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| St. Anthony Mary Claret: Excerpts from his autobiography - On Modesty and Mortification |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-21-2024, 08:19 AM - Forum: The Saints
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St. Anthony Mary Claret wrote his autobiography reluctantly and only under obedience to his religious superiors. This chapter out of his book details the apostolic techniques which proved so successful in saving souls. Our Lord told him several times: "Give me blood (mortification) and I will give you spirit."
St. Anthony resolved never to waste a moment of time and during his 35 years a priest, he wrote 144 books and preached some 25,000 sermons. On one trip, besides traveling, he preached 205 sermons in 48 days – 12 in one day. Giving the reason he worked so zealously, he wrote: "If you were to see a blind man about to fall into a pit or over a precipice, would you not warn him? Behold, I do the same and do it I must, for this is my duty. I must warn sinners and make them see the precipice which leads to the unquenchable fires of Hell, for they will surely go there if they do not amend their ways. Woe to me if I do not preach and warn them, for I would be held responsible for their condemnation."
Besides working numerous miracles throughout his priestly life, St. Anthony Mary possessed the gifts of prophecy and discernment of hearts. Often Our Lord and Our Lady would appear to him. Once Our Lord told him that three great judgments would soon descend upon the world: 1. Protestantism and Communism; 2. The love of pleasures and money and independence of reason and will; 3. Great wars with their horrible consequences. He boldly proclaimed: "The sole reason why society is perishing is because it has refused to hear the word of the Church, which is the word of God. All plans for salvation will be sterile if the great word of the Catholic Church is not restored in all its fullness."
Here are his words on mortification:
The missionary is a spectacle to God, to the Angels, and to men. For this reason, he must be very circumspect and prudent in all his words, works, and ways. To this effect, I resolved that my conduct both at home and away from it, should be to talk very little, and to weigh every word I uttered, because people not infrequently take words to mean other than the speaker intends them to mean.
When talking to others, I proposed never to make gestures with my hands. In some places this is strongly ridiculed and looked upon as displeasing. My constant intention was always to speak sparingly, and that only when necessary. I resolved to speak briefly, and in a quiet and grave manner, without touching my face, chin, head, and much less my nose. I determined also never to make grimaces with my mouth, or to utter any funny or ridiculous statement, and never to ridicule anyone, because I saw that by doing these things, the missionary loses much of the authority, respect and veneration which is his due. All this is the result of fickleness, scant mortification, and little modesty. These habits and similar coarseness of manners manifest little or no education on the part of their possessors.
The missioner must also be at peace with all as St. Paul says. Now, with this in mind, I never scolded anyone, but tried to be kind to all. I endeavored also never to pass funny remarks about anyone, nor did I like to indulge in any form of buffoonery or mockery at another's expense. Laughing did not appeal to me, although I always manifested joy, gentleness and kindness in my person, for I remembered that Jesus was never seen to laugh, although He was seen weeping on some occasions. Those words also helped me determine my conduct: "Stultus in risu exaltat vocem suam; vir autem sapiens vix tacite ridebit -- The fool raises his voice in laughter, but the wise man will scarcely laugh in silence."
Modesty, as we all know, is that virtue which teaches us how to do all things in the right way. It sets before our eyes how Jesus did things, and it tells us to do the same. So, before each action that I was about to do, I always asked myself, and still do, how Jesus Christ would do it. What care, purity and rectitude of intention should I have if I were to act like my Divine Model! How He preached; how He conversed; how He ate and rested; how He dealt with all manner of people; how He prayed; in fine, all His ways of doing things, were the sum and substance of my constant meditation and efforts, for with God's grace I determined to imitate Our Lord in everything, so as to be able to say with the Apostle, if not by word of mouth, then by my works: "Be ye imitators of me as I am of Christ."
I understood, O God, that if the missionary is to gather fruit in his ministry, it is essential for him to be not only irreproachable, but also in all places a man of virtue. People respect much more that which they see in a missionary than what they hear about him. this is proved by those words concerning Our Lord, the Model Missionary: "Coepit facere et docere." First of all He did things, then He taught afterwards.
Thou knowest, O my God, the number of times that in spite of all my resolutions I have failed against holy modesty. Thou wilt surely know if some have been scandalized by my lack of observance of this virtue. My Lord, if such be the case, I beg Thy pardon and mercy. I give Thee my word that, putting into practice the words of the Apostle, I will do my best to make my modesty known to all men. I promise that my modesty shall be like that of Jesus Christ, as St. Paul exhorts so strongly, and that I will imitate the humble St. Francis of Assisi who preached by his modesty, and converted many people by his good example. O my Lord Jesus, Love of my heart. I love Thee, and wish to draw all men to Thy most holy love!
Without mortification I knew that modesty was impossible. therefore I endeavored with the utmost determination to acquire this virtue of self-denial, cost what it might, yet always relying on the help of God's grace.
In the first place, I resolved to deprive myself of all taste or preference, and to give it to God. Without knowing how, I felt myself obliged to fulfill what was only of precept. My understanding was confronted with an inevitable alternative; either I should cater to my own taste or to God's. Now, as my understanding saw this gross inequality even though in such a small matter as this, I felt myself obliged to follow the good pleasure of God. Therefore, I willingly denied myself innocent and legitimate pleasures in order to have all my taste and gratification in God. I follow this rule even now in all things, in regard to meals, drink, sleep, in talking, looking, listening, and going to any part of the country, etc...
The grace of God has helped me a great deal in the practice of mortification, for I know that this habit of denying oneself is indispensably necessary to make one's work for souls fruitful, as well as one's prayer pleasing to God Our Lord.
In a very special manner have the examples of Jesus and Mary and the Saints encouraged me in this practice of mortification. I read assiduously the Lives of the Saints to see how they were wont to deny themselves, and I have made special notes which regulate my personal conduct. Singular among them must be mentioned St. Bernard, St. Peter of Alcantara, and St. Philip of Neri, of whom I have read that after having been for thirty years the confessor of a Roman lady renowned for her rare beauty, he still did not know her by sight.
I can say with certainty that I know the many women who come to confession to me more by their voice than by their features, because I never look at any woman's face. In their presence I blush and turn red. Not that the looking at them causes me temptations, for I do not have them, thanks be to God, but the fact still remains that I always blush, even though I cannot explain why. I might mention here that I naturally and in an entirely unaccountable manner keep in mind and observe that oft-repeated admonition of the holy Fathers, which goes: Sermo rigidus et brevis cum muliere est habendus et oculos humi dejectos habe -- Speech with women must be serious and brief, while the eyes must be cast on the ground. I know not how to hold a conversation with a woman, no matter how good she may be. In few and grave words I tell her what she must know, and then immediately I dismiss her without looking to see if she be rich or poor, beautiful or ugly.
When I was giving missions in Catalonia, I stayed at the rectories of those parishes in which I gave missions. During all that time I do not remember having looked at the face of any woman, whether she happened to be the housekeeper, the servant, or the relative of the parish-priest. Once it happened that after some time I returned to Vich, or some other town, and I was accosted by a lady who said to me: "Anthony Claret, don't you know me? I am the housekeeper of such and such a priest in whose parish you were for so many days giving a mission." but I did not recognize her; neither did I look at her. With my gaze fixed on the ground, I asked her: "And how is his Reverence the pastor?"
What is more, I shall relate another instance which could not have been so, had I not received very special graces from heaven. While I was in the island of Cuba, for six years and two months to be exact, I confirmed more than 300,000 persons, the majority of whom were women, and young ones at that. If any one were to ask me what are the characteristics of the Cuban women's features, I would say that I do not know, despite the fact that I have confirmed so many of them. In order to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation, I had to look where their foreheads were, and this I did in a rapid glance, after which I shut my eyes and kept them shut all during the administration of the Sacrament.
Besides this blushing that was natural to me when in the presence of women, and which hindered me from looking at them, there was another reason which prompted me to adhere to this mode of conduct. It was the desire to profit souls. I remember having read years ago of a famous preacher who went to preach in a certain town. His preaching turned out to be very fruitful, and all the townsfolk were lavish in their praise of him. "Oh, what a saint!" said they. Yet there was one exception of all these praises, and it came from a wicked man who said: "Perhaps he is a saint, but I can tell you one thing, and it is this: he likes women a great deal, for he was staring at them." This single expression was enough in itself to decrease the prestige which the good preacher had merited in that town, and not only that, but it brought to naught all the fruit which his preaching had produced.
Incidentally, I have also noticed that people form a poor opinion of a priest who does not mortify his eyes. Of Jesus Christ I read that He was always mortified and modest in regard to His looks, for the Evangelists have accounted as an extraordinary occurrence each time He lifted up His eyes.
The hearing was another faculty which I tried to mortify continually, especially disliking to listen to superfluous conversations and idle words. I could never suffer or tolerate those conversations which were detrimental to charity. If I happened to be present at one of them, I would either withdraw or refrain from taking part in it, or I would show my disapproval by the sad expression my face. This distaste applied also to conversations about food, drink, riches, or any worldly topic, including political news. neither did I care to read newspapers, for I should prefer to read a chapter of the Holy Bible wherein I know for sure that what I read is true. In newspapers, as a general rule, one finds only a great deal of lies and useless reading.
It was my constant aim to deny myself in regard to speaking. Just as I have said that I dislike to hear useless things, so also in the same way I hated to talk of useless nothings. My resolution also embraced my keeping quiet about my sermons. I resolved never to talk of my sermons after their delivery. Since I myself was repelled by others talking of what they delivered, I concluded that others would be displeased with me if I, too, talked about my sermons. Thus, my fixed resolve was never to mention my sermons after delivering them, to do my very best in the pulpit, and to recommend all to God. If anyone gave me advice about my preaching, I received it with sincere gratitude and without excusing myself or explaining my views on the matter. I tried to amend and correct myself as much as possible.
I have observed before now that some people behave like hens which cackle after they lay their eggs, and thus are deprived of them. The same happens to some priests of little prudence, who, as soon as they have done some good work, such as hearing confession, or delivering a sermon or lecture, go in search of the baubles of vanity by speaking so smugly of what they have done and what they have said. Just as the hearing of this repels me, I conclude that I would repel others if I were to talk of the very same subjects. Thus, I have made it an inflexible rule never to speak of what I have done.
The subject which was most repugnant to me was the talking of things heard in confession, not only because of the danger involved in breaking the sacramental seal of confession, but also because of the bad effect produced on such people as may happen to hear anything of this nature. In view of these facts, I resolved on no account to speak of persons and their affairs in relation to confession, whether they had not been to confession for a long or short time, whether they had made a general confession or not, in a word, to say absolutely nothing of these affairs. I disliked hearing of priests who spoke of those who had gone to confession to them, what they had confessed and how long it had been since they had absented themselves from that sacrament of reconciliation. If any priest came to consult me about certain problems encountered in the confessional, I could not bear to hear him using the words: "I find myself in such a situation, with such a case; what shall I do?" I would tell them to recount their difficulties in the third person, as for example: "Let us suppose that a confessor is confronted with such and such a case of a certain nature. What steps should be taken?"
Our Lord gave me to understand that one of the things which would be of the utmost utility to the missionary is the virtue of self-denial in the matter of food and drink. The Italians have a saying which goes: "Not much credit is given to saints who eat." People believe that missionaries are more heavenly than earthly beings, that at least they are like unto the saints of God who need not eat or drink. God Our Lord has given me a very special grace in this regard, of going without eating, or eating very little. There were three reasons in my case for not eating much. Firstly, because I was unable to do so, not having an appetite, especially when I had to preach very often or had to hear many confessions. At other times I used to be somewhat hungry, but I did not eat even then, particularly when I was traveling, for I would refrain from doing so in order to be able to walk better. Finally, I would abstain from eating in order to edify, for I observed that everybody was watching me. From this it can be gathered that I ate very little, in spite of the fact that I was, at times, very hungry.
Whenever I did eat, I took what was given me, always however, in small quantities, and food of inferior quality. If I happened to reach the rectory of the parish at an unseasonable hour, I would tell the cook to prepare only a little soup and an egg -- nothing more. I never took meat; not even now do I eat it, not because I do not like it, for I do, but because I know that not taking it is most edifying. Neither did I take wine; although I like it, it has been years since I have tasted it, excluding, of course, the ablutions at Mass. The same may be said of liquor and spirits of any kind; I never take them, although I am still fond of them, since I used to take a little in years gone by. Abstaining from food and drink is a source of edification, and is even necessary nowadays in order to counteract the disgraceful excesses so prevalent in these times.
When I was in Segovia in the year 1859, on the 4th of September, at 4:25 in the morning, while I was at meditation, Jesus Christ said to me: "You have to teach mortification in eating and drinking to your missionaries, Anthony." A few minutes afterwards the Blessed Virgin told me: "By doing this you will reap fruit in souls, Anthony."
At that time I was giving a mission in the cathedral of Segovia to the clergy, the nuns, and the people of that city. One day while all were at table it was mentioned that the former Bishop, a man of marked zeal, had exhorted some priests to go and give missions -- an exhortation which they fulfilled to the letter. After having walked a fair distance, these priests began to get so hungry and thirsty that they decided to stop and have lunch, since they had brought some food and drink with them. Meanwhile some people of the town to which they were going came to welcome them, but finding the priests eating, the people lost their esteem for them, so much so that those missionaries were unable to make any headway in that town. So the story goes at any rate, although I do not know how it originated. All I know is, that it was as a confirmation of what had been told me by Jesus and Mary.
My experience has taught me that mortification is very edifying in a missionary. Even now it stands me in good stead. In the Palace here at Madrid, banquets are held frequently, while before they were even more frequent. I am always invited to them, but if it is possible, I excuse myself. If I cannot possibly excuse myself from attending, I go to them, but always eat less than usual on those festive occasions. It is my custom then to take only a little soup and a small piece of fruit; nothing else -- no wine, no water. Of course, all look at me and are highly edified. Before I came to Madrid, as I am led to understand, disorders were rampant everywhere. Indeed, this could be easily gathered. So many rich and sumptuous dishes, exquisite meals, and so much wine of all kinds decked the tables, that inducements to excess were not wanting. But since the time that I was obliged to take part in the banquets, I have not noticed the slightest excess; on the contrary, it appears to me that the guests refrain from taking what they need, because they see me not eating. Often at the table, those guests sitting on both sides talk to me of spiritual subjects, and even ask the name of the church in which I hear confessions, so as to come there themselves and confess their sins.
In order to edify my neighbor more and more, I have always refrained from smoking and taking snuff. Never have I said, or even hinted, that one thing pleases me more than the another. I have done this for as long as I can remember. Our Lord had so bestowed upon me this heavenly blessing of indifference that my dear mother (requiescat in pace) died without knowing what things I liked most. As she loved me so very much, she would try to please me by asking if I would like to have certain things in preference to other things. I would answer that I was pleased most of all by whatever she chose and gave me. But this reply would not be enough, for she would add: "I know that very well, but we always like some things more than others." To this I would respond that whatever she gave me was the thing I liked most of all. I naturally had inclinations for what suited me best, as we all have; but the spiritual satisfaction I had in doing another's will was so great that it surpassed the natural satisfaction resulting from doing my own will. Thus, I told the truth when I assured my mother that her will was my greatest pleasure.
Besides denying self in regard to sight, hearing, speaking, in the senses of taste and smell, I tried also to perform some acts of mortification, such as taking the discipline on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and wearing the cilice on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. If, however, I found that circumstances of time and place did not favor these modes of penance, I used to practice some other form of mortification, as for example: praying with the arms stretched out in the form of a cross, or with the fingers under the knees. I know very well that worldly people and those who have not the spirit of Jesus Christ make little of, and even disapprove of, these mortifications. But for my part, I keep in mind the teaching laid down by St. John of the Cross which states: "If anyone affirms that one can reach perfection without practicing exterior mortification, do not believe him; and even though he confirm this assertion by working miracles, know that his contentions are nothing but illusions."
As for me, I look to St. Paul for my example, for he mortified himself, and said publicly: "Castigo corpus meum et in servitutem redigo, ne forte cum aliis praedicaverim ipse reprobus efficiar -- I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps when I have preached to others I myself may become a castaway." All the saints until now have done in like manner. Venerable Rodriquez says that the Blessed Virgin said to St. Elizabeth of Hungary, that no spiritual grace comes to the soul, commonly speaking, except by way of prayer and bodily afflictions. There is an old principle which goes: "Da mihi sanguinem et dabo tibi spiritum." Woe to those who are enemies of mortification and of the cross of Christ!
In one act of mortification one can practice many virtues, according to the different ends which one proposes in each act, as for example:- He who mortifies his body for the purpose of checking concupiscence, performs an act of the virtue of temperance.
- If he does this, purposing thereby to regulate his life well, it will be an act of the virtue of prudence.
- If he mortifies himself for the purpose of satisfying for the sins of his past life, it will be an act of justice.
- If he does it with the intention of conquering the difficulties of the spiritual life, it will be an act of fortitude.
- If he practices this virtue of mortification for the end of offering a sacrifice to God, depriving himself of what he likes, and doing that which is bitter and repugnant to nature, it will be an act of the virtue of religion.
- If he intends by mortification to receive greater light to know the divine attributes, it will be an act of faith.
- If he does it for the purpose of making his salvation more and more secure, it will be an act of hope.
- If he denies himself in order to help in the conversion of sinners, and for the release of the poor souls in purgatory, it will be an act of charity towards his neighbor.
- If he does it so as to help the poor, it will be an act of mercy.
- If he mortifies himself for the sake of pleasing God more and more, it will be an act of love of God.
In other words, I shall be able to put all these virtues into practice in one act of mortification, according to the end I propose to myself while doing the said act.
Virtue has so much more merit, is more resplendent, charming and attractive, when accompanied by greater sacrifice.
Man, who is vile, weak, mean, cowardly, never makes a sacrifice, and is not even capable of doing so, for he never resists even one appetite or desire. Everything that his concupiscence and passions demand, he concedes, if it is in his power to yield or reject, for he is base and cowardly, and lets himself be conquered and completely overcome, just as the braver of two fighters conquers the cowardly one. So it is with vice and the vicious -- the latter is crushed and the slave of his vices. Continence and chastity are therefore worthy of the highest praise, because the man who practices purity refrains from the pleasure which proceeds from nature or passion. Thus, the greater merit will be his the greater the pleasure he has denied himself. His merit will be the greater in proportion to the amount of repugnance he will have in conquering himself, in proportion to the intense and prolonged suffering he will have to undergo, to the human respect he will have to vanquish, and to the sacrifices he will have to make. Let him do all this and suffer all for the love of virtue and for God's greater glory. As to my exterior deportment, I proposed to myself modesty and recollection and in the interior of my soul my aim was continual and ardent occupation in God. In my work I aimed at patience, silence and suffering. The exact accomplishment of the law of God and of the Church, the obligations of my state of life as prescribed by God. I tried to do good to others, flee from sin, faults and imperfections, and to practice virtue.
All disagreeable, painful and humiliating happenings I considered as coming from God and ordered by Him for my own good. Even now, as I think of it, I fix my mind on God when such things occur, bowing in silence and with resignation to His most holy will; for I remember that Our Lord has said that not even a hair of our head shall fall without the will of our heavenly Father, Who loves us so much.
I know that three hundred years of faithful service to God are paid, and more than paid, when I am permitted an hour of suffering, so great is its value. O my Jesus and my Master, Thy servants who suffer tribulation, persecution, and abandonment by friends, who are crucified by exterior labors and by interior crosses, who are deprived of all spiritual consolation yet who suffer in silence and persevere in Thy love, O my Lord -- these are Thy loved ones, and the ones who please Thee most and whom Thou dost esteem most.
Thus I have resolved never to excuse or defend myself when others censure, calumniate and persecute me, because I would be the loser before God and men. I realize this because my calumniators and persecutors would make use of the truths and reasons I would bring forward in order to oppose me still further.
I believe that all my crosses come from God. Furthermore, God's will in my regard is that I suffer with patience and for the love of Him all pains of body and soul, as well as those persecutions directed against my honor. It is my firm belief that I shall be thus doing what will be for the greater glory of God, for I shall then be suffering in silence, like Jesus, Who died on the Cross abandoned by all.
To labor and to suffer for the one we love is the greatest proof of our love.
God was made man for us. But what kind of man? How was He born? How did He live? Yes, and what a death He endured! Ego sum vermis et non homo, et abjectio plebis -- I am a worm and no man, and the outcast of the people. Jesus is God and Man, but His Divinity did not help His Humanity in His crosses and sufferings, just as the souls of the just in heaven do not help their bodies which rot under the earth.
In a very special manner God helped the martyrs in their sufferings, but this same God abandoned Jesus in His crosses and torments, so that He was indeed a Man of Sorrows. The body of Our Lord was most delicately formed, and therefore more sensitive to pain and suffering. Well, then, who is capable of forming an idea of how much Jesus suffered? All His life, suffering was ever present. How much did He have to suffer for our love! Ah, what pains He underwent, so long-enduring and intense!
O Jesus, Love of my life, I know and realize that pains, sorrows and labors are the lot of the apostolate, but with the help of Thy grace I embrace them. I have had my share of them, and now I can say that by Thy aid, my Lord and my Father, I am ready to drain this chalice of interior trials and am resolved to receive this baptism of exterior suffering. My God, far be it from me to glory in anything save in the cross, upon which Thou wert once nailed for me. And I, dear Lord, wish to be nailed to the cross for Thee. So may it be. Amen.
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| Names of the Deceased for November |
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Posted by: Oratory - 10-20-2024, 12:18 PM - Forum: For the Souls in Purgatory
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Names of the Deceased
November, the Month of the Holy Souls, is right around the corner. Beginning today, and during the entire month of November, the Oratory of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary is accepting names of the deceased to be placed upon the altar for remembrance during every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered throughout November.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have previously sent the apostolate names of the deceased within the past four (4) years, we still have those names, and they will be placed upon the altar this year as well. If you have not sent us names of the deceased before, or have additional names you would like to add to your previously sent lists of the deceased, please send them to the following address:
By Email:
sorrowfulheartofmaryoratory@gmail.com
By Postal Mail:
Oratory of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary
66 Goves Lane; Wentworth, NH 03282
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| Catholic churches to hold Masses, Holy Hours in reparation for satanic ‘black mass’ in Atlanta |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-19-2024, 05:28 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Catholic churches to hold Masses, Holy Hours in reparation for satanic ‘black mass’ in Atlanta
The Archbishop of Atlanta is calling upon churches to hold Holy Hours of Eucharistic adoration in reparation for the upcoming ‘black mass,’ and at least two churches are also holding Masses in reparation for the blasphemous ritual.
![[Image: Eucharist-e1725975287694.jpeg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Eucharist-e1725975287694.jpeg)
Maria.Ratta/Shutterstock
Oct 18, 2024
ATLANTA (LifeSiteNews) — Catholic churches will be holding Masses in reparation for and to “bring to nothing” a satanic “black mass” to be held on October 25 in Atlanta, Georgia, intended to “summon” three demons.
The local bishop has noted that this “blasphemous and obscene inversion of the Catholic Mass” will desecrate a consecrated host, the Holy Eucharist – the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ – “in the vilest ways imaginable.”
The “black mass” will be held by the Atlanta chapter of the Satanic Temple, an organization that has previously admitted to defiling and destroying a “consecrated host” for one such event. The hosts must be stolen from a Catholic Church.
Theft and profanation of the Eucharist is made significantly easier by widespread reception of Holy Communion in the hand, as opposed to kneeling and on the tongue.
Archbishop Gregory John Hartmayer of the Archdiocese of Atlanta has denounced the ritual as a “serious sacrilege” and called upon “all Catholics of the Archdiocese of Atlanta to face this attack to our faith through prayer, penance and prayers of reparation.”
He has requested in a memo to clergy, sisters, and diocesan staff that “each parish conducts a Eucharistic Holy Hour with Benediction to honor the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist… as an act of reparation to this proposed sacrilege.”
Some Catholic churches will also be offering up the Sacrifice of the true Mass to counteract the “black mass.” The Mass is the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary renewed, in which God the Son offers Himself to God the Father, and as such is of infinite value.
The pastor of St. Clare of Assisi in Acworth, on the outskirts of the Atlanta metro area, announced a Mass of Reparation planned for October 25 and asked parishioners to pray for the “conversion of all those planning to attend this atrocity,” as well as consider fasting.
Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church in Roswell has announced the offering of a Divine Liturgy at 3 p.m. on October 25 to “prevent and bring to nothing the planned satanic black mass in Atlanta.”
“Jesus Christ cannot be harmed by any action of theirs, but we are responsible for allowing the Eucharist to be stolen and desecrated,” the church bulletin states.
The Satanic Temple (TST) regularly holds “black masses,” and in 2019, its Houston chapter confirmed that it desecrated a consecrated, sacred Host in hateful and blasphemous words on X.
Although on its website TST claims that members do not believe in the supernatural, it conducts satanic rituals, holds legal religious status as a “church”, advocates for abortion as a religious ritual, and has sued Texas and Indiana over their abortion restrictions on the grounds of “religious liberty.”
Founded in 2013 and recognized as a “church” by the IRS in 2019, TST began as a political organization aiming to reduce the presence of religion in the public sphere. In 2017, after then-President Donald Trump signed a religious freedom executive order, TST co-founder Lucien Greaves declared in a newsletter that TST “must re-evaluate its prior principled refusal to accept religious tax-exemption.”
Since then, the group has claimed that its “deeply held beliefs,” “narrative structure,” and use of symbols and practices makes it a church. It notably describes its “Satanic Abortion ritual” as “a destruction ritual” intended to “cast off notions of shame, guilt, and mental discomfort that a patient may be experiencing due to choosing” to murder her innocent unborn child in the womb.
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| Satanic Temple opens Virginia center for ‘religious abortion’ rituals |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-19-2024, 05:21 AM - Forum: Abortion
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Satanic Temple opens Virginia center for ‘religious abortion’ rituals
The website for the Satanic Temple’s online abortion center, named the Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic, claims the procedure is a ‘religious ritual’ while founder Lucien Greaves has called abortion a ‘sacrament.’
![[Image: Untitled-34.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Untitled-34.png)
Oct 18, 2024
(LifeSiteNews) — The Satanic Temple of America has been campaigning hard for abortion for years. The tax-exempt religious organization, based in Salem, Massachusetts, claims not to believe in a literal Satan – and they certainly do not believe in God. But they do describe abortion as a religious “ritual” and a “sacramental act that confirms the rights of bodily autonomy.” The Satanists worship themselves.
Satan, who very much exists, no doubt approves. In fact, the Satanic Temple has been seeking to weaponize religious liberty laws to have abortion declared a “sacrament.” Lucien Greaves, the creepy founder of the Temple, has raffled a “free abortion.” In 2021, the Satanists had “Abortion Saves Lives” billboards erected in Texas.
The Satanic Temple is now taking matters into its own hands. They have launched the “Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic,” named after the pro-life Supreme Court justice who penned the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which they describe as “an online clinic that provides religious medication abortion care. The clinic provides abortion medication via mail to those in New Mexico who wish to perform The Satanic Temple’s Religious Abortion Ritual.”
The website for the “clinic” includes a cruel cartoon of a woman who is identified as “Samuel Alito’s mom” saying: “If only abortion was legal when I was pregnant.” The site also assures visitors that: “Patients pay a pharmacy for the medication, but medical and religious services are free.” Greaves celebrated on X: “Happy second Satanic Abortion Clinic Opening Day!”
The Satanists have now opened their second clinic, this one in Virginia and billed as “the world’s second Satanic abortion clinic.” According to their recent announcement:
Quote:Today marks the opening of TST Health’s second telehealth abortion clinic in Virginia, serving the state and surrounding region. Just like our New Mexico clinic, our services will be free of charge, with patients only needing to cover the cost of medication through a third party at a very low price. Our dedicated staff will again be available 24/7, ensuring that patients receive the care they need, when they need it.
At TST Health, we have been fighting back against the efforts to restrict abortion access in the years following the catastrophic Dobbs decision. While many clinics have been forced to shut down, we took a bold step forward by opening the world’s first religious abortion clinic on February 14th, 2023. Since then, we have proudly offered over 100 abortions in New Mexico at no cost to patients aside from the medication. With an average cost of $91 per procedure, we provide the lowest-cost option for pregnancy terminations in the entire state. We’ve also helped cover travel and medication costs for those facing financial hardship, and we’re honored to have made a positive impact on so many lives during what can be a difficult time.
The Satanists go to great lengths to assert that abortion is their sacrament. “The Satanic Temple is the leading beacon of light in the battle for abortion access,” their website reads. “With Roe v. Wade overturned, a religious exemption will be the only available challenge to many restrictions to access. TST stands alone because we are the only entity that can assert a religious liberty claim that terminating a pregnancy is a central part of a religious ritual that encourages self-empowerment and affirms bodily autonomy.”
They continue: “This means that the imposition of waiting periods and mandatory counseling is akin to demanding a waiting period and counseling before one can be baptized or receive communion. Clearly, that would be a violation of religious liberty.”
It is no surprise to those of us who work in the pro-life movement that the primary preoccupation of Satanists is abortion. I’ve seen people yell “Hail, Satan!” as they walk into an abortion clinic, and anyone who has stood outside a clinic for any length of time can attest to a dark, oppressive energy that seems to pervade these places of death.
Abortion is, in many ways, a demonic inversion of the Gospel message: Not “My body for you,” but, “I destroy your body for me.” Abortion is the perfect Satanic sacrament: the brutal killing of a child created in God’s image; the hardening of the consciences of all involved.
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| Why Catholics Must Reject the 'Lesser of Two Evils' |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-18-2024, 11:03 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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Why Catholics Must Reject the 'Lesser of Two Evils'
COMBAT⚔ERROR, THE☩TRUMPET | October 17, 2024
To thoroughly reject the notion of voting for the "lesser of two evils," we turn to Traditional Catholic sources that emphasize moral absolutes and uncompromising adherence to Church teachings on cooperation with evil:
1. St. Thomas Aquinas on Cooperation with Evil
St. Thomas Aquinas provides a foundational argument against choosing any evil, regardless of its degree. He teaches, “No one is permitted to commit sin, even for the sake of avoiding a greater sin or obtaining a greater good” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q. 78, Art. 1). The principle here is clear: choosing the lesser of two evils still involves committing an evil act, which is never permissible. Aquinas’s teaching underscores that we cannot engage in moral wrongdoing, even with the intent of achieving a supposedly greater good.
2. Pope Pius XI in Casti Connubii
Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Casti Connubii (1930), condemns abortion as a grave evil that Catholics must oppose without compromise. He states: “In this matter, Catholics cannot allow themselves to be guided by mere expediency but must obey the dictates of the moral law.” This directive is not limited to abortion; it applies to all actions that conflict with the moral law. Voting for a candidate who supports any form of abortion, even if perceived as the lesser evil, amounts to indirect cooperation with evil, which Catholics must reject.
3. Pope Pius XII on the Dangers of Moral Compromise
Pope Pius XII emphasized the Church’s duty to uphold moral truth without compromise. In his Allocution to the Congress of the Italian Catholic Jurists (December 6, 1953), he proclaimed, “The good end does not make right an action which is in itself wrong.” This means that even if a candidate’s election might lead to certain good outcomes, voting for them still involves endorsing moral wrongs. This statement directly refutes the idea of supporting a lesser evil, as it reveals how this approach leads Catholics to justify morally unacceptable actions for perceived benefits.
4.Pope St. Gregory the Great on Leadership and Moral Integrity
Pope St. Gregory the Great advised against selecting leaders who fail to uphold moral principles. In his Pastoral Rule, he emphasizes, “It is better that scandals arise than the truth be suppressed.” Here, he underscores the need for Catholics to uphold moral truth at all costs. Supporting a candidate who promotes or tolerates grave evils like abortion constitutes a form of moral surrender. St. Gregory’s words call Catholics to choose leaders who are fully aligned with Catholic values, not merely lesser evils.
5. Catholic Moral Theology on the Misapplication of the Double Effect Principle
The principle of double effect does not justify voting for a morally compromised candidate. According to Traditional Catholic moral theology, this principle applies only when the bad effect is not directly willed, and there is no other way to achieve a necessary good. In the case of voting, however, Catholics knowingly endorse a candidate with morally flawed positions, which constitutes direct cooperation with evil. Therefore, the double effect principle does not provide cover for voting for the lesser evil.
Traditional Catholic teaching, as seen in the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope Pius XI, Pope Pius XII, and Archbishop Lefebvre, is unequivocal: Catholics cannot choose any evil, even if it is perceived as lesser. Supporting a candidate who endorses intrinsic evils like abortion is incompatible with Catholic principles. Instead, Catholics must seek alternatives that align with moral absolutes and uphold the Faith without compromise. The call is to reject any form of political manipulation that lures Catholics into accepting moral compromises and to remain steadfast in defending the Church’s teachings on non-negotiable issues.
-The ☩ Trumpet
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| Synod proposal could give ‘doctrinal authority’ to local bishops’ conferences |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-17-2024, 05:10 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Synod proposal could give ‘doctrinal authority’ to local bishops’ conferences
Bishops' conferences could essentially become the doctrine makers of their own local churches, thus completely undermining the unity of the Church.
![[Image: synod-tables.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/synod-tables.jpg)
Synod on Synodality members.
Michael Haynes
Oct 15, 2024
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Synod members are discussing a proposal that would give bishops “doctrinal authority,” essentially having the Catholic Church break up into numerous different, often contradictory bodies.
As the 300-plus members of the Synod on Synodality’s second session gather in the Paul VI Audience Hall, they began today the fourth of five modules of discussions that form part of the monthlong event.
Between October 2 and October 27, the members are working through the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, that was released in July to guide the month’s proceedings.
A total of seven working days will be given to the section of the working document that looks at “places” in respect of the overarching question “How to be a synodal Church in mission?” Those days, arguably, could prove to be the most momentous of the entire month.
Unlike last year’s October meeting, 10 study groups established by Pope Francis are dealing with a variety of topics, including the more controversial ones such as LGBT and female deacons.
But Francis and the synod leadership team have from the beginning insisted that the event is not intended to address such questions in the manner that, for instance, LGBT activists might wish. Rather, the synod is on synodality – meaning an examination and overhaul of the Church’s life, governance, and activity.
Opening the synod in 2021, Pope Francis quoted Vatican II theologian Father Yves Congar and called for “a different Church” courtesy of the synod. “Synodality is, in fact, the long game of Pope Francis,” Newark’s Cardinal Joseph Tobin revealed in May 2021.
With this month’s focus on how to be increasingly “synodal” – Francis and synod leaders have repeatedly declared the Church must be synodal in order to move forward – the discussions on this current module are therefore key.
Local churches holding doctrinal authority
Buried toward the end of the working document, in its treatment of “places,” are proposals that could turn the Catholic Church into a Protestant-style conglomeration of individual bodies rather than a unified body.
While paradoxically placed in a subsection entitled “the bonds that shape the unity of the Church,” these proposals would essentially allow bishops’ conferences to become doctrine makers of their own local churches, thus completely undermining the unity of the Church.
Paragraph 96 reads that the desire of Vatican II for local churches to foster the “collegial spirit” has “not been fully realized.” This, the document attests by way of a direct quote from Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium, is because “a juridical status of Episcopal Conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated.”
“Seeking how to be a synodal Church in mission requires addressing this question,” the Instrumentum Laboris adds.
The request for local authority over doctrine is expanded in paragraph 97:
Quote:From all that has been gathered so far, during this synodal process, the following proposals emerge: (a) recognition of Episcopal Conferences as ecclesial subjects endowed with doctrinal authority, assuming socio-cultural diversity within the framework of a multifaceted Church, and favoring the appreciation of liturgical, disciplinary, theological, and spiritual expressions appropriate to different socio-cultural contexts; {emphasis added}
(b) evaluating the real experience of the functioning of the Episcopal Conferences and the Eastern hierarchical structures, and of the relations between Episcopates and the Holy See, to identify the concrete reforms to be implemented; the ad limina visits, which fall under Study Group 7, could be a fitting context for this evaluation; and
© ensuring that all Dioceses or Eparchies are assigned to an ecclesiastical Province and an Episcopal Conference or Eastern hierarchical Structure (cf. CD 40)
With this proposal, the Instrumentum Laboris attempts to have bishops’ conferences assign to themselves the power to decide what is in accord with the Catholic Church’s doctrine or not. The results – as have already been witnessed historically with the breakup and proliferation of the Protestant churches – would herald the death of the Catholic Church as “One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic.”
Such a proposal is also being posited in line with another key synod theme, namely the inculturation of the Gospel in accordance with local cultures.
“The Church cannot be understood without being rooted in a place and a culture and without the relationships established between places and cultures,” the Instrumentum Laboris reads just a few lines above.
“The synodal conversion of minds and hearts must be accompanied by a synodal reform of ecclesial realities, called to be roads on which to journey together,” the text adds.
Such a call for local style of Gospel “inculturation” is reiterated once again, as the Instrumentum Laboris urges a continued push:
Quote:The desire that local synodal dialogue should continue and not come to an end and the need for effective inculturation of the faith in specific regions drives us towards a new appreciation of the institution of particular Councils, be they provincial or plenary, whose periodic celebration has been an obligation for a large part of the Church’s history.
With local style of ecclesial life thus emerging, activists will find considerable weight for making their local arguments in favor of – for instance – female deacons in the Amazon. Add to this the ability of bishops’ conferences to decide doctrine for themselves and the global Church risks crumbling.
It remains to be seen what the synod members make of the working document’s proposals and what recommendations they send to Pope Francis.
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| The Catholic Trumpet: An Anchor in the Midst of Turmoil |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-16-2024, 08:48 AM - Forum: The Catholic Trumpet
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An Anchor in the Midst of Turmoil
![[Image: rs=w:1280]](https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/df55e1a9-c854-4d0b-a2a9-94177954436c/iniative.thebannerTHE%E2%98%A9TRUMPET%20(4000%20x%20-ffc1a37.png/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:1280)
The Catholic Trumpet | October 15, 2024
As the writer for The Catholic Trumpet, I can’t help but feel that the truth is glaringly obvious to those of us who seek it: the Conciliar Church stands as the prophesied counter-church of the end times, especially in light of the "Second Vatican Council"—rightly dubbed the "anti-council."
Yet, the world seems indifferent, and those who recognize this truth are blind to the reality that the SSPX—now referred to as the Neo-SSPX—is firmly under its influence since the 2012 doctrinal declaration. One must wonder: is the Antichrist not already with us in spirit, and is his reign just around the corner? But the true sons of Archbishop Lefebvre endure; Fr. Hewko, for example, keeps us afloat and makes up for the silence from our traditional bishops and remaining priests.
Disasters are unfolding throughout North America, and if these are indeed a chastisement, we must give Glory to God. Yet, mainstream media often downplays these events. In North Carolina, for example, they report only 50 fatalities, while local accounts suggest the number could be in the thousands. It’s easy to feel disheartened when we see a world that refuses to turn back to the Church of Christ. However, in these tumultuous times, we must hold fast to Our Lady and dedicate ourselves to deep spiritual works.
As a humble compilation of thoughts, I will share with you the wisdom and instruction of a much greater man to reflect on, guiding us to love and serve God while battling fiercely against the world and ourselves.
-A. Mari Servus
The Imitation of Christ
CHAPTER XLVIII
Of the Day of Eternity and of the Straitnesses of This Life
"Oh most blessed mansion of the City which is above! Oh most clear day of eternity which the night obscureth not, but the Supreme Truth ever enlighteneth! Day always joyful, always secure and never changing its state into those which are contrary. Oh would that this day might shine forth, and that all these temporal things would come to an end. It shineth indeed upon the Saints, glowing with unending brightness, but only from afar and through a glass, upon those who are pilgrims on the earth.
2. The citizens of heaven know how glorious that day is; the exiled sons of Eve groan, because this is bitter and wearisome. The days of this life are few and evil, full of sorrows and straits, where man is defiled with many sins, ensnared with many passions, bound fast with many fears, wearied with many cares, distracted with many questionings, entangled with many vanities, compassed about with many errors, worn away with many labours, weighed down with temptations, enervated by pleasures, tormented by poverty.
3. Oh when shall there be an end of these evils? When shall I be delivered from the wretched slavery of my sins? When shall I be mindful, O Lord, of Thee alone? When shall I rejoice in Thee to the full? When shall I be in true liberty without any impediment, without any burden on mind or body? When shall there be solid peace, peace immovable and secure, peace within and without, peace firm on every side? Blessed Jesus, when shall I stand to behold Thee? When shall I gaze upon the glory of Thy kingdom? When shalt Thou be to me all in all? Oh when shall I be with Thee in Thy Kingdom which Thou hast prepared from the foundation of the world for them that love Thee? I am left destitute, an exile in a hostile land, where are daily wars and grievous misfortunes.
4. Console my exile, mitigate my sorrow, for towards Thee all my desire longeth. For all is to me a burden, whatsoever this world offereth for consolation. I yearn to enjoy Thee intimately, but I cannot attain unto it. I long to cleave to heavenly things, but temporal things and unmortified passions press me down. In my mind I would be above all things, but in my flesh I am unwillingly compelled to be beneath them. So, wretched man that I am, I fight with myself, and am made grievous even unto myself, while the spirit seeketh to be above and the flesh to be beneath.
5. Oh how I suffer inwardly, while with the mind I discourse on heavenly things, and presently a crowd of carnal things rusheth upon me whilst I pray. My God, be not Thou far from me, nor depart in wrath from Thy servant. Cast forth Thy lightning and scatter them; send out Thine arrows,(1) and let all delusions of my enemy be confounded. Recall my senses unto Thyself, cause me to forget all worldly things; grant me quickly to cast away and despise the imaginations of sin. Succour me, O Eternal Truth, that no vanity may move me. Come unto me, O Heavenly Sweetness, and let all impurity flee from before Thy face. Pardon me also, and of Thy mercy deal gently with me, whensoever in prayer I think on anything besides Thee; for truly I confess that I am wont to be continually distracted. For often and often, where in the body I stand or sit, there I myself am not; but rather am I there, whither I am borne by my thoughts. Where my thought is, there am I; and there commonly is my thought where that which I love is. That readily occurreth to me, which naturally delighteth, or pleaseth through custom.
6. Wherefore Thou, who art the Truth, hast plainly said, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.(2) If I love heaven, I gladly meditate on heavenly things. If I love the world, I rejoice in the delights of the world, and am made sorry by its adversities. If I love the flesh, I am continually imagining the things which belong to the flesh; if I love the spirit, I am delighted by meditating on spiritual things. For whatsoever things I love, on these I readily converse and listen, and carry home with me the images of them. But blessed is that man who for Thy sake, O Lord, is willing to part from all creatures; who doth violence to his fleshly nature and crucifieth the lusts of the flesh by the fervour of his spirit, so that with serene conscience he may offer unto Thee a pure prayer, and be made worthy to enter into the angelic choirs, having shut out from himself, both outwardly and inwardly, all worldly things."
(1) Psalm lxxi. 12. (2) Matthew vi. 21.
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| Amazon cardinal ‘lays hands’ to confer ‘ministry’ on women going to ‘celebrate a sacrament’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-16-2024, 07:45 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Amazon cardinal ‘lays hands’ to confer ‘ministry’ on women going to ‘celebrate a sacrament’
Brazil’s Cardinal Ulrich Steiner told a press conference that he ‘lays hands’ on women who will baptize people in the Amazon region, asserting that 'in our reality, women exercise the deacon's ministries.’
![[Image: steiner-1.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/steiner-1.jpg)
Cardinal Ulrich Steiner in Fatima.
Santuário de Fátima/Facebook
Oct 15, 2024
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews [adapted]) — Calling for a female diaconate, Cardinal Ulrich Steiner, from Brazil’s Amazon region, has revealed that he “lays hands” on women who he has commissioned to baptize since they are going to “celebrate a sacrament.”
Addressing a press conference in Fatima, Portugal, over the weekend, Steiner renewed his prior calls for a female diaconate.
“In our reality, women exercise the deacon’s ministries,” said Steiner on Saturday. The Cardinal-Archbishop of Manaus, in the Amazon, presides over an area with approximately 1.6 million Catholics.
He added that “the vast majority of our small communities are coordinated by women,” noting that the “role of women in the church of the Amazon is fundamental.”
Steiner continued, revealing that he performs a para-liturgical ceremony for women he sends to offer the sacraments within the archdiocese.
“When I send someone, for example to baptize, I lay hands on them, but I don’t lay hands on someone as an ordination. I lay hands as the apostles did,” he attested, adding that it is “a sign of receiving a ministry and that this person will celebrate a sacrament.”
The apostles are recorded in the Scriptures as laying on hands on new Catholics, but primarily the laying on of hands was used in conjunction with conferring sacramental ordination to Holy Orders, such as when ordaining the seven deacons. (Acts 6: 6)
St. Paul also warns against too freely practicing the laying on of hands for new converts, warning in 1 Timothy 5:22: “Impose not hands lightly upon any man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins.”
Steiner’s testimony about his laying on of hands to confer a “ministry,” while arguing that he is not ordaining, appears to contradict the custom of the early Church since new members of the Church did not receive a “ministry” when the apostles laid hands on them.
Additionally, the Catholic Church notes that the “ordinary ministers” of the Sacrament of Baptism are bishops, priests, and deacons. It is only “in case of necessity” that “any person, even someone not baptized, can baptize, if he has the required intention.”
Steiner has regularly highlighted the leading contributions of women in his archdiocese, and following calls from the Amazon Synod to have female deacons, the issue has gained renewed attention with the Synod on Synodality.
Continuing his remarks to the press in Fatima, Steiner made passing reference to the controversy relating not only to female deacons, but also to Pope Francis’ 2023 document Fiducia Supplicans.
“These issues are very tense in the Church,” he commented. “We should not stop discussing and reflecting. And if, in an hour, we come to the conclusion that, in the past, there was the female diaconate, why not reintroduce it, how was the permanent diaconate reintroduced?”
Advocates for female ordination continue to argue that such a practice would simply be revitalizing a custom of the early Church. But in 2002, the Vatican’s International Theological Commission wrote after much study that:
- The deaconesses mentioned in the tradition of the ancient Church – as evidenced by the rite of institution and the functions they exercised – were not purely and simply equivalent to the deacons;
- The unity of the sacrament of Holy Orders, in the clear distinction between the ministries of the bishop and the priests on the one hand and the diaconal ministry on the other, is strongly underlined by ecclesial tradition, especially in the teaching of the Magisterium
As LifeSiteNews columnist Dr. Maike Hickson noted in an article for OnePeterFive, “female deacons were not sacramentally ordained, were excluded from any role in the liturgy, and thus cannot be compared with a sacramentally ordained female deacon as Cardinal (Christophe) Schönborn and others propose.”
Catholic prohibition of female ordination
The question of female deacons has been consistently raised by certain voices in the media and in the Church, and it continues to be proposed at the Synod on Synodality.
Pope Francis has assigned the question to a special study group led by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández. The cardinal briefed synod members October 2 about the issue, saying that no approval would be given to female deacons at the moment, but that “in-depth study” would continue until 2025.
The study group is examining the question by drawing on the October 2023 Synthesis Report and the Vatican’s 2016 and 2020 commissions on “female deacons.” In addition, Fernández told the synod assembly that he was drawing upon Evangelii Gaudium 103-104, Querida Amazonia 99-103, and Antiquum Ministerium 3.
The Catholic Church infallibly teaches that it is impossible to ordain women to sacred orders, including the diaconate. In his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II taught “that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”
In 2018, then-prefect of the CDF Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, S.J., defended the teaching of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis as bearing the mark of “infallibility,” with John Paul II having “formally confirmed and made explicit, so as to remove all doubt, that which the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium has long considered throughout history as belonging to the deposit of faith.”
“It is certainly without doubt, however, that this definitive decision from Pope John Paul II is indeed a dogma of the Faith of the Catholic Church and that this was of course the case already before this Pope defined this truth as contained in Revelation in the year 1994,” declared former CDF prefect Cardinal Gerhard Müller in 2019.
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| The Revelations of St. Elizabeth of Hungary |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-15-2024, 11:03 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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The Revelations of St. Elizabeth
translated, by Alexandra Barratt,
University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
A Translation into Modern English, made from the Latin text in Cambridge Magdalene College MS F.4.14
Taken from here.
Table of Contents
Note from the Translator's Introduction
Here begin the visions of the blessed virgin Elizabeth, daughter of the king of Hungary.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
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VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
Notes
Note from the Translator's Introduction
Although today virtually unknown, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Revelations of St. Elizabeth of Hungary circulated in two Latin and two Middle English versions, as well as in French, Italian, Spanish and Catalan. Elsewhere I have discussed the problems of their authorship, date, and original language and have argued that the original text was written in Middle High German, probably by the Dominican nun Elsbet Stagel, Suso's spiritual daughter and biographer, and then translated (twice) into Latin. Further, I have suggested that the "Elizabeth of Hungary" with whom it claims to originate is not the popular St. Elizabeth of Thuringia (d. 1231) but her obscure great-niece, Elizabeth of Tob (d. 1336), like her aunt the daughter of a king of Hungary, who spent her short life as an enclosed Dominican nun in the convent of Tob, near Wintertur in Switzerland.
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| The Catholic Way to Celebrate a Birthday |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-15-2024, 05:14 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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The Catholic Way to Celebrate a Birthday
Rachel Lee Lozowski
TIA | October 14, 2024
A reader asked us how a Catholic should celebrate his or her birthday in a meritorious or traditional way as it was done in the past.
Perhaps the best way to begin to understand the true Catholic spirit of birthdays is to imitate Our Lady, whose commemoration of her nativity is recorded in The Mystical City of God: The Coronation by Ven. Mary of Agreda, (Chap. XII):
Quote:“She celebrated [her birth] on the eighth of September, on the day on which she was born. She began on the evening before with the same prostrations and canticles as she made to honor the feast of her Conception. She gave thanks for having been born to life into the light of this world, and for the favor of having been raised to Heaven in the hour of her birth to look upon the Divinity intuitively, as I have narrated in the first part of this history.
“She resolved anew to spend her whole life in fulfilling the pleasure of the Lord, acknowledging that for this purpose alone it was given to her. … She asked the Lord to lend her His assistance, govern her in all her actions and lead her to the highest end proposed for His glory.
“As for the rest concerning this feast, although she was not raised to Heaven as on the day of her Conception, yet her Divine Son came down with many choirs of the Angels, with the Patriarchs and Prophets, and with St. Joachim, St. Anne and St. Joseph. With this company Christ our Savior descended in order to celebrate the birthday of His Most Blessed Mother upon earth.
“And this purest of creatures, in the presence of that celestial company, adored the Lord with wonderful reverence and worship, and again expressed her thankful acknowledgment for having been placed upon the earth and for the benefits connected therewith.” (pp. 524-532)
![[Image: C088_Nat.jpg]](https://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/images%20(A-D)/C088_Nat.jpg)
The Nativity of Our Lady
Our Lady then gives instructions to Mary of Agreda on how to celebrate her birthday:
Quote:“On the day of your birth into the world, you should render special thanks to the Lord in imitation of me and perform some extra work in His service. Above all you should resolve thenceforth to amend thy life and to commence to labor in this anew. And all mortals, instead of spending the anniversary of their birth in demonstration of vain earthly joy, should make similar resolutions.” (p. 532)
With these admirable instructions given to us by Our Lady, it would seem fitting to attend Mass on one’s birthday, if time and duty allows. The thoughts and practices on the day should often be focused on gratitude to God as our Creator and submission to Divine Providence, described so perfectly above. However, although Our Lady warns against demonstrations of “vain earthly joy,” it is not contrary to the Catholic spirit to have an innocent and joyful celebration according to one’s means.
History of the celebration of birthdays
In the mind of the Church, the death day of a saint is considered to be his birth day to new life in Heaven; for this reason the traditional day for a saint’s feast is assigned on the death day. In the Roman Martyrology, the beginning of an entry of the saint’s death day often describes the date as the “natalis” (“the birthday of”) the saint who is commemorated.
![[Image: C088_Her.jpg]](https://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/images%20(A-D)/C088_Her.jpg)
The early Christians rejected the lavish birthday feasts, as Herod’s birthday above, & saw the true birthday of a Saint to be his death day when he entered the Eternal Kingdom
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St. Ambrose declares that “the day of our burial is called our birthday (natalis) because, being set free from the prison of our crimes, we are born to the liberty of the Savior.” He continues: “Wherefore this day is observed as a great celebration, for it is in truth a festival of the highest order to be dead to our vices and to live to righteousness alone.” (Serm. 57, de Depos. St. Eusebii)
The death day was referred to as the natalis or birthday since at least 150 A.D. when the Christians of Smyrna describe in writing how they honored the bones of St. Polycarp, “which are more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold.” Thus, they “laid them in a suitable place where the Lord will permit us to gather ourselves together, as we are able, in gladness and joy and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom.”
In the early days of the Church, Christians did not celebrate birthdays since it was a pagan custom of the Roman society. Origen argues that “of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which they were born into this world below.” (Origen, in Levit., Hom. VIII, in Migne P.G., XII, 495)
The Early Christians instead considered their true “day of birth” to be their Baptism day, when they were made children of God. In the fourth century, after paganism’s hold on Roman society began to dwindle and the Nativity of Our Lord began to be celebrated publicly, some Catholic Romans of upper classes began to celebrate birthdays. By medieval times, the nobility celebrated their actual birthdays with grand feasts and pageants.
Name day celebrations
While the nobles celebrated their birth day, the peasantry more commonly celebrated their Name Day with more simple celebrations befitting their condition. Up until the 20th century, many Catholic countries celebrated Name Days instead of (or in addition to) birthdays. The Name Day is the feast day of the patron saint after whom a person is named. In many Catholic families of the past, children were named after the saint on whose feast day they were born, so the birthday and Name Day were the same day.
![[Image: C088_Med.jpg]](https://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/images%20(A-D)/C088_Med.jpg)
Medieval nobles celebrated birthdays with marvelous feasts
On a person’s name day, he attended Mass in the morning. In the afternoon all of his friends, family members and neighbors visited him and offered good wishes, and he enjoyed special celebratory foods. In some places, the person celebrating his Name Day provided the food for the feast and invited others to partake of the feast. During the festive meal, toasts were made in honor of the person and their patron saint.
In Lithuania, people decorated the door of the person whose Name Day it was and adorned his seat in the dining room with ribbons and flowers. During the meal, he was given a sash to wear with his saint’s name on it and he and the chair were hoisted three times into the air.
These Name Day customs could easily be used or adapted for birthday celebrations. Some Catholics may even find that they wish to have their main celebration on their Name Day. However or whenever a Catholic decides to celebrate, he ought to acknowledge both days and offer to God and the Saints the honor that they deserve.
Another pious custom of the past was for persons to set apart their birthday as a special festival in honor of their Guardian Angels. They would treat the birthday exactly as they would the festivals of the great Saints they honor, both in the way of preparation and in keeping the octave. In addition one would give as many alms as his years in honor as his Guardian Angel, or else make as many acts of virtue or devotion to their amiable Guardian. (Henri-Marie Boudon, Devotion to the Nine Choirs of Holy Angels, London: Burns, Oates, & Co, 1869, p. 157)
Celebrating birthdays as traditional Catholics
Birthdays as they are celebrated today are often filled with vulgarity, silliness and worldliness, especially amongst people without Faith. There is also a tendency among many toward extravagance, making each birthday a kind of secular and often expensive event. The common customs that we associate with birthdays, however, are not bad in themselves.
The custom of topping birthday cakes with candles denoting the age, and the ceremony of blowing out the candles and cutting the cake, seem to have originated in the late 18th century when they were popularized in Germany during birthdays of children of wealthy families.
![[Image: C088_Ext.jpg]](https://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/images%20(A-D)/C088_Ext.jpg)
A worldly party without ceremony; below, a family’s simple but joyful celebration of the baby’s first birthday with cake & family
![[Image: C088_Fir.jpg]](https://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/images%20(A-D)/C088_Fir.jpg)
Despite their more recent appearance, these customs can still be included in a traditional Catholic birthday celebration. There is no one way of celebrating a birthday. Different families, villages and regions should develop their own customs and foods, as they did in the past.
To avoid merely giving into the “vain earthly joy” that Our Lady warns about in the beginning of this article, a person should consider the primary duty on his birthday to give thanks to God, especially by attending Mass, giving alms, performing extra prayers and devotions, etc.
Celebrations should be filled with joy, but also be tempered by virtue ,seriousness, and sacrality. The dining hall should be decorated elegantly, the conversation should be edifying, and toasts and good wishes ought to be directed towards the good of the person’s soul and the fulfillment of his vocation.
Sources:
1. Orly Redlich, The Concept of Birthday: A Theoretical, Historical, and Social Overview, in Judaism and Other Cultures (The World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences vol:14, n:9, 2020) pp. 791-792. (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Orl...ltures.pdf)
2. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10709a.htm
3. https://www.lagazzettaitaliana.com/histo...n-name-day
4. https://www.fisheaters.com/namedays.html
5. Mary Gage and James Gage, “Birthday Cakes: History & Recipes” (https://www.newenglandrecipes.org/Birthday-Cake.pdf)
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| Cardinal Tobin says synodality implements Pope Francis’ ‘program’ for the Church |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-14-2024, 06:35 PM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Cardinal Tobin says synodality implements Pope Francis’ ‘program’ for the Church
With ‘Amoris Laetitia, Fratelli Tutti, Laudato Si’,’ Pope Francis has ‘distilled wisdom’ from previous synods,
opined Cardinal Joseph Tobin at a Holy See press briefing today.
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Joseph Cardinal Tobin at the Vatican, Oct 2024
YouTube screenshot
Oct 11, 2024
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Newark’s Cardinal Joseph Tobin has linked some of Pope Francis’ more controversial texts, such as Amoris Laetitia, to the Synod, saying that synodality is a key part of Francis’ “program” which makes the Church “live and act” differently.
With “Amoris Laetitia, Fratelli Tutti, Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis has “distilled wisdom” from previous synods, opined Cardinal Tobin at a Holy See press briefing today.
Tobin drew on his experience as a member of the ordinary council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, which organizes each synod including the current Synod on Synodality.
Appointed as a member to the council in 2018, the Newark cardinal said the first preparatory meeting for the 2021 Synod took place in early 2019.
During the council meeting, they discussed which of the three themes from the 2018 Synod on Young People should be the focus of the 2021 event, choosing from “Immigrants and refugees, life and ministry of priests, synodality.”
According to Tobin today, the members of the council strongly advised the Pope that immigration or priestly life should be the focus, but Francis decided to make the Synod on “synodality,” causing some strong confusion in the council.
Tobin praised Francis’ decision, though remarking that he did not understand it at the time. “My sin was to question wisdom of the Holy Father,” he said. “I’ve been absolving it by trying to understand what he meant and why he values it.”
The 72-year-old cardinal suggested that Francis’ focus on synodality was tying together key themes and documents from his pontificate.
“As he distilled wisdom that was presented in subsequent synods – Amoris Laetitia, Fratelli Tutti, Laudato Si’, it became clear to me that the Holy Father was not simply proposing a program, but that he was helping me and others to understand that in order to do to this, to respond to the Lord this way, you need to think differently about how the church lives and acts.”
Now, closed Tobin, Francis’ attention to synodality “is a great moment of grace for the Church and the world.”
Tobin’s linking of three key documents written by Francis and the Synod is notable as it posits the Synod on Synodality as a way to fully implement the proposals contained in the previous texts.
Amoris Laetitia is infamously controversial for proposing Holy Communion for the divorced and “re-married.” Fratelli Tutti promoting human fraternity has been widely criticized for promoting fraternity divorced from religion and, as a result, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò condemned the text for promoting a “blasphemous” form of brotherhood without God as well as “religious indifferentism.”
Meanwhile Laudato Si’, and its focus on “climate change” issues, has become the reference text for later Vatican and Papal initiatives focused on the green agenda. In it, Francis spoke about “true ecological approach” which listens to “both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
In contrast, the Synod on Synodality has been promoted as not focused on any one topic in particular – though numerous issues such as “female deacons” and LGBT “inclusion” continue to be raised by individual members. Rather, the Synod on Synodality presents a new manner of ecclesial life and governance, one in which endless questioning, round-table discussions, and joint decision making becomes the norm while the traditional hierarchy and unchanging teachings of the Church are sidelined.
Through the “synodality” process, questions are raised about how aspects of Church teaching, which are already firmly and infallibly decided, can be reimagined or altered.
Indeed many of the issues central to the three texts Tobin mentioned are contained in the Synod, which includes how to “welcome” divorced and re-married individuals as part of the Church’s ostensible new self-understanding.
In April 2021, Tobin highlighted the topic of “synodality” as “a long-established buzzword of this papacy.”
“Francis keeps calling for a more decentralized church, one marked by collaborative and consultative decision-making, a functionality we generally associate more with the horizontal structures of churches of the East as opposed to the top-down Roman hierarchy in the West,” he said.
“Synodality is, in fact, the long-game of Pope Francis,” said Tobin at the time.
READ: Cardinal Tobin: ‘Synodality’ is Pope Francis’ ‘long-game’ plan to change Catholic Church
Tobin also quoted from Amoris Laetitia to shed light on the meaning of synodality. Francis wrote, “[n]ot all discussions of doctrinal, moral, or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium.” Tobin commented that “what Francis was saying was that the Vatican is not the only part of the body of Christ.”
In contrast to Tobin’s praise for synodality, already back in 2018 Cardinal Raymond Burke remarked that “synodality” has “become like a slogan, meant to suggest some kind of new church which is democratic and in which the authority of the Roman Pontiff is relativized and diminished — if not destroyed.”
He warned that some, “not understanding the notion of a synod correctly[,] could think, for instance, that the Catholic Church has now become some kind of democratic body with some kind of new constitution.”
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| Drythelm Returns from Death |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-13-2024, 04:36 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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Drythelm Returns from Death
Fr. Albert J. Hebert, S.M., Raised from Death,
Rockford TAN Books & Publishers, 1986, pp. 96ss.
TIA | October 12, 2024
St. Bede the Venerable (672-735), Doctor of the Church, one of the most respectable historians of ancient Europe and one of the most authoritative of the English History, was the one who narrated this case, which took place around 700 A.D.
The great and learned Cardinal St. Robert Bellarmine accepted as a real fact the report of the Venerable Bede about Drythelm, a man of Northumberland who returned from the world of the dead. This event became known in all of ancient England and from it came many conversions.
Resurrected without any human interference
After leading a Christian life along with his family, Drythelm died of an illness. Immediately before the burial, he returned suddenly to life, and, beginning to rise, stood up.
His family, who had spent the past night keeping vigil together over his coffin, were taken with fear. All fled, except his faithful spouse who, although trembling, remained alone with her resurrected husband.
“Do not be afraid,” he appeased her, “it was God who resurrected me. He desires to show in my person a man who returned from the dead. I must still live for a very long time on earth, but my new life will be very different from that which I have lived until now.”
Drythelm proposed to change his life, despite having always been a very good man. He then arose and went immediately in perfect health to the nearby church and there prayed for a long time.
Resurrected to make penitence
Drythelm said to his family that thenceforth he would live only to prepare himself for death. And he counseled each one to do the same. He divided what he had with his spouse and children and reserved a third for himself, for the purpose of giving alms. Then after having distributed his part to the poor, he went to the Monastery of Melrose, on the slopes of the River Tweed, where he asked the Abbot to receive him as a penitent religious who would be the slave of the others.
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Ruins of Melrose Abbey where Drythelm was received as a monk
Drythelm received a cell for himself, where he lived to make a review of his life – or of the next life. He prayed, worked hard and made extraordinary penances: rigorous fasts and the recitation, while submerged in freezing water, of the entire Psaltery (the 150 Psalms).
He saw Purgatory, Hell & the threshold of Heaven
Drythelm also kept perpetual silence. All his posture, with the eyes downcast and his features ascetic, indicated a soul timorously conscious of the judgment of God. Therefore, he would break his silence in order to relate what he had seen in the other world for the edification and help of others.
The entire story can be read in the History of the Church by Bede, or in a more summarized form in the book Purgatory, by Fr. F. X. Schouppe, S J.
Drythelm said then: “Upon leaving my body, I was received by a benevolent person who took me under his guidance. His face was brilliant and appeared to be surrounded by light. He arrived to a large and deep valley of an immense extension, having in one part only fire and in another, only ice and snow. On one side, braziers and cauldrons in flames, on the other, the most intense cold and gusts of glacial wind."
Drythelm continued to recount how he saw innumerable souls as though launched by a furious tempest from one side of the freezing cold to the side with the ardent heat, from torture to torture, from here to there, continuously seeking refreshment in the extreme opposite.
He thought that this terrible place was Hell, but his guide told him that it was a special place in Purgatory. In this place found themselves the souls who had delayed their repentance until the end of their lives, but who had been saved by the mercy of God in the last instant. There in Purgatory they had to suffer their temporal punishment for the forgotten sins. He understood that the majority of them had to pay the penance there until the Last Judgment.
Drythelm was also shown the terrible scenes of Hell. Immense globes and masses of malodorous fire would issue from the dark crater of that hole full of cacophonous sounds. The souls that found themselves there were expelled in the apex of the flames and then sucked downwards, when the vaporous flames would descend again. Drythelm saw a multitude of sneering spirits dragging toward the hole five souls who moaned and wept, among which one had a [monastic] tonsure, another a layman and yet another a woman.
On the happy side he saw flowered fields, spirits full of happiness, pleasant dwellings, but it was not Heaven. Then he arrived at a place where he heard the sound of sweet songs in the middle of a pleasant fragrance and a splendorous light. His guide told him that Heaven was close, therefore Drythelm did not see it. So his celestial guide told him to return to Earth.
Many sinners converted
When other monks asked Drythelm why he did those great penances, such as that of submerging himself in freezing water, he responded: “I saw penances that are still more extraordinary.” Or, if they made some observation about his austere life, he said “I saw harder things!”
Even prostrated by his advanced age, he continued to punish his body without mercy. And so he produced a great impression on England and many sinners converted through his lively reports and the example of his reparative penances.
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| At Synod ecumenical vigil Pope emphasizes link of ‘unity and synodality’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-13-2024, 04:26 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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At Synod ecumenical vigil Pope emphasizes link of ‘unity and synodality’
Marking the anniversary of Vatican II's opening, Pope Francis led Synod participants and ecumenical delegates in a
prayer vigil at the Vatican, during which the link between Synodality and ecumenism were emphasized.
![[Image: vigil.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/vigil.jpg)
Michael Haynes
Oct 11, 2024
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted]) — Pope Francis joined with ecumenical delegates and participants of the Synod on Synodality in an ecumenical prayer vigil at the Vatican this evening, during which the link between ecumenism and synodality were once more affirmed.
Closing the full day of Synod meetings Friday, October 11, the participants took part in a highly anticipated ecumenical prayer vigil in the Piazza of the Protomartyrs in the Vatican – the traditional site of St. Peter’s martyrdom.
Joining the Pope and the Synod were a number of ecumenical delegates, escorted by Cardinal Kurt Koch who is the prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
The date was deliberate, as it marked the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the opening of which “marked the entry of the Catholic Church into the ecumenical movement,” Koch told reporters Thursday.
Exhibiting a sign of fatigue, Francis skipped his scheduled homily during the vigil, though the Holy See press office later published it online.
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Pope Francis Oct 11. Credit: Michael Haynes
In his prepared text, Francis reiterated what has been a consistent and prominent theme throughout the three-year Synod: “Christian unity and synodality are linked.”
“The journey of synodality… is and must be ecumenical, just as the ecumenical journey is synodal,” he said, continuing talking points expounded at length by Cardinal Koch during an October 10 press briefing.
Noting that the Holy Spirit “guides us towards greater communion,” Francis argued that it was not clear what such a unity would resemble:
Quote:Just as we do not know beforehand what the outcome of the Synod will be, neither do we know exactly what the unity to which we are called will be like…As Father Paul Couturier used to say, Christian unity must be implored “as Christ wills” and “by the means he wills.”
Francis also emphasized the Synod’s particular aspect of ecumenical relations, saying that the event “is helping us to rediscover the beauty of the Church in the variety of its faces.”
Echoing a commonly repeated phrase of his, Francis said that “unity is not uniformity, or the result of compromise or counterbalance.”
Instead, he stated that “Christian unity is harmony among the diversity of charisms awakened by the Spirit for the building up of all Christians.”
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Synod and ecumenical attendees at the Oct 11 Vigil. Credit: Michael Haynes
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Synod and ecumenical attendees at the Oct 11 Vigil. Credit: Michael Haynes
Not just the date but also the location for the vigil was pivotal. Francis and the entire ecumenical assembly were seated in the square where Tradition records that St. Peter was martyred, crucified upside down. “In this place, the Roman protomartyrs remind us that today too, in many parts of the world, Christians of different traditions are laying down their lives together for their faith in Jesus Christ, embodying an ecumenism of blood,” commented Francis.
He also spoke of “shame” at the “scandal of division among Christians, the scandal of our failure to bear common witness to the Lord Jesus.”
Francis presented the Synod as a possible solution to this, and as “an opportunity to do better, to overcome the walls that still exist between us.”
Once again employing themes from the Synod, Francis emphasized the “common ground of our shared Baptism, which prompts us to become missionary disciples of Christ, with a common mission. The world needs our common witness; the world needs us to be faithful to our common mission.”
While the “common ground of Baptism” was tonight referenced in an ecumenical endeavor, in the Synod it is also being used to call for increased lay ministry and governance in the Catholic Church.
Ceremony drawing from Vatican II texts
The ceremony itself comprised an opening hymn, followed by a “litany of praise” which was formed of sections read aloud from Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium, each suffixed by a prayer of intercession.
Then came a reading from Isiah (25:6-8) and Psalm 122, before a reading from John’s Gospel (17:20-26). This Gospel text is the Scriptural passage so often used in ecumenical endeavors, and almost always truncated in its use to further aid ecumenical unity. During the vigil the passage was read in full, though in Francis’ prepared homily it was truncated in customary fashion – pointing simply to unity rather than unity in the Catholic Church.
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Credit: Michael Haynes
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Credit: Michael Haynes
After abbreviated versions of the Gospel were repeated in Portugese, Chinese, Swahili, Arabic, Malayalam there came another sung chant before the “prayers of intercession,” which consisted of six paragraphs read from Vatican II’s decree on ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, each suffixed with a prayer of intercession.
In the place of his homily, Francis led a joint recital of the Our Father, before delivering a closing blessing in English.
Catholic ecumenism
In recent years since the Council, Catholic involvement in ecumenism has grown exponentially, while correspondingly the Church’s promotion of the faith has greatly diminished.
As taught by the catechisms, authentic Catholic ecumenism involves enacting the command of Christ to preach the Gospel and bring souls to the Church. (Matt 28:19)
Pope Leo XIII in Libertas, referring to the Church’s relationship with other religions, wrote that the Catholic Church tolerates “certain modern liberties, not because she prefers them in themselves but because she judges it expedient to permit them, she would in happier times exercise her own liberty; and, by persuasion, exhortation, and entreaty would endeavor, as she is bound, to fulfill the duty assigned to her by God of providing for the eternal salvation of mankind.”
Pope Pius XI in Mortalium Animos also firmly warned against the “false opinion which considers all religions to be more or less good and praiseworthy, since they all in different ways manifest and signify that sense which is inborn in us all, and by which we are led to God and to the obedient acknowledgment of His rule.”
In light of the – formerly regularly noted – danger of the consequences of faulty ecumenism, a 1949 Vatican decree from the Holy Office instructed bishops charged with promoting true ecumenism to draw souls to the Church, and that they must always teach the fullness of the Church’s priority. The document read:
Quote:By no means is it permitted to pass over in silence or to veil in ambiguous terms the Catholic truth regarding the nature and way of justification, the constitution of the Church, the primacy of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, and the only true union by the return of the dissidents to the one true Church of Christ.
Current practice from the Vatican is much more conciliatory than in previous decades, prioritizing ecumenical unity over the prior practice of doctrinal integrity.
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