STATEMENT OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF CHICAGOSource.
REGARDING REMARKS MADE BY FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER
June 4, 2007
On Saturday, May 26, 2007, during an anti-gun rally at a Riverdale gun shop, Fr. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina parish, reportedly made aggressive and inappropriate statements threatening the store’s owner.
If the comments reported are accurate, and a threat was made, it is up to the civil authorities to investigate the matter and determine what if any action should be taken against Fr. Pfleger.
Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, stated, “publicly delivering a threat against anyone’s life betrays the civil order and is morally outrageous, especially if this threat came from a priest. It is first of all up to the civil authorities to determine what threat might have been contained in the remarks attributed to Fr. Michael Pfleger. With that determination, the sponsors of the anti-gun rally and the Archdiocese can better decide how to respond.”
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Statement by Cardinal George Concerning Fr Michael Pfleger
Gospel for Wednesday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial: St Norbert, Bishop
From: Mark 12:18-27
The Resurrection of the Dead
[18] And Sadducees came to Him (Jesus), who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked Him a question, saying [19] "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother. [20] There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children; [21] and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; [22] and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died. [23] In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife."
[24] Jesus said to them, "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? [25] For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in Heaven. [26] And as for being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, `I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? [27] He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong."
_____________________
Commentary:
18-27. Before answering the difficulty proposed by the Sadducees, Jesus wants to identify the source of the problem--man's tendency to confine the greatness of God inside a human framework through excessive reliance on reason, not giving due weight to divine Revelation and the power of God. A person can have difficulty with the truths of faith; this is not surprising, for these truths are above human reason. But it is ridiculous to try to find contradictions in the revealed word of God; this only leads away from any solution of difficulty and may make it impossible to find one's way back to God. We need to approach Sacred Scripture, and, in general, the things of God, with the humility which faith demands. In the passage about the burning bush, which Jesus quotes to the Sadducees, God says this to Moses: "Put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
From: Mark 12:18-27
The Resurrection of the Dead
[18] And Sadducees came to Him (Jesus), who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked Him a question, saying [19] "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother. [20] There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children; [21] and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; [22] and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died. [23] In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife."
[24] Jesus said to them, "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? [25] For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in Heaven. [26] And as for being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, `I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? [27] He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong."
_____________________
Commentary:
18-27. Before answering the difficulty proposed by the Sadducees, Jesus wants to identify the source of the problem--man's tendency to confine the greatness of God inside a human framework through excessive reliance on reason, not giving due weight to divine Revelation and the power of God. A person can have difficulty with the truths of faith; this is not surprising, for these truths are above human reason. But it is ridiculous to try to find contradictions in the revealed word of God; this only leads away from any solution of difficulty and may make it impossible to find one's way back to God. We need to approach Sacred Scripture, and, in general, the things of God, with the humility which faith demands. In the passage about the burning bush, which Jesus quotes to the Sadducees, God says this to Moses: "Put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
The Priest at Prayer, June 6
Second Part
The Priestly Ministry
The Second Priestly Duty: The Holy Eucharist
Fifth Meditation - The Sacrilegious Mass: A Punishment
I. And the sacrifice shall fail: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation. (Dan. ix, 27)
This was the final signal given by Daniel the Prophet, and afterwards by Christ Himself, of God's impending Wrath upon His Chosen People of Israel: the sign of God's abandoning them totally and irrevocably to the severest of punishments.
Far more abominable than the discontinuance of the Jewish sacrifices and the setting up by the Romans of the statue of Venus in the Sancta Sanctorum - which many commentators think constituted the "abomination of desolation" - is the profanation of the New Sacrifice.
Incomparably greater is the iniquity of setting up the Holy of Holies in Person, the God-Man Christ who hallows all things, in a breast made unclean by grievous sin.
In olden times the Tabernacle of the Blessed Sacrament was often the breast of our Lady's statues. Shall Venus take our Lady's place?
Wilt Thou not abhor, O Lord, far more than the cessation of Sacrifice the offering up of this Sacrifice on a cesspool for an altar? What else is a sacrilegious Mass?
II. Whip in hand, bursting with anger, the Divine Saviour drove from the outer court of the Temple those who were profaning it by buying and selling, as in a market-place, the requisites for the temple offerings ordained by the Law. Zelus domus tuae comedit me, et opprobria exprobrantium tibi ceciderunt super me. (Ps. lxviii, 10)
Thou art patient; yes, but in a case like this Thy patience would be our undoing. Having waited for so long, as though Thou hadst no eyes to see, as though the spate of our iniquities did not touch Thee personally, with what fury will the pent-up cataract of Thy Wrath descend when it finally leaps or breaks through the flood-gates!
III. The most heroic act of self-denial in order to reach God, the greatest effort of the will under the impulse of grace in order to entrench themselves in good, was for certain Saints, it is said, their fleeing from home over the prostrate bodies of their children, over the breast of the adored wife or venerated mother, in fulfilment of St. Jerome's per calcatum perge patrem; such was their moral courage and constancy.
The priest who says Mass in mortal sin, because his feet are set in the way of evil, proceeds still further: he rides roughshod over everything, he tramples everything underfoot, even the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Son of God: per calcatum perge patrem! . . .
It is this which explains the most appalling outcome of sacrilegious Masses: the hardening of the heart, impenitence.
The Blood of Christ is become the cementing force in the structure of our iniquities! The sacrilegious Sacrifice has put the last nail in the coffin of a soul dead and buried in its own wickedness! The profaning of the Most Holy has been the daily sledge-hammer blow on the anvil of a reprobate heart!
Resolution
I shall not allow a single month to go by without devoting one or more meditations to this, frightful theme: "The sacrilegious Mass," so that it may soak deep enough to make me tremble at the very mention of it.
Lord, nail my fickle mind to the cross of Thy chastening fear, and let this thought be one of the nails!
_________________________
Adapted from The Priest at Prayer
by Fr. Eugenio Escribano, C.M. (© 1954)
Translated by B.T. Buckley, C.M.
###
Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood!
The Priestly Ministry
The Second Priestly Duty: The Holy Eucharist
Fifth Meditation - The Sacrilegious Mass: A Punishment
I. And the sacrifice shall fail: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation. (Dan. ix, 27)
This was the final signal given by Daniel the Prophet, and afterwards by Christ Himself, of God's impending Wrath upon His Chosen People of Israel: the sign of God's abandoning them totally and irrevocably to the severest of punishments.
Far more abominable than the discontinuance of the Jewish sacrifices and the setting up by the Romans of the statue of Venus in the Sancta Sanctorum - which many commentators think constituted the "abomination of desolation" - is the profanation of the New Sacrifice.
Incomparably greater is the iniquity of setting up the Holy of Holies in Person, the God-Man Christ who hallows all things, in a breast made unclean by grievous sin.
In olden times the Tabernacle of the Blessed Sacrament was often the breast of our Lady's statues. Shall Venus take our Lady's place?
Wilt Thou not abhor, O Lord, far more than the cessation of Sacrifice the offering up of this Sacrifice on a cesspool for an altar? What else is a sacrilegious Mass?
II. Whip in hand, bursting with anger, the Divine Saviour drove from the outer court of the Temple those who were profaning it by buying and selling, as in a market-place, the requisites for the temple offerings ordained by the Law. Zelus domus tuae comedit me, et opprobria exprobrantium tibi ceciderunt super me. (Ps. lxviii, 10)
"Was it not jealousy for the honor of thy house that consumed me; was it not uttered against thee, the reproach I bore?"But, Lord, what if Thou hadst found them in the Holy of Holies? And what wilt Thou not do to those who day after day, year after year perhaps, instead of honoring Thee, as they are in duty bound, fling Thy clean Oblation into their impure hearts like sweepings into a refuse bin - that clean Oblation in which as in a spotless mirror Thou beheldest Thy Glory countless ages before the Offering was accomplished on earth?
Thou art patient; yes, but in a case like this Thy patience would be our undoing. Having waited for so long, as though Thou hadst no eyes to see, as though the spate of our iniquities did not touch Thee personally, with what fury will the pent-up cataract of Thy Wrath descend when it finally leaps or breaks through the flood-gates!
III. The most heroic act of self-denial in order to reach God, the greatest effort of the will under the impulse of grace in order to entrench themselves in good, was for certain Saints, it is said, their fleeing from home over the prostrate bodies of their children, over the breast of the adored wife or venerated mother, in fulfilment of St. Jerome's per calcatum perge patrem; such was their moral courage and constancy.
The priest who says Mass in mortal sin, because his feet are set in the way of evil, proceeds still further: he rides roughshod over everything, he tramples everything underfoot, even the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Son of God: per calcatum perge patrem! . . .
It is this which explains the most appalling outcome of sacrilegious Masses: the hardening of the heart, impenitence.
The Blood of Christ is become the cementing force in the structure of our iniquities! The sacrilegious Sacrifice has put the last nail in the coffin of a soul dead and buried in its own wickedness! The profaning of the Most Holy has been the daily sledge-hammer blow on the anvil of a reprobate heart!
Resolution
I shall not allow a single month to go by without devoting one or more meditations to this, frightful theme: "The sacrilegious Mass," so that it may soak deep enough to make me tremble at the very mention of it.
Lord, nail my fickle mind to the cross of Thy chastening fear, and let this thought be one of the nails!
_________________________
Adapted from The Priest at Prayer
by Fr. Eugenio Escribano, C.M. (© 1954)
Translated by B.T. Buckley, C.M.
###
Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood!
Heroes, Holiness & Mystical Phenomena
by Michael S. RoseRose then gives some examples of Saints and the mystical phenomena associated with them, such as:
Recently, NBC wrapped up its first season of an interesting television series called Heroes. For those who haven’t seen it --and you should see it--the show centers around a group of people who discover they have special abilities beyond the ordinary, including superhuman powers like telepathy, time travel, flight, invisibility, the ability to walk through walls, to heal, and to paint the future, among others. These “superheroes,” one by one, come to realize that they each have a particular role to play in preventing a catastrophe and “saving the world.” It is science fiction, to be sure. But this concept is not without precedence in the real world throughout history. The Catholic Church has had its own “heroes” – like the Cure d’Ars, Padre Pio, Joseph of Cupertino and Mother Teresa of Calcutta--who were, at least through parts of their lives, blessed with “supernatural powers.” The Church calls them “mystical phenomena,” and those saints who have wielded these inexplicable powers understood their role in advancing the kingdom of God...
It is instructive to note that the Catholic Church has always approached claims of mystical phenomena with a healthy dose of skepticism. By design, Church officials throughout history have not accepted at face value any phenomenon which purports to be from God. . .
If, after all, the facts and evidence of a particular mystical phenomenon lend themselves to God’s supernatural intervention, then the Church will accept a particular phenomenon as having no other explanation than the supernatural. In many cases, especially with phenomena that are specifically connected with manifestations of holiness, the Church waits until after the person dies to determine that the phenomena associated with them were truly manifestations of their heroic virtue and holiness. Then and only then will the Church confirm that a particular phenomenon, even when witnessed by hundreds of people, was truly from God.
Smelling sinThis is one that I had not heard before, although I had heard of those who could detect the presence of mortal sin in others...
One of the more unusual gifts of mystical phenomena is the ability to smell the stench of sin when coming into contact with someone in the state of mortal sin. It can be a very terrible thing which in some cases has caused not only uncontrollable vomiting by the saint but even passing out because the stench is so overwhelming to him. St. Philip Neri was known for this ability and its side-effects. In his Life of Hilarton , St. Jerome says that St. Hilarion had the gift of knowing what sins or vices anyone was inclined to by simply smelling either the person or his garments.
An interesting article which can be read in its entirety here.
Polish Man Wakes from 19-Year “Coma”....
...And he makes quite an astute observation:
He told the media that people complain now as much as they did under communism: “These people walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning.” But he told his wife that the world is “prettier” now than it was under then and he’s happy to be “back”.Some things never change...
Polish Man Wakes from 19-Year “Coma”, Talks and Expected to Walk SoonPraise be to God! And may God continue to bless the man's wonderful wife who dedicated her life caring for him - such dedication seems quite rare these days. Perhaps, this wonderful miracle is one of God's gifts for such love, perseverance, and commitment?
Wife “would fly into a rage every time someone would say that people like him should be euthanized”
By Hilary White
DZIALDOWO, Poland, June 4, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Polish railway worker has astonished his doctors by waking spontaneously after 19 years and talking about memories of his time in a “coma”, the Associated Press (AP) reported yesterday. Jan Grzewski was injured at work and while he was hospitalized, his doctors found cancer in his brain and predicted he would not recover.
. . .
Cases such as Mr. Grzewski’s are being used around the western world as arguments for euthanasia by dehydration or withholding of nutrition for those in what is often called a “permanent vegetative state”.
. . .
After regaining his ability to speak, Mr. Grzewski told his relatives that he has memories of family gatherings while he was supposedly ‘comatose,’ at which they spoke to him, trying to elicit a response.
Prayers Requested for Ex-Deacon Who Has Renounced the Faith
Please join us in prayer for the protection and defense of our Catholic Faith.Please remember this man and his wife in your prayers.
On June 9, an ex-Roman Catholic Deacon will be speaking at a Masonic Lodge in Hudson, Wisconsin, (Diocese of Superior). [Bernie] Drevnick, who converted to Mormonism, is speaking at the Masonic Lodge on the "sometimes-stormy relationship between the Catholic Church and the Masons."
As you will see by the linked statement below, Bishop Fliss has made it clear that Bernie Drevnick has renounced his Roman Catholic Faith and is not authorized to speak as a representative of the Catholic Church.
Unfortunately, many people do not know Drevnick has renounced his Catholic Faith; therefore, some people may be misled regarding his authority to speak on the Catholic Church.
Shouldn't This Be the Norm in All Dioceses?
[Cardinal] Pell plans fidelity oath for principalsSome, of course, using specious arguments of "academic freedom" or other nonsense, will be critical of such plans. But it would seem that nearly all parents who sacrifice to send their children to Catholic schools would welcome such a policy - especially in light of the dissent which has occurred, and been taught over the past few decades.
The Catholic archdiocese of Sydney wants its 167 school principals, its deputy principals and religious education co-ordinators to publicly commit to a "vow of fidelity" by adhering to church teaching on homosexuality, birth control and women's ordination.
In a first for the Australian church, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, is set to extend the oath of fidelity and profession of faith, a requirement of church law for bishops, priests and heads of seminaries, to all senior educational leaders.
The oath demands "religious submission of intellect and will" on questions of faith and morals - even if these are inferred but not defined by the pope and his bishops - and an acceptance that everything solemnly taught by church tradition is divinely inspired.
Cardinal Pell has taken a wonderful first step to protect the faith of the children entrusted to the care of educators who must never lose sight of the fact that they have a direct impact, not only with a child's education and preparation for this world, but also with a child's eternal soul which is created for eternal happiness in heaven - and in this regard, it seems that such a responsibility demands that such fidelity to Christ and the teachings of His Church, be manifested by those in positions of education and leadership.
Kudos to Cardinal Pell for a such a faithful and bold move!
Q&A with Coadjutor Archbishop John Nienstedt
Here is the full text of Coadjutor Archbishop John Nienstedt's answers to questions from Star Tribune reporter Pamela Miller.
Q: Do you view yourself as more conservative than Archbishop Flynn?Some still insist on pushing the "political" terminology on the Church....Good answers by the Next Archbishop...
A: I find it curious that persons both inside and outside the church, who maintain a strict separation of church and state, nevertheless find it necessary to define persons and activities within the church in political terms. Like St. Paul, I come to the archdiocese to "speak of nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2.). . .
A Show of Support for Bishop Bruskewitz
Jeff Miller (The Curt Jester) has post regarding one of our favorite bishops:
One of my commenters reported on a counter-demonstration to Call To Action.
For those who haven't heard, when Call to Action learned we were organizing a show of support for our Bishop, they tried to preserve a monopoly on their sought after media attention by changing their protest to 11:00am. We learned about it just before 9:00am.
Bishop Blaire: Salt of the Earth?
jumpin' joe sent a link of Bishop Stephen Blaire's Homily for Ordination to the Priesthood which occurred on May 19...In it he advise the new priests to be "salt of the earth" rather than "pillars of salt", as many are today, it seems:
Here are those who need to 'get a life', if I may paraphrase the bishop, those whom the new priests should not become:
Faithful Catholics, repent, especially if you fall into one of these three categories, even if you do "look forward in hope with the eyes of faith."
Here are those who need to 'get a life', if I may paraphrase the bishop, those whom the new priests should not become:
There are some in the Church today who do not look forward in hope with the eyes of faith but tend to be preoccupied with looking back in some kind of nostalgia for a Church they never experienced prior to the Second Vatican Council. . .I believe she does...doesn't every Catholic? Apparently not...
The triumphalist wants to exercise authority through aggressive condemnation and excommunication and believes that the Church not only has the truth but also all the answers to every modern dilemma.
The juridicist searches out laws new or old to justify personal positions or ideologies in the Church. Especially they like to focus on liturgical practices. They incline to creating unnecessary hoops for people to jump through.I think this was a typo and that he actually meant "liturgist" rather than "juridicist". . .
The clericalist exaggerates the authority of the priest creating a new authoritarianism. The clericalist operates as if the priest is entitled to special status and privilege in the Church and in society.A priest is, indeed, special - by virtue of his sublime ordination and the power he has been given to serve our Lord and His Church as "alter Christus." Who would deny a priest this honor - a priest really is, to some of us, quite special.
Faithful Catholics, repent, especially if you fall into one of these three categories, even if you do "look forward in hope with the eyes of faith."
Rejecting Truth in Favor of Immorality
“Consciences that differ from official Church teaching”In other words, these pepole are rejecting what a Catholic must believe. At the very minimum it seems, they are material heretics and they should be proplerly identified as such. Lest we forget what heresy is:
Weekly community Mass for homosexual group Dignity celebrated at San Jose parish
Dignity/San Jose calls itself “a faith and support community of and for Catholic Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Persons, their Families, Friends and Supportive Others.” But Dignity/San Jose is unique among other California Dignity chapters: its weekly community Mass is celebrated in a Catholic church -- St. Martin of Tours in San Jose.
. . .
A Dignity Q & A says, “Neither Scripture nor Tradition nor natural law theory nor human science nor personal experience convincingly supports official Catholic teaching about the immorality of homogenital acts. Accordingly, and after much soul-searching, many gay and lesbian Catholics have formed consciences that differ from official Church teaching and have entered into homosexual relationships. In this respect they are exactly like the many married Catholic couples who cannot accept the official teaching on contraception.”
Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. "Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him." [CCC 2089]Seems rather clear - the "quoted" text above comes from Canon 751...
The San Jose diocese did not respond to requests for comment on this story.Not surprising...
The Number Gets Bigger
Diocese may close up to 48 churches
Cleveland faces greatest loss with as many as 25 closingsContinued here...
The Cleveland Catholic Diocese could close about 20 percent of its parishes, or up to 48 churches, nearly twice the number originally estimated.
The City of Cleveland will take the hardest hit with a potential loss of up to 25 churches. Among the 69 regional clusters in the diocese, other closings will occur in Akron, Lorain and inner-ring suburbs such as Lakewood and Euclid.
The diocese continues to decline to identify the clusters ordered last week by Bishop Richard Lennon to plan to close or merge churches. At the time, the diocese said at least 23 of its 231 parishes would close by 2010.
Boy Scouts Threatened With Eviction From 'Cradle of Liberty'
As a followup from this post, here is another article, this one, from the Thomas More Law Center:
(CNSNews.com) - Seven years after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Boy Scouts of America to exclude homosexuals from its leadership ranks, the organization continues to face retaliation.Apparently, the city of "brotherly love" would like to move that nickname to a whole new level...
. . .
"The City of Brotherly Love, home of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, is punishing the Cradle of Liberty Council for the crime of upholding timeless moral standards. They are treating the Boy Scouts of America, who teach kids personal responsibility and respect for others, as if they were the Ku Klux Klan."
Fresno Priest Still in Exile
Matt C. AbbottExcerpts from the 2004 article from Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission gives us clues why this priest is being punished:
June 5, 2007
In 2003, Father Joe Baca, of the Fresno, Calif., diocese — and who, for a time, was permitted to celebrate the Tridentine Mass at St. Agnes Mission Church in Pinedale, Calif. — was removed from public ministry by Bishop John Steinbock.
Father Baca's story, along with that of Father Jean-Michael Lastiri, can be found in this 2004 article from Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission.
Father Lastiri is still in public ministry. In June 2006, he was named Diocesan Director of Liturgy and Worship and Evangelization. On March 5, 2007, he was named administrator of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in downtown Fresno, and he currently heads the diocese's (newly-renamed) Office of Justice, Liturgy, and Worship.
Meanwhile, Father Baca's situation, like that of Arlington, Va., priest Father James Haley, remains in a sort of limbo.
Father Joe Baca’s path to ordination was difficult. Three times a seminarian at St. John’s in Camarillo, Baca was three times shown the door for his “rigidness.” Finally, Father Baca was accepted into the diocese of Fresno by Bishop John Steinbock and ordained on December 1, 2001 after completing his seminary training in Wisconsin.No faithful priests allowed, it seems...
Father Baca’s problems didn’t end with his ordination. After starting at St. Patrick’s parish in Merced, he was sent to Sacred Heart parish in Fresno on December 13, 2001, filling in for a pastor who had died suddenly. On March 1, 2002, he was sent to St. Anthony’s in Fresno, where he was supposed to remain three years; but his time was cut short at 13 months after he gave a homily on the Church’s just war theory using the Catechism of the Catholic Church as his source. The homily contradicted some points Bishop Steinbock had made in a letter to the diocese, and Father Baca was forced to apologize, then was suspended. He was re-assigned to St. Patrick’s parish in Merced on June 1, 2003.
At St. Patrick’s, Father Baca found a divided parish. Many parishioners began flocking to Father Baca’s Masses, where he eliminated the use of inclusive language and gave homilies on the Church’s positions on hell, abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex, women’s ordination, and pro-life voting responsibilities. Father Baca began a catechism class that grew so popular that, after three weeks, there was not enough room for everyone. Penitents began returning to the sacrament of confession. . .
The Last Mass of Father Ragheed, a Martyr of the Chaldean Church
They killed him in Mosul, together with three of his subdeacons. In a tormented Iraq, he was a man and a Christian of limpid and courageous faith. Here is a portrait of him, written by someone who knew him well.
by Sandro Magister
Gospel for June 5, Memorial: St Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
9th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Mark 12:13-17
On Tribute to Caesar
[13] And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to entrap him in his talk. [14] And they came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? [15] Should we pay them, or should we not?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why put me to the test? Bring me a coin and let me look at it." [16] And they brought one. And he said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to him, "Caesar's." [17] Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at him.
_______________________
Commentary:
13-17. Jesus uses this situation to teach that man belongs totally to his Creator: "You must perforce give Caesar the coin which bears his likeness, but let you give your whole being to God, because it is his likeness, not Caesar's that you bear" (St Jerome, "Comm. in Marcum, in loc.").
Our Lord here asserts a principle which should guide the action of Christians in public life. The Church recognizes the rightful autonomy of earthly realities, but this does not mean that she has not a responsibility to light them up with the light of the Gospel. When they work shoulder to shoulder with other citizens to develop society, Christian lay people should bring a Christian influence to bear: "If the role of the Hierarchy is to teach and to interpret authentically the norms of morality to be followed in this matter, it belongs to lay people, without waiting passively for orders and directives, to take the initiative freely and to infuse a Christian spirit into the mentality, customs, laws and structures of the community in which they live. Changes are necessary, basic reforms are indispensable; lay people should strive resolutely to permeate them with the spirit of the Gospel" (Paul VI, "Populorum Progressio", 81).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
From: Mark 12:13-17
On Tribute to Caesar
[13] And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to entrap him in his talk. [14] And they came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? [15] Should we pay them, or should we not?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why put me to the test? Bring me a coin and let me look at it." [16] And they brought one. And he said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to him, "Caesar's." [17] Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at him.
_______________________
Commentary:
13-17. Jesus uses this situation to teach that man belongs totally to his Creator: "You must perforce give Caesar the coin which bears his likeness, but let you give your whole being to God, because it is his likeness, not Caesar's that you bear" (St Jerome, "Comm. in Marcum, in loc.").
Our Lord here asserts a principle which should guide the action of Christians in public life. The Church recognizes the rightful autonomy of earthly realities, but this does not mean that she has not a responsibility to light them up with the light of the Gospel. When they work shoulder to shoulder with other citizens to develop society, Christian lay people should bring a Christian influence to bear: "If the role of the Hierarchy is to teach and to interpret authentically the norms of morality to be followed in this matter, it belongs to lay people, without waiting passively for orders and directives, to take the initiative freely and to infuse a Christian spirit into the mentality, customs, laws and structures of the community in which they live. Changes are necessary, basic reforms are indispensable; lay people should strive resolutely to permeate them with the spirit of the Gospel" (Paul VI, "Populorum Progressio", 81).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Monday, June 04, 2007
The Priest at Prayer, June 5
Second Part
The Priestly Ministry
The Second Priestly Duty: The Holy Eucharist
Fourth Meditation - The Sacrilegious Mass: The Celebrant's Guilt
I. Cursed be he that taketh gifts to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say: Amen. (Deut. xxvii, 25)
All Christian people, the whole human race, down through the ages have kept on repeating these words of Deuteronomy in their thundering denunciation of the traitor-disciple who delivered the blood of the Just One for a handful of silver: a curse on him! Amen!
Judas! . . . But why should he be considered the greatest of villains? It is true he sold his Master for a few coins, and it is certain that there was not even the semblance of a motive for doing so; but how quickly and with what terrible anguish he repented! Such anguish of mind, that Judas was driven with the violence of a hurricane to retract before his accomplices in the treacherous deal; he went so far as to call them unjust and murderers, like himself: I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. An admirable confession worthy of the most sincere penitent: concise, swift: a few words of burning lava; a lapidary inscription, as it were, engraved on the conscience and the brow of the new Cain by the Hand of God! I have sinned! I acknowledge the infamous deed, I have no excuse! I have sinned! Like David, like the prodigal son. With cunning and treachery I have betrayed the Blood, the life, of the Innocent One, the Just One who has a better right to live than anyone else, whose life is more precious than all other lives together!
Not satisfied with such a sincere avowal, Judas returns the money, which was the chief if not the only motive of his crime. He throws it at them when they decline to accept it, because it seared his hands and his inmost soul. And that was Judas, the miser, the thief. He was a thief and, having the purse, carried the things that were put therein. (John xii, 6) In fine, his fearful remorse drives him to undergo a penalty that to the poor wretch seems but the adequate punishment of his crime, the penalty of suicide. A criminal penance indeed, but also a hard one!
A greater crime than Judas's, perhaps there is none; but is there none still more repugnant? Who knows! Let us consider that of the sacrilegious priest.
II. Take the case of a priest - would to God no such thing were possible! - who every day for a whole month, a whole year or more, barters away our Divine Lord by celebrating unworthily, perhaps for the sake of some generous stipend, or perhaps for no special reason at all, just because he cares not what he does. He delivers His Master up to Satan, the master of his own corrupt heart; he does it hundreds and thousands of times; but does he ever entertain the idea of putting a halter round his neck and putting an end to his ignominious existence? Far from throwing away his ill-gotten gains, the price of his sacrilege and treachery - pretium sanguinis - perhaps he never feels even the slightest tremor of horror, not even the faintest chill or stirrings of remorse.
On the Day of Judgement, on the Day of the great Reckoning, Tyre and Sidon, the Supreme Judge tells us, will confront Bethsaida and Corozain; Sodom and Gomorrha will stand in accusation against Capharnaum, the chosen but ungrateful city; and may we not add that Judas will confront the sacrilegious priest, his disciple? Fixing his hellish, vulture gaze on the dark conscience of the profaner of the Holy Victim, probing the inmost depths of the priest's perversity, he may well spit into his face and snarl with contempt: You were a greater villain than myself!
III. And already on the threshold of eternity, if the priest in meeting with Christ should ask: "Who art Thou, Lord?" Jesus may reply, not in the words He spoke to Saul, but with a look which could be transcribed: "For thee, I am a nobody; even my Name thou tookest from me; for while my Bride, the Church, kept on repeating every day from the first words of her liturgy to the Last, kept on repeating through thy lips, with ecstatic self-abasement: 'My Lord and my God!' thou, with the voice of thy lewd concupiscences over-mastering thy heart and memory and imagination and every atom of thy foul being, didst declare: 'Impossible! How could I behave like this towards a real God? No, God is not here: this is nothing but a parody, a means of livelihood; the most I am doing is pretending; I'm a good actor on the stage.' And therefore, to thee I have been a nobody, whereas thou, at my profaned altars from the first word to the last that came out of thy infamous mouth, thou in all thy movements and at every step wast a cynical hypocrite, a poisonous viper." "The hour is come now to tear away every mask, to light up every dark corner, and to restore to each one his proper name."
Resolution
If avarice blinded Judas, perhaps the one thing that will blind me, to the point of profaning the Sacrifice of our Altars, is lust.
Out of every hundred sacrilegious Masses will not lust account for over ninety?
O Jesus! Thou who didst choose a Virgin to be Thy Mother, grant me absolute purity of body and soul, even though miracles be needed to curb my sensual cravings. I promise Thee that, by Thy grace, I shall always keep winning that noble battle fought by hearts that are pure, through the wielding of those weapons human and divine which have always been in the hands of the glorious self-conquerors who put their trust in Thee;
_________________________
Adapted from The Priest at Prayer
by Fr. Eugenio Escribano, C.M. (© 1954)
Translated by B.T. Buckley, C.M.
###
Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood!
The Priestly Ministry
The Second Priestly Duty: The Holy Eucharist
Fourth Meditation - The Sacrilegious Mass: The Celebrant's Guilt
I. Cursed be he that taketh gifts to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say: Amen. (Deut. xxvii, 25)
All Christian people, the whole human race, down through the ages have kept on repeating these words of Deuteronomy in their thundering denunciation of the traitor-disciple who delivered the blood of the Just One for a handful of silver: a curse on him! Amen!
Judas! . . . But why should he be considered the greatest of villains? It is true he sold his Master for a few coins, and it is certain that there was not even the semblance of a motive for doing so; but how quickly and with what terrible anguish he repented! Such anguish of mind, that Judas was driven with the violence of a hurricane to retract before his accomplices in the treacherous deal; he went so far as to call them unjust and murderers, like himself: I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. An admirable confession worthy of the most sincere penitent: concise, swift: a few words of burning lava; a lapidary inscription, as it were, engraved on the conscience and the brow of the new Cain by the Hand of God! I have sinned! I acknowledge the infamous deed, I have no excuse! I have sinned! Like David, like the prodigal son. With cunning and treachery I have betrayed the Blood, the life, of the Innocent One, the Just One who has a better right to live than anyone else, whose life is more precious than all other lives together!
Not satisfied with such a sincere avowal, Judas returns the money, which was the chief if not the only motive of his crime. He throws it at them when they decline to accept it, because it seared his hands and his inmost soul. And that was Judas, the miser, the thief. He was a thief and, having the purse, carried the things that were put therein. (John xii, 6) In fine, his fearful remorse drives him to undergo a penalty that to the poor wretch seems but the adequate punishment of his crime, the penalty of suicide. A criminal penance indeed, but also a hard one!
A greater crime than Judas's, perhaps there is none; but is there none still more repugnant? Who knows! Let us consider that of the sacrilegious priest.
II. Take the case of a priest - would to God no such thing were possible! - who every day for a whole month, a whole year or more, barters away our Divine Lord by celebrating unworthily, perhaps for the sake of some generous stipend, or perhaps for no special reason at all, just because he cares not what he does. He delivers His Master up to Satan, the master of his own corrupt heart; he does it hundreds and thousands of times; but does he ever entertain the idea of putting a halter round his neck and putting an end to his ignominious existence? Far from throwing away his ill-gotten gains, the price of his sacrilege and treachery - pretium sanguinis - perhaps he never feels even the slightest tremor of horror, not even the faintest chill or stirrings of remorse.
On the Day of Judgement, on the Day of the great Reckoning, Tyre and Sidon, the Supreme Judge tells us, will confront Bethsaida and Corozain; Sodom and Gomorrha will stand in accusation against Capharnaum, the chosen but ungrateful city; and may we not add that Judas will confront the sacrilegious priest, his disciple? Fixing his hellish, vulture gaze on the dark conscience of the profaner of the Holy Victim, probing the inmost depths of the priest's perversity, he may well spit into his face and snarl with contempt: You were a greater villain than myself!
III. And already on the threshold of eternity, if the priest in meeting with Christ should ask: "Who art Thou, Lord?" Jesus may reply, not in the words He spoke to Saul, but with a look which could be transcribed: "For thee, I am a nobody; even my Name thou tookest from me; for while my Bride, the Church, kept on repeating every day from the first words of her liturgy to the Last, kept on repeating through thy lips, with ecstatic self-abasement: 'My Lord and my God!' thou, with the voice of thy lewd concupiscences over-mastering thy heart and memory and imagination and every atom of thy foul being, didst declare: 'Impossible! How could I behave like this towards a real God? No, God is not here: this is nothing but a parody, a means of livelihood; the most I am doing is pretending; I'm a good actor on the stage.' And therefore, to thee I have been a nobody, whereas thou, at my profaned altars from the first word to the last that came out of thy infamous mouth, thou in all thy movements and at every step wast a cynical hypocrite, a poisonous viper." "The hour is come now to tear away every mask, to light up every dark corner, and to restore to each one his proper name."
Resolution
If avarice blinded Judas, perhaps the one thing that will blind me, to the point of profaning the Sacrifice of our Altars, is lust.
Out of every hundred sacrilegious Masses will not lust account for over ninety?
O Jesus! Thou who didst choose a Virgin to be Thy Mother, grant me absolute purity of body and soul, even though miracles be needed to curb my sensual cravings. I promise Thee that, by Thy grace, I shall always keep winning that noble battle fought by hearts that are pure, through the wielding of those weapons human and divine which have always been in the hands of the glorious self-conquerors who put their trust in Thee;
_________________________
Adapted from The Priest at Prayer
by Fr. Eugenio Escribano, C.M. (© 1954)
Translated by B.T. Buckley, C.M.
###
Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood!
The Year Dedicated to St Paul to Begin June 29, 2008
Cardinal Bertone announces Latin Mass to be universally authorized “soon”
Vatican City, Jun 4, 2007 / 10:50 am (CNA).- In an interview published this Sunday by the Italian Catholic daily “Avvenire”, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, announced that the Motu Propio authorizing the universal celebration of the Mass of St. Pius V—known as the Tridentine Mass—will be made public “soon.”
. . .
The Vatican secretary of State said Catholics “will not have to wait long” for the publication of the Motu Propio, adding that the Pope “has written an accompanying letter that explains the reasons for the decision and why he hopes the authorization will be calmly accepted.”
Sure she does...
...let's see what the Subbury Star reports:
The article proceeds to tell of Bouclin's life and fight with the Church, as if to justify her rejection of Church authority.
Mother of a revolution; Marie Bouclin loves the religion that won't recognize her ordinationShe fights against the Church she claims to love...I'd hate to see her reactions if she claimed to hate the Church...
Marie Evans Bouclin has been bucking the church for years, speaking out against what she calls unjust treatment of women in her religion.
Last Sunday, she went against the teachings of that church and was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement.
Bouclin and a growing number of women and men reject that view [the Church's irreformable teaching that priestly ordination is reserved to males only]. Rather than leave the church they love, they choose to remain and fight for change.Some people are too blinded by pride or are too ignorant to recognize that they will never win this fight - even with Satan on their side.
"If there's a mess, you clean it up. If a kid hurts himself, you pick him up and you kiss the bobo; you put a Band-aid on it," says the mother of three grown children."I feel the same way about the church." Of course, she does - the fact remains however, that she could not be more at odds with the Church and with Christ, Himself...Unfortunately, it appears that she is unable to even differentiate that which is right from that which is wrong. Hopefully, her children have learned to properly judge when (and if) she is right and when she has ventured off into La-La land...
"You teach your children right from wrong. You care for people. I feel the same way about the church."
But women like Bouclin, Bishop Patricia Fresen and thousands of others don't buy it. "I am Roman Catholic to my toes," said Bouclin, 66.Sure you are, sweetie...And I'm the newest Pope.
The article proceeds to tell of Bouclin's life and fight with the Church, as if to justify her rejection of Church authority.
Andre Gagne believes it's time the Roman Catholic Church talked to women and married men who feel called to the ministry. "It has to ... for the church to survive," said Gagne, a Biblical scholar and religious studies professor at the University of Sudbury.Another deluded professor who, it seems, is Catholic in name only and chooses to lead others away from the faith. I suppose he needs the company...
A Roman Catholic, Gagne teaches students to take a critically interpretative look at Scripture and draw their own conclusions.
The difference between Luther and women like Bouclin and Fresen is these women have no intention of leaving the church, said Gagne. They are "profoundly Catholic and they want to stay Catholic. They don't want to join the Anglican or the United Church.""Profoundly Catholic"? Sounds like someone needs to lay off the hallucinogens...
Brigitte Angster-Beckett is a Sudbury woman who will not leave her church. Angster-Beckett attended Bouclin's ordination and found it a moving and deeply spiritual experience.It's all about how one feels...And Satan, no doubt, appreciates how deeply spiritual this experience was for all of his followers...
"Everybody there was so charged up ... it was really an act of worship," says Angster-Beckett. "I thought it was just wonderful."The devil has no problem, it seems, finding and recruiting followers...
"I will not go," said Angster-Beckett this week in Sudbury. "This is my church and I am staying."So howsabout some names? Have they not excommunicated themselves?
That is the thinking of Bishop Patricia Fresen, the South African nun who lost her church, her university teaching job and even her homeland after she became involved in Roman Catholic Womenpriests.
Fresen, 66, now lives in Germany after being offered refuge there after she left South Africa. Fresen was ordained by three male bishops, "in good standing with Rome."
"Nothing can put us out of the church," said Fresen after Sunday's ceremony. "Once we are baptized, we are in Christ Jesus. We are members of the church and nothing can put us out."Nothing? Nothing at all? Does this mean that once we are baptized and in Jesus Christ that we are assured of eternal salvation?
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