SNAPSHOT: What could they be saying...

In the tradition of the caption call of Thomas Peters aka The American Papist, I am requesting my dear TPC readers to send in their captions for a particular snapshot I posted. I have something in mind but I'll keep it for the meantime.

First Friday Reminders

"And it is precisely in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar that Jesus shows his will to be known, to live in us, to give himself to us. In adoring him, let us recognize the primacy of God, since he alone can transform human hearts, raising human beings to union with Christ in one Body. Indeed, in receiving the Body of the Risen Lord we experience communion with a Love that we cannot keep to ourselves: it demands to be communicated to others, so that we may thereby build together a more just society. Lastly, as we approach the conclusion of the Year for Priests, I invite all priests to foster a profoundly Eucharistic spirituality, after the example of the Holy Curé d'Ars who, in seeking to unite his personal sacrifice to that of Jesus, actualized on the altar, exclaimed: "How good it is for a priest to offer himself in sacrifice to God every morning!" And as I invoke through the intercession of Nossa Senhora Aparecida the abundant graces so that priests may be nourished by the Eucharist, bread of unity, to become true missionary disciples, I impart a heartfelt Apostolic Blessing to all."

Pope Benedict XVI

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Just in case we forgot, Christ Himself promised these...

TWELVE PROMISES OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
"I promise you, in the excessive mercy of my heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Friday for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance; they shall not die in my disgrace nor without receiving the sacraments; my divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in that last moment."

1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state in life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of death.
5. I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
9. I will bless the homes in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honoured.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.11. Those who propagate this devotion shall have their name written in My Heart, and it shall never be effaced.
12. The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving their Sacraments; My Heart shall be their assured refuge at the last hour.

BREAKING: Sad news of murder of Nuncio to Turkey!

Ankara, Turkey, Jun 3, 2010 / 10:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, was reportedly stabbed to death in Iskendurun, Turkey on Thursday by his driver, who also served as his aide.

According to Italy's ANSA news agency, Turkish police have detained the alleged killer and have not yet established a motive.

Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey, Archbishop Antonio Lucibello told the news agency that "from what I've learned, Bishop Padovese's driver, Murat, [a Christian according to a CNS news report] admitted his responsibility. It's strange because I've always seen this man as a very devoted person to Padovese and always obliging."

Fr. Federico Lombardi said through Vatican Radio that the "terrible" news of the loss of the president of Turkish bishops "leaves us deeply shocked" and "desperately sorry."

He remembered the bishop for his "great merits" in providing a witness to the Church's life in spite of difficulty in Turkey.

Bishop Padovese, a member of the Capuchin order, had been the Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia since 2004 after working in Rome for over a decade.

He "was a courageous person dedicated to the Gospel," said Fr. Lombardi, and his death, "which spontaneously brings to mind that of Santoro, shows us how the Church's witness in certain situations, may even be paid in blood ."

Fr. Santoro [at right] was killed four years ago in a church in Trabzon, Turkey while praying. [Remember that? Murdered while kneeling in prayer inside his church by a lunatic of the religion of peace?  The process for his beatification will be started soon as his death his viewed as a martyrdom, hatred for the Faith by those raving lunatics of the 'Religion of Peace'.]

The Vatican spokesman said that while the circumstances and motives surrounding the killing must be investigated to better understand what happened, regardless, his remains "a life donated for the Gospel."

"This fact, on the eve of a papal trip towards the Middle East, to encourage the Christian communities living in this region, lends an extraordinary intensity, helping us to profoundly understand the urgent need for the solidarity of the universal Church to support these Christian communities.”

Bishop Padovese was planning on going to Cyprus tomorrow to meet with the Holy Father and receive the working document for the coming Special Assembly of Middle Eastern Bishops in October.

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Sad indeed.

Please say a prayer for the repose of the soul of the Apostolic Vicar...

Pray for our priests especially now that it is the First Friday of the month.

Prayer for Priests

by St. Therese of Lisieux

O Jesus, eternal Priest,

keep your priests within the shelter of Your Sacred Heart,

where none may touch them.

Keep unstained their anointed hands,

which daily touch Your Sacred Body.

Keep unsullied their lips,

daily purpled with your Precious Blood.

Keep pure and unearthly their hearts,

sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood.

Let Your holy love surround them and

shield them from the world's contagion.

Bless their labors with abundant fruit and

may the souls to whom they minister be their joy 

and consolation here and in heaven their beautiful 

and everlasting crown. Amen.

Liturgical Query: Should a coadjutor sit on the cathedra?

I watched this CNA video on YouTube of the Mass welcoming or officially starting the ministry of Archdiocese of Los Angeles coadjutor archbishop Jose Gomez.  He was led by Cardinal Roger Mahony (without the 'e' as Michael corrected me.) to sit on the cathedra even if he has not formally taken possession of the archdiocese.  In principle, he does since he is co-coadjutor or co-ruler of the archdiocese.

Archbishop Gomez seated on the LA Cathedra.  Cardinal Mahony is to the left vested in the pallium.  Cardinal William Levada is immediately to the right of Archbishop Gomez.

I am not sure this is liturgically correct.  Usually, the Ordinary gets to possess his diocese during the Mass of Installation where he is given the crozier and is seated on his cathedra, obviously in his Cathedral.

I once read that a cardinal enjoys the right to sit in the cathedra of any bishop if he so decides to sit during the Mass which he celebrates.  A papal legate also enjoys this privilege.  A metropolitan archbishop, once he receives his pallium, meaning he has received his authority to govern over his metropolitan province, can sit on the cathedra of his suffragan diocese.

Only the pope can sit on the cathedra of any Roman Catholic bishop without seeking the permission of the bishop, accounting for his universal jurisdiction as shown on the photo below.  The arms on the cathedra are those of New York Archbishop-Emeritus Edward Cardinal Egan

Here is the video I mentioned above.

1st Thursday PLENARY INDULGENCE

I never knew about his until the great Father Z posted this in his website.

Father Z explains:

For the faithful, a plenary indulgence can be obtained on the opening and closing days of the Year for Priests, on the 150th anniversary of the death of St. Jean-Marie Vianney, on the first Thursday of the month, or on any other day established by the ordinaries of particular places for the good of the faithful.

Click here for more.

Cross vs. the Crucifix: Which is more Catholic?

We have seen this but never did I expect that this will also happen in...an Eastern Catholic parish.

Parishioners are fighting with their local bishop who wanted to remove the crucifix hanging over their altars with a Marthoma cross (shown above).  The parishioners want the traditional Latin crucifix with the corpus of the crucified Christ rather than the simple cross.

I am not familiar with the liturgical rubrics of the Syro-Malabar Church but it is simple logic why the people would prefer a crucifix over a cross.

John Paul II and Benedict XVI insisted the crucifix MUST be at the center of the church during Mass.

Which do you think reminds them more of the loving sacrifice of Christ made present always in the Holy Sacrifice or Divine Liturgy?

That is why the Church does not allow a simple cross nor a Resu-fix, the one with the levitating Christ.

What happens if Bishop Fellay and Cardinal Mahoney talk

I got this from Angelqueen.org written by John Grasmeier in May 2008.

Visit the wonderful site.

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Setting: A message is sent to SSPX headquarters that two traditional cathedral angels from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are about to be placed on Ebay. Bps. Fellay and Williamson set out to Los Angeles.
	Hi. I’m Roger Cardinal Mahoney, but you can call me “Roj.” Would you like something to drink? I got these neat Kool-Aid pitchers by saving up proof of purchases.
	Uh, no thank you. I’m Monsignor Fellay. Out of respect to your office, may I call you “Your Eminence?”
	No, please don’t do that. My friends will think I’m square - I’m supposed to be “with it” and all.
	If you don’t mind my asking, what are those women doing?
	Oh them? Those are the hula girls. I was just fine tuning my Hawaiian liturgy. If you like I can give you a copy of the rubrics.

To learn the whole story, click here.

Bishop refuses to give Communion to a kneeling woman!

The article below is the video description as posted on YouTube.

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There were two videographers, since it was a special Mass. The incident was caught on tape by accident. Watching it I can say that the lady walked up, knelt down and was ready to receive Communion. Bishop Brown immediately grabs her hands (not violently, it seems) and says something - I think I can make out 'scene...up'(a Mexican oompahpah oompapah 'Communion song' drowns out everything else). The lady's own account recounts it like this:

I was sitting on the side of the Church, 3rd row, where Bishop Tod Brown distributed the Holy Eucharist, (in the video, I am the woman with short brown hair and glasses, wearing a black sweater and long white skirt sitting on the opposite side (from the camera) of the aisle in the center of the church) and upon approaching the Bishop to receive, I genuflected, out of reverence for the Sacred Species and remained on one knee to receive the Blessed Sacrament. Bishop Brown refused to give me Holy Communion. Bishop Brown said, "You need to stand up".

I was in shock and didn't move or respond. He then reached out and took hold of my folded hands, attempting to physically pull me to a standing position, and said more sternly, "You need to stand."

I looked up and whispered, quietly and respectfully, "Please, bishop", and he then grabbed my arm, and pulled me, as though to physically pull me up to a standing position (although obscured, you can see where he bends down and extends his right arm to grab mine) as he stated more loudly, "Get up".

Still on one knee, I then asked very quietly and with genuine ignorance, "Why?"

As he stood up straight he responded, very loudly and sternly, "Because THAT'S the way we receive communion. Now, GET UP, you're causing a scene.'

He gives her Communion after she gets up. From viewing the tape, I have to say that if he had given her Communion right away, there wouldn't even have been any delay, she wasn't putting on a show or anything. Even after he grabbed her twice, she bowed her head briefly, got up, received Communion and left right away.

From the Vatican (Congregation for the Divine Liturgy):
Even where the Congregation has approved of legislation denoting standing as the posture for Holy Communion, in accordance with the adaptations permitted to the Conferences of Bishops by the Institution Generalis Missalis Romani n. 160, paragraph 2, it has done so with the stipulation that communicants who choose to kneel are not to be denied Holy Communion on these grounds.

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There is even an open letter published in Renew America calling the bishop's attention to this "scene" as the bishop put it and other matters such as his implicit support for gay marriage.

This is an old article but it shows how very active Catholics are in watching over their bishop. Kinda ironic, eh? The flock shepherding their shepherd.

And now...

Latest news reports are saying that this Bishop Tod hid sexually abusive priests like his close friend and classmate of this sorry excuse for a Catholic priest-bishop-and-cardinal!

Listen to how Altar Girls and Communion in the Hand was "approved"

There has been a lot of innovations that have been introduced into the Church that did not pass proper protocol. The Pope is the final authority in the Church and yet most bishops, like those in Europe and the US would love to see the Church run like the Orthodox or Anglican communions.

Yeah, we all know how happily "united" they all are.

How many "All Holiness" do we see nowadays? How many Patriarchs?

And we all know why the Holy Father issued Anglicanorum coetibus? The Anglican ship has already sunk.

Sex education in Philippine public schools

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine elementary and high schools will start teaching basic sex education as a pilot program in the conservative Roman Catholic nation, officials said Tuesday, brushing aside concerns by church leaders that it may encourage promiscuity among the youth. [I smell something fishy in this quickie of a government program!]

The classes, however, won't include information about contraceptives — another controversial topic in this heavily Catholic nation. [Oh really!]

Starting this year, sex education will be integrated in regular subjects including science, health, English and physical education, said Assistant Education Secretary Teresita Inciong, who is heading the project funded by the U.N. Population Fund. [Bingo!  Now that is the one stinking!  The UN is the one leading the charge in the culture of death!  How in the world will a sex education curriculum funded by the UN would not contain anything about contraception, huh?]

"It will be better if the schools teach sex education rather than children just picking this up from just anywhere like the Internet," said Education Secretary Mona Valisno. [That is a good point but the better one is this:  Where are the parents?!]

The Adolescent Reproductive Health program will be initially tested in 80 public elementary and 79 high schools, starting with grade five pupils aged 11-12, Inciong said.

The initiative, which Inciong said will mainly focus on explaining bodily changes and relationship with the other gender, has run into opposition from the dominant and influential Catholic Church, which earlier this year also objected to the free government distribution of condoms for fear of encouraging promiscuity. [You think?  Has anyone seen TV footage of the distribution of condoms?  They are giving it to any Tom, Dick and Jane in the streets!  Even kids!  I am not joking, even kids!]

Monsignor Pedor Qitorio, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, said the church believes sex education should be the primary responsibility of parents. If it is taught to students, it should not start in grade school but in college, he said.

He said the church is opposed to the government style of teaching that is "too focused on the reproductive faculties because parents feel this will lead to promiscuity among the youth, encourage what we are avoiding — early practice of sexuality outside of marriage."

Inciong said the use of condoms and other contraceptives will not be part of the curriculum, citing opposition from parents.

"They say that if you teach that, you are telling (children) you can have sex, but only safe sex," she said. "But I have no doubt (children) know about that already." [What the @#$%&!  Axe Inciong.  We have too much dumb people in government but this one...in the Education Department?  The country needs some respite from these idiots!]

Instead, the lessons will discuss personal hygiene and physical changes during puberty like menstruation, Inciong said. More importantly, they will include teaching children to say no to inappropriate behavior by older relatives or strangers that lead to child molestation and sexual exploitation.

She said sex is a taboo subject in Philippine families and children learn about it from peers or the Internet rather than from their parents.

A more recent social phenomenon of children left behind by their parents working abroad also has taken a toll on the traditional family structure in the Philippines, where many kids are now brought up by grandparents, relatives or neighbors. A tenth of the population works abroad. [And we have the government to thank about this.]

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You see we have our own Obama and Pelosi here in the Philippines!

Snapshot: Papal wardrobe

The papal household laundry put too much starch in the pope's simar.

Rant time: When can we get things right at CBCP?

Catholics attend a Mass presided by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo at the St. Peter Cathedral in Quezon City on Sunday for the immediate passage of the Freedom of Information bill in Congress. In his homily, Pabillo called on lawmakers to show their commitment to the Constitution by ratifying the measure which lays down a process allowing journalist and ordinary citizens to access public documents. (Vince Lazatin/CBCP-Nassa)

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The photo caption is from CBCP News.  Now let me get things straight...

1.  St. Peter's in Commonwealth Avenue is not a Cathedral or is not THE Cathedral of the Diocese of Novaliches.  I would have let this go if it were a secular journalist writing this but this is a writer for the CBCP!  Journalists MUST check their facts straight.

2.  Did the Archdiocese of Manila ask for an auxilliary bishop who will focus more on social and political issues and not in actually helping the archbishop run the archdiocese as an auxilliary is expected to do?  I have not seen or heard Bishop Pabillo talk about church matters.  He was an advocate for climate change, anti-Charter change...when will he do his REAL role as a bishop?  He seems to be trapped in the 60s and 70s.  As I have written a countless number of times "YOU DO NOT NEED ORDINATION TO PUSH FOR THESE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS!"