I will not speak to any particular individuals as that is for God to Judge, but as a whole the Catholic Church has been hijacked by communists, masons, homosexuals, and worse. They are now trying to enforce their agenda upon the faithful. There is a quote: "Show me your friends and I'll show you who you are." They should come up with a new one: "Show me your prelates and I'll show you how naughty you've been."
THE GREAT BETRAYAL - new episode CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION FEATURED Xi Jinping Places Catholic Church in China Under Direct Party Control Steven W. Mosher April 30, 2018 One Comment The decision means that the proposed Vatican-China agreement would not merely be a surrender of the Chinese faithful to the Communist Party—it would be an utter betrayal of the faith. On March 22, the Chinese Communist Party announced that all “religious affairs” in China would henceforth be supervised by a shadowy Party office called the “United Front Department.” The former government agency responsible for Catholic and other believers–the State Administration of Religious Affairs bureau (SARA)—has been summarily abolished. The reorganization attracted little attention outside of China, but it is certain to have unpleasant repercussions for Chinese believers. I believe that this move means that the persecution of Catholics and other believers is about to get much more intense, perhaps rising to levels not seen since the dark days of the 1950s. The change also means that, in all probability, the draft agreement between the Vatican and Beijing that has been under discussion for years is now a dead letter. In fact, signing it now would mean more than surrendering papal authority over the appointment of bishops to the Chinese state, as bad as that would be. Signing it now would be a betrayal of the faithful into the hands of a new Red Emperor who seems to have a particular animus towards Christians, especially Catholics, and who seems determined to suffocate and extinguish the faith throughout his empire. It is no secret that religious liberty–despite being guaranteed by the PRC Constitution–has always been severely restricted in the People’s Republic of China. But to understand why putting religious affairs into the hands of the CCP’s United Front Department bodes so ill for Catholics you need to understand the purpose of the Department and its work. The United Front Department was created by Chairman Mao Zedong to co-opt and control non-Communist organizations and individuals during the Chinese civil war. Its efforts were so successful that Mao called it one of the three “magic weapons” that helped to revolution to succeed. (His other two “magic weapons” were propaganda and, not surprisingly, the Red Army.) After the civil war, the United Front Department was re-tasked with serving the Party leadership by coercing various groups, such as intellectuals and businessmen, into actively collaborating with the newly established “people’s democratic dictatorship.” Now that Catholics have been brought under the Department’s purview, the same kind of pressure will be exerted on them, and the same kind of active collaboration demanded of the Patriotic Catholic Church with the regime and its goals. The work of the United Front Department, in other words, will not be limited to merely ensuring that Catholic bishops, priests, and laity comply with the regulations governing religious activity. If that was the only issue then SARA, which was already enforcing such regulations on Catholics, would not have been abolished. Nor does the move simply mean that the Church will be losing the (already very limited) freedom of action it once had, although this is also absolutely the case. Rather, putting the United Front Department in charge of religious affairs means that the Party leadership is determined to make the Patriotic Catholic Church into an active “agent of control” for the regime with a single purpose: to subvert and undermine the faith of the millions of Catholics in China, and to prevent them from spreading the faith to others, including their own children. It is nothing less than a hostile takeover—an expropriation if you will—of the Catholic Church in China. Like Chairman Mao, Xi Jinping hungers for ironclad control over Chinese society and is turning to the United Front Department to accomplish this end. Channeling the late chairman, Xi likewise declared in his October 2017 speech to the National People’s Congress that “United Front work is an important magic weapon for the victory of the Party’s cause.” Even Chinese officials, who are trying to sell the reorganization as a way of enhancing the “efficiency of government,” acknowledge that it is an effort to assert control over believers. “It means management of religious affairs and ethnic issues will be stepped up,” says Yang Shu of Lanzhou University. “And we could see the authorities taking a tighter grip than before.” A tighter grip, indeed. The new “Regulations for Religious Affairs” which came into effect on February 1, are already being rigorously enforced. Students and Party members have been warned not to participate in religious activities. Churches have been told to keep minors from attending Mass, and catechism classes and summer camps are now off-limits. Churches continue to be defaced by having their crosses and statues removed, or even demolishedentirely. Priests in the Underground Church have been ordered to register for a “clergyman certificate” so they can be monitored and supervised. Even the sale of Bibles has been banned as the United Front Department prepares a “Sinicized”—that is, Party approved—version. Like the other organizations controlled through the United Front Department, the Patriotic Church will henceforth be expected to behave like an arm of the Chinese Communist Party in carrying out the will of the “people’s democratic dictatorship.” Homilies will be expected to praise the existing order (led by “Core Leader” Xi Jinping), and to promote the official ideology (known as “Xi Jinping thought”). As for the Underground Church, it will simply be annihilated, insofar as it is within the regime’s power to do so. It is not hard to see that there is an irreconcilable contradiction between the impending demands of the United Front Department and the demands of the Catholic faith. United Front tactics will be used, as they were in the late 1950s, to complete the subversion of the Catholic Patriotic Church into an agent of the state. Then the Church itself will be used to force the ideological assimilation of all Chinese Catholics into the political order—the people’s democratic dictatorship—that Xi Jinping controls. It is impossible not to conclude that Xi’s ultimate goal is that same as Mao’s was, namely, the total eradication of this “foreign” religion from the soil of China. The agents of this subversion will be Patriotic Catholic Bishops like Bishop Peter Fang Jianping of Tangshan, one of three compromised bishops who are members of China’s rubberstamp parliament, the National People’s Congress. Bishop Fang eagerly promotes Xi Jinping’s call for the “sinicization of religion,” which is the idea that religion should chiefly serve the interests of the Chinese Communist Party that Xi himself leads. The reason why Catholics should support the Party and its leader, according to Fang, is “because we, as citizens of the country, should first be a citizen and then have religion and beliefs.” Such a formulation—which gives the Chinese Caesar pride of place–leaves no doubt where Bishop Fang’s primary loyalty lies. Faced with a similar choice between secular and sacred authority, St. Thomas More famously said, “I am the King’s good servant, but I am God’s first.” Bishop Fang would turn More’s affirmation of the faith on its head. He is saying, in effect: “I am God’s good servant, but I am Emperor Xi’s first.” Continue here: https://onepeterfive.com/xi-jinping-places-catholic-church-in-china-under-direct-party-control/ Steven W. Mosher is the President of the Population Research Institute and the author of Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order (Regnery)
I think I am in a minority of one on this question! I actually like Pope Francis but frequently go to SSPX masses. I think on the Pope we have to recognise that each Pope reaches out to different groups at different times. We had Pope Benedict who reached out to traditionalists, settling a number of intellectual problems and left them in a still flourishing condition, and now Pope Francis who is clearly reaching out to the large category of lapsed Catholics. He is popular among this group and I guess you have to speak their language to be so? Hence the somewhat peculiar language and causes of Pope Francis sometimes, but thats the only way the Man above can reach out to that group? He is never going to force them to love Him, they have to be attracted back and it is working a little bit on Catholics very tepid in their faith that I know. Of course this Pope Francis era won't last forever, after this mercy period we will get His justice if those Catholics continue to refuse to take their faith seriously, but in the meantime we have this era that I think is characterised by the good son in the prodigal son story. On the SSPX I don't think it is particularly logical to suppose that attending SSPX masses is seen as offensive in the eyes of the Church if the latter also recognises as valid and licit SSPX confessions and marriages. I think when they took that step recently, of recognising those sacraments, they were addressing issues that remained in dispute, in otherwords they wouldn't deal with that if the mass issue was still in debate? I think realistically it clearly means that SSPX masses are ok from the Church point of view, albeit we all respect Cardinal Burke's opinion but maybe he can be a little legalistic at times? I think Cardinal Hoyos captured it when he says that they are not in as full communion with the Catholic Church as they should be, and hopefully they will get there soon enough. But while that is a disadvantage of attending SSPX masses, the other advantages might outweigh them? They are certainly very respectful of the Eucharist and very forthright in defending and articulating the Catholic faith and encouraging Catholics to say Novenas and go on pilgrimages etc. They are way ahead of any other groups in Ireland on that score I would say. Anyway if anybody is interested in the SSPX in Ireland you could meet them at the abortion conference they are organising this Saturday at 3pm in the Alex hotel in Dublin, its free but you have to register: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/a-great-appeal-for-life-tickets-43566477507 .
Praetorian, We must remember that Our Blessed Mother did not tell us to leave the Church and I realize that you are not suggesting this either, she told us to pray for the Pope, "Pray a great deal for the Holy Father" - Our Lady of Fatima, 1917 We were discussing Cardinal Sarah's statements from May 16th, 2016 at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in D.C. He told us to fight to protect the family! #7083 He also quoted from his own book "God or Nothing", "Today the Church must fight against prevailing trends, with courage and hope, and not be afraid to raise her voice to denounce the hypocrites, the manipulators, and the false prophets. For two thousand years, the Church has faced many contrary winds but at the end of the most difficult journey, the victory was always won." So the good cardinal wasn't saying just go along with in the direction that world is going, no, he asked us to fight with our voices, with our votes, and with our prayers. He asked us to, "Be prophetic, Be faithful. Pray.". I just realized that the quote that Mark Mallett used from Cardinal Sarah regarding the pope was from a private conversation that he had with Dr. Robert Moynihan and not part of the speech he gave that day. http://www.sanclementeparish.org/blog/fr-james-marshall-weekly-blog/speaking-truth-to-power I encourage you to read Cardinal Sarah's actual speech, https://s3.amazonaws.com/ncpb/platform/wp-content/uploads/Cardinal-Sarah-Keynote_2016-NCPB.pdf It is a very good message imho.
Regarding concern about which Mass to attend, I would just say that in the past I was very aggravated by some of the things about the Novus Ordo Mass. I will just call it the Mass from here on out. Yet I remember reading someone's comment that made an impact on me and it was this....when you are in the pew and feel that the music is awful, the lyrics are protestant, etc... give it to God. Ask Him to restore His glory among the congregation, among the clergy and ask the Holy Spirit to revive the hearts of all there present. If in your disgust, you go on to somewhere else, you won't be that person that cries out to God for restoration and you may influence others to cease going by complaining. I think it is more humble to sit there in misery and pray for relief than to go on to somewhere else. Those pinnacles of pure worship are few and far between, but when they come either during prayer, adoration, Mass, Confession, or other times, they sustain for long periods of dryness. The last Sunday Gospel was the one about Jesus telling us that He is the true vine, and His Father is the vine grower. The Homilist pointed out the in that Gospel reading, Jesus exhorts us 7 times to remain in Him. "Remain in Me as I remain in you. Just as a branch can not bear fruit on its won unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me." is just one passage from that reading. I am not suggesting that anyone here is not remaining with the LORD, I am just offering an opinion that maybe our prayers for more reverent worship are pleasing to the LORD, because He knows how ardently we want that to be... for Him to be praised and glorified reverently with our hearts full of love for Him.
Scolaire Bocht, Thank you for this insight. When I first read your post I thought, yes, if the Pope has approved the sacrament of marriage for SSPX under certain conditions - well, weddings include a mass but I forgot that a mass is actually not a requirement for a Catholic wedding, the sacrament of marriage is separate from the nuptial mass. In addition, what the Pope approved of is not the nuptial Mass but only the sacrament of marriage in the presence of a priest or with authority from a bishop when a priest is not available. This is for my own edification and others here like myself. ... A letter published by the Vatican on April 4 said the Pope will allow Catholic bishops to appoint priests to assist at SSPX marriages and formally receive the consent of the couples. The nuptial Mass then would be celebrated by the SSPX priest. ... “Despite the objective persistence of the canonical irregularity in which, for the time being, the Society of St Pius X finds itself,” the commission said in its new letter, the provisions approved by the pope on marriages should alleviate “any uneasiness of conscience on the part of the faithful regarding the validity of the sacrament of marriage.” The commission also said it relied on the cooperation of the Church’s bishops to ensure that “the process toward full institutional regularisation may be facilitated” between the Church and the traditionalist society. ... The above quotes are from the following Catholic Herald article which also contains the full text of the letter from the CDF which provides the exact guidelines, Pope Francis paves way for recognition of SSPX marriages April 4, 2017 The Pope's decision approves a proposal made by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Commission, Ecclesia Dei http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/new...-paves-way-for-recognition-of-sspx-marriages/ PS- When I stated that many Novus Ordo masses are illicit in a previous post, I have no idea exactly how many and I definitely did not mean all. I pray that things get better soon but I fear that will get worse first and I believe that is what Our Lady of Fatima was warning us about.
That is true in a sense, but if one knows a Mass will be illicit then they are not supposed to attend. Unless possibly if there are no other Masses available to fulfill one's Sunday obligation.
Thank you Carol for clarifying. In one of my earlier posts I stated that the SSPX have been given permission by Pope Francis to hear confessions and perform marriages. I was not clear enough in stating that there are stipulations in the case of marriages that a diocesan priest accompany as well.
I keep it simple I go to Mass and Confession and I pray the Rosary and Jesus and Mary take care of the rest It would tie me up in scrupulous knots to do otherwise
Praetorian, If what you have stated is correct then this would verify that we should not attend a mass said by an SPPX priest. In addition, if we think that there is a good chance the mass in our own parish would may be illicit then we should go elsewhere but there is no guarantee that if we go to another parish that the mass there will be both valid and licit until we attend it. Do you have a source of verification for your statement? Thank you as always.
These are confusing times and I certainly don't have all the answers. I just wanted to get that out there for anyone who might be passing by so they have all the information. Or at least enough to start them in discerning how they will proceed through this confusion.
Not at all. Scrupulosity is seeing sin where there is none. Like thinking it is a mortal sin to eat the extra piece of cake. Wanting to avoid Masses containing liturgical abuse is not scrupulous. It may not be important to you, but that does not relegate it to the arena of scrupulosity.
