So let's take a look at appointments to date. We have a notorious homosexual looking after the Vatican Hotel and also appointed to the Vatican Bank, also at the Vatican Bank we have a former 'soft porn' model and now we have Wuerl (enough said) and Nichols (who expresses himself unsure whether or not the Church might do 'same sex blessings at some point in the future) appointing the Bishops. Doesn't look good does it? Voris gives the Pope the benefit of the doubt but he cannot seriously believe that he doesn't have any idea of the views of people who will be appointing future bishops! The Pope has jokingly 'blamed' retired Cardinal Murphy O'Connor for his appointment and, if it is true that this other 'progressive' did lobby for Pope Francis (who he called 'our man', then we will see many more such worrying appointments.
Letter #106: Transparency? Dr. Robert Moynihan (MoynihanReport@gmail.com) Schedule clean-up 00:26 Newsletters To: padraigcaughey@hotmail.com From: Dr. Robert Moynihan (MoynihanReport@gmail.com) This sender is in your safe list. Sent: 21 December 2013 00:26:21 To: padraigcaughey@hotmail.com Friday, December 20, 2013 -- Lack of Transparency over Consultants' Pay Prompts Questions "The pontiff who famously longs for a 'poor Church for the poor' and who rails against 'trickle-down' economics is also the Pope who's created a boom market for 'God's consultants.' Before the Francis reform is finished, there might not be a systems analyst, management expert or financial guru left on earth who doesn't have a contract in Rome... To date, no one at the Vatican has said out loud how much they're shelling out for the services of this new batch of consultants." —John Allen, Jr., Vatican correspondent for the US-based National Catholic Reporter, in an article today entitled "Thoughts on the rise of 'God's Consultants'" In July, Pope Francis set up an 8-member commission to study the Vatican's economic and administrative structures as part of an effort to reform the Roman Curia. (The Maltese economist and businessman Joseph F.X. Zahra is head of the commission.) Yesterday, the Vatican announced that two new contracts have been awarded to major outside firms after a "competitive bidding process," but, as veteran Vatican expert John Allen noted in an article on the news yesterday, "it did not specify how much is being paid for the firms' services." (link) McKinsey & Company, based in the US, has been hired to outline an "integration" of the Vatican's various communications offices (Holy See Press Office; the Osservatore Romano; Vatican Radio; the Vatican Television Center; the Pontifical Council for Social Communications; Fides news service; the Vatican publishing house (in Italian, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana or LEV); and, since June 2012, an office in the Secretariat of State called "senior communications adviser" held by the American journalist Greg Burke; Vatican Radio, with dozens of employees in many different languages costs the Holy See about $30 million each year.) And KPMG, a huge Swiss business consulting and auditing company with 152,000 employees, has been awarded a contract to advise the Holy See on how to improve its financial accounting practices. Two other major consulting companies have already been working for the Vatican for some time: (1) Ernst and Young, a company with 175,000 employees based in London, England (to study management and economy activity in the Government of the Vatican City State, the "Governatorato"); and (2) Promontory Financial Group, a Washington D.C.-based company with about 400 employees (to conduct detailed reviews of client accounts for the Vatican bank and for APSA, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See; to this end, I was told, the company has been going methodically through every single Vatican bank account, transaction by transaction, since this past spring.) The new director of the Vatican bank, Rolando Marranci, an Italian, is a former official with the Promontory Group.) [Wikipedia reports: "The company was founded in 2001 by former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency (1993−98) beneath the administration of Bill Clinton Eugene Ludwig... Former chairman of the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority Sir Callum McCarthy is non-executive chairman of Promontory Financial Group (U.K.). Former managing director of the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority Michael Foot is global vice chairman. The branch for Europe in Brussels is currently represented by Raffaele Cosimo who worked before for the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro in Rome. Elizabeth McCaul is partner-in-charge of the firm's New York office. Former executives include the deceased former Italian Minister of Economy and Finances Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, who was chairman of Promontory Financial Group Europe; and previous Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, U.S. Treasury David Nason and Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin, who were managing directors. The ex-chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Mary Schapiro joined Promontory in April 2013 as managing director and chairman of its governance and markets practice."] All of this is part of a general effort in the last years of Pope Benedict's pontificate and the first year of Pope Francis's papacy to bring greater clarity, efficiency and transparency to the Vatican's activities, especially in the financial area. But no indication has been given about what all this is costing the Church. With regard to the financial compensation the Holy See will be paying to these companies for their professional services, there has been no transparency up to now. The impression given by Press spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, S.J., is that the costs of the latest contracts will not be very great as the consultation process will only be two or three months (link). Still, Allen concludes: "'Transparency' has become a cornerstone of Vatican rhetoric about what this cycle of reform is intended to achieve. In that spirit, it will be interesting indeed to track the extent to which Vatican officials are willing to open up about what exactly these consultants are doing, and how much they're being paid to do it." =================================== ***Still in Time For Christmas... Pray for Me: The Life and Spiritual Vision of Pope Francis, First Pope from the Americas, by Robert Moynihan, author of these letters, released on April 30 by Random House. Links to order the book: 1. Amazon 2. Barnes and Noble You may also call our toll-free number at 1-800-789-9494 in the US. ==================================== Change at the Vatican Press Office? In an article in La Repubblica today, Italian journalist Marco Ansaldo reports that there is talk in the Vatican that the Pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, may, in the not-so-distant future, be replaced by another Jesuit, Father Antonio Spadaro, the editor of La Civilta Cattolica and the man who conducted the first lengthy interview with Pope Francis in August. There is no official confirmation of this report. (link) ==================================
SUMMARY OF POPE'S HOMILY TODAY AT HIS MORNING MASS (Source: Vatican Radio) "Only silence guards the mystery of the journey that a person walks with God," Pope Francis said in his homily at Mass this morning at the Domus Santa Marta. May the Lord, the Pope added, give us "the grace to love the silence." The Pope’s reflections were inspired by the Annunciation, today’s Gospel reading, in particular the passage in which the angel tells Mary that the power of the Most High would "overshadow” her. The shadow has almost the same quality as the cloud with which God protected the Jews in the desert, the Pope said. "The Lord always took care of the mystery and hid the mystery," Francis said. "He did not publicize the mystery. A mystery that publicizes itself is not Christian; it is not the mystery of God: it is a fake mystery! "And this is what happened to Our Lady, when she received her Son: the mystery of her virginal motherhood is hidden. It is hidden her whole life! And she knew it. "This shadow of God in our lives helps us to discover our own mystery: the mystery of our encounter with the Lord, our mystery of our life’s journey with the Lord.” "Each of us,” the Pope said, "knows how mysteriously the Lord works in our hearts, in our souls.” And what is "the cloud, the power, the way the Holy Spirit covers our mystery?” "This cloud in us, in our lives, is called silence: the silence is exactly the cloud that covers the mystery of our relationship with the Lord, of our holiness and of our sins. This mystery that we cannot explain. "But when there is no silence in our lives, the mystery is lost, it goes away. "Guarding the mystery with silence! That is the cloud, that is the power of God for us, that is the strength of the Holy Spirit." Pope Francis concluded: "Silence is that which guards the mystery,” and so the mystery "of our relationship with God, of our journey, of our salvation, cannot be… publicized. "May the Lord give all of us the grace to love the silence, to seek him and to have a heart that is guarded by the cloud of silence.” ====================== Engaged Couples, on the Feast of St. Valentine, with Pope Francis... On February 14, 2014, there will be a meeting of engaged couples with Pope Francis in the Vatican On February 14, 2014, feast of St. Valentine, the patron saint of lovers, Pope Francis will meet with engaged couples to celebrate “The Joy of Yes Forever.” The initiative is promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Family. Engaged couples who have already attended or are presently going through the courses of marriage preparation are invited to the meeting with the Holy Father, which will be held in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, at 11:00 a.m. on February 14. For registration, no later than January 30, 2014, please visit the Diocesan Offices for the Family, or the offices of lay movements and associations, or send an email to: events@family.va. "The Holy Father has repeatedly urged those who are in love and young married couples to live the faithful and fruitful joy that grows in holiness, as they follow the model of the Holy Family and welcome Christ into the life of their family, which is renewed each day and forever by the full and free gift of self in the sacramental love, penetrated by the grace of the Paschal Mystery," said the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, presenting the event. It will be the first official meeting of Pope Francis with engaged couples. At the encounter with the young people of Umbria, in Assisi, on October 4, Pope Francis said: "What is marriage? It is a true and authentic vocation, as are the priesthood and the religious life. Two Christians who marry have recognized the call of the Lord in their own love story, the vocation to form one flesh and one life from two, male and female. And the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony envelops this love in the grace of God, it roots it in God himself. By this gift, and by the certainty of this call, you can continue on assured; you have nothing to fear; you can face everything together!" (link) =============================== "Think nothing else but that God ordains all, and where there is no love, put love, and you will draw love out." --St. John of the Cross
SteveD, very bizarre things going on to say the least. Perdo Regis' messages have spoken often on the 'confusion with the church' that is to take place and ''not to loose your faith'. I have always assumed this would be from the attacks from foreign enemy's from the Middle East or Russia. I am now considering if it is possible that this confusion will come from within and perhaps even linked to this pope? I will say that many things this pope has done and is still doing does not make rational sense to the outsider like myself. I am not even sure what all the information Padraig posted means. Way over my head.
I was praying about our Holy Father when I was off the web for a few days last week. My thoughts went back at once to my own Spiritual Director Fr Bernard C.P who was my Spirtual Father from when I was 15 over a period of 30 years. I had the most complete and total confidence in him and he never let me down . Pope Francis is all our won Spiritual Father and it seems to me qa very Catholic Spiritual approach to consider him with great love, loyalty, devotion and obedience. I found this with Fr Bernard. I considered his voice the voice of Christ in my life and for me he became a great light in times of terrible darkness, in times of great doubt and confusion and in times of greatest joy. This spiritual relationship , it seems to me is a two way street but has to be approached by the spiritual child with the greatest humilty and faith. The same goes for wevery little children of our Holy Father Francis . This humilty, this obedience, this loyalty, this love and respect transform our relationship so that when he speaks we hear the very voice of Jesus talking in our hearts. There is another very human way to regard our dear Pope. A kind of poltical ananlysis of all he does and says, a questioning that I suspect quenched the Spirit , rather than enfires it. But of course even amongst the holiest of people there are misunderstandings, doubts and confusion We see this so claerly in the New Testament when the apostles the very cornerstones of the Church had their fallings out. For myself I find the Holy Father so very different from myself. He is a very active Jesuit (what Jesuit is not very active?) Whereas I am a contempltive. He is South American where I am European. He is very cultured concerning the modern world and thinking where I tend to turn more and more to the past. He is a great intellectual whereas I turn more and more to the heart. So to be honest frankly I do not understand often where he is coming from. But I do not need to understand to be obedient. I do not need to share his visiont to be loyal. I do not need to search his heart to trust and follow. He has my love and prayers, may God bless our Holy Saintly Father and guide him as he guides us all in un amidst these so stormy seas.
View attachment 1582 It didn't portend 'good times' for the Church and so it is turning out. http://thatthebonesyouhavecrushedma.../12/what-liberals-are-saying-about-these.html
Omens always make me smile, Lightning from heaven could just as well be taken as a sign of approval as disdain. When Jesus was baptised for instance, in scripture for instance we are told God showed His approval of His Son by appearing, like a dove or like lightning'. View attachment 1583
Holy smokes, People! If we spend all our time looking for trouble, we will certainly find it. Personally, I find the incessant questioning of Pope Francis exhausting! There is wisdom in Padraig's last posts on this thread... And let's not forget St. Pio's sound advice to "pray, hope & don't worry" (or words to that effect). May the peace of Christ be born in all our hearts this Christmas!
One thing I did learn from my Spiritual Father was that when I was obedient all went well; when I was disobedient everything fell to bits. Another was , never, never ever try to second guess your Spiritual Father. This is such a Catholic thing, to walk in the faith of total obedience. It reminds me of someone throwing the baby out the window and trusting God will catch it. Yes Catholic obedience is like this, trying to second guess God whilst firing the baby through the window is fatal; if we start to say, 'What if God is at a football match? ' Well the baby stays put. It will never go through the window. God gave us this Pope, we have to toss the baby in his direction and trust this Pope will catch it. I am not saying it is easy, it's just the way God set things up. I read a really wonderful thing during the week which has me thinking; 'At one time men doubted themselves and were certain about everything else. Nowadays people are certain about themselves and doubt everything else'. This seems to me so true, so much the Spirit of this Present Age. View attachment 1584
I'm listening to the old testament on audio book, and finding it incredibly spiritually enlightening. The people of God suffered from the infection of Egypt for years after coming out, and kept falling back into idolatry and worldly ways. Likewise, our 24 hour news culture and constant chatter on TV and the internet is full of critics and scoffers. We can't even see how we are infected by the spirit of this age. Like the frog that is boiled in water, little by little, we're not aware of how this toxic culture has influenced our minds. Now is the time for deep prayer and reliance on the Sacraments, to store up treasure to sustain us in the dark days ahead and to obtain divine mercy for our deaf, dumb and blind brothers and sisters. A day will come when we will regret every second we spent on anything but prayer.
Yes so true Mark and Kathy and Bi prayer prayer and more prayer. I am so glad Our Lady has led me to set a week apart every month to just pray and LISTEN. To listen to what? Why to God of course and His blessed Mother. As again to the Holy Father I prayerfully believe he will not be with us long, not very long at all. Let us make the best use of Him was can whilst we have Him. I am already looking forward to our next spiritual Father who will be even more astonishing.
I agree very much with the above post. But there is one thing padraig says with which I disagree. He says of Pope Francis, "He is a great intellectual whereas I turn more and more to the heart." I do not see Pope Francis as an intellectual at all, although I am sure he has a great intellect. In fact, I see him speaking almost always 'from the heart'. I think the relentless analysis of the Pope's words is being done on an intellectual level and this is why people are not fully absorbing what he is saying. The Pope is our leader and guide and we need to listen to him in a spirit of humility, not trying to find problems with what he might be saying....
I'm very happy to read these past few posts as its much in line with what I have felt for sometime and glad Padraig is helping us to refocus. I also believe the times we are in is not just about Francis. I have this sense that We are being prepared for something very soon. I can't but help think we have a Pope Emeritus as well- he is the intellect and Francis the is the physician? I don't know and will not speculate but will be obedient and will trust in Jesus.
Wow Kathy. Your post is from the power of the Holy Spirit and I really sense the prophetic power of the Lord in your words because you have spoken right into the heart of the problem and provided the remedy. I am going to print your post out and reflect on it. God Bless you for your faithfulness to the Word.
Mmmm It's a bit like walking on mountains. The Holy Father has a heart ;of course he has, particularly a love for the poor But his influences are what will we say .....are more politically Scoailist...than mine....
I was interested to see what, 'Small Francsican Order the Pope had come down on like a ton of bricks' : here they are here: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/com...of-the-immaculate-not-to-use-the-1962-missal/
I feel I can profile "pastoral" priests and bishops well, because I have lived under them for 40 years now. This is what I know about them. They smile allot and want to be everyone's friend. Very social, they like hugs and kisses from their Church of Nice followers. Very nonjudgmental (except towards ortodox people and programs), while being very cordial to gays, divorced and minorities. Very tolerant except and unless you are traditional. They ignore and/or rebuff people who are to orthodox. They will give little or no credence to high positions within the Church functions for the orthodox members as (board members, religious ed formation directors and teachers, devotions, RCIA leaders etc.). Really big on all social justice issues (corporal works of mercy) and very modest on (spiritual works of mercy). They give the green light to modifying Churches that are to traditional (taking out communion railing, moving the organ and choir as close to the sanctuary as possible if not within it, putting the tabernacle on a side altar etc.) What Pope Francis allowed to happen to the "small Franciscan order" in taking away the Traditional Mass should not be a shock, because it is not viewed as being "pastoral" but old school. I pray for Holy Father every day, but that does not mean I have to like 100% of his 'prudential' decision making or his methodology. To some, this makes me a bad Catholic. I don't see it that way. I don't feel you have to marginalize one group of people while extolling another.
It sounds like Pope Emiritus Benedict is hurting over this...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/03/pope-francis-benedict-latin-mass-restriction_n_4038259.html
