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  ISIS claims deadly blast at Catholic Mass in southern Philippines
Posted by: Stone - 12-04-2023, 05:54 AM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence - No Replies

ISIS claims deadly blast at Catholic Mass in southern Philippines

[Image: f_webp]

Lanao Del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. stands among law enforcement officers as they investigate the scene of an explosion that occurred during a Catholic Mass in a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in Marawi, Philippines, December 3, 2023. Lanao Del Sur Provincial Government/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES


CNN | December 3, 2023

ISIS has claimed responsibility for a deadly explosion that ripped through a Catholic mass service at a university gym in the southern Philippines on Sunday.

At least four people were killed and dozens of others were injured in the blast at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, according to authorities.

In a communique, ISIS said its fighters “detonated an explosive device on a large gathering of Christian disbelievers in Marawi City,” according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a counterterrorism threat intelligence organization that tracks the online activity of extremist groups.

Photos of the scene showed soldiers and emergency workers standing among debris in the gym. A section of the seating area was blown up, chairs strewn across the floor.

Lanao del Sur province Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., told reporters more than 40 people were being treated at a government hospital in Marawi, while a number of others with minor injuries were treated at the university’s infirmary following the blast.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. condemned the attack in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Without naming any specific groups or elaborating further, he described the blast as “senseless and most heinous, perpetrated by foreign terrorists.”

“Extremists who wield violence against the innocent will always be regarded as enemies to our society,” he said, adding that additional security personnel had been deployed to assist in the response.

The United States condemned the “horrific terrorist attack” in a government statement.

“The United States is in close contact with our Philippine partners and stands with the people of the Philippines in rejecting this act of violence,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, is home to several Islamist insurgent groups and has long been a hotbed of insurgency against the Philippine government.

While the Philippines is mostly Catholic, Mindanao is home to a sizable Muslim population.

In 2017, ISIS-affiliated militants laid siege to Marawi for five months. The violence forced more than 350,000 residents to flee the city and the surrounding areas before Philippine forces liberated the city.

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  Bloc Québécois bill seeks to eliminate religious belief as a defense against ‘hate speech’
Posted by: Stone - 12-01-2023, 06:36 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

Bloc Québécois bill seeks to eliminate religious belief as a defense against ‘hate speech’
'This Bloc Quebecois bill is just a Trojan Horse to enable future pogroms against Christians and any religious believer from other faiths who publicly disagree with LGBT ideology,' reacted Campaign Life Coalition's Jack Fonseca.

[Image: Screenshot-2023-11-30-at-1.04.55-PM.png]

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet
cpac / YouTube

Nov 30, 2023
OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews - adapted: not all hyperlinks included) — The Bloc Québécois party is citing growing tensions in Canada as a reason to remove religion as a defense against “hate speech” charges in a newly tabled federal bill.

On November 28, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet tabled Bill C-367 which aims to eliminate the provisions for religion to be used as a defense against “hate speech” charges, alleging that the change is necessary given the rise in “antisemitic” attacks in Canada since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in early October.

“We can fear that these acts were encouraged by an exception in the Criminal Code,” Blanchet told the House of Commons.

The bill would amend “the Criminal Code to eliminate as a defense against wilful promotion of hatred or antisemitism the fact that a person, in good faith, expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to the bill saying, “We will be looking at my honorable colleague’s bill to see whether it can help combat hate and incitement of violence. This is a complex issue, but we are here to work constructively to protect Canadians.”

Jack Fonseca of Campaign Life Coalition told LifeSiteNews, “I fear this bill is not at all about protecting Jews from violence. I believe its real purpose is to allow Christians to be charged with hate speech in the future, for expressing peaceful Biblical beliefs about homosexuality and transgenderism.”

“Calls to violence should obviously be prosecuted,” Fonseca explained. “However, hateful speech that does not constitute a call to violence should be countered in a democratic society with good speech that exposes the hate for what it is.”

“Censoring hateful speech, which doesn’t constitute a call to violence, simply drives it underground and allows it to fester and grow even more aggressively in the shadows,” he continued. “This is another reason why preserving free-speech in Canada is so important, and worth tolerating opinions that we find ugly and offensive. Censorship is not the answer.”

“This Bloc Quebecois bill is just a Trojan Horse to enable future pogroms against Christians and any religious believer from other faiths who publicly disagree with LGBT ideology,” he warned.

“Just think about it. The justification provided by the Bloc, which is an atheistic Marxist political party, makes no sense,” Fonseca pointed out. “Police can already charge attackers with attempted murder for shooting up the Jewish school in Quebec, or with some kind of reckless endangerment firearms charge.”

According to Blanchet, he proposed the modification to the Criminal Code as a result of the increase in antisemitic attacks in Canada, and especially Montreal, following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

In recent weeks, Jewish schools in Canada have increasingly become targets for pro-Palestine protestors. On November 12, Montreal’s Yeshiva Gedola school was fired upon for the second time. In early November, both this school and another Jewish school pleaded for help after shots were fired at their buildings after hours.

Last week, police investigated a bomb threat at Toronto’s Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy. The most recent attack was on November 27 when a Molotov cocktail thrown at the entranceway of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal on Nov. 27.

Furthermore, the RCMP are currently investigating a speech by Muslim preacher Adil Charkaoui in Montreal.

“Allah, destroy the Zionists aggressors… Allah, count every one of them, and kill them all, and do not exempt even one of them. Allah, bring upon them a black day,” Charkaoui said during a pro-Palestinian rally on October 28.

Charkaoui later claimed his speech “did not contain any hate or call to violence,” pointing out that he had not directly said “Jew.”

However, Fonseca pointed out that, “Under the Criminal Code, police can already charge the man in question with incitement to violence, and with uttering a death threat for saying ‘destroy the Zionist aggressors.'”

“The latter statement isn’t even a quote from the Quran! Prosecutors do NOT need the religious belief defense removed from Canada’s Criminal Code in order to proceed with criminal charges,” he declared. “It’s subterfuge for a different purpose.”

“I believe this is why Trudeau has signaled support, in principle, for the Bloc bill,” Fonseca added. “Because Trudeau is looking ahead at how he can use it destroy Christianity and further entrench LGBT ideology.”

Having just passed its first reading, Bill C-367 must be read twice more in the House of Commons before it can be passed on to the Senate.

This is not the first time that the Israel-Hamas war has been used to push new legislation. On November 21, Justice Minister Arif Virani said that it is clear legislation is needed to ban certain internet content given the shootings and attacks committed in Canada since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. He failed to provide details regarding what would be censored.

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  Cardinal Burke Will Remain In Rome
Posted by: Stone - 12-01-2023, 06:29 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism - No Replies

Cardinal Burke Will Remain In Rome

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gloria.tv | November 30, 2023

Cardinal Burke told WSJ.com (November 29) that he had not been informed of Francis’ intention to strip him in his old age of his apartment and salary.

“People can draw their own conclusions about why Francis told this to Austen Ivereigh and not the person concerned”, he said.

Burke intends to remain in Rome even if he is forced to find another place to live, “It’s my duty as a cardinal to remain in Rome.”

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  Fraternity of Saint Peter to Be Evicted from Quimper parish in Brittany
Posted by: Stone - 12-01-2023, 06:25 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism - No Replies

Quimper: Fraternity of Saint Peter to Be Evicted

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gloria.tv | December 1, 2023

The parish of Quimper, Brittany, announced in September that the Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) would be evicted from the central church of Saint-Matthieu.

In these times of ecclesiastical ecologism, its 250 faithful (500 in summer) will have to travel 15km north-west to a less visible church, not served by public transport, on the outskirts of Quimper.

There are only 1,300 believers in Quimper (63,000 inhabitants), including Latin Mass Catholics.

The pretext for the eviction: There will be a Saturday evening Eucharist at Saint-Matthieu's – while the FSSP uses the church every day.

PaixLiturgique.org (November 30) quotes a Catholic who attends Mass and also takes part in the Eucharist, “They don't give a damn about Saint Matthieu's. Once the FSSP is gone, it will go back to the way it was before, which is to say empty and dirty.”

And: “What really annoys the parish of the centre of Quimper is that the Mass attracts young people, of whom there aren't so many anymore.”

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  Holy Mass in New Hampshire - December 3, 2023
Posted by: Stone - 12-01-2023, 06:09 AM - Forum: December 2023 - No Replies

Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - First Sunday of Advent

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Date: Sunday, December 3, 2023


Time: Confessions - 10:00 AM
             Holy Mass - 10:30 AM


Location: The Oratory of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary 
                     66 Gove's Lane
                     Wentworth, NH 03282


Contact: 315-391-7575

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  Holy Mass in New Hampshire - December 2, 2023
Posted by: Stone - 12-01-2023, 06:05 AM - Forum: December 2023 - No Replies

Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Feast of St. Bibiana/First Saturday of December

[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3...ipo=images]



Date: Saturday, December 2, 2023


Time: Confessions - 4:00 PM
             Holy Mass - 4:30 PM


Location: The Oratory of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary 
                     66 Gove's Lane
                     Wentworth, NH 03282


Contact: 315-391-7575

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  Holy Mass in New Hampshire - December 1, 2023
Posted by: Stone - 12-01-2023, 06:03 AM - Forum: December 2023 - No Replies

Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Feria/First Friday of December

[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginal...ipo=images]



Date: Friday, December 1, 2023


Time: Confessions - 4:00 PM
             Holy Mass - 4:30 PM


Location: The Oratory of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary 
                     66 Gove's Lane
                     Wentworth, NH 03282


Contact: 315-391-7575

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  FDA Investigating "Serious Risk" Of New Cancers Arising From Gene Therapy Cancer Treatments
Posted by: Stone - 11-30-2023, 06:20 AM - Forum: Health - No Replies

FDA Investigating "Serious Risk" Of New Cancers Arising From Gene Therapy Cancer Treatments


ZH | NOV 29, 2023 - 10:20 PM
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

A gene therapy treatment used in cancer patients is under scrutiny by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the agency received reports of new blood cancers among treated individuals.

The treatment, CAR-T, was first approved by the FDA in 2017 and is used in the treatment of blood cancers. However, the agency has received “reports of T-cell malignancies”—a group of blood disorders—among some of the patients who received CAR-T treatments, according to a Nov. 28 announcement.

The reported malignancies include lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system which includes lymph nodes, the thymus gland, bone marrow, and the spleen.

“Although the overall benefits of these products continue to outweigh their potential risks for their approved uses, FDA is investigating the identified risk of T cell malignancy with serious outcomes, including hospitalization and death, and is evaluating the need for regulatory action,” the agency said.

In CAR-T treatments, a type of white blood cells called T cells are removed from the blood of a patient. These cells are then genetically engineered to make proteins called chimeric antigen receptors (CAR).

The receptors allow T cells to attach to cancer cells and kill them. Once the genetic engineering is completed, the modified cells are then infused back into the patient’s blood, The New York Times reported.

The FDA pointed out that “patients and clinical trial participants receiving treatment with these products should be monitored life-long for new malignancies.”

“In the event that a new malignancy occurs following treatment with these products, contact the manufacturer to report the event and obtain instructions on collection of patient samples for testing for the presence of the Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) transgene," the agency said.

At present, the FDA has approved six CAR-T products:

Kymriah from Novartis

Yescarta from Gilead

Carvykti from J&J and Legend

Breyanzi from Bristol Myers Squibb

Abecma from Bristol Myers Squibb

Tecartus from Gilead

The risk for developing malignancies applies to all six products, the FDA said.


Surprising Announcement

Medical experts did not expect the FDA’s recent announcement.

“In informal emails among many scientists and physicians in the field, we are all surprised by this announcement,” Marcela Maus, a researcher at Mass General Cancer Center, told health outlet STAT.

Ms. Maus said that the only cases of CAR-T lymphoma or leukemia she heard of were from Australia where the products used a genetic element which was not present in the six CAR-T treatments approved by the FDA.

Bruce Levine, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, said in a Nov. 29 X post that the FDA report leaves “many questions unanswered,” adding that “colleagues I've consulted with are very surprised” by the announcement.

“What was the clinical status of the patients in terms of immunosuppression, prior therapy, conditioning chemotherapy, evidence of prior clonal hematopoiesis?” he asked.

“It’s important to put into context the remote though real risk when compared to conventional chemotherapy that has significant long and short term side effects, including genotoxicity and predisposition to secondary cancers.”


Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, chief of the Division of Hematology at Florida's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center said in a social media post that he "would love to see absolute risk and some details on likelihood of causality here," regarding the FDA announcement.

In an interview with The New York Times, Dr. John DiPersio, director of the Center for Genetic and Cellular Immunotherapy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said he hasn’t seen “a single one” of his 500 to 700 patients who received CAR-T treatments develop a new T cell cancer.

CAR-T treatments are reserved for patients who would otherwise die without it, he noted.

“They are all going to die and they are all going to die quickly without this treatment. It saves their life … It works in a substantial portion of patients. The benefit is enormous.”

When a patient’s T cells are genetically modified in the CAR-T treatment, a virus is used to slip new genes into the DNA of these cells. As such, when the modified T cells are inserted back into the blood of the patient, it could potentially disrupt other genes and lead to cancer, The New York Times explained.

However, blood cancers among CAR-T treated patients could also be explained by the fact that individuals who receive such treatments have already undergone other treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, which can give rise to cancers.


Company Responses

Based on an analysis by medical news outlet FiercePharma, 12 total cases of T-cell lymphoma have been reported, with Kymriah accounting for seven cases, Yescarta three, and one each from Breyanzi and Carvykti.

The Epoch Times reached out to the respective companies for comment.

A Gilead spokesperson told FiercePharma that the company is “confident in the overall safety profile of both Tecartus and Yescarta.” Both treatments have been applied on 17,700 patients, with no evidence linking them with development of new malignancies, the spokesperson stated.

“We have a rigorous process in place to continuously monitor for and report adverse events to regulatory authorities. … We have fully cooperated with the FDA’s request for an analysis of our data related to this inquiry.”

Novartis pointed out that over 10,000 patients have been treated with Kymriah and that the company has not identified its link to any secondary malignancies. Bristol Myers Squibb told the outlet that Abecma and Breyanzi have been used among 4,700 patients, with none of them developing T-cell malignancy.

Data from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) show that the six products have reported the following adverse events:

Kymriah—2,470 adverse events, including 2,303 serious cases, 662 deaths, and 504 blood and lymphatic system disorders.

Yescarta—3,729 adverse events, including 3,551 serious cases, 746 deaths, and 567 blood and lymphatic system disorders.

Carvykti—408 adverse events, including 251 serious cases, 28 deaths, and 18 blood and lymphatic system disorders.

Breyanzi—202 adverse events, 172 serious cases, 38 deaths, and 18 blood and lymphatic system disorders.

Abecma—528 adverse events, 454 serious cases, 60 deaths, and 87 blood and lymphatic system disorders.

Tecartus—609 adverse events, 570 serious cases, 136 deaths, and 58 blood and lymphatic system disorders.

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  Don Bosco: 1936 Movie
Posted by: Stone - 11-29-2023, 06:06 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

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  Pope punishes leading critic Cardinal Burke in second action against conservative American prelates
Posted by: Stone - 11-29-2023, 04:41 AM - Forum: Pope Francis - No Replies

Pope punishes leading critic Cardinal Burke in second action against conservative American prelates


November 28, 2023

VATICAN CITY (AP adapted - hyperlinks not included here) — Pope Francis has decided to punish one of his highest-ranking critics, Cardinal Raymond Burke, by revoking his right to a subsidized Vatican apartment and salary in the second such radical action against a conservative American prelate this month, according to two people briefed on the measures.

Francis told a meeting of the heads of Vatican offices last week that he was moving against Burke because he was a source of “disunity” in the church, said one of the participants at the Nov. 20 meeting. The participant spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal the contents of the encounter.

Francis said he was removing Burke’s privileges of having a subsidized Vatican apartment and salary as a retired cardinal because he was using the privileges against the church, said another person who was subsequently briefed on the pope’s measures. That person also spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to reveal the details.

Burke, a 75-year-old canon lawyer whom Francis had fired as the Vatican’s high court justice in 2014, has become one of the most outspoken critics of the pope, his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and his reform project to make the church more responsive to the needs of ordinary faithful.

Twice, Burke has joined other conservative cardinals in issuing formal questions to the pontiff, known as “dubia,” asking him to clarify questions of doctrine that upset conservatives and traditionalists. In the first, they asked Francis to clarify his outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, and Francis never replied. In the second, they asked whether same-sex couples could receive church blessings — and received a conditional maybe in response.

[Image: ?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F7...a3896fdeed]

FILE - Cardinal Raymond Burke applauds during a news conference at the Italian Senate, in Rome, on Sept. 6, 2018. Pope Francis has taken measures to punish one of his highest-ranking critics, Cardinal Raymond Burke, by yanking his right to a Vatican apartment and salary in the second such radical action against a conservative American prelate this month, according to two people briefed on the measures. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

Then, on the eve of Francis’ big meeting of bishops last month, known as a synod, Burke presided over a counter-synod of sorts just steps away from St. Peter’s Square. There, Burke delivered a stinging rebuke of Francis’ vision of “synodality” as well as his overall reform project for the church.

“It’s unfortunately very clear that the invocation of the Holy Spirit by some has the aim of bringing forward an agenda that is more political and human than ecclesial and divine,” Burke told the conference titled “The Synodal Babel.”

Burke has always defended his actions as being of service to the church and the papacy, saying it was his obligation as a cardinal and bishop to uphold church teaching and correct errors.

“The sheep depend on the courage of pastors who must protect them from the poison of confusion, error and division,” he told the Oct. 3 conference, prompting applause from the crowd.

Burke, who spends much of his time in the U.S. at the Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine he founded in his native Wisconsin, is the second American prelate to face punishment in what appears to be a new phase of Francis’ pontificate. This reform-minded period seems to have accelerated with the arrival in September of Francis’ hand-picked new doctrine czar, Argentine Cardinal Victor Fernández.

Earlier this month, Francis forcibly removed the bishop of Tyler, Texas, Joseph Strickland, another conservative who had also become one of Francis’ critics. Strickland was removed after a Vatican investigation into governance of his diocese.

In a tweet Tuesday, Strickland expressed shock at reports that Francis had taken action taken against his fellow American, which was first reported by the conservative Italian newspaper La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, the main sponsor of “The Synodal Babel” conference.

“If this is accurate it is an atrocity that must be opposed. If it is false information it needs to be corrected immediately,” Strickland said.

Asked Tuesday about word of Francis’ decision, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni didn’t deny the reports but referred questions to Burke.

“I don’t have anything particular to say about that,” Bruni told reporters.

Pope Benedict XVI had made Burke a cardinal in 2010, after he appointed him prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s high court. After Francis removed him from that position in 2014, he made Burke the cardinal patron of the Knights of Malta, a prestigious but limited role.

But there too, Burke and Francis clashed over Burke’s involvement in a governance crisis at the chivalric order. Francis pushed him aside and named two subsequent envoys to essentially replace him.

More recently, the two seemingly were at odds over COVID-19 vaccines. Francis had been a big proponent of the vaccines and had lashed out at vaccine skeptics, who included some conservative Catholics.

During a 2021 airborne news conference, Francis lamented the vaccine “negationists” in the College of Cardinals, an apparent reference to Burke, who had just been hospitalized in the U.S. and placed on a ventilator with a serious bout of the virus.

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  Years of Invalid “Honeycake” Masses
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2023, 09:21 AM - Forum: New Rite Sacraments - No Replies

Years of Invalid “Honeycake” Masses


NLM [slightly adapted] | November 27, 2023


As I noted in an article published in October (“The ‘Unique Expression of the Roman Rite’ in the Wild: New Zealand Priest Ad-libbing Eucharistic Prayer”), the primordial defect of the Novus Ordo is its huge range of possible realizations and adaptations, a dizzying number of them lacking in all good sense, good taste, connection with tradition, etc., and yet well within the bounds of what is legally permissible, not to say universally tolerated. In other words, it is a template for community prayer-action, not a liturgical rite as such, which is always characterized by unspontaneous and determinate givenness.

The “Big Bang” moment for the deritualization of rite was the very act of calling a global liturgical reform where everything was going to be evaluated through the filters of modern liturgical scholars. After that point, it hardly mattered what was said or done; the cord with tradition as normative, venerable, and essentially right had been severed, and Humpty-Dumpty’s situation looked quite favorable in comparison. “All the pope’s horses (i.e., curial officials) and all the pope’s men (i.e., local bishops) couldn’t put ritual back together again.” This helps explain why it seems dramatically easier to mount a full-scale solemn Tridentine liturgy than to reform the reform: the one thing is already a rite, the other is a workshop in search of an identity.

I was thinking about all this recently when a reader sent me a recipe that was used in the ’90s at his wife’s childhood parish for “baking the Mass bread.” One glance at this recipe makes it apparent that the parish in question did not, in fact, offer Mass for years due to invalid matter. The reader’s wife was, needless to say, very upset to find out, years after the fact, that her “First Communion” wasn’t actually her first, because there was no Communion there. [...]

[Image: honey%20bread.jpg]

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  UN tells First World countries to limit meat in 'Net Zero Plan'
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2023, 07:49 AM - Forum: Global News - No Replies

Eat Less Meat Is Message for Rich World in Food’s First Net Zero Plan

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Bloomberg | November 25, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- The world’s most-developed nations will be told to curb their excessive appetite for meat as part of the first comprehensive plan to bring the global agrifood industry into line with the Paris climate agreement.

The global food systems’ road map to 1.5C is expected to be published by the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization during the COP28 summit next month. Nations that over-consume meat will be advised to limit their intake, while developing countries — where under-consumption of meat adds to a prevalent nutrition challenge — will need to improve their livestock farming, according to the FAO.

From farm to fork, food systems account for about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and much of that footprint is linked to livestock farming — a major source of methane, deforestation and biodiversity loss. Although non-binding, the FAO’s plan is expected to inform policy and investment decisions and give a push to the food industry’s climate transition which has lagged other sectors in commitments.

The guidance on meat is intended to send a clear message to governments. But politicians in richer nations typically shy away from policies aimed at influencing consumer behavior, especially where it involves cutting consumption of everyday items.

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“Livestock is politically sensitive, but we need to deal with sensitive issues to solve the problem,” said Dhanush Dinesh, the founder of Clim-Eat, which works to accelerate climate action in food systems. “If we don’t tackle the livestock problem, we are not going to solve climate change. The key problem is overconsumption.”

The average American consumes about 127 kilograms of meat a year compared with 7 kilograms in Nigeria and just 3 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the FAO data. The Eat-Lancet Commission recommends people consume no more than 15.7 kilograms of meat a year.

The Rome-based UN agency, tasked with improving the agricultural sector and nutrition, is seeking to strike a balance between the climate transition and ensuring food security for the growing global population. So as well as calling for less meat consumption for the world’s well fed, the plan would also encourage farmers in developing countries to bolster productivity of their livestock and supply more sustainably.

Other recommendations will cover issues from how farmers adapt to an increasingly erratic weather to tackling key sources of emissions like food waste and post-harvest loss or fertilizer use, according to the FAO. The plan will be rolled out in three parts over the next few years to eventually include country-specific recommendations.

The road map has the potential to offer a “shared direction of travel” for livestock companies and their investors, mirroring the role of the International Energy Agency’s net zero document for the energy sector, according to FAIRR Initiative, an investor network focused on intensive animal production.

“This road map is needed to bring clarity to both companies and investors so that they can plan for the transition,” said Sofía Condés, head of investor outreach at FAIRR. “The longer companies wait to act, the more drastic and potentially disruptive the transition.”

The FAO’s work is one of several food-focused announcements and pledges that are expected to come out of the COP28 summit in Dubai. While climate summits have tended to steer away from agrifood issues largely due to sensitivities over food security, this year’s organizers are trying to push through a number of initiatives outside the formal talks, said Clim-Eat’s Dinesh.

“I see more people coming, more events, more activities around food systems,” he said.

The United Arab Emirates have called on governments to sign a declaration committing to include food transformation into their national reduction and adaptation plans. The COP28 summit will have a Food, Agriculture and Water Day on Dec. 10, a first-ever day dedicated to food systems, which encompass anything from how food is grown, processed, distributed, consumed or thrown away. Catering for the summit will be two-thirds plant-based.

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  Bishop Strickland: My refusal to cancel the Latin Mass is one of the reasons I was removed
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2023, 06:08 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism - No Replies

Bishop Strickland: My refusal to cancel the Latin Mass is one of the reasons I was removed
In an open letter to the faithful, Bishop Strickland spoke about his removal from the Diocese of Tyler
 and urged Catholics to 'stand resolutely at the cross' while the Church 'undergoes her Passion.'

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Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas
American Life League/YouTube screenshot

Nov 27, 202
(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Joseph Strickland issued an open letter to the faithful on Monday, November 27, 2023. Below is the full text.

An Open Letter to the Faithful from Bishop Joseph E. Strickland:

Quote:As I am sure you have heard by now, I have been removed as Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler. I was asked to meet with the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, and in that meeting I was read a list of the reasons I was being removed. I would make these reasons available to you if possible; however, I was not given a copy of this list at that time, and I have not been able as of yet to obtain a copy despite my requests.

In the reasons that were read to me, no mention was made of administrative problems or mismanagement of the diocese as the reasons for my removal. The reasons given seemed to be related, for the most part, to my speaking the Truth of our Catholic faith, and to my warnings against anything that threatened that Truth (including things that were being brought up at the Synod on Synodality). Also, mention was made of my not walking alongside my brother bishops as I defended the Church and her unchangeable teachings, and of my not implementing the motu propoio Traditionis custodes, which were I to have implemented, would have required me to leave part of my flock unfed and untended. As a shepherd and protector of my Diocese, I could not take actions which I knew with certainty would injure part of my flock and deprive them of the spiritual goods which Christ entrusted to His Church. I stand by my actions as they were necessary to protect my flock and to defend the Sacred Deposit of Faith.

This is the time for everything now covered to be uncovered, and everything now hidden to be made clear. In fact, it was in a time when things were being hidden regarding disgraced now-former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the Church sex abuse scandal that it seems I first entered the Vatican’s radar. My main crime, then as now, seems to always have been about bringing to light that which others wanted to remain hidden. Sadly, it now seems that it is Truth Himself, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that many desire to be hidden.

Although I am now without a diocese, I am still a bishop of the Church and therefore a successor of the apostles, and I must continue to speak Truth even if it requires my very life. I want to say this to all of you today – DO NOT ever, ever leave the Church! She is the Bride of Christ! She is now undergoing her Passion, and you must resolve to stand resolutely at the cross! It is important to attend Mass every Sunday and as often as possible, to spend time in adoration, to pray the Rosary daily, to go to confession regularly, and to call always upon the saints for assistance! I urge you to persevere that you might say in the end, “I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith.”

May Almighty God bless you, and may our Holy and Blessed Mother intercede for you and point you always to her Divine Son Jesus as we enter this Advent season.

I remain your humble father and servant,

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland

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  Feast of the Miraculous Medal - November 27th
Posted by: Stone - 11-27-2023, 06:13 AM - Forum: Our Lady - No Replies

Gratefully borrowed from the Our Lady of Fatima Chapel bulletin: 


Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
Today's Feast Day - November 27th

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O Mary Conceived Without Sin, Pray For Us Who Have Recourse To Thee


Not long after France's horrific Reign of Terror, in January of 1830, a young, twenty-three year old Catherine Labouré entered the hospice of the Daughters of Charity at Chatillon-sur-Seine. It was during these days that the Masonic government encouraged the travesty of daily sacrilege, all the while blasphemously committed in the name of liberté, egalité and fraternité - freedom, equality and brotherhood!

Even the body of Saint Genevieve, the Patroness of France, was desecrated. Saint Vincent de Paul's body had been hidden, but four days after Sister Catherine's entry into the Mother House at Rue de Bac in Paris, Saint Vincent's remains were transferred back to his own church with a defiant and joyous procession.


The First Apparition

Later that same year, Sister Catherine was blessed with the apparitions of Mary Immaculate to which we owe the Miraculous Medal. The first apparition came on the eve of the feast of Saint Vincent, July 19th. The mother superior had given each of the novices a piece of cloth from the holy founder's surplice, in which Sister Catherine earnestly prayed to Saint Vincent that she might, with her own eyes, see the Mother of God.

That night, a beautiful child awoke her from her sleep, saying: "Sister Labouré, come to the chapel; the Blessed Virgin is waiting for you!" When Sister Catherine went to the chapel, she found it ablaze with lights as if prepared for Midnight Mass. Quietly, she knelt at the Communion rail, and suddenly heard the rustle of a silk dress. The Blessed Virgin, in a vision of glory, sat in a chair like that of Saint Anne's.

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Sister Catherine arose, then went over and knelt, resting her hands in the Virgin's lap, and felt the Virgin's arms around her, as she said: "God wishes to charge you with a mission. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace. Tell your spiritual director all that passes within you. Times are evil in France and in the world." Then, a pained expression crossed the Blessed Virgin's face:

"Come to the foot of the altar. Graces will be shed on all, great and little, especially upon those who seek them. Another community of sisters will join the Rue du Bac community. The community will become large; you will have the protection of God and Saint Vincent; I will always have my eyes upon you." Then, like a fading shadow, Our Lady was gone!



The Second Apparition

Four months passed until our Blessed Lady returned to Rue du Bac. Here are Sister Catherine's own words describing the apparition:

"On the 27th of November, 1830 …while making my meditation in profound silence …I seemed to hear on the right hand side of the sanctuary something like the rustling of a silk dress. Glancing in that direction, I perceived the Blessed Virgin standing near Saint Joseph's picture. Her height was medium and her countenance, indescribably beautiful. She was dressed in a robe the color of the dawn, high-necked, with plain sleeves. Her head was covered with a white veil, which floated over her shoulders down to her feet. Her feet rested upon a globe, or rather one half of a globe, for that was all that could be seen. Her hands which were on a level with her waist, held in an easy manner another globe, a figure of the world. Her eyes were raised to Heaven, and her countenance beamed with light as she offered the globe to Our Lord. On her fingers were many rings, filled with jewels and precious stones, from which shining rays of light descended. As I was busy contemplating her, the Blessed Virgin fixed her eyes upon me, and a voice said in the depths of my heart:

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'This orb which you see is the world, France in particular, and each person individually. I am praying for it and for everyone in the world. The rays which fall on this orb are the graces which I give to those who ask for them. But there are no rays from some of the stones. For many people fail to receive graces because they neglect to ask for them.'

There now formed around the Blessed Virgin a frame rather oval in shape on which were written in letters of gold these words: 'O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.' Then a voice said to me:

'Have a medal struck upon this model. All those who wear it, when it is blessed, will receive great graces especially if they wear it round the neck. Those who repeat this prayer with devotion will be in a special manner under the protection of the Mother of God. Graces will be abundantly bestowed upon those who have confidence.'

At the same instant, the oval frame seemed to turn around. Then I saw on the back of it the letter 'M', surmounted by a cross, with a crossbar beneath it, and under the monogram of the name of Mary, the Holy Hearts of Jesus and of His Mother; the first surrounded by a crown of thorns and the second transpierced by a sword. I was anxious to know what words must be placed on the reverse side of the medal; and after many prayers, one day in meditation, I seemed to hear a voice which said to me: 'The 'M' with the Cross and the two Hearts tell enough.'"

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Encircling the sphere were twelve stars bordering the golden elliptical frame. Originally, it was named The Medal of the Immaculate Conception. The medal streamed from the presses by the millions, quickly overflowing France, and well into the world beyond. Not long after, there was an epidemic in France. The death rate soared and medical science was unable to cope with the crisis. People turned to the Sisters of Charity who gave them the Medal with the assurance that great graces would be showered upon all who would wear it with confidence.

After the first cures, people demanded it excitedly. So many favors, cures, and conversions were effected through its instrumentality that its name and doctrinal significance were lost in the clamor; it became known simply as The Miraculous Medal.

This apparition was the Immaculata's first official herald; and this Heaven-sent insignia ushered in what became known as the modern Age of Mary. It would prepare the world for the great declaration a quarter of a century later - when Pope Blessed Pius IX would declare the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception as an article of Faith and an essential element of Catholic belief.

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The Incorrupt Body of Saint Catherine Labouré

On the last day of 1876, Sister Catherine passed to her eternal reward. For the forty-six years from the year of the apparitions until her death, only she and her confessor knew who it was to whom the famous Miraculous Medal was revealed. As the years passed by, Sister Catherine performed daily her mundane and very ordinary tasks of sewing and door keeping, unknown to the world around her, which was buzzing with the miraculous effects of the Medal.

When Sister Catherine's body was exhumed for beatification 57 years after her death in 1933, it was found as fresh as the day it was buried - completely incorrupt! In 1947, she was canonized by Pope Pius XII. The feast day of Saint Catherine Labouré is tomorrow, November 28th. Her incorrupt body can still be seen today at the Mother House of the Daughters of Charity in The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, 140 Rue du Bac in Paris, France.


THIS DAY IN HISTORY

On the Anniversary of today's feast day, at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, in 1902, Marie-Julie Jahenny, a French Stigmatist, received a Church approved message from Our Lord which warned of a "new liturgy" that would one day be instituted:

"I give you a warning. The disciples who are not of My Gospel are now working hard to remake according to their ideas, and under the influence of the enemy of souls, a Mass that contains words which are odious in My sight. When the fatal hour arrives where the faith of my priest is put to the test, it will be these texts that will be celebrated, in this second period. The first period is the one of My Priesthood, existing since Me. The second is the one of the persecution, when the enemies of the Faith and of Holy Religion will impose their formulas in the book of the second celebration. These infamous spirits are those who crucified Me and are awaiting the kingdom of the new messiah. Many of My holy priests will refuse this book, sealed with the words of the abyss. Unfortunately, amongst them are those who will accept it." -  The Breton Stigmatist

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  Dom Gueranger: Explanation of the Prayers and Ceremonies of Holy Mass
Posted by: Stone - 11-25-2023, 08:06 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching - Replies (17)

EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYERS AND CEREMONIES OF HOLY MASS

TAKEN FROM NOTES MADE AT THE CONFERENCES OF DOM PROSPER GUÉRANGER, ABBOT OF SOLESMES.
Translated from the French by Rev. Dom. Laurence Shepherd, Monk of the English Benedictine Congregation
Taken from here, slightly adapted


PRELIMINARY NOTICE TO THIS TRANSLATION.

The well-known translator of the Liturgical Year has gone to his rest: but in a twofold sense we may say: his works follow him.  This his last, and unfinished work, must therefore come to the readers of the Liturgical Year, as a loving farewell from him, a memento of him and of his lifelong labours in the cause of Holy Church.

To many, it will be of consoling interest to know that, up to the day of his death, as long as speech was his, Rev. Dom Laurence Shepherd was full of the great passion of his heart, - to gain souls to the love of Holy Church.  Several times, within even the last month of his painful illness, did he strive to master sinking nature, and once more guide his trembling pen, to tell the Faithful something more of the Bride of Christ, the Church of God.  Those last pages which came from his failing hand close with the word Lucia, in the explanation of the Nobis quoque peccatoribus.  Before the month was out, his friends had poured forth the consoling prayer put on their lips by Mother Church, Et lux perpetua luceat ei!  Hope had kindled in every heart the reverential confidence that the Champion of Holy Church had received the "Corona Justitiae," - had passed to the Patria Lucis Aeternae.

ST. MARY’S ABBEY, STANBROOK
June 14. 1885.



PREFACE.

The Great Bishop of Poitiers, Mgr. Pie, in his funeral Oration on our Father, Dom. Guéranger, said: "You have long been feasting at a royal board, where you were daily regaled with the most delicate and varied food.  Those Conferences on the Christian Life and Virtues, and that incomparable Commentary on your Rule, - you have no right to keep them to yourselves."

Notwithstanding so pressing an invitation on the part of so competent a judge, as was this devoted friend of our Father, we have hesitated long before yielding up to public gaze the secret of our family treasure.  It seemed to us that such notes as these would only do for his own sons, eager of paternal instructions and never likely to carp at either the simplicity of the form, or at the incorrectness of the language.

But so very many friends, assiduous readers of Dom Guéranger's Liturgical Year, by their repeated solicitations and earnest appeals, have succeeded at length in dissipating our first fears.  They are fully aware that they cannot expect to find once more the eminent writer himself, in mere notes, jotted down at the time, almost on the sly, and afterwards hastily put together in a form, the faultiness and inexactitude of which can never be imputed to any one, save to the more or less faithful copyists.  But there is one thing they are sure to find in these pages, - the Teacher and the Father, who in intimacy with his friends or his monks, ever with lavish hand, distributed that sure and luminous doctrine which leads souls to God.

We here open our proposed publication, by a short commentary on the Ceremonies of Holy Mass, incomplete though we certainly know it to be, in many points, and characterised, as were all our Father's Conferences, by a total absence of all pretension to erudition: we have not, therefore, presumed to change or add anything.  Yet, mere notes, as these are, they seem to us calculated to do good of no little importance.

In order to render them of more practical utility, we have given, in the Appendix, the Ordinary of the Mass, interspersed with the same paraphrase, which has already appeared in the Liturgical Year of Dom Guéranger.

Thus will the Faithful be provided, in this small work, with an efficient means of uniting themselves with the Priest in an enlightened manner, and be helped to derive more fruit from their assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

On the welcome accorded to this first attempt at giving publicity to our family treasures, will depend our future decision as to the opportuneness of continuing the proposed series of this Collection of Notes.

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