What's the deal with Catholics claiming other Catholics are out for the blood of Cardinal Sarah?

I've just about had it.  What?

What's with all the ideological rhetoric?  Like Fr. Z calling these people the Red Menace?

He keeps posting about the 'New catholic Red Guard'.

Fr. Z is into branding - that's most likely because he can market it on mugs and bumper stickers.  It's amazing how his entrepreneurial ambition sometimes just adds to the craziness and confusion of Catholic information online.  Some days it is difficult to sort through the nutcases online when Fr. Z chimes in with this stuff.  He can come off just as much a crackpot as an Ann Barnhardt for instance, or even Skojec at 1P5 and a few others who make the headlines at Canon 212 - maybe add in Raymundo Arroyo and his World-Over-Celebrity-Interview-Showcase onto that list as well. 

When Fr. Z starts trumpeting this type of click-bait, he once again demonstrates why it is highly unlikely he will ever be named a 'domestic prelate'.  It may even indicate a serious lack of balance - a problem which certainly seems obvious with Barnhardt and Skojec. 

The 'New catholic Red Guard' - indeed.  Benedict and Sarah 'haters'.  Really?  C'mon.  Call out errors in teaching and dogma but stop with the mixed metaphor editorializing - it just adds to the confusion.

You are making things worse instead of better.

You call someone a Nazi 

and they turn around and call you

a Communist.  Where are the Catholics?

I thought this was about faith and morals?

What's ideology got to do with it?

Don't let this squeak by with little attention: Catholic psychiatric hospitals in Belgium grant euthanasia to non-terminal patients.

Spiritual accompaniment for euthanasia?

This is a very troubling development. The Catholic Hospital Group under aegis of the Brothers of Charity has defied the Pope and is permitting euthanasia.  Unbelievably, it is my understanding the hospitals have provided a 'spiritual guide' and chaplain support to 'accompany' the patients.  This is deeply disturbing on so many levels. Especially since the eugenic policies of Nazi Germany remain in living memory. It all began with the elderly, the disabled and mentally ill. Forced euthanasia, coerced euthanasia, now morphs into 'spiritual accompaniment euthanasia'. There is a serious problem with the Church in Belgium.

VATICAN CITY—A chain of Catholic psychiatric hospitals in Belgium is granting euthanasia to non-terminal patients, defying the Vatican and deepening a challenge to the church’s commitment to a constant moral code. - WSJ

To 'Bury the Dead' is a Corporal Act of Mercy

Therefore some people are confused by a funeral policy reiterated by the Diocese of Madison.

The policy issued is simply an affirmation of Catholic teaching.  There must be a pastoral concern which the diocese is addressing.  It is the responsibility of the Bishop to make clear Catholic teaching on faith and morals.  Just as in the case of Bishop Paprocki, the diocese felt it necessary to clarify polices concerning Christian burial.  Nothing wrong with that.

Same-sex marriage obviously is presenting a new difficulty these days.  Dr. Peters summarizes it on his blog.

[P]ersons who enter “same-sex marriage” plainly manifest their opposition to crucial and infallible Church teaching that restricts marriage to one man and one woman. The positions taken bySpringfield IL Bp. Paprocki and by the Diocese of Madison restricting funerals in such cases and outlining possible exceptions to those restrictions are thoroughly consistent with the canon law of the Catholic Church. - Dr. Peters

I'm surprised that gay Catholics take offense to that.  It seems cold, but Catholics should understand these things if they are catechized properly.  The sacraments are never refused to the dying, even manifest sinners - those living in 'public' sin.  Civil marriage is public - as is sacramental marriage, which is why the Church announces Banns of Marriage - the public announcement of a couple's intent to marry in the Church.  Catholics know very well same-sex marriage is not, nor cannot be recognized by the Church, and homosexual acts can in no way be approved.  If you are in such a situation and do not renounce it - or have the intention to repent, or hopefully confess before death, you are pretty much in opposition to Catholic doctrine.  If and when this situation is 'publicly manifest'  the Rite of Christian Burial can be denied.

It doesn't mean the deceased can't have a funeral or have prayers said, or even have Masses said.  But a funeral Mass can be denied.  That said, in many 'private' situations I'm sure a funeral Mass and a priest at the graveside occurs.  Not all bishops and priests enforce the rules, so to speak.  Which is why I say the Diocese of Madison may have been informed of an abuse and therefore found it necessary to reiterate and specify Catholic teaching in this regard.  In these cases, a Catholic priest-chaplain at the hospital, or the local parish is usually available to personally advise and help the dying person and family.

No priest or bishop, no matter how traditional or 'by the rubrics' would ever refuse the sacraments to the dying, or seek to 'punish' the person, his/her partner or family, by denying a public funeral on a whim.  One needs to take into consideration there may be a genuine problem of scandal - and I'm not talking 'pearl-clutching'.  Grave scandal and its effects upon the people of God must be taken into serious consideration.  In some cases, a denial of burial to a public figure is avoided because that situation can also scandalize many - it is the duty and office of the local ordinary to make that call. 

Bishop Paprocki and now Bishop Morlino are strongly criticized for simply reiterating Catholic teaching.  That is wrong.  They are being painted as homophobic and uncharitable.  That is not what this is about.

Gay Catholics, no matter how you identify, you need to know that same sex marriage is in no way equal to sacramental marriage between a man and a woman.  We all need to repent and believe in the Gospel - we are told that at the beginning of Lent, when ashes are imposed upon our foreheads - it's not decorative, much less a cosmetic enhancement.  It's about death and eternal life.  We need to prepare ourselves for that.  Just saying.

Rather than bitch and complain, or carry on some sort of online war, both sides should maybe worry more about how to make Catholic teaching more palatable, help people understand the truth - in actual charity, kindly, sensitively and patiently.  To 'bury the dead' is a corporate act of mercy, therefore console the grieving, offer suffrages, do what Catholics have always done.

This is perennial Roman Catholic teaching.  When Catholic teaching is challenged and or publicly opposed, it needs clarification from the Church.  Bishop Morlino and the Diocese of Madison has done that, and he needs Catholics to support him in that.

If this stuff hurts, pray.  Pray some more.  Go to Confession.  Pray.  Let yourself be taught.  Love correction.  As the Psalmist said, "If a good man reproves me, it is kindness."  Pray deeply.  Stay a long time after Communion and pray.  God loves us indiscriminately, especially when we are too little to understand.

Fake comment from Bl. Paul VI

I searched to find the speech or address of Paul VI containing the following quote now circulating online:

“The tail of the Devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church, even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the Faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church”. - Attributed to Paul VI

Paul VI supposedly said that in a speech on October 13, 1977.   Interestingly enough, many trads and Fatima people pretty much dismiss Paul VI for everything else, yet they are grabbing onto this quote, which fits well into their narrative that Pope Francis undermines Catholic teaching and 'Francis-bishops' are apostates.  I think a couple of prelates may even ascribe to this theory and call for a re-consecration of Russia.  You know.

As one comment on Fr. Z's post highlighting the "Pauline' quote noted:  

I have heard this quote as well as the now-famous 1976 Cardinal Wojtyla comment from America (about the battle between Church and Anti-Church). 

Both quotes can be traced, apparently, to newspaper articles, but no one, as far as I know, has ever found the originals. 

In fact, I have looked for the supposed 10/13/77 speech on the Vatican website; not there. I also read Wojtyla’s speech in American in 1976; not there. 

The Paul VI “smoke of satan” is authentic, although it is found in a summary of a homily he gave; found on the Vatican Website. - Source

 I did the same search and had the same results.  The address of Pope Paul on 10-13-77 was to the German Bishops in Latin, and despite my limited knowledge of Latin, I saw nothing of the quote there.

The Hidden Surprise In the Fatima Secret

Soviet Women's Equality.

“The decisive battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be over marriage and the family.” Sr. Lucia dos Santos.


The Fatima surprise ... the Devil's final battle - over marriage and the family. Some Catholics seem surprised about that. Especially because Fatimists believed it was all about the Great Apostasy - even at the top - as Fr. Kramer's book asserted nearly two decades ago:

Fr Kramer's expose of the "great crime...committed against the Catholic Church and the world at large" by the refusal to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart OF Mary while knowingly and willfully suppressing the Third Secret of Fatima is grimly methodical. Fr Kramer cast his book in the form of a legal indictment outlining the crime, the evidence for the crime,naming the suspected perpetrators of the crime, their motives, their defense of their actions, and the devastating consequences that have already resulted from their crime and will continue to intensify until the crime is undone. - Devil's Final Battle

When Cardinal Caffarra  made public what Sr. Lucia told him about the real final battle, Catholics jumped on that to indict the Pope and Amoris laetitia as somehow part of Satan's battle plan.  Maybe it is?  I don't know.  The Devil has to delight in the division within the Church and the attacks upon the papacy and magisterium, but I wonder how this 'decisive battle' message is such a surprise for so many.  Where have they been?  The only new development in the area of marriage is the opening to Same Sex unions and families.  It's a big development - but essentially - at least on the surface, gay people simply want the option to domesticate and have a family.  Laying aside religious resistance, and God willing, religious liberties are not violated, civil unions are late to the 'final battle'.  (However, that's not the focus of my discussion here.)

Americans welcomed the errors of Russia.

What I'm getting at is that to understand what Lucia said about the 'final battle' warning can best be understood if we go back to what Our Lady said at Fatima in the first place: "Russia will spread her errors ..."  Therefore, it's necessary to take a look at those errors, specifically how the Soviets sought to destroy marriage and control the family, and how this form of 'family planning' was popularized in the West, where it actually originated.  The 'errors of Russia' were 'domesticated' in and through  academia and the sciences, and popularized by the entertainment industry. 

So why is this such a huge revelation for some Catholics today?

We've been living with these 'freedoms' for more that half a century.  No fault divorce, contraception, abortion, along with all of the effects of these things, have been tolerated, accepted and even affirmed by Americans for decades.  We consider them human rights.  Yet so many religious people look for new revelations and locutions to tell us what went wrong?  Or the same people accuse the Church of having failed to teach the truth?  That's diabolic delusion, if indeed you are looking for it - especially when you claim the Pope is teaching errors.

The Secret has already been revealed:  Russia spread her errors and Western economies flourished by them.

I found an interesting article from 1926 titled, "The Russian Effort to Abolish Marriage."  With all the talk of Russia trying to influence U.S. politics these days, it might be good to review how Russia spread her errors and influenced domestic policies in the United States for nearly 100 years.

Just saying, shaking my head.

Russian errors: Soviet tattoos.

Look around you.  

Look at how many Americans are now

covered in tattoos!  Even Catholics!

What?

The disastrous end to the Fatima Jubilee ...

Actually, this was today's Gospel.

I think seers and locutionists and those who decipher meaning in the alignment of stars and the signs in nature are pushing the Apocalypse back a bit.  Apparently they weren't really sure if it was going to happen this year or in 2020 - or even later.

Whatever.

Parish busybodies online.

Monday, Monday.

Every parish has a busybody, sometimes several, which is where we get the tradition of  'church ladies'.  They can be men, too.

Of course some will protest the title of busybody, but they are the same people online who usually complain they are ignored by chanceries or banned from St. Patrick's day parades.  They complain a lot.  They correct priests.  Hunt for scandals to uncover.  They inform on parishioners who may not be as holy as they are, and so on.  Of course they have their place in the life of the Church, but they are a minority in parishes and by extension, in the Church universal.

I came to that conclusion today after searching for a priest in the Archdiocese of NYC.  He's an excellent priest and he is assigned to St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan.  So?  Think of it.  Church Militant, The Remnant, 1P5, a couple staff members from a seminary in Michigan, and a few other crack pot bloggers decry Cardinals, bishops, priests and religious in union with the Holy Father as 'wolves in sheep's clothing'.  They accuse them of misleading the flock, they call them the very worst names and accuse them of horrible - sometimes unspeakable sins.  For that reason they themselves will admit that they are banned from websites, and/or have become persona non grata at rectories and chanceries.  Yet St. Patrick's is a parish, a large parish in a larger archdiocese, served by many excellent and holy priests, with a Cardinal, albeit frequently attacked and criticized by a vociferous few.

They are an extremely small group.  They like to think they are THE remnant and more Catholic than the Pope.  When in fact, they are a parochial group of very vocal, angry, disgruntled, parish busybodies.  Now that they are on social media, they seem more numerous and influential than they are, but most Catholics never heard of them much less know who they are.

What?

Building a bridge ... the Holy Father.

Las Lajas Sanctuary Ipiales, Colombia

The Pope speaks.

“Don’t let your youth be stolen from you,” Pope Francis told the young people of Canada. 

“Don’t build walls of division. Build bridges, like this one which you are crossing and which allows you to communicate from the shores of two oceans." - P. Francis video message to Canadian youth.

Mass chat: The children's teeth are on edge.

The power of silence.

Pope Francis' correctio of Cardinal Sarah.

As Fr. Z might say - it's a dust up, not to worry.  Although it is sure to to become a big storm within the 'remnant'.  I picked up the story from Fr. Martin:

Breaking: In an extraordinary public correction, Pope Francis has corrected Cardinal Robert Sarah on a statement that Sarah recently made contradicting the Pope on the liturgy. 

In what Massimo Faggioli calls a "paternal correction," the Pope reaffirms that, as he said in his motu proprio, authority for liturgical translations rests with local bishops conferences. (Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, had recently said that what the Pope said does not apply.) - Fr. Martin

Fr. Z points out it isn't really a correction of the Cardinal but a request for him to correct a “Commentaire”, wrongly attributed to the Cardinal.  The Holy Father concludes by recognizing the Cardinal for his good work (diligence) in bringing the matter to the Pope's attention and thanking him.

Works for me.

The Ordinary Form is Holy.

This weekend another priest from the seminary had Mass at my parish.  He's one of my favorite priests in the Archdiocese.  Wonderful guy.  His homily was 'firey' - all about the love of God and our rendering to God what is God's in and through Holy Mass.  I can tell this priest prays, and prays the Mass.  I won't say anything more on that however.

It is a scandal to me how Catholics not only malign the Holy Father, but denigrate the Mass as well.  Especially the Ordinary Form - which is the ordinary form for Holy Mass in the Latin rite.  Some even suggesting it is a diabolic deception.  So now, I am certain, they will say the Holy Father, in his correction of Cardinal Sarah is bent upon destruction of the Sacred Liturgy.  Their 'teeth are on edge'.

I came across a post from Michael Matt of The Remnant.  He is descendant from The Wanderer newspaper which has pretty much always been a stronghold of conservatism and resistance to the 'spirit of Vatican II'.  'They' were not wrong about that, but they were frequently without 'charity' in their 'resistance'.  Only recently has that segment turned hostile and vindictive, at times, resisting Peter to his face.  Readers know what I'm talking about here.  I think a 'correctio' for these groups would be fitting.

To see how far they have come in their resistance astonished me.  I knew individuals formed themselves on private revelations and spurious interpretations of apparitions and mystical writings such as those from Bl. Catherine Emmerich, but I didn't think they could be as literal about it as they seem to be.  I came upon the following from Michael Matt in an introduction to a post  suggesting Cardinal Burke as the 'new apologist for sedevacantists'.  (LOL!)  The criticism of the Ordinary Form of Mass is shameful, to say the least.

We were warned that these days were forthcoming. Well now they’ve arrived, and the question is: Are we up to the challenge to keep the faith in spite of them? For us it is important to recall that the forces of darkness have tried and failed to crush the Bride of Christ outright, and that out of that failure a new and even more diabolically clever strategy seems to be emerging—to leave the Church standing but to infiltrate her, as Pope Pius X predicted they’d do. “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church,” predicted Our Lady of Akita, as well. And so gathered here behind enemy lines, in occupied territory, we’re up against Luciferian deception where there are no easy answers and no easy way out.

So rather than outlawing the Catholic Mass (as they did so often in history), for example, they "reformed" it this time. And their New Mass is a disastrous novelty that may nevertheless retain its technical validity—with Christ truly present to be reviled, ignored, effectively mocked on Novus tables just as He was on Calvary’s Cross. It may be tempting in the face of such devastating sacrilege to stand up and denounce all New Masses as “invalid”. But are they? Sacrilege does not guarantee invalidity, and to suggest that it does may well be to miss the more horrific point of what’s really going on here. (Nor does mere technical validity translate to mean that we have a moral right to expose ourselves or our children to something that has done so much documented damage throughout the world to the belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.) Retaining technical validity may well be Satan’s masterstroke, for if the abuse-ridden New Mass is invalid then only mere bread and wine are being ignored, abused, reviled or in some other way disrespected. Would the Father of Lies settle for that?  

And so too with the Pope—if only it were true that Francis is not the pope! But what if the diabolical nature of the crisis at hand is to be found in the very fact that he is, despite the myriad scandals? In the face of the growing scandal, it’s understandable that some want to proclaim Peter’s chair empty but, again, would the Father of Lies settle for that, or would he demand the real thing to hold up in triumph before the Face of Christ Crucified? In his pride, would Lucifer settle for some harlot imposter, propped up in the place of Christ’s spotless bride? These are the questions that must be discussed. And, of course, since diabolical disorientation impacts each and every one of us, we could certainly be wrong in how we see it all. But what is not up for debate is this: When we “defend” Pope Francis as a valid pope (as John Salza does in the following article) we are not defending his multitudinous scandals. In fact, it would be so much easier for us to simply announce he’s lost his office. But we believe that he has not, and that's the problem! - Michael Matt

Michael Matt is getting as strange as Ann Barnhardt.  They use 'Biblical prophetic' language and private revelation quite well to support their claims, but the Pope is the final authority. 

The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered." - CCC 832

What if this is my very last post ...

Our Lady's Chapel

Icon of OLPH on copper

artist unknown.  

(The flash is from a too bright of a spot light.)

Some photos of the chapel where the icon of the Annunciation resides.  The icon is currently in the niche at the back of the chapel, as seen below.