St. Aloysius Gonzaga Catholic Church A Casualty Of The Jesuit Vocations Crisis

The following was released by the Very Rev. James M. Shea, S.J., Provincial of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus:

The Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is deeply committed to continuing to fulfill its mission of service to the people of the Mid-Atlantic region through education, pastoral care and social justice, as we have for nearly 380 years.

Through the years, as needs and resources have changed, so have our ministries. Today, our province faces a decline in the number of Jesuit priests. Due to this decline in numbers, we are in the process of combining three provinces, and we have to make some very painful and difficult decisions about how to allocate our priests.

After prayerful reflection and careful consideration of how we can best use our human resources to serve those in need, we concluded that we can no longer staff St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parish at 19 Eye St., NW (900 block of North Capitol Street), Washington, DC. The Jesuits will continue to be present in the Archdiocese of Washington through two other parishes, three schools, a university and a retreat center. The 300-household parish will merge with nearby Holy Redeemer Parish, which is located just three blocks away on New York Avenue, NW. The transition will begin July 1 and continue through the summer months. We are grateful to the Archdiocese of Washington and to Fr. David Bava, pastor of Holy Redeemer, for their support and welcome during this transition.

The church, which is owned by the Jesuits, is part of the Gonzaga College High School campus. Because it is physically connected with other buildings and integrated into the campus, it is not feasible to establish a non-Jesuit parish there. The church will continue to be used for school liturgies and, on a limited basis and in coordination with Fr. Bava, for special liturgies of Holy Redeemer parish, weddings and funerals for alumni and former parishioners, and other special events. 

In addition, the Father McKenna Center, the drop-in center for homeless men that has been on site since 1983, will continue to operate. This was a very difficult decision and one I wish did not have to be made. This change will be painful. Unfortunately, the Province can no longer staff the parish.

Link (here) to read the full statement

Fr. James Martin, S.J. Listens To Lawrence O'Donnell

Fr. James Martin, S.J. and Lawrence O'Donnell's of the MSNBC show "The Last Word," discuss third grade catechism, homosexuality, Nun Sense, Ginger Rodgers, crises of faith for priests, Second Vatican Council, stagnation and dissent in the Church and the Magestirum of the Church versus the Holy Spirit or cooperating with it.
Link (here) to America magazine to watch the video

The Church Is Endangering Christians

Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio, S,J,

Christians, who make up around 10% of the Syrian population, have been split by the uprising. Some have sided with the regime and some with the opposition, while the fearful majority have remained on the fence. This has caused splits in some mixed communities. Just before leaving, Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, S.J. an Italian who brokered the release of a Christian held in Qusayr, a town close to the mixed city of Homs where the violence has been most fierce. “Those who had taken them—and they were not mainstream members of the opposition—saw the church in full alliance with the regime. The church is endangering Christians,” he says. “But I was comforted by the fact they said they were not against Christians but against those who had collaborated with the regime.” Father Paolo hopes that the violence can be stemmed so the civil war doesn't eclipse an uprising that is calling for a plural, democratic country. "I see an Islamic bent in the armed opposition," he says. "We need not be afraid of Islamists but the less democratic ones will come to the fore as the war continues.".

Link (here) to read the full story at the Economist.

Hugh Jackman Is Rescuing My Mother After Jesuits Teleported To Her To North Korea

Gail Chord Schuler AKA "Gabrielle Chana" is obviously not playing with a full deck of cards. Gabrielle has posted a homemade video (here). She does need our prayers. With all of that said, the video is absolutely hilarious to watch. Gabrielle states in her Youtube video that Matthew Mcconaughey is flying to north Korea to rescue Hugh Jackman the Wolverine star to deliver flying robots behind enemy lines at the Jesuit Base were the Jesuits are holding her mother.
Link (here) to GabrieleChana.com

Royal Lichtenstein Quarter-Ring Sidewalk Circus.

In “The Circus that Ran Away with a Jesuit Priest,” Nick describes how he came to have such an unforgettable career. Father Bob introduces Nick and his best friend Doug to sleight-of-hand, and Nick gets to know Jesuit priests during his time at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, as well as perfecting his magic and patter. After time spent in discernment, Nick opts to use his Jesuit ministry in theater and asks to be reassigned to work full-time directing the Council Players. As Nick describes, the group, committed to combining morality tales with circus acts, dubs itself with “a grand-sounding title that would contrast with and mock the show’s tiny scale, lending a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere.” That name is the Royal Lichtenstein Quarter-Ring Sidewalk Circus. It was an exciting and inspirational idea that would have a 22-year run.

Link (here) to read the full review

Holy Father On Saint Ignatius

Pilgrims gathered in a sunny St. Peter’s Square heard an explanation of the first parable, as referring to “the mystery of creation and redemption, the fruitful work of God in history” that will conclude with Jesus' assured victory at the end of time. “Every Christian, then, knows that he must do all he can, but that the final results depend on God,” said the Pope, suggesting that “this knowledge will sustain his daily labors, especially in difficult situations.” 

The parable reminded Pope Benedict of the advice given by the 16th century founder of the Society of Jesus, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who told his followers to “act as if everything depended on you, knowing well that in reality everything depends on God.” 

Meanwhile, in the parable of the mustard seed, Christ speaks of a plant whose strength stems from its initial smallness. So too with the kingdom of God, the Pope said, which is a “humanly small reality, composed from those poor in heart, from those who are not confident in their own strength but in the love of God, from those not important in the eyes of the world.” Yet it is in their lives that “the power of Christ” breaks through “and transforms what is apparently insignificant.” The Pope concluded his Angelus address by leading pilgrims in the midday Marian prayer, before addressing the crowds in various languages and, finally, imparting his apostolic blessing.

Link (here) Catholic News Agency

Jesuit Connected To Soros

Jesuit priest Thomas J Reese is connected to George Soros funded group. Go (here) than (here)

Avant Garde Statement

Fr. Karl Rahner, S.J

Catholic theologians of note were making statements that went far beyond anything said in the aula of St. Peter’s. Fr. Jean Danielou, S.J., expressed himself as being in favor of the ordination of deaconesses “without delay and therefore before the end of the Council.” Avant garde as his statement may seem, it was not made in a theological vacuum. In 1962 Fr. Haye van der Meer, S.J., with Fr. Karl Rahner as his mentor, completed a doctoral thesis at Innsbruck titled “Theologische Uberlegungen uber die Thesis: subiectum ordinationis solus est mas” (“Theological Reflections on the Thesis: the male alone is fit for ordination”). The author considers the usual arguments for excluding women from ordination — arguments from Scripture and traditional theology — and concludes that there is no valid reason for continuing the exclusion. Moreover, he claims that Canon 968, Section 1, limiting ordination to a vir baptizatus, requires clarification. The canon has ordinarily been interpreted as forbidding the ordination of women, but it seems more likely that what it forbids is the ordination of non-baptizatus. Thus ordination of a femina baptizata was never contemplated by the framers of the canon; so they could scarcely have intended to legislate against it.

At about the same time that Fr. van der Meer was working on his dissertation in Innsbruck another Jesuit, Jose Idigoras, was pursuing a similar investigation at the Catholic University in Lima, Peru. Adapted excerpts from his doctoral thesis, “La Mujer dentro del Orden Sagrado” (“Woman in Relation to Holy Ordination”), were printed in the widely circulated Informations Catholiques Internationales in 1963 and 1965. Idigoras also examines the usual antifeminine arguments and, like van der Meer, concludes that the church not only may but must admit women to orders if it is to be true to the gospel and to St. Paul’s obviously doctrinal statement (opposed to the discriminatory disciplinary statements) that in Christ “there is neither male or female” (Gal. 3:28).

A North American, Fr. Charles R. Meyer of the Mundelein seminary faculty in the Chicago archdiocese, takes up in an article in a recent issue of Chicago Studies (excerpted in the popular Catholic Digest) the problem of whether, as Fr. Idigoras claims, some of St. Paul’s female assistants were genuinely ordained deaconesses — a problem which is crucial, since the Catholic Church regards admission to the diaconate as so related to ordination that women could not be capable of the diaconate unless they were also capable of the priesthood. Fr. Meyer’s study concludes:

We must, I think . . . admit that the theologians and canonists of our time have been . . . guilty of some dishonesty in treating the question of the ordination of women in the early Church. In their treatises on the matter there seems to be a selective presentation of the facts, if indeed any attempt at all is made to do other than merely repeat what their predecessors have said. . . . But the time for complete honesty is at hand . . . now theologians must make a careful and unprejudiced re-examination of the whole question. This is the least they can do.

Other theologians who have discussed this problem publicly are Fr. Hans Kung and Fr. George H. Tavard, who have said that they know of no valid theological objection to the ordination of women.

Link (here) to Womanpriests

On A List

Fr. Jerold Linder, S.J.

Father Jerold Lindner always pitched his tent far from everyone else on religious camping trips in the Santa Cruz Mountains. That way, his accusers later said, no one could hear his young victims whimper. But more than 30 years later, one of those accusers is striking back -- in a rare way chosen by only one of the 16,000 Americans who are known to have been sexually molested by Catholic clerics. Will Lynch, who says he was raped by the man he knew as Father Jerry on a camping trip in the mid-1970s, is accused of beating up the priest -- and he is now using his own assault trial to try the cleric in the court of public opinion. On the eve of his trial in San Jose, an emotional Lynch talked in an exclusive interview on the 15th floor of a San Francisco hotel about why he's willing to put his freedom on the line to protest a legal system that never made Father Jerry pay. Even though the Jesuits have doled out millions of dollars to settle cases brought by Lindner's victims, the priest was never prosecuted because Lynch and others reported the abuse after the brief window of opportunity set by the statute of limitations at the time slammed shut. Lindner has denied the accusations. But a health care administrator who works for the Jesuits testified last year during Lynch's preliminary hearing that Lindner is on a list of molesters living at the Sacred Heart retirement and medical center in Los Gatos.

Read the rest of the article (here) and watch the interview at Mercury News

Jesuit Expelled From Syria

A Jesuit priest who revived an ancient monastery in Syria and who has campaigned for peace talks said on Wednesday he was being expelled from the country. "I leave Syria at the request of the Church and civil authorities," Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, who heads the monastery of Deir Mar Musa some 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Damascus, told AFP. On Tuesday, Vatican Radio reported that Dall'Oglio who has urged dialogue and rejected foreign military intervention since the start of the conflict was departing in a few days at the request of the Syrian Catholic bishop.

"I am leaving but the monastery is open," said the Italian priest, who has lived in Syria for 30 years. Dall'Oglio founded his community in 1992 in the ruins of the Mar Musa monastery, which dates back to the 7th century. Christians and Muslims pray side by side at the monastery, which also hosts interfaith seminars. 

What is happening in Syria is a "Muslim tragedy" in which Christians are involved, Dall'Oglio told Vatican Radio. Dall'Oglio was ordered expelled from Syria last November but managed to stay in the country. Syria has a small, but influential Christian minority that has traditionally enjoyed harmonious relations with the Muslim majority and with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and his father and predecessor, Hafez. It now lives in fear that the violence surrounding the uprising against al-Assad could degenerate into attacks on it by more radical elements among the Muslim population.

Mar Musa monastery, also known as Al-Habashi (the "Ethiopian") monastery, was "visited" twice in recent months by masked men who said they were looking for hidden weapons.

Read more: Syria Expelling Italian Jesuit Priest

“Grow Where You Are Planted.”

Father Vince O’Brien, S.J. had some favorite sayings. Allow me to share a few. “Grow where you are planted.” When I see wild flowers blooming in inconspicuous places, I notice how they just grow where they are. They don’t seem to be looking for anyone’s approval. They don’t seem to care if anyone even sees them. They just are. They give glory to God by just being. Do roses feel guilty because they have thorns? Do dandelions care if no one likes them? Do they worry about dying in a short time? How much we can learn from flowers of the field. Just be you, the you God created you to be!

Link (here) to the article by Father Joseph Breighner at the Catholic Review a publication of the Archdiocese of Baltimore 

GUDOA

Father Michael Orsi argues in a June 4, 2012 article for Crisis that, although Exorcist author William Peter Blatty’s contemplated canonical action against Georgetown University “is both noble and correct,” it nonetheless “will be dead on arrival.” Father Orsi does well to point out some of the hurdles that an action like this one faces, but in the final analysis, his judgment is too defeatist and too pessimistic. Blatty’s Georgetown action is by no means “DOA.”

Link (here) to Insight Scoop to read Carl Olson's full piece

Moon Landrieu

While it is always tempting to cozy up to powerful graduates, Loyola University in New Orleans might have done better on the occasion of celebrations for the Jesuit institution’s 100th anniversary to avoid singling out for praise a prominent “pro-choice” graduate.

Loyola notes in its official anniversary announcement:

"Loyola has been nurturing the social and intellectual milieu of the community for the last 100 years,” said Jesuit Father Gregory Lucey, president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. That impact is especially potent when Loyola graduates move into positions of power, such as Xavier University President Norman Francis, former state Supreme Court Justice Pascal Calogero, former Mayor Moon Landrieu and Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Lucey said. “It makes a difference in the culture of a community, the social awareness and good public policy of a community,” he said.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu, also a former lieutenant governor, had a “pro-choice” voting record when serving in the Louisiana state legislature. When Loyola honored the Landrieu family at commencement exercises in 2005, former New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes skipped the event, citing the “pro-choice” positions of Mitch Landrieu and his sister, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu.

Link (here) to the full post at The Cardinal Newman Society

"Jesus Is Beautiful, Jesus Is Beautiful."

Oh supernatural beauty of my Jesus, which made an impression even on the animals themselves! Oh ungrateful men, where is your heart? Is it possible that you are not moved at the sight of such lovable beauty? The cause of your insensitiveness is obvious: If you do not love Jesus, it is because you do not know Him. My brother, what is it that has the greatest power over your heart? Beauty, is it not true? Why do you not turn then your love towards this beauty of Jesus so pure and so holy? If only you knew, my brother, how beautiful He is, my Jesus ----- "Love Me, My daughter," He said one day to a virtuous virgin to whom He appeared, "Love Me, My daughter, because I am beautiful, generous and noble of heart." 

Yes, my lovable Jesus, You are certainly beautiful and You have by Your beauty alone softened the most obstinate hearts from evil ways. Fr. Bernard Colnago, S.J. found himself once in a cottage with five brigands and a wicked woman. What did he do to convert them? Did he open Hell before their eyes? No, but assuming a religious countenance, he said to them in a serious and modest tone, "Jesus is beautiful, Jesus is beautiful." 

These words were the arrows which pierced those hearts of stone and all were converted. 

Link (here) to read the full mediation entitled The Beauty of Jesus by St. Leonard Port-Maurice

Jesuit Father, "How The Miraculous Medal Changed My Life"

One of the most memorable experiences that I ever had was with the Miraculous Medal! It changed my life. In the fall of 1948, the year after my ordination, I was in what we call the Tertianship. This is a third year of Novitiate before taking final vows. In October of that year, a Vincentian priest came to speak to us young Jesuit priests. He encouraged us to obtain faculties, as they are called, to enroll people in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal. Among other things, he said, "Fathers, the Miraculous Medal works. Miracles have been performed by Our Lady through the Miraculous Medal." I was not impressed by what the Vincentian priest was telling. I was not the medal-wearing kind of person and I certainly did not have a Miraculous Medal. But I thought to myself, "It does not cost anything." So I put my name down to get a four page leaflet from the Vincentians, with the then-Latin formula for blessing Miraculous Medals and enrolling people in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal. About two weeks later, I got the leaflet for blessing and enrollment, put it into my office book and forgot about it.

In February of the next year, I was sent to assist the chaplain of St. Alexis Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. I was to be there helping the regular chaplain for two weeks. Each morning I received a list of all the patients admitted into the hospital that day. There were so many Catholics admitted that I could not visit them all as soon as they came. Among the patients admitted was a boy about nine years old. He had been sled-riding downhill, lost control of the sled and ran into a tree head-on. He fractured his skull and X-rays showed he had suffered severe brain damage. When I finally got to visit his room at the hospital, he had been in a coma for ten days, no speech, no voluntary movements of the body. His condition was such that the only question was whether he would live. There was no question of recovering from what was diagnosed as permanent and inoperable brain damage. After blessing the boy and consoling his parents, I was about to leave his hospital room. But then a thought came to me. "That Vincentian priest. He said, 'The Miraculous Medal works.' Now this will be a test of its alleged miraculous powers!"

I didn't have a Miraculous Medal of my own. And everyone I asked at the hospital also did not have one. But I persisted, and finally one of the nursing sisters on night duty found a Miraculous Medal. What I found out was that you don't just bless the medal, you have to put it around a person's neck on a chain or ribbon. So the sister-nurse found a blue ribbon for the medal, which made me feel silly. What was I doing with medals and blue ribbons? However, I blessed the medal and had the father hold the leaflet for investing a person in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal. I proceeded to recite the words of investiture. No sooner did I finish the prayer of enrolling the boy in the Confraternity than he opened his eyes for the first time in two weeks. He saw his mother and said, "Ma, I want some ice cream." He had been given only intravenous feeding.

This Experience Changed My Life
Then he proceeded to talk to his father and mother. After a few minutes of stunned silence, a doctor was called. The doctor examined the boy and told the parents they could give him something to eat. The next day began a series of tests on the boy's condition. X-rays showed the brain damage was gone. Then still more tests. After three days, when all examinations showed there was complete restoration to health, the boy was released from the hospital. This experience so changed my life that I have not been the same since. My faith in God, faith in His power to work miracles, was strengthened beyond description.

Since then, of course, I have been promoting devotion to Our Lady and the use of the Miraculous Medal. The wonders she performs, provided we believe, are extraordinary. In teaching theology over the years, I have many semesters taught the theology of miracles. And I have an unpublished book manuscript on "The History and Theology of Miracles." My hope is to publish the manuscript in the near future.

 Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

A Campaign Of Ignatian Retreats

Fr. Francis de Paule Vallet Francis de Paule Vallet's entrance into the Jesuits followed an Ignatian retreat. But he didn’t enter the Jesuits to follow a religious vocation as an untried young man. He entered tested by trial, converted by grace and pre-occupied with one great idea: to convert the world and turn it back to Christ by converting the adult man. The question and its resolution were clear: Convert the world by getting adult men to do the Exercises and do them well. He threw his whole soul into the novitiate and sought ardently after perfection. The testimony of his saintly Novice Master amply proves the purity and goodness of his soul. But more striking than this is that the serious Jesuit fathers permitted the young Vallet to organize a campaign of retreats during his novitiate. Though he couldn’t preach, he was the driving organizing impetus behind a campaign of retreats that within a couple years drew over 1800 men. Completing his novitiate in 1909, Fr. Vallet followed the classical Jesuit curriculum for eleven years. Two years after His priestly ordination in 1920, he was given his first assignment to preach retreats in Manresa. From this time on he would devote his energies to the realization of his divinely inspired plan: the conversion of the adult man through the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. To meet this objective, Fr. Vallet, with the permission and approval of his beloved superiors, left the Jesuits to found the Parish Cooperators of Christ the King. Parish Cooperators devoted themselves entirely to the preaching of the Ignatian Retreat. A retreat campaign began by a series of preparatory conferences given in various places in the target regions.These conferences were directed by the Father but were complemented by the testimony of one or more Parish Cooperators. There then followed intense publicity which included the foot-work of Parish Cooperators going door to door, speaking in public places, taverns and barbershops, etc. After this preparatory work came the campaign of retreats itself. One retreat was preached and then followed by two or three others. The retreats always increased in numbers because the alumni of one retreat became the ardent promoters for the next. The following figures will give an idea of the effectiveness of the first 5 years  of Fr. Vallet’s campaigns in Spain:

1923 In three campaigns of 19 retreats 1,293 retreatants 1924 In five campaigns of 27 retreats 1,400 retreatants for a total of 2,697 1925 In five campaigns of 35 retreats 2,620 retreatants for a total of 5,317 1926 " " " 3,223 retreatants for a total of 8,540 1927 " " " 4,103 retreatants for a total of 12,643

Link (here) to read the full story at The Society of St. Pius X  Link (here) to a current Ignatian retreat campaign.  "Hearts on Fire"

The Venerable Bernard Colnago Of The Society Of Jesus

A soul in Purgatory

Our celebrated historian, Joseph von Gorres, whilom Professor at the University of Munich, discusses these matters at inordinate, but not unusual, length in his classic work. Speaking of a devil who had no back, he says : " It is a curious circumstance that evil spirits should possess only a front side and lack the back side. That would appear to result from the peculiar optics of a certain grade of the lower vision, inasmuch as things project themselves only picturewise." In another place he discusses the influence of constellations upon men, and denies that the demoniacal influences of the constellations are direct, " because no star left the hand of its Creator with a demoniacal stamp. ... As every cosmic illness becomes more acute with the growing moon, so every demoniacal illness." Such doctrines are as common among our intellectual leaders as blackberries in season, but as they are not scientific, it is misleading to allow them to be taught as such. Professor Bantz, in Miinster, a State Catholic University with Faculties, lectured two years ago on " The Last Judgment, Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven." He is an authority on the subject, having published dissertations on these four last things, and his professional position consecrates his claims to be treated as a scientific light. He says, " 

With respect to the real duration of Purgatory, it lasts, according to Marina de Escobar, twenty, forty, fifty years, or longer. Catherine Emmerich speaks of souls who had to spend hundreds of years in Purgatory. . . . The venerable Bernard Colnago, of the Society of Jesus, saw, in Rome, a soul that had already endured its punishment for forty-three years on one of the streets, . . . 

Francisca of the Holy Sacrament saw a continuous going and coming of poor souls. They appeared to her now fiery, now coal-black and emitting sparks. ... In face of such a total of facts, it matters little whether one or two of them should be found to be open to criticism" 

Link (here) to The Contemporary Review

Cor Tuum Afficitur

A partial indulgence is granted to those who recite this prayer. A plenary indulgence is granted if it is publicly recited on the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This prayer was prescribed to be recited on this feast by Pope Pius XI .

IESU dulcissime, cuius effusa in homines caritas, tanta oblivione, negligentia, contemptione, ingratissime rependitur, en nos, ante altaria tua provoluti, tam nefariam hominum socordiam iniuriasque, quibus undique amantissimum Cor tuum afficitur, peculiari honore resarcire contendimus.	MOST sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thee, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject.
Attamen, memores tantae nos quoque indignitatis non expertes aliquando fuisse, indeque vehementissimo dolore commoti, tuam in primis misericordiam nobis imploramus, paratis, voluntaria expiatione compensare flagitia non modo quae ipsi patravimus, sed etiam illorum, qui, longe a salutis via aberrantes, vel te pastorem ducemque sectari detrectant, in sua infidelitate obstinati, vel baptismatis promissa conculcantes, suavissimum tuae legis iugum excusserunt.	Mindful, alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation, not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the promises of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy law.
Quae deploranda crimina, cum universa expiare contendimus, tum nobis singula resarcienda proponimus: vitae cultusque immodestiam atque turpitudines, tot corruptelae pedicas innocentium animis instructas, dies festos violatos, exsecranda in te tuosque Sanctos iactata maledicta atque in tuum Vicarium ordinemque sacerdotalem convicia irrogata, ipsum denique amoris divini Sacramentum, vel neglectum vel horrendis sacrilegiis profanatum, publica postremo nationum delicta, quae Ecclesiae a te institutae iuribus magisterioque reluctantur.	We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are now determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holydays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints. We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.
Quae utinam crimina sanguine ipsi nostro eluere possemus! Interea ad violatum divinum honorem resarciendum, quam Tu olim Patri in Cruce satisfactionem obtulisti quamque quotidie in altaribus renovare pergis, hanc eandem nos tibi praestamus, cum Virginis Matris, omnium Sanctorum, piorum quoque fidelium expiationibus coniunctam, ex animo spondentes, cum praeterita nostra aliorumque peccata ac tanti amoris incuriam firma fide, candidis vitae moribus, perfecta legis evangelicae, caritatis potissimum, observantia, quantum in nobis erit, gratia tua favente, nos esse compensaturos, tum iniurias tibi inferendas pro viribus prohibituros, et quam plurimos potuerimus ad tui sequelam convocaturos.	Would that we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor, the satisfaction Thou once made to Thy Eternal Father on the cross and which Thou continuest to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth, we will live a life of unswerving faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent others from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to follow Thee.
Excipias, quaesumus, benignissime Iesu, beata Virgine Maria Reparatrice intercedente, voluntarium huius expiationis obsequium nosque in officio tuique servito fidissimos ad mortem usque velis, magno illo perseverantiae munere, continere, ut ad illam tandem patriam perveniamus omnes, ubi Tu cum Patre et Spiritu Sancto vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. Amen.	O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mother, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee, so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where with the Father and the Holy Spirit Thou livest and reignest, God, forever and ever. Amen. Link (here) HT to Fr. Z (here)

Miseries Of Our Neighbors

“Let us seek to make our life the life of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, well convinced that we must fill our hearts with the spirit of faith and charity if we want to do good to our souls, to alleviate the grave needs that surround us, and to relieve the many corporal and spiritual miseries of our neighbors”

Link (here) to read more from Fr. James Kubicki, S.J.

Unconditional

Sacred Heart of Jesus. CHARLES CHAMBERS

The love of Christ is unconditional. Jesus loves us just as we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way. We need discipline and perseverance and training in holiness if we are to climb the mountain to heaven. Going where we want for church because it suits us and makes us feel good is counter productive. This doesn’t mean we must endure the worst church in the world simply because it will teach us patience and fortitude. However, we are called to be patient and strong when things do not always go our way.

The love of God is sweet and tender, but it is also astringent and tough. We have to be sweet and salty at the same time. We have to be flexible but not brittle.

The qualities we need are pictured in the sacred heart of Jesus. Meditate on the image for a moment. The heart is exposed so we must be vulnerable. The heart is red and warm so we must be passionate, but the heart is also entwined with thorns–which means we must endure the crown of thorns and gather up our suffering and the suffering of the whole world into this sacred heart. It is also a heart that is on fire–a fire that warms and inspires, but also a fire that purifies and burns away all that is wood, hay and stubble–all the worthless trash in our lives.

Link (here) to Fr. Dwight Longnecker's Standing on My Head

Sacred Heart And Batoni

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, so a very happy feast day to all readers! Last year I wrote on the importance that I attach to this feast, and how theologically rich I find it. Given that so many churches and schools are dedicated to the Sacred Heart, it is clear that historically devotion to the Sacred Heart has played a central role in Catholic life. Therefore, it seems to me, the more we can promote this devotion today, the more we promote the Church and its mission.One difficulty I do have with the Sacred Heart, though, is the iconography. Pompeo Batoni was the most wonderful painter, and famous for his portraits of various English grand tourists which are still to be found in most art galleries in the western world. But he was also responsible for the picture of the Sacred Heart that hangs in the Church of the Gesù, in Rome. Naturally enough, it is this Sacred Heart that is Batoni’s most reproduced picture, which may have something to do with the Jesuit promotion of the devotion.

Link (here) to The Catholic Herald

British Jesuit Fr. Hugh Thwaites Reads St Pius X’s “Pascendi Dominici Gregis

PART I  http://youtu.be/6REn7Eh3FmI

PART II: www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5D60dfV2WM

PART III: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzQzpDvRXcg

“Pascendi Dominici Gregis" An encyclical on the Doctrines of the Modernists. This has been officially out of print for years. One would think that it, and its author, never existed. Fortunately, it was written in a manner which is ideal for spoken-word production. It is clear, forthright, concise, descriptive, it is like a mountain stream in a desert, with a reputation of miraculously curing spiritual blindness. Fr Thwaites converted from Anglicanism while on a British troopship headed to Singapore during World War II. After spending three and a half years in a Japanese POW camp, he became a Jesuit, and was ordained in 1954. In later decades he would lend considerable support to the cause of Catholic tradition in the British Isles. 

Link (here) to Angel Queen

Martin On Merton And Berrigan

I wrote to Dan when I was frustrated about something in the church and was tempted to, as Thomas Merton used to say, "blast off," i.e., speak my mind in not the most sensible way. In response to an agitated letter, Dan, who had himself known Merton, wrote me to counsel patience, and reminded me that I'm in this "for the long haul."

Link (here) to America Magazine to read the full post by Fr. James Martin, S.J.

Fr. James Martin, S.J. On The Rebel Nuns

For the Vatican, the rebel nuns present a delicate challenge. In the U.S., many nuns find themselves politically on the opposite side of the church hierarchy, for instance during the health care debate, when they lent support to President Obama’s policies. Though nuns don’t have a formal position within the Vatican’s ranks — unlike, say, priests, they are considered laypeople — they are nonetheless an important part of the church’s public and popular face. And since their orders are nearly always self-funded, the Vatican has little traction, outside of theological condemnation, in reining them in. At issue is not only the role that nuns should play within the greater dialogue of the Catholic faith, but what direction the church itself should be headed, with Pope Benedict XVI one of the primary advocates of rolling back reforms in favor of a return toward traditional Catholicism. “The critique of the LCWR is a microcosm of a larger phenomenon in the church, specifically over how deeply the Second Vatican Council represented a break with the past,” says James Martin, a Jesuit priest and contributing editor at America, a Catholic magazine.

Link (here) to read the full article at Time Magazine

Yet Another Post About Sodomy By Fr. James Martin, S.J.

Archbishop Nienstedt

....rarer is the openly gay Catholic priest who speaks about issues related to homosexuality and homosexual activity.  That is why this ten-minute speech by Robert Pierson, O.S.B., a member of the Benedictine community at Collegeville, MN (and listed as a priest in good standing in the 2011 Official Catholic Directory) is so unusual.  Father Pierson, who had worked in campus ministry at St. John's University and is currently the director of the Spiritual Life Program at St. John's Abbey, speaks of his own homosexuality, his experience in ministering to gay and lesbian students, and then describes why he bas concluded that a Minnesota Catholic may vote "no" on a proposed state amendment that would prevent same-sex marriages.

In 2005, Father Pierson had resigned from his post as director of campus ministry after the Vatican officially barred men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" from ordination, and because of broader issues in the church's teaching. "Because I can no longer honestly represent, explain and defend the church's teaching on homosexuality, I feel I must resign," he said at the time. 

Needless to say, his comments on same-sex marriage are in direct opposition to the U.S. Catholic bishops, including Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who has vigorously supported the amendment (that is, opposing same-sex marriage) and asked parishioners in his archdiocese to recite a "A Prayer for Marriage" as part of the Prayers of the Faithful (petitionary prayers) at Masses.  The bishops could not be clearer in their opposition, which rests primarily on the Christian tradition of marriage as between a man and a woman (as well as on the church's opposition to homosexual activity).

Read the full post at America Magazine by Fr. James Martin, S.J. (here) 
The Churches teaching on the subject (here)