Now....if they would only bring back confession before mass!! More often than not confession is after mass or at a completely different time of day.
I'm happy to say that our new Pastor also hears Confessions each morning before weekday Masses begin.
My husband was in the military, and he returned from the Middle East some years ago, with many 'souvenirs' including a traditional Arab outfit, long white tunic, and the red and white check head scarf. He brought it back for our son thinking he would get a kick out of it. I decided that it would be in our son's best interest if the outfit mysteriously disappeared. It is still in its original packaging up in the attic; it will not be found until I am dead and buried. Considering the politically correct climate that was taking over our country, I figured it would have been a boat load of trouble had our son ever been seen or photographed wearing that garb. It is so awful to know that an innocent moment from your past, has the potential to destroy your future.
Yes, it's kind of scary. I suppose that Trudeau brought this controversy on himself. I don't know why he didn't defend himself rather than apologising for something he wasn't guilty of. The video Carol posted is very funny. I also think this is funny:
Of course, there's no necessary racism in portraying oneself as of a different race, but the warped thinking of the likes of Trudeau implies that there is, so that he found himself hoist by his own petard, as he couldn't appeal to the normal common sense he had himself upended. In truth, Trudeau is a racist, as are all progressives of this kind. I can't imagine that they perceive any quality in another human being beyond the colour of their skin. For them, goodness, wickedness, character or any other aspect of humanity in another count for nothing-the colour of their skin defines all that is worth knowing about them.
I wonder, how many of the once Catholic Christian nations which have forsaken God and become pagan once again as the EU have approved of assisted suicide now? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49837610 DJ Fabo ruling: Italy's top court backs assisted dying in extreme cases Italy's top court has ruled that assisted dying is not a crime if the person wanting to end their life is experiencing "intolerable suffering". The landmark ruling relates to the case of Italian disc jockey Fabiano Antoniani, or DJ Fabo, who chose to die at a Swiss euthanasia clinic in 2017. Fabo was left blind and tetraplegic by a serious car crash in 2014. His death became the subject of fierce debate in a country where euthanasia is opposed by the Roman Catholic Church. The Church, which is highly influential in Italy, sees euthanasia as the morally unacceptable killing of a person and a violation of the law of God. On Thursday, it said it had "distanced" itself from the decision by the country's constitutional court, which it viewed with "discontent". The ruling came less than a week after Pope Francis told an audience of hundreds of health professionals at the Vatican to "reject the temptation" to use medicine to "satisfy a sick person's possible wish to die". "Medicine, by definition, is a service to human life," he said, before quoting his predecessor, Pope Saint John Paul II: "Every doctor is asked to commit himself to absolute respect for human life and its sacredness." What does the new ruling mean? Italy's constitutional court said that euthanasia should be permitted by law in the country in certain circumstances, including those in which a patient's irreversible condition was "causing physical and psychological suffering that he or she considers intolerable". The court was revisiting the question of assisted dying and the "legal framework concerning end of life [situations]", following Antoniani's high-profile case. Requests had been made by a Milan court to clarify the law in relation to possible charges against pro-euthanasia campaigner Marco Cappato, who accompanied Antoniani on his journey to Switzerland. Mr Cappato, who was present throughout the court hearing, said the decision meant that "from today we are all freer, even those who disagree". "The council has decided; those who are in Fabo's condition have the right to be helped," he wrote in a tweet. Mr Cappato was facing up to 12 years in prison for "instigating or assisting suicide" but he will likely now be acquitted. Under the previous law, euthanasia was illegal but a patient had the right to refuse care - the potential contradiction led to several cases that divided Italians. Italy's parliament is now expected to debate the court's decision. What happened to DJ Fabo? On 13 June 2014, the much-loved Italian music producer was returning home from a club in Milan when he lost control of his car and collided with another vehicle. The tragic accident left Antoniani blind and unable to move his arms and legs due to spinal cord trauma. He required assistance breathing and eating. Antoniani said the crash left him in a world of "physical and mental pain". He fought for his right to die but, unable to gain that right Italy, he chose to end his life at a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland. "Finally I am in Switzerland and, unfortunately, I got here on my own and not with the help of my country," Antoniani said in an audio message posted on social media shortly before his death. Image caption "I'm leaving a hell of pain", DJ Fabo said in a final message Antoniani died at a Dignitas facility in Switzerland on 27 February 2017, at the age of 40. Following Wednesday's court ruling, his former girlfriend Valeria Imbrogno said his "unspeakable" suffering had not been in vain. "Fabo's body had become a cage and he lived in that prison for two years and nine months," she said, adding: "If a person in these conditions dreams of dying at home, I find it profoundly unfair that someone else should say no." Related video
Oh dear. This so evil and so misguided on so many levels. I feel a chill of fear for all who see this evil self murder as a way out.
Angels & Dragons XXIV: The Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel The Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel is a sacramental of the Catholic Church. It was blessed by Pope Pius IX in 1878 and formally approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1880. The official blessing and investiture prayer found in the Roman Ritual for the Scapular of St. Michael the Archangel has seven important statements or articles to study, meditate, and process so that the recipient fully understands the mind of the church concerning this most important and powerful sacramental. The blessing and investiture prayer for the scapular is found in this link. In the past, the wearer of the scapular lived a type of “rule of life” known as a ‘Confraternity’ along with feasts, prayers, and special indulgences. The ancient constitutions are in the Online Parochial Hymn Book link. The original ‘Archconfraternity of the Scapular of St Michael’ at the Church of St. Eustace in Rome has long disappeared, but wearers of the scapular can still receive the special graces and blessings fully intended by the church via the blessing and investiture prayer ceremony. Today, there are different confraternities at major shrines like the Gargano cave via the Michaelites and Mont San Michel but none go back to the original constitutions. The following are the seven important articles or statements found in the official blessing prayer and investiture of the Roman Ritual which the wearer can live by as a ‘Rule of Life’ through entrustment and consecration to St. Michael the Archangel. Firstly, the Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel was meant for all the faithful to experience St. Michael’s exclusive guardianship and protection. In other words, the scapular was “introduced for arousing and fostering devotion among thy faithful toward this great protector.” An example is when St. Michael said to the mystic and stigmatist Marie-Julie Jahenny, “After God, I am your protector and your support. Have recourse to me. If you knew my power, you would be more eager to address your prayers to me each day.” (September 29, 1877) Or when Constantine freed the Christians from centuries of persecution, “I am Michael, the chief of the angelic legions of the Lord of Hosts, the protector of the Christian religion, who, while you were in a battle against godless tyrants, placed the weapons in your hands.” Secondly, the Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel was meant to fortify, bolster and brace every Christian in battle, “And do thou grant all who wear it may be strengthened by the same holy archangel.” Whatever battle we are facing may we draw strength from St. Michael as when St. Bonaventure sees St. Michael strengthening Jesus at Garden of Gethsemane (Lk.22:43), “Now at the third time, when He was in the most profound anguish of spirit, behold an angel from God, the prince of the celestial hierarchy, St. Michael, came down and stood before him, comforted him, and said, “Hail, O blessed Lord Jesus! Your devout prayer and bloody sweat I have offered up to your-Father, in the presence of the whole court of heaven.” Thirdly, the Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel was meant to help each Christian in their final battle against the dragon so as “to vanquish the enemies of body and soul, both in this life and at the hour of death.” An example is when St. Anselm witnesses a religious who had a late conversion in life and on his deathbed, St. Michael defends him against the dragon three times allowing him to die a peaceful death. Fourthly, the Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel provides the singular grace of his constant intercession for our perfection. “by his constant intercession thou mayest be disposed to lead a holy life.” An example would be when 13-year-old St. Joan of Arc states about St. Michael’s recurring intercession, “Above all, Saint Michael told me that I must be a good child, and that God would help me.” “He [St. Michael] taught me to behave rightly and go often to church.” Saint Michael’s intercession can be invoked to know and live the will of GOD in every area of our lives; most especially that each of us may discover the special and unique grace specific to our vocation (as when St. Joan of Arc led by St. Michael frees France.) Fifthly, the Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel provides the wearer with St. Michael’s official sponsorship and care against all attacks of the dragon since it is an official enrollment or investiture of the Catholic Church. “We appeal to thy goodness, O Lord that thou wouldst hear our prayers and graciously bless † this servant (handmaid) of thine, who has been placed under the special patronage of St. Michael the Archangel.” An example would be when King Charlemagne put his entire kingdom under the patronage of St. Michael, and was protected so greatly by the archangel that, that period in history was known as the Christian era. Sixthly, the Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel ensures that St. Michael would pray and intercede for us when facing a temptation. “Through his intercession may he (she) avoid and guard against whatever is displeasing to thee.” An example of his intercession when facing an attack or temptation is when St. Padre Pio would say that if it were not for St. Michael’s intercession, he would be crushed under Satan’s feet or when he said, “you will need the help of Saint Michael living in this world!” Young St Padre Pio Moreover, St. Padre Pio would say, “These temptations make me tremble from head to foot with the fear of offending God.” Furthermore, he stated, “At certain moments I see myself actually on the brink of a precipice and then it seems to me that the tide of battle is about to turn in favor of those scoundrels. I feel myself trembling all over;” however, St. Michael would always come to his aid. Seventhly, the Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel not only helps to save our own soul, but the souls of others entrusted to our care. “and thus, merit in serving thee to accomplish his (her) own sanctification and that of others.Through Christ our Lord. Amen” An example is the official healing and exorcistic spring in Tlaxcala, Mexico which St. Michael gave to a 17-year-old named Diego Lázaro de San Francisco for the healing of other souls saying, “tell the inhabitants of this place, and everywhere abroad of a miraculous spring of water that will cure the people of their ills.” Finally, I am very devoted to the Brown Scapular, so I wear a double scapular to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Michael the Archangel found in this link The scapular receives the blessing and investiture prayer for the Scapular of St. Michael and the Brown Scapular blessing and investiture prayer as when a person wears the 5-fold scapular from the Roman Ritual that combines five different blessing prayers of five different scapulars. You can also choose to wear the single Scapular of St. Michael found here: https://www.ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/st-michael-scapular-set/p/SPCSCP0SCSM St. Michael the Archangel pray for us! THE END. http://atxcatholic.com/index.php/20...-of-saint-michael-the-archangel/#.XY9oxy-ZNQK
eta, Thank you for this post. I want to mention that I noticed the following today, Edward Pentin also brings to our attention that tomorrow is the feast of Michaelmas. https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-09-29 The following link https://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=682 explains this about Leo XIII's prayer of exorcism: This is a prayer against Satan and his rebellious angels. It was published by the Order of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. This simple prayer must be said by a priest only. The term "exorcism"" does NOT always denote a solemn exorcism involving a person possessed by the devil. In general, the term denotes prayers to "curb the power of the devil and prevent him from doing harm." As St. Peter had written in Holy Scripture, "your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour." [1 St.Pet. 5:8] The Holy Father exhorts priests to say this prayer as often as possible, as a simple exorcism to curb the power of the devil and prevent him from doing harm. The faithful also may say it in their own name, for the same purpose, as any approved prayer. Its use is recommended whenever action of the devil is suspected, causing malice in men, violent temptations and even storms and various calamities. It could be used as a solemn exorcism (an official and public ceremony, in Latin), to expel the devil. It would then be said by a priest, in the name of the Church and only with a Bishop's permission. The prayer can also be found at the following link https://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=682.
Something to note if you ever watch the movie or binge-watch the series: The dinner scenes are essential; yet you never, and I mean NEVER, see them say grace before sitting down. The scenes all start with the dinner underway so the producers could avoid having even that brief mention of "God", even though things like "saying grace" were ESSENTIAL to life at that time.
In absolutely shocking news it appears that Chinese communist state officials secretly do prefer capitalism! Who knew!
Sorry for the late reply; for some reason this thread wasn't showing up in my alerts with new messages. The problem in America (can't speak to Canada or GB) started back before the American Civil War with the rise of "Minstrel Shows". These shows usually parodied slave culture, with actors singing spirituals, etc. Since white actors couldn't actually share the stage with dark-skinned actors, the white actors had to act as Negroes. This was done by using burnt cork to darken their faces, therefore "black face." This also required some kind of white pencil to outline lips, etc. leading to the stereotypical "Negro" look you see in silent films of the early part of the 20th century. Advances in makeup technology and techniques led to the development of pancake makeups that could darken the skin and make it seem natural. (I myself had to do that for a high school play where my character was supposed to be Middle Eastern.) However, blackface still was used in some places, where black shoe polish replaced burnt cork, as an easily recognizable stereotype. Theater trivia: the first racially integrated musical was "Finian's Rainbow", which has consistently ranked number 1 in theater critic's choices of "best musicals in history." When it was first performed on Broadway in 1947 it caused a firestorm of controversy because of the way it portrayed how the white actors treated the black actors as equals. It was also controversial because of a major plot point, where Finian's daughter accidentally stands over a buried pot of leprechaun's gold and says to the racist sheriff, "I wish YOU were black!" and presto-chango, the white actor disappears briefly and reappears as black. When the show was revived in 1967 it still caused a firestorm of controversy for the exact opposite reasons. Check out the movie starring Fred Astaire and Petula Clark, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. I think if that one guy who wore the Arab costume (can't remember his name) had used the proper pancake makeup and used it properly, this would have been a non-issue.
I didn't know that white and black actors couldn't share the stage. Thanks, Muzhik, for that info which makes more sense out of the controversy. There was a very popular Black & White Ministrel show on British TV years ago. It was a very good show but I think that it may have run its course before the blackface controversy became a thing. Nobody considered the show racist at that time. Well, maybe people with dark skin did. If so, I don't recall it making the news. Racism was a thing in England way back when but not so much here in Ireland. That's not to say that we Irish were paragons of inclusiveness. As far as I can remember, there were very few immigrants living here and most of them were Europeans who came during or shortly after WW11 so most Irish people didn't encounter any foreigners in their everyday lives.
I agree with you. I'm thinking if it's something that could be sealed in a juvenile record then it shouldn't be considered in judging adult behavior. It's WHY we seal juvenile criminal records! Here in Iowa we've gone through our own roller-coaster involving this. For those outside the US, you might want to Google "ESPN Hawkeye beer money" ESPN sports network was covering the Iowa State - University of Iowa grudge match a couple of weekends ago. One 24-year-old guy, Carson King, brought a sign saying his beer supply needed replenishing and gave his Venmo account, and it happened to be caught when the camera panned across the crowd. He hoped to get enough money to buy a few six-packs. Instead, by the end of the day he had over $1,000 given to him. He announced that he was going to give the money to the children's cancer hospital that's right next to the football stadium (In fact, since the hospital opened about 10 years ago it's been a tradition that at the end of the first quarter of the game, everyone stands up and waves to the hospital, since the nurses frequently bring the children to watch the game looking out of the windows at the field.) At that point, both Anheuser-Busch (AB) and Venmo said they would match the contributions. By this time yesterday, over $2,000,000 had been raised. BUT... the Des Moines (Iowa) Register had a reporter who did some digging and found a pair of racist tweets the guy had made back when he was 16, and published that fact in an article about King. King released a statement apologizing, but both AB and Venmo announced that they were cutting ties with King, but they would both honor all matching funds until the end of the month. Reaction was swift. There was such blowback at the Des Moines Register for publishing that article that the newspaper suspended the reporter. Then someone found a few racist tweets that the reporter had made in high school, and the Register fired him. The Iowa Beerfest cut its ties with AB for cutting ties with King. And a craft brewery in Illinois, across the river from Iowa, announced it was going to release a Pilsner called "Iowa Legend" in his honor and would donate a portion of sales to the hospital until the batch ran out. The brewery, Geneseo Brewing Co. (you can find them on Facebook) noted in its statement that there is a great deal of growth in a person between the ages of 16 and 24, which is why the drinking age is 21. (NOTE: I just checked their page and they sold out of the first batch within 3 days! Plans are afoot to brew more and distribute it more widely.)
It shows the pettiness of digging far back into a person's past to spoil something good. Young people even in their mid-twenties say foolish things to impress their friends. Considering that most young adults have social media accounts, I shudder to think what will be used against many of them in the future when they've long since forgotten what they might have posted on the spur of the moment or maybe after they've had a few drinks. And even if whatever they post now is politically correct, there's no knowing what will be considered hateful or extremist in the future. I'm sure glad I'm old and very relieved that there was no internet or smartphones when I was young.
It does my heart good to know Iowans fought back. This has got to stop! All this so called virtue signaling is such a farce. Good for King. Good for Iowa and good for Geneseo brewing Company! The old stones/glass houses comes to mind.
Interesting news. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019...ands-saudi-troops-attack-190928144722091.html A spokesman for the Yemen-based rebels said in a statement on Saturday that three "enemy military brigades had fallen" in the attack, which he said was launched 72 hours earlier in the vicinity of Najran and was supported by the group's drone, missile and air defence units. Houthi-run Almasirah TV quoted the spokesman as saying they captured "thousands" of enemy troops, including many officers and soldiers of the Saudi army, as well as "hundreds of armoured vehicles". The Houthi military spokesperson said the operation reveals to Saudi Arabia that the Yemeni fighters are capable of further penetrating into Saudi territories "in case it continues its aggression against Yemen".
My ex and I didn't have to worry about this with my daughters, but to me this highlights why you NEVER give a teenager a smartphone. Get them a "burner" phone, that can do phone and maybe texts, but you pay by the minute, and you keep track of how those minutes are used. Once the kid graduates from high school they can get a smart phone, but not before.
No, they prefer communism... for the manipulated masses. As far as their own lifestyle is concerned ... well, that´s a different story. Fidel Castro lived like a king in Cuba, book claims Former bodyguard Juan Reinaldo Sánchez writes that leader ran country like a cross between medieval overlord and Louis XV Kim Willsher in Paris Comments 433 Fidel Castro wrote for communist party newspaper Granma but gradually vanished from public view. Photograph: Alex Castro/AP Fidel Castro lived like a king with his own private yacht, a luxury Caribbean island getaway complete with dolphins and a turtle farm, and travelled with two personal blood donors, a new book claims. In La Vie Cachée de Fidel Castro (Fidel Castro's Hidden Life), former bodyguard Juan Reinaldo Sánchez, a member of Castro's elite inner circle, says the Cuban leader ran the country as his personal fiefdom like a cross between a medieval overlord and Louis XV. Sánchez, who was part of Castro's praetorian guard for 17 years, describes a charismatic and intelligent but manipulative, cold-blooded, egocentric Castro prone to foot-stamping temper tantrums. He claims the vast majority of Cubans were unaware their leader enjoyed a lifestyle beyond the dreams of many Cubans and at odds with the sacrifices he demanded of them. "Contrary to what he has always said, Fidel has never renounced capitalist comforts or chosen to live in austerity. Au contraire, his mode de vie is that of a capitalist without any kind of limit," he writes. "He has never considered that he is obliged by his speech to follow the austere lifestyle of a good revolutionary." Sánchez claims he suffered Castro's ruthlessness first hand when he fell out of favour, was branded a traitor, "thrown in jail like a dog", tortured and left in a cockroach infested cell, after asking to retire. Released from prison, Sánchez followed the well-worn route of Cuban exiles to America in 2008. "Until the turn in the 1990s I'd never asked too many questions about the workings of the system … that's the problem with military people … as a good soldier, I did my job and my best and that was enough to make me happy," he writes. The book, published on Wednesday, has been written with French journalist Axel Gyldén, a senior reporter at L'Express magazine. Gyldén admits Sánchez has a large axe to grind with Castro, but insists he has checked the Cuban's story. "This is the first time someone from Castro's intimate circle, someone who was part of the system and a first-hand witness to these events, has spoken. It changes the image we have of Fidel Castro and not just how his lifestyle contradicts his words, but of Castro's psychology and motivations," Gyldén told the Guardian. This is not the first time it has been claimed that Castro enjoys great wealth. In 2006 Forbes magazine listed the Cuban leader in its top 10 richest "Kings, Queens and Dictators", citing unnamed officials who claimed Castro had amassed a fortune by skimming profits from a network of state-owned companies. The Cuban leader vehemently denied the report. Castro's long reign ended in 2006 when he was stricken with what was believed to be diverticulitis, an intestinal ailment, and handed power to his younger brother Raúl, who had served as defence minister. He officially ceded power to Raúl in 2008. Fidel continued penning columns for the Communist party newspaper Granma but gradually vanished from public view, fuelling rumours he had died, only to surface for occasional, fleeting appearances. Raul has made cautious economic reforms but kept tight control. Visitors such as Ignacio Ramonet, the French journalist who has interviewed Castro at length, have depicted an austere lifestyle of reading, exercise, simple meals and modest home comforts. But Sánchez, now 65 and living in America, claims Castro enjoyed a private island – Cayo Piedra, south of the Bay of Pigs, scene of the failed CIA-sponsored invasion of 1961 – describing it as a "garden of Eden" where he entertained selected guests including the writer Gabríel Garcia Márquez, and enjoyed spear-fishing. The former bodyguard says Castro sailed to the island on his luxury yacht, the Aquarama II, fitted out with rare Angolan wood and powered by four motors sent by the Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev. "Castro would sit in his large black leather director's armchair ... a glass of Chivas Regal on the rocks (his favourite drink) in his hand," writes Sánchez. Other presidential properties, he writes, included an "immense" estate in Havana complete with rooftop bowling alley, basketball court and fully equipped medical centre, and a luxury bungalow with private marina on the coast. "Fidel Castro also let it be known and suggested that the revolution gave him no rest, no time for pleasure and that he ignored, indeed despised, the bourgeois concept of holidays. He lies," he adds. Ann Louise Bardach, a veteran Cuba chronicler who has interviewed Castro, said that as a lifelong hypochondriac he enjoyed the best food and medical care but did not have a lavish lifestyle. He was born into money and went into politics for power, she said. "He didn't do it for the money. He's not swinging from the chandeliers." His current home, just outside Havana, had four bedrooms and would in the west be considered middle or upper-middle class, she said. Focusing on any material advantage he may enjoy missed a larger point, said Bardach, author of Without Fidel: a death foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington. "He owns the island of Cuba. It's his personal fiefdom." Sánchez says Castro's dolce vita was a "crazy privilege" while Cubans suffered serious hardship in the 1990s as the economy "collapsed like a house of cards" after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and eastern bloc with which Havana had done almost 80% of its foreign business. His compatriots, he says, were also unaware of their leader's complicated love life, his womanising and subsequent tribe of at least nine children, not least because Cuban media was forbidden to mention them. The Cuban leader kept a gun at his feet when travelling in his Mercedes and never went anywhere without at least 10 bodyguards, including two "blood donors". At home he would get up late, and start work around midday "after a frugal breakast". "His favourite film that he saw I don't know how many times was the interminable and soporific Soviet version of Tolstoy's War and Peace … which lasted at least five hours." He recalls how Castro bugged everyone, including Hugo Chávez, and insisted his bodyguard jot down everything he did in a notebook "for history". Sánchez says for nearly two decades he saw more of Castro than his own family. "He was a god. I drank all his words, believed all he said, followed him everywhere and would have died for him," he writes. He claims he finally realised that Castro considered Cuba "belonged" to him. "He was its master in the manner of a 19th century landowner. For him wealth was above all an instrument of power, of political survival, of personal protection." Recalling how Castro kept Angolan diamonds in a Cohiba cigar box, he writes: "Sometimes, Fidel had a little of the mentality of a pirate of the Caribbean." La Vie Cachée de Fidel Castro is published by Michel Lafon on Wednesday. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/21/fidel-castro-lived-like-king-cuba
