This Is Too Important!

Gorbachev said that the collapse of the Soviet Union would have been impossible without the influence of Pope John Paul II. At the pope’s death he reminisced about their meeting:

“He said, ‘I don’t serve any political parties, I serve God,’ ” Gorbachev recalled. ” ‘So I’m after the same things that you are trying to achieve with your perestroika.’ ”Gorbachev said he told the pope he “had a lot of criticism for him, too.”

A day after their meeting, Gorbachev said, he traveled to Malta to meet with President George H.W. Bush. They later announced that the United States and Soviet Union were no longer enemies. “So, see, it’s all interconnected,” Gorbachev said.

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Read about Mikael Gorbachev's pilgramage to Assisi at the Anchoress (here)

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"Pray for the conversion of Russia" Our Lady of Fatima

A Radio Interview With Andrew Krivak: On Wanting To Live A Religous Life

Former Jesuit Andrew Krivak was interviewed on the Dennis Prager Radio Show. Krivak is discussing his new memoir A Long Retreat: In Search of a Religious Life (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux: March 2008). The book is the story of Krivak's journey through eight years of contemporary religious life as a Jesuit, a story that becomes, in the end, a meditation on the search for God and the self. Krivak discussed what it means to go from the solitude of the spiritual life to the solitude of the writer's life, and how the Catholic imagination persists in both. Now a father of two living in London, Krivak has written articles for the New York Times, DoubleTake Magazine, Commonweal, and elsewhere. Link (here) Listen to the interview (here)

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Andrew Krivak is married to a Catholic wife, has two children and lives a sacramental life.

Marquette University Newspaper Refuses To Run Pro-Life Ad

William Thorn, chairman of the Marquette University board that sets policy for its student newspaper, the Tribune, said the newspaper asked (Catholic) Pro-Life Wisconsin to change the ad because there was no medical source for the claim about deadly blood clots (from Plan B). The group refused and there was no time to work out the differences before last week's edition was published, he said. "They wanted an in-your-face ad and I understand that," he said. The irony is the Jesuit school has consistently opposed abortion, he said.

Link to the full article (here)

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Marquette's diabolical pro-Planned Parenthood ethics/theology teacher, former Jesuit priest Dan Maguire (here) , (here) and (here)

Of The Supper

OF THE SUPPER
Matthew 26; John 13.

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Master, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him,

"What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later."

Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered him,

"Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me."

Simon Peter said to him, "Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well." Jesus said to him,

"Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all."

For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said,

"Not all of you are clean."

So when he had washed their feet (and) put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, "

Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the scripture might be fulfilled, 'The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.' From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me."

When he had said this, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,

"Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."

The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus' side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus' chest and said to him, "Master, who is it?" Jesus answered,

"It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it."

So he dipped the morsel and (took it and) handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him,

"What you are going to do, do quickly."

(Now) none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or to give something to the poor. So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night. When he had left, Jesus said,

"Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. (If God is glorified in him,) God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, 'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say it to you. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Simon Peter said to him, "Master, where are you going?" Jesus answered (him),

"Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later."

Peter said to him, "Master, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered,

"Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times."

John 13

First Point.

First: He ate the Paschal Lamb with His twelve Apostles, to whom He foretold His death.

“‘In truth, I say to you that one of you is to sell Me.’”

Second Point.

Second: He washed the Disciples’ feet, even those of Judas, commencing from St. Peter, who, considering the Majesty of the Lord and his own baseness, not wanting to consent, said: “Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?” But St. Peter did not know that in that He gave an example of humility, and for this He said:

“‘I have given you an example, that you may do as I did.’”

Third Point.

Third: He instituted the most sacred sacrifice of the Eucharist,

to be the greatest mark of His love, saying:

“‘Take and eat.’”

The Supper finished, Judas went forth to sell Christ our Lord.

Link (here)

Mark Of The Vineyard; "I Want To Be A Jesuit"

I found this nice piece about a young mans journey to become a Jesuit.

When I came back to the Church, I was connected to the Jesuits. Their rational, down-to-earth, almost materialistic theology appealed to me - who had always been inclined to the “exact” sciences - greatly.

And yet something inside began to feel discomforted by this kind of theology (which I would later come to discover was Modernist).

Christ did not know He was the Son, and found that out as He went along; most miracles were not miracles; Hell is empty; the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are mostly psychological and that there are no “bad spirits”; that there are truths and no Truth; etc. Where had all the mystery gone? Where was the mystical part of religion? What about Tradition? Could nearly 2000 years of Tradition be wrong? This could not be the Truth, I thought, for the Truth is immutable, it is not subject to the fancy of men. So I set out to search for it on my own within the Church and was happy to see that it still exists, even though in a somewhat mangled state.

When did I begin to question if I have a vocation for the religious life? That would be after I did the three-day version of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I had come away from them with a great sense of inner peace, having spent most of the exercises thanking God for accepting me back and begging for forgiveness for having abandoned Him.

When I got home the question popped into my head: how about being a priest? At the time I dismissed it as a silly thought, as being nothing but the fruit of the week-end just finished. Why should I want to become a priest? After all, wasn’t my greatest wish in life to get married, have children and build a family? Becoming a priest would invalidate all that. And besides, priestly life had always seemed to me to be an awfully dreary affair. Yet the more I said "No", the more the question would impose itself. Where was this coming from? Certainly not from me, as it was the last thing on my mind. So I finally decided to stop fighting, to just let things lay and see where they'd go from there. As time went on the thought of becoming a priest, especially a Jesuit (their 4th vow and Ignatian Spirituality are very appealing), no longer seemed so dreary.

I began to find solace in prayer, to be able to imagine myself serving God, spreading the joy of His Holy Word.Though I ardently desire to officially start my discernment process, with a spiritual director and all,

I'm a bit busy at the moment. Towards the end of the year I will hopefully be going on a humanitarian mission led by the Jesuits. Until then the group is being prepared and since there is a formidable part of the training connected with religion I'm still not in too much of a rush. I have put my life in His hands and trust Him to lead me where He will. When He decides that it is time for me to take the first steps I will know.

Link to the full post (here)

The Strange Ex-Jesuit, Is Now Chief Of Staff To The New Governor Of New York

This short piece is from a longer interview from the far left-wing TV show Democracy Now.

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AMY GOODMAN: And finally, Juan, you also wrote about who will be the new secretary of the governor, the significance of this position, former Jesuit priest.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Yes. And, Liz, you’ve actually been dealing with him quite a bit now, Charles O’Byrne, who will become the chief staff person, I guess, the secretary of the governor, a former Jesuit priest and a former organizer for Howard Dean before he went to work for David Paterson. But this is obviously a lot bigger portfolio now than he expected when he went to work for the Lieutenant Governor. Your expectations of his performance?

SEN. LIZ KRUEGER: Well, Charles is an extraordinarily talented man.

He’s an attorney, as well as—you’re right—having been a Jesuit priest. And I think the combination of his training in both of those professions has served him well in being the chief of staff to David Paterson up until now. And yes, David takes an enormously large leap on Monday to be the new governor of New York State, and Charles O’Byrne also takes that leap. But as confident as I am in David, and I think all your other guests are, because he has an amazingly rapid learning curve, skill set, as well, I believe Charles also does. He has been working on the second floor with Lieutenant Governor Paterson since the first day of the Spitzer administration.

It is my understanding that he has been in on almost all of the senior meetings of the Governor and his people on behalf of David during all of this time. Link to the full interview (here)

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My previous post on Elliot Spitzer which included the former Jesuit Priest [ (here), (here), disturbing (here) and (here) ] Charles O'Byrne (here)

He Can Cook

A good cook, Locatelli serves courage raw
By Scott HerholdMercury News
Article Launched: 03/16/2008 01:46:21 AM PDT

"There are two things you need to remember about Paul Locatelli," an admirer of the departing Santa Clara University president told me. "The first is that he's Jesuit. The second is that he's Italian. That means he's principled, intellectual, and he can really cook."

You don't have to go far for evidence of the cooking interests of the departing SCU president, who stunned the campus Friday by announcing he will step down next year to take a Jesuit assignment in Rome.

On his university Web site, he lists his favorite recipes, including Risotto alla Mama Locatelli, which talks about onions being "translucent." A photo of the president shows a man in a chef's hat and an apron adorned with pictures of wine bottles. The Jesuit part is equally clear but more subtle. Locatelli succeeded during his two decades as president not just because he was a master builder - he built or remodeled a dozen buildings - but because he put enormous focus on marrying intellectual pursuits with compassion.

Read the full article in the Mercury News (here)

Read a different and more balanced news piece in the California Catholic Daily (here)

Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J. Steps Down At Gonzaga

Gonzaga president to step down next year
SPOKANE, Wash. - The president of Gonzaga University says he will step down from the job in July of next year. The Rev. Robert J. Spitzer is completing his tenth year as president of the Jesuit university in Spokane. He said Monday he plans to continue writing and giving presentations on ethics, faith, leadership, metaphysics and philosophy after he steps down.
The Board of Trustees will appoint a search committee to seek a new president.

Link (here)

Audio Interview With The Father General

New Jesuit Father General Speaks
The newly-elected Father General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, SJ, spoke with Vatican Radio about his order's recently-concluded 35th General Congregation, which chose the 71 year-old Fr. Nicolas to lead the largest religious order of men. Fr. Nicolas told us the Congregation was a moment of reflection, and renewal of the Jesuits' commitment to the Holy Father and to their mission of service to the whole Church...

Link to Vatican Radio interview (here)

OF THE PREACHING IN THE TEMPLE

OF THE PREACHING IN THE TEMPLE

And he was teaching daily in the temple. And the chief priests and the scribes and the rulers of the people sought to destroy him: And they found not what to do to him: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

Luke, Chapter 19 [47, 48].

First Point.

First: He was every day teaching in the Temple.

Second Point.

Second: The preaching finished, since there was no one who would receive Him in Jerusalem, He used to return to Bethany.

Link (here)

Patron Saint Of Canada St. Jean de Brebeuf, S.J.

March 16, in 1649, Jesuit martyrs Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalement were tortured and put to death by the Iroquois at the Huronia village of St-Ignace, in what is now Simcoe County in Ontario. Brebeuf had laboured for 15 years trying to make peace with the Iroquois, but they continued their war against the Hurons and destroyed their villages and Jesuit missions in 1648. Later, the Iroquois captured Brebeuf and Lalement and killed them. Brebeuf was canonized in 1930 and is now a patron saint of Canada.

Link to original article (here).

More on St. Jean de Brebeuf (here) , (here) and (here)

Only Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J. Could Come Up With This Kind Of Hogwash

Spitzer Scandal About Crime, Not Sex
The Question: What does the Elliot Spitzer scandal say about our public and private morality? Should he have resigned?
The Elliott Spitzer scandal is not about sex, it is about crime. If prostitution were legal, he would be a sinner, but there would be no reason for him to resign. Many in the media have accused the Catholic Church of being obsessed with sex, but the media frenzy surrounding the Spitzer scandal makes one wonder who is really obsessed. Catholic moral theology distinguishes between personal and (All sin is committed by an individuals) social morality. Personal morality deals with actions by a person alone or with a consenting adult. Social morality applies to actions that have consequences on others. Normally we keep law out of personal morality. Some have even argued that prostitution should be legal because it is between (Are you father making this claim?) consenting adults. Most Americans (excerpt in Nevada) disagree because usually prostitutes are not really free in their choices.

They are exploited. Spitzer broke the law when he paid prostitutes for sex. Is this the worst crime a person can commit? (Spitzer advocated with a new proposed law to permanently legalize all abortion and continue the genocide of the unborn)

I think some of the people he prosecuted (bullied political enemies) on Wall Street committed bigger crimes and bigger sins. Certainly the people behind the current (How does he know this? Who is he talking about? This just left-wing gobbledygook.) credit crisis committed bigger sins and crimes. But we expect our government officials to observe the law, whether it applies to the taxes of domestic workers, the hiring of undocumented workers, drinking while driving, cheating on taxes, visiting a prostitute, etc. Spitzer committed a crime, but it was not a political crime like accepting a bribe or (torture is not a political crime) torturing (water boarding is not a sin, I that is what you are getting at?) a prisoner. Is it a crime for which he should be forced out of the office to which he was democratically (He transported hookers across state lines, he illegally took campaign contribution from his father) elected? Whatever the case, he made the judgment that he no longer had the credibility or support to govern and resigned. But what would have been the media’s response if the crime had been of similar legal (He has publicly admitted to committing adultery for over six years) weight but not sexual? Link to original article (here)

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Eliot Spitzer was elected to enforce the laws of the State of New York. As Attorney General he ruthlessly busted up prostitution rings. Even the those in the Democrat party think he should forced out of office. I would expect a Catholic priest would be able to make basic observations on moral implications of adultery and its consequences of the loss of Salvation that Spitzer is facing, not to mention the misery Spitzer has caused his family. I would also expect a priest to be able to stand up for the unborn children of New York.

More on Spitzer (here) (here) and (here)

Were Fr. Tom got his mixed up idea's from (here)

Jesuits And Those Sticky Numbers On Muslims

Nobody questions that Christians and Muslims need to understand each other better.

This is prompted by the fast-changing demographic and religious map of Europe, where Islam is the fastest growing religion. In 2006, there were 53 million Muslims in Europe, according to the German Central Islamic Archive Institute. Of these, 16 million live in the European Union. Some demographers claim that one in every five Europeans will be a Muslim by 2050, and by 2100 a quarter of all Europeans will preach the Koran. However, not all agree on these forecasts.

The secretariat on interreligious affairs of the Jesuit Order, a serious Catholic organization, dismisses the statistics about the growth of the Muslim population. It may have a point. First, it is hard to imagine where all these figures come from if the majority of European countries forbid asking questions about religious affiliation during demographic surveys. The Order's own studies show that when Muslims join the profoundly secularized European societies their young become Europeanized and the number of believers among them is no greater than among Catholics.

One good illustration of the vagueness of "Muslim statistics" is Russia, which may be described as the biggest Muslim country in Europe. Russia's Muslim population is estimated at between 14.5 and 20 million. The CIA claims there are 26 million Muslims in Russia. The first question that hardcore skeptics ask in connection with the Vatican-Islamic forum is surprisingly simple: who will represent Islam? If neither the Vatican nor the Islamic world is sure of the answer, is it a dialogue at all? The supporters of the dialogue respond that at any rate, it's better than new Crusades.

Read the full article (here)

Polish Jesuit Writes Book About Confession And Forgiveness

How to forgive others and change yourself
Piotr Chmielinski
I will never forgive you!, shouts a woman to the man who deeply hurt her. Her hurt is so serious that it seems unforgivable. Yet, we all are called to forgive people. How to do it? Harm is part of our human existence. If you expect that you will never get hurt in your relationships you are naïve. Man, changed by the original sin, is inclined to evil and doing harm to others. Naturally, he himself gets hurt. Therefore, each of us, sooner or later, will have to face the experience of harm, the necessity to forgive and to reconcile with the wrongdoer.
Forgiveness precedes reconciliation
Forgiveness is a difficult process. Since forgiving we must lose something: what the evildoer owes to us. By harming us he is indebted to us. And as a debtor he has some obligations and we have certain advantage over him. A loss of the debt automatically means losing this advantage. However, it is worth giving up the debt and forgiving. Since the lack of forgiveness is very destructive. ‘Firstly, unless we forgive and reconcile with others our experiences of harm will be repeated and we will not get free of our pain, fear and confusion. The lack of forgiveness brings about bitterness, which leads to some illness, sometimes even a serious one’, explained Dr Wieslawa Stefan, a therapist, during one of the sessions on relationships. However, forgiveness does not mean reconciliation.

‘Forgiveness precedes reconciliation and constitutes an indispensable condition to build true unity and agreement between people. Reconciliation can only be built on mutual forgiveness – offering forgiveness should be connected with its acceptance’, writes Fr Jozef Augustyn, a Jesuit, in his book entitled ‘Bol krzywdy, radosc przebaczenia’ [Pain of Harm, Joy of Forgiveness].

Forgiveness means an inner act to which we need the second person. We simply decide to forgive all the trespasses of our wrongdoers. We should not bother what they will do with the act of forgiveness. It does not depend on us. We forgive them. Therefore, the statement that forgiveness has sense only when the second party admits his/her responsibility for the committed evil is wrong. Forgiveness always has sense, regardless of the attitude of the other party. But in order to reconcile the involvement of the other party is necessary. Without it one can hardly speak of reconciliation.
It is necessary to touch your wounds
Forgiving your wrongdoer is a process. It consists of a few stages that are very important and none can be omitted. Making some shortcuts means the danger of failure. Firstly, you should realize what your harm is. You must see it and define it precisely. What exactly harmed you, what words, gestures and behaviours? What did I feel then? It is important since we often push our deepest wounds into our unconsciousness. We continue living as if there has been no harm and nothing has happened. And actually we could not remember the harm at that moment. In the process of forgiveness we must touch these wounds, regardless how painful they are. To forgive does not mean to forget the experienced harm! It rather means to heal the wound, which we can remember all the time but if we recollect it, it does not cause pain any more and it is not a tinderbox. Secondly, you should tell someone about your feeling of harm. It would be best to tell someone you trust, someone who can hear such a confession: a psychologist, a spiritual director or a friend. Mrs Wieslawa Stefan, a family therapist from Wroclaw, advises to write letters to your wrongdoers. They should not contain any evaluation or judgement but should name the harm, define when it happened and what its consequences are. An example of such a letter directed to a mother, ‘Mother, you did not hug me, did not let me sit on your laps, did not kiss me. And today I do not feel worthy of love.’ A daughter wrote it. And a son can write, ‘You did not hug me, did not show any tenderness, love and warmth. And today I am trying to embrace every woman but I cannot stay in any relationship.’ ‘Writing such a letter’, explains Wieslawa Stefan in her book ‘Uzdrawianie relacji’ [Healing Relationships], means ‘cleaning the wound’ and then we face pain. But it is good to feel this pain because when I let myself feel it I begin being healed. I must name my harm, say what its consequences were and add that I am writing this to forgive and reconcile with them. It is important that writing to your parents as wrongdoers you should also write about some good things that your father and mother have done for you.’
Each medal has two sides
The third stage of forgiveness is to have a new look at the whole situation and to see the other side. Since every medal has two sides and every stick has two ends. We should notice our responsibility in our situation of harm. Naturally, it does not concern these hurts where we were victims of some obvious evil. It is worth seeing a given situation from all angles. And to understand the other person. Why did he or she behave like that? For example, why did he/she drink and beat the family members? Or why did he/she run away, leaving family without any means? It can occur that he/she reacted just the way he/she knew. He beat because his own father beat him and he ran away since he could not bare the responsibility any longer. Of course, the things do not justify his/her behaviour. But it is easier to reconcile when we try to understand the other person’s situation. But it should be done only in this stage! The fourth stage is the key one. You should ask yourselves ‘Do we really want to forgive?’ It can happen that we do not want to forgive and it makes no sense to force the process of forgiveness. But another situation is also possible. We can really want to forgive but we cannot do that. We go through the process, step by step, but nothing happens. This is a very valuable experience showing that forgiveness is God’s grace, the grace we should pray for. Naturally, God does not refuse this grace to anyone. But not everyone is ready to accept the grace. And if someone says that he cannot forgive it actually means that he or she is not opened to receive the grace of forgiveness. The decisive factor is your will to forgive and a request to God to give you the grace so that forgiveness becomes possible. Then you can hope that forgiveness comes sooner or later.
To forgive yourself and to forgive ... God
We all are called to forgive. But we should not only forgive other people. To make forgiveness complete you should forgive yourself and … God. We can be astonished that we must forgive ourselves and especially forgive God. Let us begin with forgiving ourselves. Why is it so important and what exactly should we forgive ourselves? It is hard to forgive others if you do not forgive yourselves. Therefore, it is good to see what we blame ourselves for, why we are not satisfied with ourselves. Perhaps we set up our ideals on a high level and we cannot fulfil them at all, which causes continuous frustration. Perhaps we had great ambitions but we failed. We wanted to have a house with a garden and children but we have a small flat and only one child. And we cannot ensure good education for our child… Or we wanted to bring up children in a family but we bring it as single parents after being divorced. Or we dreamt of travelling all over the world but as a result of some accident we are on a wheelchair and we even cannot go shopping. And perhaps we have hurt others in some way? Now we should forgive ourselves for all these things. We should follow similar stages of forgiveness. It is also important to reconcile with God. God has not harmed us in anything. On the contrary, he is pure love; he created us out of love, saved us out of love and wants only our good. However, we blame him for various things; we express our grief, anger, wrath and even hatred. It is worth analysing, naming and expressing our feelings. Perhaps we feel anger towards God for our unsuccessful lives, serious diseases, strict parents, evil spouses, and ungrateful children… or for being unable to have children or getting married. We should express all these things before God at prayer and ask him for the grace to understand them and to reconcile with him. And it is worth writing a letter to God, ‘It is good to write to Lord God about our anger towards him even if it seems to us that today we do not feel it. We might have many a time shouted at God «Where are you, why do you let so much evil happen to me? Do you exist at all? Do I really exist for you?» Lord God can accept all things and he can accept this anger when we tell him about it. He will free us from it’, writes Wieslawa Stefan.

Link (here)

The Way Of The Fathers: St. Ignatius

The Other Ignatius
Our Sunday Visitor has just released Take 5: On the Job Meditations With St. Ignatius, co-authored by Yours Truly (Mike Aqualina) and my friend Father Kris Stubna. We’re working with St. Ignatius Loyola, the sixteenth-century spiritual master and founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). I’m way beyond the first millennium with this one; but my co-author is thoroughly Jesuit-trained (licentiate and doctoral degrees from Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University). Last week, by the way, I was a near neighbor to St. Ignatius’s relics, staying at a hotel just blocks from the Gesu in Rome.

Fr. Erik At Orthometer: On The Mormon Vandals

Obviously these 19 & 20 year-olds are none too bright.

Committing criminal and sacrilegious acts and then posting them on the net trespasses on Darwin Award territory. Doing it while on a religious mission boggles the mind. I have no doubt the Mormon authorities are sincere in their disapproval of these actions. However, it really shouldn't surprise them. After all, they are taught that the Catholic Church is "the great and abominable church" and "the Whore of Babylon". As a friend wrote me, "Just goes to show we are still the 'Great Whore of Babylon' in their eyes."

Read Fr. Erik's full piece and see the pictures (here)

Mormonism (here)

Jesuits and Mormonism (here) and (here)

"Why Not Catholic"

Catholicizing Tendancies In Evangelicalism

March 10, 2008

by asimplesinner
Lifted out of the combox from a post over at The Cafeteria is Closed on the movement in Evangelical circles to have more focus on Lent. A trend that has been touched on here at PC.
Cel writes:

…It is frightening to finally realize that what you want is in the Catholic Church but that you will probably loose all your friends, your family, just about everything, to get it. So please, please be kind to those who are just on the outside and looking in the windows but are still unsure of what they see.

It is also very hard to admit that you have been wrong for so long. I came from a Church of Christ turned mega-church.

We celebrated communion every week but then the CoC has been doing that for a long time. In the last few years they started doing a 40 day prayer vigil coming up to Easter. Kinda like lent but with prayer only rather than fasting. There is a prayer room up at the church building that gets manned 24/7 for this time period.

When I started going to the Catholic Church this last year, I was struck by the similarity it had to perpetual adoration. Imagine my surprise when I found out that we had only reinvented a very ancient wheel, and not very well at that.

It will take them a lot of time because these people have a lot of distance to cover intellectually but many of them will see same things that I did. That the Catholic Church is home and just what we have been trying to reinvent. We slowly give ourselves less and less reasons to not be Catholic. But the process of softening up preconceived notions takes time. Most people have to let it simmer for a while before realize it. True, the time is short but being to confrontational too soon will only drive them away. I think it would be best to simple encourage them to keep on doing it and share with them how we do it.

Trust me, they will be intrigued and when they are ready they will come around to asking themselves the question: “Why not Catholic?”

In terms of the big picture, I believe that the rise in interest towards Catholic devotions and the increase in Tiber swimmers like myself is a result of American style evangelicalism’s fundamental dependence on existing in a nation that is essentially Christian. Because our nation is fast becoming a post-Christian nation it is causing a shift in the churches based on it and this is causing many believers to question where they are at.

The Catholic faith however, is bigger than any one nation and has an almost unique ability to exists in both friendly nations and hostile nations.

It has the ability to stay rooted to the truth by being able to depend on the Holy See as its anchor. This will prove to be significant as the industrialized west becomes more secular and more hostile toward religion.

The Catholic Church also has a history of surviving the collapse of nations and empires and in a lot of cases provides an interim structure for people to depend on during crisis.

American evangelicalism will not survive without America in any significantly recognizable form. And America will not survive if it continues to support an abortive, contraceptive and unchaste culture.

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Church of Christ (here)

Link with a "Hat Tip" to Simples Sinner's post at Per Christum (here)

Question for S.S. Malamute, Wolf or Husky?

U.S. Congressman Barney Frank, speaking of Jesuit Fr. Robert Drinan, at a Synod of The Church of Christ luncheon (here).

Mary Ann Glendon: New American Ambassador To The Holy See

Rome through new eyes
A few days ago, now, Zenit posted an insiders view of the Vatican that few these days get to see. The occasion? Ms. Mary Ann Glendon's installation as US Ambassador to the Holy See, as told through the eyes of her daughter Elizabeth Lev, who teaches art history in Rome for Duquesne University. Her poignant tale is found here.

Art historians secretly dream of going back in time to see artistic masterpieces in their original environment, rather than as museum pieces. In their wildest flights of fancy, they fantasize about being part of that world.Last Friday, this art historian lived that dream when I accompanied my mother, Mary Ann Glendon, as she presented her credentials to Benedict XVI as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. As we donned our black mantillas at the embassy residence, we were already entering into a different criterion of beauty and worth. Covered head to toe in long skirts and jackets, all I saw were the radiantly happy faces of my mother, sisters and daughters. Draped in black lace, I thought of the tabernacle and the chalice swathed in exquisite cloth to indicate the preciousness of what was concealed from view. Furthermore, the precariously perched veils made one stand taller and conferred a stately dignity to our New England stride.

Link and Hat Tip to Fr. Kyle at Called By Name (here)

Cardinal William H. O'Connell: Where Will He Rest In Peace?

Tumult over a resting place, land deal riles cardinal's kin
By Michael Paulson
Globe Staff / March 9, 2008
The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston's sale of land in Brighton to Boston College had one rather unusual condition: Church leaders would have to remove the remains of a long-dead cardinal entombed in a mausoleum on the grounds.

But four years later, the body of Cardinal William H. O'Connell is still encased in the earth beneath the limestone mausoleum, guarded by statues of angels and lions, on a quiet hilltop near where BC proposes to build dormitories and athletic fields.

The move is proving to be a complicated one - far more than a previous exhumation on the same property some 80 years ago. Back then, when O'Connell himself moved to Lake Street, he demanded that the bodies of Sulpician priests be dug up and removed. The archdiocese is planning to meet, for the second time in four years, with O'Connell's closest remaining survivors: two great-nieces and three great-nephews. The family, or at least its most vocal members, wants the body to stay where it is; BC wants it removed; and the archdiocese is trying simultaneously to honor the memory of one of its most powerful leaders, keep its promise to BC, and respect the family's wishes.

The archdiocese declined to make Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley available for comment and refused to answer any questions, including why it agreed to exhume O'Connell's body, what role the wishes of family members or the late cardinal will play, or what the next step is. "We view this as a private matter and respectfully reserve comment,"

said Terrence C. Donilon, archdiocesan spokesman. For its part, BC says no one has been buried on its campus in its 145-year history, and it has no interest in changing that now. "Out of respect for the late cardinal, we do not think it appropriate that a prince of the church be buried on what is now a university campus," said Jack Dunn, BC spokesman. "A final resting place, in a more secluded area, seems much more fitting for the late cardinal-archbishop of Boston." O'Connell, a larger-than-life autocrat who ruled the archdiocese from 1907 to 1944. Link (here)

Jesuit Fr. James Martin, Makes A Pitch For The Black Cassock

St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, never wished for the members of the Society of Jesus to have any distinctive garb, as did most other religious orders of the time. His idea was that the Jesuits should wear the dress of a "priest in good standing" in the locale.

The Constitutions note that the clothing we wear should be "first...proper; second, conformed to the usage of the country in residence [or "not altogether different"]; and third, in keeping with the poverty we profess." [Const. 577]

Elsewhere, in what are called our Complimentary Norms, it states plainly "there is no specified habit." His thinking seemed to be that Jesuits would dress as other priests did in the region, out of a sense of modesty and poverty, and in solidarity with the rest of the clergy. ......................

There are plenty of good reasons for a distinctive religious habit.

First, it makes the question of what to wear rather simple. (And with a habit, there's less of a need to do much clothes shopping.) Second, it is a sign to the larger world about the very presence of men living in a religious order. Third, it ties the Jesuits back to all those who wore the habit in centuries past. Link (here)

Fr. Ray Blake: On Confession

Confessions
Other bloggers have made this point but it is important to re-iterate it.

A priest may hear confessions whilst Mass is being said

, some priest suggest it is forbidden, Sacrametum Caritatis actually encourages it. A priest may hear confessions during the Sacred Triduum, the celebration of additional Masses is forbidden, as is the distribution of Holy Communion, except as Viaticum. There is no ban on the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance. Though to be fair to priests Holy Saturday be pretty frantic getting ready for the Easter Vigil.

While on a pilgrimage to Poland it was customary at Mass for a secondary priest to hear confessions up through the homily. This was also the custom in the Jesuit churches I attended in Poland.

Democratic "Wunderkind" Governor Spitzer Is Finally Out In NY, Thank God!

NY Catholic Church "Pulls out All the Stops" in Campaign against Abortion Bill
Church fears bill "shuts down legislative process" on abortion and removes conscience exemptions
Spitzer's troubles with ladies of the evening (here) and (here)
By John Jalsevac
NEW YORK, NY, February 19, 2008

(LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic Church in New York State has launched a full-fledged attack against some of the United States' most pro-abortion legislation - the so-called Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act (RHPPA), which was unveiled last April by Governor Eliot Spitzer. According to Governor Spitzer the bill was launched in response to the Bush Government's progressive "rolling-back" of abortion "rights" in America, which is especially exemplified by the ban on partial-birth abortion. The RHPPA seeks, amongst other measures, to make a positive "right" to abortion in New York law. According to Kathleen Gallagher, spokesman for the New York Catholic Conference, in so doing the bill seeks to "shut down the legislative process in regard to abortion." The consequence, Gallagher told LifeSiteNews in an interview today, is that "reasonable regulations like parental notification, or restrictions on taxpayer funding, could never be enacted in the future." According to a government summary of the act, the act would ensure that a woman has the "right…to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability or whenever necessary to protect her life or health." The legislation, if passed, would also make an "emergency" exception to a current stipulation that there must be a second doctor present in the case of an abortion that is performed post-viability, opening the door to virtual abortion-on-demand throughout all nine months pregnancy. It would also authorize non-physicians to perform abortions, and would remove the age restriction for purchasing the over-the-counter morning-after pill. Governor Spitzer has recently stepped up pressure on the New York legislature and Senate to pass the Act.

During his January 9th State of the State Address, Spitzer referred specifically to the bill, saying, "We must also make a commitment to women's health. Given the continued efforts at the federal level to dismantle protections for women's reproductive health and privacy, I ask you to pass the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act."

The precarious political situation in New York at present leaves open the possibility that, if brought to a vote, the bill could pass. The Senate is currently controlled by the Republicans, but only by two members, whereas the Assembly is strongly controlled by the Democrats. However, in response to the mounting pressure from the governor to have the Act passed, the Catholic Church in the state has in turn mounted an escalating campaign against the Act. In the past few weeks the Catholic Conference of New York has released and sent out copies of an 15-minute educational video on the Act, has uploaded a shorter version of the video onto Youtube, has sent out over 100,000 pamphlets to be distributed in parishes, as well as post-cards, fliers, bulletin inserts and petitions.

Besides the Church's basic concern about a law that would sanction as a fundamental "right" the killing of thousands of unborn children, Church representatives have also expressed their concern that the legislation could be interpreted as having removed all conscience exceptions that would allow physicians and hospitals to opt-out of performing abortions.

"Our legal interpretation," Gallagher told LifeSiteNews, "is that the bill says the state may not discriminate against the fundamental right to abortion, in the benefits, services or information that the state provides. If you take that step by step, the state is the entity that licenses hospitals, the state is the entity that licenses doctors and nurses. The state gives out funding to hospitals and charitable foundations. Those are all benefits of the state. "If the state finds a hospital is not performing abortions, or a doctor refuses to perform abortions, the state could say 'You're discriminating against the fundamental right to abortions. Therefore we're not going to give you any of the state benefits. We're not going to license you. We're not going to give you any state funding.'"The governor's office is, however, at present denying that the law could be interpreted as removing conscience restrictions. "Nobody will be required to perform an abortion," assistant counsel to the governor, Lisa Ullman, said. Representatives of the Church have in turn responded that if the intent is not to force institutions to perform abortions, then the obvious solution would be to amend the bill to state this fact clearly. "Why not include specific language that says the bill does not apply to institutions owned, operated or sponsored by a religious institution?" asked Dennis Poust, a spokesman for the Catholic Conference. "They are well aware of our concerns and have been shown zero interest in amending the bill. We have had lengthy discussions at the highest level of the administration on this and have gotten the cold shoulder." Gallagher said that the Catholic Church in New York is "pulling out the stops" to ensure that the Act never becomes law. "We're trying to educate people and mobilize people." In addition to its various other efforts, the New York Catholic conference has also posted an action alert on their website, where citizens can send e-mails directly to their lawmakers. To date that link has resulted in 24,000 e-mails.

Visit the Catholic Conference's website at:http://www.nyscatholic.org/

View the Youtube video on the governor's bill at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ6j2srG2iA

Spitzer at Fordham University (here)

Former Jesuit Priest Charles O' Byrne (here), (here), disturbing (here) and (here) , currently a lawyer and gay rights activist has ties with Spitzer successor Lt. Governor David Paterson

Jesuit Fr. Constanzo Beschi: Author Of Greatest Piece Of Tamil Literature, Subject? Jesus Christ

Fr. Constanzo Beschi, S.J., also known under his Tamil name of Vīramāmunivar (Tamil: வீரமாமுனிவர்) or Constantine Joseph Beschi (in English) (8 November 1680, Castiglione delle Stiviere, Mantova, Italy - 4 February 1747, Ambazhakad, Kerala, India) was an Italian Jesuit priest, Missionary in South-India, and renowned poet in the Tamil language. Link (here)

.
Thembavani [1] (The Unfading Garland), one of the Tamil classics,a poetical work of Veeramamunivar (Constanzo Beschi),on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

This Tamil "Divina Comedia" is divided into thirty-six cantos, containing 3,615 stanzas. "It is," says Baumgartner, "the noblest epic poem in honor of St.Joseph written in any literature, East or West."

Tamil, one of the most difficult language of South India Beschi produced a poem which for richness and beauty of language. For elegance of meter, popular treatment, and true poetical conception and execution, is the peer of the native classics. Beschi occupies a special place in Tamil literature, something that the fifth world Tamil Congress held at Madurai in January 1981 proudly acknowledged by erecting his statue in the city along with others who have made similar contributions. Beschi composed three Tamil grammars and three dictionaries, Tamil-Latin, Tamil-Portuguese and Tamil-Tamil. His magnum opus, the Thembavani is considered by experts to this day as one of the best Tamil works ever written. Link (here)

New Orleans Jesuit In The Remnents Of A 25 Year Civil War

Hope that polls will replace law of gun
March 11, 2008

By Simon Gardner
Former Tamil Tigers are favoured in local elections in heavily-guarded Batticaloa. Photo / Reuters
Watch Video: Rebel bomb explodes on day of first poll
Standing by the bullet-strafed ruin of her home in east Sri Lanka, housewife Jegan Devika prays the first poll in over a decade in an area recaptured from the Tamil Tigers will mark the end of the civil war. Devika and thousands like her yearn for a long-elusive, and lasting peace after 25 years of war.

She was forced to flee her home in this former rebel-held town in the eastern district of Batticaloa yet again in 2007 as artillery-backed troops regained the rebels' eastern strongholds. The vote is seen as a test run for eventual provincial elections in the north and east, which the Government regards as the basis for devolution it hopes will go hand in hand with its push to win the war militarily.

But there's a problem. While the result of yesterday's vote was not expected until today, it looked set to won by former Tigers who split from the mainstream group, formed a political party and are regarded as allied to the Government. They are accused of abuses such as child-soldier recruitment, abductions and extrajudicial killings, and have yet to lay down their weapons.

"Contesting elections is good. If peace prevails, life will be better for us," Devika said. "We were unable to live peacefully with all the fighting. If they come again with a gun culture, that will be a problem for us." Like thousands who fled to camps because of the fighting, she and her family are rebuilding their lives from scratch.

Inside, a few clothes hang on a string. Two sleeping mats are spread out on the bare concrete floor. They have few belongings. The legacy of years of war is visible all around, the town peppered with the burned-out, pock-marked ruins of buildings shelled during the 1990s and others flattened last year. The breakaway Tiger faction, the TMVP, is running on a Government ticket for the municipal council of Batticaloa. Pradeep Master, a former AK47 toting Tiger fighter and education-unit head, is the party's candidate for Batticaloa mayor. He says the group's weapons have all been stored in the jungle and will be given up after the poll, and denies accusations of abuses. "When our political right is confirmed, we will hand them over." President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Government has long refused to disarm the TMVP, arguing it could not find anyone carrying guns to disarm - despite the fact residents and aid workers could see them until a few months ago. The group's armed fighters are now conspicuously absent from the streets. Accused of rights abuses and fostering a culture of impunity, the Government is now taking the fight to the Tigers, with near daily land clashes and air raids. Having recaptured the east, it aims to crush them in their northern stronghold this year or next. Some are worried a TMVP win could mean former Tiger-held areas of Batticaloa will remain ruled by the bullet, even after the ballot.

"You can't have an election with people who carry guns," said Father Harry Miller, a Jesuit missionary from New Orleans. "The TMVP in particular have been carrying guns until now. It says the Government has no interest in the Tamil people here or anywhere else for that matter."

Link (here)

Tamil people and Catholicism (here) , (here) and (here)

Tamil people and the Jesuits (here) , (here) and Fr. Constanzo Beschi, S.J. (here)

Accumulatio: Fr. Keith Pecklers, SJ,

Link to Some Wear Clerics (here) and the original piece by Fr. Z (here). Just a small portion below.

Critics of papal liturgies in the pontificate of Pope John Paul II lament the fact that the Pope was reduced to celebrating as if simply the bishop of any diocese – albeit on a grand scale – while the Bishop of Rome is really a monarch and thus, papal liturgical celebrations should better express this

[Fr. Z's comments: I think this may be unfair. I don’t recall seeing people in the blogosphere arguing that the Pope should have older things or specifically "papal" thing because he is also a monarch. I have certainly never argued that. As a matter of fact, I suggested that the Pope should celebrate a TLM as a regular pontifical Mass without trying to do all the old stuff requiring the papal court, etc.]

By contrast, in his motu proprio of 21 June 1968, "Pontificalia Insignia", Pope Paul VI sought to simplify and clarify the use of pontifical insignia for all prelates linked to the Roman pontiff.

Link (here) to the recent allegations against Fr. Pecklers at the New Jersey Legislature