continued from above... Priest Nicola Corradi is taken handcuffed and on a wheelchair to a courtroom in Argentina’s northwestern Mendoza province, Dec. 22, 2016 / Emmanuel Rodriguez Villegas, AP Victims and prosecutors say the anal and vaginal rapes, fondling and oral sex allegedly committed by the priests took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement at the school in Lujan de Cuyo, a city about 620 miles northwest of Buenos Aires. The school has “a little chapel with an image of the Virgin and some chairs where the kids would get confession and receive the communion. That’s where some of the acts were happening,” former lead prosecutor Fabrizio Sidoti told The Associated Press of the stories he heard from the alleged victims after the scandal broke. Children from other regions of Argentina who lived at the dorms were said to be especially vulnerable and targeted often. The tales they have told are harrowing: One of the alleged victims told AP she witnessed how a girl was raped by one priest while the other one forced her to give him oral sex. The Argentine courts said the alleged victims in the case in that country could not be publicly identified and AP does not identify people who may have been sexually assaulted unless they voluntarily identify themselves. “They always said it was a game: ‘Let’s go play, let’s go play’ and they would take us to the girls’ bathroom,” said one of the women who claims that she was abused at the school in Argentina. The prosecutor is expecting more than 20 other people to provide testimony and more people claiming abuse to come forward. Pope Francis has not spoken publicly about the case and the Vatican declined to comment on Corradi’s arrest. Advocates of sex abuse victims by priests question how Francis could have been unaware of Corradi’s alleged misdeeds, given he was publicly named by the Italian victims starting in 2009 and most recently in 2014. “No other pope has spoken as passionately about the evil of child sex abuse as Francis. No other pope has invoked ‘zero tolerance’ as often. No other pope has promised accountability of church superiors,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability, an online resource about clerical abuse. “In light of the crimes against the helpless children in Mendoza, the pope’s assurances seem empty indeed.” On Dec. 11, the pope appeared in a video using sign language to wish deaf people worldwide a Merry Christmas - a gesture that fell particularly flat in Argentina as Catholics struggle with the enormity of the Provolo scandal. “Either he lives outside of reality or this is enormously cynical ... it’s a mockery,” said Carlos Lombardi, an attorney who specializes in canon law. The Provolo case first exploded in Italy in 2009, when the Italian victims went public with stories of abuse after what they said were three useless years of negotiations with the diocese of Verona, where the institute has its Italy headquarters. The 67 victims alleged sexual abuse, pedophilia and corporal punishment at the hands of priests, brothers and lay religious from the 1950s to the 1980s. At the time, 14 of the victims wrote sworn statements and videotaped their testimony detailing the abuse they suffered. They named 24 priests, lay religious and religious brothers in a list that was published online. Corradi was one of those included in the list, which specified he was in Argentina at that time. In 2010, the Vatican ordered the Verona diocese to investigate the claims. One of the victims identified Corradi. The investigation results were sent to the Vatican. In a Nov. 24, 2012 letter, the Verona diocese wrote to the Provolo victims with the results of the Vatican-ordered inquiry and apologized. A copy of the letter provided to the AP listed only five priests accused, four of them sanctioned with a fifth excused because of his age and Alzheimer’s. Some of the original 24 accused had already died, others had left the congregation. For those sanctioned, the Vatican ordered punishments including living a life of prayer and penance and being placed under surveillance away from children. Corradi wasn’t among the five. But the Provolo victims didn’t stop pushing for investigation of other priests. On Dec. 31, 2013, they wrote to the pope asking him to institute an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the charges of clerical sex abuse in Italy. On Oct. 20, 2014, they wrote Francis and the Verona bishop naming 14 priests and lay religious from the institute who were still alive and in ministry who allegedly had sexually abused them. They named Corradi, and noted that he and three others were in Argentina. “We must point out that the behavior of the church is not in the least bit in line with the ‘zero tolerance’ stance of Pope Francis,” they wrote, listing the 14 priests and their current locations. “Such behavior makes us think that the church has no interest in the suffering provoked by priests who sexually abused deaf children, priests who continue to live their lives normally, priests who never apologized to victims, priests who never asked forgiveness and for whom the church itself attempts to let the time pass in hopes that everything is forgotten.” No response was immediately received. More than two years later, the Vatican’s No. 3 official, Monsignor Angelo Becciu, acknowledged receipt of the letters. In a Feb. 5, 2016, response, he said that as far as the Provolo victims’ request for a commission of inquiry was concerned, he had forwarded the proposal to the Italian Bishops’ Conference. Becciu said in that letter that the pope wanted to assure the Provolo victims that the church was taking measures to protect children and prevent sexual abuse. The Italian Bishops’ Conference didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on whether such a commission was under consideration. “I’m convinced that some hierarchy covered this up. They sent the wolf to take care of the sheep,” said Alejandro Gulle, the chief prosecutor in Mendoza. The Mendoza Archbishopric says it was unaware of the accusations against Corradi. “A religious man comes to a diocese and you trust the legitimate superior,” spokesman Marcelo De Benedectis said. He said that allegations aired by the case have prompted the Mendoza diocese to take measures such as demanding a sworn statement from priests stating that they don’t have a history of violating canon or criminal law. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been informed about the Mendoza accusations, he added. Viviana Avila, who teaches at the school, told the AP that among the professors “none of us suspected anything,” nor received any complaints from the students. She said the teachers finished classes at midday and never came near the dorms. Unlike the Verona case, the alleged crimes in Mendoza have not expired due to the statute of limitations and could lead to up to 50-year jail sentences for a conviction. A prosecutor is also probing accusations by a man who says he was abused at the Provolo Institute in the city of La Plata when Corradi first arrived in Argentina in the 1980s. “We want justice to be served. We might be able to get long sentences. I hope they’re the maximum,” said Gulle, the Mendoza prosecutor. “But we’ll never compensate the spiritual damage suffered by these children.”
Once again, the daily scripture reading for tomorrow is so pertinent to the current crisis: First reading 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 I have been told as an undoubted fact that one of you is living with his father’s wife. This is a case of sexual immorality among you that must be unparalleled even among pagans. How can you be so proud of yourselves? You should be in mourning. A man who does a thing like that ought to have been expelled from the community. Though I am far away in body, I am with you in spirit, and have already condemned the man who did this thing as if I were actually present. When you are assembled together in the name of the Lord Jesus, and I am spiritually present with you, then with the power of our Lord Jesus he is to be handed over to Satan so that his sensual body may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. The pride that you take in yourselves is hardly to your credit. You must know how even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough, so get rid of all the old yeast, and make yourselves into a completely new batch of bread, unleavened as you are meant to be. Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast, then, by getting rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
ONE MAN’S OPEN LETTER TO THE CANADIAN BISHOPS 'I myself saw photos of McCarrick nude on all fours on a seminarian's bed' by Church Militant • ChurchMilitant.com • September 9, 2018 https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/one-mans-open-letter-to-the-canadian-bishops Ex-seminarian Paul Wood wrote this open letter to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, copying a lawyer and addressing it specifically to his ordinary, Toronto archbishop Cdl. Thomas Collins. Collins responded, claiming that the "problem of homosexual immorality was dealt with several decades ago" and what Wood experienced in the past "is definitely not true" in the seminary today. Collins reiterated Church teaching that chastity is required of all and that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, concluding, "This is a long struggle, for we are going against powerful forces in the media and society that oppose the Gospel, but the faith is clear and that is what we proclaim." ******* Dear Bishops, I am writing you requesting to know what steps you are going to finally take about the undeniable rampant homosexual practice and sexual abuse in our parishes, schools and seminaries. By now, and in light of McCarrick, we all know that the Catholic Church since the 60s has been deliberately rocked by homosexuals, rectors and bishops leading gays into the seminaries — hence the unheard-of callous abuse of young people. This is not a mere McCarrick issue; he represents thousands of abusive priests and abused faithful young men. The time has come! The horse is out of the stable. When I was a seminarian at St. Augustine's in Toronto in 1980, the rector, Fr. Brian Clough, told us, "If you don't like it, get out." This report to Clough included ongoing gay activity within the seminary, including the gay orgy in the seminary organized by Fr. John Tulk. The auxiliary bishop in charge of the seminary, Abp. Aloysius Ambrozic at the time, responded to me, "Grow up." I sent a reverent and fulsome report to Abp. Marcel André Gervais. He sent it back. [Clough and Tulk were eventually expelled from the seminary in the mid-1980s for homosexual misconduct. -ed.] This must not be the road or attitude you must take now. We know the problem is homosexuality. I hold two master's degrees in Catholic theology. I know what is going on. My vocation and that of many outstanding candidates was destroyed because of the gayism and gay-friendly rectors. And no one could say I was nasty, loud, uninformed or belligerent. I was devotional, well-researched and reverent. We know the problem is homosexuality. Never have I ever heard a bishop or priest speak against homosexuality, about sin, about life issues — never — not since the days of beloved Frs. Ted Colleton, Cummerford and McGoey. Pope John Paul's encyclicals were totally ignored in theological studies, and the gay culture in our schools is "thick" anti-male and all they get. I have 35 years experience in the school system. This omission reveals cover-up, acceptance and even promotion of homosexuality and gayism in our Church. Some agree that the Church wants to normalize gayism. We won't tolerate this anymore. Additionally, we are horrified by the clergy's insensitivity to the many victims of clerical homosexual abuse. (video clip from Church Militant here) Decent leaders in decent organizations fling out the source immediately; their consciences are intact and they retain love in their hearts. Our Church leaders have not done that. You have made us feel "uncool," old-fashioned, "a pain in the butt" when we address sin, the sins of gayism. We as faithful Catholics do not except gayism as the secular culture does. The gay culture, like it or not, is unhealthy, lonely, dangerous and devious. In sum, instead of opposing gayism in the Church, clerics have accepted it and have joined the culture. Nothing very evangelical about that, is there? If it will be hard for you to address this issue due to public acceptance, that is still your task, and it is your fault for saying nothing over the decades and sending us many gay priests to preach to us about "homophobia." They're not too concerned about the lives they have destroyed or about the billions spent on legal fees and payouts, which should have been used for the needy. Any good atheist would have been sickened by this ongoing raping of our youth and would have eradicated it immediately. But in the name of the Church and Christian charity, you have not done that. How do you think we Catholics feel about the ice-cold refusal to protect young people, and instead to be silent on activity that destroys lives? We know you are all aware because we informed you. Indeed, our clerics have fallen from grace! I myself saw photos of McCarrick nude on all fours on a seminarian's bed. That didn't outrage bishops who saw the same photos and videos, yet any non-Catholic and faithful Catholic in the pews vomits from disgust. A prince of the Church on all fours, and he went on and on, until caught. No one said anything until caught. We all saw similar behaviours of many priests over the decades. Good, moral Catholic seminarians were made unwelcome. We are wondering if you are going to collectively finally teach what the Church teaches, has always taught on homosexuality. Will you pass this on to all clergy so that all teach "with the mind of the Church"? We will tolerate no less, we are incensed and your salvation depends on it. The Church is aflame because of you. Only addressing the infiltration of gays in our Church will put the flame out. We are now very informed, outraged and concerned about our Church and our people — seemingly more so than you. You must react. You are rendering our Church meaningless and a haven for gays. Encouraging gay-friendly bishops and cardinals does not help — Cdl. Joseph Tobin, Fr. James Martin, S.J., Cdl. Kevin Farrell, et al. This time around, we will not go away. We trusted you for 50 years. No longer! We will not tolerate you dismissing our reports and covering up the filth so that it may continue. We won't tolerate People's Magazine-style homilies. Kindly respond stating to us what you plan to do to address homosexual activity among clergy in the Church and when and how you will finally preach on Church moral teachings and condemn clerical gay predation. Thank you for your attention. Paul Wood, Toronto Paul Michael Wood is a teacher of elementary bilingual education and high school theology. He holds a B.A. in Modern Languages, a B.Ed., a Master of Religious Studies and a Master of Theological Studies. He is sixth in a family of 10 children, and is a member of the Knights of Columbus and a Benedictine Oblate. He was a seminarian at St. Augustine's Seminary in Toronto from 1980–81.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/f...on-vigano-testimony-this-is-a-homosexual-scan Former presidential candidate on Viganò testimony: ‘This is a homosexual scandal’ carlo vigano, catholic, homosexuality, pat buchanan, pope francis, vatican cover-up, vatican ii August 31, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — In a forcefully-written column titled “A Cancer on the Papacy,” former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan pulls no punches as he contests that the Catholic Church is going through perhaps its “gravest crisis” since the Protestant Reformation, and that homosexuality is to blame. A former aid to Richard Nixon who in a 2002 column argued that Vatican II was an “unrelieved disaster,” Buchanan calls for not only a thorough investigation of the “stunning” claims made by Archbishop Carlo Viganò, but an extensive “purge” and severing from the priesthood of those who covered up the scandals. “The issue here is whether Pope Francis knew what was going on in the Vatican and in his Church, and why he was not more resolute in rooting out the moral squalor,” Buchanan writes. Priests that prey on children are not only guilty of sin but are “criminal predators” who deserve to be put in “penitentiary cells” rather than parish rectories. Echoing the sentiments of a growing number of U.S. bishops (and laity), Buchanan believes it is imperative, given the gravity of the revelations, that Rome address Vigano’s allegations that more than 30 high-ranking cardinals, bishops, and priests – including Pope Francis – covered up sexual abuse. “For too long, the Catholic faithful have been forced to pay damages and reparations for crimes and sins of predator priests and the hierarchy’s collusion and complicity in covering them up.” The church “needs to act decisively now.” At its core, “this is a homosexual scandal,” Buchanan plainly states. “Applicants to the seminary should be vetted the way applicants to the National Security Council are. Those homosexually inclined should be told the priesthood of the Church is not for them, as it is not for women.” Traditional Catholic teaching holds that “homosexuality is a psychological and moral disorder, a proclivity toward acts that are intrinsically wrong, and everywhere and always sinful and depraved, and ruinous of character,” Buchanan wrote. Although Buchanan ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1992, 1996, and 2000, his ideas, according to Politico writer Tim Alberta, served as the ideological underpinnings of the Trump campaign and now presidency. In an article published in the spring of 2017, Alberta points out that many of the policies President Trump ran on, and is now implementing, were first proposed by Buchanan more than twenty years ago. These policies include secure borders instead of open borders, fair trade instead of free trade, nationalism instead of globalism, foreign policy restraint instead of interventionism, and America first instead of NATO first, among other things. Buchanan concludes his essay by reminding his readers of the media’s fawning attitude towards liberal clergy. “Undeniably, Francis, and the progressive bishops who urge a new tolerance, a new understanding, a new appreciation of the benign character of homosexuality, have won the plaudits of a secular press that loathed the Church of Pius XII.” He rhetorically asks, “Of what value are all those wonderful press clippings now, as the chickens come home to roost in Vatican City?”
In the following article, be sure to read the comments at the link because they may address a concern of yours when you read the article. Being Frank about Francis The McCarrick scandal, let us all admit, is just one powerful gust in the swirling tempest that now surrounds Francis and threatens to capsize both his pontificate and the barque of Peter itself. September 4, 2018 Dr. Douglas Farrow https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/09/04/being-frank-about-francis/ Pope Francis gestures as he leads his general audience in St. Peter's Square Aug. 29 at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters) Fr. Thomas M. Rosica, Vatican press assistant for the anglophone sector, wrote recently these astonishingly frank words: Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants because he is ‘free from disordered attachments.’ Our Church has indeed entered a new phase: with the advent of this first Jesuit pope, it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture. These words were intended to be both laudatory and prophetic. Francis is the pope who trims the Church’s sails to the winds of the Spirit rather than letting old charts and logs dictate the course. He is the man appointed by God to lead the Church out of its hide-bound clericalism into a new freedom to relate to the modern world, to generate in her a new “openness to what lies ahead,” to issue “a call to go further.” If, as some say, his methods and manner smack of Peronism, what of it? According to Fr. Rosica, those who dare criticize this divinely appointed ruler should go to confession and henceforth hold their tongues. Well, since we are being frank, let me say that a finer example of a disordered attachment could scarcely be found. Francis does not appear here as the successor of that Peter whose only mandate is to confess Christ and to safeguard the sacraments of the gospel, thus feeding the flock and strengthening his brethren. He appears rather as Jesus himself appeared – as one so vested with the Spirit as to take authority over scripture and tradition. And this, if taken seriously, is heresy of the rankest kind. Fr. Rosica’s fawning “clericalism of one,” if I may put it that way, confuses Peter with Christ. Moreover, it reflects a confusion evident in Francis himself, who on hearing this ought to have torn his cassock and ripped up Rosica’s letter of appointment. Perhaps, however, he was too preoccupied with his own effort to persuade us to go further, “to open ourselves up without fear, without rigidity, to be flexible in the Spirit and not mummified in our structures that close us up.” Now dare I say that, in the context of the present ephebophilia crisis, the words of Francis just quoted, which were used in expression of gratitude to José Tolentino Mendonça, a priest (now bishop) who has not shied from promoting LGBTQ causes, take on a rather sinister sense? One can well imagine such words being used in the grooming or cajoling of young seminarians by the likes of “Uncle Ted.” No doubt that was far from Francis’s mind! But recall that this is the pontiff who has not merely erred, as his predecessors did, in appointing men of dubious character to high office at the urging of other such men in the bureaucracy. This is the pontiff who has deliberately surrounded himself with such men (whose names, eschewed here, have now been named by one in a position to name them). It is the pontiff who allegedly lifted what limited sanctions Benedict imposed on McCarrick and apparently took the latter’s advice in making major episcopal appointments. It is the pontiff who, confronted with all that, said that he would speak not one word in reply, yet clearly indicated that critics, however grave their charges, are but sowers of division, a howling “pack of wild dogs” who seek to destroy the peace of a prayerful man. The McCarrick scandal, let us all admit, is just one powerful gust in the swirling tempest that now surrounds Francis and threatens to capsize both his pontificate and the barque of Peter itself. If the bridge is unresponsive it is not because it is deep in prayer, as the pope pretends. It is because the bridge itself is now riddled with the worms of sexual and financial corruption. Greed and lust, particularly homosexual lust, is doing to the Church what it is doing elsewhere in human society – destroying its very sense of direction and its capacity to distinguish truth from error, good from evil, the innocent from the guilty, sound judgment from folly. In such a situation keeping our heads down and bailing, bailing, bailing, as Rosica advises, is no solution at all. What, then, is the solution? To resist clericalism? Yes, and especially this “clericalism of one” that places the pope beyond all criticism and beyond all accountability. That will not be enough, but it will be a start. For the pope may be subject to no earthly authority the equal of his own, but he remains subject to the authority of Christ, of which he is by no means the only repository, nor in most matters the sole interpreter. Some think that Francis displays signs of a disordered personality, as David doubtless thought of King Saul; but subjective judgments of that sort, though they become more germane in any scheme that makes authority reside in the person rather than in the office, are not the issue here. The point is rather that it is wrong to treat Francis – or any pope – as if, like Saul, he were indeed a sovereign, an absolute sovereign against whom no hand must ever be lifted save, at most, to trim some small piece from the hem of his garment, lest one be found guilty of sinning against the Lord’s anointed. The first Jesuit pope will likely be the last. At all events, Ignatius’ military model of obedience ought not to be transferred to the papal and institutional structures of the Church. Nor ought anyone to be taken in by the kind of modesty of which Francis has made a show, as if that military model were the very thing he wished to break down by something more spontaneous, more charismatic, more Franciscan (that is, more lay-like). That is just what leads round to the error of papal personalism. From his bow on the balcony to his “Who am I to judge?” to his recent “You be the judge,” Francis has deflected attention from proper papal authority in order to enhance or protect his personal authority – the very authority so aptly described by Fr. Rosica. continued ...
continued from above... At this point, let us consult the charts. Canon 331 states: The bishop of the Roman Church, in whom continues the office given by the Lord uniquely to Peter, the first of the Apostles, and to be transmitted to his successors, is the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the pastor of the universal Church on earth. By virtue of his office he possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely. That certainly sounds like sovereignty, but what kind of sovereignty? Not the personalistic kind that Rosica favors, nor even the political kind that the people of Israel favored when they demanded that a king be appointed over them, nor yet the military kind favored by Ignatius. Note well here that the bishop of Rome is the vicar of Christ, not the vicar of God. God has now but one vicar, the God-man himself, who is the Church’s true head and its only proper sovereign and high priest. Peter exercises something of the sovereignty vested by God in Christ, for Christ has in turn vested that something in him and his successors, together with the apostolic college, in the form of magisterial judgment and binding juridical authority in the daily life of the Church. But Peter is not himself a sovereign, properly speaking; he is merely a steward, with very specific responsibilities. It was and is a mistake, whether by titles or by customs or by laws or by scruples – here we may indeed challenge some of the old charts, which were rightly corrected at the Second Vatican Council – to regard him as if he were something other or more than that. [emphasis added] Yet did we not call the Church the barque of Peter? Yes, but the genitive is not possessive. If we wish to make it possessive, or even appositive, we must refer to the barque of Christ. Recall the occasion when the Twelve were out in a boat with the wind against them, while Jesus also was out – walking on the sea in the tempest. When he joined them and climbed into the boat, both the wind and the sea and the boat itself obeyed him, though they would not obey Peter or the Twelve. There is a lesson there. The Church is the barque of Peter only in the sense that Peter is asked to remain watchful on the bridge. He is certainly not invited to seize the helm and steer the ship on some course of his own, fancying that his sails are trimmed to the Spirit. So let us, by all means, be frank. But let us have none of Fr. Rosica’s nonsense. If Francis is doing what Rosica says he is doing – and that, I fear, is difficult to deny – then Francis is not performing the duties of his Petrine office at all. Rather he is driving the ship onto the shoals, and it is high time the rest of the Twelve (I mean, of course, the apostolic college) pointed that out, as indeed the more alert members are beginning to do. This storm will pass, and the air in the Church be fresher for it. The ship will sail on and reach suddenly its destination. But its broken masts and rotten planks must first be replaced or repaired. For that, not only the charts, but also the ship’s plans, must be consulted again. *** Also from this news site: *** Why was Pope Francis’ comment about homosexuality and psychiatry changed in official transcript? Everything having to do with the current politics of “sexual minorities” revolves around the lie that homosexuality is completely normal and only “unhealthy” if it’s suppressed. September 6, 2018 Jim Russell The Dispatch https://www.catholicworldreport.com...nd-psychiatry-changed-in-official-transcript/ A shaft of light illuminates Pope Francis as he responds to a reporter's question aboard his flight from Dublin to Rome Aug. 26. M(CNS photo/Paul Haring) In many ways, actions speak louder than words. This is especially true when the action is the elimination of certain words. Such was the case with the Vatican’s recent removal of certain words from the official transcript of Pope Francis’ remarks during his in-flight press conference after his trip to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families on August 26. Apparently Francis forgot a major taboo when it comes to talking about homosexuality. He used the “p-word”—“psychiatry”—in reference to addressing homosexuality in children. He said, regarding homosexuality: “When it shows itself from childhood, there is a lot that can be done through psychiatry, to see how things are. It is something else if it shows itself after 20 years.” When the Vatican published its official transcript of the Pope’s remarks, however, the sentence was changed to omit the explicit reference to psychiatric intervention. According to one report, a Vatican spokeswoman justified omitting this exact quote in the official transcript like this: When the pope referred to ‘psychiatry,’ it is clear that he was doing it to highlight an example of ‘things that can be done.’ But with that word he didn’t mean to say that it [homosexuality] was a ‘mental illness.’ This seemingly small change strikes at the bedrock of our current culture’s attitude toward homosexuality, both in the secular world and increasingly in the Catholic Church, too: Is homosexuality psychologically normal and healthy, or not? From a Catholic perspective, the answer is simple: It’s not normal or healthy. It’s unhealthy at the psychological level, as well as the spiritual level. Say this today, and you will be quickly dismissed as “homophobic.” These statements contradict the opinion of mental health professionals who say homosexuality is completely normal and only “unhealthy” if it’s suppressed. Everything—everything—having to do with the current politics of “sexual minorities” revolves around this lie; acceptance of it is the difference between being “woke” or not. It’s seen as a great advancement in human development, to say that not only are people “born that way” but that God created people “that way.” This is a death-dealing falsehood from the Father of Lies. So when the Holy Father himself gets “edited” for the sake of preserving this lie, it is truly diabolical. While there are many ways that our sexual appetites and attractions—and even our willful choices about love itself—can get distorted, if the sexual inclination hard-wired by God into human nature gets distorted, we’re dealing with something very different from mere temptations to lust or mere unhealthy desires. We’re dealing with a distortion of God’s plan for the nature of sexuality itself—imprinted as it is on human nature, on every human person God creates. Physical factors might be associated with same-sex desires (e.g., genetic or biological predispositions toward homosexuality, even though these have yet to be demonstrated scientifically), but from the perspective of Catholic teaching the homosexual inclination is a malaise rooted in the human soul. Keep in mind that God’s creation cannot simply be “unmade” by human weakness or desires. Temptation and sin can and do wound human nature, but the Catholic Church teaches that human nature in itself is not made depraved or corrupted by concupiscence or sin. The homosexual condition is a psychological deficit that has a psychological genesis. In plain terms it is a “mental illness,” but plain terms aren’t always the best terms, and I understand that. “Mental illness,” for some people, evokes images of someone truly crazed, deeply unstable, etc. But there is a vast spectrum of diagnoses of “mental illness” that ought not to carry such stigma. It’s just that no one is willing to make important distinctions like this in regard to “sexual minorities.” Until Catholics in great numbers stop pretending that having a homosexual inclination is merely one way of being a healthy, normal human person, and that all the Church requires is “no homosexual sex acts,” the lie will continue to win every time. Turning the tide—the tsunami—on this is a monumental project, but one at the very heart of addressing our Church’s abuse crisis, our overall chastity crisis, and our massive cultural crisis. And, if one single symptom of this crisis speaks volumes, it’s the fact that a Pope—a successor of St. Peter—can’t speak the truth on this issue without having that truth elided by “the Vatican” itself.
The first reading for today, Tuesday 11 September: First reading 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 How dare one of your members take up a complaint against another in the law courts of the unjust instead of before the saints? As you know, it is the saints who are to ‘judge the world’; and if the world is to be judged by you, how can you be unfit to judge trifling cases? Since we are also to judge angels, it follows that we can judge matters of everyday life; but when you have had cases of that kind, the people you appointed to try them were not even respected in the Church. You should be ashamed: is there really not one reliable man among you to settle differences between brothers and so one brother brings a court case against another in front of unbelievers? It is bad enough for you to have lawsuits at all against one another: oughtn’t you to let yourselves be wronged, and let yourselves be cheated? But you are doing the wronging and the cheating, and to your own brothers. You know perfectly well that people who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God: people of immoral lives, idolaters, adulterers, catamites, sodomites, thieves, usurers, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers will never inherit the kingdom of God. These are the sort of people some of you were once, but now you have been washed clean, and sanctified, and justified through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.
The first reading for today (Monday 10 September) was also from Corinthians (1 Corinthians 5: 1-8). http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/091018.cfm It didn't include the entire Chapter 5. Here's what was left out: 9 In my letter, I wrote to you that you should have nothing to do with people living immoral lives. 10 I was not including everybody in this present world who is sexually immoral, or everybody who is greedy, or dishonest or worships false gods -- that would mean you would have to cut yourselves off completely from the world. 11 In fact what I meant was that you were not to have anything to do with anyone going by the name of brother who is sexually immoral, or is greedy, or worships false gods, or is a slanderer or a drunkard or dishonest; never even have a meal with anybody of that kind. 12 It is no concern of mine to judge outsiders. It is for you to judge those who are inside, is it not? 13 But outsiders are for God to judge. You must banish this evil-doer from among you.
Vatican Promises 'Clarifications' to Pope Cover-Up Claims https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/vatican-pope-cover-up-avuse/2018/09/10/id/881014/
I had to edit your quote to post this.. Wow Carol thank you for posting these articles. I had not seen the editing of Pope Francis's remarks regarding this subject but it comes as no surprise that yet again the Vatican manipulates facts to appear closer aligned to that of the worlds purview with man at the center. Whether or not Pope Francis was aware of this editing and approved of it is not something we can easily discern but I think it is not a stretch to come to this conclusion with the men he has surrounded himself with. I know that many may not like the source of this but it bears reflection IMO. https://akacatholic.com/he-is-the-king-of-the-universe/ He is the King of the Universe! Louie July 15, 2014 74 Comments Imagine, if you will, an international group of economic experts and other leaders assembled at the Vatican for a conference. The Holy Father, recognizing the importance of the topic, makes a personal appearance to address those in attendance, saying: Anthropological reductionism causes man to lose his humanity; to become a tool of the system – a social system, an economic system – where imbalances are dominant. When a man loses his humanity he becomes as a “piece of scrap” that one may discard when no longer useful. Why? Because Our Lord Jesus Christ is not the center. And when Christ is not in the center, there is another thing in the middle and man is at the service of this other thing. The idea then is to rescue man, in the sense of returning Our Lord Jesus Christ to the center: to the center of society, the center of thoughts, the focus of reflection. Place Christ once more at the center! Thank you. Thank you for the help you give with your work, with your reflection to restore this unbalanced situation and to restore Christ, bring him back to the center of reflection and the center of life. He is the King of the universe! And this is not theology, not philosophy – it is human reality. With this reality we will move forward. Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you! Just such a conference actually did take place at the Vatican on July 12, 2014, and the Holy Roman Pontiff did in fact address the assembly to set the tone for their discussion saying much the same thing, but with one major difference: Pope Francis never pointed to Our Lord Jesus Christ and the place of primacy He must occupy in the affairs of men. Not even once! Rather, he pointed, as readers of this space may very well have expected, to man himself, the new god of the new church-of-man. Following is a transcript of what Pope Francis really said. [Note: The text of this address is available in its fullness on the Holy See’s website here. As of this writing, it is available only in Italian. A report from Zenit is also available. Thank you to Mark J. for pointing this out to me.] When a man loses his humanity he becomes as a “piece of scrap” that one may discard when no longer useful. Why? Because the man is not the center. And when the man is not in the center, there is another thing in the middle and the man is at the service of this other thing. The idea then is to rescue man, in the sense of returning him to the center: to the center of society, the center of thoughts, the focus of reflection. Place man once more at the center. Thank you. Thank you for the help you give with your work, with your reflection to restore this unbalanced situation and to restore man, bring him back to the center of reflection and the center of life. He is the king of the universe! And this is not theology, not philosophy – it is human reality. With this reality we will move forward. Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you! I have written often of the church-of-man that emerged after Vatican II, with the conciliar text serving as the manifesto for the anthropocentric religion that supplanted the true Faith following the Council. One may wonder how the vast majority of bishops at Vatican II, many of whom certainly had good intentions (e.g., men like Cardinal Ottoviani and Archbishop Lefebvre,) could ever place their vote in favor of such texts? The answer is large part is that they were true sons of the Church whose esteem for the Petrine Office was such that they never imagined in a million years that any pope would ever allow this pastoral exercise to be leveraged in such way as to overshadow everything that preceded it. Much less did they ever imagine that the pope himself would ever willingly serve as an active agent in the conciliar takeover, dethroning Christ the King and replacing the adoration that is due to Him with a religion consumed with rendering false worship to an idol called “man.” With this in mind, we must remember that the text of the Council, for all of its deficiencies, is not leading the Church in our day, the sacred hierarchy is. That is to say, the Church is being led by the person of the pope and the bishops in union with him. Back in October, I wrote that all indications are that Pope Francis and the cardinals who elected him are quite convinced that the humanist takeover has finally reached critical mass, wherein both clergy and laity who prefer “the church of man” over the Church of Christ are now so comfortably in the majority that the time to set forth the humanist agenda without apology has arrived. Can there be any doubt whatsoever that this is precisely where we find ourselves today? Look, I’m as disturbed as anyone by the recent comments alleged to have been uttered by the pope about his disinterest in converting heretics and his thoughts on celibacy, but let’s not be distracted. At the heart of the crisis in the Church today is the virtual dethronement of Jesus Christ and the near singular focus of our churchmen – most especially the pope – on the supposed glory of humankind. If for no other reason – and to be very frank, I can think of no other reason, not even one – we can be grateful for the pontificate of Pope Francis due to his willingness to make the choice that lies before us so crystal clear. Yes, the days of pretense are indeed over, the picture is coming into increasingly stark focus, and for this we can be thankful. Make no mistake, however, this is a sword that cuts in two directions. For each and every one of us, and most especially for those of you who have the blessed yet heavy burden of exercising the care of souls as members of the sacred hierarchy, the time of choosing is at hand: Will you stand up in defense of the Sovereign Rights of Christ the King and the Holy Catholic faith, or will you remain silent as souls are endangered by a pope who repeatedly relegates Our Blessed Lord and the authentic Faith to a place of virtual obscurity?
A few questions occur to me. How many of the Cardinals who , 'Advised ' him are implicated by Vignano and involved in other sexual abuse cases)? Why has the response taken so very ,very long? Why has the Vaticna Secret Services and complicit Seceret Sevices round the world been set on finding archbishop Vignano? (after all if he lied what's the fuss?) When you have been lied to over a long period of time you become suspicious.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/b...an-be-distracted-tells-mundelein-seminarians/ ByRobert Herguth @RobertHerguth | email The young man studying at Mundelein Seminary to become a Catholic priest seemed anguished as he vented to Cardinal Blase Cupich about the clergy sex-abuse scandal that threatens to topple Pope Francis and drive more people away from the faith. “I’m hurting, I can’t sleep, I’m sick,” the seminarian told Cupich during an Aug. 29 gathering at which the cardinal spoke to about 200 future priests enrolled at the seminary, according to another person who was there and spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times but asked not to be identified. The seminarian told Cupich he was a young boy during the last scandal, in the early 2000s — amid a renewed wave of child-rape allegations against priests and cover-ups by their bishop bosses — and “thought this was over,” that the bishops had done their jobs. Cupich thanked the man for speaking up and said he, too, was sick over the situation. Minutes later, though, the cardinal said something that struck some of the seminarians as “tone-deaf.” “I feel very much at peace at this moment. I am sleeping OK,” Cupich said, according to the person in attendance, a man studying to be a priest, who recalled that some fellow seminarians shook their heads in “disbelief.” The source said Cupich also told the group that, while the church’s “agenda” certainly involves protecting kids from harm, “we have a bigger agenda than to be distracted by all of this,” including helping the homeless and sick. That account was confirmed by other sources, including another seminarian also present at the gathering. One of them said he decided to speak with the Sun-Times because so many Catholics “are hurting,” the cardinal’s remarks were so “non-pastoral,” and “the people of God need to know that their seminarians care” and “aren’t going to repeat the mistakes of the past — not only not repeat them but have them cleaned up.” Cupich, who was at the north suburban seminary for a spiritual retreat and meetings, speaks there every year. His talk centered on the current scandal. He spoke of seminaries being under a greater “spotlight” because of sexual misconduct — with the future priests knowing they will need to deal with a distrustful flock and help clean up the wreckage of a battered church. The Mundelein seminarians come from across the United States and also from outside the country. The tone of some of their questions, according to people who were there, indicated the sex-abuse crisis is very much on their minds — and that, even as Cupich urged them to trust him and Pope Francis, some seemed reluctant to put blind trust in bishops to fix things. Neither Cupich nor Chicago archdiocese spokeswoman Paula Waters responded to interview requests. Mundelein’s rector, the Rev. John Kartje, said, “The cardinal would have to speak for himself, just like the students are speaking for themselves.” The grounds of University of Saint Mary of the Lake, which includes Mundelein Seminary. | Sun-Times file photo According to the sources who spoke with the Sun-Times: • Cupich began his 15-minute talk, held in the dining hall and closed to the public, by describing “expectations” for seminarians, alluding to two hot-button topics relating to priestly training grounds — disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who allegedly sexually preyed on male seminarians out East for years, and “inappropriate” behavior among male seminarians. Those studying to be priests, as well as those already ordained, are supposed to abstain from sexual activity, with gay sex regarded as a sin. A “moral uprightness and virtuous life” is important, Cupich told the seminarians. “We don’t tolerate inappropriate behavior,” he said, encouraging seminarians to come forth if anyone solicits them for sex or makes suggestive comments. Cupich said that shortly after being appointed Chicago’s archbishop in 2014 by Pope Francis, a “number” of Mundelein students were “dismissed” for inappropriate conduct, which he didn’t elaborate on. Cupich’s comments were notable to some in the audience for appearing to focus more on wrongdoing by seminarians and less on them being victimized, as allegedly occurred with McCarrick, who resigned from the College of Cardinals in July and was ordered by the pope to a “life of prayer and penance” over accusations that he sexually abused minors and adult seminarians over a span of decades. • Cupich seemed taken aback when seminarians mentioned during a 45-minute question-and-answer session that some former students who left Mundelein after getting into trouble there are now enrolled at another Catholic seminary in an out-of-state diocese. Cupich told the audience that, to his knowledge, there’d been no inquiries from other seminaries about the men, as would be required. Cupich appeared concerned and said the matter would be looked into promptly, according to those present. A spokesman for the out-of-state diocese confirmed that two seminarians previously had been in a priest “discernment” program in Chicago. But the circumstances of why they left Mundelein had been “thoroughly” investigated, and there was “no evidence” found “precluding them” from joining the new diocese, according to the spokesman, who said part of the “due diligence” included talking with “various” church leaders in Chicago. The Sun-Times is not identifying the men nor the diocese because of the many unanswered questions about the matter. • Cupich told the Mundelein seminarians in response to a question that he doesn’t buy the argument advanced by some in the church that homosexuality is at the root of much of the sexual abuse by priests. He said the “facts don’t bear that out, and it’s wrong” to blame a group of people that way. Cupich also said he had never heard of abusive priests “passing kids around as though there was a ring” or “working together in a coordinated way” until recent revelations emerged about rampant clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania in another recent church scandal. Cupich indicated he believes the overall crisis has been fueled in part by a culture in which priests feel “privileged and protected,” what he termed “clericalism.” He said that continues and can carry a “homosexual tinge,” which he didn’t explain. He also said a gay “subculture” can sprout in the church and that “that’s inappropriate” because it amounts to a “clique.” Whether clerics are “gay or straight,” the witnesses said Cupich told the seminarians, they should be living “a chaste life” and “keep their commitments.” Cupich, who once was the rector of a seminary in Columbus, Ohio, told the Mundelein group his comments and his record show he views this subject seriously — which appeared to be a response to criticism last month by a former Vatican official, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who said in a public letter that Cupich advances a “pro-gay ideology.” • Cupich said seminarians should trust in Pope Francis even though the pope has been silent on whether Vigano was correct in saying Francis had allowed McCarrick to stay in ministry despite knowing he’d been preying on seminarians. Vigano’s claims have led to calls for a larger investigation and, from some quarters, to calls for the pope’s resignation. The pope is “calling us . . . to have patience” and let the truth emerge in an “organic way,” Cupich said, adding the pope isn’t “running away from a conflict” but is just being “very strategic,” according to seminarians. contd..
Cupich said he agrees with the pope that the news media should be the ones to investigate Vigano’s allegations, which also included claims that McCarrick went to bat with the pope to get Cupich appointed Chicago’s archbishop in 2014. Cupich has said he doesn’t know whether that’s true. • One seminarian told Cupich he seemed to be telling them they need to keep their heads down, with the cardinal telling the students not to be “distracted from what you have to be doing in your formation” and let those dealing with the crisis “do their jobs.” • Though the Archdiocese of Chicago — which includes Cook and Lake counties — has paid out roughly $200 million in legal settlements over the years for sex-abuse claims, Cupich also told seminarians that “our record’s clean,” and “we are not what happened” in Pennsylvania. • While supporting the pope for staying silent on Vigano’s claim, Cupich lambasted Vigano for not offering proof of his allegations. Cupich said he’d support Vigano appearing before a church “tribunal” to test his assertions under oath. “I think that he needs to take responsibility for what he says” and “back up what he says,” Cupich said. Noting that Vigano has been quiet since releasing his bombshell allegations on Aug. 25, Cupich said, “Why is he hiding? Why is he hiding?” One seminarian who spoke up at Mundelein told Cupich this isn’t a time for “attacking” Vigano or the pope, the sources said. “There needs to be an investigation” into Vigano’s claims, the seminarian told the cardinal. Cupich said of Vigano — who is part of the more conservative or traditional wing of the church, while Cupich and Pope Francis are seen as more liberal or progressive and have softened the church’s tone toward homosexuals — that he didn’t mean “to attack him personally” but wanted to point out the “conflicts” and “inconsistency” in what he’s said. Cupich also said, “If I say what he says is credible, then I have to say what he’s saying is credible about me.” In his letter, Vigano said of Cupich: “Regarding Cupich, one cannot fail to note his ostentatious arrogance, and the insolence with which he denies the evidence that is now obvious to all: that 80% of the abuses found were committed against young adults by homosexuals who were in a relationship of authority over their victims.” • Cupich also tried to rally the seminarians, saying the church needs their “idealism” and that perhaps they’re being chosen by God to help fix things. One of the seminarians who spoke with the Sun-Times said the abuse crisis makes him want to be a priest even more because people are suffering so much. “I am convinced that this moment is going to mature you and the church,” Cupich said to the crowd, recounting a biblical saying about gold being “tested by fire.” Cupich also warned of “demonic forces” and told the seminarians that all of them will be tested at some point. Predator priests “were loners,” so build “good, healthy human relationships,” Cupich told them. Cupich also recounted speaking to a group of Chicago police officials and observing that the police department exhibits “a version” of clericalism in which officers “cover” for each other when they do wrong. He said he told them: “That is the road to perdition for any organization.”
http://thewandererpress.com/catholic/news/frontpage/the-crisis-starts-with-cardinal-spellman/ I read this article yesterday about Francis Cardinal Spellman. He was a homosexual whose Cardinalate predated the 1960's. He was made a Cardinal by Pope Pius XII. I knew that the Kennedy family was close to him, but did not know details. I believe that he was the prelate who officiated at JFK's funeral. I think I remember that. This article talks about politics on the world stage as well as in the Church. Very eye-opening. He also had a well-known (at the time) feud with Archbishop Fulton Sheen, which I did not know about.
Finding out about Cardinal Spellman was the first chink out of the Wall in my husband’s decision to leave the Church.
