Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Pope Francis & LinkedIn Have Something in Common...

Just a quick word...

I was adding some volunteer experience to my LinkedIn profile, specifically my role as Secretary for the Holy Name Society.

There was an option to select what "cause" the volunteering supports:
- Animals? No.
- Children? Not specifically, unless they mean the Child Jesus?
- Environment? Nope.
- Human Rights? Not quite...
- Poverty Alleviation? Not this time.
- Science and Technology? No, I want the one, true God...not the God of the 21st century...

I realized after looking through this list a few times that this must be where Pope Francis gets his inspiration for his monthly "Pope Video."

Notably missing from the LinkedIn list (and typically from the secular humanist Francis messages): Divine Rights, Christ the King, Objective Truth...

The only difference between the LinkedIn list and the Francis videos is that LinkedIn omits religion altogether whereas Francis promotes all religions as equal and valuable.


I am reminded of a quote:
"The world has heard enough of the so-called 'rights of man.' Let it hear something of the rights of God." (Pope Leo XIII)


It's just another proof that the logical end of Separation of Church & State and Religious Liberty (so-called) is actually rampant secularism and pervasive godlessness.

I am more rejuvenated than ever to work to spread and defend the Holy Name of Jesus.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

21 Clarifications About Confession

From Light and Peace: Instructions for Devout Souls to Dispel Their Doubts and Allay Their Fears (1898 by RP Quadrupani)


V.  CONFESSION.
I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. (Ps. XXXI, 5.) But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Just. (1st Epist. St. John, c. II, v. 1.) Whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose ye shall retain, they are retained. (St. John, c. XX. v. 23.)

1. The sacrament of penance is a sacrament of mercy. We should therefore approach it with confidence and in peace. Saint Francis de Sales assures us that for those who go to confession once a week a quarter of an hour is enough for the examination of conscience, and a still shorter time for exciting contrition. Not even this much is necessary, he adds, for those who confess more frequently.

2. Faults omitted in confession either because they were forgotten or because they seemed too trivial to mention, are nevertheless effaced by the absolution. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on the subject: "You must not feel worried if you cannot remember your sins when preparing for confession, for it is incredible that anyone who often examines her conscience would overlook or be unable to recall such faults as are important. Neither should you be so keenly anxious to mention every minute imperfection, every trifling fault; it is enough to speak of these to our Lord, with a sigh of regret and a humble heart, whenever you remark them."
And do not imagine in consequence that you are guilty of secret sins which you are hiding from your confessor. This fear is an artifice made use of by the devil to disturb your peace of mind. You must not be so anxious to tell everything, nor to run to your superiors to make a great ado over each little thing that troubles you and that will, perhaps, be forgotten in a quarter of an hour. We must learn to bear with generosity these trifles which we cannot remedy, for ordinarily they are only the consequences of our imperfect nature.
That your will, feelings, and desires are so inconstant; that you are at one time moody, at another cheerful; that you now have a wish to speak, and presently feel the greatest aversion to do so; and a thousand similar insignificant matters are infirmities to which we are naturally prone and will be subject to as long as we live. ... It is needless to accuse yourself in confession of those fleeting thoughts that like gnats swarm around you, or of the disgust and aversion you feel in the observance of your vows and devotional exercises, for these things are not sins, they are only inconveniences, annoyances."--St. Francis de Sales.

3. Rest assured that the more closely you examine your conscience the less you will discover that is worth the trouble of telling. Moreover, you must remember that too long an examen fatigues the mind and cools the fervor of the heart.

4. To those who in their confessions are inclined to confuse involuntarily movements with sins, Saint Francis de Sales gives the following useful advice: "You tell me that when you have experienced a strong feeling of anger, or have had any other temptation, you are always uneasy if you do not confess it. When you are not sure that you have given consent to it, I assure you it is unnecessary to mention it except it may be in spiritual conference, and then not by way of accusation, but to obtain advice how to behave another time in like circumstances. For if you say: I accuse myself of having had movements of violent anger for two days, but I did not give way to them, you are telling your virtues, not your sins. A doubt comes into my mind, though, that I may have committed some fault during the temptation. You must consider maturely if this doubt have any foundation in fact, and if so, speak of the matter in confession with all simplicity; otherwise it is better not to mention it, as you would do so only for your own satisfaction. Even should this silence cost you some pain, you must endure it as you would any other to which you can apply no remedy."

5. "Omit from your confessions"--we again quote the same Saint--"those superfluous accusations which so many persons make merely through habit: I have not loved God sufficiently; I have not prayed with enough fervor; I have not loved my neighbor as much as I should; I have not received the Sacraments with all the reverence due to them; and others of a like nature. You will readily see the reason for this. It is that in speaking thus you tell nothing particular that would make known to the confessor the state of your conscience, and because the most perfect man living, as well as all the saints in Paradise might say the same things were they making a confession."

6. Those who go to confession frequently should always bear in mind what the saintly director says in addition: "We are not obliged to confess our venial sins, but if we do so it must be with a firm resolution to correct them, otherwise it is an abuse of the sacrament to mention them."

7. After confession keep your soul in peace, and be on your guard--this is a point of cardinal importance--against giving access to any fear about the validity of the sacrament, either as regards the examination of conscience, the contrition, or anything else whatsoever. These fears are suggestions of the devil whose aim it is to instill bitterness into a sacrament of consolation and love. "After confession is not the time to examine ourselves to find if we have told all our sins. We should rather remain attentively and in peace near our Lord, with whom We have just been reconciled, and thank Him for His great mercy. Nor is it necessary subsequently to search out what we may have forgotten. We must tell simply all that comes to mind; after that we need think no more about it."--St. Francis de Sales.

8. It is essential to be sorry for our sins--it is not essential to be troubled about them. Repentance is an effect of love of God, anxiety is an effect of self-love. In the midst of the keenest and most sincere repentance we can still thank God that He has not permitted us to become yet more culpable. Let us promise Him a solid amendment, relying for success solely upon the assistance of divine grace; and should we fall again a hundred times a day, let us never cease to renew the promise and the hope. God can in an instant raise up from the very stones children to Abraham and exalt the most corrupt natures to the highest degree of sanctity. At times He does so, but usually it is His will that we long continue to bear the burden of our infirmity: let us not then lose our trust in Him, nor mistake a state of trial for a state of reprobation. *God has, indeed, on some occasions cured sinners instantaneously and without leaving in them any trace of their previous maladies. Such, for instance, was the case with the Magdalen. In a moment her soul was changed from a sink of corruption into a well-spring of perfection, never again to be contaminated by sin. But, on the other hand, in several of the beloved disciples this same God allowed many marks of their evil inclinations to remain for some time after their conversion, and this for their greater good. Witness Saint Peter, who, even after the divine call, was guilty of various imperfections and once fell totally and miserably by the triple denial of his Lord and Master. "Solomon says there is no one more insolent than a servant who has suddenly become mistress. [4]
A soul that after a long slavery to its passions should in a moment subjugate them completely, would be in great danger of becoming a prey to pride and vanity. This dominion must be gained little by little, step by step; it cost the saints long years of labor to acquire it. Hence the necessity of having patience with every one, but first of all with yourself."--St. Francis de Sales.* *There is no sight more pleasing to Heaven than to witness the persevering and determined struggle of a soul which, throughout, remains united to God by a sincere desire and a firm resolution not to offend him--and maintaining this struggle calmly and patiently even when it is to all appearance fruitless. Such a soul, resigned to retain its defects if it is God's will, yet determined notwithstanding to fight against them relentlessly, is more precious in the eyes of God than if the practice of virtue were easy for it and it were in peaceful possession of spiritual gifts. Labor, then, in the presence of your heavenly Father; struggle on with strength and courage; but do not be too desirous of success, for when this craving for self-satisfaction is excessive it is sure to be accompanied by vexation and impatience. "Evil things must not be desired at all," says Saint Francis de Sales, "nor good things immoderately." And elsewhere: "I entreat of you, love nothing too ardently, not even the virtues, for these we sometimes forfeit by exceeding the bounds of moderation." And again: "Why is it that if we happen to fall into some imperfection or sin we are surprised at ourselves and become disquieted and impatient? Undoubtedly it is because we thought there was some good in us, and that we were resolute and strong. Consequently when we find this is not the case, that we have tripped and fallen to the earth, we are anxious, annoyed and troubled; whereas if we realized what we truly are, in place of being astonished at seeing ourselves down, we should wonder rather how we ever remain erect."
"We should labor, therefore, without any uneasiness as to results. God requires efforts on our part, but not success. If we combat with perseverance, nothing daunted by our defeats, these very defeats will be worth as much to us as victories, and even more. But beware!--there is a rock here! If this conflict is not undertaken in perfectly good faith, we will try to deceive ourselves as to the genuineness of our efforts by calling the cowardice which caused us to refuse the battle a defeat, and by dignifying with the name of trial the results of our own effeminacy and sloth."*

9. Contrition is essentially an act of the will by which we detest our past sins and resolve not to commit them in future. Hence sighs, tears, sensible sorrow are not necessary elements of true contrition. Contrition can even attain that degree of disinterested perfection which suffices for the justification of a sinner, in the midst of the greatest dryness and an apparent insensibility. Therefore never allow yourself to be disturbed by the want of sensible sorrow.

10. Do not make violent efforts to excite your soul to contrition, for these only have the effect of producing anxiety, weariness and oppression of mind. On the contrary seek to become very calm; say lovingly to God that you wish sincerely you had never offended Him and that with the assistance of His grace you will never offend Him more--that is contrition. True contrition is a product of love, and love acts in a calm.

11. "An act of contrition," says St. Francis de Sales, "is the work of a moment." Cast a rapid glance at yourself to see and detest your sins, and another towards God to promise Him amendment and to express a hope of obtaining His assistance in keeping this promise. David, one of the most contrite penitents that ever lived, expressed his act of contrition in a single word: Peccavi--I have sinned, and by that one word he was justified. "You ask how an act of contrition can be made in a short time? I answer that a very good one can be made in almost no time. Nothing more is needed than to prostrate oneself before God in a spirit of humility and of sorrow for having offended Him."--St. Francis de Sales.

12. You say you would wish to have contrition but cannot succeed in feeling it. Saint Francis de Sales replies: "The ability to wish is a great power with God, and you thus have contrition by the simple fact that you wish to have it. You do not feel it indeed at the moment, but neither do you see nor feel a fire covered with ashes, nevertheless the fire exists." The immoderate desire of sensible sorrow comes from self-love and self-complacency. A sorrow that satisfies only God is not sufficient for us, we wish it to satisfy us also; we like to find in our sensibility a flattering and reassuring testimony of our love of good.

13. If God does not grant you the enjoyment of sensible sorrow, it is in order that you may gain the merit of obedience, which should suffice to reassure you as to your perfect reconciliation. Believe therefore with humility, obey with courage, and you will earn a twofold reward. The greatest saints have at times believed they had neither contrition nor love, but in the midst of this darkness of the understanding, their will followed the torch of obedience with heroic submission.

14. Do not conclude that you lack contrition or that your confessions are defective, because you fall again into the same faults. It is very essential to make a distinction in regard to relapses. Those that are the offspring of a perverse will which has preserved an affection for certain venial sins, takes pleasure and wishes to take pleasure in them,--these should not be tolerated; we must vigorously attack them at the very root and not allow ourselves any respite until they are utterly exterminated. But those relapses that proceed from inadvertence, from surprise notwithstanding constant vigilance, from the infirmity and frailty of our nature, to these we shall remain partially subject until our last breath. "It will be doing very well," says Saint Francis de Sales, "if we get free of certain faults a quarter of an hour before our death." And elsewhere: "We are obliged not only to bear with the failings of our neighbor, but likewise with our own and to be patient at the sight of our imperfections." We must try to correct ourselves, but we should do it tranquilly and without anxiety. We cannot become angels before the proper time. "You complain that you still have many faults and failings notwithstanding your desire for perfection and a pure love of God. I assure you that it is impossible to be entirely divested of self whilst we are here below. We shall always be obliged to bear ourselves about with us until God transfers us to heaven; and whilst we do this we carry something that is of no value. It is necessary, therefore, to have patience, and not to expect to cure ourselves in a day of the numerous bad habits contracted through past carelessness in regard to our spiritual welfare. Pray do not look here, there and everywhere: look only at God and yourself; you will never see God devoid of goodness, nor yourself without wretchedness and that wretchedness the object of God's goodness and mercy."--St. Francis de Sales.
Fénelon speaks in the same tone: "You should never be surprised or discouraged at your faults. You must bear with them patiently yet without flattering yourself or sparing correction. Treat yourself as you would another. As soon as you find you have committed a fault make an interior act of self-condemnation, turn to God to receive a penance, and then tell your fault with simplicity to your director. Begin over again to do well as though it were the first time, and do not grow weary if you have to make a fresh start every day. Nothing is more touching to the Sacred Heart of Jesus than this humble and patient courage. We should not be cast down if we have many temptations and even commit numerous faults. Virtue,' says the Apostle, is made perfect in infirmity.' [5] Spiritual progress is effected less by sensible devotion, relish and spiritual consolations, than by means of interior humiliation and frequent recourse to God."

15. Habitually add to your confession some general accusation of all the sins of your past life, or of such of them as occasion you most remorse. Say, for example, I accuse myself of sins against purity, or charity, or temperance. You thus preclude the possibility of there being lack of sufficient matter for the validity of the Sacrament.

16. Banish from your mind the dread of having omitted any sins in either your general or ordinary confessions, or of not having explained their circumstances clearly enough. The learned theologian Janin sets forth the following rules on the subject: The Church, the interpreter of the will of Jesus Christ, requires sacramental integrity in confession, and not material integrity. The former consists in the confession of all the sins we can remember after a sufficient examination, the duration of which should be regulated by the actual state of the conscience. Material integrity would require a rigorously complete accusation of all the sins we have committed with their number and circumstances, without the slightest omission. Now sacramental integrity may be reasonably exacted since it exceeds no one's ability; whilst material integrity, on the contrary, could not be exacted without the sacrament becoming an impossibility; for, no matter how carefully we make our examination of conscience, some sin, or some detail in regard to number or circumstance, will always escape us. In a word, all that the Church demands of the faithful is a sincere and humble avowal of every sin that can be brought to mind after a suitable examen: for the rest, she intends good will to supply for any defect of memory. *Do not be uneasy because you fail to remember all your failings in order to tell them in confession. This is unnecessary, because as you often fall almost without being aware of it, so you often get up again without perceiving it; just as in the passage you quote it is not said that the just man sees or feels himself fall seven times a day, but simply that he falls seven times a day: in like manner he gets up again without noticing particularly that he has done so. Hence have no anxiety about this, but frankly and humbly confess whatever you remember, and commit the rest to the tender mercies of him who puts his hand under those who fall without malice that they may not be bruised, and raises them up again so gently and swiftly that they scarcely realize they had fallen.--St. Francis de Sales.*

17. By a diligent examination of conscience you have thoroughly satisfied all the requirements for sacramental integrity; therefore banish whatever doubts and fears may come to beset you, for they are nothing but temptations.

18. Should you suspect that you failed to fulfil these requirements owing to not having been particular enough about your examination of conscience, you may feel sure that your confessor has by prudent interrogations supplied for whatever may have been wanting on your part. And if he did not question you further it was due to the fact that he understood clearly enough the nature of your sins and the state of your soul, and this is the object of sacramental accusation.

19. How great then is the error of those poor souls who wish continually to make their general confessions over again, either through fear of incomplete examination or of insufficient sorrow; and how blameworthy the weak complaisance of those confessors who offer no opposition to their doing so! If such fears were to be listened to, every one would be obliged to pass his entire life in making and repeating general confessions, for they would incessantly spring up afresh and even the greatest saints would not be exempt from them. A sacrament of consolation and love would thus be transformed into a perfect torture for the soul--an heretical perversion anathematized by the Council of Trent. "I have found in your general confession all the marks of a sincere, good and earnest confession. Never have I heard one that more thoroughly satisfied me. You may rely on this, for in these matters I speak very plainly. However, if you really omitted something that ought to have been told, consider if you did so consciously and voluntarily, in which case, if it was a mortal sin or you thought it one at the time, you would undoubtedly have to make the confession over again. But if it were only a venial sin, or though mortal you omitted it out of forgetfulness or some defect of memory, have no scruples; for at my soul's peril, I assure you there is no obligation to repeat your confession. It will be quite sufficient to mention the matter to your ordinary confessor. I will answer for this."--St. Francis de Sales.

20. It is the teaching of the saints and doctors of the Church that when a general confession has been made with a sincere and upright intention and with a desire to change one's life, the penitent should remain in peace in regard to it, and not make it over again under any pretext whatsoever. Those who do otherwise recall to their memory things that should be banished from it, and increase the trouble of their soul by a too eager desire to purify it. For, as Saint Philip de Neri so well expresses it: the harder we sweep, the more dust we raise.

21. Remember, in conclusion, that according to the common opinion of the saints, the fear of sin is no longer salutary when it becomes excessive.  

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Maxims for the Direction of a Soul that Desires to Obtain Perfection in the Love of Jesus Christ (St. Alphonsus Liguori)

Source: The Incarnation, Birth, and Infancy of Jesus Christ 1927

1. To desire ardently to increase in the love of Jesus Christ.

2. Often to make acts of love towards Jesus Christ. Immediately on waking, and before going to sleep, to make an act of love, seeking always to unite your own will to the will of Jesus Christ.

3. Often to meditate on his Passion.

4. Always to ask Jesus Christ for his love.

5. To communicate often, and many times in the day to make spiritual Communions.

6. Often to visit the Most Holy Sacrament.

7. Every morning to receive from the hands of Jesus Christ himself your own cross.

8. To desire Paradise and death, in order to be able to love Jesus Christ perfectly and for all eternity.

9. Often to speak of the love of Jesus Christ.

10. To accept contradictions for the sake of Jesus Christ.

11. To rejoice in the happiness of God.

12. To do that which is most pleasing to Jesus Christ, and not to refuse him anything that is agreeable to him.

13. To desire and to endeavor that all should love Jesus Christ.

14. To pray always for sinners and for the souls in purgatory.

15. To drive from your heart every affection that does not belong to Jesus Christ.

16. Always to have recourse to the most holy Mary, that she may obtain for us the love of Jesus Christ.

17. To honor Mary in order to please Jesus Christ.

18. To seek to please Jesus Christ in all your actions.

19. To offer yourself to Jesus Christ to suffer any pain for his love.

20 To be always determined to die rather than commit a willful venial sin.

21. To suffer crosses patiently, saying, "Thus it pleases Jesus Christ."

22. To renounce your own pleasures for the love of Jesus Christ.

23. To pray as much as possible.

24. To practice all the mortifications that obedience permits.

25. To do all your spiritual exercises as if it were for the last time.

26. To persevere in good works in the time of aridity.

27. Not to do nor yet to leave undone anything through human respect.

28. Not to complain in sickness.

29. To love solitude, to be able to converse alone with Jesus Christ.

30. To drive away melancholy.

37. Often to recommend yourself to those persons who love Jesus Christ.

32. In temptation, to have recourse to Jesus crucified, and to Mary in her sorrows.

33. To trust entirely in the Passion of Jesus Christ.

34. After committing a fault, not to be discouraged, but to repent and resolve to amend.

35. To do good to those who do evil.

36. To speak well of all, and to excuse the intention when you cannot defend the action.

37. To help your neighbor as much as you can.

38. Neither to say nor to do anything that might vex him. And if you have been wanting in charity, to ask his pardon and speak kindly to him.

39. Always to speak with mildness and in a low tone.

40. To offer to Jesus Christ all the contempt and persecution that you meet with.

41. To look upon [religious] Superiors as the representatives of Jesus Christ.

42. To obey without answering and without repugnance, and not to seek your own satisfaction in anything.

43. To like the lowest employments.

44. To like the poorest things.

45. Not to speak either good or evil of yourself.

46. To humble yourself even towards inferiors.

47. Not to excuse yourself when you are reproved.

48. Not to defend yourself when found fault with.

49. To be silent when you are disquieted.

50. Always to renew your determination of becoming a saint, saying, "My Jesus, I desire to be all Yours, and You must be all mine."

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Proof Pozzo is a Dyed-in-the-Wool Liberal

Pozzo
In recent interviews, Archbishop Guido Pozzo has made it clear that - as a condition of Personal
Prelature - he expects the Society to enter into "non-polemical" dialogue.
"I do not see why this work of clarification and the answers to doubts and reservations raised by an ecclesiastical and non-polemical spirit can not be carried forward." - Die Tagespost, March 17, 2017
He said likewise a year earlier when asked "What Obstacles Remain?" [to a canonical agreement]:
"There is also the level of mental and psychological attitudes, which is to move from a position of polemical and antagonistic confrontation, to a position of listening and mutual respect, esteem and confidence, as it should be between members of the same Body of Christ, which is the Church." - Zenit, February 26, 2016

Let us compare this mindset to that of Fr. Felix Sarda y Salvany, famous champion of anti-liberalism who earned the complete support and endorsement of Pope Leo XIII for his priceless work, Liberalism is a Sin.

"Narrow! Intolerant! Uncompromising! These are the epithets of odium hurled by Liberal votaries of all degrees...Are not your vigorous denunciations, it is urged against us, harsh and uncharitable and in the very teeth of the teaching of Christianity, which is essentially a religion of love? Such is the accusation continually flung in our face
"The Catechism [of the Council of Trent]...gives us the most complete and succinct definition of charity; it is full of wisdom and philosophy. Charity is a supernatural virtue which induces us to love God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves for the love of God...Amare est velle bonum, replies the philosopher. "To love is to wish good to him whom we love."...What is that good which true love wishes? First of all supernatural good.
"It follows, therefore, that we can love our neighbor when displeasing him, when opposing him, when causing him some material injury...When we correct the wicked by restraining or by punishing them, we do nonetheless love them. This is charity—and perfect charity.
"Therefore, to offend our neighbor for the love of God is a true act of charity. Not to offend our neighbor for the love of God is a sin.
"Modern Liberalism reverses this order; it imposes a false notion of charity: our neighbor first, and, if at all, God afterwards.
"Sovereign Catholic inflexibility is sovereign Catholic charity...The Saints are the types of this unswerving and sovereign fidelity to God, the heroes of charity and religion...
"Liberalism...accuses Catholics of lack of charity in their polemics...Si palam res est, repetitio injuria non est: To say what everybody knows is no injury.
"As the Church has always considered heresy a very grave evil, so has she always called its adherents bad and pervert...There is then no sin against charity in calling evil; its authors abettors and its disciples bad; all its acts, words, and writings iniquitous, wicked, malicious. In short, the wolf has always been called the wolf; and in so calling it, no one ever has believed that wrong was done to the flock and the shepherd.

Father Salvany goes on to cite only a small portion of the holy men who have given us an example of true, polemical charity!

 "St. John the Baptist calls the Pharisees a "race of vipers";

  
 "Jesus Christ, Our Divine Saviour, hurls at them the epithets "hypocrites, whitened sepulchres, a perverse and adulterous generation," without thinking for this reason that He sullies the sanctity of His benevolent speech.


 "St. Paul criticizes the schismatic Cretians as "always liars, evil beasts, slothful bellies." The same Apostle calls Elymas the magician a "Seducer, full of guile and deceit, a child of the devil, an enemy of all justice."

 "The pacific St. Thomas Aquinas forgets the calm of his cold syllogisms when he hurls his violent apostrophe against William of St. Amour and his disciples: "Enemies of God" he cries out, "ministers of the devil, members of antichrist, ignorami, perverts, reprobates!"



"The seraphic St. Bonaventure, so full of sweetness, overwhelms his adversary Gerard with such epithets as "impudent, calumniator, spirit of malice, impious, shameless, ignorant, impostor, malefactor, perfidious, ingrate!"


"Did St. Francis de Sales, so delicately exquisite and tender, ever purr softly over the heretics of his age and country?...In his Introduction to the Devout Life, that precious and popular work, he expresses himself again: "If the declared enemies of God and of the Church ought to be blamed and censured with all possible vigor, charity obliges us to cry wolf when the wolf slips into the midst of the flock and in every way and place we may meet him."


It is clear from the above that Msgr Pozzo is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, just like the rest of those who have usurped the authority of the Holy See.

I leave you with one final quote from a pontiff of holy memory...ask yourself if there is a Cardinal on earth who believes the following to still be true:

"...[some] hold it for certain that men destitute of all religious sense are very rarely to be found, they seem to have founded on that belief a hope that the nations, although they differ among themselves in certain religious matters, will without much difficulty come to agree as brethren in professing certain doctrines, which form as it were a common basis of the spiritual life.
    "For which reason conventions, meetings and addresses are frequently arranged by these persons, at which a large number of listeners are present, and at which all without distinction are invited to join in the discussion, both infidels of every kind, and Christians, even those who have unhappily fallen away from Christ or who with obstinacy and pertinacity deny His divine nature and mission. Certainly such attempts can nowise be approved by Catholics, founded as they are on that 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.
    "Not only are those who hold this opinion in error and deceived, but also in distorting the idea of true religion they reject it, and little by little. turn aside to naturalism and atheism, as it is called; from which it clearly follows that one who supports those who hold these theories and attempt to realize them, is altogether abandoning the divinely revealed religion." (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, 1928, #2)


Tuesday, March 21, 2017

20 Questions for Bishop Fellay Regarding a Personal Prelature

The following is a list of questions which I pose to Bishop Fellay in regards to a potential Personal Prelature with Conciliar Rome.
These questions are posed in sincerity and with filial love for Holy Mother Church.
The responses are actual statements of His Excellency from a talk he gave in August of 2016.

1. Why is a personal prelature beneficial?
“All the sacraments the faithful will belong to this body will have the strict right to receive all the Sacraments from the priests of the Society. All the Sacraments, marriage included.”

2. But doesn't the Society already profess to have all of these things under Supplied Jurisdiction? I was married in a Society chapel. Do you say it is invalid?
[No answer available]

3. What will change if Rome gives the SSPX a personal prelature?
“At the head, a bishop. This bishop, chosen by the Pope, with three names which are presented by the Society and taken in the Society. This bishop will have authority above the priests, above the religious who want to be members, and above the faithful. This bishop will have the right to have schools, seminaries, ordinations, even to make NEW religious congregations and accept inside others who like to join. It is something like a superdiocese, autonomous from the local bishops.
No change for you [faithful] now, the only thing will be with the recognition that you are Catholics.”

4. What are the risks of a Personal Prelature?
“You can imagine that will cause a lot of problems with the local bishops, so we have to remain prudent there.
“[But] You cannot imagine anything better than what is offered there. And such a thing that you cannot think, ‘That’s a trap.’ It’s NOT a trap. And if somebody is offering something like that, it can be only because he wants good to us. He wants the good of Tradition. He wants Tradition to, we say, spread in the Church. It is impossible to think that such a thing could be invented by enemies. The enemies have many other ways to crush us down; but not that one.”

5. Why do you not, then, accept the Personal Prelature that is being offered?
“Because I want to be sure that this is true. I do not have the right to live in a dream, and so I have to check every step. "

6. But didn’t you say it cannot possibly be a trap? Why do you need to be sure it is true that it is not a trap if it is not possible that it is a trap?
“I myself am surprised. I myself say, ‘What’s going on?’”

7. What is the condition of accepting a Personal Prelature?
“That we do not change. We are what we are, and we remain as we are.”

8. But what about the condition that Archbishop Lefebvre laid out that the discussions must be placed at the doctrinal level and that Rome (Pope especially) must acknowledge that they profess what their predecessors have taught? What about the need that Conciliar Rome convert back to the true faith before we have any part with them?
[No answer available]

9. What about the quote from the Archbishop in 1989 that “It is a strict duty for every priest wanting to remain Catholic to separate himself from this Conciliar Church for as long as it does not rediscover the tradition of the Church and of the Catholic Faith?”
[No answer available]

10. Why has the SSPX not issued its own formal Dubia to Pope Francis? Or why do you not ask him to his face specifically what he believes? Wouldn’t that be prudent?
[No answer available]

11. What does it mean when you say that there are many in Rome supportive of the Society?
“They say to us, ‘You must resist. Why don’t you accept the proposal from Rome?’ Yes, and I say to them, ‘And tomorrow they will say we must say the New Mass.’ And they say to us, ‘No no you must resist!’
Is that the language you have ever heard in the Church? Bishops who start to say to us, ‘You must resist?’ Of course they are not all like that, but now they exist and they grow in number. So for me, it’s really not impossible that we are at a determining point at the history of Council Vatican II.”

12. How many Cardinals knowingly support the Society?
“We are NOT alone…even in the hierarchy of the Church. We are not alone.”

13. How many bishops knowingly support the Society?
“I do not give you the name, but I just want to make you aware of what is going on in the Church. We have a bishop who says, ‘We are many bishops.’ He says stay firm. I can really tell you, he is not the only one.”

14. Why, if these cardinals and bishops support the Society, do they not come forward and speak up? Is it not their responsibility to be courageous?
[No answer available]

15. Do the same cardinals and bishops who support the society also support Vatican II and believe JPII and John XXIII were saints? Or do they hold the exact same position as the Society in these matters?
[No answer available]

16. On April 27, 2015, an article appeared on the SSPX US web site stating that Msgr Pozzo’s actions speak louder than his words, specifically that “he pretends to hold out to us a smooth hand in the hope that we will believe that all is well in the Vatican, and that everyone is waiting for us with wide-open hearts and no second thoughts!” In essence, the article suggested that he cannot be trusted. Do you agree?
“The same Msgr Pozzo told me, ‘You should think to open a seminary in Italy.’ He says that now! He asks us to open a seminary in Italy…now! We don’t even have an agreement. That’s not a trap! It’s because they need priests! That’s why they say that.”

17. Do you not believe this could be because it would be easier for them to send in infiltrators into that seminary to try to slowly subvert and destroy the Society, and it would be easier for them to mentor those moles if they were closer in proximity to Rome? Or possibly that he is just trying to appease you to make you think he is your ally only to later stab you in the back?
“Such a thing that you cannot think, ‘That’s a trap.’ It’s NOT a trap…[they] have many other ways to crush us down; but not that one.”

18. Why would Rome offer a personal prelature to the Society, sine qua non? What do they stand to gain from this?
“Once again, the only answer I have is that this is happening because some people [who] still have a conscience are horrified by what is happening in the Church.”

19. So you believe that Pope Francis, Cardinal Müller and Archbishop Pozzo are all horrified by their own actions?
“It’s something…chaotic. Because you have the Pope who is not on the right side. That’s the big problem.”

20. But didn’t you say that if he is offering the Society such a deal that it can only be because he wants the good of Tradition?
“I have, for the time being, nothing. No decision. I cannot say it is happening tomorrow or in one year. I have no clue. I want to be in the reality.
But if we are recognized, I can tell you, that will be the start of a big fight. Not the struggle we are already in, but let’s say it would become even more intense.”


Saturday, March 11, 2017

God Chastises Those Who Neglect His Law

I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. 
"God assures us that a nation, which is faithful in observing the laws regarding the divine service, shall be blessed above other nations. History is one long illustration of the truth of this promise. Of all the nations which have fallen, there is not one that has not brought the chastisement upon itself by its neglect of the Law of God.

"At times, the Almighty delays to strike; but it is only that the chastisement may be the more evident and produce a more salutary effect upon mankind. When we would know the future of a country, we need only observe how it comports itself with regard to the laws of the Church. If its own laws are based on the principles and practices of Christianity, that country is sound, in spite of certain weaknesses here and there. Revolutions may disturb its peace, but it will triumph over all.

"If the bulk of its people is faithful in the observance of external practices prescribed by the Church: for example, if they observe the Lord's day, and the holy fast of Lent, there is a fund of morality in that country which is sure to draw down upon it the blessings of heaven.

"Irreligious men will scoff at all this, and call it superstition, prejudice of weak minds, and out of date for an age of progress like ours. But if their theories were to rule, and a country, which up to this time had been practically Catholic, were to seek progress by infringing the law of Christian ritual, it would, in less than a hundred years, find that public and private morality had lost ground, and its own security would be menaced.

"Man may talk and write as he likes: God wishes to be served and honored by His people, and it is for Him to prescribe what are to be the forms of this service and adoration.

"Every injury offered to external worship, which is the great social link, is an injury to the interests of mankind. Even were there not the word of God for it, it is but just that such a consequence should follow."

(Taken from The Liturgical Year Volume 5 (Lent) for Ember Saturday - Dom Prosper Gueranger)

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

A Sad Example of Today's Priestly [Mal]formation

This article was sent to me in which a diocesan priest explains why the newly appointed bishop of Dallas is of great import to everyone, not just Catholics.

Just a few comments on an excerpt from the article:
Put as a religious question, quoting Rabbi Sacks further, "Can we recognize God's image in one who is not in my image?"
This is the sort of city I believe in, a city of genuine diverse voices both secular and spiritual. It's a city in which I may grow under the wisdom of the Torah as well as the insights of the Hadith, sanctified in the teachings of Jesus as well as enlightened by the precise beauties of science. A city in which these voices come together as one chorus, not in any sort of tired blurred syncretism, but truly symphonic. A city in which each person keeps his or her authentic faith and authentic voice, speaking and bearing witness to it peacefully; each sharing the wisdom and insights of his or her traditions for the good of all. A truly diverse city: this is my vision, my hope and my prayer.


Poor, confused priest. It is sad. He says it is not syncretism which he envisions, and yet what he describes is precisely that.

He states that he wants "each person [to keep] his or her authentic faith...sharing the wisdom and insights of his or her traditions for the good of all."

Somehow, during his priestly [mal]formation, they must have skipped over the Divine Mandate to "go and baptize all nations...teaching them whatsoever things I have taught you."

Instead these poor Conciliar clergy think that our Lord was deficient...his teaching insufficient. That somehow we can find something in other religions, cultures, etc. which add value through their differences.

This poor priest only echoes that which the recent popes themselves have stated:

If, in our desire to respect a man's freedom and dignity, his conversion to the true faith is not the immediate object of our dialogue with him...(Paul VI, Ecclesiam Suam #79).
In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship. (Paul VI, Nostra Aetate, #1)
The Church's task is described as though it had to proceed in two directions: on the one hand promoting such "values of the kingdom" as peace, justice, freedom, brotherhood, etc., while on the other hand fostering dialogue between peoples, cultures and religions, so that through a mutual enrichment they might help the world to be renewed and to journey ever closer toward the kingdom. (John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, #17)

You see. It is not this priest's fault that he believes what he does. He is only following what the popes have said!

And yet countless quotes are available from popes prior to Vatican II stating almost exactly the opposite.


This priest asks if we can see God's image in others not like us.

Yet it is written that God will try us like silver tested in fire.
What does this mean exactly?

A silversmith works through a very time intensive, laborious process. He thrusts the silver into the fire to a high heat, and then removes it and pounds it. He does this over and over again until he can see himself (his reflection) perfectly in the silver which he works.

This is a message that NONE of us is truly in God's image because of the fall of man. We are disordered. Man was made in His image and likeness, but we contain (all of us) many blemishes, though some more than others.

What is it that truly makes God see Himself in us? Sanctifying grace...which only comes through the Catholic Church and the true faith of Jesus Christ.

Looking at any human is, at best, like looking at God through a fogged up window. True, we ought to strive always to see the good in others before and rather than the bad. Yet at the same time, true fraternal charity compels us to seek their ultimate good; none other than the salvation of their eternal souls which can only be secured through the true faith and life obeyed God's Commandments.


Please pray for this priest. Please pray for the new bishop of Dallas. Pray that all priests, bishops, cardinals and especially the Pope will return to the sacred and immutable Traditions of the Church before God's just wrath is the only means of purification left.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Breaking: Pope Francis Responds to Bishop Fellay's Condition of "Survival"

"I think we do not have to wait for everything to be resolved in the Church, for all the problems to be solved. But a certain number of conditions are necessary, and for us the essential condition is our survival."


H.E. Bishop Fellay recently appeared on a French program and openly discussed, among a few topics, the possible Personal Prelature from Rome.

His Excellency stated that the essential condition for a "deal" is the survival of the Society of St. Pius X.

Last week, February 2, Pope Francis responded (if not directly, at least indirectly) to Bishop Fellay:

A temptation that can make our consecrated life barren [is] the temptation of survival.
 An evil that can gradually take root within us and within our communities.  The mentality of survival makes us reactionaries, fearful, slowly and silently shutting ourselves up in our houses and in our own preconceived notions.  It makes us look back, to the glory days – days that are past – and rather than rekindling the prophetic creativity born of our founders’ dreams, it looks for shortcuts in order to evade the challenges knocking on our doors today.  
A survival mentality robs our charisms of power, because it leads us to “domesticate” them, to make them “user-friendly”, robbing them of their original creative force.  It makes us want to protect spaces, buildings and structures, rather than to encourage new initiatives.  

The temptation of survival makes us forget grace; it turns us into professionals of the sacred but not fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of that hope to which we are called to bear prophetic witness.  An environment of survival withers the hearts of our elderly, taking away their ability to dream.  In this way, it cripples the prophecy that our young are called to proclaim and work to achieve.  

In a word, the temptation of survival turns what the Lord presents as an opportunity for mission into something dangerous, threatening, potentially disastrous.  This attitude is not limited to the consecrated life, but we in particular are urged not to fall into it.




This should hopefully put an end to any rumors of a deal with Rome. While this was not clearly directed at the Society, the timing is hard to ignore.
Hopefully this message was received by Bishop Fellay and is given consideration.

What is clear is that those who are presently in "power" in Rome have no intention of compromising, no desire to change.

And so would the Society be ensured survival if canonically integrated with Conciliar Rome? No. Not if Francis has it his way. He and the current Roman regime are like a boa constrictor. Stepping inside its cold, scaly body would produce quite the opposite effect. Best to wait until the serpents are driven from Rome before getting any closer.