Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Women Cardinals?, Mass Mob Evangelization & Mercy over Morals?

Women Cardinals?, Mass Mob Evangelization & Mercy over Morals?
Here is the latest vomit coming from the Conciliar Church which is soon to give-way to False Prophet

German Catholic Bishops Publish Interview Promoting the Idea of Women Cardinals
[Now that Osservatore Romano’s womyn’s page advocates womyn preachers at Mass, will this advocacy of womyn cardinals appear there next?]

The Vatican celebrates Women’s Day (Womens Day is Communist btw) on 8 March, 2016. With the help of the organization Voices of Faith ( voicesoffaith.org/ ), an event is taking place at the Vatican where women “share their stories of strengthening the Church’s mission through their leadership,” according to the website of Voices of Faith. This event is the occasion for an interview with the journalist Gudrun Sailer ( www.katholisch.de/aktuelles/aktuelle-artikel/mehr-auf-den-rat-von-frauen-horen ) which has been published today on the official website of the German Catholic Bishops. Sailer has been working for the German Branch of Vatican Radio since 2003. She has written extensively on the role of women in the Vatican. In the interview with katholisch.de, Sailer bemoans that for women in the Church today it is still a problem that “they are often not being recognized due to a strong hierarchical thinking.” She adds that, in Germany and Austria, the bishops are increasingly aware that “something has to be done in order to be more just to women and in order to involve them more in decision processes.”
Sailer also praises Pope Francis for his having opened up more the discussion about this issue of the role of women in the Vatican. She says: “I think Pope Francis really succeeded to open up this field during the three years since he has been in his office.” When reminded by the website katholisch.de that Pope Francis says that female priests and cardinals are not going to be allowed, Sailer answers: “The problem lies in Canon Law. Only priests are allowed to make legally binding decisions concerning other priests. But there are propositions that male and female canon lawyers find together some room for laymen.” In her eyes, not every position which nowadays is taken by a priest requires an ordination. “On the contrary, rather few of them,” she added. Sailer continues:
There is also the proposal to create a new role for women in the Church. The cardinalate developed only in the 11th century – as an office of the Church, not established by Jesus. It would be possible to create such a new counselling office for women. […] I think it would be good to create such an office and to see how it develops.
In Sailer’s eyes, there is today a need in the Church “to listen more to the counsel of women.”
Exactly the same interview has now also been selected for posting by the official website of the Swiss Catholic Bishops ( www.kath.ch/newsd/neue-aera-der-oeffnung-vatikan-redakteurin-gudrun-sailer-ueber-frauen-der-kirche/ ).







Vatican leaks scandal: Spanish priest admits to passing classified documents

A Spanish priest has admitted to leaking classified Vatican documents to journalists, saying he had felt intimidated.
Monsignor Angel Lucio Vallejo Balda has said he was manipulated by a woman co-defendant with whom he was romantically entangled.
He was questioned as the so-called Vatileaks II trial resumed.
It centres on two books that depict a Vatican plagued by graft and where Pope Francis faces resistance to his agenda.
The books came out last year and were based on the leaked information. The five people on trial face jail terms of up to eight years.
Leaks lift lid on Pope Francis's financial fight
Vatican reforms may be starting to bite
Mr Vallejo Balda, 54, was questioned for three hours and most of his testimony revolved around his relationship with Francesca Chaouqui, 35, a married public relations consultant.
They were members of a now-defunct commission appointed by Pope Francis to tackle the Vatican's financial holdings and propose reforms to improve cash flow to the poor.
"Yes, I passed documents," Mr Vallejo Balda told the court in Spanish.
He also admitted to giving one of the authors some 87 passwords to access electronic documents and email accounts in the Vatican.

'Compromised'

The priest said his actions were the result of a combination of sexual tension and blackmail by Ms Chaouqui, who claimed she was a spy with Italy's secret services.
Saying he felt "compromised" as a priest, Mr Vallejo Balda recounted how she once entered his room in a Florence hotel.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35808699


3 Franciscan ex-leaders charged in Pennsylvania abuse case

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. —Three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order were charged Tuesday with allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to take on jobs, including a position as a high school athletic trainer, that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.



Picture Jesus as a Homosexual

Fr. Donal Godfrey: “God is in some sense queer”

San Francisco – “Imagine Jesus as gay.” That’s the message of Fr. Donal Godfrey, S.J., a man described as “the most prominent homosexual activist Catholic priest in the world today.” And now Godfrey is scheduled to speak in April at Most Holy Redeemer parish in the Castro District of San Francisco — a notoriously pro-gay parish.
In his 2007 book “Gays and Grays,” the story of how the Californian parish came to accept the homosexual community, Godfrey openly dissents from Church teaching on homosexuality:
If God must become Asian or African, then God is also in some senes queer and at work in the gay community. … Is it less appropriate for gays to imagine Jesus as gay than for African Christians to picture him as black … ? I believe in other words, that the gospel must always be inculturated into every culture, and this must include gay culture.
The Catholic Church is not a credible moral voice within the gay community.
Catholic Priest? Oh,no....you are a Novus Ordite


Top French Cardinal Hid Scouts Pedophile Scandal

One of France's most prominent cardinals knew about a pedophile priest abusing young Catholic Scouts—and now the alleged cover-up will be tried in secular courts.
ROME — For all those who say that the Catholic Church is doing all it can on clerical child sex abuse—namely the Vatican press office—there is yet another reason to doubt those lofty words. Meet the Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who has denied he did anything wrong by hiding the well-known fact that Father Bernard Preynat was sexually abusing as many as 40 Catholic Scouts in France in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Preynat was relieved of his duties in the parish of Roanne in 2015 after admitting to the sex abuse. He was indicted on Jan. 27 on charges of “sexual abuse and rape of minors” and has admitted his crimes to the police.
The 45 Scout victims who lodged the complaint that led to Preynat’s arrest share horrifically similar stories of abuse. “He would say ‘tell me you love me’. And then he would say ‘you're my little boy,’ ‘it’s our secret, you mustn’t tell anyone,’” one of Preynat’s victims said, according to criminal trial reports.
A victim named Pierre-Emmanuel Germain-Thill described to Euronews how the priest preyed on the young boys. “What shocked me the most was when he tried to put his tongue in my mouth. He stroked my genitals, I couldn’t avoid it,” Germain-Thill said, according to press reports.
“I wanted to run away, and at the same time, I didn’t know what to do, I was afraid that if I left that room, nobody would believe me.”
Another victim, Bertrand Virieux, told Euronews, “I remember the smell of sweat, I remember contact with clothes. I remember his wandering hands under my shirt, which held me tightly against him.”
Meanwhile, Cardinal Barbarin is facing criminal charges by a French secular court for “failing to report a crime” and “endangering the life of others,” which could carry a three-year prison sentence and fines up to €45,000. He maintains that he shouldn’t be accused at all because he eventually removed Preynat from parish work.


Francis marks third anniversary as pope with message of mercy

Pope Francis marked his third anniversary as pope by reinforcing his message of mercy-over-morals – one that he has been emphasizing in particular during his Holy Year of Mercy.
During his St. Peter’s Square blessing on Sunday, Francis gave away 40,000 copies of the Gospel of Luke and told the crowd that the Biblical story of the adulterous women whom Jesus fused to condemn.
Francis said: "This woman represents all of us, adulterers before God, traitors of his trust. And her experience represents the will of God for all of us: Not our condemnation, but our salvation through Jesus."
Nuns who work in the Vatican's free pediatric clinic and Rome grandparents handed out the booklets to pilgrims.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry extended his official congratulations to Francis, thanking him for his role in renewing the country’s diplomatic ties with Cuba as well has his efforts to facilitate dialogue between the Colombian government and FARC rebels.
“The Holy Father was instrumental in encouraging talks between our two countries, and the United States will continue to seek his support as we proceed with our renewed bilateral relationship with Cuba,” Kerry said in a statement, according to Vatican Radio.
He added: “I believe that Americans -- Catholics and non-Catholics alike -- share His Holiness’ conviction that we must do all we can to protect the environmental health of our planet, to uphold the common good, to promote religious freedom, to care for refugees and others who are disadvantaged, and to strive for justice and peace. Many around the world are inspired by his dedication to helping the marginalized and disadvantaged. We share His Holiness’ conviction that all people have dignity and worth and that we must strive to help everyone reach his or her full potential.”
In addition to celebrating Francis’ third anniversary this week, it was announced this week that he will become the third pope to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp as part of his visit to Poland in July.


More Naturalism: Francis prays for the Family’s Bodily Needs, Omits anything Spiritual

Perhaps we should be grateful that in Francis’ latest video for his prayer intentions of the month (now for March 2016), Francis offers no direct insult to God, does not explicitly deny any Catholic doctrine, and does not put our Lord Jesus Christ on a level with Buddha, Mohammed, or any other false prophet or deity. However, neither do we find any clear affirmation of Catholic teaching or the presence of anything distinctly Catholic. He really says nothing that the Dalai Lama, Ban Ki-moon, Barack Obama, or the Queen of England couldn’t also say. If you’re surprised at this, you haven’t been paying attention.
The March 2016 Prayer Intention Francis announces in the video that was just released is as follows: “That families in need may receive the necessary support and that children may grow up in healthy and peaceful environments.” Here is the video

  Francis promotes the Naturalist Gospel of Man, not the Catholic Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Three Years Of "Pope" Francis Have Unnerved Some Conservative Catholics

Three years after the election of Pope Francis, Roman Catholic conservatives are growing increasingly worried that he is quietly unraveling the legacy of his predecessors.
Francis' popularity with most Catholics, and legions of non-Catholics, has given him the image of a grandfatherly parish priest who understands how difficult it sometimes is to follow Church teachings, particularly those on sexual morality.
Conservatives worry that behind the gentle facade lies a dangerous reformer who is diluting Catholic teaching on moral issues like homosexuality and divorce while focusing on social problems such as climate change and economic inequality.
Interviews with four Vatican officials, including two cardinals and an archbishop, as well as theologians and commentators, highlighted conservative fears that Francis' words and deeds may eventually rupture the 1.2 billion member Church.
Chatter on conservative blogs regularly accuses the Argentine pontiff of spreading doctrinal confusion and isolating those who see themselves as guardians of the faith.
"Going to bed. Wake me up when this pontificate is over," Damien Thompson, associate editor of the British weekly "The Spectator" and a conservative Catholic commentator tweeted last month. Thompson was among conservatives stung by a freewheeling news conference Francis gave on a flight home from Mexico.
In it, he stirred up the U.S. presidential debate by criticizing Republican candidate Donald Trump's immigration stance and made comments that were interpreted as an opening to use contraceptives to stop the spread of the Zika virus.
They were the latest in a line of unscripted utterances that have left many conservatives feeling nostalgic for the days of Francis's two predecessors, Benedict and John Paul, who regularly thundered against contraception, homosexuality and abortion.
"Every time this happens I wonder if he realizes how much confusion he is causing," said a conservative Rome-based cardinal who took part in the conclave that elected Francis three years ago and spoke on the condition of anonymity. He would not say if he voted for Francis because participants in conclaves are sworn to secrecy.


 
MAX ROSSI via Getty Images
Pope Francis confesses during the penitential celebration in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican City, on March 4, 2016.

THE POPE AND THE PEWS
Another senior official, an archbishop in an important Vatican ministry, said: "These comments alarm not only tradition-minded priests but even liberal priests who have complained to me that people are challenging them on issues that are very straight-forward, saying 'the pope would let me do this' why don't you?'"
Francis first shocked conservatives just months after his election on March 13, 2013, when he said "Who am I to judge?" about Catholic homosexuals who were at least trying to live by Church rules that they should be chaste.
He caused further upset when he changed Church rules to allow women to take part in a male-only Lenten service, ruled out any campaigns to convert Jews and approved a "common prayer" with Lutherans for joint commemorations for next year's 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation.
An important crossroads in the conservative-progressive showdown is looming and might come as early as mid-March. It could reveal how far this politically astute pontiff wants to transform his Church.
Francis is due to issue a document called an Apostolic Exhortation after two years of debate and two major meetings of bishops to discuss the family - the Vatican's way of referring to its policies concerning sex.
The exercise, which began with an unprecedented poll of Catholics around the world, boiled down in the end to one hot-button issue - whether divorced Catholics who remarry outside the Church can receive communion at the central rite of Mass.
Conservatives say any change would undermine the principle of the indissolubility of marriage that Jesus established.
At the end of the synod last year, Francis excoriated immovable Church leaders who he said "bury their heads in the sand" and hide behind rigid doctrine while families suffer.
The gathering's final document spoke of a so-called "internal forum" in which a priest or a bishop may work with a Catholic who has divorced and remarried to decide privately and on a case-by-case basis if he or she can be fully re-integrated.
That crack in the doctrinal door annoyed many conservatives, who fear Francis' upcoming document may open the flood gates.


 
Pacific Press via Getty Images
Pope Francis leaves at the end of his Weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Vatican.

WHOSE CHURCH IS IT ANYWAY?
It is difficult to quantify Catholic conservatives. Liberals say they are a minority and reject conservative assertions that they are the real "base" of the Church.
"The overwhelming majority of Catholics understand what the pope wants to do, and that is to reach out to everyone," said another cardinal close to Francis.
Regardless of what their actual numbers might be, conservatives have big megaphones in social media.
"It really has gotten more shrill and intense since Francis took over because he seems to get only positive feedback from the mainstream media. Therefore in the strange logic of (conservative) groups, he is someone who is immediately suspect if only for that," said the Catholic blogger Arthur Rosman.
One of the leading conservative standard bearers, Ross Douthat, the Catholic author and New York Times op-ed columnist, has expressed deep worry about the long-term repercussions of the issue of communion for the divorced and remarried.
"It may be that this conflict has only just begun," Douthat said in a lecture to American conservatives in January. "And it may be that as with previous conflicts in Church history, it will eventually be serious enough to end in real schism, a permanent parting of the ways."


 
Pacific Press via Getty Images
Pope Francis celebrates a Mass for the Feast of the Chair of Peter and the Holy Year of Mercy of the Roman Curia in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.
PREVIOUS RUPTURE
The last internal rupture in the Church was in 1988 when French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated bishops without Vatican approval in order to guarantee succession in his ultra-traditionalist group, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).
The SSPX rejects the modernizing reforms of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, including the historic opening to dialogue with other religions. While it remains a small group, its dissent continues to undermine papal authority.
The conservative standard bearer in Rome is Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, a 67-year-old American who in 2014 told an interviewer that the Church under Francis was like "a ship without a rudder".
Francis was not pleased. That same year, he removed Burke as head of the Vatican's highest court and demoted him to the largely ceremonial post of chaplain of a charity group.
Conservatives are also worried about Francis' drive to devolve decision-making power on several issues from the Vatican to regional, national or diocesan levels, what the pope has called "a healthy decentralization".
This is an anathema to conservatives, who say rules should be applied identically around the world. They warn that a devolution of power would leave the Vatican vulnerable to the splits seen in the Anglican and Orthodox Churches.
"If you look at these two big Churches, they are not in very good shape," said Massimo Faggioli, a Church historian and associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. "That's why conservatives are nervous. They think Francis does not understand the danger."


Mother Teresa to be a saint on the 4th of September 2016

“Some call him Allah, some simply God. But we all have to acknowledge that it is he who made us for the greater things: to love and be loved”


“Of course I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu or a better Muslim or a better Protestant. Once you’ve found God, it’s up to you to decide how to worship him.”
Related:

 

Francis Trumpets Socialism Over Capitalism

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders’ well-known admiration for Pope Francis should surprise few. A self-proclaimed democratic socialist, the Vermont Senator has much to admire in the Holy Father (though obviously disagreeing with him on such issues as abortion and same-sex marriage). The two are in many ways kindred spirits.
Pope Francis has made his social and economic tendencies clear since the early days of his pontificate. In his 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis criticizes the notion that reducing the disproportionately-high income tax burden on high-income earners can stimulate investment and economic growth as a “crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.” For the Holy Father, inequality is the “root of social ills,” though he fails to explain precisely why a society of unequal wealth but a relatively high standard of living would somehow be less reflective of Gospel values than a society that shares equally in poverty.
Going further still, Evangelii Gaudium calls for structural transformation that would “restore to the poor what belongs to them.” If, as Pope Francis suggests, property is possessed not by its owners, then, truly, “property is theft,” to quote 19th-century French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s famous phrase.
The Pope’s 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’, proceeds along similar lines, protesting the pursuit of profit and implying that the intentional creation of wealth of necessity oppresses and debases.
The Pope’s bold message
But it is his message to the Popular Movements in Bolivia last summer that is the most direct. Although chastising “abstract theorizing or eloquent indignation,” he fell victim to just this. And, as has become the Pope’s regrettable practice, he created strawman arguments that he then attacked, such as the “mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature,” and an “idolatrous system which excludes, debases and kills.” His urging of “global answers to local problems” seemed to pay no heed to democratic self-determination at the level of the nation-State, the notion that local populations are best-placed to address their own concerns. Pope John Paul II’s 1991 encyclical, Centesimus Annus, captures this in the notion that “needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them and who act as neighbors to those in need.”


 

The Catholic Church in Michigan just made an important concession toward gay couples


For years, the Catholic Church has been in the throes of a heated debate over how accepting it should be of gay relationships.
The church teaches that gay behavior is sinful; however, no institution is immune from changes in the world around it.
The Michigan Catholic Conference — which oversees health care for Catholic employees in the state — announced in a letter last week that it is modifying its coverage in a way that will make it possible for gay employees of the church to get health benefits for their partners and spouses.
It does so in a way, however, that doesn’t affirm gay marriage, but simply redefines who qualifies for health coverage in a way that could include same-sex couples.
The move comes less than a year after a deeply divided Supreme Court delivered a historic victory for gay rights, ruling 5 to 4 that the Constitution requires that same-sex couples be allowed to marry no matter where they live.
The letter, sent to pastors and church employees, said health care coverage will be expanded to include legally domiciled adults. A person is considered an LDA, the letter notes, if they’re 18 or older, are financially interdependent with the church employee, and have lived with that person for at least six months.
Under the previous arrangement, a same-sex spouse would not be covered by health insurance because the Catholic Church defines a spouse as someone of the opposite gender, according to the Detroit Free Press.
A person’s sexual orientation or behavior will not factor into the church’s decision to provide employees with health care, according to Dave Maluchnik, director of communications for the MCC. Instead, he said, the church’s primary consideration will be residency.
“The church’s teaching on marriage and human sexuality is not changing,” Maluchnik told The Washington Post. “Our health benefit plan is expanding its eligibility to include a legally domiciled adult and, as such, the benefit is not dependent upon the relationship. It’s dependent upon residency. As long as the qualifications are met, then the benefit can be extended.”


Jesuit University of San Francisco/Most Holy Redeemer Parish axis strikes again

Ex-Jesuit Most Holy Redeemer parishioner is point man[? He’s in a sodomarriage, so we don’t know what spousal role he plays] in San Francisco’s Condoms for Kids program
[When will Abp Cordileone (Does that translate as “cowardly lion”?) suppress the parish and yank the university’s Catholic status?]
MARCH 7, 2016 BY cal-catholic.com/?p=22824
In early February the San Francisco Unified School District floated a plan to provide condoms to students as young as 12. The condoms could be provided without parental consent. The story was picked up by media outlets including all local TV stations, the San Francisco Chronicle, LifeSite News, and California Catholic Daily.
On February 7, 2016, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra Saunders had an interview (‘SF Middle Schools’ Condom Curriculum”) with the San Francisco Unified School District’s ‘Director of Safety and Wellness,’ Kevin Gogin, who is serving as the district’s point man on the issue.
Saunders began her column: “The San Francisco Unified School District’s board is poised to expand its Condom Availability Program for high school students into middle schools. The school district no longer offers Algebra I as an eighth-grade course — Algebra I has been folded into a two-year, eighth-grade and ninth-grade class that is supposed to be more comprehensive. But the board is ready to bring higher level learning to middle school by handing out condoms to sixth-graders. What could possibly go wrong?”
Saunders also noted a logical disconnect in the District’s rationale: “Problem: If 95 percent of middle-schoolers are not having sexual intercourse, why would adults want to establish a social norm of middle-schoolers having sex? (A handout from the district asserts ‘only 5.2 percent” of middle-schoolers have had sexual intercourse.’)”
What none of the news outlets covering the issue reported, but which should be of interest to Catholic readers, is that Gogin is an ex-Jesuit priest, who, in 2008 ‘married’ a man named Dan McPherson. Both Gogin and McPherson are, or were, parishioners at San Francisco’s homosexual activist parish, Most Holy Redeemer. McPherson is currently listed as the Director of Graduate Student Services at the homosexual activist (Jesuit) University of San Francisco. Before serving as Director of Graduate Student Services, McPherson was the university’s Associate Dean of the School of Education. And according to USF’s website, McPherson, an open homosexual, “coordinated the School of Education’s Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy program.”
The University of San Francisco/Most Holy Redeemer axis goes way back, and the Archdiocese of San Francisco is guilty for allowing it to exist. In addition to Gogin and McPherson, it includes Father Donal Godfrey, SJ, one-time Executive Director of Campus Ministry at USF. Godfrey still serves as a Campus Minister at USF, albeit no longer as Executive Director.
Indeed, as Godfrey reported in his history of MHR, Gays and Grays: The Story of the Gay Community at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church: “The baptism of children being raised by gay couples took place publicly at the 10AM Sunday liturgy…One gay couple, Dan McPherson and Kevin Gogin, active Most Holy Redeemer parishioners while (Father Tony) McGuire was pastor, did adopt a daughter, Sarah, in 1998, but she was quietly baptized outside the parish at St. Ignatius Church. . . .Rob Lane & Don Propstra’s adopted son was baptized at a regular liturgy in the parish on October 21, 1990 . . . “Kevin and Dan [Gogin and McPherson] were the godparents.”
The Most Holy Redeemer/USF axis includes the Reverend Vincent Pizzuto, associate professor of theology and director of the Catholic Studies program at USF, who, as CalCatholic reported last month (‘Schismatic priest who performs gay weddings to speak at San Francisco Catholic church’) spoke at Most Holy Redeemer on February 13. Pizzuto’s affiliation with the church goes back to at least 2006, when he spoke at Most Holy Redeemer’s ‘Queer Perspectives” seminar.
This spotlights the alliance of homosexual activists between USF and Most Holy Redeemer. Each institution operates as a separate front in the homosexual activist attempt to influence Church teaching on sexuality and the family—and, as Kevin Gogin’s position with the SF Unified School District shows, society outside the Church as well. The University of San Francisco serves as the intellectual home of the activists. In addition to Pizzuto, the University has a long history of hosting homosexual activists/supporters including Jesuit Father James Keenan, ex-Jesuit James Nickoloff [also in a sodomarriage], Episcopal Bishop William Swing, politicians Nancy Pelosi and Gavin Newsom, and many others.
Most Holy Redeemer serves as the activists’ spiritual home. It provides an ever-ready forum within the church where the activists are free to propagandize for their true religion: the celebration of homosexuality. Over the years the church has hosted numerous speakers from different religious denominations, yet all shared the one overriding imperative necessary to speak there: the celebration of homosexuality. If one uses the sociological definition of religion as any person’s absolutely largest system of values, the fact that the speakers are not Catholic is rightly seen as insignificant, because the actual religion at Most Holy Redeemer is not Catholicism but the celebration of homosexuality.
On February 24, the San Francisco Unified School District unanimously approved the condom distribution program. The same day the SF Examiner reported: “In addition to supplying condoms at middle schools, the board also voted to update the language of the district’s condom distribution policy to clarify that parents cannot opt their kids out of the condom distribution program.”


Priest Pleads Guilty in $1.9 Million Theft From Ohio Church

HUBER HEIGHTS, Ohio — A retired Roman Catholic priest accused of stealing $1.9 million from a southwest Ohio church he led has pleaded guilty to aggravated theft.
The Rev. Earl Simone entered the plea Thursday under an agreement that he'll be sentenced to five years in prison. It also calls for the 75-year-old to pay restitution for the theft from St. Peter Catholic Church in Huber Heights between 2008 and 2015.
He pastored there for over two decades before retiring last year because of medical problems. He also was the administrator of four other churches in Dayton.
A statement from Simone's attorney says the priest took responsibility for his actions.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati announced last year that allegations of financial irregularities at St. Peter were turned over to police after an internal investigation.

 

More modernist junk at the Lenten retreat for Francis

 “There is bread in abundance. We don’t need to multiply it, we just need to distribute it, beginning with ourselves. We don’t need miraculous multiplications; we need to beat the Goliath of selfishness, of wasting food and accumulation by a few.”
Modernists listen to a fellow modernist drone on and on...
““There are people so hungry that, for them, God cannot have the form of bread.” Life begins with hunger, and “to be alive is to be hungry,”  Fr. Ermes said as he opened the meditation. 
[...] 
Commenting on the Gospel account of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, Fr. Ronchi analyzed the scene: The disciples asked Jesus to send the crowd away to buy themselves something to eat. But Jesus answers, telling them to give the crowd something to eat. When the Twelve object given how much money would have to be spent, the Master asks: “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” 
[...]
In the Gospel, “loving” translates into “giving.” The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves shows us that Jesus “pays no attention to the quantity” of bread. What he wants is that our bread is shared: 
“According to a mysterious divine rule, when my bread becomes our bread, then even what is little becomes sufficient. By contrast, hunger begins when I hold on to my bread for myself, when the satiated West holds on to its bread, its fish, and its assets for itself (…) Feeding the world, the whole world, is possible. There is bread in abundance. We don’t need to multiply it, we just need to distribute it, beginning with ourselves. We don’t need miraculous multiplications; we need to beat the Goliath of selfishness, of wasting food and accumulation by a few.” 
“The hunger of others has rights over me””
source: Aleteia, Stop Loafing: You May Have More Bread Than You Think. On Retreat with Pope Francis

the miracle of sharing!

 

the new evangelization in England 

 

 

Detroit Mass Mob headed to Most Blessed Sacrament

A Mass Mob event aimed at drawing a large crowd to a select Catholic church in Detroit will feature the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Sunday.
People are encouraged to visit the church at 9844 Woodward Ave. for its 11 a.m. mass. More information about the event is available on the church's Facebook page. A schedule of Mass Mobs is available at www.detroitmassmob.com.
Sunday's event is to be the first of 10 planned through December of this year. Previous events have drawn standing-room-only crowds and helped raise $273,000 for Detroit's Catholic churches across 18 events, according to the organizer.



Catholic Cardinal and Masonic Lodge Master (at least honorary)

(Rom) Gianfranco Ravasi has been a Cardinal of the Catholic Church since  2010. Since March 2016 he has also been an honorary Masonic Grandmaster.  Thanks to the Grand Lodge of Spain for a letter which the Cardinal sent last February to "dear Brother Freemasons." 

Cardinal Ravasi's Letter 

Just weeks after Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, addressed his letter to the Lodges, these have shown themselves to be pleased by the recognition shown them by the prominent ecclesiastical figure, and  at the highest levels.
For the beaproned brothers, "the Cardinal's words are a recognition of our noble goals," so says the Grand Lodge.
"Freemasonry is incompatible with Christianity, even if Cardinal Ravasi calls himself 'honorable Brother Gianfranco,' in order to build a bridge to the Lodge," writes news site InfoVaticana.
 Ravasi's letter which was originally published on14. February in the business newspaper  Il Sole 24, was an appeal to overcome the centuries of confrontation between the Church and the Lodge.  
Steht Kardinal Ravasi auf derselben Stufe mit Oscar de Alfonso Ortega, dem Großmeister der Großloge von Spanien?
Is Cardibal Ravasi on the same level with Oscar de Alfonso Ortega, the Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Spain?
The letter did not call into question the numerous condemnations by the Church, not even the statements of incompatibility by the Magisterium and the ban on Lodge membership in the Codex of Canom Law, explicitly in 1917, implicitly in the 1983. Cardinal Ravasi wrote however :
"These various declarations of incompatibility between the two affiliations of the Church and the Lodge do not impede dialogue."
At the same time he mentioned the dialogue of the German bishops with the Lodges in the 1970s.  Because, so says the Cardinal, there are commonalities, "like the dimension of community, good will, the battle against materialism, the worth of the human person and learning about one another."  
Cardinal Ravasi did not mention that a Catholic who is the member of a Lodge is in serious sin. And automatically excluded from the Sacraments.

The answer of the Grand Lodge in Spain 

The Grand Lodge of Spain is one of the most influential Masonic associations in the Iberian peninsula answered the "honorable Brother Gianfranco." This is the manner that the aproned brothers address each other, as soon as they have stood initiation.  The Cardinal's letter ships "great courage," said the Grand Lodge.
The honorary mention went so far as to actually recognize Cardinal Ravasi  as "Master"  and imply that he is an initiate.  The "Master" is a Lodge Brother  who has presided directly over a Lodge, and directs their work. In the last passage of the Grand Lodge's letter it reads:
"The  Cardinalhas extended his brotherly hand in which he called us brothers.  It's a relationship in which anyone can participate, when they enter our Order.  The dear brother initiate strives for virtue as in every mystery school, of which the Master embraces. The mystery schools seek the self-transformation of each one who strives for the higher.  If the initiate is accepted and elected as a master, to lead the work of the Lodge, to which he is called by all, he ceases to be addressed as dear brother.  His new treatment, as honorable brother, means re same for the Church as it does for the Freemasonry: he is someone of wise and flawless good.  That is the freemasonic ideal. Honorable brother Gianfranco, thank you for the courageous gesture, which has opened a space for brotherly harmony. Like all of the worthy, you call into labor."

 

We will continue to mock the Novus Ordo Religion being passed off as "Catholic"