The history of cross-dressing: First installment.

Kilts.

Mid-20th century menswear styles

 for girls and young women.

It began with the women.

As everyone knows, the 20th century fashion industry introduced manly dress for women.  It began with Coco Chanel of course, who took women out of unnatural, constraining under garments and into sheaths, shortened skirts, blouses, jackets - as well as pants.  Yet the more insidious changes occurred when the look of Scottish kilts was introduced, quickly adopted by Roman Catholic nuns to force their female students into such attire.  After all, the kilt and shorter skirt have always been male attire.

War and its consequences.

WWII radicalized women

even more.

Politics and Religion

Fernando Botero

Don't mix.

One or two priests online seem to be getting really political - really, really political.  Kind of like a smear campaign in one case.  While the stuff may be true, I'm not sure it's all that appropriate.  For a priest, I mean.

I think Fr. Corapi got rather political towards the end of his religious career too.

President Marco: Why not?

He will be bald too - don't vote for looks.

Just think, if Marco Rubio gets in we will have our own President Marcos.

How cool is that?  For four years we can obsess over his wife's shoes.

Please don't vote for a man because of his religious beliefs - especially when they change like the weather.

What?

I know he's Cuban.

Today is the anniversary of the 1906 Quake in San Francisco.

Then and now.

The earthquake struck at 5:12 AM, April 18, 1906.

Mr. Peabody suggests you get up early today and be nice to Archbishop Cordileone.

I would like to add that April 18 is the feast of Bl. Marie of the Incarnation, OCD - AKA Barbe Acarie, Madame Acarie. She was the foundress of the French Carmel.  Short biography here.

It's also the anniversary of my leaving the Discalced Carmelite novitiate way back when ... which is why I always remember Bl. Marie of the Incarnation.  Pray for me Blessed Marie!

+ Cardinal Francis George +

 

1937 - 2015

"A man of peace, tenacity and courage has been called home to the Lord."  - Archbishop Cupich

Going after Cordileone

-source-

A group of 'prominent' San Francisco Catholics seeking the Archbishop's removal.

The story has been online since the Archbishop defined guidelines for faculty and staff at Catholic schools, asking they sign off on a fidelity statement regarding faith and morals in accord with Catholic teaching.  Amazing as it may sound, Catholic teachers and parents protested, claiming the Archbishop actions were intolerant and divisive.  Now these folks are petitioning the Pope and took an ad out in the SF Chronicle.

Surprised?  You shouldn't be, especially if you have sent your kids to Catholic schools/colleges across the country, and more especially, if their parents attended the same.  Since the early 1970's Catholic education has been significantly influenced by the 'contraceptive ideology':  The moral climate change which allows for the normalization of all sorts of sexual orientations and gender ideology.  So many people have written about this, I have, and real authorities have done so as well - my point is simply to restate: "Told you so."

 "We are now reaping the rotten fruits of the “Sexual Revolution”: global legalized abortion, no-fault divorce, homosexuality and same-sex marriage, AIDS, pornography, pedophilia, gender confusion, and lonely, broken, alienated lives. We rejected the beautiful truth about the transmission of life and thus bequeathed to our surviving children a culture of death..." - John Mallon

The line of separation is all the more dramatic today because Catholic teaching has been watered down for so long, and now, when a prelate seeks to redirect/correct Catholic teaching in his archdiocese, he faces resistance - to his face.  Archbishop Nienstedt went through this exact same thing when he stood up for traditional marriage here in St. Paul/Minneapolis.  He continues to suffer rejection and contempt from local 'dissenters' who oppose Catholic teaching on sexual ethics, marriage, and women's ordination.

These days Archbishop Cordileone is suffering similar repercussions and hostility, his opponents requesting his removal from office, and so on.  Faithful Catholics on the defensive are petitioning that Pope Francis not remove Cordileone.  I'm confident the Holy Father will keep him in place.

"We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of divine Providence; it is a trial which the whole Church ... must take up.” - St. John Paul II

However, I think getting agitated, and taking a militant stance, decrying a 'liberal-homosexualist agenda' in this case, though accurate, the inflammatory rhetoric does nothing but confirm for the protesters that the Archbishop is "creating an atmosphere of complete intolerance.”

I expect that reaction is very far from the Archbishop's intentions.  Catholic support needs to be affirmed in and through Catholic action and standing with Archbishop Cordileone.  I haven't read that the Archbishop has requested Catholics to 'arm' themselves and join forces in a war against this or that group.  To support the Archbishop through prayer and sacrifice is the number one expression of fidelity.  Likewise, letting the Archbishop know of our support and taking our cues from the Church - the chancery in this case - as to how one ought to respond is the right way to go.

Some Catholics seem a bit trigger happy and all too eager to condemn and malign their enemies, hurling invective and contempt.  Yet the Archdiocese seems to be handling the protest and efforts to force the Archbishop out and responded accordingly:

“The advertisement is a misrepresentation of Catholic teaching, a misrepresentation of the nature of the teacher contract, and a misrepresentation of the spirit of the Archbishop. The greatest misrepresentation of all is that the signers presume to speak for ‘the Catholic Community of San Francisco.’ They do not.” - SFC

 Pray and don't worry. - St. Pio

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7

+ + +

Ed. note: If any readers want to send letters of support to the Pope - please include photos such as the following so he can see exactly who it is protesting against Catholic Church teaching:

Who is intolerant here?

Note: Joseph Sciambra posted a beautiful testimony in support of Archbishop Cordileone here.

Prayers for the migrants: Muslim migrants throw Christian migrants overboard between Libya and Sicily.

Save me, O God,

for the waters have risen to my neck.

I have sunk into the mud of the deep

and there is no foothold.

I have entered the waters of the deep

and the waves overwhelm me. - Ps. 69

This is unbelievable.

ROME (AP) — Italy's migration crisis took on a deadly new twist Thursday as police in Sicily reported that Muslim migrants had thrown 12 Christians overboard during a recent crossing from Libya, and an aid group said another 41 were feared drowned in a separate incident.

Palermo police said they had detained 15 people suspected in the high seas assault, which they learned of while interviewing tearful survivors from Nigeria and Ghana who had arrived in Palermo Wednesday morning after being rescued at sea by the ship Ellensborg.

The 15 were accused of multiple homicide aggravated by religious hatred, police said in a statement. - Finish reading here.

Prayers for the migrants, the persecuted, the martyred ...

St. Benedict of Palermo, pray for us.

Rescue those traversing dangerous seas.

Convert those misled by Muslim teaching.

Strengthen those who suffer under Muslim cruelty.

The Fioretti: On how St. Francis was just kidding about Lady Poverty ...

The habit of St. Francis.

From the Saint's last will and testament.

And when the Lord gave me some brothers, no one showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High Himself revealed to me that I should live according to the form of the holy Gospel.  And I caused it to be written in few words and simply, and the Lord Pope confirmed it for me. And those who came to take this life upon themselves gave to the poor all that they might have and they were content with one tunic, patched within and without, by those who wished,  with a cord and breeches, and we wished for no more.

We clerics said the Office like other clerics; the laics said the Paternoster, and we remained in the churches willingly enough. And we were simple and subject to all. And I worked with my hands and I wish to work and I wish firmly that all the other brothers should work at some labor which is compatible with honesty. Let those who know not [how to work] learn, not through desire to receive the price of labor but for the sake of example and to repel idleness. And when the price of labor is not given to us,  let us have recourse to the table of the Lord, begging alms from door to door.

The Lord revealed to me this salutation, that we should say: "The Lord give thee peace."  Let the brothers take care not to receive on any account churches, poor dwelling-places, and all other things  that are constructed for them, unless they are as is becoming the holy poverty which we have promised in the Rule, always dwelling there as strangers and pilgrims. - Source

No, St. Francis was not just pretending.

Of course things have changed over the centuries, the rule modified, the various branches moving from reform to moderation and so on, I just find it troubling how contemporary writers seek to revise the earliest writings and claim Francis didn't really intend actual poverty for his followers.  So many other saints, from Clare to Teresa of Avila, sought to emulate such absolute poverty, and always, they were confronted with arguments to the contrary.  An amazing fact actually, when Christ declared about himself, "Foxes have holes, the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

In every age, God raises up souls who cling to the Lord in holy poverty, to remind us of these things.  From St. Benedict Joseph Labre to Willy Herteleer.  From the Missionaries of Charity* to the Fratti Minori Rinnovati:  Fools, paupers, homeless, beggars, refugees, the persecuted and religious - follow the poor Christ.

 And I strictly enjoin on all my brothers, clerics and laics, by obedience, not to put glosses on the Rule or on these words saying: Thus they ought to be understood; but as the Lord has given me to speak and to write the Rule and these words simply and purely, so shall you understand them simply and purely  and with holy operation observe them until the end. - St. Francis of Assisi

This venerable old friar was Fra Tommaso Maria di Gesù,

Fratti Minori Rinnovati.  I met him years ago in Naples.

The Rinnovati are a reform group-offspring of the Capuchins.

They live the primitive Franciscan life.

The Order's website here.

*BTW - did you know the Missionaries of Charity do not do fundraisers or allow Mother's name to be used for that purpose?

No more making fun of the L.C.W.R. ... What are Catholic bloggers going to do now?

-source-

I know!

Vatican City, 16 April 2015 (VIS) - Officials of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (C.D.F.), Archbishop Peter Sartain and officers of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (L.C.W.R.) met April 16. Archbishop Sartain and L.C.W.R. officers presented a joint report (attached) on the implementation of the C.D.F. Doctrinal Assessment and Mandate of April 2012. The joint report outlines the manner in which the implementation of the Mandate has been accomplished. The Congregation accepted the joint report, marking the conclusion of the Doctrinal Assessment of L.C.W.R. Present for the April 16 meeting were His Eminence Gerhard Cardinal Muller, Archbishop Peter Sartain, Sr. Carol Zinn, S.S.J., Sr. Marcia Allen, C.S.J., Sr. Joan Marie Steadman, C.S.C., and Sr. Janet Mock, C.S.J., and other officials of CDF. - Vatican News

As Fr. Martin said:

[D]ialogue works. The process has involved extensive, and honest, exchanges of perspectives on matters involving faith and its practice, the roles of church leadership and religious life, hopes for the life of the Catholic church, and so on. As the Pope pointed out in the Synod on the Family, when these exchanges are carried on in a spirit of mutual respect, deeper understandings of differing perspectives can better be heard and appreciated. Both sides seemed to have genuinely heard the concerns of the other and tried to understand the context of those concerns. - America

Works for me.

Maybe go to Patheos now, huh?

From now on Abbey Roads is too.

Today is also the birthday of St. Toribio, patron of immigrants.

Short biography of St. Toribio.

Born in Santa Ana de Guadalupe, which belongs to the parish of Jalostotitlán, Jal. (Diocese of San Juan de los Lagos), 16 April 1900. Vicar functions pastor in Tequila, Jalisco., (Archdiocese of Guadalajara). Priest sensitive heart, assiduous prayer. Passionate about the Eucharist asked many times: "Lord, let me not a single day of my life without saying Mass without Communion hold in'. In a First Communion, to take the Sacred Host in his hands, said: "And would accept my blood, Lord, I offer you the peace of the Church? 'While in Aguascalientes, a location near Tequila that served as refuge and center of his ministry, he wanted to acquaint the parish. Worked on Friday all day and all night. At five in the morning of Saturday February 25, 1928, wanted to celebrate the Eucharist but, feeling very tired and sleepy preferred to celebrate a little sleep better. He had hardly fallen asleep when a group of agrarians and soldiers entered the room and when one of them pointed, saying, "That's the priest, kill him"Father Toribio woke up scared, stood up and received a discharge. Wounded and walked a little hesitant, a new download, in the back, cut the life of the martyr and his generous blood that reddened the land of Jalisco Canyon. -Vatican website

Prayer
.
Holy Father, you who sent your Son to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven to us, and He, obedient to your will, carried out the mission you gave Him to do, we pray that through the intercession of St. Toribio:
.
You care for and guide members of our families that have had to leave their homes for distant lands to improve their lives and those of their families. Keep them safe from harm and help them to stay firm in their Faith so that they can soon return to their homes strengthened in soul and body.
.
Through Christ our Lord, Amen

I was thinking it was the birthday of another young martyr

I like this painter.

Eduardo Naranjo

The Holy Father: “ask for the gift of poverty – not misery, but poverty ..."

YES!

When I was in 6th grade I remember sitting at the supper table and saying, "I wish we were poor!"  I didn't know we were.  My parents freaked - my dad almost slapped me off my chair and yelled, "You're a g--d--n idiot."  My mother started crying, "How can you be so stupid!"

We are poor you moron!

At the time, I was reading Johannes Jorgensen's biography of St. Francis and was deeply impressed by Francis' poverty and 'foolishness for Christ'.  In fact, around the same time, I embarrassed my brother one day acting as if I was truly crazy and announcing over and over, "I'm touched!  I'm touched!"  I learned early on not to imitate the saints in everything.

That said, I wish Pope Francis could have talked to my parents ...

I love how the Holy Father praises poverty...

A Christian community – the Pope continued – shows that it is renewed in the Holy Spirit “when it is in search of harmony” and not internal division: “when it seeks poverty, and does not hoard riches for itself, because riches are to be put to the service of the needy”, and when “it does not show anger” or offense in the face of difficulties, but is patient like Jesus:

“In this second week of Easter, during which we celebrate the Easter mysteries, it would be a good thing to think of our communities, be they diocesan communities, parish communities, family communities or other, and ask for the grace of harmony” – a gift of the Spirit; “ask for the gift of poverty – not misery, but poverty: the capacity to manage my possessions with generosity and for common good”; to ask for the grace of patience. - Vatican Radio

St. Benedict Joseph Labre

St. Angela of Foligno praised the gift of poverty as well:  "through temporal poverty the soul will find eternal riches; through contempt and shame it will obtain supreme honour and very great glory..."

Today is the feast day of my special patron, my man, St. Benedict Joseph Labre.  So poor.  Such a fool for Christ.  He is also special patron to Benedict Joseph Ratzinger, whose birthday is today.

[Yeah, but ...  Now watch how defensive all those vowed to poverty will get.  I'm thinking a couple of priests may have some defensive posts up as well - what did the pope really say ...  he said POVERTY.]

What?

Happy Birthday Holy Father!

'Call the Midwife' and the Cottage industry ...

Stressed out?

What's Cottaging?

I never heard the term before George Michael's run-in with the law a few years ago.  In this country there are other terms for it, but essentially it involves gay/bi-sexual men cruising and engaging in anonymous sex in rest rooms - hence the term cottaging, or tea-room cruising.  Public parks are another domain, and X-rated theaters another venue.  Mostly married men/closeted homosexuals patronized these places.  Slam, bam, thank you man.  Quick, dangerous, exciting, anonymous - non-committal sex.

So why do people like George Michael, who are out and 'avowed' homosexuals keep doing that stuff?  (Despite the fact gay people claim it's just not done that much any longer, and all things being 'equal' - there's no need for closeted behavior any longer?)  Because they enjoy it.  It's like hunting, I suppose.  The thrill of the chase, the stalking, the voyeurism, the trap ... it's predatory behavior.  It's flattering as well - to be lusted after, by another guy - powerful fantasy there.  You can show off too... look what I got.

Why do 'straight' males do it?  Especially men who are married?  Gay men in committed relationships?  Because boys will be boys.  Women hate that excuse but I think it's true.  They become addicted to the rush.  Good will hunting.  It's a contact sport as well.  As they tell their partners when they find out - "It means nothing.  It has nothing to do with love.  I love you - not them."  Men compartmentalize... that's one way to define male multi-tasking.

Gay men frequently do not understand why the behavior is so disgusting to ordinary people.  Especially if it is consensual.  It's done in a latrine - it's shitty.  It's disgusting.

Mr. Peabody here.

Singing in the choir.

So anyway.  Yesterday a friend asked me something related to this, suggesting that homosexuality is a choice.

I believe acting out is a choice, but is the inclination?  That's difficult to answer.  Here's what I wrote in response.

Mrs. Sherman asked me: 

Our "gay" choir leaders at the local Catholic Church are very publicly "out and proud" and thinking about getting married this summer.  Both of these men have been married to women for the majority of their lives.  They both have grown children and grandchildren and they have many friends in the same situation.

But, doesn't that support the theory that who you have sexual relations with is a choice?  They "chose" to be heterosexual, and then they "chose" to be homosexual.  Yes?  Or no?

We fell in love singing pange lingua ...

Mr. Peabody responds:

It's crazy isn't it?  I can't explain it - I don't get it.  How old are they and why would they bother getting married?  And is every choir director gay?!  I sometimes think they are.

Married with children.  I used to work with and for that type at another job.  They were very promiscuous and nasty - 'toilet trained'.  

These men were not interested in relationships outside marriage, and they appeared to love, care for, and support their wives and children.

Other guys - I just don't know.  The guys I worked could be 'vicious' - but seemed to have 'happy' families.

I seriously think people are nuts - delusional - we used to call it 2nd childhood.  That may not be the right term but they have to be kidding me.  Have you seen pictures of some of the fruitcakes getting married to one another.  I would be so embarrassed to even say I knew them.  Call me a bigot - I don't care.

People hate me for this but I always say - if you're gay don't work or volunteer at church - especially if you're living in sin.  It just makes sense - right?  And if you want to get married - don't sing in the choir - your moral life is not in harmony. 

Is it a choice?  I don't know.  For some it seems like it is - they are choosing how to act out - that in the case of the married or bi-guys.  Some believe they were born that way - I don't know - if so, to me that is like being born with fetal alcohol syndrome or something like autism then.  It doesn't make it normal, much less, 'God's gift'.  I also think nurture is a more deciding factor as well as experience - sexual abuse, rejection or shaming by peers when young, and so on.  A great deal of blame must be placed upon the fact cultural morality has changed, persuading people to consider it a natural variant.  That's why the Church is the bad guy - it is the only institution that says it is a disorder.  

We have free will.  We don't have to act on sexual inclination/attraction outside marriage.  We actually have a choice that way.   

In lieu of  ...

So.  Call the Midwife.

I noticed a Catholic blogger was unhappy with the inclusion of  a young couple in the latest episode; the wife very pregnant, the husband handsome and gay or bisexual, who was caught cottaging.  The episode aired during Gay History month in the UK.  It wasn't in the original book - but it played well to contemporary audiences.  It told the story about how such offenders were publicly shamed, their court dockets published in the newspapers, the entire neighborhood and parish knowing about it, and so on.  I know firsthand how devastating that is.  It happened in my life when I was in grade school - my dad went to jail, my schoolmates, even the nuns treated me with contempt.  We moved, I had to go to public school.  It was in the early 1960's.

The fictionalized episode on Call the Midwife took place in the early 1960's.  Homosexuality was a much debated topic at the time, efforts to decriminalize homosexuality were then submitted in Parliament.  Up to and including that time, homosexuals were entrapped, arrested, imprisoned, or sent to rehab - the 'perpetrators' often subjected to terrible therapies to 'cure them'.

The complaint about the latest episode was that the writers portrayed the poor wife unsympathetically, while the erring husband was the recipient of great empathy.  I didn't get that impression at all.  When I read the blogger's review I felt as if we had watched an entirely different program.

Either way - the series, as well as that episode, was well done, well presented, and it really did demonstrate how upsetting to family life that sort of behavior is - even affecting an unborn child, I dare say.  The context was completely appropriate and relevant.  I did not see it as promoting the gay lifestyle or the gay agenda.

I would be far more concerned with American media outlets in that regard - especially Disney and prime time television programming - network and cable.

What?

Song for this post here.

Catholic Bloggers and Rumor-mongering... Getting worse.

Pope as the Antichrist, signing and selling indulgences

Worse and worser.

I came across some serious detraction regarding the Holy Father and the recent Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.  The rhetoric, the speculation offered on some of these sites verges upon calumny.  One writer exclaimed: "The diabolical influence on this pope is unmistakable!"  Before that, he declares his good intentions announcing: "Let it not be said that I am out to attack the pope; rather, I am simply out to defend the truth." 

Beware the Catholic blogosphere.

Pray for the Holy Father.

Blessed Rolando Rivi ...

Blessed Rolando Rivi

70 years ago, a young Italian seminarian was martyred.

Blessed Rolando Rivi was shot and laid in a shallow grave by Communist partisans on April 13, 1945, in the Italian Emiliano Mountains. Bl. Rolando was singled out because he wore his cassock and made it known he intended to be a priest. According to one of the partisans, killing the boy would eliminate one more priest.

Rolando was only fourteen. His seminary closed when the Nazis came through the region, but the young seminarian continued to wear the cassock as a sign of his consecration and intent to be a priest. He considered life as a seminarian a form of consecrated life already. In the region Rolando's family lived, Communist partisans found refuge in the mountains. They were anti-Catholic and anti-clerical: “The fascists and Germans are almost extinct… our fight must now be made against the masters, the rich and certain priests… These are now our enemies.”

Blessed Rolando was abducted on April 10 and after beatings, torture and obscene humiliations, he was killed on April 13, 1945 in the forest of Piane di Monchio (Modena). After praying for his parents, he was shot twice and died. The partisans covered his body with leaves and twigs and a few shovels of dirt.

He was killed in hatred of the faith, in hatred of the priesthood, just because he wore a cassock. He believed the seminarians ought to wear the cassock, even on home visits or on holiday.  Read more about him here.

Barway Edwin Collins

I recalled Bl. Rolando today after a young boy's body was found in the Mississippi river - his dad is accused of killing him.  The boy was African, from Liberia, his dad is suspected of killing him for insurance money.  The boy's legs and hands were duct-tapped before he was thrown in the river.

Tonight while praying my rosary for him and the other young children murdered around the globe, Blessed Rolando came to mind, reminding me yesterday was the 70th anniversary of his death.  My dates have been off - but I immediately commended to Bl. Rolando all kids, boys and girls, abused, mistreated, bullied, exploited, and martyred - and in particular, young Barway Collins.

Blessed Rolando Rivi, pray for us.

Homogenized Homosexuality

I don't think it can be done ...

I think there have to be 'term limits'.

Think of SSA - same sex attraction.  I think everyone finds members of their own sex attractive.  That's why we gravitate to this or that sports figure, actor, celebrity, even friends.  It doesn't mean we find them sexually attractive, not at all.  Many times there is something about their personality we find 'attractive'.  Attraction is basic instinct.  We are attracted by beautiful churches and art for instance.  Hummingbirds are attracted by red flowers.  Whatever.

That said, Same Sex Attraction terminology can be good for kids and youth and those who are intent upon reordering their sexuality and all of that - but to say I have same sex attraction sounds like a disease.  In reality, it's simply an inclination, a condition.  To say I experience same sex attraction may be more meaningful in terms of temptation - but even in that case, it seems to me to be more accurate to say I experience same sex lust or infatuation - but attraction?  Nothing is wrong with that.  See what I mean?

I know it sounds as if I'm being deliberately obtuse, yet I'm thinking of those people who have lived most of their life identifying as gay, or identified by others as gay, it just seems to be a little strange to expect someone to suddenly come out and announce, "I'm not gay."  Or, "I'm not gay, I just thought I was - or you just thought I was." Or, "I used to be gay, but now I'm SSA."  See what I mean?  

What I'm trying to say here, terminology shouldn't be an obstacle to living a chaste and celibate life in obedience to the Gospel.  It shouldn't be a 'new commandment' or hoop to jump through for Catholic faithful.

Gay.  Homosexualist.  LGBTQ.  Those are pretty much political terms.*

An individual may use them interchangeably - although homosexual-ist would probably not be in his/her vocabulary.  Culturally - in general usage - people say "gay".

Same sex friendship is normal.  Same sex marriage is not.  Same sex sexual acts and lust is not.  Church teaching, based in Scripture and sacred Tradition, uses the term homosexuality when speaking of homosexual inclination and acts, and teaches it is sinful and disordered.

Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.

Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not. [...] (A) homosexual person, as every human being, deeply needs to be nourished at many different levels simultaneously. The human person, made in the image and likeness of God, can hardly be adequately described by a reductionist reference to his or her sexual orientation. Every one living on the face of the earth has personal problems and difficulties, but challenges to growth, strengths, talents and gifts as well. Today, the Church provides a badly needed context for the care of the human person when she refuses to consider the person as a "heterosexual" or a "homosexual" and insists that every person has a fundamental Identity: the creature of God, and by grace, his child and heir to eternal life. - CDF Letter to Bishops    So, SSA is a condition. Homosexual inclination is a condition. Gay is the term in common usage. Behind the label, is a person, a soul, with free will.

*The difference between gay politics and the Church, as well as the Church's pastoral care for gay people, seems to me to be demonstrated most clearly today, in the fact the Vatican has not accepted the credentials of the newly appointed French Ambassador to the Holy See.  I believe the appointment may be seen as a provocation, a political move by France to imply approval for gay marriage and gay politics.

Candidate for canonization: Archbishop Annibale Bugnini ...

  It's just a joke.

Funniest ad ever: Our Song ...

Just do it. SSPX - part of the Catholic Church

In Argentina.

Argentina formally recognizes SSPX as part of the Catholic Church - at the request of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires ... - read the story here.

Part of the Catholic Church?  Of course it is.


Now what are people like Fr. Paul Nicholson going to say?  Remember when he said the SSPX followers who demonstrated against the black mass which took place on September 21, 2014 in Oklahoma City were worse than the actual celebration of a black mass?

I know?!

It's a big Church.

We have to watch out who we condemn.

Things I keep thinking about ...

1906 San Francisco

The 'Big One' ...

It must be because the 1906 San Francisco quake occurred in April.  I don't know why, but I've been thinking that the big one might happen soon.  When I noticed a story today that Los Angeles had a quake - just thinking out loud here - I thought, yep.

The assassination of the Pope ...

It was a Turk who attempted to kill John Paul II.  Now that Pope Francis publicly recognized the Armenian Genocide, and Turkey recalled it's Vatican ambassador - just thinking out loud here - I thought, yep.


What?  It keeps popping up... but I don't 'entertain' the thoughts.

Polls still open: Don't forget to vote for JPII as Doctor of the Church.

I'm watching Wolf Hall.

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell

I'm not supposed to like it, but I do.


Even though it is a highly fictionalized account, it's interesting to watch - it reminds me of the state of church and politics today - and the interaction of some of the more popular characters within the Catholic blogosterium.  I never ever imagined Thomas Cromwell as a sympathetic character before this.


Last night's episode was a bit slow, but the acting is very good and the sets and costumes are excellent.  I'm always interested in looking at history from the bigoted, anti-Catholic POV.  Cromwell's criticism of the monasteries and his suggestion to a cleric that surely he must have a woman on the side is contemptuous.  The same invective is spread today as well.  I dislike the way St. Thomas More is portrayed, although the depiction seems to fit the profiles of a few of the staunch Catholics one encounters online.


Somehow, none of it matters to me right now.

The Feast of Divine Mercy

Jesus I trust in you.

The Divine Mercy is not 'cheap grace' by any means.  Rather, I'm convinced it is like the Father, running to meet the prodigal son, while he is still at a distance.  It is the Father ready to embrace the erring son even before he proclaims his sorrow, even before he is able to blurt out his confession of sin, and even before he is able to ask for mercy.  The Father anticipates his return in and through the holy wounds of his dearly beloved Son.

The mercy of God is just.

Jesus Christ crucified is the justice of God ...  He is our reconciliation with the Father.

When he appeared to the disciples on the evening of the first day of the week, he did not rebuke them for abandoning him, neither did he shame them for their betrayal or their retreat into hiding.  The first thing he said, the very first thing he did, was to grant them peace: "Peace be with you."   One Word the father spoke ... St. Teresa of Avila said that "His words are deeds."

Pardon and peace...

Mercy and truth have embraced,
Justice and peace have kissed. Ps. 85

That happens in the sacrament of penance - the tribunal of mercy - at the moment of absolution, pardon and peace embrace the penitent... mercy and love flood the soul.

Mercy - divine love moved by the truth of our misery - pardons ... Divine Justice bestows peace.

It seems to me that it is true to say that these Divine attributes meet in the Divine Mercy.  Mercy and Justice.  Pardon and Peace.  I might be wrong.




UPDATE:  "God's justice is his mercy," said Pope Francis as he proclaimed the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which will begin on Dec. 8. - Fr. James Martin, SJ