Disinterested Friendship ... and living together.

Yesterday, on Friday, Pope Francis visited the L'Arche Community of ‘Chicco’ in Ciampino, on the outskirts of Rome.

The Chicco community was founded in 1981 and houses 18 people with intellectual challenges. The L’Arche philosophy is "the praise of imperfection," that is, to thrive amidst disabilities that the world doesn’t value. The residents of L’Arche are free to make their own way in life, to give and receive deep affection and to form lasting friendships. Pope Francis visited L’Arche as a move to emphasize the value of such principles over an ephemeral, disposable culture.

Pope Francis has identified this visit as one of the most profound of his pontificate. - Vatican Radio

L'Arche was founded by Jean Vanier in 1964.

Each person with his or her history of being accepted or rejected, with his or her past history of inner pain and difficulties in relationships, is different. But in each one there is a yearning for communion and belonging, but at the same time a fear of it. Love is what we most want, yet it is what we fear the most. - Jean Vanier

Has anyone ever really corroborated the claims of Bella Dodd?

Bella Dodd 1936

Besides Dietrich von Hildebrand's wife Dr. Alice?

Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, when speaking of her late husband, also mentions Bella Dodd and her claims of placing over a thousand men in seminaries as sleeper cells to climb the episcopal career ladder to the highest places in the Church.  Dodd never named names.  It is said Archbishop Sheen, her spiritual director, advised her not to do so.

Without names, without corroborated testimony, how do we know she wasn't sensationalizing her story?  Or perhaps an instrument to sow confusion?  What if her expulsion from the Communist Party was faked so that she could discredit clergy with her stories?

I came across a comment on another post which makes a lot of sense to me, and which illustrates the need to vet these conspiracy theories - even if Fulton Sheen believed them.  Don't forget, JPII was deceived by Fr. Maciel.  St. Therese was deceived by Leon Taxil.

SardathMARCH 6, 2011 @ 5:45 PMMary Ann, the fact that others were telling the same story as Dodd only proves that others had an interest in purveying the same notions at the same time; without corroboration, that could mean almost anything. 

Part of my problem with Dodd’s story is that it so conveniently serves the purposes of people who might have wanted such a story to be told, regardless of whether it was true or not–and this works equally well from either the right wing or the left. 

What if Dodd were not a genuine defector from the Communists, but had been “sheep-dipped” by the KGB with a phony expulsion to set her up as a credible source for a story the KGB wanted told? What better way for the Soviets to discredit the Catholic Church than by having a phony defector offer up a lurid tale of how the Church had been infiltrated and virtually taken over with no one being the wiser–especially if no such thing had actually happened! 

On the other hand, what if Dodd were one of the many operatives who were infiltrated into the Communist Party by our own security apparatus in those days, and then publicly extracted with a bogus story intended to discredit the growing liberal reform movements within the Church by tarring them as agents of Soviet subversion. We know that such games were being played in similar circumstances by numerous federal agencies, as well as by private right-wing organizations with access to government resources; many of these covert operations were very sophisticated and highly successful, and were only exposed decades later after the damage had already been done. 

In short, there are just too many hands potentially stirring this pot for me to put any credence in any of it without some kind of external control. Some objective check on the veracity of the stories needs to be found, and KGB documents–if genuine–might be just the ticket. I would be very interested to see what they have to say, if you can point me to a source for them. - Source

Anyway - I admire Dr. Alice von Hildebrand but her testimony on this is pretty much hear say, and remember, her late husband was more or less 'rebuffed' by Paul VI for his warnings about the New Mass, and Dr. Alice has been highly critical of the Paul VI ever since, earnestly trying to connect the Bella Dodd conspiracy dots to his pontificate.  This to the delight of her conspiracy theorist fans.  She's a die hard conspiracy-believer herself, as she so often attests:

Many a time I have heard Americans say that Europeans “smell conspiracy wherever they go.”

I, European born, am tempted to say that many Americans are naïve; living in a country that has been blessed by peace, and knowing little about history, they are more likely than Europeans (whose history is a tumultuous one) to fall prey to illusions.Rousseau has had an enormous influence in the United States. When Christ said to His apostles at the Last Supper that “one of you will betray Me,” the apostles were stunned. Judas had played his hand so artfully that no one suspected him, for a cunning conspirator knows how to cover his tracks with a show of orthodoxy. - Source

Dr. von Hildebrand has obviously bought Dodd's story completely.  In fact, she appears to be interpreting the Fatima secret through the Bella Dodd lens now.  OnePeterFive has that story here.

I left a comment asking if they had taken into account Sr. Lucia's double.  Come to think of it - what if it was Paul VI's double who rebuffed Dietrich?   It changes everything - or confirms it.  OMG!

Holy crap Bella!

Song for this post here.

Recalling Something Pope Benedict Said at Fatima ...

"Look! Don’t you see many roads, paths and fields full of people crying of hunger, not having anything to eat? And the Holy Father in a Church praying next to the Heart of Mary?" - Blessed Jacinta

Don't forget, one of the points mentioned in the secret - especially as it related to the third part of the secret, was the statement, 'the Holy Father will have much to suffer'.  Frequently, Jacinta mentioned the Holy Father in reference to the third part of the secret, and/or exclaiming 'Poor Holy Father!'  The other sign - or significant part of the secret was, 'the good will be martyred.'  If Jacinta's voice could be heard today, perhaps she would exclaim to all of us: "Look!  Don't you see?  It is happening now!"

What Pope Benedict said when he visited ...

The greatest persecution of the church doesn’t come from enemies on the outside ...

"In terms of what we today can discover in this Our Lady's message, attacks against the pope or the church don’t come just from outside the church. The suffering of the church also comes from within the church, because sin exists in the church. This too has always been known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way. The greatest persecution of the church doesn’t come from enemies on the outside, but is born in sin within the church. The church thus has a deep need to re-learn penance, to accept purification, to learn on one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice. Forgiveness does not exclude justice. We have to re-learn the essentials: conversion, prayer, penance, and the theological virtues. That’s how we respond, and we can be realistic in expecting that evil will always launch attacks from within and from outside, but the forces of good are also always present, and finally the Lord is stronger than evil. The Madonna for us is the visible maternal guarantee that the will of God is always the last word in history." - NCR

Stop attacking the Holy Father.  Our Lady only asked us to pray for him, not attack, mock and persecute him.  Quit sigging others on him.

Feast of Our Lady of Fatima

Tell everybody that God grants us graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; 

that people are to ask her for them; 

and that the Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at his side. 

Tell them also to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, 

since God entrusted it to her. - Bl. Jacinta to Lucia

Consecrated Virgins, Carthusian Nuns, Armenian and Coptic Nuns - I wonder what they would think when some cleric patronizingly refers to them as 'deaconettes'?

After her solemn profession or perpetual donation,

the nun can, if she wishes, receive the Consecration of Virgins. 

This is a special rite where the Bishop gives the nun not only the veil and ring, 

external signs of an indissoluble union with the divine Spouse, 

but also the stole. This confers on the recipient certain liturgical privileges the most 

significant of them being the proclaiming of the Gospel on certain occasions.

Fr. Z is showing his clericalist-slip again.

He really cuts down women.  Z writes about the big news yesterday that the Pope has "considered establishing a commission to study the issue of the ordination of woman as deaconesses…. (aka deaconettes -it’s easier to pronounce)."

It's easier to pronounce alright.

And then his clericalist-slip gets to the point ....

Talk about a slip ...

Some feminine observations about deaconesses (aka deaconettes).

Although… that brings up an interest thought. WERE the ordination of women to be approved, even though they didn’t have any sacramental ministry or liturgical role in the ancient Church, I bet we would suddenly see a huge increase in Pontifical Masses in the older, traditional rite! I foresee massive expeditures – not for the poor, but for glorious vestments in gold and silk, the sort that haven’t been produced for over a century. It would suddenly be discovered that splendid lace albs are actually notevil after all. I can see now the consultants pouring in from the AME and the Anglicans to offer their help. And pause to consider the fantastic new head gear possibilities! - Z

For more information on the history of deaconesses in the Eastern Church, as well as in Carthusian Monasticism, please visit and read here.

For a better understanding of what the Holy Father said and all that entails, check out Jimmy Akin's article at NCRegister here.

Demeaning women.

Obviously Fr. Z is being facetious - but he's also feeding his anti-papist trolls, as well as creating controversy with those darn liberals who persecuted him in the seminary - especially those religious women in secular dress who may have had something to do with vocations or formation in the archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis.  That is understandable I suppose - but 25 years is a long time to carry a grudge.

Ostensibly Fr. Z attempts to put his readers fears to rest with his posts - but he's also stirring the pot.  Not a few Z-ites and those ultra-traditional types who follow him are not exactly crazy about the role of permanent deacon either - married men in Holy Orders - these developments kinda sets their teeth on edge.

Nothing has even happened yet.

Pope Francis "was asked if he would establish 'an official commission' to study the question of women deacons. 

He replied: 'I accept. It would be useful for the Church to clarify this question. I agree.'" - source

The Holy Father simply agreed with the question and made it clear he a commission to study the possibility would be useful - and people freak out - while on other sites they throw more stones at the Holy Father.

Don't forget: Fr. Z needs your Donations, PayPal alternatives, and for the umpteenth time, (he) his blog needs serious work.

(He) foresees massive expeditures – not for the poor, 

but for glorious vestments in gold and silk, 

the sort that haven’t been produced for over a century.

That's what he said.  I'm sure he's just being facetious of course.

Mark Shea has revved up the blog again.

St. Mark, Andrea Mantegna

After several writers moved on and off the Patheos Catholic channel - Mark focused on his NCRegister column - now he's back writing Catholic and Enjoying It as well.

I'm really glad.  He's one of the most honest Catholic writers online.  I've always liked him for that.

That's all I've got - check him out though - he's back with a vengeance, as they say out West.  He's so not happy about what some in pro-life leadership are saying about who we must support in the upcoming elections.  I really needed to read that from Mark.

Frank Weathers is back too.  I like him.  In fact, he's one of the nicest Catholics online.

If only Kat would come back now.

I just can't get used to her new look and girl-talk on Aleteia

or the talk show bits she did with David G. -

not that's there's anything wrong with that.

Song for this post here.

Happy Birthday Burt!

May 12

Song for this post here.  And here.  And here.

See what you did there?

This is very good ...

From St. Bernard:

If only those who are incapable of remaining continent would fear to profess perfection rashly and to assume the title of celibacy...it would without doubt have been better to marry than to burn (1 Cor 7:9), to be saved in the humble ranks of the faithful than to live less worthily in the lofty ranks of the clergy and be more severely judged...They abstain from from the remedy afforded by marriage and give themselves up to all forms of vice.  (On Conversion, a Sermon to Clerics, trans. Bernard Saïd, OSB)

I came across it on Fr. Charles' blog, A Minor Friar.  He reflects upon Amoris laetitia and celibacy - and it really helped me to come to a deeper understanding of 'consecrated celibacy' - as opposed to just being single and living a chaste, celibate life.  Consecrated life is different.

Here we go ... The End Is Near ...

It could happen. - Judy Tenuta prophecy.


This morning I read, "Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken ..."*

So later I went online to check to see if that volcano in the Canary Islands erupted and a tsunami was on its way to wipe out Manhattan.  Or maybe California got the big one today - or will get it this week? Seattle could get one anytime.  Yellowstone too!  OMG!

Friday is the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima.  Next year is the 100th anniversary.

Russia is working on a nuke to annihilate entire nations with one shot.

Trump is going to be president.

Men and women use the same restrooms and locker rooms.

See.  That's why I don't leave the house or go to the gym.  I refuse to shower with all the transsexuals.

I'm so scared.

But seriously.  It's bordering on superstition.  The 13th - something bad is going to happen.  Our Lady shows up - something bad is going to happen.  Years, dates, days are beginning to take on a sort of occult significance.  Occult means hidden from view - suggesting secrets - secret knowledge.  True devotion has nothing to do with that stuff.

I may be wrong - but it seemed like that this morning when I wondered - 'was that a word of knowledge?'

And then I thought of Melvin Udall ... 'where did they teach you to talk like that?'

*Isaiah 54:10 concludes with these words:

My love shall never fall away from you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

And ...

Every weapon fashioned against you shall fail;
every tongue that brings you to trial
you shall prove false.
This is the lot of the servants of the LORD,
their vindication from me—oracle of the LORD. - Isaiah 54

Where is Michael Voris?

No one seems to be covering him lately.

I don't follow Church Militant, but occasionally I'd watch Mic'd Up on a local television station.  I never check listings, but simply tune-in from time to time.  Lately I've either missed his broadcast or the local independent station no longer airs it.  I have not checked into Church Militant to see what's up, but in my search to see if the program was cancelled, I came up with some posts rather critical of Voris.  Seriously critical of his 'sodomite' past.  One blogger suggested he may have invented the story of threatened defamation by the Archdiocese of NY, not unlike the early 20th century evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson supposedly faked her own death to cover up an extramarital affair.

Are people distancing themselves from Voris?  Is it the 'sodomite past' or his unproven allegations against the Archdiocese of NY the reason Voris' star is dimmed?  If indeed he has fallen out of favor with his audience.  It's an interesting development.

He may have caused his own downfall.

I didn't know CMTV was threatened with a lawsuit if they continued their investigative reports on the Archdiocese, until I came across this on Wiki:

Voris and CMTV have dropped their investigation of the New York Archdiocese after receiving a letter from Madison Avenue threatening to sue them out of existence if they continued reporting baseless stories/scandals. Since April of 2016, Church Militant has not reported on the New York Archdiocese nor slandered Timothy Cardinal Dolan publicly. - source

Unfounded allegations of a conspiracy against him may rightly be one factor in his diminishing popularity, but I think the 'sodomite' past may be part of it.  At least one blogger I know of is questioning that story.  If he was more gay than straight - well - you know what they say; 'once a homo always a homo'.  Some people apparently want to know 'number and kind' when it comes to his sinful past - just how gay was he?  Just when did he stop being gay?  Did he quit cold turkey?  I have no interest in those details, but apparently others do, and it may well be in the back of the minds of many.

The Church is very forgiving - but Catholic laity, not so much - especially when it comes to sins which cry to heaven for vengeance.

There's a columnist online who writes for the Catholic Herald, she just wrote a post wondering why the Pope keeps saying that the confessional is not a torture chamber.  She and Fr. Rutler can't figure that out - it seems they just can't imagine why some Catholics would fear the confessional.  It makes me wonder.  Don't they know Catholics like that?  Don't they read what Catholics say online?  Don't they see the hurdles Catholic bloggers and websites create to discourage fallen away or distant Catholics seeking God?  Don't they read how Catholics online will often remind former sinners of their sinful past?  Confession not only absolves us of our sins, it removes guilt, and shame.

Yet Catholic laity just won't let penitents off that easy.

Refuge of sinners, pray for Gary, pray for us.

   

Working so hard on a painting.

I'm basing my new image on these portraits.

I've been asked to do a young version of Matt

but he died old.  Know what I mean?

He can inspire young people

just the way he is.

I haven't been in touch lately.

It's almost like happiness!

Totally absorbed.

What's so bad about extending your hand in blessing?

Disinterested friend extending paw blessing.

Dad's can bless their kids and their wives.

People sign notes and email with "Blessings".

Other people frequently bless people praying, "God bless you."

In prayer meetings people frequently extend hands in prayer over people praying for God's blessing.

If the priest asks you to join him in extending a blessing - you don't have to do it.

I've done it now and then.  It's not such a big deal.  Sometimes I don't.

Larry doesn't like it.

But he likes me to link to him.

What?

What's the deal with New Advent and Aleteia? "Pius XII gets 'hammered'" - really?

What?  We Italians drinka the vino.

How low can they stoop to get readers?

That's totally disgusting.  They are obviously liberals, otherwise why would they attempt to defame Pope Pius XII?!

See it here and here.

I'm against it.

Never mind.

BTW.  Larry moved to Catholic Conspiracy now.  He's so needy.  Check out his new digs here.

Lara Logan on Yezidi Women and Girls ...

The systematic genocide of the Yezidi.

It was an upsetting report to watch.  What ISIS is doing.  Within the context of the report Yezidi women survivors spoke about brutal rapes - daily rapes - gang rapes, men standing in line.  Raped in front of their husbands and children, before the husbands were brutally killed.  Babies poisoned and killed.  How can these women even go on living?

Why?

Sinjar is the ancestral home of a religious minority known as the Yezidis, roughly 5,000 of whom have been murdered by ISIS in a systematic genocide that began in August 2014. Bodies are still being discovered, Logan reports in her story this week, and an estimated 3,000 Yezidis are still being held by ISIS today.

60 Minutes traveled to Sinjar with Father Patrick Desbois, a French Catholic priest who has dedicated his life to documenting genocides around the world. This time is different, he says. "The challenge now is to stop the genocide, is to try to save people, is to try to carry the voice of the victim, to make people conscious. The killing machine is alive."

Once Sinjar was liberated, Logan and Desbois traveled with Kurdish soldiers into the city, which now lies in ruins. "ISIS chose to go into Sinjar, because it knew that to wipe out the Yezidi culture and history and people, that this was a very powerful place to start," Logan says. - Watch and finish reading here.

It was difficult to watch.  I closed my eyes, looked at the floor, closed my eyes again as I listened.  I thought of the passages from Lamentations, Rachel weeps for her children who are no more.

The French priest, Fr. Desbois, who has dedicated his life to documenting genocides, calls ISIS a killing machine which must be stopped.  He sees ISIS as a particularly concentrated form, for lack of a better description - he says they have it down to a science.  We keep saying, "Never again!" as regards the Nazi Holocaust - yet it keeps happening and happening with surgical accuracy.

Don't wait for signs and secrets to be revealed - or headlines from the next seer's blog post.

I mention this because there is so much discussion these days about Fatima and the secrets - in anticipation of the Fatima centenary next year.  So much concern arising from reports of other apparitions and secrets on hold, and locutionists talking about financial collapse and storms and earthquakes in various places.  Yet the Fatima secrets have been revealed - the warnings have been given - and they seem to be unfolding before our eyes ...

We are living it now.  People follow mystics and alleged apparitions waiting for the next banal message, yet we already have the formula, the information and instructions we need.  As if it isn't enough so many hang onto staged ecstatic performances of conversations with the Madonna.  So many seek counsel for the next right step, when in fact we have had all the information we need.

This morning I reflected upon the words, 'various nations will be annihilated'.  I think I always expected this warning meant that whole nations would be vaporized in nuclear war.  Maybe it does?  Yet maybe it refers to genocide.  I may be mistaken, but the biblical sense of nations seems to me to refer to peoples, or tribes.  God promised to make Israel a great nation - I'm not sure he was referring necessarily to geographical Israel.  So in that sense, I wondered if perhaps Our Lady's warning at Fatima referred to other forms of annihilation?

Namely genocide?

+ + +

The good are martyred;
the Holy Father does suffer much;
various nations are being annihilated ...

"Look! Don’t you see many roads, paths and fields 

full of people crying of hunger, not having anything to eat? 

And the Holy Father in a Church 

praying next to the Heart of Mary?" - Blessed Jacinta

We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly:

“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world”. - Vatican

This is very cool: Dawn Eden Goldstein - the first woman at the University of St. Mary of the Lake to earn a sacred theology doctorate, a pontifical degree issued under the authority of the Holy See.

-source-

Congratulations!

What an amazing accomplishment!  Wearing a biretta!

This is glorious!

Congratulations Dr. Eden - Goldstein.  Read the Chicago Tribune coverage here.

You are a beloved daughter of the Church.  You are God's handiwork.

Prayers.  Best wishes.  Thanksgiving.  

Happy Mother's Day ...

Still my favorite Mother's Day video ...

Disinterested friendship

I don't care if you are black - I wove you!

It's a miracle!

... healed during dance-trance at apparition site.