We Have Killed Nature, and Now Nature Is Killing Us

We live in completely unprecedented times.  A microscopic virus that cannot be seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelled, has brought the entirety of humanity to its knees.  It is as if the Angel of Death depicted in the Biblical book of Exodus has been unleashed upon the whole world.  And 21st Century man, with all of his advances in technology and abilities, is completely powerless against it.

But many people do not believe this.  They believe that we should have handled COVID-19 the same way we do with any flu.  These people believe that the lockdown, which has caused so much economic hardship, was completely unnecessary.

Those who make such arguments are showing their complete ignorance of the threat we are facing.

Why Do So Many American Catholics Hate Pope Francis?

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In the past several posts, I have been discussing the jihad declared against Pope Francis by some conservative/traditional mostly American Catholics whom I have labeled Those More Catholic Than the Pope ("TMCTP"). I give them this title because they believe that Pope Francis is barely Catholic, if at all.

TMCTP, as shown by their blogs and websites which I call Catholicspeak, believe Pope Francis is actually trying to destroy the Catholic Church, changing it into a liberal wasteland where anything goes.

TMCTP was afraid of Pope Francis from the moment he stepped onto the papal balcony because he did not look like a traditional pope.

Here is Pope Benedict when he was elected alongside Pope Francis at his election. As you can see, Francis is definitely not into all of the pomp and circumstance that often comes with the papacy. This completely horrified TMCTP.

Daily Adoration and Weekly Confession: The Key to Holy Priests and Bishops

We are in the midst of one of the most horrific crises in Catholic Church history.  The sexual abuse crisis is tearing the Church apart internally and destroying her credibility in the eyes of the world.  Sexual abuse and sexual immorality is like an epidemic tearing through the Church's clergy.  Every day we hear of it somewhere in the world.

As I write this today, September 17, Crux has two more reports of sexual abuse and cover up in the Church.  One report is from the Netherlands: "Over half of Dutch bishops shielded priest-abusers, according to report:

A sensational new report on sexual abuse in the Netherlands claims over half of the bishops in the country from 1945-2010 were involved in either covering up abuse or abusing children themselves.

. . .

The NRC Handelsblad report claims 20 of 39 bishops during the period are implicated in at least covering up abuse, with four auxiliary bishops suspected of abusing minors themselves.

Crux also reports "Chilean hero expelled from priesthood over sex abuse charges."  This is on top of the abuse scandal among the Chilean bishops.

A priest [Father Cristián Precht Bañado] who was once a national hero in Chile, and who now finds himself another casualty of that country’s massive clerical sexual abuse crisis, has been expelled from the priesthood by Pope Francis after being found guilty of abusing minors and vulnerable adults.

Precht is an extremely high profile priest with an impressive resume.  It turns out he has been an abuser for years, even abusing teenagers in confession.

Something has gone seriously wrong with the priesthood in the Catholic Church. We cannot go on with business as usual.  We need to take a long hard look at priests and bishops to try to understand why they have so flagrantly violated the vows and promises they made before man and God.  Why did/do they feel so empowered to sin against the laity and ultimately, against the Holy Spirit?

Archbishop Vigano Defies The Holy Spirit

Most of the coverage concerning Archbishop Vigano's allegations against Pope Francis and his call for the Pope's resignation have centered around the veracity of the allegations themselves.  I have written several posts in which I seriously question Vigano's credibility.

But there is another issue that we, as Christians, need to consider that is actually far more serious with much graver consequences than the truth or lack thereof of Vigano's accusations.

Did Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano have the right and authority to publicly accuse Pope Francis of corruption and insist that he resign as Pope?

Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga said calling for the resignation of the Pope is a sin against the Holy Spirit. 

Is the Cardinal correct?

Archbishop Vigano's Credibility Under Severe Scrutiny

The anti-Pope Francis brigade in the Catholic Church has been foaming at the mouth almost from the time the Holy Father first stepped onto the papal balcony in 2013, looking for ways to discredit him and push him out.  They are now ecstatic because they believe they have finally found that silver bullet to take down Pope Francis.  That silver bullet is Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.  Vigano has charged Pope Francis with being complicit with the now disgraced former Cardinal McCarrick and has demanded his resignation.  Michael Voris called it a "day of victory."  Truly, that is how many felt when the Vigano memo was released on Saturday night.

The foes of Pope Francis feel they gained a further victory Sunday when the Pope refused to answer any questions in regard to the allegations made against him.  I guess these same people would have felt that the Pharisees gained a victory when Jesus Christ refused to answer their accusations against Him.

It should be noted that Vigano is also refusing to comment, but somehow that doesn't seem to be a problem with the anti Francis forces.

Pope Francis Says Root Cause of the Abuse Crisis is Clericalism

On August 20, Pope Francis sent out a letter in regard to the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report which reviewed 70 years of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania dioceses involving 301 priests and over 1000 victims.  You can read the entire papal letter HERE.  Pope Francis makes no excuses for the abuse. He wrote:

With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives. We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them. I make my own the words of the then Cardinal Ratzinger when, during the Way of the Cross composed for Good Friday 2005, he identified with the cry of pain of so many victims and exclaimed: “How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to [Christ]! How much pride, how much self-complacency! Christ’s betrayal by his disciples, their unworthy reception of his body and blood, is certainly the greatest suffering endured by the Redeemer; it pierces his heart. We can only call to him from the depths of our hearts: Kyrie eleison – Lord, save us! (cf. Mt 8:25)” (Ninth Station).

Many have cried foul at this letter. Some complain that this is just more words and no action.  Other are upset because nowhere did Pope Francis so much as mention the word "homosexuality."  After all, isn't homosexuality at the core of this crisis?

Trads/Conservatives Become The Ultimate Cafeteria Catholics

Just as I wrote a couple of days ago, the Catholic(?) Internet and blogosphere has lit up with indignation and outrage at Pope Francis for changing Church teaching to say that capital punishment is always inadmissible.  All of this self righteous indignation really blows my mind.  These are people who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ - the Creator who came to earth to save each and every human being, no matter how sinful, from eternal damnation and who did so by paying the highest price possible in the entirety of the universe, which price was His Precious Blood.  These so-called followers of Jesus Christ are overcome with outrage against Pope Francis because he doesn't want to kill people, but instead wants to give them every chance at repentance and salvation.

I honestly don't understand how a person can call him or herself a Christian and at the same time, want to kill people. Ah, you say, we are talking about wicked violent people who pose a threat to society. They are a threat to each and every one of us and don't deserve to live! And yet, these would be the very people that Our Lord would most want to reach. As Our Lord told us, He did not come to save the righteous but sinners. Undeterred by this clear statement from Jesus Christ, the trad/conservative blogosphere wants the right to put people to death.

Pope Francis Officially Changes Teaching on Death Penalty

Today Pope Francis officially changed the Catholic Church's teaching on the death penalty.  To this time, the Church taught that it did not support the death penalty, but allowed for it in certain circumstances.  However, our recent popes have taught that it should be used only very rarely, if at all.  Pope Francis has consistently said capital punishment should never be used, as can be seen in the above quote from 2015.

Msgr. Charles Pope: Love Without Kindness?

As I have written many times on this blog, the great division in the Church is between the law-and-order traditionalists, who believe that showing people their sins and judging them is the most important duty of the Church, and Pope Francis, who believes that the true mission of the church is bringing people to salvation in Christ by preaching the mercy and love of Our Lord without condemnation.  Pope Francis believes Our Lord's statement as recorded in John 3:17:  "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." The traditionalists, by their words and actions, have shown that they reject this teaching.  They believe their job is to condemn the world, and that this condemnation will somehow save the world.

This attitude was shown clearly in a recent post by Msgr. Charles Pope, a traditionalist who has often criticized Pope Francis and other members of the Church hierarchy.  In his recent post, Msgr. Pope tells us that "Kindness Is Not Love."

Filial Correction: The Traditionalists Could Not Be More Wrong

There is a definite war between the conservative, traditional factions of the Catholic Church and the Church's Magesterium.  This has never been made more clear than in the Filial Correction signed by a growing number of traditionalists.  And yes, they are all hardcore traditionalists.

The signatories to this document include such hardcore radical traditionalists as:

• Dr. John Rao (history professor) who has completly denounced Vatican II and the *Novus Ordo* Mass; 
• Chris Ferrara (lawyer, secular not canon) who makes his living bashing the contemporary Church and publicly denouncing Pope Francis; 
• Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the SSPX, a group that refuses to recognize the validity of Vatican II and the *Novus Ordo" Mass; 
• Roberto de Mattei, an Italian journalist who has been described as "a renowned apologist for ultra-traditional Catholicism"
• Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society;
• Deacon Nick Donnelly, whose blog was shut down by the bishop of his diocese of Lancaster, England.  Deacon Donnelly now contributes to OnePeterFive, a radical traditionalist blog which is in constant conflict with the message of Pope Francis;
• Father Claude Barthe, a radical traditionalist priest and foe of the Second Vatican Council.

Cardinal Burke Just Doesn't Get It

Cardinal Raymond Burke has once again shown that he is out of step with the message of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Burke has aligned himself with radical traditionalists, as he did when endorsing the Roman Forum, a group of Traditionalists who reject Vatican II and the "Novus Ordo" Mass.  He gives interviews to radical traditionalists as he did with Michael Matt of The Remnant Newspaper. Cardinal Burke has been unceasing in both direct and indirect criticism of Pope Francis.  He is one of the four cardinals to publicly call out Pope Francis about the teaching on marriage, demanding answers to questions for which, as he admitted to Michael Matt, he already knows the answers, proving that his intent was clearly to trap Pope Francis, just as the Pharisees posed questions to Christ merely as entrapment.

The Religious Right: Servant of the Devil?

It has taken my entire life, but I have finally come to understand that we cannot judge people by only their words or actions.  People can do all the "right" things but for all the "wrong" reasons.  In order to fully understand where people are coming from, we need to know what is motivating them.  And our Lord says there should actually be only one overriding motive in our lives:  love.  Specifically, Love of God and love of neighbor.  Any other motivation - power, prestige, money, security, etc. - is of the devil.  As St. Paul tells us, unless we love, nothing we do has any real meaning (I Corinthians 13).

This is why Our Lord warned us that people can think they doing God a service when they kill others.  And sometimes we can "kill" others without even physically harming them.

That is basically the theme of an article in La Civiltà Cattolica entitled, "EVANGELICAL FUNDAMENTALISM AND CATHOLIC INTEGRALISM: A SURPRISING ECUMENISM" written by Antonio Spadaro and Marcelo Figueroa.  This point of this article is the danger arising from an ideological movement of some Catholics and evangelical Protestants joining together to fight our evil culture, specifically against such evils as abortion and same sex marriage.  This movement sees politics as the savior of the world:  if we can just get the right people into public office and then get the right people on the Supreme Court, then our society can be saved from the evil, godless Left.

Preaching At People Will Never Convert Anyone

I try to do a fair amount of spiritual reading (not near as much as I probably should), mostly writings of the saints, in a quest to understand how people become saints.  Pope Francis has said saints are ordinary people who followed God “with all their heart.”  In a sermon given on the Feast of All Saints, November 1, 2013, Pope Francis said:

They are like us, they are like each of us, they are people who before reaching the glory of heaven lived a normal life, with joys and griefs, struggles and hopes.

So what drove them to rise above being an ordinary person like me to become a saint?  From Pope Francis:

[T]hey recognized the love of God, they followed him with all their heart, without conditions and hypocrisies. 

Without This, Nothing Else Matters

As I wrote a couple of days ago, I am re-reading the autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. It is a magnificent book by a great saint and doctor of the Church. One recurring theme in the book is St. Thérèse's complete and total reliance on God to do everything for her. She saw herself, apart from God, as a hopeless sinner, and recognized her utter helplessness to do anything good on her own. And this is coming from someone who never committed one mortal sin in her 24 years on earth.

Preaching the Gospel Does NOT Mean Proselytizing

Right before He ascended to heaven, Jesus Christ gave us what is now called the "Great Commission", as found in Matthew 28:19-20:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

That seems pretty straightforward - we are commanded to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ throughout all the world.  And certainly the Church has been engaged in that mission from the time of her inception in the First Century.  Many have paid the ultimate price in preaching the Gospel, starting with Our Lord.

However, Pope Francis has told us on more than one occasion that proselytizing doesn't work.  He has called it "nonsense."

Of course, Pope Francis has been roundly condemned by many on the Catholic internet for this statement. Many have interpreted the Holy Father's statement as a rejection of Christ's command to preach the Gospel. But is that what he is saying? Is the Holy Father telling us to reject the clear command of Matthew 28?

The Real Cause of the Crisis In the Church

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Why are there so many fallen away Catholics? Why have people stopped attending Mass? When I was a kid back in the 60's, we would have Sunday Mass starting at 6:00 a.m. and every hour to hour and a half until 12:00. And the Masses were packed. The later Masses were standing room only. There was five to six priests on average for each parish. There was Catholic schools packed with teaching nuns and up to 50 kids in every class.

The faith sure seemed more vibrant 50 to 60 years ago. But was it really? What was really driving these Catholics?

Is the Catholic Church in Schism?

Today, as I write this, is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter.  At the Mass I attended today, it would seem the presiding priest did not want to celebrate this feast day.  He wore green, when he should have worn white, he did not say the Gloria, he did not say any of the prayers or the Preface assigned to this Feast Day.  His homily was about all of us proclaiming Christ as Peter did, and nothing about giving the Keys of the Kingdom to Peter.

I asked the priest about his actions after Mass, and he kind of gave me a go around with no real answer.  I wonder how many other Catholics reject this day.  It seems a sizeable number of Catholics today refuse to accept the meaning of this feast day in which we celebrate the fact that Christ chose St. Peter and his successors to sit in His place as the earthly leader of the Church, embodied in that famous pronouncement, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18).

Cardinals Standing On The Precipice

As I have written before, I don't think any Church document since Humanae Vitae in 1968 has produced as much controversy and outright rebellion in the Catholic Church as we have seen from Amoris Laetitia.

I have been watching the conservative/traditionalist blogosphere tear into Pope Francis over Amoris Laetitia, labeling the Holy Father and the document as heretical and destructive to the Catholic Faith. We now have four Cardinals - four princes of the Church - Cardinals Raymond Burke, Carlo Caffarra, Walter Brandmüller and Joachim Meisner - who are challenging Pope Francis to a spiritual duel and calling for everyone else to jump on board with them.

EWTN Again Attacks and Distorts the Message of Pope Francis

“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.

Go and learn the meaning of the words,

I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Matthew 9

A few weeks ago, I did a blog post in which I showed that Raymond Arroyo of EWTN led the "Papal Posse", consisting of Robert Royal and Father Gerald Murray, in a discussion about Pope Francis's attitude towards marriage. I clearly showed how they manipulated and outright lied regarding Pope Francis's statements, totally changing the true meaning of Pope Francis's message regarding the marriage crisis in the 21st Century.

Well, Arroyo and the "Papal Posse" (better referred to as the "Papal Hanging Mob") were at it again on the World Over broadcast of September 15, 2016. This time they went after the Holy Father for his response to guidelines written by the Bishops of Argentina. The subject of these guidelines was implementation of the papal exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. Once again, Arroyo and his "Papal Posse" gave us half quotes and poor translations, never allowing us to see anything in context, and they once again slandered Pope Francis and misrepresented his message of hope to the world.

How Catholic Bloggers and Their Followers Put Themselves in Eternal Peril

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I, for the most part, no longer read "catholic" blogs and websites.  Far too many "catholic" blogs are filled with self-righteous hatred, anger, vitriol and condemnation of anyone who does not agree with them.  The main target of these blogs is the hierarchy of the Catholic Church - the Church they claim to love and support.  The biggest target of all is the earthly head of the Catholic Church - Pope Francis.  I have written many times on this blog about the horrific attacks and hate directed at Pope Francis by self-identifying "catholic" bloggers.