.

Thou dividest the Angels created by thee, into nine choirs; yet do they all thy bidding, when thou willest to demand angelic service.


Inter primæva
Sunt hæ nam
Creata tua;
Sed cum simus nos ultima factura,
Sed imago tua.

They were the first creatures of thy hands; whereas we are thy last; yet were we made to thine image.


Theologica categorizant symbola
Nobis hæc ter tripartita
Per privata officia.

This triple division of the heavenly Spirits, according to their special offices, reveals to us the mysterious design of God.


Plebs angelica,
Phalanx et archangelica,
Principans turma.

First comes the Angelic army; then the phalanx of Archangels; then the host of the Principalities.


Virtus Uranica,
Ac Potestas almiphona,

After these, follow the heavenly Virtues, the sweet-sounding Powers,


Dominantia numina,
Divinaque subsellia,
Cherubim ætherea,
Ac Seraphim ignicoma.

The spiritual Dominations, the Thrones divine, the ethereal Cherubim, the burning Seraphim.


Vos, o Michael,
Cœli Satrapa,
Gabrielque
Vera dans Verbi nuntia,
Atque Raphael,
Vitæ vernula,
Transferte nos
Inter Paradisicolas.

O Michael, Prince of the heavenly court! Gabriel, messenger of the Incarnate Word! Raphael, our guide through life! lead us to the company of the citizens of Paradise.


Per vos Patris cuncta
Complentur mandata,
Quæ dat ejusdem Sophia,
Compar quoque Pneuma,
Una permanens in usia,
Cui estis administrantia
Deo millia
Millium sacra.

By you are fulfilled all the biddings of the Father, the Son (who is his Wisdom), and the co-equal Spirit—the Three, One in essence—the God to whom ye are the holy administering Spirits, thousands of thousands in number.


Vices per his quinas
Bis atque quingenta
Vestra
Centena millena
Assistunt in aula,
Ad quam Rex ovem centesimam
Verbigena,
Drachmanamque decimam Vestra
Duxit ad agalmata.

Ye stand in his Court, ten thousand times a hundred thousand; and into this same, the King, the Father of the Word, brought the hundredth sheep, and the tenth groat, that they might share in your bliss.


Vos per æthra,
Nos per rura terrea,
Pars electa,
Harmonica vota
Damus hinc
Per lyricas citharas.

Ye in the high heavens, and we the elect flock on earth, give forth our tuneful praise on sweet-sounding harps.


Quo post bella
Michaelis inclyta
Nostra Deo sint accepta
Auream super aram
Thymiamata,

Thus after Michael’s glorious battles, may our incense, when set on the golden altar, be acceptable to God;


Quo in coæva
Jam gloria
Condecantemus
Alleluia.

Thus, when united in the same eternal glory, may we sing together our Alleluia!


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How beautiful art thou, O Michael, in thy heaven-made armor, giving glory to the God whose enemy thou overcamest! Thine humble and fervent eye is fixed on the throne of the Jehovah whose rights thou defendedst, and who gave thee the victory. Thy sublime cry: “Who is like unto God?” roused the faithful legions, and became thy name and thy crown. It will remind us, for all eternity, of thy fidelity to our Creator, and thy triumph over the dragon. Meanwhile, we enjoy thy loving protection; we are thy happy clients.

Guardian Angel of Holy Church! now is the time for thee to exert all the might of thine arm. Satan is furious in his efforts against the noble Spouse of thy Master; brandish thy bright sword, and give battle to this implacable enemy. The Kingdom of Christ is shaken to its very foundations. Rome is in danger of seeing the Vicar of Christ dethroned within her walls. Is it that the reign of the Man of Sin is about to be proclaimed on the earth? Are we near that Last Day, when this guilty world having been destroyed by fire, thou art to exercise, in the name of the Sovereign Judge, the terrible office of separating the goats from the sheep?—If this earth is still to exist; if the mission of the Church is not yet completed; is it not time for thee, O Michael! to show the Dragon of hell that he may not, with impunity, insult on this earth the God who created it, who redeemed it, and whose name is King of kings, and Lord of lord? The torrent of error and crime is unceasingly dragging the world to the brink of the precipice; save it, O glorious Archangel, by confounding the dark plots which are laid for its destruction!

Thou, O Michael, art the Protector of our souls in their passage from time to eternity. During this present life, thine eye is upon our wants, and thine ear open to our prayers. Though awed by the brightness of thy glory, we love thee, dear Prince of heaven! and we live happy and contented beneath the shadow of thy wings. In a few days, or, at most, years, our holy Mother the Church will be performing her last sacred rites over our lifeless remains; she will pray for us to our Heavenly Father, that we may be delivered from the lion’s mouth, and that the standard-bearer St. Michael, may bring us into the holy light. Watch over us now, O holy Archangel, lest we should then not deserve thy protection. The Dragon is ever threatening us; he makes no secret of his wishing to devour us. Teach us, O Michael, to repeat thy beautiful words: “Who is like unto God?” God’s honor, the rights he has over us, our obligation to be faithful to him, and serve him, and confess him as our Lord in all times and places—oh, yes! the deep-rooted sentiment of all this must be our shield in our danger, and the armor wherewith, like thyself, we must fight and win the battle. But we want some of thy sturdy courage, which resulted from the love thou hadst within thee. Oh! pray for us, that we too may love this our common Lord and Master; then shall we be invincible. Satan cannot make head against a creature that is filled with the love of the great God.

This God created thee, O Michael! and thou lovedst him as thy Creator; but as to us, he not only created, he redeemed us, yea and at the price of his own Blood! What, then, should be the intensity of our love for him! Strengthen this love in our hearts; and since we are fighting under thy leadership, guide us, inspirit us; let thy look give us courage; ward off from us the blows of the enemy’s sword. We venture to hope that thou wilt be present at our last moments, O standard-bearer of our salvation! In return for our tender devotion towards thee, deign to keep guard round our death-bed, cover it with thy shield. If the Dragon see the flash of thy sword, he will not dare to come near us. May our soul, on leaving the body, throw herself with affection into thine arms! Cast her not from thee, O holy Archangel, when she seeks to cling to thee; carry her to the judgment-seat, cover beneath thy wings, calm her fears; and oh! may the Lord, thy Master, bid thee bear her speedily to the kingdom of eternal bliss!

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  A few interesting posts on 'Crisis Gardening'
Posted by: Stone - 05-07-2021, 12:53 PM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

A few examples - for your consideration:







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  Pope envisions world and church that’s open, inclusive, all about ‘we’
Posted by: Stone - 05-07-2021, 09:54 AM - Forum: Pope Francis - No Replies

Pope envisions world and church that’s open, inclusive, all about ‘we’
A message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees in September emphasized universality and 'human fraternity' rather than salvation of souls.


May 6, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) -- Pope Francis published his message for the 107th World Day of Migrants and Refugees to be celebrated September 26, inviting the world to move “towards an ever greater we.”

He presented his thoughts as a program in response to the “health crisis,” calling on Catholics and people of good will to reject the temptation to “plunge even more deeply into feverish consumerism and new forms of egotistic self-preservation.”

However, this appeal for a life that would be less materialistic operates in the way of G.K. Chesterton’s “old Christian virtues gone mad,” transposing a personal call to holiness and to center oneself on God and eternity to a political message where the sovereign rights and duties of nations toward their own are portrayed as selfish and unjust.

In his message, the Pope describes God's plan for humanity, referring to Genesis, as a march toward an open world.

Quote:“God created us male and female, different yet complementary, in order to form a ‘we’ destined to become ever more numerous in the succession of generations. God created us in his image, in the image of his own triune being, a communion in diversity,” the Pope recalled. But in subsequent comments, he added, “When, in disobedience we turned away from God, he in his mercy wished to offer us a path of reconciliation, not as individuals but as a people, a ‘we,' meant to embrace the entire human family, without exception: ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.'”

This is a transparent reference to a recent leitmotif in papal declarations: “No one is saved alone, we can only be saved together,” as he wrote in Fratelli Tutti. He has recently stated that this is the “lesson” of the “recent pandemic:” being saved together would be the only way to obtain “peace, prosperity, security and happiness.”

This is a horizontal vision of salvation: an oversight at best and a contradiction at worst of this truth: Redemption and eternal salvation are offered to people individually. Christ suffered and died on the Cross for each of us, for you and for me, giving the last drop of His Precious Blood so that you, and I, can personally gain access to eternal life, which we do not deserve and are incapable of obtaining alone, that is, without the merits of His Passion, and on the condition that we personally accept and respond to His grace.

In his message, the Pope expressed a different “dream:”

Quote:“The truth however is that we are all in the same boat and called to work together so that there will be no more walls that separate us, no longer others, but only a single ‘we,' encompassing all of humanity. Thus I would like to use this World Day to address a twofold appeal, first to the Catholic faithful and then all the men and women of our world, to advance together towards an ever wider ‘we.'”

It is a utopia, and like all utopias, it is dangerous.

The idea of universal fraternity without common belief in the one, true God is also a distortion of Catholicisma distortion that freemasonry, with its rejection of any kind of dogma, has preached for a long time.

It is a dangerous and misleading utopia when the Pope makes it the condition for access to a “Church that is more and more catholic,” or universal. This amounts to confusing the plane of “human fraternity” on the material level, and that of incorporation into Christ through baptism and the practice of the faith in order to be among the elect in the afterlife. The fact that the Chuch is “universal” does not mean that some do not reach heaven because they refuse salvation. Such confusion fundamentally conveys the idea that all are saved, that none can be damned.

How would Pope Francis like us to make his dream come true?

Quote:“The Catholic faithful are called to work together, each in the midst of his or her own community, to make the Church become ever more inclusive as she carries out the mission entrusted to the Apostles by Jesus Christ: ‘As you go, proclaim the good news, The kingdom of heaven has come near. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment’”.

Besides the fact that the word “inclusive” is politically correct newspeak, with its “anti-racist” overtones and their ideological thrust, it should be noted that it makes the Church the agent of inclusion, whereas it is in the first instance the person who asks for baptism, faith, and the grace of becoming a child of God, which the Church then provides by communicating grace from the treasure entrusted to her by Christ.

Fortunately, the Pope added, 
Quote:“In our day, the Church is called to go out into the streets of every existential periphery in order to heal wounds and to seek out the straying, without prejudice or fear, without proselytizing, but ready to widen her tent to embrace everyone. Among those dwelling in those existential peripheries, we find many migrants and refugees, displaced persons and victims of trafficking, to whom the Lord wants his love to be manifested and his salvation preached.”

Leaving the jab at “proselytizing” aside, it is comforting to hear that the Pope wants to see Christ’s salvation proclaimed to migrants.
However, the question remains, given the context: What exactly is this “salvation” that is being proclaimed?

The pope continues:

Quote:“Our societies will have a ‘colorful’ future, enriched by diversity and by cultural exchanges. Consequently, we must even now learn to live together in harmony and peace. (…) This is the ideal of the new Jerusalem (cf. Is 60; Rev 21:3), where all peoples are united in peace and harmony, celebrating the goodness of God and the wonders of creation. To achieve this ideal, however, we must make every effort to break down the walls that separate us and, in acknowledging our profound interconnection, build bridges that foster a culture of encounter. Today’s migration movements offer an opportunity for us to overcome our fears and let ourselves be enriched by the diversity of each person’s gifts. Then, if we so desire, we can transform borders into privileged places of encounter, where the miracle of an ever wider 'we' can come about.”

At a time when ethnic clan wars, violence and insecurity are rife in countries such as France, this vision clearly puts the responsibility for a more peaceful, nay, a possibly ideal world on the shoulders of those whose countries are being profoundly changed by the influx of people who do not share their history, what is left of their patriotism, their way of life and their faith, particularly the Christian faith. Wanting to defend one’s history and identity in the face of these risks is clearly being qualified as un-Catholic by the Pope. All this is coupled, in his conclusion, with an eco-political message rather than a call to conversion in view of eternal salvation:

Quote:“I invite all men and women in our world to make good use of the gifts that the Lord has entrusted to us to preserve and make his creation even more beautiful. ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned 10 of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, 'Do business with these until I come back’ (Lk 19:12-13).

"The Lord will also demand of us an account of our work! In order to ensure the proper care of our common home, we must become a ‘we’ that is ever wider and more co-responsible, in the profound conviction that whatever good is done in our world is done for present and future generations. Ours must be a personal and collective commitment that cares for all our brothers and sisters who continue to suffer, even as we work towards a more sustainable, balanced and inclusive development.

"A commitment that makes no distinction between natives and foreigners, between residents and guests, since it is a matter of a treasure we hold in common, from whose care and benefits no one should be excluded.”

The confusion between the spiritual and the temporal, the virtuous and the ecological appears to be here to stay.


[Emphasis mine.]

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  The Liturgical Movement: How the Traditional Roman Rite, over One Thousand Years Old, was Destroyed
Posted by: Stone - 05-07-2021, 07:46 AM - Forum: In Defense of Tradition - Replies (1)

Taken from The Remnant Archives


The Liturgical Movement: How the Traditional Roman Rite, over One Thousand Years Old, was Destroyed
by Michael Davies


During the first session of the Second Vatican Council, in the debate on the Liturgy Constitution, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani asked: “Are these Fathers planning a revolution?” The Cardinal was old and partly blind. He spoke from the heart without a text about a subject which moved him deeply, and continued:
Quote:Are we seeking to stir up wonder, or perhaps scandal among the Christian people, by introducing changes in so venerable a rite, that has been approved for so many centuries and is now so familiar? The rite of Holy Mass should not be treated as if it were a piece of cloth to be refashioned according to the whim of each generation.

So concerned was he at the revolutionary potential of the Constitution, and having no prepared text, the elderly Cardinal exceeded the ten-minute time limit for speeches. At a signal from Cardinal Alfrink, who was presiding at the session, a technician switched off the microphone, and Cardinal Ottaviani stumbled back to his seat in humiliation.[1]

The Council Fathers clapped with glee, and the journalists to whose dictatorship Father Louis Bouyer claimed the Council had surrendered itself, were even more gleeful when they wrote their reports that night and when they wrote their books at the end of the session. When we laugh, we do not think, and, had they not been laughing, at least some of the bishops might have wondered whether, perhaps, Cardinal Ottaviani had a point.

He did indeed!

A liturgical revolution had been planned, one which very few of the 3000 bishops present in St. Peter’s would have endorsed had they suspected its true nature. The revolution had been planned before the Council, and its manifesto was the preparatory schema on the liturgy, the draft document for which the bishops would vote after discussing and amending it. The document can properly be termed the Bugnini Manifesto, as it was primarily the work of Vincentian priest, Father Annibale Bugnini. He managed to secure its approval shortly before being dismissed by Pope John XXIII from his post as secretary of the Liturgical Preparatory Commission and from his chair at the Lateran University.[2]

Bugnini’s allies on the Conciliar Liturgy Constitution, who had worked with him on preparing the schema, now had the task of securing its acceptance by the bishops without any substantial alterations. They did so with a degree of success that certainly exceeded the hopes of their wildest dreams.[3] They presumed that the bishops would be a bunch of useful idiots, men who preferred to laugh rather than think. “It was all good fun,” wrote Archbishop R. J. Dwyer, one of the most erudite of the American bishops.

Quote:“And when the vote came round, like wise Sir Joseph Porter, KCM, ‘We always voted at our parties’ call; we never thought of thinking for ourselves at all.’ That way you can save yourself a whole world of trouble.”[4]

The late Msgr. Klaus Gamber was described by Cardinal Ratzinger as "the one scholar who, among the army of pseudo-liturgists, truly represents the liturgical thinking of the centre of the Church." As regards the attitude the Council Fathers would have taken to the changes that have been foisted upon us in the name of Vatican II, he informs us in his book The Reform of the Roman Liturgy that: “One statement we can make with certainty is that the new Ordo of the Mass that has now emerged would not have been endorsed by the majority of the Council Fathers.”[5]

Why then did these bishops endorse the Liturgy Constitution? Archbishop Lefebvre has given us the answer: "There were time bombs in the Council."[6]

These "time bombs" were, of course, the ambiguous passages inserted in the official documents by the liberal periti or experts. The answer to Cardinal Ottaviani’s question as to whether the Council Fathers were planning a revolution is that most of the Fathers, the 3000 bishops, most certainly were not, but that some of the most influential periti, the experts who accompanied the bishops to Rome, were definitely planning a revolution. It is not exaggerating in any way to claim that these liberal periti hijacked Pope John’s Council, a fact which I have documented in great detail in my book on Vatican II.[7]

Douglas Woodruff, one of England's outstanding Catholic scholars, was editor of The Tablet during the Council. In one of his reports on the Council, he remarks:
Quote:"For in a sense this Council has been the Council of the periti, silent in the aula but so effective in the commissions and at bishops' ears.”[8]

This is an exceptionally perceptive comment, and it would be hard to improve on "the Council of the periti" as a one-phrase description of Vatican II. Bishop Lucey of Cork and Ross (Ireland) testified that the periti were more powerful than most bishops, even though they had no vote, "because they had the ear of Cardinal or the head of a national group of bishops, and they were influential in the drafting of Council documents. The expert . . . is the person with power.”[9]

The manner in which the liberal periti laid the foundations for their revolution during the first session of the Council was spelled out in precise detail by Cardinal John Heenan of Westminster (England):
Quote:The subject most fully debated was liturgical reform. It might be more accurate to say that the bishops were under the impression that the liturgy had been fully discussed. In retrospect it is clear that they were given the opportunity of discussing only general principles. Subsequent changes were more radical than those intended by Pope John and the bishops who passed the decree on the liturgy. His sermon at the end of the first session shows that Pope John did not suspect what was being planned by the liturgical experts.

God forbid, warned Cardinal Heenan, that the periti should take control of the commissions established after the Council to interpret it for the world. But this is precisely what happened.

The liberals had constructed the Liturgy Constitution as a weapon with which to initiate a revolution, and the Council Fathers had placed this weapon in the hands of the revolutionaries who had forged it. Archbishop R. J. Dwyer observed, with the benefit of hindsight, that the great mistake of the Council Fathers was
Quote:"to allow the implementation of the Constitution to fall into the hands of men who were either unscrupulous or incompetent. This is the so-called ‘Liturgical Establishment,’ a Sacred Cow which acts more like a white elephant as it tramples the shards of a shattered liturgy with ponderous abandon."[10]

What the experts had been planning was made clear on 24 October 1967 in the Sistine Chapel, when what was described as the Missa Normativa was celebrated before the Synod of Bishops by Father Annibale Bugnini himself, its chief architect. Incredible as it may seem, he had been appointed secretary of the post-Vatican II Liturgy Commission and thus had the power to orchestrate the composition of the new rite of Mass which he had envisaged in the schema he had prepared before his dismissal by John XXIII, and which had been passed virtually unchanged by the Council Fathers.

Why Pope Paul VI appointed the man who had been dismissed by his predecessor to this key position is a mystery which will probably never be answered. Less than half the bishops present voted in favor of the Missa Normativa, but they were ignored with the arrogance which was to become the most evident characteristic of the liturgical establishment to which the Council Fathers had been naive enough to entrust the implementation of the Liturgy Constitution.

The Missa Normativa was imposed on Catholics of the Roman Rite in 1969 as the Novus Ordo Missae, with a few changes, the most important of which was the restoration of the Roman Canon on the explicit instructions of Pope Paul VI. Readers of The Remnant will be familiar with its format and its deficiencies, which are documented in great detail in my book Pope Paul’s New Mass. It is the fruit of the Bugnini schema, and also the great merit of the book under review, which makes it clear that the Bugnini schema was the fruit of the liturgical movement, the true history of which is now available for us in English for the very first time in the book The Liturgical Movement—Guéranger to Beauduin to Bugnini by Fr. D. Bonneterre.

As most Catholics know very little about the liturgical movement, most of what they read in Father Bonneterre’s book will come as a complete surprise. Those who know anything of its history will be aware that it was endorsed by the pre-Vatican II popes and may be surprised at the strength of Father Bonneterre’s criticism and his insistence that it is the font and origin of the liturgical anarchy which is emptying our churches today. The inescapable conclusion of his book is that the movement, like Vatican II, was hijacked by liberals.

One does not need to be a liturgical scholar to know that Dom Prosper Guéranger was the greatest of all liturgists, and his principles and his work were fully endorsed by St. Pius X. They can be considered the founders of the liturgical movement. Does the linking of their names to that of Archbishop Bugnini via Dom Beauduin in the title of this book imply that they must bear some responsibility for the post-conciliar reform, which Monsignor Gamber has summed up in one devastating sentence: 
Quote:At this critical juncture, the traditional Roman rite, more than one thousand years old, has been destroyed.”[11]

Father Bonneterre refutes this suggestion in the introduction to his book and also makes clear his purpose in writing it:
Quote:The relationship suggested by such a title may seem rather bold to our reader, but it is not we who see a link between the author of the Institutions Liturgiques (Dom Guéranger) and the "gravedigger of the Mass" (Annibale Bugnini). It is the Roman authorities themselves. In fact, Pope Paul VI wrote to the Abbot of Solesmes on January 20, 1975, "I acknowledge the solidity and influence of the work of Dom Guéranger in whom the Liturgical Movement of today salutes its originator."

Already the Foreword of the Institutio Generalis of the New Missal claimed that contemporary reforms were the continuation of the work of St. Pius X. The conclusion of the Foreword claims that "Vatican II brought to completion all the efforts to bring the faithful closer to the Liturgy, efforts undertaken throughout the last four centuries, and especially in recent times, thanks to the liturgical zeal shown by St. Pius X and his successors." Thus, and we can give an infinite number of examples, the most advanced liturgists and the "Conciliar Church" herself claim that there is continuity, and even a "homogeneous development," in the Liturgical Movement between Dom Guéranger, or even St. Pius X, and Annibale Bugnini.

Quote:That is a deception that we cannot accept! That is why we have written this book on the Liturgical Movement. We will endeavour to show the way in which the movement was diverted from its course. Certainly, historically Dom Guéranger and St. Pius X are truly at the origin of the Liturgical Movement, but it is false and pernicious to claim that this movement, at least in its contemporary forms, is derived from their thought; worse still that it is the continuation of their work. To expound this thesis, we must study the history of the Liturgical Movement, acknowledge its magnificent fruits, but also establish from external evidence the early deviations of this grandiose enterprise which could have brought so much to the Church.

It is important to note the fact that the Liturgical Movement did indeed bring forth magnificent fruits, though rarely so in English-speaking countries. Father Bonneterre insists that his book is not intended to be purely negative:
Quote:Far from being negative, such a study enables us to discern what we must reject and what we must carefully conserve of the Liturgical Movement. It is vitally important that above all we who work for the maintenance of Catholic Liturgy become the heirs and successors of the work of Dom Guéranger and St. Pius X. We make the wishes of St. Pius X our own.

Father Bonneterre endorses the definition of the Liturgical Movement given by Dom Oliver Rousseau, OSB, as “the renewal of fervour for the liturgy among the clergy and the faithful.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of the election of St. Pius X. Traditional Catholics everywhere should be preparing appropriate celebrations. Father Bonneterre writes:
Quote:In 1903 the person who was to give the movement a definite impetus had just ascended to the See of Peter—St. Pius X. Gifted with an immense pastoral experience, this saintly pope suffered terribly from the decadence of liturgical life. But he knew that a trend for renewal was developing, and he decided to do his utmost to ensure that it bring forth good fruits. That is why on November 22, 1903, he published his famous motu proprio “tra le Sollecitudini” restoring Gregorian chant. In this document he inserted the vital sentence which went on to play a determining role in the evolution of the Liturgical Movement:
Quote:Our keen desire being that the true Christian spirit may once more flourish, cost what it may, and be maintained among all the faithful.... We deem it necessary to provide before aught else for the sanctity and dignity of the temple, in which the faithful assemble for no other object than that of acquiring this spirit from its primary and indispensable source, which is the active participation in the most holy mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church. (Tra le Sollecitudini, November 22,1903.)

For St. Pius X as for Dom Guéranger, writes Father Bonneterre, “the liturgy is essentially theocentric; it is for the worship of God rather than for the teaching of the faithful. Nevertheless, this great pastor underlined an important aspect of the liturgy: it is educative of the true Christian spirit. But let us stress that this function of the liturgy is only secondary.” The tragedy of the liturgical movement was that it would make this secondary aspect of the liturgy the primary aspect, as is made manifest today in any typical parish celebration of the New Mass. Father Bonneterre has nothing but praise for initial stages of the movement: “Born of Dom Guéranger's genius and the indomitable energy of St. Pius X, the movement at this time brought magnificent fruits of spiritual renewal.”

If there is a villain of the book he is Dom Lambert Beauduin, but Father Bonneterre has no hesitation in paying tribute to the great contribution that he made to the movement in its early years:
The merit of having understood all that could be learned from the teaching of St. Pius X falls to Dom Lambert Beauduin (1873-1960). Alas, this monk was unable to maintain throughout his life this hierarchy of the ends of the liturgy, i.e., worship first, teaching second, as we shall see in the course of this study, but let us not anticipate.

Dom Lambert Beauduin at first was a priest of the diocese of Liege, a "workers' missionary" under Pope Leo XIII. In 1906, at the age of thirty-three, he entered the Abbey of Mont Cesar, which had been founded by the monks of Maredsous at Louvain a few years earlier (1899). Because of his previous activity among the secular clergy, his mind had become habitually occupied by the problems of the apostolate and pastoral work, and so he viewed the liturgy in light of his habitual preoccupations. Very speedily he "discovered" in the liturgy, following St. Pius X, a wonderful method for forming the faithful in the Christian life. In 1909 he launched a Liturgical Movement at Mont Cesar which was an immediate success.

It is important to set the Liturgical Movement within the context of the Modernist crisis which is documented in my book Partisans of Error. Father Bonneterre writes:
Quote:Crushed by St. Pius X, the Modernists understood that they could not penetrate the Church by theology, that is, by a clear exposé of their doctrines. They had recourse to the Marxist notion of praxis, having understood that the Church could become modernist through action, especially through the sacred action of the liturgy. Revolutions always use the living energies of the organism itself, taking control of them little by little and finally using them to destroy the body under attack. It is the well-known process of the Trojan horse.

The Liturgical Movement of Dom Guéranger, of St. Pius X, and of the Belgian monasteries, in origin at any rate, was a considerable force in the Church, a prodigious means of spiritual rejuvenation which, moreover, brought forth good fruits. The Liturgical Movement was thus the ideal Trojan horse for the modernist revolution. It was easy for all the revolutionaries to hide themselves in the belly of such a large carcass. Before Mediator Dei, who among the Catholic hierarchy was concerned about liturgy? What vigilance was applied to detecting this particularly subtle form of practical Modernism?

It was from the 1920's onward that it became clear that the Liturgical Movement had been diverted from its original admirable aims:
Quote:Dom Beauduin first of all favored in an exaggerated way the teaching and preaching aspect of the liturgy, and then conceived the idea of making it serve the "Ecumenical Movement" to which he was devoted body and soul. Dom Parsch tied the movement to Biblical renewal. Dom Casel made it the vehicle of a fanatical antiquarianism and of a completely personal conception of the "Christian mystery." These first revolutionaries were largely overtaken by the generation of the new liturgists of the various preconciliar liturgical commissions.

This new generation is described by Father Bonneterre as the “young wolves.” In any revolution it is almost routine for the first moderate revolutionaries to be replaced or even eradicated by more radical revolutionaries, as was the case with the Russian Revolution when the Mensheviks (majority) were ousted by the Bolsheviks (minority).

Faced by this excessive acceleration of the movement, Dom Beaudin was frightened... We witness here the first phenomena of “permanent excesses,” a feature of all revolutions: yesterday’s managers are overtaken by today’s agitators, the first revolutionaries are overtaken by today’s agitators.

Just as nothing could prevent the rise to power of the Bolsheviks, nothing could prevent the triumph of the young wolves:
Quote:After the Second World War, the movement became a force that nothing could stop. Protected from on high by eminent prelates, the new liturgists took control little by little of the Commission for Reform of the Liturgy founded by Pius XII, and influenced the reforms devised by this Commission at the end of the pontificate of Pius XII and at the beginning of that of John XXIII. Already masters, thanks to the Pope, of the preconciliar liturgical commission, the new liturgists got the Fathers of the Council to accept a self-contradictory and ambiguous document, the constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium. Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Lercaro and Fr. Bugnini, themselves very active members of the Italian Liturgical Movement, directed the efforts of the Consilium which culminated in the promulgation of the New Mass.

How could Pope Pius XII, the Pastor Angelicus, the most scholarly Pope of the century, and one whose orthodoxy could not possibly be questioned, have allowed the young wolves of the liturgical movement to consolidate their power during his pontificate? Father Bonneterre makes it clear that this saintly pontiff was well-aware of the subversive elements within the Liturgical Movement. In His Encyclical Mediator Dei, perhaps the most sublime exposition of the true nature of the Mass ever to be written, Pope Pius wrote:
Quote:“We observe that certain people are too fond of novelty and go astray from the oaths of sound doctrine and prudence.... They sully this sacred cause with errors, errors which affect the Catholic faith and ascetical teaching.”

Father Bonneterre insists that, alas:
Quote:Pope Pius XII did not know the true position of the Liturgical Movement. Its most dangerous leaders were being supported and protected by the highest dignitaries of the Church. How could the Pope have suspected that the "experts" who were so highly praised by Cardinals Bea and Lercaro were in fact the most dangerous enemies of the Church?

He laments the fact that: “Thus Pius XII gave the most inopportune encouragement to the congress at Assisi:
Quote:The Liturgical Movement is like an indication of the plans of divine providence for the present time, like the wind of the Holy Ghost blowing through the Church, bringing men closer to the mysteries of the faith and the treasures of grace, which flow from the active participation of the faithful in the life of the liturgy.”

Father Bonneterre comments:
Quote:“This declaration could have been true and timely before 1920; in 1956 it was no longer so. In the intervening years, the Liturgical Movement had denied its origins and abandoned the principles laid down by Dom Guéranger and St. Pius X.”

The most influential of the new liturgists, the great architect of the post-Vatican II liturgical revolution, was Father Annibale Bugnini. Father Bonneterre recounts a visit by Father Bugnini to a liturgical convention held at Thieulin near Chartres at which forty religious superiors and seminary rectors were present, making clear the extent of the influence of the liturgical Bolsheviks on the Church establishment in France. He cites a Father Duployé as stating:
Quote:Some days before the reunion at Thieulin, I had a visit from an Italian Lazarist, Fr. Bugnini, who had asked me to obtain an invitation for him. The Father listened very attentively, without saying a word, for four days. During our return journey to Paris, as the train was passing along the Swiss Lake at Versailles, he said to me: "I admire what you are doing, but the greatest service I can render you is never to say a word in Rome about all that I have just heard."

Father Bonneterre comments:
Quote:This revealing text shows us one of the first appearances of the "gravedigger of the Mass," a revolutionary more clever than the others, he who killed the Catholic liturgy before disappearing from the official scene. So it was at this date that the "Counter-Church" completely pervaded the Liturgical Movement. Until then it had been occupied by the modernist and ecumenical forces: after the war it was rotten enough for Freemasonry to take direct control of the reins: Satan got into the Trojan Horse.

The reference to Freemasonry is based on the fact that in 1975 Pope Paul VI removed Bugnini, an Archbishop by then, from his position as Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, dissolved the entire Congregation, and in 1976 exiled him as Nuncio to Iran. Pope Paul did this because he had been given documentation which convinced him that the Archbishop was a freemason. Bugnini denied that he was a mason, but accepted that he was dismissed because the Pope believed him to be a member of the Brotherhood. All the relevant documentation is contained in Chapter 24 of my book Pope Paul’s New Mass.

Father Bonneterre explains that:
Quote:Although the reforms of Pius XII had given some satisfaction to the leaders of the Movement, the implacable orthodoxy that the Pope had maintained throughout had not been to their taste. New and more daring reforms were called for, and they needed a pope who understood the problem of ecumenism and who was a wholehearted supporter of the Movement.

He claims that “The news of the death of the Angelic Pastor was received with almost delirious joy by the deviated Liturgical Movement.” The aged Dom Lambert Beauduin had not the least doubt as to the cardinal he hoped would be elected, and confided his hopes to Father Bouyer:
Quote:If they elect Roncalli," he said "all will be saved. He will be capable of calling a Council and canonizing ecumenism..." Silence fell; then, with a return of his old mischievousness, he said with flashing eyes, "I believe we have a good chance. Most of the cardinals are not sure what to do. They are capable of voting for him

Father Bonneterre comments:
Quote:To consecrate ecumenism, yes, indeed, but also to consecrate the Liturgical Movement, such would be the task of the long-awaited Council. For more than forty years the new liturgists had been spreading their errors, they had succeeded in influencing a considerable portion of the Catholic hierarchy, and they had won some encouraging reforms from the Holy See. All this patient underground work was about to bear fruit. The liturgical revolutionaries took advantage of the Constitution on the Liturgy to get their ideas accepted. Then, when they were appointed members of the Consilium, they only had to draw the extreme conclusions from the principles of Vatican II.

Father Bonneterre insists that:
Quote:This new rite carries on in its turn all the errors which have come forth since the beginning of the deviations of the "Movement." This rite is ecumenical, antiquarian, community-based, democratic, and almost totally desacralized; it also echoes the theological deviations of the modernists and the Protestants: toning down the sense of the Real Presence and diminution of the ministerial role of the priesthood, of the sacrificial character of the Mass, and especially of its propitiatory character. The Eucharist becomes much more a communal love feast than the renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross.

It is thus with the New Mass that the Liturgical Movement which had started so well ended so badly. The 1959 liturgy of the Protestant Taizé community is printed as an appendix to the book, and shows some disturbing similarities to the New Mass. Father Bonneterre does not, however, refer to the alarming correspondence of the changes, principally omissions, made to the Order of Mass in the Missal of St. Pius V in the concoction of the order of Mass in the 1970 Missal and the almost identical omissions from the Sarum Missal made by Thomas Cranmer in concocting his 1549 Communion Service. These are documented in great detail in my book Pope Paul’s New Mass. Nor does he refer to the equally alarming correspondence between the liturgical principles permeating the Mass of Paul VI and those of the pseudo-synod of Pistoia condemned as pernicious by Pope Pius VI in his encyclical Auctorem Fidei of 1794.

I would also say that, in places, Father Bonneterre seems to presume that the rite of Mass concocted by Father Bugnini’s Consilium represents what the leading members of the Liturgical Movement were aiming at. This might be true in the case of the “young wolves” who took over the movement, but is certainly not true of priests such as Beauduin, Casel, Parsch, or Bouyer. The principal aim of these men was to use the existing liturgy to achieve their pastoral aims, and not to impose a radical reform which made the liturgy that they knew, loved, and celebrated daily unrecognizable.

In fairness to Father Bonneterre he does state that the leading figures of the original movement were frightened by the thinking of the young wolves. I have quoted him to this effect in this review. It would have been useful had he quoted the reaction of a priest such as Father Louis Bouyer, whom he cites quite often, to the actual reform that has been foisted upon us. He stated in 1969 that
Quote:"We must speak plainly: there is practically no liturgy worthy of the name today in the Catholic Church"[12]; and

"Perhaps in no other area is there a greater distance (and even formal opposition) between what the Council worked out and what we actually have”[13]; and that, in practice,

“those who took it upon themselves to apply [?] the Council’s directives on this point have turned their backs deliberately on what Beauduin, Casel, and Pius Parsch had set out to do, and to which I had tried vainly to add some small contribution of my own.”[14]

In 1975, Father Bouyer stated:
Quote:"The Catholic liturgy has been overthrown under the pretext of rendering it more acceptable to the secularised masses, but in reality to conform it with the buffooneries that the religious orders were induced to impose, whether they liked it or not, upon the other clergy. We do not have to wait for the results: a sudden decline in religious practice, varying between twenty and forty per cent among those who were practising Catholics.... Those who were not have not displayed a trace of interest in this pseudo-missionary liturgy, particularly the young whom they had deluded themselves into thinking that they would win over with their clowning.[15]

The value of Father Bonneterre’s book would have been enhanced considerably had he been asked to adapt and update it by researching the wealth of documentation published since he wrote it in 1980, the most important item in this respect being the posthumous memoirs or Archbishop Bugnini, which provide the most valuable source available for researching the actual concoction of Pope Paul’s New Mass.[16] There are frequent references in this book to figures included in that of Father Bonneterre, and to many of the experts who are not. One of these, Father Joseph Gelineau, is described by Archbishop Bugnini as one of the "great masters of the international liturgical world".[17] This “great master tells us, with commendable honesty, but no a trace of regret:
Quote:Let those who like myself have known and sung a Latin-Gregorian High Mass remember it if they can. Let them compare it with the Mass that we now have. Not only the words, the melodies, and some of the gestures are different. To tell the truth, it is a different liturgy of the Mass. This needs to be said without ambiguity: the Roman Rite as we knew it no longer exists (le rite romain tel que nous l'avons connu n'existe plus). It has been destroyed (il est détruit).” [18]

Despite these reservations, The Liturgical Movement—Guéranger to Beauduin to Bugnini is a book which, like Msgr. Gamber’s Reform of the Roman Rite, no Catholic can afford to be without if he wishes to understand the post-Vatican II liturgical revolution. It is profusely illustrated and has an excellent index.

[Emphasis mine.]


[1] M. Davies, Pope John’s Council (PJC), p. 93
[2] M. Davies, Pope Paul’s New Mass (PPNM), p. 499.
[3] PPNM, p. 500.
[4] PJC, pp. 92-93.
[5] K. Gamber, The Reform of the Roman Liturgy (RRL), K. Gamber ( Harrison, N.Y.,1993), p. 61.
[6] Marcel Lefebvre, Un Leveque Parle (Paris 1974), p. 196.
[7] PJC, Chapter 5.
[8] The Tablet, 27 November 1965, p. 1318.
[9] Catholic Standard (Dublin), 17 October 1973.
[10] The Tidings, 9 July 1971.
[11] RRL, p. 99.
[12] L. Bouyer, The Decomposition of Catholicism (London, 1970), p. 99. Referred to as DC in subsequent notes.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Religieux et clercs contre Dieu (Paris, 1975), p. 12.
[16] A. Bugnini, The Reform of the Liturgy: 1948-1975 (Collegeville, Minnesota, 1990).
[17] Bugnini, p. 221.
[18] J. Gelineau, Demain la liturgie (Paris, 1976), pp. 9-10.

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  Cardinal, bishops, priests ask Pope to stop schism of Catholic Church in Germany
Posted by: Stone - 05-07-2021, 06:33 AM - Forum: Pope Francis - No Replies

Cardinal, bishops, priests ask Pope to stop schism of Catholic Church in Germany
The Church in Germany is 'daily tending' towards 'declared schism and heresy.'

May 6, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A cardinal, two bishops, and a dozen priests are asking Pope Francis to intervene to stop the Catholic church in Germany from going into “schism” by continuing on its heretical Synodal Path and thereby separating itself from the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church founded by Christ.

“The German Synodal Path, initiated in 2019, has been, during the past two years, fertile ground for the planning and subsequent homogenization of ideas and theories that are blatantly contrary to the immutable and perennial Magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church, founded by the Divine Savior on the solid rock of the Apostles,” the appeal states.

“Concerned about this sad situation, we Pastors of the Catholic Church and faithful laity committed to the defense of the Truth of the Faith, ask the Holy Father to take the necessary measures to put an end to these drifts of the German Synodal Path and, if necessary, to apply the appropriate canonical sanctions against the promoters of this tremendous deviation from both doctrine and communion with the Keys of Peter,” it adds.

The May 5 appeal is signed by Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, Kazakhstan Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Switzerland Bishop Marian Eleganti, 12 priests, including U.S. canon lawyer Fr. Gerald Murray, and more than 50 other laymen and women in the fields of law, teaching, and health. The appeal first appeared on Marco Tosatti’s blog Stilum Curiae.

The appeal lays out the main errors being promoted by the Synodal Path, largely involving a departure from the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexual morality.

“The errors being spread include the declared attack on the Priesthood, both by means of the effort to abolish ecclesiastical celibacy as well as imposing the ordination of women, and also the declared attack on Marriage, intentionally attacking the indissoluble union between a man and a woman and imposing and equating sodomitic unions with the love that Our Lord Jesus Christ has elevated to the dignity of a Sacrament,” the appeal states.

The signers of the appeal point out that the Synodal Path has departed from the Church’s teaching, as stated by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, that the “matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring.”

As evidence of this departure from Church teaching on marriage, the appeal signers point to the fact that hundreds of German clergy, with support from various bishops, are planning to bless homosexual couples on May 10 in defiance of the Church’s ban on such blessings that was reiterated in March by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). In its March 15 declaration, the CDF made it clear that “it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex,” stating that God “does not and cannot bless sin.”

The signers of the appeal note that the Synodal Path along with events such as blessings for homosexual couples makes it clear that the Church in Germany is “daily tending” towards “declared schism and heresy.” Schism is defined in Canon Law as the “refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.” The appeal signers point out that clergy who bless homosexual couples incur “excommunication latae sententiae” on themselves for their actions.

Fr. Gero Weishaupt, a canon lawyer and a tribunal judge of the Diocese of Cologne, told kath.net in a May 3 interview — which was translated into English by Catholic World Report — that bishops who permit blessings for homosexual couples to be performed in their dioceses, or who encourage them, or who even merely tolerate such blessings engage in an act of outright “disobedience to the Pope” for which there are immediate “canonical consequences.”

“With this disobedience, the bishop breaks the oath of fidelity that he swore when he took office. Besides this promise of fidelity to the Pope, the bishop promises thereby to protect the unity of the Universal Church and hence to make every effort ‘to preserve pure and unchanged the faith that has been handed down by the Apostles.’ Therefore he is ‘obliged to promote the common order of the whole Church and therefore to insist that all ecclesiastical laws be obeyed,’” Weishaupt said.

“The disobedience manifested by the refusal to carry out the papal responsum [that banned blessing for homosexuals] therefore disrupts unity with the Pope. It is a schismatic act, of course with an underlying heresy, inasmuch as the blessing of homosexual relationships expresses at the very least the view that besides marriage between a man and a woman there can be other relationships ordered to sexual union,” he added.

Such disobedience results in the bishop’s “excommunication automatically, as a latae sententiae penalty, i.e. it occurs as soon as a bishop publicly supports the blessing of homosexual unions, by that very fact.”

“Such a latae sententiae penalty would have to be declared by the Pope through a decree, after an admonition, so that it could take effect canonically in the external forum,” he added.

Priests who perform such blessings are also automatically excommunicated, said Weishaupt. If dissenting bishops refuse to carry out their duty by excommunicating such a priest, the laity must bring their complaint to the Apostolic Nuncio, or directly to the Pope, or to a Roman dicastery, such as the Congregation for the Faith, or the Congregation for Bishops, or the Congregation for Clergy, he added.

The signers of the appeal to the Pope conclude with a call for Catholics around the world to make May 10 a day of “prayer and reparation for all the offenses and sacrilegious actions committed by the deviant Pastors of the German Church.”

They ask laity to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart on that day and to offer their Communions in reparation for sin. They ask priests to offer the Holy Mass on that day specifically for the remission of sins.

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  Digital Dollar Project to launch five U.S. central bank digital currency pilots
Posted by: Stone - 05-07-2021, 06:28 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

Digital Dollar Project to launch five U.S. central bank digital currency pilots

Reuters | May 33, 2021


The U.S. nonprofit Digital Dollar Project said on Monday it will launch five pilot programs over the next 12 months to test the potential uses of a U.S. central bank digital currency, the first effort of its kind in the United States.

The private-sector pilots initially will be funded by Accenture Plc (ACN.N) and involve financial firms, retailers and NGOs, among others. The aim is to generate data that could help U.S. policymakers develop a digital dollar.

A partnership between Accenture and the Digital Dollar Foundation, the Digital Dollar Project was created last year to promote research into a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC).

"There are conferences and papers coming out every week around the world on CBDCs based on data from other countries," said Christopher Giancarlo, former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and co-founder of the Digital Dollar Foundation.

"What there is not, is any real data and testing from the United States to inform that debate. We're seeking to generate that real-world data," Giancarlo added.

CBDCs are the digital equivalent of banknotes and coins, giving holders a direct digital claim on the central bank and allowing them to make instant electronic payments.

While debit cards or payment apps are a form of digital cash, those transactions are created by commercial banks based on money central banks credit to those banks' accounts. They are not fully government-backed, can take days to settle, and often incur fees. Cryptocurrencies, meanwhile, are controlled by private actors.

Central banks around the world, including in China and Europe, are revving up CBDC projects to fend off threats from cryptocurrencies and improve payment systems.

As guardian of the world’s most widely used currency, the U.S. Federal Reserve is moving more cautiously. It is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to build a technology platform for a hypothetical digital dollar, but chair Jerome Powell said last week that it is “far more important” to get a digital dollar right than it is to be fast.

Giancarlo said Powell was correct to be cautious but that as China pushes ahead, the United States must drive a discussion on incorporating U.S. values such as privacy and freedom of commerce and speech into the development of CBDCs.

"It's vital that the U.S. asserts leadership as it has in previous technological innovations," Giancarlo added.

A digital dollar could also boost financial inclusion in the United States, where transaction fees impede the access of many Americans to mainstream financial services, Giancarlo said.

The pilot programs, three of which will launch in the next two months, will complement the Fed's MIT project by generating data on the functional, sociological, business uses, benefits and other facets, of a digital dollar. The data is due to be released publicly.

Accenture has worked on a number of CBDC projects including in Canada, Singapore and France.

David Treat, a senior managing director at Accenture, said CBDCs would exist alongside other forms of physical and electronic money, rather than replace them.

“It’s not a panacea for all money,” Treat said. “We will be using physical cash and coin for some time.”

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  Pfizer plans to file for full FDA approval of Covid vaccine at the end of May 2021
Posted by: Stone - 05-07-2021, 06:23 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines - No Replies

Pfizer plans to file for full FDA approval of Covid vaccine at the end of this month


CNBC | May 4, 2021


Pfizer said Tuesday it plans to file for full U.S. approval of its Covid-19 vaccine with German drugmaker BioNTech at the end of this month. If the FDA signs off, the company will be able to market the shot directly to consumers.

In its earnings report, Pfizer said first-quarter sales of its Covid-19 vaccine was $3.5 billion, roughly 24% of its revenue for the quarter. Its profit and revenue beat Wall Street’s expectations.

Here’s how Pfizer did compared with what Wall Street expected, according to average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:

Adjusted EPS: 93 cents per share vs. 77 cents expected
Revenue: $14.58 billion vs. $13.51 billion expected

The company now expects full-year sales of $26 billion from the vaccine, up from its previous forecast of about $15 billion. It expects an adjusted pretax profit in the high 20% range of revenue for the vaccine.

Shares of Pfizer rose 1.3% in premarket trading.

“Based on what we’ve seen, we believe that a durable demand for our Covid-19 vaccine, similar to that of the flu vaccines, is a likely outcome,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told investors on an earnings call.

Revenue from Pfizer’s oncology, internal medicine, hospital and rare disease units rose by double digits during the quarter, according to the earnings report. The company’s inflammation and immunology unit generated about $1 billion in sales, a 9% increase from a year earlier.

Pfizer reported double-digit growth in sales for many of its cancer drugs, including Inlyta, Bosulif and Lorbrena.

The company received U.S. authorization of its Covid vaccine in late December. Since then, Pfizer has distributed millions of doses to the U.S., with the goal of delivering 300 million doses by the end of July.

During an earnings call, Bourla addressed a recent slow down in the pace of vaccinations in the U.S.

He said it is “normal” as more people get vaccinated and the people leftover are those reluctant to get the shots. He expects an increase in vaccinations once the FDA authorizes the shots for kids ages 12 to 15, which is expected to happen this month.

Usually, it takes the Food and Drug Administration nearly a year or longer to determine whether a drug is safe and effective for use in the general public. Due to the once-in-a-century pandemic, which has killed nearly 600,000 people in the United States, the FDA permitted the use of the shots under an Emergency Use Authorization.

The authorization grants conditional approval based on two months of data. It’s not the same as a Biologic License Application, which requires six months of data and secures full approval.

The company also said it expects to apply for an EUA for a booster shot that could protect against Covid variants during the second half of July, according to a slide presentation that accompanied the company’s earnings release. It expects to apply for authorization for its vaccine for use in toddlers and younger children in September and infants in November.

It also expects vaccine safety data for pregnant women in late July.

On April 1, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that new data from their clinical trial showed their two-dose vaccine was safe and more than 91% effective six months after the second dose. At the time, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the new data positions the companies “to submit a Biologics License Application to the U.S. FDA.”

If the vaccine is fully approved, it sets the stage for Pfizer and BioNTech to begin advertising the shots directly to consumers and change its pricing. It also allows the shot to stay on the market once the pandemic is over and the U.S. is no longer considered in an “emergency.”

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  May 7th - St. Stanislaus
Posted by: Stone - 05-07-2021, 06:18 AM - Forum: May - No Replies

May 7 – St Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

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The 11th Century—the Century of contest between the Priests of the Church and Barbarism—deputes today another Martyr to our Risen Jesus. It is Stanislaus, loved by noble Poland as one of her chief protectors. He was slain at the Altar by a Christian Prince whom he had reproved for his crimes. The blood of the courageous Pontiff was mingles, and in the same sacrifice, with that of our Redeemer. What an invincible energy there is in these Lambs whom Jesus has sent amidst the wolves! They seem to be changes, all at once, into Lions, like Jesus himself was, at his Resurrection. There is not a Century that has not had its Martyrs: some for the Faith, others for the unity of the Church, others for her Liberty, others for Justice, others for Charity, and others, like our great Saint of today, for the maintenance of Morals. The 19th Century, too, has had its Martyrs; scarcely a year elapses without our hearing of some that have been added to the bright list in the far East; and who knows but what there will be Martyrs even in Europe before the remaining thirty years have transpired? At the commencement of last Century, there was little probability of its providing such an abundant harvest of Martyrdom as it did. Of one thing we are quite sure: whatever persecutions may arise, the Spirit of Fortitude will not be wanting to the Champions of Truth. Martyrdom is one of the Church’s characteristics, and it has never failed her. The Apostles who are clinging to Jesus during these days preceding his Ascension drank the Chalice which he drank; and only yesterday, we were honoring the favorite disciple’s martyrdom—yes, even he had to tread the path prepared for all.

Holy Church tells us, in the account we now subjoin, how the saintly Bishop of Cracow was offered the glorious Chalice, and how courageously he accepted it.

Quote:Stanislaus was born at Cracow in Poland. His parents (who were of a noble family), after being thirty years without children, obtained him from God by prayer. He gave promise, even from his infancy, of future sanctity. While young, he applied hard to study, and made great progress in Canon Law and Theology. After the death of his parents, he wished to embrace the monastic life, and therefore distributed his rich fortune among the poor. But divine Providence willing otherwise, he was made a Canon and Preacher of the Cathedral of Cracow, by Bishop Lampert, whose successor he afterwards became. In the duties thus imposed upon him, he shone in every pastoral virtue, especially in that of charity to the poor.

Boleslaus was the then King of Poland. The Saint incurred his grave displeasure for having publicly reprimanded his notorious immorality. Wherefore in a solemn meeting of the grandees of his kingdom, the King summoned him to appear in judgment, to answer the accusation of his having appropriated to himself some land purchased in the name of his Cathedral. The bishop not being able to produce the deeds of sale, and the witnesses being afraid to speak the truth, he promised to bring before the court within three days the seller of the land, by name Peter, who had died three years previously. His proposition excited laughter, but was accepted. For three days did the man of God apply himself to fasting and prayer; and, on the day appointed, after offering up the sacrifice of the Mass, he commanded Peter to rise from his grave, who, there and then, returned to life, and followed the Bishop to the King’s tribunal. There, to the bewilderment of the King and the audience, he gave his testimony regarding the sale of the land, and the price duly paid him by the Bishop. This done, he again slept in the Lord.

After several times admonishing Boleslaus, but all to no purpose, Stanislaus separated him from communion with the Faithful. Maddened with anger, the King sent soldiers into the Church, that they might put the holy Bishop to death. They thrice endeavored to do so, but were, each time, repelled by the hidden power of God. The impious King himself then went; and finding the Priest of God offering the unspotted Victim at the Altar, he beheaded him with his own hand. The corpse was then cut in pieces and thrown into a field; but it was miraculously defended from wild beasts by eagles. During the night, the Canons of Cracow, aided by a heavenly light, collected the scattered members, and having placed them in their natural position, they found that they were immediately joined to each other, so as that not a single mark of a wound was traceable. God manifested the sanctity of his servant by many other miracles, which occurred after his death, and which induced Pope Innocent the Fourth to proceed to his Canonization.

Thou wast powerful in word and work, O Stanislaus! and our Lord rewarded thee with a Martyr’s crown. From thy throne of glory, cast a look of pity upon us; obtain for us from God that gift of fortitude, which was so prominent in thee, and which we so much need in order to surmount the obstacles which impede our progress. Our Risen Lord must have no cowards among his soldiers. The Kingdom, into which he is about to enter—he took it by assault; and he tells us plainly that if we would follow him thither, we must prepare to use violence. Brave soldier of the living God! get us brave hearts. We need them for our combat—whether that be one of open violence for the Faith or Unity of the Church, or one which is to be fought with the invisible enemies of our salvation. Thou wast indeed a good shepherd, for the presence of the world neither made thee flee nor fear—ask our Heavenly Father to send us Shepherds like thee. Succor Holy Church, for she has to contend with enemies in every part of the world. Convert her persecutors, as thou convertedst Boleslaus; he was thy murderer, but thy Martyrdom won mercy for him. Remember thy dear Poland, which honors thee with such fervent devotion. Break the iron yoke that has so long crushed her. Yes—it is time for her to regain her rank among nations. During the severe trials, which her sins have drawn down upon her, she has maintained the sacred link of Catholic Faith and Unity; she has been patient and faithful; as our Risen Jesus to have pity on her, and reward her patience and fidelity. May he mercifully grant her a share in his Resurrection—that day will be one of joy for the whole Christian world, and a new Canticle will be sung throughout the earth, to the Lord our God.

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