I think this is so key. Catholicism is a community. We all need to find good faithful Catholics to support and be supported by if it is at all possible. That is also one of the reasons why this forum is so invaluable.
I think it's good to have second thoughts about anything we say or write about the Holy Father. I often do. I question myself over and over and over again. At the very least we owe him the same charity and love and kindness we owe everyone else in the world. But since he is our Spiritual Father we owe him a lot more than this. Which is one of the reasons I tend to switch off as much as I can on the whole subject. This uneasiness. But sometimes being a bit uneasy is not bad thing. I wouldn't all out call someone a liar I think. Especially a Pope.
I admit I go over the top sometimes about him. May God forgive me for it. Another reason to avoid the whole subject matter; it is such an occasion of sin for me.
I stay away from it. I have to for my soul's sake. I just listened again to the talk on Our Lady oc Trd Fontaine. Her messages speak of this. We are undergoing a terrific purification. A searing of the faith. Satan has been allowed this time to radically test the Church. Prayer prayer prayer. Penance penance penance. (Her words)
On the other hand it is a time of huge, huge graces. I feel sometimes recently like the Good God has lifted me unto His shoulders and is running with me. Buried in Graces. Even on my computer I see myself shown different things to look at, listen too and read. He has also shown me a little bit to do with the future of the Church which cheer me immensely. We will get through all this. These evil, evil people will be defeated in the Church, in the USA, in Europe and throughout the world, no matter how rich and powerful they may be. Satan will be defeated. But I think before he is defeated and his back is broken he must be allowed to come to his full fruition of power and that is what is happening at the moment. But his back will be broken. I am very,very sure and very,very,very positive about this. But it is very,very grim at the moment I admit. Which is why maybe it is better not to stay to focused on it all. To turn at times to more spiritual, more positive stuff.
Yes, it's difficult to balance both our duties as lay Catholics: love for the Pope, and love for perennial Church Teaching. We maybe tempted to give up the Pope to keep the teachings, or give up the teachings to keep the Pope; but let us try to love the Pope and remain in the Teaching. We should be devoted to Christ in His Vicar (St. Catherine of Sienna indeed corrected the Pope, as many have noted; as Pope Francis himself said in a recent interview. But she also called the Vicar of Christ her "Sweet Christ on Earth". The question is, Do we love our Spiritual Father, the Vicar of Christ, as much as the great Saint did, or at least as much as we should, and do we pray and sacrifice all to save his soul?) I personally believe the Holy Father will regret some of the mistakes he is making on the day of the Warning; it may well be that it is the Warning which will wake him up and save his soul, and God is preparing it specially for H.H. Let us pray much for the Holy Father, as Our Lady always asked us in Her Apparitions at Fatima. It may well even be that the Catholic Remnant, by our prayers and sacrifices for the enlightenment and strengthening of the Successor of Peter, can make some contribution to helping him see the light, and then the Successor of Peter will have to help save the Church. If Pope Francis does what Heaven wills him to do, millions and potentially billions of souls could be saved who otherwise would be lost. The stakes are higher than they have ever been. God will vindicate His Truth in His own good time. But Our Lord will vindicate His Papacy also, and won't let it fall completely, remembering His special prayer and promise to St. Peter. "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren." (Lk 22:32). Let us also pray for the same.
But then again, California is going the way of Europe. It isn't progressive or good or highly enlightened. California has turned into a cesspool. I grew up in Cali, So Cal. Lived by the beaches in L.A. Beautiful weather and used to be a beautiful state. My husband and kids and I moved 16 years ago to Arizona. I don't miss Cali at all. I went back a few months ago to take care of my father for a week. Mind you, I visit my dad and extended family every year. We drive back and go to the beaches and Disneyland and all the other icons of California. But this year I noticed such a difference in the state and the people in it. My family is still there and they seem like they always have. But physically, the sate has turned ugly. It is filthy. The streets are full of trash and there are so many homeless and these homeless are very aggressive. I have a friend that lives in San Francisco and she says the city streets are full of human waste and homeless, aggressive homeless. The liberal policies have finally started to break down the society that was once California, like it has in other states in the US. So, when I hear about this bill concerning the seal of confession, I literally expect it. I am not surprised. I wonder how many priests will go to jail not breaking the seal of confession? I wonder how many priests are compromised in Cali. This bill literally will not stop the abuse of minors. It is a pure attack on the Church. Very sad. It will be the first rung in a ladder to take down the Church. Other states have and will follow.
I think that there is an error in that video. He said something to the effect that priests can make absolution conditional on the abuser turning himself in to civil authorities. I don't think that's correct. I'm fairly sure that priests can only refuse absolution where the penitent shows signs of lacking contrition or a firm purpose of amendment. Amoris Laetitia has removed the requirement of a firm purpose of amendment for people living in adulterous unions. Presumably what applies to adultery also applies to paedophilia. Or does it?
Isn't the "warning" associated with an unapproved private revelation which is not binding on any Catholic? What if there is no warning? I love the Pope as much as I love any other human - a love which wants him to get to Heaven. I have no affection for him. Frankly, I can't bear the sight of him and he's the type of character I would normally cross the road to avoid because I find devious, underhanded hyprocrisy particularly repulsive. I pray for him because he's the Pope. He's prayed for at every Mass and most people who pray the Rosary (Pope Francis sneeringly calls them bead counters) pray for him before or after their Rosary. The Pope is well covered with prayers. There are people I care about - nicer people than Pope Francis - for whom I prefer to sacrifice and do penance. Despite his CYA comments to a select group of pro-life activisits whom he is obliged to meet one per year, Pope Francis has demonstrated that he is a staunch supporter of abortion and other sins which the Catechism tells us cry out to Heaven for vengeance. He's Pope because what appear to me to be a useless set of Cardinals tell us so. I have to accept that, but I have absolutely zero - zilch - nada confidence that he's actually a believing Catholic, and if he's not, all the Cardinals in the world can't confer on him the grace of the papacy. I suppose that puts me in a Catch 22 situation, but I wish you well.
Most of what Michael speaks about resonates with me, however, I think his claim (23:00) that the Globalists don't have an answer to the emerging Catholic Counter-revolution is mistaken. It consists of one word: Persecution. But that, in itself, always backfires because the blood of martyrs rejuvenates the life of the Church. How's that for encouragement. We die, but the Church lives on! Safe in the Flames of the Sacred Heart!
It so difficult to know what to make of Pope Francis or what to make of him. He appears to be and say two exactly opposite things in nearly the same breath. It rather like meeting a man who tells you that there is going to be a heat wave that day, but a few minutes later tells you, just as seriously that there is going to be snow storm. What are you to make of such statements and such a person? Answer. Total , total confusion. A good recent example of talking at cross purposes is here: https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2019/05/29/pope-francis-i-am-a-conservative/ Pope Francis said he has always been a doctrinal conservative and takes accusations of being a heretic with a grain of salt. “I have always defended doctrine,” the pope told Mexican reporter Valentina Alazraki in a lengthy interview released Tuesday by Vatican News. “I am a conservative.” Asked how he reacts to being called a heretic, the pope said he takes it “with a sense of humor.” OK great you might think, then that is that out of the way. Everything sorted. But then later on in the interview seconds later he goes on to say.... At the same time, the pope said that his thinking has evolved somewhat. “I trust that I have grown a bit and become a bit holier,” he said. “People change in life. It’s possible that my criteria have broadened and that seeing the problems of the world I have a greater awareness of certain things that I didn’t have before.” “I think that in this sense there have been changes, yes. But I am conservative. I am both things,” he said. Now this is where the confusion comes in. He has , he tells us become , 'Holier'. Well great I am happy he has become, 'Holier', maybe not such a humble thing to say that not only is he holy but has even become, 'holier'..but lay that to one side. What on earth does he mean by saying. 'My criteria has broadened' and that he had a 'Greater awareness of things' and that, 'There have been changes ' , 'I am a Conservative. I am both things'. So let's see because he has got even, 'holier' and , 'more grown up' than he was before Francis is both a Liberal and a Conservative at one and the same time. Is he really truly inferring that because he has gotten so much, 'holier', ordinary people just cannot follow his train of thought? Well it seems so. I certainly cannot follow his train of thought. What's more I don't want to. Even if it means becoming 'holier', and 'growing up a bit more', ' 'becoming more aware', like himself to understand him. I have to say I have been patronised by experts in my time, but this just about beats all. Now where did I put my High Blood Pressure tablets?
A priest could refuse absolution to a penitent who has committed certain civil crimes until such time as the penitent turns himself in to the authorities then returns to confession. This would show the penitent is willing to make restitution for his crime which is a necessary part of true contrition.
I do not think Dr. K. is married with a family. Peter K. is not married. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kwasniewski It does not matter one way or another, but Ann is making a point that he is married with children and he is not, it should be corrected.
I'm not so sure that's correct. I think the way it works is that the priest can tell the penitent that he must make restitution and is giving absolution on that condition but he can't refuse absolution provided the penitent expresses a firm purpose of amendment including an intention to make restitution. Of course, I could be wrong, but I don't believe that, say a murderer, can be refused absolution until after he turns himself in to the police. In the case of theft, I think that restitution can be made by returning the stolen goods without giving himself up to the police.
This is so true. At the Mass on Sunday, my youngest son made his First Holy Communion. Before the Mass, a lector read a letter from the Bishop who explained this bill and how we should write to our Congress representatives to condemn this intrusion into our sacraments. Sadly, the congregation was talking and chattering so much while the woman read the letter, very few parishioners seemed to pay attention. I asked my husband later if it would have been rude for the lector to shush the people to be quiet and pay attention. That's what I would have done if I were the one reading the letter to the congregation. Why don't more people care?
A correction to my above reply: Absolution always being conditional on repentance and an intention to make restitution where possible, there would hardly be any point in the priest telling the penitent that the absolution is conditional unless, I suppose, he thought that the penitent was unaware of the need to make restitution. I still don't believe that the priest can refuse absolution until after restitution has been made, e.g. in the case of a murderer who hasn't yet turned himself in.
Gay Wedding Controversy Rocks Elite Catholic Girl's School BY J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS MAY 30, 2019 Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, Washington, D.C. (Image via Wikipedia) A Catholic high school for girls in Washington, D.C., has stepped right into a thicket that has plagued western Christianity for the last 500 years. Namely, what good are church teachings when someone has a better idea? While the controversy that has erupted at Georgetown Visitation in Washington involves the contemporary question of gay marriage, the ramifications extend beyond that particular issue, and spotlight what can happen to a Christian institution when it is targeted for cultural transformation by a well-funded group of cultural transformers. Georgetown Visitation is a Catholic all-girls school in Washington, D.C. It was formed by the Sisters of the Visitation. Tuition is $31,200 per year. The controversy started when the Georgetown Visitation Alumnae magazinedecided to publish the weddings of graduates marrying other women with sacramental marriages, births, deaths and other news. Sister Mary Berchmans, the school’s president emerita, sent a letter to all Visitation alumnae announcing that gay marriages would be recognized by the school publication: The Church is clear in its teaching on same-sex marriages. But, it is equally clear in its teaching that we are all children of God, that we each have dignity and are worthy of respect and love. As I have prayed over this contradiction, I keep returning to this choice: we can focus on Church teaching on gay marriage or we can focus on Church teaching on the Gospel commandment of love. Contradiction? Berchmans’ letter said the basis for Visitation’s decision was a contradiction in Christian and Catholic teaching, that the command to love means transforming the sacrament of marriage into something new. And that’s what has Catholic leadership all around Washington unloading on Visitation as behaving contrary to Catholic teaching, as we shall see in a moment. The obvious problem with Visitation’s decision is that gay marriage is squarely contrary to the unambiguous teaching of the Church that marriage is between one woman and one man. Contorting a sacrament to fit the mood of the day is beyond Sister Berchmans’ pay grade. Imagine if the same publication ran an announcement that a living Visitation alumna had been canonized as a saint. Or that someone’s Golden Retriever had their first communion. Under the rules of the Church, these things just cannot happen. Dogs don’t have a first communion and the living aren’t canonized. Those are fictions under Catholic teaching. And so is the sacrament of marriage between two women, like it or not. Yet this isn’t a controversy about gay marriage; this is a controversy about rules and why they are important. Rules and teachings must mean something, or nothing means anything. If an institution purports to be Catholic, then we presume that institution plays by the rules of Catholicism. After all, what are rules and teachings if not something that binds together the broader whole into a universal membership? The same whimsy about agreed-upon rules can also threaten the rule of law, when some laws matter, and other laws do not. Adherence to a central set of rules is what has guided Western civilization over centuries. Tumult and fracture have characterized periods when rules and laws are twisted or abandoned to suit a prevailing wind. Catholics have fared better than others on this score, in part benefiting from a centralized authority. Gay marriage controversies are tearing other denominations apart. The United Methodists aren’t very united anymore, and the decision to maintain the traditional Christian definition of marriage has triggered a loud “Resist” movement inside the UMC that threatens the very existence of the United Methodists. Other Christian denominations have already fractured over the issue. This is the Pandora’s box that Sister Berchmans opened. If Visitation purports to be Catholic, it should be Catholic. The condemnation of Visitation’s decision from all corners of Catholic authority in the Washington, D.C., area has been swift and overwhelming. It has been Sister Berchmans and Visitation versus everyone else, including the Washington Archdiocese that has nominal authority over the school. (cont'd below)
