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| Archbishop Viganò: Sermon for the Feast of the Epiphany |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-06-2024, 06:49 PM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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REPLEBITUR MAJESTATE EJUS OMNIS TERRA
Homily on the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord
![[Image: IMG_4027.jpeg]](https://exsurgedomine.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IMG_4027.jpeg)
Ecce advenit Dominator Dominus: et regnum in manu ejus, et potestas, et imperium. Mal 3: 1; 1 Par 29: 12
In today’s Feast we celebrate the Mystery of the Epiphany of Our Lord, that is, the three-fold miraculous Manifestation of His Divinity:
Tribus miraculis ornatum diem sanctum colimus:
hodie stella magos duxit ad præsepium;
hodie vinum ex aqua factum est ad nuptias;
hodie in Jordane a Joanne Christus baptizari voluit,
ut salvaret nos, alleluja (Antiphona ad Magnificat).
Three mysteries mark this holy day:
today the star leads the Magi to the infant Christ;
today water is changed into wine for the wedding feast;
today Christ wills to be baptized by John in the river Jordan
to bring us salvation, alleluia.
Let us therefore contemplate the adoration of the Magi, the miracle of the water changed into wine at the wedding in Cana, and the Baptism in the Jordan.
On the Holy Night of Christmas, the Angels called the shepherds to prostrate themselves before the Word made flesh; on the Epiphany it is the entire human race and indeed all created things that bow to the living and true God and offers Him their tribute: et procidentes adoraverunt eum. The wise men who came from the East open their coffers and give Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh: the gold of Kingship, the frankincense of Priesthood, the myrrh of Sacrifice.
This celebration, with the quiet serenity with which the Lord operates, overlaps and replaces that which on the sixth day of the first month of the Roman calendar was dedicated to the celebration of the triple triumph of Augustus, to the pax augustea, paying the tribute of public divine honors to the immortal Emperor. For this reason the Church of Rome considers the adoration of the Magi with greater attention, seeing in them the first institutional witnesses of that universal Kingship that Providence wanted to radiate into the world from the capital of civilization, postponing the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord to the second Sunday after the Epiphany.
It will not have escaped your notice that it is Mary Most Holy, the Throne of Divine Wisdom, who welcomes all the members of that court as Mother and Queen; it is She who presents the Son to the adorations of the earth and to the pleasures of heaven. God manifests himself to men in his greatness, but he does so through Mary, bridging in the Incarnation by means of the Divine Maternity of the Virgin the sidereal distance between the Eternal Word of the Father and fallen humanity.
But if Julian the Apostate and the Emperor Valens, even though they were enemies of the Church and heretics, did not dare to avoid paying tribute to the divine King, it was all the more desired and encouraged by Theodosius, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, Stephen of Hungary, Edward the Confessor, Emperor Henry II, Ferdinand of Castile and Louis IX of France, who had well understood how their earthly authority could not ignore the Supreme Lordship of the King of kings, nor the submission of civil power to the holy Law of God. That divine order, that perfect κόσμος which realizes the Lord’s prayer – adveniat regnum tuum, sicut in cœlo et in terra – has been shattered by the infernal χάος of the Revolution, by the Luciferian cry of Non serviam.
However, we do not celebrate a remote and illusory hope, a chimera of peace yet to come in a world from which Jesus Christ has been banished. We celebrate the present and eternal reality of the victory of Christ, the only Light of salvation of the world, knowing that all the peoples and kings of the earth will adore the Savior and recognize Him as their God, King, and Lord. The prophecies of the Old Testament leave us in no doubt: et adorabunt eum omnes reges terræ: omnes gentes servient ei, says the Psalm (Ps 72:11). Adorabunt, dominabitur, liberabit, benedicent: they are all verbs in the future tense, indicating a very certain and unfailing destiny, an ontological necessity, which no rebellion – angelic or human – can prevent from being realized.
When we see today the last steps towards the abyss of apostasy and the abyss of satanic revolt taking place before our eyes, we must remember the inevitability of the triumph of Christ and the eternal defeat of Satan, precisely in the light of the ancient prophecies and the words of Savior: Confide: Ego vici mundum (Jn 16:33). Christ has won. He defeated all the tyrants who throughout history believed they could fight the Church, and all of Scripture celebrates this victory by alternating human despondency at the momentary success of the enemy with the confident joy of the universal triumph of God.
Before him the inhabitants of the desert shall fall,
his foes shall lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and the islands shall bring offerings,
the kings of the Arabs and of Saba shall offer tribute.
To him all the kings shall fall prostrate,
all the nations shall serve him. (Ps 72: 9-11).
This is not merely a wish or a pious desire: it is the announcement of a reality already taking place in the Eternity of God, and which must simply now be fulfilled in time, allowing us to deserve by the act of faith and the sanctity of our lives to participate in the glory of Christ’s victory. This is what we ask in the prayer of the Mass: ut, qui jam te ex fide cognovimus, usque ad contemplandam speciem tuæ celsitudinis perducamur – so that we who now have known you through faith, may come to contemplate the splendor of your majesty.
We, jam cognovimus, have already known the Lord by offering Him in the act of faith the tribute of our will and intellect. Others will know the Lord when he returns in glory iudicare vivos et mortuos, and they will know him in the fury of his justice, in the restoration of the broken order:
He shall free the poor man who cried out and the needy man who finds no help,
he will have pity on the weak and save the life of his poor ones.
He will rescue them from violence and abuse,
their blood will be precious in his eyes (Ps 72: 12-14).
Just as during Advent we prepared for the celebration of Holy Christmas and the Epiphany, so in this epochal phase of the History of the human race we are called to prepare for the Final Coming of the Lord, knowing that he will free us, have mercy on us, and save us, that he will redeem us from violence and abuse, and that humiliabit calumniatorem (Ps 72: 4) – he will humiliate the liar. And who is more of a liar than Satan and his servants, who is more false and deceiving than he who attempts to substitute the chimera of an impossible human peace for the pax christiana inaugurated by the Incarnation of the Son of God and ratified by Him on Golgotha by His Sacrifice of Himself to the Father? Who is more of a liar than he who distracts peoples from the Eternal Truth of Christ by the fraud of an earthly happiness made up of controls, violence, and heinous crimes against the weak and little ones?
Nolite timere pusillus grex, quia complacuit Patri vestro dare vobis regnum (Lk 12: 32). Do not be afraid, little flock, because it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you his kingdom: regnum veritatis et vitæ; regnum sanctitatis et gratiæ; regnum justitiæ, amoris et pacis (Præfatio Christi Regis). And so may it be.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
January 6, 2024
In Epiphania Domini
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| Pope Francis’ ‘transsexual’ baptisms document is even more radical than it seems |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-05-2024, 06:13 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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“What could be clearer? We must henceforth obey and be faithful to the Conciliar Church, no longer to the Catholic Church. Right there is our whole problem: we are suspended a divinis by the Conciliar Church, the Conciliar Church, to which we have no wish to belong! That Conciliar Church is a schismatic church because it breaks with the Catholic Church that has always been. It has its new dogmas, its new priesthood, its new institutions, its new worship… The Church that affirms such errors is at once schismatic and heretical. This Conciliar Church is, therefore, not Catholic. To whatever extent Pope, Bishops, priests, or the faithful adhere to this new church, they separate themselves from the Catholic Church.” (Archbishop Lefebvre, Reflections on his suspension a divinis, July 29, 1976)
† † †
Pope Francis’ ‘transsexual’ baptisms document is even more radical than it seems
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s approach to baptism departs from apostolic practice, passing over aspects of the Gospel that require change and sacrifice and leaving catechumens in error and sin.
![[Image: pope-fernand-e1702909925164.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/pope-fernand-e1702909925164.jpg)
Pope Francis/Cardinal Victor Fernández
Vatican News/Mazur/cbcew.org.uk
Fr. Timothy V. Vaverek [Priest of the Diocese of Austin since 1985]
Jan 4, 2024
(LifeSiteNews) — In November, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) formally responded to the question, “Can a transsexual be baptized?” Most commentary has focused on its implications for pastoral care in those circumstances. However, the Response has actually presented a new approach for administering the sacraments to anyone. That’s very troubling because the dicastery’s approach departs from apostolic practice and claims to explain Pope Francis’ vision.
The DDF affirmed that “a transsexual [sic]… can receive baptism, under the same conditions as other believers.” For an adult, those conditions (not enumerated in the Response) include repentance and acceptance of the faith and life of the Gospel. Let’s consider how those arise and affect the sacrament.
Beginning with the Apostles, the Church has elicited repentance and faith by proclaiming Christ and His Gospel. A process of pre-baptismal formation was developed to prepare would-be converts (“catechumens”) for sharing Jesus’ life. This often required significant changes of worldview and lifestyle. Sometimes it led to persecution.
The extent and gravity of those changes weren’t hidden from catechumens or treated as unendurable burdens. On the contrary, catechumens joyfully embraced them as the yoke and cross of Christ. This empowered them to live and die united to Jesus in the face of struggles and failures.
Despite formation, a catechumen might be baptized without knowing that certain of his actions and beliefs are contrary to the Gospel or while deliberately refusing to abandon them. Are such baptisms valid?
The Church teaches that the reception of baptism is invalid only when someone opposes it (this refusal might be hidden). That person remains unbaptized because God doesn’t impose his gifts.
If a catechumen is innocently in error, then his baptism is valid, he’s configured to Christ by receiving the baptismal “character,” and the Trinity comes to dwell in him, initiating the life of grace. However, his beliefs and behavior remain distorted until he recognizes and lives the truth of the Gospel.
If a catechumen deliberately refuses a particular Gospel teaching or repentance for a specific sin, the sacrament is nevertheless valid and he receives the baptismal character, but God doesn’t dwell in him. The life of grace can’t begin until he stops refusing because God won’t force him to accept the changes needed to share Christ’s life.
Striving to avoid such harmful outcomes, the Church insists that catechumens manifest their desire for baptism, receive sufficient instruction in faith and morals, be tested in the Christian life, and be admonished to repent (see canon 865).
The DDF doesn’t discuss all those canonical requirements or how one might particularly assist an individual who self-identifies as “transsexual” prepare for baptism. It merely states the general obligation of the Church, before and after baptism, to “remind [them] to fully live all the implications of baptism.”
The Response mentions in passing the possibility of doubts about a catechumen’s situation and considers the deliberate refusal to repent of sin (without addressing the refusal of Gospel teachings). It notes that even apart from grace, sacramental character “remains forever in the Christian as a positive disposition for grace [and] as a promise and guarantee of divine protection” (Catechism 1121).
The DDF also states that baptismal character is a cause “disposing one to accept grace” (misquoting St. Thomas Aquinas) and that God can initiate an “irrevocable covenant” with sinners. Apparently this is meant to foster the expectation that those who knowingly rejected the Gospel at their baptism will later accept it.
Most notably, the Response claims its reflections are the key to understanding Pope Francis’ statement that “the doors of the Sacraments should not be closed for any reason, [especially] Baptism.” (Recall that the Pope has also said Holy Communion and absolution shouldn’t be withheld.)
To summarize: the DDF proposes that baptism (or any other sacrament) shouldn’t be withheld from those desiring it, even if the minister knows or reasonably believes that the person deliberately rejects elements of the faith and life of the Gospel. Seemingly, God will resolve the situation later.
There are grave problems with this.
First, baptismal character and God’s covenant are irrevocable but don’t guarantee entrance into Heaven. To expect otherwise would be sinfully presumptuous because God won’t force fidelity on anyone.
Second, Aquinas didn’t describe character as a “cause disposing one to accept grace” but as a “cause disposing to grace.” For Thomas, this “disposition” is a configuration to Christ that fits (we might say “orients”) a person to life and worship as a member of His Body. It’s not a psychological “disposition” or motivation leading one to accept grace: “character is not imprinted for preparing man’s will [to act well]” (I Sent IV, 4, 3, 2, 1).
Third, conferring baptism based on desire alone departs from apostolic practice by ignoring the need for repentance and belief. That desire must lead to a well-formed affirmation that the catechumen accepts the Gospel proclaimed by the Church and intends to live by it.
Fourth, those who culpably reject repentance or Jesus’ teachings commit sacrilege and presumption by accepting baptism (or any other sacrament), as do the clergy who intentionally or negligently enable them. The Church must help them avoid these sins.
Catechumens, including self-identified “transsexuals,” have a divine right to authentic Christian formation prior to baptism. This corresponds to the duty Christ imposed on the Church to teach His disciples “to observe all that I have commanded.” Therefore, priests and catechists must compassionately question and confront indications of a catechumen’s incorrect beliefs and behavior, even those they hold dearest.
Relying on desire alone or adopting a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach that passes over aspects of the Gospel that require change and sacrifice leaves catechumens in error and sin, ensnared by the ways of the world. That’s a false “wisdom” that empties the Cross of its liberating and life-changing power (I Cor 1:7).
Those who deliberately reject elements of Christian faith and life must be accompanied patiently but baptized only when they know and desire to accept the faith and life of the Gospel. That’s the all-inclusive, apostolic approach—and the only one that works.
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| Health Canada admits ‘plasmid DNA’ is in COVID shots but claims levels are within allowable limit |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-05-2024, 06:06 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
- No Replies
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Health Canada admits ‘plasmid DNA’ is in COVID shots but claims levels are within allowable limit
A prominent microbiologist argued that the amount of DNA in the COVID shots was as much as 18 to 70 times higher than the limits set by some regulatory agencies.
![[Image: Shutterstock_1079988023.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Shutterstock_1079988023.jpg)
Shutterstock
Jan 4, 2024
OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Officials from Health Canada have admitted that there is “residual plasmid DNA” in the COVID shots after a Conservative MP asked the agency through an official information request if the DNA fragments were in the shots.
As per a recent Epoch Times report, a December 17 Inquiry of Ministry response from Health Canada to Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) MP Colin Carrie, who wanted to know more about what was in the shots, says that the agency claims the shots are safe despite the presence of plasmid DNA fragments.
Health Canada claims that the amounts are within the limits set by the World Health Organization after Carrie had asked about the “amount of acceptable residual DNA per vaccine dose and the method used to measure it.”
Health Canada responded to Carrie’s question by admitting that it is aware of the presence of “residual plasmid DNA” in the COVID shots but claimed this number is below a limit of 10 nanograms per human dose.
Kevin McKernan, a microbiologist and former researcher and team leader for the MIT Human Genome project, and Dr. Phillip J. Buckhaults, a professor of cancer genomics and director of the Cancer Genetics Lab at the University of South Carolina, earlier revealed that there is plasmid DNA in the COVID shots. Plasmid DNA is used in the manufacturing of mRNA jabs.
McKernan and Buckhaults had also raised in a public manner how cancer-linked Polyomavirus Simian Virus 40 (SV40) DNA was found in the Pfizer COVID shot.
According to McKernan, the amount of DNA in the COVID shots was as much as 18 to 70 times higher than the limits that were set by some regulatory agencies.
Carrie also asked Health Canada to let Canadians know about the “adulteration of these products” through the presence of the SV40 DNA to make sure there was “fully informed consent” before taking the jab.
The agency responded by claiming that “In the manufacture of any vaccine, it is expected that there may be variabilities or residual elements that are part of the standard manufacturing process.”
Regarding the presence of SV40 in the Pfizer COVID shot, LifeSiteNews recently reported how the agency admitted it was present but claimed the DNA in the shot is “inactive” with “no functional role” and that the jabs are not a form of gene therapy.
However, a study published in December by the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences found while looking at the genomes in the blood cells of humans injected with the mRNA COVID jab that DNA had been altered with the genetic code of the shots.
SV40 in vaccines has been linked to the spread of turbo cancers in those who have been exposed to the virus via contaminated injections. According to a 2002 study published in the Lancet, there is evidence that links the older polio vaccines, which were filed with SV40 contaminants, to certain forms of cancer.
Polio vaccines from the late 1950s to the early 1960s were contaminated with SV40 after it was discovered that the virus was present in the monkey kidney cells, which vaccine makers used to grow the shots.
The authors of the 2002 study claim that the SV40-contaminated polio vaccine may have caused up to half of the 55,000 cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosed each year.
SV40, or the simian (monkey) virus as it is known, according to Dr. Maurice Hilleman, who is a late vaccine developer, was put in the polio vaccine and then into wide circulation by Merck inadvertently.
It has never been clear, Mercola noted, whether SV40 has been completely removed from polio vaccines since, however, it is known that contaminated jabs were in circulation in Italy as late as 1999.
Despite the health risks associated with the COVID shots, governments across Canada all enacted strict rules, including workplace jab mandates.
As a result, many Canadians who chose not to get the shots lost their job. However, many of them are fighting back.
Late last year, LifeSiteNews reported that over 700 vaccine-free Canadians negatively affected by federal COVID jab dictates have banded together to file a multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit against the federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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| The Papal-Coronation Oath |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-05-2024, 05:44 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
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The Papal-Coronation Oath
Taken from here.
![[Image: secondtry-e1704054118630.jpg]](https://www.padreperegrino.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/secondtry-e1704054118630.jpg)
The following is the Coronation-Oath made by most or all Pope-Elects from at least 678 AD until the 1960s (when it was eradicated.) Notice what old-school Popes used to call down upon themselves, should they divert from Jesus Christ’s teaching as given to the Apostles:
“I vow to change nothing of the received Tradition, and nothing thereof I have found before me guarded by my God-pleasing predecessors, to encroach upon, to alter, or to permit any innovation therein;
“To the contrary: with glowing affection as her truly faithful student and successor, to safeguard reverently the passed-on good, with my whole strength and utmost effort; To cleanse all that is in contradiction to the canonical order, should such appear; to guard the Holy Canons and Decrees of our Popes as if they were the divine ordinance of Heaven, because I am conscious of Thee, whose place I take through the Grace of God, whose Vicarship I possess with Thy support, being subject to severest accounting before Thy Divine Tribunal over all that I shall confess;
“I swear to God Almighty and the Savior Jesus Christ that I will keep whatever has been revealed through Christ and His Successors and whatever the first councils and my predecessors have defined and declared.
“I will keep without sacrifice to itself the discipline and the rite of the Church. I will put outside the Church whoever dares to go against this oath, may it be somebody else or I.
“If I should undertake to act in anything of contrary sense, or should permit that it will be executed, Thou willst not be merciful to me on the dreadful Day of Divine Justice.
“Accordingly, without exclusion, We subject to severest excommunication anyone — be it Ourselves or be it another — who would dare to undertake anything new in contradiction to this constituted evangelic Tradition and the purity of the orthodox Faith and the Christian religion, or would seek to change anything by his opposing efforts, or would agree with those who undertake such a blasphemous venture.”
[The papal coronation oath was not said by Popes John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, or Francis. This Oath was said by every pope since the year 678, beginning with Pope Saint Agatho. - The Catacombs]
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| Cardinal Fernández: Bishops banned from ‘total or definitive denial’ of Fiducia Supplicans |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-04-2024, 01:55 PM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Cardinal Fernández: Bishops banned from ‘total or definitive denial’ of Fiducia Supplicans
Cdl. Fernández's response comes after numerous bishops and bishops' conferences across the globe expressed official rejection of Fiducia Supplicans' call for same-sex blessings.
![[Image: fernandez-2.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/fernandez-2.jpg)
Victor Cardinal Fernández speaking to media, September 30, 2023.
Michael Haynes/LifeSiteNews
Thu Jan 4, 2024
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Victor Fernández has released a press statement intended to “clarify” his Fiducia Supplicans text which allowed blessings of same-sex couples, in an attempt to limit the widespread opposition from bishops to such blessings, while also warning that there “is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally” from Fiducia Supplicans.
Issued January 4, Cardinal Fernández’s press release was an attempt “to help clarify the reception of Fiducia Supplicans, while recommending at the same time a full and calm reading of the Declaration so as to better understand its meaning and purpose.”
Fiducia Supplicans was released December 18, 2023 and allowed “blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex,” while adding that the Church’s teaching on marriage between one man and one woman remained unchanged.
Its unannounced arrival caused a storm in the Church, which large numbers of bishops and bishops’ conferences around the world expressing outrage and opposition to the text, with such rejection of the document being particularly strong across Africa.
Referencing these reactions, though without naming any in particular, Fernández wrote how “the understandable statements of some Episcopal Conferences regarding the document Fiducia Supplicans have the value of highlighting the need for a more extended period of pastoral reflection.”
He argued – seemingly against undeniable evidence – that the responses from bishops’ conferences “cannot be interpreted as doctrinal opposition, because the document is clear and definitive about marriage and sexuality.”
Quoting from his own introduction to Fiducia Supplicans, along with paragraphs 4, 5, and 11 – which presented Church teaching on marriage – Fernández argued that “evidently, there is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally from this declaration or to consider it heretical, contrary to the Tradition of the Church or blasphemous.”
Bishops’ rejection of blessings
Opposition to Fiducia Supplicans has not been due to its pronouncements on the nature of marriage, however, with bishops welcoming how the text outlines the true teaching of the sacrament. Rather opposition was aimed at the blessings being offered to same-sex couples.
The new prefect of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) admitted that “some bishops however, express themselves in particular regarding a practical aspect: the possible blessings of couples in irregular situations.”
Fiducia Supplicans section 31 reads clearly that:
Quote:Within the horizon outlined here is the possibility of blessings of couples in irregular situations and of same-sex couples, the form of which should not find any ritual fixation on the part of ecclesial authorities, in order not to produce confusion with the blessing proper to the sacrament of marriage.
Fernández argued that this was calling for blessings of people who are together, but not of their unions per se: “the Declaration contains a proposal for short and simple pastoral blessings (neither liturgical nor ritualised) of couples in irregular situations (but not of their unions), underlining that these are blessings without a liturgical format which neither approve nor justify the situation in which these people find themselves.”
Writing that different dioceses will take different times to implement Fiducia Supplicans “depending on local contexts and the discernment of each diocesan Bishop with his Diocese,” and that each bishop has authority of his own diocese, Fernández nevertheless prohibited bishops banning priests from acting in line with Fiducia Supplicans:
Quote:Prudence and attention to the ecclesial context and to the local culture could allow for different methods of application, but not a total or definitive denial of this path that is proposed to priests.
Veiled warning to Africa
The response form Africa’s various bishops’ conference has been notably strong, with numerous bishops warning against any blessings of same-sex couples.
Cameroon’s bishops issued a statement of nearly unmatched forthrightness in which the bishops declared “we formally forbid all blessing of ‘homosexual couples’ in the Church of Cameroon.” Contrary to many liberal societies in the West, homosexuality is not a societally accepted behavior throughout much of Africa, which was an aspect highlighted by a number of bishops on the continent in their respective responses.
Fernández, while noting the differing laws prohibiting homosexuality, warned against any opposition to Fiducia Supplicans even in principle. “It remains vital that these Episcopal Conferences do not support a doctrine different from that of the Declaration signed by the Pope, given that it is perennial doctrine, but rather that they recommend the need for study and discernment so as to act with pastoral prudence in such a context,” he wrote.
In countries where homosexuality is illegal, Fernández called on local bishops not to re-iterate the church’s own condemnation of homosexual actions, but to focus on the “great and wide-ranging pastoral responsibility that includes training, the defense of human dignity, the teaching of the Social Doctrine of the Church and various strategies that do not admit of a rushed response.”
Liturgical or pastoral?
A key debate which has raged since the emergence of Fernández’s December 18 text is the question of the blessing itself. Fernández argued at the time that blessings for same-sex couples were “pastoral,” while numerous bishops argued that such an attempted differentiation for a blessing of such a couple was mere equivocation.
Nevertheless, Fernández has re-iterated his position in his January 4 press release:
Quote:The real novelty of this Declaration, the one that requires a generous effort of reception and from which no one should declare themselves excluded, is not the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations.
It is the invitation to distinguish between two different forms of blessings: “liturgical or ritualized” and “spontaneous or pastoral.” The Presentation clearly explains that “the value of this document […] is that it offers a specific and innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings, permitting a broadening and enrichment of the classical understanding of blessings, which is closely linked to a liturgical perspective.”
This “theological reflection, based on the pastoral vision of Pope Francis, implies a real development from what has been said about blessings in the Magisterium and the official texts of the Church,” he added.
He argued that the “central theme” of Fiducia Supplicans “which invites us especially to a deeper pastoral practice which enriches our pastoral praxis, is to have a broader understanding of blessings and of the proposal that these pastoral blessings, which do not require the same conditions as blessings in a liturgical or ritual context, flourish.”
As such, he called on the entire Church to change its understanding of blessings:
Quote:Although some Bishops consider it prudent not to impart these blessings for the moment, we all need to grow equally in the conviction that: non-ritualized blessings are not a consecration of the person nor of the couple who receives them, they are not a justification of all their actions, and they are not an endorsement of the life that they lead. When the Pope asked us to grow in a broader understanding of pastoral blessings, he proposed that we think of a way of blessing that does not require the placing of so many conditions to carry out this simple gesture of pastoral closeness, which is a means of promoting openness to God in the midst of the most diverse circumstances.
’15 second’ blessings
Offering concrete guidance on how a blessing for a same-sex couple might take place, Fernández suggested a formula for priests to use, despite his previous statement that such blessings much be “spontaneous” and not formalized:
Quote:“Lord, look at these children of yours, grant them health, work, peace and mutual help. Free them from everything that contradicts your Gospel and allow them to live according to your will. Amen.” Then it concludes with the sign of the cross on each of the two persons.
He stated that such blessings would be a request to God “for peace, health and other good things,” along with the request by the one giving the blessing for the couple to “live the Gospel of Christ in full fidelity and so that the Holy Spirit can free these two people from everything that does not correspond to his divine will and from everything that requires purification.”
READ: EXCLUSIVE: Cardinal Fernández says blessings are for ‘every’ person in ‘every situation’
“We are talking about something that lasts about 10 or 15 seconds,” he said. “Does it make sense to deny these kinds of blessings to these two people who ask for them?”
Closing, Cdl. Fernández stipulated that “we will all have to become accustomed to accepting the fact that, if a priest gives this type of simple blessings [sic], he is not a heretic, he is not ratifying anything nor is he denying Catholic doctrine.”
Today’s press statement comes after FS stated there would be “no further responses…about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type,” on the matter of same-sex blessings.
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| Latin Mass suppressed in New Haven, Connecticut |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-04-2024, 05:41 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
- Replies (1)
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Latin Mass suppressed in New Haven, Connecticut
Local pastors decided to end a Latin Mass near Yale University, held for almost four decades by a society credited with promoting the TLM all over the East Coast.
![[Image: Latin-Mass-New-Haven.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Latin-Mass-New-Haven.jpg)
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Jan 3, 2024
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (LifeSiteNews) — The sole Latin Mass in New Haven, Connecticut, provided by the historic St. Gregory Society, will be canceled as of January 14, thereby tentatively ending the society.
A representative of the Archdiocese of Hartford shared with LifeSiteNews on Wednesday that Archbishop Leonard Blair approved the decision of Fr. Sebastian Kos, administrator of the Latin Mass’ host church, St. Stanislaus, and Fr. Ryan Lerner, pastor of St. Stanislaus’ parish church, Blessed Michael McGivney, to discontinue the Latin Mass.
Archbishop Blair wrote to Fr. Kos and Fr. Lerner on Dec. 19 referencing their joint Dec. 11 decision, explaining, “Given the declining number of attendees, most of whom are not members of the parish, and the challenges of finding a qualified celebrant, not to mention the restrictions placed on such celebrations by the Holy See, I fully concur with the decision that has been made.”
The decision was originally announced December 31. A decree by Archbishop Blair was read “two minutes” before that Sunday’s Latin Mass.
Nicholas Renouf, co-founder of the St. Gregory Society, which has been providing for Latin Masses in New Haven since 1985, told LifeSiteNews he only learned of the decision when the announcement was made before Sunday’s Mass. Contrary to the claim in the archbishop’s letter, attendance at St. Stanislaus’ Latin Masses, while modest in size, has doubled at the church over the years, Renouf said.
He shared that the number of attendees has also been as high as 400 when the Latin Mass was offered at the larger nearby St. Mary’s at noon, widely seen as a more convenient time than 2 p.m., the current Latin Mass time at St. Stanislaus.
While the St. Gregory Society currently only imports visiting priests to offer the Latin Mass, the burden of inviting and hosting these priests remains with the lay members of the Society, Renouf explained. He added that Fr. Kos and Fr. Lerner only need to approve the priests by email.
In a Wednesday conversation with LifeSiteNews, Fr. Lerner affirmed the reasons for the decision stated in Archbishop Blair’s letter, explaining that scheduling priests for the Latin Mass has been “challenging,” and citing low attendance at the Mass.
“It’s spiritually healthy to be part of a parish, and we have a parish established for this about 30 minutes away,” he said, referring to a Latin Mass offered in Waterbury by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP), noted in Archbishop Blair’s Dec. 19 letter.
Asked whether the restrictions imposed on the Latin Mass by the Vatican played a part in his joint decision with Fr. Kos, Fr. Lerner replied, “Certainly we took that under consideration under obedience to the Holy Father and to our Archbishop.”
He pointed out, as did the diocesan representative, that Archbishop Blair established Latin Masses offered by the ICKSP in the area.
Renouf told LifeSiteNews he believes that the Vatican’s increasing restrictions on the Latin Mass are the ultimate impetus for the decision.
“I know why it’s done. They all want to align with what Francis wants, which is total suppression of [the Latin Mass],” Renouf said.
While a portion of Latin Mass attendees are expected to transfer to the ICKSP-run St. Patrick Parish in Waterbury, Renouf, who is 77 and suffering from health issues, told LifeSiteNews he will either attend another ICKSP Latin Mass in Bridgeport or “suffer” at a nearby Novus Ordo Mass, an option he described as a “penance.”
Renouf co-founded the St. Gregory Society with Britt Wheeler after Pope John Paul II issued the 1984 indult Quattuor abhinc annos, which “allowed” priests to offer the Latin Mass publicly under certain conditions, including the condition that they and “their respective faithful in no way share the positions of those who call in question the legitimacy and doctrinal exactitude of the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970.”
The indult also stipulated that such Latin Masses be offered “only for the benefit of those groups that request it” and “under the conditions fixed by the bishop.”
Renouf told LifeSiteNews that the Society was able to gather many signatures on the petition required to secure permission for the Mass from Archbishop John Whealon, including the signature of William F. Buckley Jr., a highly influential conservative writer and commentator and Yale graduate.
The Society soon went on to leave its mark not just in New Haven but in neighboring states and beyond, so much so that National Review writer Michael Brendan Dougherty called the New Haven Latin Mass “a source of artistic and liturgical renewal for the region.”
Renouf told LifeSiteNews that the Society’s Master of Ceremonies, William Riccio, has trained many priests in the Diocese of Bridgeport and that he travels the country arranging for “very special, solemn” Masses offered by prelates from Europe. Samuel Howard also recently attested that “many if not most of the servers and singers for the Latin Mass” in Connecticut and downstate NY” were trained either directly or indirectly by the St. Gregory Society.
In response to the decision to end the New Haven Latin Mass, the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny, which was formed after the 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, remarked, “The St. Gregory Society has played a historic role in the rediscovery of the celebration of the Traditional Mass with complete music and ceremony. The Society’s influence has been felt all over the East Coast of the United States and beyond.”
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, who grew up in New Haven, slammed the suppression of the city’s Latin Mass on X, commenting, “I suppose that making sure that impressionable Yale students don’t have a TLM of any kind within walking distance could be seen as an end unto itself.”
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| Requiem Mass in Philadelphia area - January 5, 2024 |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-30-2023, 06:15 AM - Forum: January 2024
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Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Requiem Mass for Joseph Blahut
Date: Friday, January 5, 2024
Time: Confessions - 9:30 AM
Holy Mass - 10:00
Location: Alloway Funeral Home
315 E. Maple Street
Merchantville, NJ 08109
Contact: 315-391-7575
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| A Christmas Poem by the English Martyr Fr. Robert Southwell |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-29-2023, 06:50 AM - Forum: Christmas
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Taken from here [slightly adapted].
Many people do not know that this illustrious English martyr, killed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, was also a poet. He was 33 years of age and had undergone severe torture ten times, and he said at his trial he would rather have endured ten executions. Finally he was executed – by hanging, drawing and quartering - for the treason of administering the Sacraments in England.
Many believe he had an influence on his contemporaries Thomas Nashe, Thomas Lodge, and William Shakespeare. Here is one of his beautiful Christmas poem.
A Child My Choice
by Robert Southwell
Let folly praise what fancy loves, I praise and love that Child
Whose heart no thought, whose tongue no word, whose hand no deed defiled.
I praise Him most, I love Him best, all praise and love is His;
While Him I love, in Him I live, and cannot live amiss.
Love’s sweetest mark, laud’s highest theme, man’s most desired light,
To love Him life, to leave Him death, to live in Him delight.
He mine by gift, I His by debt, thus each to other due;
First friend He was, best friend He is, all times will try Him true.
Though young, yet wise; though small, yet strong; though man, yet God He is:
As wise, He knows; as strong, He can; as God, He loves to bless.
His knowledge rules, His strength defends, His love doth cherish all;
His birth our joy, His life our light, His death our end of thrall.
Alas! He weeps, He sighs, He pants, yet do His angels sing;
Out of His tears, His sighs and throbs, doth bud a joyful spring.
Almighty Babe, whose tender arms can force all foes to fly,
Correct my faults, protect my life, direct me when I die!
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