November 2008 Archives

Among my least favorite studies is end-times prophecy, and I have no intention of going off like some Bible-thumping sycophant. But there are times when, looking at the signs, I wonder if we're living through some events that have been foretold.

In particular, the dire warning of Our Lady of Fatima that "Russia will spread her errors" has been on my mind of late. Surely we've imbibed many of these errors over recent decades, for example, in murdering our own babies and molesting the survivors in our government schools.

But even more to the point today, America is poised to elect a Marxist to her highest office (more). This could be the final straw, the turning point when the USA truly becomes communist.

Well, it was good to see the sun come up today, Nov. 5th. You may have had the same feeling I had, like having been kicked in the gut. Maybe you cried a bit for our children.

Events like this remind me that I'm not ready to be a saint. I recalled the following story from St. Alphonsus' tract, Uniformity With God's Will, that you may find compelling also:

Would the last sane person please stand up?? (from UK Times Online):

The election of Barack Obama as the first African-American US President could pave the way for the election of the first black Pope, according to a leading black American Catholic.

Wilton Daniel Gregory, 60, the Archbishop of Atlanta, said that in the past Pope Benedict XVI had himself suggested that the election of a black pontiff would "send a splendid signal to the world" about the universal Church.

Archbishop Gregory, who in 2001 became the first African American to head the US Bishops Conference, serving for three years, said that the election of Mr Obama was "a great step forward for humanity and a sign that in the United States the problem of racial discrimination has been overcome". Like Mr Obama Archbishop Gregory comes from Chicago, and was previously Bishop of Belleville, Illinois.

Dear Friends of the Latin Mass,

This weekend, in Quincy, Illinois, located on the western tip of Illinois in the Springfield Diocese.
The first Latin Mass will be in St. Rose of Lima Church Nov 9th at 8am and 10am high mass, music and playing the historic Wicks, 1912 organ.

Father Devillers, FSSP will be the new chaplain and coming to Quincy this evening. a weekday mass will be Nov 10th at 12;10pm Monday - Saturday. the church is most beautiful

Please if any of you have questions, call father at 217-222-2511.

God Bless all of you who helped us getting the church property ready.

Paul K.Geers,
President of the Latin Mass Society of Quincy

This week just will not end, will it? We elect a Marxist president. Bishop Gregory exclaims that the only cooler thing would be to have a black pope. Now Pope Benedict praises the Muslim "Golden Rule."

Here are some excerpts from Zenit's article, Pope Affirms Golden Rule of Islam, Christianity.

"The Muslim tradition is also quite clear in encouraging practical commitment in serving the most needy, and readily recalls the 'Golden Rule' in its own version ..."

A High TLM will be offered Tuesday Nov. 11th 2008 @ 5:30PM at:

Our Lady of Czestochowa Church
84K Street
Turners Falls, MA
413-863-4748

Please tell all your friends who live in (or near)Western, MA.

Bishop Matano will celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass on the the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 7 PM at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Burlington, VT.

Latin Mass News

1. The Mass in the extraordinary form, which normally occurs on the first Sunday of the month, will be transferred from December 7 to November 30 to coincide with the First Sunday of Advent.

2. The Mass in the extraordinary form, which was being offered every Friday at 12:10 PM, is being temporarily suspended during December, January, and February. It may be offered on some winter weekdays, depending on Fr. Kerper's schedule. If you would like to be notified, please send your email address to parishmail@corpuschristinh.org or call 603-436-4555.

For full details go to : The Traditional Latin Mass in Michiana

The pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Greenville, SC, is urging parishioners who voted for Barack Obama not to present themselves for Communion unless they go to confession first because they have cooperated with "intrinsic evil'' by voting for a candidate who supports abortion rights over a candidate who does not. The Rev. Jay Scott Newman told the Greenville News that he doesn't intend to deny anyone Communion, but made it clear that his view is that Obama voters should not present themselves without seeking penance first "lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.''

Newman is the only priest in the U.S. known to have taken this position -- the Catholic bishops met this week in Baltimore and this idea was not even discussed, at least in public session. Newman has posted on his parish web site the following letter explaining his rationale:

Dear Friends in Christ,

We the People have spoken, and the 44th President of the United States will be Barack Hussein Obama. This election ends a political process that started two years ago and which has revealed deep and bitter divisions within the United States and also within the Catholic Church in the United States. This division is sometimes called a �Culture War,� by which is meant a heated clash between two radically different and incompatible conceptions of how we should order our common life together, the public life that constitutes civil society. And the chief battleground in this culture war for the past 30 years has been abortion, which one side regards as a murderous abomination that cries out to Heaven for vengeance and the other side regards as a fundamental human right that must be protected in laws enforced by the authority of the state. Between these two visions of the use of lethal violence against the unborn there can be no negotiation or conciliation, and now our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president. We must also take note of the fact that this election was effectively decided by the votes of self-described (but not practicing) Catholics, the majority of whom cast their ballots for President-elect Obama.

In response to this, I am obliged by my duty as your shepherd to make two observations:

1. Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ�s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.

2. Barack Obama, although we must always and everywhere disagree with him over abortion, has been duly elected the next President of the United States, and after he takes the Oath of Office next January 20th, he will hold legitimate authority in this nation. For this reason, we are obliged by Scriptural precept to pray for him and to cooperate with him whenever conscience does not bind us otherwise. Let us hope and pray that the responsibilities of the presidency and the grace of God will awaken in the conscience of this extraordinarily gifted man an awareness that the unholy slaughter of children in this nation is the greatest threat to the peace and security of the United States and constitutes a clear and present danger to the common good. In the time of President Obama's service to our country, let us pray for him in the words of a prayer found in the Roman Missal:

God our Father, all earthly powers must serve you. Help our President-elect, Barack Obama, to fulfill his responsibilities worthily and well. By honoring and striving to please you at all times, may he secure peace and freedom for the people entrusted to him. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Amen.

Father Newman

Article from the Boston Globe

Fr. Newman of Greenville, SC, informed his parishioners that voting for Obama was a sin, and that such a person should go to Confession (see the previous post). His diocese immediately silenced him. Now Father has mitigated his statement somewhat, allowing for a voter who opposes abortion yet voted for Obama as the lesser of two evils (I'm paraphrasing).

I'm inclined to prefer Fr. Newman's original letter as providing the better food for the souls under his care. Voting for Obama was certainly a serious misjudgment, and confession is certainly good. A serious Catholic would only benefit from Father's letter.

Was a vote for Obama a mortal sin? I'm inclined to think so. Several bishops made it clear that this was a grave matter, e.g., Bp. Gracida. We know that anyone who approves of any abortion falls into mortal sin. This is so even if the person doesn't know it's a baby, for the natural law informs everyone that abortion is a grave matter that requires serious reflection; hence, failure to inform oneself is itself sinful. "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. His eternal power also and divinity: so that they [the Gentiles] are inexcusable." (Romans 1:20) Likewise, voting for someone who promotes abortion is also mortally sinful, given that the other candidate is less pro-abortion.

Here's another update for what I might entitle the "wheat'n'chaff" report. You will know them by their cowardice and their sniveling kowtowing to the status quo. Cowardice we recently observed from the diocese of Charleston, SC, in the silencing of Fr. Newman. Kowtowing comes from the National Catholic Register which rushed to praise the new president-elect (click here).

We at the Register were very focused on the life issue, and will remain so. But we always knew John McCain was no pro-life hero (he supports using taxpayer money to fund fatal experiments on embryos) and though we disagree on much, we always liked Obama.

He is a civil, decent man. His historic election is exciting in that it hails, we hope, the end of an era when race was factored into decisions it had nothing to do with.

How sweet! The Legionaries-owned publication, supposedly a "conservative" outfit, grovels without provocation the morning after the election. Are they closet leftists and pro-aborts, or just cowards? Does this signal the direction of the Novus-Ordo American Church? Stay tuned.

Here's a letter recently sent by a friend of the Latin Mass Network to some newcomers to the Traditional Mass. It may be of interest to visitors of this website.

Thanksgiving Day Mass Schedule
(Feast of Our Lady of The Miraculous Medal)
Thursday, November 27, 2008 9:30am
Missa Cantata (Usus Antiquior, 1962 missal)

Marian Friary of Our Lady of Guadalupe
199 Colonel Brown Road
Griswold, Connecticut 06351
(860) 376-6840
friars@figuadalupe. com

As the world reels in horror at the atrocities committed by Muslim terrorists—200 victims murdered in India, hotels bombed in Pakistan, a Coptic church attacked by thousands of Muslims in Cairo—our prelates remain fixated on the ideology of dialogue and rapprochement. A few weeks ago, Pope Benedict spoke about something he called the Muslim "Golden Rule." Now Cardinal Tauran expresses his gratitude to Muslims for bringing God back (from Reuters):

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Catholic Church's department for interfaith contacts, said religion was now talked and written about more than ever before in today's Europe.

"It's thanks to the Muslims," he said in a speech printed in Friday's L'Osservatore Romano, the official daily of the Vatican. "Muslims, having become a significant minority in Europe, were the ones who demanded space for God in society."