Wednesday, February 17, 2016

JPII "Love Affair", Francis Finds "Tiara"?, "Sharing" & SUPER MERCY!

Novus Ordo: JPII "Love Affair", Francis Finds "Tiara"?, "Sharing" & SUPER MERCY!

This blog is LOADED with latest news (vomit) coming from the Vatican II "cult of man"

"Pope" unleashes 'super confessors' to tackle special sins

Vatican City (AFP) - Dubbed 'super confessors', for one year only they can absolve sins usually only pardoned by the pope himself.

And on Wednesday over 1,000 of these "missionaries of mercy", handpicked by Pope Francis, were sent forth to win back the hearts of those who have left the Catholic Church and open the door to repentant sinners across the world.

There are certain evils the Vatican ranks above other sins, from attempting to assassinate the pope to defiling the Eucharist -- the rite of consuming consecrated bread and wine in Church -- by spitting it out or using it in a Satanic ritual.
Since the 12th century, those guilty of these so-called "reserved sins" had their cases evaluated by a secret tribunal in the tiny Vatican city state before they were sent before the pope, who would determine an appropriate penance.
Now, 1,142 priests and monks from around the world have be given the power, for the Vatican's Jubilee Year, to forgive sinners in their flocks -- and possibly fellow priests as one of the special sins is breaking the seal of confession.
Maltese Franciscan Marcello Ghirlando, 53, told AFP he thought giving the 'super confessors' authority usually reserved for the man in white was "a symbolic gesture" to show people the Church is ready to wipe slates clean.
"I think the pope wants to insist that 'listen, God is always going to forgive us if we turn to him with a clean heart, with a repentant heart'," he said with a grin, adding that he was relishing the challenge of bringing people back to church.

Pope Francis has repeatedly warned priests not to turn off potential believers by being boring, inaccessible or overly intrusive, and on Tuesday he told the missionaries they should take a "maternal" approach to sinners.

"Remember, you are not dealing with sin but a repentant sinner, a sinner who wants to change but can't," he said, telling them to "cover the sinner with a blanket of mercy, so that he is no longer ashamed and can rediscover joy."
- 'Spiritual, social revolution' -

Some of the super confessors are already thinking outside the box. One missionary is off to the Canadian Arctic to hear Eskimo confessions, another will tour Australia in a camper, whilst others are packing their bags for Burundi, China and Lebanon.

Vatican watcher John L. Allen, writing for the Cruxnow website, said the pontiff was hoping the missionaries would carry with them his messages on key social issues, from tackling climate change to opening doors to refugees.
"As the 'Pope of Mercy' sees it, this jubilee year isn't just a series of celebrations and events intended to foster deeper piety, however desirable that may be. The far more audacious aim is to launch a revolution -- spiritual at its core, but with imminent social and even political consequences," he said.
American priest Joseph Hlubik, 62, who was meeting up with the other missionaries ahead of talks with the pope, said he hoped that those who have left the Church in recent years "see this as an opportunity to come back".
"People who thought they were outside of the grace of God for one reason or another. Let them find us approachable and understanding," he said, holding his wide-brimmed black hat on in the wind.
Priest Mana Thembalethu from South Africa, 39, said the confessors would be forgiving those who take part in abortions -- but warned "we're not saying abortion is cool, everybody must do it. It still remains a sin".

And 49-year-old Xavier Lefebvre, a Paris-based priest, shrugged off the label "super confessor", saying anyone who takes confession should be super, or they are not doing their job right -- a sentiment shared by Francis.

"Let those who do not feel up to it have the humility to say: 'No, I'll celebrate Mass, I'll clean the floor, I'll do everything but not confess, because I do not know how to do it well'," the pope said.

Church-sponsored Milan Cathedral and Lourdes “Romantic” Tours Include Invitations for Homosexual Couples

MILAN (Juliana Freitag) – Love-themed tours are being offered in the Milan Cathedral for Valentine’s Day — and they’ll include homosexual couples.
The organization responsible for the restoration and maintenance of the cathedral, La Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo (“The Venerable Factory of the Cathedral”), is sponsoring the romantic tours, with the aim of raising funds for the renovation. The program includes a visit to the Church’s spires at sunset.
Unlike other tours, which are open to the general public and may include children, this one is aimed specifically at adult couples. If their donation surpasses 80 euros, a personalized certificate is issued as “a special gift to your beloved.” La Veneranda is also encouraging couples to post photos on social media in order to spread the word about the fundraising campaign.
In the midst of heated debate in the Italian Senate over the gay civil unions bill — a law that would give homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual couples, including the right to adopt — LGBT group Arcigay is seizing on an opportunity to politicize its cause through the cathedral’s Valentine’s Day tours.
Fabio Pellegata, president of the Milan branch of Arcigay, contacted La Veneranda asking whether gay couples might take part, and La Veneranda confirmed that “there is no preclusion from the participation of homosexual couples.” Pellegata has said this response is “an important sign of openness from a religious body.”
A group of gay Christians, Il Guado (“The Ford”), has also welcomed the initiative and is prompting its members to participate in the tours. Their spokesman Gianni Geraci has said that “this sign, even if small, is positive and should be encouraged.”
Even though La Veneranda judicially operates independently from the Church, its advisory board includes members either directly appointed or at least approved by the archbishop of Milan. Cardinal Angelo Scola, current archbishop, is famous in the Italian media for controversial statements, including his approval of the construction of a mosque in Milan and his public defense of Islam, as well as his calling for “a new world order.”
As of press time, the Milan archdiocese has issued no statement on the matter.
Lourdes also featured a weekend for couples, inviting both heterosexual and homosexual couples. A flyer released by the Lourdes diocese Friday urged: “Come to Lourdes to say I love you.” It was part of an effort called “Operation St. Valentine,” meant to encourage visitors to the pilgrimage site in light of decreasing numbers over the past few years.
Sanctuary treasurer Thierry Castillo clarified that the weekend was “open to all kinds of couples — married, not married, homosexual …”
David Torchala, communications director for the diocese, said of the initiative, “The goal is not to know who they are, the idea is to welcome all couples so that they entrust their love to the Lord. It’s a prayer for couples.”
“This initiative aims to extend God’s love to all,” Torchala said. Lourdes’ bishop Nicolas Brouwet was set to lead the prayers.

Ironic Quote of the Day

Is this because Vatican II "dialogue" does not convert anyone to the true Faith as well?

“Dialogue with the devil is impossible because that way he always wins”

At today’s mass celebration in Ecatepec, Francis said “only the power of God’s word” can defeat him. The Pope talked about “wealth, vanity and pride, the three temptations for the Christian” and Lent, as a time to overcome the seduction of money, fame and power. “God has a name: Mercy. His name is our wealth, his name is what makes us famous, his name is our power”. At the Angelus, he invited Mexicans to “be on the front line, to be first in all the initiatives which help make this blessed land of Mexico a land of opportunities”

andrea tornielli

Setting aside the homily text, Francis began: “If we recall the words we heard in the Gospel, Jesus does not respond to the devil with his own words but with God’s words, the words of the Scriptures. We should get this into our heads: it is impossible to have a dialogue with the devil. Because he will always win. Only the power of God’s word can defeat him.” He went on to say that wealth, vanity and pride are the “three temptations which the Christian is faced with daily,” three temptations which “seek to corrode, destroy and extinguish the joy and freshness of the Gospel”. Today Francis celebrated mass at Ecatepec, which is the nàhuatl language means “windy hill”, a city on the outskirts of Mexico City, inhabited mostly by commuters who work in the federal capital. Over 300,000 people gathered in the rural space of the local Study Centre. People had waited outside in the freezing cold all night to attend the Pope’s mass. To enter, they had to present tickets which were distributed free of charge by the local Episcopal Conference. However, fewer than the requested amount were made available. Angelica, an elderly woman with a brown woollen poncho wrapped around her was still shivering. “In my parish of Toluca which is three hours from here,” she said, “they only handed out 100 of them. But now we’re here and we’re happy!”

The stage was huge, with a big metal cross set in a square wooden structure. In front of it was an enormous decorative carpet with floral and animal motifs, typical of the indigenous tradition, printed on a black background. The carpet was created from different pieces made by a group of artisans.The Gospel of the day described Jesus’ temptations in the desert. After reminding faithful that Lent “is a good time to recover the joy and hope that make us feel beloved sons and daughters of the Father," the Pope explained: Our Father, he is the Father of a great family; he is our Father. He knows that he has a unique love, but he does not know how to bear or raise an 'only child'. He is the God of the home, of brotherhood, of bread broken and shared. He is the God who is 'Our Father', not 'my father' or 'your stepfather'."

“But this dream is continually threatened by the father of lies, by the one who tries to separate us, making a divided and fractious society. A society of the few, and for the few.” “How often,” Francis recalled, “we experience in our own lives, or in our own families, among our friends or neighbours, the pain which arises when the dignity we carry within is not recognized. How many times have we had to cry and regret on realizing that we have not acknowledged this dignity in others. How often – and it pains me to say it – have we been blind and impervious in failing to recognize our own and others’ dignity.”

“Lent is a time for reconsidering our feelings, for letting our eyes be opened to the frequent injustices which stand in direct opposition to the dream and the plan of God. It is a time to unmask three great temptations that wear down and fracture the image which God wanted to form in us.”

The first is wealth, “seizing hold of goods destined for all, and using them only for “my own people”. That is, taking the “bread” based on the toil of others, or even at the expense of their very lives. That wealth which tastes of pain, bitterness and suffering. This is the bread that a corrupt family or society gives its own children.”

The second temptation “is vanity the pursuit of prestige based on continuous, relentless exclusion of those who 'are not like me'. The futile chasing of those five minutes of fame which do not forgive the 'reputation' of others.”

The third is pride, or rather, “putting oneself on a higher level than one truly is on, feeling that one does not
share the life of “mere mortals”, and yet being one who prays every day: “I thank you Lord that you have
not made me like those others…” “Three temptations of Christ… Three temptations which the Christian is faced with daily. Three temptations which seek to corrode, destroy and extinguish the joy and freshness of the Gospel. Three temptations which lock us into a cycle of destruction and sin.”

“To what degree are we aware of these temptations in our lives, in our very selves?” the Pope asked. “How much have we become accustomed to a lifestyle where we think that our source and life force lies only in wealth? To what point do we feel that caring about others, our concern and work for bread, for the good name and dignity of others, are wellsprings of happiness and hope?”

“We have chosen Jesus, not the evil one,” Francis explained. “We want to follow in his footsteps, even though we know that this is not easy. We know what it means to be seduced by money, fame and power. For this reason, the Church gives us the gift of this Lenten season, invites us to conversion, offering but one certainty: he is waiting for us and wants to heal our hearts of all that tears us down. He is the God who has a name: Mercy. His name is our wealth, his name is what makes us famous, his name is our power.” The Pope asked faithful to repeat the words of the Psalm “You are my God and in you I trust” together.

At the Angelus at the end of the ceremony, Francis added: “I invite you once again today to be on the front line, to be first in all the initiatives which help make this blessed land of Mexico a land of opportunities, where there will be no need to emigrate in order to dream, no need to be exploited in order to work, no need to make the despair and poverty of many the opportunism of a few, a land that will not have to mourn men and women, young people and children who are destroyed at the hands of the dealers of death.”

The Pope lunched at the diocesan seminary of Ecatepec before setting off by helicopter to Mexico City in the afternoon. Here, he paid a visit the “Federico Gómez” childrens' hospital.

Pope Francis asked seminarians in the diocese of Ecatepec to pray to God about their future mission, while also ensuring they do not become “clerics of the state”. The Pope used this phrase in an inscription he left in the guestbook at the Ecatepec seminary after celebrating mass.

Before going to Ecatepec, Pope Francis went out of the Nunciature in Mexico City to greet the crowds, stopping to embrace some wheelchair-bound sick people. Then, on the way to “Campo Marte”, a military heliport, the Pope stopped the Popemobile so he could get out and greet a group of cloistered nuns who were stood in front of their monastery.

Church Revolution in Pictures

Photo of the Week

Francis finds the ‘tiara’ for the Conciliar Church

On the same January 27, 2016, that Pope Bergoglio watched a show by circus artists, he also received the Clowns of the Smile. This is a group that performs in hospitals and homes of Rome, supposedly to bring relief to suffering children.

The clowns gave Francis a hat of balloons specially made for him, which he duly set on his head, above. They also offered him a red nose, which he proceeded to place on his nose, first row below.

We all know that Bergoglio is methodically destroying what the previous conciliar Popes left of the symbols of the Catholic Church. It is ironic that now, by wearing this histrionic hat of balloons, he found the perfect symbol for himself and the other progressivist Popes. He found the perfect “tiara” for Progressivism.

This Pope-clown for the second time publicly donned a red nose. We wonder when he will start to oblige the Cardinals and Bishops to wear clownish noses as well.

Second row, the Clowns of the Smile; third row, the original photos from the video by Rome Reports.

Vatican dismisses JPII 'letter love-affair' probe: report

14.02.2016 11:16

The Vatican has dismissed an upcoming BBC documentary expected to probe whether late Polish-born pontiff John Paul II led romantic correspondence with a married female academic, a newspaper has reported.

The 30-minute “The Secret Letters of Pope John Paul II” documentary will be aired on BBC One on Monday.
“Pope John Paul II ruled the Catholic Church for 27 years until 2005. He was one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, revered by millions and made a saint in record time. Now reporter Edward Stourton can offer a new perspective on the emotional life of this very public figure,” the BBC writes on its website.
The documentary is expected to delve into the correspondence between the Pope and Polish-born American academic Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka who translated at least one book penned by the Pope while he was still a Cardinal in Kraków.
The two are believed to have written a series of personal letters over four years, and the BBC documentary will explore the possibility the letters had a romantic tone to them, British newspapers have reported.
UK daily The Guardian quotes a Vatican official as saying that the documentary is “more smoke than fire”.
Tymieniecka denied any romantic involvement with the Pope, who died in 2005.

The Modernist heretics are still searching for "unity".

They wont find it until all humanity/religions are formally united!!

Unity is found on the journey

· The Pope's address to Patriarch Kirill ·

Got to have your one glass of Modernist "Unity" flavored Kool Aid per day!

http://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/unity-found-journey

Russian Orthodox Patriarch, Pope hold historic meeting, sign call to end persecution of Christians

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, and Pope Francis signed a joint declaration after their first historic meeting in Havana, Cuba. They called on world leaders to prevent Christians in the Middle East from “being completely exterminated” and to help refugees from those regions.

“Our gaze must firstly turn to those regions of the world where Christians are victims of persecution. In many countries of the Middle East and North Africa, whole families, villages, and cities of our brothers and sisters in Christ are being completely exterminated,” the declaration stated.

Environmentalism= New World Order

I warned you to pay attention to manistream/ Novus Ordo overusage of the verbiage "sharing"

Sharing is Socialism

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/pope-on-ash-wednesday-lets-share-be-more-sensitive/2016/02/10/d945b32c-d01c-11e5-90d3-34c2c42653ac_story.html

Nothing like Vatican II "beauty"

Another general audience, another immodest circus act

***** WARNING *****

***** IMMODEST DRESS *****

***** WARNING ****

Francis watched the immodestly dressed circus performers gyrate and prance around to rock 'n roll music including the song, ‘Jump’ by Van Halen

Francis is the World Champion of what?

Humbleness? Mercy? Heresy?

Francis is presented a World Champion belt by Mr. Mauricio Sulaiman Saldivar, the World Boxing Council President, to be auctioned off for the NGO, Scholas Occurrentes. Does Francis support women boxing? It would appear so.

Francis promotes a Catholic-Muslim boxing match — in Vegas?

No, really. That’s the word from semi-official Vatican media, not the Onion, the totally absurd satirical newspaper.
How did this get through the blanket coverage of all things Pope Francis?
Is it even true?
Apparently so, and it comes from Francis himself, who last week announced that there would be a boxing match in Las Vegas between a Catholic and a Muslim on May 7.
The news was slipped in at the end of a Feb. 4 Vatican Radio report on Francis announcing at a meeting with sports stars and students the day before that he was convening a second “Match for Peace,” an interreligious soccer match aimed at demonstrating “that we are capable of making peace with a game, with art,” as the pontiff put it.
The May 29 soccer match will be a reprise of the first Match for Peace, played in Rome in 2014. As Catholic News Agency explained, that match featured soccer players representing different religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and Shintoism.
Coverage of last week’s announcement was understandably focused on the various soccer stars hanging out with the pontiff, such as Ronaldinho and Bryan Ruiz.
But at the end of the Vatican Radio report — which was also printed in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican daily — reporter Fausta Speranza noted that along with announcing the “Match for Peace,” the pope also announced that there would be “a boxing match between a Catholic and a Muslim in Las Vegas on May 7.”
Whoa. Pope Francis as Don King? (Without the distinctive hair, natch.)
There were no other details, such as who would be fighting, and no apparent follow-up — though we should have known something was up when earlier in the day the pontiff met with Mauricio Sulaiman Saldivar, president of the Mexico-based World Boxing Council.
The WBC chief gave the pope a green-and-gold “champion of faith” belt ahead of his visit this week to Mexico, as the photo below shows.

Francis' NWO World Tour Continues...

Francis to stand with migrants at U.S. border

Francis, who has spent the past several months pressing nations, including America, to embrace those fleeing the unrest in the Middle East, Africa and Asia with open arms – and open borders – is now taking that stance to a new political level and planning a solidarity stand with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico boundary. Market Watch reported Francis is due to arrive in Mexico on Friday for a six-day visit. And as part of that visit, he is planning to stand on the U.S. border, in Ciudad Juarez, and deliver a mass. The town is located just 90 yards from U.S. land. About 200,000 are expected to turn out for the mass on the Mexico side, and another 50,000 from Rio Grande in Texas, the Wall Street Journal reported. “This is one community, despite the fence,” said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, during a press conference reported by Market Watch. “I think it will be moving to see this single community even though it is located on two sides of the border.” FULL REPORT

Vatican: Bishops not required to report abuse to police

A newly released Catholic church document tells bishops they don't have to report clerical child abuse accusations to the police.

In laying out how newly appointed senior members of the clergy should deal with abuse allegations, the Vatican said bishops must be aware of local laws but their only duty was to deal with cases internally.
"According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds," the training guide states.
The Church's policy was first reported Feb. 7 by Vatican journalist John Allen, associate editor of the Cruxnow.com Catholic news site. The Vatican released the bishop training guidelines at an early February press conference, asking for feedback.
Victims groups reacted angrily to the edict, written by a French monsignor, despite Pope Francis declaring "everything possible must be done to rid the church of the scourge of the sexual abuse."
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the special commission created by the Pope, apparently wasn't involved in putting together the guidelines, despite its designed role to develop protocols for dealing with and preventing the clerical abuse of children.
Wayne Chamley of the victims advocate group Broken Rites said the document was "unfathomable and yet it does not surprise me."
Nicky Davis, of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said clergy should be legally obliged to report suspected abuse.
"Their systems function to protect the interests of the institution," she said. "They don't put the protection of children first."
The guidelines were written by French monsignor and psychotherapist Tony Anatrella, who has run into controversy previously for promoting the belief that children are being harmed by the growing acceptance of homosexuality in Western society.

More allegations emerge as Mount St. Mary's controversy boils

Emmitsburg, Md., Feb 11, 2016 / 03:42 pm (CNA).- Updated on Feb 12, 2016 at 4:59 p.m. EST : Mount St. Mary's University announced that school president Simon Newman has reinstated Professor Thane Naberhaus and Edward Egan as employees, effective immediately. According to a statement Friday, Newman said that they have his "solemn commitment to work together to restore our relationship and our school." Mount St. Mary’s board member Fr. Kevin Farmer also stated that despite calls for Newman's resignation, the board "continues to support" him.
Amid uproar over comparing struggling students to bunnies that should be drowned or shot, Mount St. Mary’s University president is now under fire for criticizing expressions of the Catholic faith at the school.
Already facing turmoil, the second-oldest Catholic university in the country is now seeing alumni and former faculty members publicly expressing their concerns over President Simon Newman’s disparaging remarks about the college’s Catholic identity – even reportedly calling some students “Catholic jihadis.”
Thane Naberhaus, a tenured professor who was recently fired from the Maryland university, told CNA that the president wanted to downplay the school’s Catholic identity because, in his words, “Catholic doesn’t sell.”
“He said publicly,” Naberhaus told CNA, “‘if you go in the marketplace, Catholic doesn’t sell, liberal arts doesn’t sell.’”
Since late January, Newman had been the focus of controversy. The school’s student newspaper, The Mountain Echo, ran a story about the president’s alleged plan to pursue the dismissal of 20-25 freshman students based on results from a survey predicting their future success at the school. A number of faculty members reportedly objected to the plan.
In the article, a faculty member quotes Newman as saying, “This is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can’t. You just have to drown the bunnies…put a Glock to their heads.”
Newman later acknowledged to the Washington Post that he used the harsh words, saying that the statement was intended only to acknowledge difficult conversations that sometimes need to occur. The board of directors issued a statement calling his words “unfortunate,” but standing by Newman as president.
Amid the outcry that followed, a faculty member who served as an adviser to the student newspaper was fired, along with Naberhaus, who was a tenured philosophy professor and the director of the university’s honors program. He claims his letter of dismissal charged him with disloyalty to the university.
Newman responded to the backlash over the firings in a Feb. 10 statement to parents, where he said the university was not responding with the specific details of the firings in order to “take the high road.” He added that “it is critical that you know that we would never undertake actions like that unless the conduct in question warranted it.”
Mount St. Mary’s University was founded in 1808, alongside the establishment of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. The seminary shares the campus with the school and receives seminarians from various dioceses.
David McGinley, a 2011 graduate of Mount St. Mary’s and a member of the Mount’s College of Liberal Arts Advisory Board, had concerns following an Oct. 23, 2015 meeting between Newman and the advisory board.
In that meeting, Newman “showed a lack of appreciation for or desire to continue or further Catholic identity in any regards to what one would call traditional,” McGinley told CNA.
“What he was saying is that Catholicism has lost its relevance,” McGinley added. The concerns Newman raised, he continued, were that Mount St. Mary’s was “not going to get customers to come” if it marketed itself as a Catholic university.
A Facebook group of concerned alumni and students, “Mount Family Speaks Out,” reported that Newman made similar remarks in an August student assembly.
According to a current administrative employee, who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, President Newman has also criticized the cross, saying in passing that there were “too many bleeding crucifixes” in the employee’s office.
“I have a broken crucifix, and I have a crucifix that is done in limestone sculpture,” the source told CNA, adding that the president had made the comment after seeing them.
Naberhaus said that he has heard similar reports from other faculty members – including some instances of the president disparaging the crucifix and using profanity.
Numerous alumni also pointed to the Mount St. Mary’s landing page for prospective students as an example of the new attitude towards Catholic identity, noting that the page does not contain any references to the fact that it is a Catholic school.
“That is Simon Newman’s vision for Mount Saint Mary’s right there, encapsulated in that one webpage,” Naberhaus said.
Naberhaus also said that he has heard Newman refer to students as “Catholic jihadis.”
“He was kind of dividing up our student body and seeing a certain fraction of them,” Naberhaus said. “He seemed to think that there was a sizeable fraction of our campus that fell into that camp, Catholic jihadis, and I never was sure exactly what he meant by that, but he was definitely using that phrase.”
McGinley told CNA that in his meetings with Newman, he was disturbed by other “derogatory comments towards Mount students,” including a suggestion that some of the students – largely those who had been homeschooled – were “judgmental” and could pose “trouble” for the administration if they admonished fellow freshman for partying.
Catholic News Agency reached out to Mount St. Mary’s for comment. The university said that it would comment at a future time.

Bishop McElroy: Don’t listen to your Catholic voter guides

The following comes from a February 15 America Magazine article by Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego:
If immigration, abortion, poverty, religious liberty, the family, war and peace, the environment, the rights of workers, trafficking in drugs and assisted suicide all constitute central elements of the common good, which issues are pre-eminent? Many widely circulated independent Catholic voter guides propose that the concept of intrinsic evil provides an automatic process for prioritizing the elements of the political common good in the United States.
The church teaches that certain acts are incapable of being ordered to God since in their very structure they contradict the good of the person made in God’s likeness. Such actions are termed “intrinsically evil” and are morally illicit no matter what the intention or circumstances surrounding them. Those who focus primarily on intrinsic evil make two distinct but related claims: 1) that the action of voting for candidates who seek to advance an intrinsic evil in society automatically involves the voter morally in that intrinsic evil in an illicit way; and 2) Catholic teaching demands that political opposition to intrinsically evil acts, like abortion, euthanasia and embryonic experimentation, must be given automatic priority over all other issues for the purposes of voting.
The recent statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” shows why this argument is simplistic and thus misleading. The bishops’ statement clearly asserts the absoluteness of the prohibitions against concrete intrinsically evil acts, emphasizing that no circumstances or intentions can justify performing or illicitly cooperating with such acts. At the same time, “Faithful Citizenship” recognizes that voting for a candidate whose policies may advance a particular intrinsic evil is not in itself an intrinsically evil act.
Voting for candidates is a complex moral action in which the voter must confront an entire array of competing candidates’ positions in a single act of voting. It is crucial that in voting for a candidate who supports the advancement of an intrinsic evil, Catholic voters not have the intention of supporting that specific evil, since such an intention would involve them directly in the evil itself. But voters will often find themselves in situations where one candidate supports an intrinsically evil position, yet the alternative realistic candidates all support even graver evils in the totality of their positions.
This is particularly true in the United States today. The list of intrinsic evils specified by Catholic teaching includes not only abortion, physician-assisted suicide and embryonic experimentation but also actions that exploit workers, create or perpetuate inhuman living conditions or advance racism. It is extremely difficult, and often completely impossible, to find candidates whose policies will not advance several of these evils in American life.
Even more important, a fatal shortcoming of the category of intrinsic evil as a foundation for prioritizing the major elements of the political common good lies in the fact that while the criterion of intrinsic evil identifies specific human acts that can never be justified, it is not a measure of the relative gravity of evil in human or political acts.
Some intrinsically evil acts are less gravely evil than other intrinsically evil actions. Intrinsically evil action can also be less gravely evil than other actions that do not fall under the category of intrinsic evil. For example, telling any lie is intrinsically evil, while launching a major war is not. But it would be morally obtuse to propose that telling a minor lie to constituents should count more in the calculus of voting than a candidate’s policy to go to war.
It is the gravity of evil or good present in electoral choices that is primarily determinative of their objective moral character and their contribution to or detraction from the common good. Moreover, because voting is a complex moral action involving mitigating circumstances, a vote for a candidate who supports intrinsic evils often does not involve illicit cooperation in those acts.
For these reasons the category of intrinsic evil cannot provide a comprehensive moral roadmap for prioritizing the elements of the common good for voting.

University’s New “Catholic” President Wants to Expel Catholic Students (“Catholic Jihadis”) and Downplay the University’s Catholic Identity, Because “Catholic Doesn’t Sell”

(Catholic News Agency).- Amid uproar over comparing struggling students to bunnies that should be drowned or shot, Mount St. Mary’s University president is now under fire for criticizing expressions of the Catholic faith at the school.

Already facing turmoil, the second-oldest Catholic university in the country is now seeing alumni and former faculty members publicly expressing their concerns over President Simon Newman’s disparaging remarks about the college’s Catholic identity – even reportedly calling some students “Catholic jihadis.”
Thane Naberhaus, a tenured professor who was recently fired from the Maryland university, told CNA that the president wanted to downplay the school’s Catholic identity because, in his words, “Catholic doesn’t sell.”

Doctrinal questions? Chicago Catholics have fewer marriages, babies and, well, priests

http://angelqueen.org/2016/02/11/doctrinal-questions-chicago-catholics-have-fewer-marriages-babies-and-well-priests/

USCCCP launches National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue, partnering with groups linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood

FEBRUARY 10, 2016 BY DEACON ROBERT SPENCER @ JihadWatch.org/2016/02/us-catholic-bishops-launch-national-catholic-muslim-dialogue-partnering-with-muslim-groups-linked-to-hamas-and-muslim-brotherhood

“The current regional Catholic-Muslim dialogues are the Mid-Atlantic (partnering with the Islamic Circle of North America), Midwest (partnering with the Islamic Society of North America) and West Coast (partnering with the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California and the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County). Each is co-chaired by a bishop and a Muslim leader from the corresponding regional organization. These dialogues will continue to meet and will work collaboratively with the members of the new national dialogue.”
The Islamic Circle of North America: “Terrorism analyst Steven Emerson claims that ICNA has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological forebear of all radical Islamic movements — including Hamas and al-Qaeda. Documents show that Hamas officials have participated in previous ICNA events. ‘The ICNA’s hatred of the Jews is so fierce,’ writes Emerson, ‘that it taunted them with a repetition of what Hitler did to them.’ In his book American Jihad, Emerson expounds: ‘The ICNA openly supports militant Islamic fundamentalist organizations, praises terror attacks, issues incendiary attacks on western values and policies, and supports the imposition of Sharia [Islamic law].’ ICNA was named in a May 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document — titled ‘An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America‘ — as one of the Brotherhood’s 29 likeminded ‘organizations of our friends’ that shared the common goal of destroying America and turning it into a Muslim nation. These ‘friends’ were identified by the Brotherhood as groups that could help teach Muslims ‘that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands … so that … God’s religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions.’”
The Islamic Society of North America: “ISNA leaders view Islam as being superior to all other faiths and destined to replace them. Taha J. Alwani, a leading official of the Fiqh Council of North America, which is run under ISNA, writes: ‘In considering the earth as an arena for Islam, Allah has promised its inheritance to His righteous people, and He has promised that Islam will prevail over other religions.’…In July 2008, ISNA’s lawyers conceded that their organization, through its affiliate NAIT, had given financial support to Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook. Their defense was that documentary evidence of those ties dated back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, before the U.S. government had officially designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.”
What do you think is the goal of such groups in engaging in “dialogue” with Catholic bishops? The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2014 statement on “dialogue” quotes the 2007 document sent to the Pope and other Christian leaders, A Common Word Between Us and You. It is likely that not a single one of the bishops was ever curious about where the phrase “a common word between us and you comes from beyond the Qur’an citation provided in that document’s epigraph. If they had looked it up in the Qur’an, they would have found that the full passage is not a call for mutual understanding and mutual respect; rather, it is an exhortation to Christians to convert to Islam: “Say: ‘People of the Book! Come now to a word common between us and you, that we serve none but Allah, and that we associate no others with Him, and do not some of us take others as Lords, apart from Allah.’ And if they turn their backs, say: ‘Bear witness that we are Muslims’” (3:64). Since Muslims consider the Christian confession of the divinity of Christ to be an unacceptable association of a partner with God, this verse is saying that the “common word” that Muslims and the People of the Book should agree on is that Christians should discard one of the central tenets of their faith and essentially become Muslims.
For groups such as ICNA and ISNA, that is almost certainly what the “dialogue” is all about, along with compelling Catholic leaders to remain silent about Muslim persecution of Christians, as when Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, suppressed a planned talk at a Catholic conference on that persecution, explaining: “Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.” Evil works under the cover of darkness, and McManus, drunk on “dialogue,” was happy to supply that cover.
But the typical modern Catholic bishop, coddled, cosseted, regal, arrogant, authoritarian, ignorant, self-infatuated, and utterly devoid of charity, will never deign to acknowledge any of this. They are blind guides.
“US Bishops Launch National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue,” Zenit, February 9, 2016:
Archbishop Blase J. Cupich of Chicago will serve as the first Catholic co-chair of a new National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue, sponsored by the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Archbishop Cupich’s tenure as dialogue co-chair will begin January 1, 2017.
The bishops’ ecumenical and interreligious committee has co-sponsored three regional Catholic-Muslim dialogues for over two decades. Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski of Springfield, Massachusetts, chair of the committee, said the time is right to begin a national dialogue.
“As the national conversation around Islam grows increasingly fraught, coarse and driven by fear and often willful misinformation, the Catholic Church must help to model real dialogue and good will,” said Bishop Rozanski. “Our current dialogues have advanced the goals of greater understanding, mutual esteem and collaboration between Muslims and Catholics, and the members have established lasting ties of friendship and a deep sense of trust. I am grateful to Archbishop Cupich for agreeing to represent our Conference in this crucial conversation.”
How grand: they’ve established lasting ties of friendship and a deep sense of trust. How many Christians have they saved from Muslim persecution? How many churches have they prevented from being destroyed by Islamic jihadis?
The current regional Catholic-Muslim dialogues are the Mid-Atlantic (partnering with the Islamic Circle of North America), Midwest (partnering with the Islamic Society of North America) and West Coast (partnering with the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California and the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County). Each is co-chaired by a bishop and a Muslim leader from the corresponding regional organization. These dialogues will continue to meet and will work collaboratively with the members of the new national dialogue….

Newspaper of the French Bishops Seeks Lifting of Excommunication for Freemasons

(Paris) On the 26th of November 1983, the Roman Congregation reaffirmed with Pope John Paul II’s express approval, a declaration of incompatibility of Freemasonry with the Catholic Church.
The ruling was then deemed necessary by then Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Since January 1983, membership was in the Masonic lodge was not explicitly mentioned in the new Code of Canon Law, as it occurred in several countries, there was the assertion, including Austria, that Freemasons were no longer excommunicated. Catholics, therefore, asked Rome for clarification, and that took place with particular haste in November of the same year.

“The negative judgment of the Church on Masonic associations, therefore, remains unchanged because their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them continues to be prohibited. The faithful who belong to Masonic associations are therefore in the state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.”

This excommunication was reaffirmed and clarified:

“It is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgement on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation of what is ruled from above.”

La Croix wants a lifting of the excommunication for lodge brothers
Nevertheless, there are “wordly Catholics” who brush aside the excommunication or deny it flatly. “Some people have no qualms about openly showing their disapproval. Belonging to the Masonic Lodge is more important than obedience to the Church,” said Corrispondenza Romana .
The most recent example is La Croix , the daily newspaper of the French Bishops’ Conference . On January 25, it complained that there are many severe “exclusions” which are really “painful” that only include “Masons,” “who profess the Catholic faith”.
According to La Croix there are “judgments”, like that justified by the CDF justified and “understood” for a time in which the lodges were avowedly been anticlerical. Today, however, that is, at least according to the newspaper of the French Bishops’ Conference, no longer the case.
Instead of a justification for this assertion, La Croix introduces that omnipresent commitment to “dialogue” onto the field: “Is it really applicable in a context such as the present, that condemnation no longer benefits dialog?” In order to “liberate” the apron clad brothers from the self-imposed exile from church, the newspaper refers to the “Holy Year of Mercy”, “Why not finally eliminate this charge from the category of ‘serious sins’ for the Year of Mercy?”
The daily paper of the French Episcopal Conference can think of no reason why the Masons should be excommunicated. To be precise, the newspaper makes no attempt to find a reason. It merely refers to a “past” that is no longer applicable now without explaining when to what and why it should be changed.
“The answer is quite simple. The accusation of grave sin can not be eliminated because Freemasonry has neither changed nor has ever done anything to change. Its goal is to be the destruction of organic and natural society. It supports positions and behaviors that are absolutely incompatible with the Catholic faith from an ethical and social point of view and those things about which they rather avowedly disagree, such as divorce, abortion, homosexuality, gender ideology, euthanasia and many others,” said Corrispondenza Romana .
If the distance were reduced, it would be because the progressive part of the Church have come closer with their “holes” to the positions of the lodges, “if it is not result in a deadly embrace.”
The outspoken condemnation on April 28, 1738 by Pope Clement XII. with the Bull In Eminenti has lost none of its validity. Most importantly, it leaves no room for doubt. “It would not be bad if those in the daily newspaper of the French bishops consider it and perhaps would read this excommunication on occasion,” said Corrispondenza Romana .
Vienna cathedral minister Toni Faber and his Aproned Lodge Brothers
Among those who flout the current condemnation of Freemasonry, is Vienna’s cathedral pastor, Msgr. Toni Faber. In 2010 he was with the former Grand Master of the Austrian Grand Lodge guest on the private television channel TW1.
When asked about the statement of the CDF and the excommunication upon entry into a lodge, Faber said: instead of Cardinal Ratzinger we are more obliged “thankfully, to Cardinal König”. In Austria, “Thank God, it’s always” been “that Masons who have asked the Cardinal König: ‘Is it permissible for me as a sincere Catholic to belong in the Lodge,’ have always received approval from him.”
Faber gave the impression that the attitude to Freemasonry is merely personal judgment call. The “approval” that Cardinal König gave, according to Faber, however, was null and void because he had no responsibility to make the decision.
Faber’s outspoken representation illustrates that ecclesiastical regulations are thwarted in the highest places. Faber was open in the broadcast about his personal contacts with “many” Freemasons, which he invariably called “convinced Catholics”, only to boast about them, because he could be sure to be fear nothing from the supervising office.
The alleged harmlessness of the lodges by Toni Faber in 2010, and now of La Croix is so far that one might wonder why supposedly “upright” and “convinced Catholics” find it important to live in disobedience to their own Church, to belong to an allegedly so harmless a club.