Gay Lobby in Rome

There was even a supposed website about the gay clergy lobbyists within the Vatican some of some occupy some of the highest positions.

What's my take on this?

Get the evidence.

Once proven, laicize immediately.

If committed horrible sex abuse crimes, persecute.

PERIOD.

Don't ask for the website.

Don't ask me for names.

Pray I don't get them in the act or Lord knows what I'll do to them.

I might forget them that they are priests.

Lord have mercy on me and on priests who commit these horrible crimes and sins.

To add more...  Here is Voris' breaking news!

Lay people are lay people

We pray for one another...

Not like clerics who pray for us and bless us with outstretched arms.

No.

They are not being sworn into office.

This is just one of those crazy things that a priest can whip up in a jiffy to bless fathers on a not-religious event, and not-a-civil event Father's Day.

Which incidentally is just another one of those marketing ideas, SM and the Ayala Malls loveeee to put out, as if they really care for fathers, other than the huge amount of ka-ching ka-ching it generates on that day.

Makes you wonder...

If it is not a religious holiday...

And it is not a civic holiday...

Why do we even have it in the church?

And why do we continue stretching out our arms?

Will we see that happen when we pray for another person during the praying of the Rosary?

Anyone care for this pose?

I swear. Fr. Chupungco told us this can be done...

...under some circumstances though.


But...


Oh boy.

Dear Father, please don't tell me you cannot celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass

because this little kid will make a big joke out of you.  Promise.





Because if he can do it, so can you.

It is not the Latin...

It is not the rubrics...

It is the heart that is missing.

So, it is not about this form of the Mass...

It is about choosing what to give to the Lord.

It is about working for something that you put your heart and extra effort into it.

Because if you could give something more than the usual, why not go for it?

This kid aspires for it and I wouldn't be surprised if he enters the seminary one day.

This is how you foster vocations...

This is how you foster ordinary Catholics to love the holy the sublime.

If any of you hippie priests goes to this kid's house and discourages him from doing this and instead teaches him to do those wacko inculturated Mass...

Luke 17:2

Unfortunately, that is what most priests and bishops and even nuns and professional liturgists from Anscar Chupungco's heritage do to those who are attached to the Traditional Rite.

Villify them.

Mock them.

Ostracize them.

Right Fr. Geny Diwa?

So pastoral of you!

PS Fr. Diwa.  As if THAT is not happening right now.

Sad thing for a priest like you who spends much of his time behind his desk rather in an actual parish!

If Fr. Diwa and this kid celebrated Mass, this kid will make minced-meat out of Fr. Diwa.

"What liturgy degree Fr. Diwa?" said the kid.

Unfortunately, those diplomas do not have heart...and so does....



RANT OVER.

Benedict XVI is not getting weaker!

One of his former students visited him recently.  And he debunks rumors about the former pope's failing health.

From the Catholic Herald.

***


One of Benedict XVI’s closest confidants has played down concerns about the former pontiff’s health.

After meeting the retired pope in Rome in early June, Salvatorian Father Stephan Otto Horn, president of the Ratzinger Student Circle, admitted his mentor was frail, but added: “He is 86 now. At that age you are not so strong, but he seemed to me to be very fresh. His memory is fresh and his eyes are very bright and joyous”.

Speaking at the Divine Word Missionaries school in Maynooth, Ireland, during a symposium on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, Father Horn added: “After his resignation it was difficult for him for three weeks, but after those three weeks, his well-being began improving. And he is very interested in everything.”  [Anyone who suddenly retires will find it hard to adjust.]

Father Horn, who is regular contact with the Pope Emeritus was an academic assistant to then-Father Joseph Ratzinger from 1971 to 1977 at Germany’s University of Regensburg. Their discussions earlier this month were about this year’s Ratzinger Student Circle meeting, scheduled to take place in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residency, from August 29 to September 2.

The circle of the former pope’s students has met since 1978 to discuss topics in theology and the life of the Church.

Although Benedict XVI confirmed to Father Horn that he will not attend the meeting of his former students and the young theologians of the Junior Ratzinger Student Circle, the Pope Emeritus chose the speaker, French historian Remi Brague, and the topic to be discussed, The Question of God Against the Background of Secularisation.

“When I was with him, I asked him if it would be possible for him to attend, perhaps even for part of it. But he said he will stay at his convent and will not go to Castel Gandolfo,” Father Horn said.

Father Horn also revealed that Pope Benedict said Pope Francis had been trying to convince him to go to Castel Gandolfo for a vacation, while he was trying to convince Pope Francis to take a vacation there. “(Benedict XVI) said he had told Pope Francis that if he (Francis) couldn’t go there for a long time, then he should at least go there for the feast of the Assumption on August 15, which the Pope traditionally spends with the people of Castel Gandolfo,” he said


***

Wonder why Pope Francis would insist that Benedict be at Castelgandolfo.

Obvious why Francis doesn't want to be there.

Hmmm...

As Fr. Z commented, "spare pope just a golf cart ride away."

Anywho, nice to know that the brilliant mind of Joseph Ratzinger is still, well, brilliant and up and running.

Pray for him since he has made it his mission to pray for us.

Michael Voris on the state of the Church

Well, I think Michael Voris sums up what the blog has been sounding off since Day 1.

Liturgical abuse, loss of the sense of the sacred and the sense of sin, the blantant disregard of priests and nuns with their state in life, the unabashed teaching of the heresies in the Church...

We are at war.

Keep the Faith, and keep praying!

BREAKING NEWS!!! Curia to get sweeping reforms???

Priest to Catholic convention: "Don't dumb down the Faith!"

DENVER (CNS) — The “dumbing down of the Catholic faith” that impacted catechesis in the mid-1960s “was a pastoral disaster of the first order,” Father Robert Barron told a crowd of about 500 people at the Catholic Media Conference in Denver June 19.

“That’s why many people in my generation left the faith,” Father Barron — creator of the “Catholicism” television series — told conference attendees and members of the public who came especially to hear his evening keynote address. “Don’t dumb down the message.” [And I recently read about two priests saying that the reason many people leave the Faith is either a) Mass is boring or b) the priest is boring!  Good grief!  They never realized that it is their monumental blunder as preachers of the Word why people leave the Faith!  People don't go to Mass to be entertained!  They go to Mass to be spiritually nourished!]

That was the second of six suggestions Father Barron gave for spreading the new evangelization. His other suggestions included “leading with beauty” and “preaching with ardor.”

Father Barron, who currently is rector of Mundelein Seminary in the Chicago Archdiocese, [a controversial seminary..] started out by noting that the convention marked the 20th anniversary of World Youth Day in Denver in 1993, where it is widely though that Blessed John Paul II kicked off the new evangelization, which urges Catholics to renew their faith and aims to re-ignite the Catholic faith in traditionally Christian countries where the people’s practice of the faith has grown lax.

In leading with beauty, the Catholic Church will draw people to itself the way the main character in Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” was drawn to the church — from beauty to goodness to truth, Father Barron said.  [How can you see beauty when they dumbed down the design of our churches?  How can you see beauty when old angry nuns shed off their beautiful religious habits and angry priests don the business suit instead of their cassocks?  How can you see beauty in the Church when the Mass is reduced to an ordinary game show, or a talk show program extraordinaire with no one but the Reverend Showman leading the program???]

Another way the church can spread the new evangelization is to “tell the great story of salvation history” that includes the Old Testament story that set the stage for Christ’s incarnation.  [You won't hear much of that from our priests nowadays.  You'd hear more talks about the Church being too patriarchal and being too angry with women that they twist what was written in the Bible and even subscribe to the medieval hoax against the Catholic Church.  Yeah they do that, like Fr. Dan Pilario and Fr. Percy Bacani, and Fr. Genaro Diwa.  Nasty bunch.]

“Don’t turn Jesus into a bland cypher,” he said. “He’s not just another mystic or guru.” [Oh!!! But that is what Fr. Dan Pilario and Fr. Percy Bacani have been teaching us.  Jesus Christ is just one of the great men who lived in this world to teach us about the universal dogma of LOVE....*cue Age of Aquarius*.  You see....He is no different from Buddha, Gandhi, Muhammad and the other great teachers and founders of religion....Fr. Dan and Fr. Percy taught us that!  But! but! but!]

Noting the large number of people in modern society who suffer from addictions, Father Barron said the church must also help people reject “false gods of wealth, honor, pleasure and power,” and teach the anthropology of St. Augustine, who wrote that “our heart is restless until it rests in thee.” [Fr. Dan Pilario and Fr. Percy Bacani don't care about medieval authors like St. Augustine, and they couldn't care less if he is a saint too.  These two theologians only care one thing:  to remake the Church according to their perceived idea of what the Church should be.  Completely different from what Jesus Christ founded!]

“We need to mock (false gods) publicly,” Father Barron said.

And to combat modern atheism, the church must spread the message of St. Irenaeus, who wrote that “the glory of God is a human being fully alive,” Father Barron said. The saint, who died in the early third century, taught that the creed contains the essential truths of Christian faith.

In Christianity, God and man do not compete with each other, he added. It is only in pagan and atheistic belief systems that gods stand in the way of human progress.


***

Unfortunately most of the damage against the Church comes from within.

Take the case of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who praised liberation theology, an approach to theology long condemned by Blessed John Paul II and by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI!

But do we see Defenders of the Faith defending the Faith against attacks from within like from Archbishop Mueller and Fr. Dan Pilario and Fr. Percy Bacani?

NO.  We don't.

We forget that much of what is hurting the Church right now comes from within and not from without.

Like priests who blatantly disobey their superiors over a hobby!  A hobby which he does not even excel at!  Goodness me!  Karl Keating at Catholic Answers can do a better job!

And this so-called priest has this so-called devotion to the TLM, when in fact he has been photographed a couple of times having liturgical dance in his Masses!  He even once used a plastic container for a ciborium!

Hey, Father!  You were in the city when you were photographed!  You were not in the mission lands!  Even some missionaries go at great length to use a gilded ciborium!

You used Lock-and-Lock!

Even the Catholic Biblical Apologetics can also do a fine research!

Guess they pick fights where they want them to be.

I have seen men and women who engage people of other faiths in a debate over which religion is "True".  But we must not forget to defend the Faith also from those "within".

And they would certainly not pick up a splendor of a fight against this "secret SSPX supporter" and "pseudo-Catholic"!

Hmmm...maybe I'd try to beat him to another speaking engagement.

So much for being a true apologist eh?

If it is not the fame that you are really after, then try not being on the spotlight!

As St. John the Baptist said "I must decrease.  He must increase."

***

PS:  Fr. Barron has a wonderful blog.

Read that rather than visiting a pulpol site.

A woman converts to Catholicism after learning what Catholicism is all about.

From the Catholic Herald

***

Three years ago when I announced to my family that I had followed my Latin American husband’s lead and converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, my intellectual-atheist brother immediately proclaimed that I had joined “the Evil Empire”. [True atheism nowadays is not just about not just about not believing in God, but HATING Catholicism.] The jokes and ridicule have never stopped coming. Just yesterday he sent me the Epicurean paradox and asked how my priest and I intend to explain it. (“When there is evil in the world, how can God be good?” – To put it simply).

My family and friends’ reactions to my conversion have ranged from disgust to pity, to a mysterious type of curiosity: “So, do you hate gay people now?” “Are you going to have lots of children then?” And of course: “Has your priest ever abused anyone?” Really?  [Really.  And they call themselves, FREE THINKERS.]

As it happened, I didn’t have a big moment where I was “called” to the Church, there was no white dove fluttering down on my shoulders, whispering the word of the Lord in my ear. I was as much a Protestant hater as the next person. And my decision to go into the RCIA course (after which you decide to either walk away or receive Holy Communion and join) was initially a fact-finding mission because I knew that my husband wanted our children to go to a Catholic school.

I expected to find a cliquey, self-absorbed group of elderly nuns and priests handing out rules I was supposed to live by. I expected to be met with blind denial of the child abuse scandal that was raging at the time, and I definitely expected no discussion of the Catholic “absolutes” regarding homosexuality, contraception and celibacy for men in the cloth.

But what I found was humility and an honest willingness to debate how the Church and its doctrines fit into the modern world. At one of the first meetings the priest in session asked: “No contraception? Is it really doable? Do people really live by it?” Rather than preaching blind acceptance, we were invited to examine the historical and philosophical reasoning behind the traditions, and it all made so much more sense.

What struck me most was that nobody purported to hold the truth about anything. Catholics have been accused of a sense of dogmatic holiness that puts everyone who is not in the fold to shame. What I found was a group of people who know that they constantly fail at reaching the high standards they set for themselves, but who try their best.

Yes, this clashes blatantly with recent developments in the Church. The speculations surrounding the Pope’s resignation coupled with Cardinal O’Brien’s admission of sexual misconduct all add to the longstanding indignation against the Church.  [And you wouldn't expect to get that kind of treatment against other religions.]

But the Catholic Church is much more than this, and it is in my opinion widely and deliberately misunderstood. We all need an enemy, and the Church lends itself so easily to that role.

But I think it’s a testament to the humility of the Catholic community that it hasn’t mobilised in a violent defence of itself. Instead it has bowed its head in recognition of its sins and is constantly reflecting on how it can do better.

TS Eliot once wrote: “For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” If any religion can make us do that, I think we are doing OK.


***

This is a brilliant approach to apologists.

Instead of readily using the word "pulpol", try harder using a more charitable and more logical reasoning when debating other people of the Faith.

As my friend once said it "Sometimes, it is our attitudes against people of other religions that  drives them farther away from the Truth."

Agreed.

Solemn High Mass of first Filipino FSSP priest

Here are some photos of that memorable Solemn High Mass of Fr. Anthony Uy, FSSP at Holy Family Parish Church yesterday courtesy of Dinky Nievera.  I was fortunate enough to get his first blessing right after the Mass.  It was riot at that beautiful side chapel that parish priest, Fr. Jojo Zerrudo made!  Everyone wanted to receive the blessing of Fr. Anthony.

Yup, Dinky.  I was there.  :)

Thanks for the photos.

A friendly message for pro-RH Advocates...

Ironic that those who espouse responsibility are themselves irresponsible!

They hate having children and wanted to have dogs instead so they can party all night and have a dog wag its little cute tails when they come home, never complaining that they spend much of their time with others than at home.

Responsibility.

That's the bottom line in this contraceptive debate.

What do you think is this?

Looks like a Christian version of the Fortress of Solitude eh?

With that current look, it looks like any Christian denomination can use that.  Nothing uniquely Catholic about it.

If you take out the cross, then it is for Hollywood or any Las Vegas musical act!

And you know where this will be used???

The World Youth Day in Rio!

Good grief!

Only cheapos can find this attractive!

First, it looks ugly for an entertainment stage!

Second and more importantly, it is HIDEOUS and TASTELESS for use in a Catholic event like the World Youth Day!

Thank modernism for this!

As I said...

Only the CHEAPOS will like this.

Bah!

Mark your dates! TLM of first Filipino FSSP priest!

Emancipating the Liturgy, probably the wrong way.

From Fr. Ray Blake, one of my fave priest-bloggers who writes with substance.

Not the kind who throws around blog posts starting with insults.


***

Is this the Per Ipsum?

Before I go any further, I am a great fan of so much of what our Holy Father has to say, especially about the poor, economics and the environment, at least in its reconstituted Vaticanese form, I am a bit uncomfortable with that cameraman that now has a permanent place on the back of the Popemobile but it has become pretty obvious that the Supreme Legislator does not consider the rubrics of the liturgy are that important, in fact it seems as if they can be ignored, or changed at will.  [Pope Benedict has stated in the past that the liturgy belongs to the Church and not to anyone, even the Pope.  Special reminder to professional liturgists who brag about getting their degrees from the Chupungcan School of Liturgical Innovation and Inculturation.]

Benedict taught the liturgy was "a given", we read the black and did the red, Francis seems to be less precise about these things, his liturgy is "emancipated", as he descibes it. [The way he described it when he was asked why he was still keeping Msgr. Guido Marini around.  Marini's is traditional while his is emancipated or in another context "liberated".] Who cares if priests are vested properly? It is obviously "emancipated" to expect concelebrants to wear chasubles, or to expect street clothes the be covered by an amice if necessary, it is emancipated to put flowers on one the corner of an altar and some candles, or are the oil lamps, on the end, with an insignificant crucifix in the middle. It is emancipated to bow rather than genuflect to the tabernacle and after the elevations. It is unemancipated to prepare a homily carefully. It is unemancipated to expect servers to vest, it is emancipated to have the dressed in work uniforms and it is emancipated to have a Bishop take the role of a Deacon.  [BAM!!!]

I want to be emancipated too. I think I might introduce a few prayers at the beginning of the Ordinary Form Mass whilst the choir are singing the Introit. I've a few different but ancient Offertory prayers I would like to introduce and I feel inclined to genuflect before and after each elevation. Now would that be "emancipated" or just plain Pelagian. or what is the other word, "Restorationist"?  [Tit for tat!  I like this!]

Obviously my emancipated choice to celebrate Mass ad apsidum is rubrical according to Missal and a valid option for any priest according to later CDW instructions, so that is not an issue, even if the Pope unlike his two immediate predecessors who chose that option for their daily Mass, chooses not to avail himself of it, but what about "ending", celebrating Mass at he North or South end of the altar, is that emancipated or just plain Protestant?

It is pretty obvious from the Pope's personal liturgical style that any Priest or Bishop can do anything they like in the Ordinary Form, or are there limits?

Balloons and dancing anyone?


***

And I am pretty sure that there is a priest somewhere out there who would think otherwise.  Hell, he can even blog about it, would he?

But I don't think he would do that.

This priest I had in mind does not care about what the Church really teaches about the liturgy, because for one I was totally floored to see his photos celebrating the Ordinary Form of the Mass with tons of liturgical abuse going on around him.  He obviously liked it because he commented that he liked it!  Duh.

What is surprising is that this priest also celebrates the Extraordinary Form of the Mass!

Not surprisingly, he has tons of rubrical mistakes!

Why am I not surprised?

I once learned that he just celebrates the Mass because 'some people' like it, and that he just wanted to be "faithful" to Benedict who issued Summorum Pontificum...

Uhhmmm...

Quite honestly, I have to say that this priest is an example of what is going on in the liturgical universe of the Catholic Church.

This whole Team Benedict - Team Francis liturgy cheering boils down to one thing:  those belonging to both sides see what they want, what they hope for or it legitimizes their lifestyle and their theological and liturgical leanings.

So obviously, priests who love the uber simplicity and uber emancipated liturgies of Pope Francis  hate the "rubrical" and "restorationist" liturgy of Pope Benedict they consider just going with the flow when it comes to the Mass and the Sacraments.

Pope Benedict did what was done a long time ago...To continue the liturgical heritage of the Church.  You don't have to get a degree in liturgy just for this.

But what is troubling is that if the Chief legislator, legislates with his actions and goes to do stuff first before he even writes the legislation down.

Example by action rather than words, eh?

Pope Francis' speaks well on the topic of Church reform and careerism...

But how about him just saying the black and doing the red, no?

Unconfirmed reports say John Paul II miracle for canonization approved!

Vatican City, June 18 - The process of declaring former pope John Paul II a saint took a major step forward Tuesday, when the board of theologians of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved his second miracle. Now, the proclamation of his sainthood needs only the approval of the commission of cardinals and bishops and the final signature of Pope Francis, Vatican sources have told ANSA. It seems likely that John Paul II - who was beatified on May 1, 2011 - will be proclaimed a saint on October 20, approximately the 35th anniversary of his election as pope. The first miracle attribute to John Paul was an "inexplicable cure" - the first of two steps on the path to sainthood. The pontiff's successor Pope Benedict XVI, who abdicated earlier this year, sanctioned the beatification after a Vatican commission officially attributed as a miracle the inexplicable recovery of a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, from Parkinson's Disease. The Vatican ruled that that came through the intervention of John Paul II. The second miracle that will be attributed to him remains a closely guarded secret but sources say it will "amaze the world". The Catholic Church has been keenly awaiting the canonisation of the charismatic John Paul II, one of the most popular popes in history, since he died in 2005 aged 84.

***

If this happens, as in the canonization of John Paul II, he will be beatified faster than St. Pius X!

Stay tuned!


PS: That photo of John Paul was never criticized for being too triumphalistic and too pre-Vatican II.  But when it comes to the Benedict XVI wearing the papal mozetta and stole, it's a different thing.

Seems even some Catholic bloggers are very choosy, no?

BREAKING NEWS: Pope Francis to publish Benedict XVI's last encyclical

From the Catholic Herald

***

Pope Francis has told the Synod of Bishops that he is preparing to publish the encyclical on faith that was started by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, and finished by himself.

He told the ordinary council of the Synod of Bishops that he had received their suggested draft for a post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the new evangelisation, the theme of the Synod of Bishops in October 2012, but that he did not want its publication to overshadow the new encyclical. [Classy move from Pope Francis!]

“Issuing a post-synodal exhortation at this time, after the encyclical, would mean it would be hidden,” he said.

“The encyclical has to come out and it’s an encyclical written with four hands, so to speak, because Pope Benedict began writing it and he gave it to me. It’s a strong document. I will say in it that I received it and most of the work was done by him and I completed it.”

Was the draft of the encyclical in this stack?

However, the Pope added that it wouldn’t be right to end the Year of Faith end in November without “a beautiful document to help us.”  [Benedict is still one of my favorite writers.]

“I thought of this: Write an exhortation on evangelisation in general and, within it, refer to the synod. That way we could take everything from the synod, but put it in a wider framework,” he said.

“I liked the idea and I will follow that path. I’ve written something, and in August, which will be quieter, I can move forward with it. This is the reason I didn’t respond to the draft you sent me. I thank you for your work, but we’ll move ahead this way.”

***

Looking forward to that encyclical which obviously theologians at MST, SVST, Euntes...usually don't bother to read.  Anything out of the Vatican is bad...so they turn to ole Percy Bacani, Dan Pilario and other magicians in those schools to whip up a new document that would be anything but "Romish" or "popish".

Buy an encyclical, download it, read it, share!

And burn the books that come out of those dissenter schools.

Yup.

Book burning, even in the modern age, still works, if it means burning the books of Percy Bacani, Hans Kung...

And I thought Mr. Obedience is a student of a great theologian.  Why can't he even debunk the theological heresies of some Catholic priests and nuns?

Guess he wants just to be in the minor leagues no?

BREAKING NEWS: Is Benedict XVI really sick?

VATICAN CITY — Just months after becoming the first pontiff in nearly 600 years to resign, reports are surfacing that Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI is in poor health with diminished stature and energy.

After a brief hiatus at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Benedict returned to live in a converted monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens last month. Already, some of his visitors have commented on the former pope's physical deterioration.

"Benedict is in a very bad way," said Paloma Gomez Borerro, a veteran Vatican correspondent for Spain's Telecino who visited the former pope in late May. "We won't have him with us much longer."

Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the archbishop of Cologne, Germany, and a personal friend of Benedict's, visited the former pope in April.

"I was shocked at how thin he had become," Meisner said at the time. "Mentally, he is quite fit, his old self. But he had halved in size."

Vatican officials have admitted Benedict has weakened since stepping down, but they deny his physical condition has become critical.

Though the physical deterioration of Pope John Paul II from 2003 to 2005 was well documented, the fact that no pope has resigned from office since Gregory XII in 1415 means there is no protocol for dealing with or reporting on the physical state of a former pontiff, especially one who has vowed to stay out of the public eye so as not to encroach on his successor, Pope Francis.

"There haven't been many popes to resign, but in the previous instances the popes did not live long after abdicating," says Alistair Sear, a priest and church historian. "Gregory XII didn't even live long enough to see his successor named."

But the lack of visibility does not mean he is out of the thoughts of the faithful.

"He is in our prayers every day," said Maria Paoloa Santo Stefano, part of a community of Sisters of Mercy nuns based in Rome. "Pope John Paul suffered in public, and Benedict chose to suffer in private. But that does not make his mission less important and less brave."


***

Another similar report about this came here.

Healthy or not, the emeritus pope is praying for us!

Healthy or not, we must pray for him too!

One of my prayers is to meet this pope and be given a few minutes to talk to him...

Carlos Celdran and his non sequitur...as expected!

Another classic KSP move by the Queen of all Closet Queens...

She wants us to believe, She, meaning Celdran...that the priest was so cruel not to allow another urn to be placed in an already full niche and that the old woman is considering leaving the Faith.

The only thing you should believe in this drag is that he is a drag.

Would you allow another person to sit on your chair when you are already sitting on it?

Would you allow another urn to be placed in a niche that is full to capacity?

And then she, meaning Celdran, wants you to believe that this woman who is a devotee would suddenly be shaken because the priest did not allow what she wants?

Was it really what the widow felt or was it a case of transference for this Queen of all KSP, huh?

And they call her "cultural activist".

I'd call her "poster queen for plain attention whoring and dim-wittedness."

Which leads me to this...

Why not excommunicate him?  She wanted it in the first place, no?

But first...

Teeeheeeeeeeeee!!!!

Anti-Catholic Rappler continues attack against the Church!

Include Marites Vitug and Aries Rufo for their continued bias against the Catholic Church!

From that rubbish of a website called Rappler.

Just a matter of time when Maria Ressa loses all her money on this venture!

Or is it really her money?  Hmmm???


***


The Catholic Church is one of the most impenetrable and least scrutinized institutions in the Philippines. [Weh?  Did you try the Iglesia ni Cristo???]  We heap our boundless trust in the holy men who lead the Church. [HEY!!!  How about the holy women???  Those who run our schools and orphanages???  Those who sit in councils who control the budget???  Some are holy women??  Isn't Marilen Vitug such a sexist, huh?'] We repose our steely faith in God in our bishops and priests, they who say mass, baptize us, marry us, give us communion, listen to our confessions, and bless us. We regard them with awe. They are God’s men on earth. [Is she even a Catholic?  If she were, does she even still fulfill her duties as expected of a Catholic?]

Our past shaped us to be this way. We grew up in towns where at the center stood the imposing Catholic Church, [It should be a small "c" for church since she is describing the edifice not the institution.  As it is, she wants to give the impression that the institution is "imposing" on every town it rests on.  Hmmm...I guess she did not know that the Cathedral in Jolo is big, so imposing BUT does the Bishop of Jolo "impose" the Church's influence in the southern archipelago?  Nice play on words Marilen.  Nice twist.  You'll make a good PR whoever the next guy in the Palace sits.] side by side with the school run by priests and nuns. [She does not know about the brothers!  Sheesh!  Never heard of La Salle!  And she claims to be a journalist! Ha!] Life seemed to revolve around these enduring institutions. Education and religion fused; going to school seamlessly blended with attending mass, evening novenas, and joining the Sodality of Our Lady and Columbus Squires. [Columbian!  Idjit!  The Squires were brought here by the American Catholics just like its parent group, the Knights of Columbus!  So when she started painting a picture of the Church being at the center of it all, that is true!  That is how most towns and cities in the Philippines started, thanks to the missionary work of the friars, which idiots in the Filipino Freefarters and Closet Queen, aka Madam Orocan, Carlita Celdran, does not know.  She is a frequent visitor before her banishment from San Agustin Museum but she does not understand what those photos of the churches and barrios mean in the museum.  The Augustinians were showing that THEY build the modern Philippine civilization!  And Ms. Vitug here equates what happened during the Spanish time (the growth of Philippine barrios and cities) to organizations, brought by the Americans, being a part of everyday living of Filipinos!  See how twisted facts can become...if you are so biased like Vitug and Celdran?]

Then, in those placid times, it was not our place to question the order of things. We learned catechism, prayed our rosaries, and looked up to the men in cassocks. Why, they could do no wrong. God and truth were on their side. They were special, a notch above us, ordinary humans.  [Here it comes!  Brewing!  As if men in the cloth are impeccable.  Sheesh!]

But the times, they have changed. Critical thinking has shaken dogma. [It has been done sooooo many times int he past, sista!  She thinks she, along with her brood, thinks it started just now.  Cut the Masons and Rizal some slack!  They had been doing that long before your parents thought about making you!]  With the modern world has come hard-earned wisdom, built from years of experience and learning.  [Oh rigghhhtt... No wonder the modern world learned that having two men or two women copulate in "marriage" or outside of it and you get to help the human race survive.  Ok got it.]

Like us, the Church lived through turbulent times in the ‘70s and early ‘80s—martial law, detention of opposition leaders and activists, torture and disappearances, a communist insurgency, and the assassination of Benigno Aquino. Some bishops and priests embraced liberation theology and led grassroots communities in their struggle for social justice; thus began the phenomenon of the BCC or basic Christian communities. [She got this right!  She forgot Fr. Conrado Balweg though.] The Church did not only tend to spiritual needs, it looked after the welfare of the poor and marginalized.  [We don't need liberation theology to do that!  The Church has been doing that for centuries!  Now she twisted it here.] We saw our priests up close, no longer detached in their pulpits and confession boxes.  [Uhmmm....what do you call these photos below?  Detached?]

Then, in 1986, the Church played a crucial role in ousting the authoritarian ruler, Ferdinand Marcos, and restoring democracy in the country. Its help was called again in 2001 to depose President Joseph Estrada in the midst of his impeachment trial where he was accused of corruption and betraying public trust. Twice, the Church was victorious.  [And they did not shout "Separation of Church and State", huh?  Where were these idiots when you needed them, huh?]

Elsewhere in the world, democracy movements marched and kicked out dictators. The clamor for openness reverberated, not only in government but in other institutions, including the Church. [Wha???  Democracy movements in Poland and Burma clamored for openness even in the Church???  Wha???] Civil society blossomed. Soon after, transparency and accountability became bywords in many parts of the globe. The “Arab Spring” is the latest manifestation of this global surge.  [Oh brother!  Is Marilen Vitug really dumb or does she not know that the Arab Spring is actually the rise of Radical Islamism to overthrow governments?  It is not pro-democracy per se!  It is the rise of an Islamic supremacy all around the world!  Good grief!  Vitug is a nutjob!]

Technology has hastened all this. With 24/7 news, the Internet, and mobile phones, information has become accessible. We are no longer isolated islands; we have now become connected to the world. Distances have shrunk. Immediately, we know what is happening in Europe, US, and Australia and certain events there affect and influence us.

I mention Europe, Australia, and the US because, in these parts, the Catholic Church has attempted to be transparent. It has responded to complaints on sexual abuse by its priests, disclosed these to the public, sanctioned erring clergymen, and adopted zero-tolerance policies. In the US, questions on Church finances and how these have been managed have been raised and probed.  [Yet, she failed to even mention about clerical sex abuse in other religions.  Great work for a journalist!  Walang kinikilingan, walang pinoprotektahan...]

These cannot yet be said for the Philippines.

In Altar of Secrets: Sex, Politics, and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church, Aries Rufo shows a Church that is cloaked in secrecy. [Did you ask the Muslims, Freemason and the Iglesia ni Cristo Mr. Rufo?  Guess not!  Would not want that lovely piece of coconut on top of your stack of dimes called a neck rolling down the hill would yah?] It keeps the wrongdoing of its bishops and priests—in sexual misconduct and financial mismanagement—within its confines and lets them get away, unpunished. They’re sent to other assignments overseas or are simply asked to retire or resign. [Wow!  Like a page from the New York Times!]

This book is the first of its kind in the country, a journalist’s attempt to bring some air and light into a musty place, where there’s so little circulation and transparency. As Anne Lamott wrote in her book, “Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers,” “Light reveals us to ourselves.” And, if I may add, to others.

The author has covered the Catholic Church extensively. For almost 20 years, he followed the comings and goings of bishops, their big plenaries and pastoral declarations, as well as their mishaps. He has broken new ground in reporting on this pillar that has an outsize influence on our country.

In raising these issues about the Church, we want to encourage an open discussion that, hopefully, will lead to a more discerning public. We want to cajole: Do take away those blinders, be vigilant. Engage the Church, ask tough questions. Demand accountability, push for transparency. [Will the same be asked from the Muslims, Freemason and the Iglesia ni Cristo Mr. Rufo?  Guess not!]

After all, the Church, like other institutions, should not be beyond public scrutiny. We hope that the men of God welcome this and consider it part of the new normal.

As Lamott beautifully wrote, “When nothing new can get in, that’s death. When oxygen can’t find a way in, you die.” - Rappler.com


***

Marilen Vitug just showed what a pathetic piece of journalist she is.  She whips up a lot of conspiracy theories and then goes to draw her call for transparency by writing the foreword to a book that intends more to draw fire against the Catholic Church in the Philippines than to actually call for more transparency.

I have blogged a number of times reminding the Church authorities to better shape up or things like this would come up.  And they just did!

Unfortunately for Mr. Rufo, I know how to read what is true and what is fiction in this book.  Yes, I am privy to what was written here and most of what is in here was heard in the grapevine.  I can attest to that.  Don't ask me what is true and what is plain hearsay.

Some if not most of what he wrote in the book were privileged communication from the priests and bishops he talked with.

Unfortunately, everyone has a price.  I don't think a simple bag of 30 pieces of silver would suffice.

Tell tale signs?

The name Oscar Picazo appears in the first pages of the book. Who is that guy?

Well, he is none other than a government contractor, hired to promote the RH agenda in the DOH.  A quick Googleand you'd find a treasure trove of info about this one!

He infamously wrote an article in Hell's Bible Pinoy version about the so-called fringe science Sen. Sotto used in his turno en contra speech against the RH Bill.  What they described as fringe science is in fact applicable to Mr. Picazo's own article since he is not a medical doctor himself.  The article in Hell's Bible was written by economists who have a VERY OBVIOUS bias against the RH Bill!  One of his professional experience is working at the USAID, World Bank...

So, who do you think was really behind Mr. Rufo to finally spill the juicy stories he heard for more than 20 years of covering the Church, huh?

Wasn't it also the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees who looked for someone with inside info about the Lord so they can find a way to trap and send Him to His death?

And unfortunately for Mr. Rufo, whom Ms. Vitug describes as the author who "has covered the Catholic Church extensively," he can kiss lapdog privileges goodbye because the phonelines have been definitely cut.

Guess the pay off was well enough to sell his soul, no?  He won't worry working for the media anymore.

Mr. Rufo, is it worth it?

I still wonder...

why great minds in Liturgy like the late Fr. Anscar Chupungco and his protege', Fr. Geny Diwa hate this soo...MUCH!

Care to enlighten me why?

Only answer I could think of is that their life's work of promoting "active participation" their own brand of it that is (more lay movement at the sanctuary than in the pews) and inculturation (more men dancing in G-strings and pan de sal for the host) will go down the drain.

Wasted.

Well, they'd rather have a fulfilling career than return the sense of the sacred back!

Makes sense no?

Anyway, they are just Priests of Jesus Christ.

I still thank those priests I have had the pleasure and honor to be with who showed me what liturgy really is!

Thank you!

You are the reason why I have this blog in the first place.

You know who you are.

Ad multos annos for you!

And for Fr. Geny Diwa...

Breaking News: RCAM failed to report this!

Either the same sloppy guys who run the RCAM website are still, well, sloppy...

Or they simply don't care at all!

Anywho, let the lowly blogger name The Pinoy Catholic who goes by the REAL name Pedro Lorenzo Ruiz, share this story to all you dear folks.

***

Vatican City, 10 June 2013 (VIS) – The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff today announced that this coming Saturday, 15 June, at 6:30pm, Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, archbishop of Manila, Philippines, will take possession of the title of San Felice da Cantalice a Centocelle in Piazza San Felice da Cantalice, 20.

***

This is the same church that Cardinal Tagle went to and celebrated Mass before the latest papal conclave but he hasn't formally taken possession yet of his cardinatial church.

The Latin inscription reads "To God, most good, most great. In Honour of St Felix of Cantalice. Year of Our Lord, 1935"

Deo Optimo Maximo is sometimes abbreviated as D.O.M. and you see this sometimes in old niches and tombs.

That's what DOM stands for...

No not the other one...

Comparing Benedict with Francis...redux!

I have blogged about this on May 16, 2013 and I missed out the Vortex episode about the same topic on May 21.

I am a fan of Benedict XVI.

And those who don't like him....like the liturgical students of Chupungco and Diwa, the rupturists of Vatican II, like those in MST, SVST, Euntes, etc. which I call "heretics and Modernists"...

These are the people who'd use every opportunity to attack Benedict XVI even going low as to "use" things Pope Francis wears or does which they think are different and much more "humble" and "simple" and *ugh* "holier" than what Benedict did.

But...but...but!

Would you even dare ask these Modernists if they even listen to what Pope Francis is teaching?

Nah.

Modernists know only one thing.

Agree to hate ALL the past in the Church.  Anything new, even if it is not Catholic anymore, is good and should be inculturated.

Need I say more about this picture?

Percy Bacani would DEFINITELY not like the theology of Pope Francis!

How a priest dresses up

Onion haircut!  Superb!!!

I swear it looks like he has make-up.

In case you were wondering.....this is the same guy!

Classy!..........

If you are still part of this show!  Ha!

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

And today is the day we consecrate our country to Our Lady!

***
Messages given at Fatima:

"My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God."

"Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

"You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace..."To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved . . . "

"Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them."

"Look, my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Me."

"The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God condemns for sins committed against Me, that I have come to ask reparation: sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray."

What Vatican II said about priests and religious dressing in public

Ohhhh....

No wonder we have this!

Simple.......too simple!

Modest?

*belch*


Any comments your Holiness?

The spirit of the liturgy of Benedict and Francis

I'd rather listen to the Abbot rather than to Fr. Geny Diwa.

Honestly, I pray to God Fr. Diwa loses his job soon!

He does more harm than good to the Church!

The Feast of the Sacred Heart

"Behold this Heart which has loved men so much, and yet men do not want to love Me in return. Through you My divine Heart wishes to spread its love everywhere on earth."

- Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary in a vision


***

The sacred heart of Christ is an inexhaustible fountain and its sole desire is to pour itself out into the hearts of the humble so as to free them and prepare them to lead lives according to his good pleasure.

From this divine heart three streams flow endlessly. The first is the stream of mercy for sinners; it pours into their hearts sentiments of contrition and repentance. The second is the stream of charity which helps all in need and especially aids those seeking perfection in order to find the means of surmounting their difficulties. From the third stream flow love and light for the benefit of his friends who have attained perfection; these he wishes to unit to himself so that they may share his knowledge and commandments and, in their individual ways, devote themselves wholly to advancing his glory.

This divine heart is an abyss filled with all blessings, and into the poor should submerge all their needs. It is an abyss of joy in which all of us can immerse our sorrows. It is an abyss of lowliness to counteract our foolishness, an abyss of mercy for the wretched, an abyss of love to meet our every need.

Are you making no progress in prayer? The you need only offer God the prayers which the Savior has poured out for us in the sacrament of the altar. Offer God his fervent love in reparation for your sluggishness. In the course of every activity pray as follows: "My God, I do this or I endure that in the heart of your Son and according to his holy counsels. I offer it to you in reparation for anything blameworthy or imperfect in my actions." Continue to do this in every circumstance of life.

But above all preserve peace of heart. This is more valuable than any treasure. In order to preserve it there is nothing more useful than renouncing your own will and substituting for it the will of the divine heart. In this way his will can carry out for us whatever contributes to his glory, and we will be happy to be his subjects and to trust entirely in him.

- from a letter by Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

***

You may want to read what I posted about the Feast of the Sacred Heart back in 2009!

Who atheists really are...

Juvenile delinquents who are just mad at themselves and use their computers to vent out their frustrations.

Yup.  That pretty much says it all.