Evidently I was wrong about the Nienstedt resignation.

L'Age d'Or - Luis Bunuel

The priest at my parish let it be known he was one of the priests who called for Nienstedt to step down.  He also approached him personally.  He also asked him personally about some of the allegations which are being discussed in the news this week - the archbishop wasn't able to answer him.  My pastor said we may be hearing more embarrassing news in the days ahead.

Man.  I'm a Pollyanna, aren't I.  That's not a question.

Link: Nienstedt tried to limit the investigation.

Ed. note:  The AP report is so damning.  If I had read it before, I doubt I would have been so gullible.  I'm familiar with the type of person described in the testimony regarding Nienstedt.  That's all.

Pull-quote on Pewsitters too funny to ignore ...

Recycling in Scotland has never been easier.

Only in a sick delusional mind, could anyone describe the present time as a “pile of filth”. - Source

- That made me laugh.

Allegations that UK’s tech waste dumped in developing countries...

Species driven to extinction ...

... driven to extinction.

A mass extinction - the sixth of its kind in our 4.5-billion-year history - is well underway and humans are to blame.

The latest extinction - dubbed the sixth extinction by many scientists - is different because it has been mostly blamed on the misdeeds of humans. From pollution to deforestation to global warming, humans can be linked to most ills befalling the planet and its biodiversity.

"If you put together what we found plus other findings of other researchers, this seems to confirm unless we do something extremely different on the way we couple development and conservation, we may face a collapse in the next 40 or 50 years," Ceballos told CBS News. "We should take this new data as a big warning that what we are causing on biodiversity and the environment in general is going to affect us rather heavily." - ibid

Laudato si:

“For human beings… to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life – these are sins”. For “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God”. - ¶8. Patriarch Bartholomew quote.

Song for this post here.

First they came for the Badger,

and I did not speak up

because I was not a Badger.

Then they came for me ...

Yesterday afternoon, while stopped in traffic, I saw this bumper sticker - and laughed out loud.

It's probably been around for awhile - but it made me laugh.

I never listen to or watch Fox News.  Never listen to radio or podcasts either.

Screenshot: Pretty much the entire page at Pewsitters is devoted to Laudato si ...

Filled with stories shooting down the encyclical or just trashing it and making a fool out of the Pope.

Why Must Laudato Si include a non-Christian prayer?... more

Global Warming Manifesto: 'Consumerism' causes abortion? 

... more

The responsibility for this disastrous encyclical lies squarely on the shoulders of the pope. 

... more

Just to point out a few... go here to see the rest of the coverage.

Lakefront property available in N. Carolina.

(Just don't drink the water.)

Hirsute Flabmeisters - redux

Botero

Why are women especially insulted by that?

Unless they are hairy and their obesity is manly ...  hairy fat guys - that's the literal translation of Bishop Tobin's term.  I'm being silly of course - he was talking about slobs at Mass - and no, he wasn't approving of beachwear at Mass for the sleek and toned.  How is it that we can never just accept a correction at face value without complaining about hurt feelings and concern for those poor souls who may be so offended they decide not to convert to Catholicism, or something.  Whatever the ladies at Patheos said.

Here's the deal.  Tobin was addressing men and women.  Our pride gets hurt when someone says to us - in one way or another: you're a fat slob.  You dress like a slut - or a slob.  To put it nicely, hirsute flabmeisters spread out in the pew.  We prefer it when people flatter our pride - we hate it when they insult it.  The thing is - it's pride.  It is our pride that is hurt.  Not our dignity - but our pride.  You say no?  I say yes.  Your pride is hurt.

Denial.

That's why some people - you - don't go to Mass, or feel out of place when they - you - do.  When you are fat and don't have anything to wear or it is too hot to wear a coat.  Although you may wonder, "Do I look like that fat slob over there?"  And your friend answers, "look in the mirror" - and you do but still don't think you're that fat - pride comes to your defense.  It's your pride that blinds you.  It's your pride that is offended by your friend's response and so you punish him by silence - or tearing apart his honest response.  Your pride was offended.

I think that's why people are upset with Bishop Tobin's remark.

Even thin people/women - because they have a fat mentality.  Today men and women alike are so body conscious and so obsessed with weight, they have a fat mentality - manifested as revulsion.  Fat people harbor a fat self-image even after they lose all of their weight.  Their pride is flattered because they lost the weight - they like the new image, and accept praise for their achievement - but behind that which they pride themselves for, lurks the fat mentality - dormant behind the facade.  Ready to spring to defense of the downtrodden fat slob; insulted, marginalized, discriminated against because obesity and sloven appearance has been traditionally associated with moral failures in temperance, gluttony, and sloth.

Of course some obese people have physical problems, or weight gain can be attributed to disease or medication.  Likewise, there are issues of depression - a sign of that is 'letting oneself go'.  I'm not talking about that stuff.

Picasso, Bather with beach ball

Puffed up.

I'm talking about our tendency to rejoice too much in that which gratifies the senses, taking pride in temporal and natural goods - and craving for more.  Indulging our inordinate appetites.  Our pride blinds us, and our sensibilities are easily offended when our weaknesses are exposed.

We grow become surfeited, grow fat, and spread out because we guide ourselves according to our pleasure - what pleases us.  We neglect temperance - specifically any notion of mortification in that area.  We excuse ourselves, making little of a tiny indulgence here or there, considering this or that indulgence - this drink or that desert - not so serious a matter.  However, that is how we got fat and spread out - and we become more and more lured by pleasure and selfish self indulgence as the appetites grow ...

We spread out - we fall into acedia, weakness, hyper-sensitivity - and lose interest in spiritual matters - either all together in a great fall - or we gradually become harsh critics of those charged with guiding us - those who have the spiritual authority to correct and admonish.  We assert ourselves in their place because they challenge our spiritual apathy ... and offend our pride.

Pride is a sneaky devil.

Botero - Tutti al mare

The American Dream:

We've all become surfeited

grown fat

and spread out...

Laudato si is magnificent.

“L AUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore”

Poor Holy Father - scorned and rejected by his own people.

I am blown away by the attacks upon the Pope by 'faithful' and 'devout' Catholics - it is even worse now with the release of the Encyclical, Laudato si.

The mystic beauty of the Introduction is captivating and awe-inspiring... contemplative and deeply Franciscan ...

1. “L AUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.1

2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters. - Source

Prayers for those shot and killed during Church service Wednesday evening in Charleston, S.C.

Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen said Dylann Roof, who police say opened fire and killed nine people during a prayer service at a historic African American church, was arrested during a traffic stop in Shelby, N.C., just after 11 a.m. Mullen said Roof “was cooperative with the officer who stopped him” in Shelby, about 250 miles from Charleston.

Six females and three males were killed and at least one other person was injured in Wednesday’s attack, which began about an hour after the assailant entered the church and observed the service, authorities said. “We believe this is a hate crime; that is how we are investigating it,” Mullen said. - WP

+

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Oh were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble

Tremble

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Pope Francis releases the Encyclical on the care of the ‘common house’ ...

Saying, "I invite everyone to accept with open hearts this document, which places itself in the line of the Church's social doctrine.” - Vatican Radio

Good Catholics recycle, Dottie. 

Full official text of Laudato si may be found here.  It is beautiful!

This is dumb ... Patheos bloggers weigh in on Bishop Tobin's rebuke about being a slob at Mass.

Flabmeisters - meisterin

Bishop Tobin referred to the pew-sitters as "flabmeisters".

He should have known better. If women read that kind of language they will be very, very upset and worried and offended: "Does this pew make me look fat?" No hon, you are - err - just ... cranky.

That's part of the problem I think.

Who cares if Bishop Tobin candidly called out people who slide into Mass dressed as slobs, carrying water bottles and Starbucks cups, baring it all? Who cares? If you care, dress better. Leave your lunch at the door, get your coffee after Mass. Asking for some decorum at Mass is his prerogative. At least he doesn't use the F-word in his statements and posts - the way some Patheo-gens do. Nor was he talking about vaginae or camel lips - the way some Patheo-gens do.

Patheos women have to bitch about something, I suppose.

In fact - a couple Patheo-gens have written about what to wear to Mass and went so far as to complain about what people wear on the street ... don't mention yoga pants.

Personally, I don't care what people wear to Mass and I don't care what bishops say about it. It's so not going to keep me away from Mass. If you think Bishop Tobin's choice of words is going to drive people away from Mass or the Church, you ladies may be experiencing a mixed episode of some sort.

There are much bigger problems with bishops and their flocks - much, much more serious issues - have you heard of Bishops resigning lately?  Oh that's right - you all weighed in on that as well.

This is important to keep in mind: What Sister Lucia of Fatima told Cardinal Carlo Caffara ...

The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan ...

I received a very long letter with her signature – now in the Institute’s archives. In it we find written: the final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, she added, because anyone who operates for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be contended and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. And then she concluded: however, Our Lady has already crushed its head.

Talking also to John Paul II, you felt too that this was the crux, as it touches the very pillar of creation, the truth of the relationship between man and woman among the generations. If the founding pillar is touched the entire building collapses and we see this now, because we are at this point and we know it. And I’m moved when I read the best biographies of Padre Pio , on how this man was so attentive to the sanctity of marriage and the sanctity of the spouses, even with justifiable rigor on occasion. - Source

We are witnessing it - right here in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis.   

On Thursday, Laudato Sii is expected to be officially released by the Vatican...

"... 'Supposing the Pope looked up and saw a cloud and said 'It's going to rain', would that be bound to happen?' 'Oh, yes, Father.' 'But supposing it didn't?' He thought a moment and said, "I suppose it would be sort of raining spiritually, only we were too sinful to see it.'" - Fr. Mowbray, Brideshead Revisited

Is it just me or is it really, really hot out?


Song for this post here.

Dance Bonus:  The mood of the Catholic channel/blogosterium here.

Archbishop Nienstedt resigns.

We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful...

Devastating news.

The announcement came today.  I expected it would one day - but not so soon.  I never expected Bishop Piche's resignation along with the Archbishop's.  This is devastating news - the resignation of a prelate, a father, the chief shepherd of an unsteady flock.  Like him or not - he has been the leader of the flock in Minneapolis-St. Paul.  A casualty now of scandals and lies and misdemeanors and abuse and weakness and sin and not knowing how to handle scandals and lies and misdemeanors and abuse and weakness and ...

The Headline:

Nienstedt, deputy resign after abuse coverup charges against archdiocese.

Archbishop John Nienstedt said he leaves ‘with a clear conscience.’ - Read more here.

The readings from today's Mass...

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
We cause no one to stumble in anything,
in order that no fault may be found with our ministry;
on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves
as ministers of God, through much endurance,
in afflictions, hardships, constraints,
beatings, imprisonments, riots,
labors, vigils, fasts;
by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness,
in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech,
in the power of God;
with weapons of righteousness at the right and at the left;
through glory and dishonor, insult and praise.
We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful;
as unrecognized and yet acknowledged;
as dying and behold we live;
as chastised and yet not put to death;
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing;
as poor yet enriching many;
as having nothing and yet possessing all things. - 2 Cor. 6:1-10

+ + +

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one to him as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic,
hand him your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile,
go with him for two miles.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.” - Mt. 5: 38-42


But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.


The fact remains it is devastating news. The Archdiocese has filed bankruptcy, properties are up for sale, venerable parish churches have been closed - one from my childhood became a mosque.  This is devastating news ...

By the rivers of Babylon
there we sat and wept,
remembering Zion;
on the poplars that grew there
we hung up our harps.

For it was there that they asked us,
our captors, for songs,
our oppressors, for joy.
"Sing to us," they said,
"one of Zion's songs."

O how could we sing
the song of the Lord
on alien soil?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!

O let my tongue
cleave to my mouth
if I remember you not,
if I prize not Jerusalem
above all my joys!

Remember, O Lord,
against the sons of Edom
the day of Jerusalem;
when they said: "Tear it down!
Tear it down to its foundations!"

O Babylon, destroyer,
he is happy who repays you
the ills you brought on us.
He shall seize and shall dash
your children on the rock!

George Costanza - The World's First Transabled Man.

His goal was to become disabled.

People like Jason have been classified as ‘‘transabled’’ — feeling like imposters in their bodies, their arms and legs in full working order.

“We define transability as the desire or the need for a person identified as able-bodied by other people to transform his or her body to obtain a physical impairment,” says Alexandre Baril, a Quebec born academic who will present on “transability” at this week’s Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Ottawa.

“The person could want to become deaf, blind, amputee, paraplegic. It’s a really, really strong desire.” - About trans-abled.

Believe it or not: NYC not under water - but it was predicted in 2008.

I enjoy predictions and conspiracy theories, don't you?

So anyway - I responded to the following article on NewsBusters the other day:

FLASHBACK: ABC's ’08 Prediction: NYC Under Water from Climate Change By June 2015

Everyone seemed to be leaving funny comments, so I added my own: "It was mitigated by prayer and fasting - that's what religious people say when prophecies of catastrophe don't come true."

And a religious person apparently got mad:

For Yeshua When? Please provide citation and proof of your bogus accusation 3:22 p.m., Friday June 12 | Other comments by For Yeshua

For Yeshua’s comment is in reply to tj.nelson:
	It was mitigated by prayer and fasting - that's what religious people say when prophecies of catastrophe don't come true. Read more

My response has been mitigated too.

This just in:

I'm thinking the Big One for California won't happen until September-October 2015.  What?

Song for this post here.


Thanks for reading my blog.

Fr. David and “Mary’s Way Worldwide Apostolate”: Every trick in the book.

This photo is alleged to be Fr. David as a child with Padre Pio.

Stigmata, weeping icons, locutions, the chastisement, 3 days darkness, visions, did I mention locutions?  

Never heard of him or the apostolate?  It's not the typical spin-off from the Medjugorje-inspired private revelations once promoted by publishers such as the now-defunct Rhiele Foundation, but it appears to be extremely well organized and possibly even rather profitable.  Bleeding Padre Pio images, icons dripping myrrh, 3 days darkness literature... all available at the online store.  Their promos show photos of Pope John Paul II apparently giving his blessing to one of the icons - which in cult promos means he approved of everything to do with the priest, the stigmata, the visions, the messages-locutions, and the 3 days darkness survival plan.

Photo taken November 2013 of Father David’s right hand.

Back in March, the Diocese of Trenton issued a statement advising the faithful the organization is not recognized by the Catholic Church - and according to the Capuchin Father General in Rome - there is no stigmatist by the name of Fr. David in the OFM Capuchin Order - the reason for that - it appears he has his own religious community.


Diocese of Trenton Statement.

It has been brought to the attention of the Diocese of Trenton that an organization called “Mary’s Way Worldwide Apostolate” is operating in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, Brick Township, within the Diocese of Trenton.
This organization advertises “miracles” attributed to an alleged Capuchin Franciscan “Fr. David” and is soliciting money. This “Franciscan” claims to have the stigmata or wounds of Christ. This organization claims visions of and allocutions from the Blessed Mother Mary under various titles by its members. It also claims some connection to St. Padre Pio.
The Superior of the Capuchin Franciscan Order in Rome has been contacted and has responded that no such stigmatist with the name “Fr. David” exists in his order. This organization has no official connection with the Roman Catholic Church nor has it ever received any official approval or recognition by the Holy See.
The Diocese of Trenton only recently learned of its existence and operation and has never given its approval or recognition to “Mary’s Way Worldwide Apostolate.” It has no relationship to or association with the Diocese of Trenton.
Because it uses Roman Catholic vocabulary, images and elements of doctrine, “Mary’s Way Worldwide Apostolate” has caused confusion among some devout and well-intentioned members of the faithful. The Diocese of Trenton has received complaints of fraudulent activity and wishes to notify Roman Catholics that “Mary’s Way Worldwide Apostolate” is not an officially approved or recognized Roman Catholic organization. The complaints have been submitted to law enforcement officials in Ocean County.
Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M. Bishop of Trenton

Photo taken several years ago of Father David's hand during Holy Week.

Isn't that interesting?

H/T Spirit Daily