FrankenPope the Mystic? Spare us, O Lord!

by Christopher A. Ferrara
April 23, 2018

The Italian Catholic academician Massimo Borghesi has produced a book-length defense of Pope Francis entitled Jorge Mario Bergoglio: An Intellectual Biography.  As reported by National Catholic Register here, Borghesi argues that Francis is “an ‘original and profound’ thinker who has drawn on numerous Church thinkers of the 20th century to seek a ‘third position’ between conservatism and progressivism.”  According to Borghesi, Francis “has been influenced by thinkers who view the Church as ‘the complexio oppositorum, the point of contrasting unions that, on the natural level, do not find a solution.’”  He “‘is a mystic’ who sees his mission as resolving these tensions.” read more

The Truth Is Not an Idol!

by Christopher A. Ferrara
April 24, 2018

As this pontificate enters its sixth tumultuous year, the Church is witnessing something she has never witnessed before: a worldwide Catholic defense of orthodoxy against a reigning Pope who, as even a commentator as sober as Philip Lawler has observed, “is engaged in a deliberate effort to change what the Church teaches.”  Indeed, we have a Pope who declares in all seriousness — within the four corners of an apostolic exhortation no less — that “in the Church there legitimately coexist different ways of interpreting many aspects of doctrine and Christian life; in their variety, they ‘help to express more clearly the immense riches of God’s word.’” read more

[Trouble in another “socialist paradise”]

[Will President Trump (like President Reagan in the 1980s) support a new Contra counter-revolutionary movement in Nicaragua against Dictator Dan and his Commie-rads? – AQ Tom]

Catholic World News – 4/25/18

Church to act as mediator as Nicaragua protests continue (AP)

Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes “called on the government and members of civil society to avoid any violence and damage to public or private property to set the right atmosphere for productive dialogue,” according to the report.” read more

How to recognize a bad shepherd: He says language in the Catechism is hurtful to certain communities

[Neither Fr. Lankeit nor Phoenix  Bp. Thomas Olmsted is the “bad shepherd” in question! – AQ Tom]

John Henry Westen – 3/24/18

  Catholic, Modernism

A reader passed on this amazing homily by Fr. John Lankeit of SS Simon & Jude Cathedral Parish in Phoenix, Arizona given on Good Shepherd Sunday.

Every once in a while it’s nice to hear clear teaching delivered unapologetically.

These days when even some of the shepherds are actually wolves in disguise, it’s great to have a guide to help discern who is a Good Shepherd. read more

Evangelicals Have Displaced Catholics As the Pro-Life Movement’s Base

[Reminiscent of the 2011 book “Where Have All the Catholics Gone?” – AQ Tom]

[Text of the preface, introduction and chapters one through seven at books.google.com/books?id=tArhDAAAQBAJ&pg=PR3&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false ]

In writing the original book and the revised text, I am constantly reminded that we are a house divided, and I feel deeply the lament of the psalmist who cried out: It is not enemies who taunt me- I could bear that; it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me- I could hide from them. But it is you, my equal, my companion, my faithful friend, with whom I kept pleasant company; we walked in the house of God with the throng. We Catholics are now a house divided. Not only that, we are in danger of becoming irreconcilably split. Perhaps all that is left is for schism, for the situation to be recognized, and for us to sadly move apart. While there is disquiet in my heart, there is at the same time great comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit is in charge of this oft-times cantankerous community, that whatever happens will be in accord with his will, and that is good. Whatever I say, it is said with loving concern, but I believe very strongly that “Catholic” is not a label to be worn but a life to be lived with direction from, and deference to, the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. – Father Michael Francis Dolan is a lifelong Catholic. He is a widower, father and grandfather. He is also a retired Naval officer and a medical doctor. He has a Master’s degree in biology from Johns Hopkins University. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington in 1997.

By Ed Kilgore – 4/25/18

Looking at an article in the Washington Post about the frenetic activity in many states since 2010 aimed at enacting abortion restrictions, some in order to set up a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson noticed a pattern, which he discussed in a subscription email to readers that I happen to receive. read more

Link to live feed from St. Peter’s: : Catholics prayer the Rosary for Alfie Evans

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=825368254313655&id=123492761167878

UK court turned down latest appeal to permit the Evans child to leave.
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Tom Evans moving to have three doctors tried for homicide conspiracy.
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Groups assembling at St. Peter’s at this hour (1317, Pacific)

Quick Hits: From Crux, two detailed looks at current Vatican woes

By Phil Lawler  | Apr 25, 2018

Credit the Crux news site with two detailed and informative looks inside the current operations of the Vatican:

By all accounts, the investigation into the Chilean mess, prepared by the Pontiff by Archbishop Charles Scicluna, was thorough, accurate, and damaging. Pope Francis has admitted as much himself. So what happens now? Ines San Martin asks, On Chilean abuse crisis, who led Pope Francis to make ‘serious errors’?, and proceeds to suggest some answers to that question. The past and present archbishops of Santiago, Cardinals Francisco Javier Errazuriz and Ricardo Ezatti, respectively, are at the top of the list; they have apparently devoted a good deal of energy to the effort—now finally defeated—to protect the clerics who surrounded the notorious Father Fernando Karadima. In passing, the Crux report also explains why the scandal became tinged with ideology, so that Pope Francis once complained that the critics of embattled Bishop Juan Barros were being misled by “leftist” propaganda. read more

Diocese: Priest removed from Upstate Catholic classroom after disciplinary incident

[How discipline in Catholic schools has changed since the “old days.”  I remember hearing of an incident (in post-V2 times) at a Catholic high school run by an order of religious brothers, where one of the brothers slapped a student in class.  The student’s father was a policeman, who had the brother arrested for slapping the boy – an offense of battery not assault.  The brother’s superior ordered him to plead guilty to the charge (the penalty for which was a small fine), because it would engender favorable publicity for the school’s reputation for discipline! – AQ Tom] read more

BREAKING, Benedict XVI Against German Protestant Communion read more

Judge at center of Alfie Evans case is a pro-sodomite activist

 Alfie Evans, Anthony Hayden, Blagg

ENGLAND, April 24, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Justice Anthony Hayden, the judge at the center of the Alfie Evans case, is a member of The Bar Lesbian and Gay Group (BLAGG) and co-authored a book on homosexual relationships and their pertinence to children’s rights.

A post on the website of BLAGG – a British association that supports “lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender persons at all levels” of the legal profession – names Hayden as a member.

The post is titled BLAGG Member appointed to High Court Wednesday, 31 July 2013 and remains on BLAGG’s website as of April 24, 2018 at 10:05 p.m. EST. The article briefly announces how Hayden was appointed to be a Justice of the High Court. The post appears to have been written in 2015. read more

Why Aren’t All Catholic schools talking about Alfie Evans?

Why aren’t all Catholic schools talking with their students about Alfie Evans? They’re always talking about making the faith “relevant” or something, well what the hell is more relevant than a child being put to death right now?

This is utilitarian ethics at its clearest. Pit that versus the teachings of the Catholic faith.

Posted by Bruvver Eccles on Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Career options in the modern world

Judge.

It’s a pity they abolished hanging. Unlike Peter Cook, I do have enough Latin to be a judge, and I would have loved to be able to sentence some screaming villain – or preferably someone totally innocent – to death by hanging. I look really nice in a black cap. Also, a judge is the boss in his own court (sorry, no inclusive language on this blog). Fawning barristers address him as “My Lord”.

And in this modern era, judges can sentence people to death once more. Oh, not terrorists who kill hundreds of people, there’s no fun in that. Still, they can sentence helpless children to death, by removal of water, nutrition, even air, if some doctors say it is the right thing to do. Then they watch the parents suffer! But they won’t let judges wear a black cap. read more

The smiling executioner: when death becomes an obligation

Let’s just say I expected more from Macron than he delivered to Congress today. He seemed bent on criticizing his host, the President of the United States, whose country the USA is primarily responsible for France continuing to exist as a free and independent nation. His remarks on actions related to leaving the JCPOA and Carbon Dioxide emissions indicate more than anything else a remarkable lack of statesmanship. More specifically his statement: “telling lawmakers that the challenges of the 21st century require countries to work together, not revert to isolationism” sticks in my craw. The loud-mouthed Democrats were quick to applaud any reference, however oblique, to the inadequacies of the Trump administration. It seemed as if the cries of “Liberty, Fraternity and Equality” which inspired the French Revolution and the Vendée were the underlying basis for his remarks. We all know the horrendous atrocities resulting from these actions and the virtual “decapitation” of the Church in the process. read more