Kneeling Catholic

Exclusive: Ron Paul's Favorite Veteran Has a Criminal Record To Go With His Awesome Neck Tattoo

2012-01-06T19:49:00.000-06:00

Friends!

The below is a link to a GQ article on Ron Paul's uniformed campaigner.
I have to disagree with Thorsen being Paul's favorite veteran, though. That place in Paul's heart belongs to Bradley Manning. The traitor who shoveled our country's secrets to our enemies!
Apparently, in addition to being a failed burglar, Thorsen, (mugshot on right below) also lied about his military service, only serving 1 tour and not the 2 that he claimed. There is a debate about the constitutionality of our "Stolen Valor" law. Regardless of whether or not it is constitutional, the law was crafted with 'soldiers' like Thorsen in mind.....

http://www.gq.com/news-politics/blogs/death-race/2012/01/ron-paul-soldier-felon.html

Karen Carpenter's Ave

2011-12-21T19:55:00.002-06:00

and for better audio quality....

Ron Paul Hails Wikileaks Traitor Bradley Manning

2011-12-21T13:46:00.003-06:00

According to Mr. Paul, Manning is a "political hero" and a "true patriot". (from back in January)

Manning is the very definition of a traitor.... (as in Dante's 9th). Having sworn not to reveal intelligence secrets, he did anyway. Not for any particular reason either, other than that he was mad at the U.S. Manning had no idea of what he revealed, -- Mr. Paul's statement that there was a principle or conscience rings hollow here. There was no rhyme or reason. Manning just started shoveling information to Julian Assange as fast as he could. He could have been endangering the lives U.S. military or diplomatic personnel. He had no idea what he was broadcasting, only that it probably would hurt America. His intent was not to correct any policy...but only to punish his Country.

If this is how "Ron Paul Junior", (Manning) acts with the relatively small responsibility with which he was entrusted, then imagine how "Ron Paul Senior" will act if we entrust him..........everything!!

For Ron Paul to hold Manning up as a "political hero" shows that Paul utterly lacks patriotism, and holds an open contempt for America's military. The more I watch him and his feigned calls for "strict constitutionalism", the more I realize that for him, "strict constitutionalism" is anarchism. He pretends to call us back to our roots, but we never had those roots! He reminds me more and more of a cuckoo chick....no, not a crazy girl, but a real cuckoo chick....the kind that is snuck into a nest and then kicks all the real offspring over the edge!

A Man to Call Ron Paul Out

2011-12-13T19:09:00.001-06:00

Can a Candidate for U.S. President be for legalizing prostitution, homosexual marriage, heroine, marijuana and still be hailed by conservatives?

How about .... can he imply with a straight face that George Bush deliberately allowed terrorists to fly into the World Trade Center?

He can if his name is Ron Paul. Up until now, conservatives have given Paul a pass.

To listen to the likes of Sean Hannity flattering Paul and saying he agrees with most of what Paul advocates is, well, it says a lot about Mr. Hannity.

Maybe all this Ron- Paul- coddling is coming to an end.................

Some Medal of Honor Recipients' Endorsement for President

2011-12-12T21:37:00.002-06:00

Whoever made this video seems to 'get it'. I don't think a president should treat being Commander in Chief of the military as just an added duty. It is the central part of the office. Why do so many non-veterans aspire to lead our nation's military?

I know there are successful football coaches who have never sweated out on the field, restaurant magnates who have never bussed a table, but I don't think there are very many.

Comedian Jimmy Fallon Gives thumbs down to " Active Participatioin"

2011-12-08T16:47:00.001-06:00

from RomanCatholicblog.com
: Do you still go to church?
Mr. FALLON: I don’t go to – I tried to go back. When I was out in L.A. and I was kind of struggling for a bit. I went to church for a while, but it’s kind of, it’s gotten gigantic now for me. It’s like too… There’s a band. There’s a band there now, and you got to, you have to hold hands with people through the whole Mass now, and I don’t like doing that. You know, I mean, it used to be the shaking hands piece was the only time you touched each other.
GROSS: Mm-hmm.
Mr. FALLON: Now, I’m holding hands – now I’m lifting people. Like Simba.
(Laughter)
Mr. FALLON: I’m holding them (Singing) ha nah hey nah ho.
(Speaking) I’m doing too much. I don’t want – there’s Frisbees being thrown, there’s beach balls going around, people waving lighters, and I go, ‘This is too much for me.’ I want the old way. I want to hang out with the, you know, with the nuns, you know, that was my favorite type of Mass, and the grotto, and just like straight up, just Mass Mass.........

....Mr. Fallon is only 37. He was one "of the children" the liturgical experts had in mind when they changed everything "for the children". These experts never take responsibility for hounding people like Jimmy Fallon out of the Church.

Archbp Nichols (UK) stays true to form

2011-11-30T22:19:00.001-06:00

From Fr. Blake's blog we learn that the Archbishop of Westminster believes.....homosexual unions which imitate the permanence of marriage are a good thing! btw he also really does not like Catholics kneeling....
http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/2011/07/archbishop-nichols-pressures-catholics.html

Archbishop Backs Equality

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Archbishop Backs Equality

The Archbisop of Westminster said at a recent press following the Bishop bi-annual meeting:

We would want to emphasise that civil partnerships actually provide a structure in which people of the same sex who want a lifelong relationship [and] a lifelong partnership can find their place and protection and legal provision,
............
As a Church we are very committed to the notion of equality so that people are treated the same across all the activities of life. The Church holds great store by the value of commitment in relationships and undertakings that people give. Stability in society depends upon the reliability of commitments that people give. That might be in offering to do a job but especially in their relationships with one another. Equality and commitment are both very important and we fully support them.
..........

He did go on to say, "equality and commitment do not amount to marriage".

As is pointed out here, "The bishops conference position on civil partnerships appears to have shifted from 2003 when it told the Government that civil unions would not promote the common good and we therefore strongly oppose them".
It appears that the 2003 CDF document Legal Recognition of Homosexual Unions only applies to Marriage, itself not "civil partnerships. I had obviously misunderstood as the bishops once did.

Catholic Convert Gingrich Displays Protestant Bias

2011-11-29T19:36:00.001-06:00

[Friends, this article is from "TPM". I post it only because it betrays Newt Gingrich's solid Protestant bias. i.e. Gingrich's implication - in his interview below- that " the Virgin Mary was not perfect" .

There are those among us who are jaundiced towards converts --mostly because of the deficient state of catechism for adult converts (RCIA classes) . How much Catholicism are they taught? (before they get paraded before the Faithful as modern-day St. Pauls "fresh from Damascus")

Certainly Mr. Gingrich, who is "the smartest man in the room" could not so blithely say such a thing if he were:

either a) aware of Catholic Marian dogma or

or        b) a serious student of his new Faith

or        c) more concerned with testifying to what is True than pandering to Christians who believe the Blessed Virgin was a sinner.

Perhaps I am over-reacting?   ]

Newt: I’m Not The Perfect Candidate — Nobody Is Perfect, Except Christ

Newt Gingrich

from Eric KleefeldNovember 28, 2011, 1:34 PM700396

(Gringrich) “I think — look, anybody who’s honest about it knows that no person except Christ has ever been perfect. So I don’t claim to be the perfect candidate. I just claim to be a lot more conservative than Mitt Romney, and a lot more electable than anybody else.
And I think if you look at my track record of reforming welfare, cutting taxes, balancing the federal budget for four straight years, leading House Republicans to their first majority in 40 years, and their first re-election as a majority since 1928, I think that stacks up pretty well.”
Gingrich has previously invoked the grace and forgiveness of God when dealing with a key imperfection of his: His past infidelity and divorces.

Tantamergo indicts Archbp Gomez' architecture

2011-11-28T17:42:00.001-06:00

http://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/my-worst-mass-ever/

Archbishop Gomez is considered "conservative". He was only in San Antonio after 2004. Maybe this is not his baby?

2011 National Catholic Youth Conference has priests movin' and groovin'

2011-11-24T09:40:00.001-06:00

From Indianapolis last week. Sponsors for the event included GIA and WLP music publishers, and Lifeteen, among others.

The Fr. Tony Ricard dancing video is from NCYC's 2007
..

Father Francis Michel to remain close to Thiberville

2011-11-23T19:02:00.001-06:00

France 3 haute normandie 23/11/2011 19h by Thiberville

[[French speaker needed to give us a gist from the above video!!!!!]]
[[from Mundabor's blog from 23 November 2011......................]]

Great news from France, where it was announced that Father Michel, the hero of Thiberville, is now allowed to have his own parish in Le Planquay, in the smallest church of the diocese.
Le Planquay is merely 5 km away from Thiberville. Let’s call it a nice walk, or bicycle ride.
What appears evident to me is that the intent here was certainly not to “punish” Father Michel with a small church, but to allow him to remain as near as possible to his congregation.
Unfortunately, whilst Bishop Nourrichard has been clearly bypassed by the decision – forced on him by the Congregation for the Clergy – the bad news is that said Bishop Nourrichard remains in charge of the diocese. In time, perhaps, this problem will be sorted out, too.
We should pray for Bishop Nourrichard, of course. I promise you I’ll try until I succeed.
For the moment, let us rejoice for Father Michel and for his brave parishioners, soon able to have their beloved priest again.
Bishop Nourrichard was appointed to his present position by the current Pontiff.

Thanks, Mundabor!

also for French speakers..... this is most likely the source for Mundabor

http://www.riposte-catholique.fr/perepiscopus/solution-pour-labbe-michel-de-thiberville

Corpus Christi Cathedral sings Cristero National Anthem

2011-11-20T19:50:00.001-06:00

Actually, it was last week that "Tu Reinaras" was sung.

While we are at it.......

Let's not forget Vincente Fernandez' tribute to the Cristeros! Here is Vicente, live!

More information about Cristiada!

2011-11-12T15:14:00.001-06:00

Pepe Alonso's 07 Nov program....

Mr. Barroso begins discussing Cristiada at about 20 minutes into the program.....

About 25 minutes into the program Mr. Barroso explains that the plans are to release the film in 2012 during Holy Week!

EWTN Still Resists Pope's Humble Invitation

2011-11-03T12:41:00.007-05:00

Friends!

This morning I watched the (daily) morning Mass on EWTN. It occurred to me that even though many communicants there do kneel for Communion, the ministers of Holy Communion still do not give them a kneeler, nor is there a Communion rail in the chapel, and additionally the ministers stand on the step above the communicants which makes it even more apparent that they are discouraging kneeling Catholics!

"If you must kneel, (sigh) then kneel, but I might just tip over on top of you!"

Add to the above, that the altar appears to be wooden, and you start to perceive subliminal messages: "No Reform of the Reform needed!" or maybe "USCCB Rocks!"

Maybe it's just me!

Vatican Cardinal Turkson Backs Protests

2011-10-24T19:16:00.004-05:00

from Bloomberg......

Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- A senior Vatican official said the Occupy Wall Street protests were justified, as the Holy See called for overhauling global financial rules and establishing an international market regulator.
"Do people at a certain time have a right to say: 'Do business differently, look at the way you are doing business because this is not leading to our welfare, to our good?'" Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson told reporters at the Vatican today. "Can people demand this of the people of Wall Street? I think people can and should be able to."
The comments by the Ghanaian-born cardinal came as the Vatican office he heads, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, called for changes in the way financial markets are run and regulated. The appeal is the latest by the Vatican following a 2009 encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI calling for a new financial order.
The council laid out its proposals in a document released today in Vatican City that included a call for taxing financial transactions. Economic injustices including "the hoarding of goods on a great scale" may create "a climate of growing hostility and even violence, and ultimately undermine the very foundations of democratic institutions, even those considered most solid," according to the text.
The Vatican called for a global authority with "universal jurisdiction" over financial policy, including a "central world bank" with functions similar to those of national ones. Such sweeping changes would have to be "gradual," according to the document.
"Everybody knows about globalization, everybody feels its impact," Turkson said. "But single individual countries don't have the competence to deal with it."
--Editors: Alan Crawford, Dan LiefgreenRead more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/10/24/bloomberg_articlesLTKT561A1I4H.DTL#ixzz1bkRGq6wi....

Compare Cardinal Turkson's idea of expanding one world government with the definition of "subsidiarity" found in Wikipedia--of all places!

Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. Political decisions should be taken at a local level if possible, rather than by a central authority. ^[1] The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level.

Look up subsidiarity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word subsidiarity is derived from the Latin word subsidiarius and has its origins in Catholic social teaching.......

Subsidiarity--that governments should be as localized and as small as possible-- is part of the Church's social teaching. Cardinal Turkson's idea contradicts it. not only does he contradict "subsidiarity", he contradicts himself. He seems to be saying...."the solution to the problems of globalization is more globalization!"

Republican Candidates' disappointing answers on Iraq and Afghanistan

2011-10-11T20:31:00.007-05:00

It seems that the Republicans have taken Bill Clinton's advice "it's the economy, stupid" to heart. All GOP talk is about the President Obama's dismal economic ventures.

Whatever has happened to the party of our nation's security?

What has happened to the party of our nation's honor?

The fact remains we have put our hands "to the plow" in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it has cost our "military families" dearly. Not all have lost loved ones or limbs. But many have. What lesson have we learned from their sacrifice? Do we "look back" now? And say "It was all a big mistake! (Sorry!)" ????

Republican hopefuls now compete with one another over who would be quickest to bring our troops home! Some are even labelling Afghanistan "Obama's war"! They never mention the "V" word perhaps because it is axiomatic that in war there are only two possible outcomes: victory or some version of defeat and they have opted for the latter.

This is dishonorable in the extreme. Thousands have willingly laid down their lives and tens of thousands have willingly surrendered arms, legs, even testicles (It is a sad fact that half of the blasts that blow off legs do not detour around the genitalia). Do we not owe it to them, our heroes, and to our national honor to do whatever it takes to win these wars? Do Mitt Romney and crew really think we have been defeated? Can they, like modern day Pilates "wash their hands" and pretend we can just run away and bear no responsibility for the ensuing slaughter of Afghanis and Iraqis who cooperated with Americans?

Bishops in Phoenix and in Madison (WI) reduce distribution of Most Precious Blood

2011-10-09T14:13:00.002-05:00

His Excellency, Bishop Morlino, along with Phoenix' Bishop Olmsted, have both called into question the practice of frequently distributing Christ's Blood during Holy Communion. More than questioning the practice, they are restricting it! Bishop Morlino has pointed out that the original permission for the practice was granted only for a 30 year trial in 1975. Finally we have a Bishop who can do the math!

The practice of distributing under both kinds is a source of all kinds of liturgical confusion. "If I receive the Host in one location and then have to walk 30 feet to another site to receive the Blood, then what sign of reverence is required before the Chalice being as I still carry the Body of Christ in my mouth? What about the three or four other extraordinary ministers I must pass getting back to my seat? a genuflection for each?

The question of "both kinds" is closely bound to the practice of multiplying exctraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. They stand everywhere, so there are multiple foci of worship for a believer approaching the Sacrament. He is likely to pass three or four Sacred Species prior to arriving. This is how the practice breeds 'familiarity', and then a lackadaisical attitude towards the Sacrament.

is father Michel of Thiberville gone?

2011-10-02T13:51:00.001-05:00

Who speaks French?

http://fr-fr.facebook.com/pages/Abb%C3%A9-Francis-Michel-Cur%C3%A9-de-Thiberville/245780040101

Steven Janco's New Gloria Has People 'Swayin' to the Music'!

2011-10-02T10:12:00.007-05:00

Corpus Christ Cathedral debuted the new translation of the Gloria this Sunday. The musical accompaniment was by Steven Janco, of World Liturgical Press, Renssalear Program.

The tune is a fast waltz rythm, and it is apparently difficult to keep from swaying to the 6/8 beat. We noticed one of our priests "movin' and groovin'" to the new tune. I'm afraid this is an example of trying to mix oil with water. It's possible if you stir really hard! I believe it would be more congruent with the Holy Father's intention simply to apply Gregorian melodies (now that the Gloria has been translated to follow Latin phrasing.) Or, even to some of the beautiful polyphonic settings, e.g. William Byrd here: http://gloria.tv/?media=200920.

This might disappoint composers looking to get a lock on becoming the "Marty Haugen" for the new Translation, - and to turn a quick profit. Sorry.

There is also the need to prevent as much as possible Church funds being funneled to the same tired-old composers who have been part and parcel of the Church's decline over the past 50 years. Bill Veeck was once asked his opinion of the high salaries paid to superstars. Veeck replied that he wasn't bothered by the high cost of excellence, but that he was aghast at the high cost of mediocrity. We've paid enough! Let's have excellence!

Let's not fund the Pope's enemies!

Rockford Bishop breaks USCCB's gag rule!

2011-09-30T11:13:00.005-05:00

His Excellency, Bishop Doran, makes a candid reference to the Holy Father's humble example of distributing Communion to kneeling Catholics only. The bishop of Rockford (Illinois) also goes as far as to say that the Holy Father's action has MEANING!

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/09/bp-thomas-doran-d-rockford-on-kneeling-for-holy-communion-heh-heh/

This is most certainly a "crack in the dike" of USCCB solidarity. The USCCB's attempt to undermine the Pope's intentions by "staying mum" cannot survive an open discussion! The USCCB's "stand for Communion " [and "stand against the pope"] rule can last only as long as discussion is strangled and ignorance reigns.

Kneeling Catholic takes on Reverend Know It All

2011-09-25T13:04:00.008-05:00

RevKIA>>I still get irritated when someone flops to their knees in the Communion line, causing the people behind them to trip. <<<

I love RevKIA's style and follow his blog. From previous posts Father has written, I assumed he was a friend to kneeling Catholics. Not so! Father apparently believes kneeling Catholics are disobedient! Not to mention prideful-attention-grabbers!

Father, when someone kneels in Communion line it makes them harder to see.

(Most soldiers who have been under fire will tell you, keeping low to the ground makes it harder for enemy snipers to spot you.)

Often the only people to notice kneeling Catholics are:

1. The minister of Holy Communion

2. The altar server at his side

3. The person immediately behind the kneeling Catholic.

Anyone else noticing must be making a real effort, or else watching the Communion line on TV!

RevKIA>>I still get irritated when someone flops to their knees in the Communion line, causing the people behind them to trip. <<<

Father! (I tried to post this on his blog but was unsuccessful)
How many people have you seen tripped by a kneeling Catholic? I'm serious.
I normally love reading your blog, but this remark is quite hurtful. If you're going to discuss why kneeling Catholics get on your nerves, then why not begin by explaining how the Holy Father and the Vatican have confused us by stating, in deed and in word [http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-must-say-thankyou-to-deacon-kandra.html], that kneeling Communion is preferred?

I frankly do not see the benefit of 'obeying' local clerics who themselves are disobediently ignoring the Pope's intention, and are using their authority to command us to disregard him as well. Maybe the best way for you American clerics to teach us obedience would be for you, yourselves to model it!

respectfully yours,

k.c.

AD ORIENTEM in King George, Virginia

2011-09-22T19:30:00.003-05:00

There is at least one parish in America listening to the Holy Father`s liturgical concerns.(St. Anthony's of the Arlington diocese)

Father B. has many kneeling communicants, and his N.O. mass is said Ad Orientem. K.C. has this from a Baptist friend who attended, and who was quite taken by the holy reverence and holy silence there. btw, it wasn't silent because there weren't parishioners. The church was packed.

If being attractive to protestants is what the liturgy is about, -and this is what our brothers and sisters with the tambourines tell us-, then here is one instance of a Baptist being drawn and captivated by the simplicity and beauty of an old fashioned 'low-mass''. This, of course, reminds me of the first remark I ever read from Bishop Athanasius Schneider: that if a Muslim were to wander into a Catholic church and were to see Catholics on their knees-- receiving Holy Communion--it could not help but impress him, and also serve as a living testimony to Truth of our Faith.

UPDATE: This diocese was invilved in some controversy, back on 2002-acc to les femmes-regarding kneeling. It certainly seems to be on the right track now!

More "chatter" about Cristiada

2011-09-15T20:55:00.002-05:00

comments on Cristiada's Facebook page and Angelqueen blog indicate the premier might be in.............May 2012 :-(

:-(

Spokane Bishop, Wakinya Ska, bans pro-life prayers

2011-09-14T22:03:00.004-05:00

From

http://fratres.wordpress.com/

comes news that Bishop Blaze Cupich, AKA Wakinya Ska

http://www.rapidcitydiocese.org/westrivercatholic/2007/May/7_LakotaName.htm

has forbidden his priests and seminarians from praying outside of abortion clinics.

If this is indeed the case, this would be another example of a progressive, inculturating, American bishop who is trying to put a distance between himself and pro-lifers.

There is a bond between reverent worship of God and reverence for life.

update:

On the eve of the 2008 presidential election, Bishop Cupich wrote an op-ed piece for America magazine condemning Catholics who might vote against Barak Obama solely because he was black. Cupich tried to maintain an even-handed appearance saying it was also evil to support any politician solely because they were "pro-abortion".

Please note that his Excellency did not say it was sinful to vote for a candidate because he might be "pro-choice", which in many people's minds is not the same as "pro-abortion". Nor did the bishop say voting for a candidate because he is "pro-abortion" AND pro-homosexual marriage is sinful. Bishop Cupich said voting "pro-abortion" is only sinful if being "pro-abortion" is the "sole" issue..........

In any election people have many reasons to support one candidate or to oppose another. Some of these reasons may be wise and good, some not so good, and others simply wrong. The promotion neither of abortion nor racism can ever be a motivation for one’s vote. Voting for a candidate solely because of that candidate’s support for abortion or against him or her solely on the basis of his or her race is to promote an intrinsic evil. To do so consciously is indeed sinful. That is behavior incompatible with being a Christian. To allow racism to reign in our hearts and to determine our choice in this solemn moment for our nation is to cooperate with one of the great evils that has afflicted our society. In the words of Brothers and Sisters to Us, “It mocks the words of Jesus, ‘Treat others the way you would have them treat you.’”Blase Cupich

Nowhere does the bishop say it would be a good thing to vote against a politician because he is "pro-choice"!

Christine @ Laudem Gloriae makes her point!

2011-09-08T14:18:00.004-05:00

Christine has an excellent post about priests who give scandal by their callous treatment of the Holy Particles.

This is one of several good points which, if logically stressed, does fatal damage to any-old-way Communion. The Church teaches that each of these tiny Particles is all of Christ, Body-Blood-Soul-Divinity.
(The Jesuit Martyr Edmund Campion expressed a similar logic when he stated that one Drop of the Precious Blood could redeem a thousand worlds!).

But how is this awesome Truth exemplified when:
1) Priests callously brush the Particles to the floor?
2) Priests do not carefully purify their fingers after touching the Species?
3) every single extraordinary minister of Holy Communion does not purify their fingers after touching the Species?
4) every single communicant does not purify their fingers after touching the Species? [there was a time well over a thousand years ago when this was the practice]

If any of the above is the case in a parish, (i.e. the Particles of the Sacred Species are being treated with indifference), then the Truth of the matter is either:

a) not believed
b) callously disregarded

Please feel free to refute what I have said. I would like to believe there is a "c)"
but I can't...:-(

k.c.

Have Mark Shea and James Akin seen this?

2011-09-03T21:45:00.004-05:00

This is Michael Voris 19APR discussion about Catholics who kneel for Holy Communion....
He addresses many of the weak arguments trotted out against kneeling e.g...
1) kneeling makes people trip
2) kneeling slows down the queue
3) kneeling makes people with bad knees feel left out
4) etc....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=8pA-kLY2CkY

Voris demonstrates that the people who make these arguments are world champion one-minute-scholars, i.e. people who believe 60 seconds of contemplation given to any particular topic is sufficient to master it.

If either Mr. Shea or Mr. Akin can refute even one of Voris' arguments in this video, I'll shut this blog down! Oh yeah, Frank of YIMCatholic, you are also welcome to try and shut me up-as well! I'll even print your posts when you 'dare' to disagree with me .......

Ok, don't limit yourself to answering Voris' arguments here...make some of your own!

Dean Wright set to announce Cristiada's premier!!!

2011-09-01T21:50:00.002-05:00

Dean>>>An announcement will be made as soon as everything is set. It shouldn't be too much longer. Hang in there please!! Viva Cristo Rey!!<<<

Dean!! You have us on pins and needles! I for one, want a T-shirt!

Glasglow Archbishop Conti interprets new Translation as a sign we should continue to Stand for Holy Communion

2011-08-31T15:20:00.012-05:00

Friends!

Ever read 'The Last Battle?' If you have, then you know it is possible for people to misinterpret signs. In C.S. Lewis final book of the Narnia series, Shift, an ape, convinces a donkey to dress up as Aslan. The excerpt about interpreting signs is posted below.

Our Holy Father has mounted a single-handed battle for reverence. The new English translation is part of that. Kneeling for Holy Communion is part of that. The Vatican has even gone as far as to issue a statement to that effect ....

How does his Grace, Archb Conti interpret these signs?

Why, the Holy Father, or God Himself or somebody important must really wants us all to STAND for Holy Communion! Oh yeah, those genuflections? Let's lose those too! Just nod your head or take a bow and move on! Can't you see? It's so plain!.........Queuing up is so worhip! .........Next!!................................

((from C.S. Lewis' Last Battle) At that moment there came a great thunderclap right overhead and the ground trembled with a small earthquake. Both the animals lost their balance and were flung on their faces.
"There!" gasped Puzzle, as soon as he had breath to speak. "It's a sign, a warning. I knew we were doing something dreadfully wicked. Take this wretched skin off me at once."

"No, no," said the Ape (whose mind worked very quickly)."It's a sign the other way. I was just going to say that if the real Aslan, as you call him, meant us to go on with this, he would send us a thunderclap and an earth-tremor. It was just on the tip of my tongue,only the sign itself came before I could get the words out. You've got to do it now, Puzzle. And please don't let us have any more arguing. You know you don't understand these things. What could a donkey know about signs?" What could a donkey know about signs?" (Shift the ape)

see http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/08/a-look-at-archbishop-contis-pastoral-letter-which-has-stirred-things-up/

Vatican statement on kneeling for Holy Communion

2011-08-30T10:25:00.007-05:00

(I must say THANKYOU to Deacon ('s bench) Kandra, for tipping me off to this---I, k.c., was unaware that kneeling Catholics now have an actual document Vatican statement to lean upon! This all makes it more puzzling for me to see how people with good, careful, instincts, like Deacon Kandra [[see his post http://www.patheos.com/community/deaconsbench/2011/04/20/do-you-mind-if-i-kneel-for-communion/]] and James Akin, can still insist on playing the 'GIRM card' on kneeling Catholics. [the GIRM says kneeling Catholics must be pastorally admonished for kneeling] Fine! Play your little Amchurch GIRM card! We trump your GIRM with our King!

OFFICE FOR THE LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF

Communion received on the tongue and while kneeling
The most ancient practice of distributing Holy Communion was, with all probability, to give Communion to the faithful in the palm of the hand. The history of the liturgy, however, makes clear that rather early on a process took place to change this practice.

From the time of the Fathers of the Church, a tendency was born and consolidated whereby distribution of Holy Communion in the hand became more and more restricted in favor of distributing Holy Communion on the tongue. The motivation for this practice is two-fold: a) first, to avoid, as much as possible, the dropping of Eucharistic particles; b) second, to increase among the faithful devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Saint Thomas Aquinas also refers to the practice of receiving Holy Communion only on the tongue. He affirms that touching the Body of the Lord is proper only to the ordained priest.
Therefore, for various reasons, among which the Angelic Doctor cites respect for the Sacrament, he writes: “. . . out of reverence towards this Sacrament, nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest's hands, for touching this Sacrament. Hence, it is not lawful for anyone else to touch it except from necessity, for instance, if it were to fall upon the ground, or else in some other case of urgency” (Summa Theologiae, III, 82, 3).

Over the centuries the Church has always characterized the moment of Holy Communion with sacredness and the greatest respect, forcing herself constantly to develop to the best of her ability external signs that would promote understanding of this great sacramental mystery. In her loving and pastoral solicitude the Church has made sure that the faithful receive Holy Communion having the right interior dispositions, among which dispositions stands out the need for the Faithful to comprehend and consider interiorly the Real Presence of Him Whom they are to receive. (See The Catechism of Pope Pius X, nn. 628 & 636).

The Western Church has established kneeling as one of the signs of devotion appropriate to communicants. A celebrated saying of Saint Augustine, cited by Pope Benedict XVI in n. 66 of his Encyclical Sacramentum Caritatis, ("Sacrament of Love"), teaches: “No one eats that flesh without first adoring it; we should sin were we not to adore it” (Enarrationes in Psalmos 98, 9). Kneeling indicates and promotes the adoration necessary before receiving the Eucharistic Christ.

From this perspective, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger assured that: "Communion only reaches its true depth when it is supported and surrounded by adoration" [The Spirit of the Liturgy (Ignatius Press, 2000), p. 90]. For this reason, Cardinal Ratzinger maintained that “the practice of kneeling for Holy Communion has in its favor a centuries-old tradition, and it is a particularly expressive sign of adoration, completely appropriate in light of the true, real and substantial presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the consecrated species” [cited in the Letter "This Congregation" of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 1 July 1, 2002].

John Paul II, in his last Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia ("The Church comes from the Eucharist"), wrote in n. 61: “By giving the Eucharist the prominence it deserves, and by being careful not to diminish any of its dimensions or demands, we show that we are truly conscious of the greatness of this gift. We are urged to do so by an uninterrupted tradition, which from the first centuries on has found the Christian community ever vigilant in guarding this ‘treasure.’ Inspired by love, the Church is anxious to hand on to future generations of Christians, without loss, her faith and teaching with regard to the mystery of the Eucharist. There can be no danger of excess in our care for this mystery, for ‘in this sacrament is recapitulated the whole mystery of our salvation.’”

In continuity with the teaching of his Predecessor, starting with the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in the year 2008, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, began to distribute to the faithful the Body of the Lord, by placing it directly on the tongue of the faithful as they remain kneeling.

from

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/details/ns_lit_doc_20100526_communion_en.html

James Akin and kneeling

2011-08-29T06:34:00.009-05:00

James, a kneeling Catholic himself, seems to be trying to toe the USCCB's GIRM line. [GIRM says it. James believes it. That settles it!] Our GIRM still says: if you kneel for Holy Communion, then you are in need of catechesis....are you, Mr. Akin, somehow deficient in your understanding of the Holy Eucharist and in need of pastoral Cathechesis? Our American GIRM has said so since 2002! (This 'teaching' of the Amchurch has been in force for 9 years and still is in force for at least 3 more months, despite the impression you give on your podcast, that this statement was quickly edited out of the GIRM in a matter of moments, perhaps being written with disappearing ink!)

http://www.jimmyakin.org/2011/08/podcast-episode-007-is-michael-voris-right-about-kneeling.html

James, is there something wrong with admitting that this old GIRM is in conflict with this new Pope? You are being too much like Amchurch bishops who insist there was never anything 'wrong' with the current translation of the Liturgy, but it still needed to be 'corrected'! Will the universe "explode at the speed of light" if an Amchurch, establishment Catholic admits it when the Amchurch is wrong when it ignores and undermines the pope?

Mark Shea defends Communion in the Hand

2011-08-28T20:07:00.008-05:00

Blogger Mark Shea, [my print is purple, his is black] has been conducting a one-man anti-Michael Voris campaign and has recently put in some good words for Communion in the hand. (American style Communion "any old way")

Why is Mr. Shea trying to defend this vestige of the 70's [and of the Protestant Reformation]? I guess because Voris opposes it.

Shea bases his rebuttal on the false axiom: liturgy is all a matter of taste like whether or not one likes 'chocolate'.....

[MARK SHEA]...................................
.....That Michael Voris really likes communion on the tongue? Duly noted. I like chocolate. [nice patronizing tone!!] Some gnostics felt that all gustatory pleasure was an evil snare because the body is evil. But does that mean that those who don’t prefer chocolate are somehow kindred spirits with gnostic enemies of our Incarnate Eucharistic Lord? No it doesn’t. And neither, in the end, are those who receive communion in the hand where Holy Church permits it.Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/in-criticism-of-michael-voris/#ixzz1WNLuZ7Du
.... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

..note how Shea abides by the AmChurch 'gag rule' regarding the Holy Father's humble example. i.e. "Don't mention it!" Shea manages to lambast Voris' advocacy of kneeling Communion without ever mentioning the pope's or the head of the CDW's invitation to all Catholics to do the same.

UPDATE:
Comments: by "Censor Librorum" (apparently Mr. Shea bans people from commenting on his blog ) sorry, Censor, I'm not banning you, but I am 'bleeping' your post!censor....Ib......http://www.facebook.com/groups/bannedbymarkshea/

Corpus Christi Diocese Schools teach Communion in the Hand

2011-08-28T16:08:00.015-05:00

(His Excellency Bishop Mulvey distributing Holy Communion)

Want to know the best predicter of whether or not a child in the Corpus Christi Diocese will take Communion in the hand -any old way- ....or receive it, reverently, on the tongue?

The answer is: whether or not you send them to a Catholic school in the City of Corpus Christi. From observing the 'Catholic schools Mass', (see photos) there seems to be only one school in the Diocese, St. Anthony's in Robstown, which instills simple, reverent reception. (see the pictures on the website--http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diocese-of-Corpus-Christi/206887427083-- of the two girls in plain white blouses. Note their hands folded in prayer and their worshipful demeanor!)

Additionally, if you travel the diocese to small towns which have no Catholic schools, you will certainly see much less hand Communion. From this, it is logical to conclude that it is the Catholic schools themselves that promote hand Communion.

This fits in with a theme I see as a simple fact: the "spirit of Vatican II" reforms have been imposed on the little people, by the "people that run things". Therefore, the farther you go from "power centers", like out to little towns or to Latvia!, the more you will see traditional Catholic customs. People that run things like to be around power centers, [like fire ants like to be around dirty laundry!] Generally they have little interest in rural areas.

This is not to say that 'hand Communion' is part of the diocese's official curriculum, but only that the atmosphere of the schools, the examples set by teachers, principals, religion teachers--actively counteracts the 'reverency initiatives' ofthe Holy Father himself!

The last photo is from the 2010 graduation Mass for Corpus Christi's John Paul II High School.

Kneeling Catholic had hoped that this photo was a glimpse of things to come. A simple imitation of the Holy Father's example. Now it just seems to have been only a brief respite from our Diocese's downward spiral, i.e. its turning a deaf ear to our Holy Father's cri du coer*.

Deacon Greg Kandra of 'Deacon's Bench' Speaks against the Pope's Initiative

2011-08-22T06:38:00.015-05:00

YIMCATHOLIC / "Why I am Catholic" is a new blog out which lately has tried to up its readership/hits by piling on Father Corapi and now, Michael Voris.

YIMC has a tendentious posting policy...i.e. if you challenge YIMC and show them to be irrational or disingenuine, they will not print your post. period

[[thanks to Father Ray Blake for the nice picture http://marymagdalen.blogspot.com/2011/08/kneeling-or-standing.html]]

I know a poster who was recently censored for simply pointing out that Karl Rahner, a hero for YIMCATHOLIC, was a public dissenter from Human Vitae. That post never saw the light of day on YIMCATHOLIC.

I know a poster who pointed out how 'Frank', YIMCATHOLIC's editor--claiming to love the fact that the Pope was INVITING people to receive Communion kneeling and how he loved that style of leadership ---then turning around within a paragraph or two and saying he would prefer a directive from the Holy Father -- was trying to have it both ways.......That post never saw the light of day on YIMCATHOLIC.

Apparently YIMC just loves invitations -rather than directives- because they are so easy to ignore!? Maybe Paul VI should have just put Humana Vitae out as a suggestion?

Now that YIMCATHOLIC has gotten in on attacking the Pope's "Kneeling during Communion" invitation the blog has attracted a new cheerleader: Deacon Greg Kandra... [Deacon's Bench blog]
Kandra, not being up to directly attacking the Pope for inviting people to kneel, instead attacks Voris for drawing attention to the Pope's invitation........

>Deacon Greg Kandra said...
>Michael Voris has also stated that the preferred method for receiving communion is kneeling >and on the tongue -- a notion that is not only incorrect, but patently false, as anyone can >discover by a quick scan of the GIRM. He's got strong opinions. But he's not the most >authoritative or reliable of teachers.
>August 21, 2011 10:50 PM

http://yimcatholic.blogspot.com/2011/08/want-to-fight-truthiness-come-to.html

Too bad for you, Deacon Kandra, some of us still believe that 1 + 1= 2!! If you condemn kneeling when the Pope invites us to kneel, then you are setting yourself up against the Holy Father. Most American clerics have the cunning to ignore the Pope, rather than trying to explain why they think he is wrong and they are right. Most, but not you!

News about the film Cristiada!

2011-08-20T11:58:00.002-05:00

Hey you Spanish speakers!! give me a synopsis of these!

Producer Pablob Barroso speaks here of the importance of 'fighting for your Faith'....
(He considers this film to be a big salvo in the battle for truth)
http://youtu.be/pigvQLXAAFw

And child-actor Mauricio Kuri speaks here

and here!

http://youtu.be/FxKjhY0QaeM

(This is a very moving testimony of how this experience has opened the young man's eyes to the great fire which should burn in each Catholic's heart -- having such heroes as the Cristeros)

Queen Sofia of Spain can kneel!

2011-08-18T14:11:00.003-05:00

A while back,

http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/search?q=queen ,

k.c. published a photo of her Highness, Queen Sofia of Spain, --breaking convention--refusing to kneel and then taking Communion in the hand from the Pope. K.c., and others who were scandalized, got chided for jumping conclusions and being un-charitable "Is it possible that the woman has a bad knee and is unable to kneel? I’m just askin’" more charitable commentators opined.

Gloria.tv has video of her greeting the Pope earlier today. k.c. is thankful that her Highness has gotten over her stiff joints!! k.c. will also 'look the other way' when her Highness receives Jesus this time around..............NOT!!!!!!!

Bishop Athanasius Schneider Stays on Message

2011-08-12T07:51:00.006-05:00

Friends! On the 19th of last month his Excellency, Athanasius Schneider spoke on Radio Maria SudTirol, [Region on the Swiss/Italian border].

His topic--as it often is- was Hand Communion. An article from kreuz.net is copied below. In it Bishop Schneider says:

1) the post Vatican II 'historians'--who claimed they were re-instituting an earlier form of Communion by introducing Hand Communion-- were wrong.

2) the current practice of Hand Communion is a crass imitation of the Hand Communion invented by Calvinist Congregations of the 16th CTY who saw it as a way to destroy Faith in the Real Presence. Not even Martin Luther would have allowed such a casual reception.

This man, Schneider, has the Holy Father's ear! And the Holy Spirit has Bishop Schneider's ear! Please listen to his message. If you believe the Holy Eucharist is the Center of our Faith, then reverence and adoration for It are paramount! We cannot progress, we cannot build, we cannot win, if we do not hear this simple message!

[[thanks to Eponymous Flower for this tip-off]]

.....use Google Translate!!

Handkommunion
Das hätte es nicht einmal bei Luther gegeben
Im letzten Jahrhundert ertrotzten altliberale Bischöfe die Handkommunion. Sie benützten dazu eine Geschichtslüge.

Weihbischof Athanasius Schneider© Marko Tervaportti, Wikipedia, CC
(kreuz.net) Die heutige Handkommunion hat keine urkirchlichen Wurzeln.Das betonte Weihbischof Athanasius Schneider (50) von Astana in Kasachstan am 19. Juli vor dem Radiosender ‘Radio Maria Südtirol’.Mons. Schneider ist promovierter Patristiker.Die Handkommunion wurde nach dem Zweiten Vatikanum „ganz neu“ erfunden – stellt der Weihbischof fest.Die Handkommunion hat mit der frühen Kirche nichts zu tun

Cardinal Wuerl says nothing wrong with current translation

2011-08-10T06:34:00.018-05:00

Cardinal Wuerl and Scott Hahn's 2nd in Command, Mike Aquilina, have teamed up for a Book promoting the new translation of the Liturgy. http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=2550

Some of the Cardinal's former progressive allies-- e.g. Praytellblog-- are disappointed that a Cardinal, of the progressive camp, is not standing with his old friends, e.g. Bishop Trautman. Trautman opposes the new translation and wants to stay with the current translation of the Liturgy.

[For posts regarding the Cardinal Wuerl's "progressive" credentials, like his defending pro-abortion politicians' right to Communion see http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/05/06/archbishop-wuerl-why-i-won-t-deny-pelosi-communion/ and see this for Wuerl's refusal to discipline pro-choice Catholic pol William Coyne http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06141/691909-85.stm#ixzz1UwouxaJP]

Despite Cardinal Wuerl's coauthoring a book promoting the new translation, in an (Feb 2011) EWTN interview discussing his book, the Cardinal did display some talent for straddling both opposing sides' position

.......The cardinal said there is nothing “wrong” with the current translation. “It’s just that now we have a fuller, and I believe richer explanation of, and proclamation of, our faith.”Catholics uncomfortable with the changes should realize nothing essential is being changed, he said.“I’m very sympathetic to people who say ‘I prefer we don’t have any changes at all.’ But change is a part of life even in the unfolding of the liturgy, where we deal with the non-essential items.”.........

Really!!? There is nothing wrong with the current translation, your Emminence?
Actually there is lots wrong with the current translation!! Even praytellblog admits there are severe deficiencies in the " current translation"! If, his Emminence sees nothing wrong with the current translation, then why is it being tossed aside and replaced with something strikingly different? Why is our current ICEL English translation being singled out by the Vatican's CDW as the one translation out of a thousand most in need of replacement? Why is the CDW demanding that the American Church stop using it?

Cardinal Wuerl's self-contradiction reminds me of the absent-minded surgeon who had to schedule a second operation for a patient after he accidentally removed the man's only good leg, but who then still insisted that his first surgery a smashing success!

I won't be buying this book.

Cristero film to be released in Madrid during World Youth Day?

2011-08-07T12:43:00.011-05:00

[[not a rumor anymore!! Director Wright let's us in on the fact that the World Youth Day attendees will witness selected scenes. The release is yet to come, but soon we will hear the prospective date for a SIMULTANEOUS WORLDWIDE RELEASE!]]
Dean Wright>>>>>CRISTIADA in Madrid, Spain!There will be a special presentation of selected scenes from CRISTIADA on 17 Aug., as this year's "World Youth Day" kicks off with a "Day of Cinema". As Director, the hosts have invited me to speak about the movie & my experiences making it. I'll also be speaking about NARNIA. <<<<

Thank you, Dean Wright!!!

Oh, wouldn't it be nice WHEN our young people at World Youth Day ARE inspired by genuine models traditional Christian piety and chivalry and not by some poor imitation of the Woodstock experience!

Those of us --not familiar with how long a film usually sits before it is released-- are getting impatient! I have no doubt that no matter how long we must wait to see the film, it will be worth it. The world has already waited 80 years to learn this story! What's another few months?

John Allen vs. Conservatives on Archbishop Sambi

2011-08-06T22:45:00.010-05:00

'Sambi was at times put off by the seemingly monolithic focus of some American Catholic leaders on the "life issues"'
says NCR's Allen

from
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/07_08/2011_07_29_Allen_VaticanCritics.htm

......One cornerstone of a nuncio's job, of course, is to shape the appointment of a country's bishops. It's well known that Sambi didn't always get his way, but his influence was nevertheless considerable. Over the last six years, (Sambi was at times put off by the seemingly monolithic focus of some American Catholic leaders on the "life issues". has been someone who's unquestionably orthodox, but not a cultural warrior or an ideologue. [[Permit me to comment! This seems to be a search for the kind of Bishop who will have
'the faith' but no 'works' with which to back it up.]] ( (Sambi was at times put off by the seemingly monolithic focus of some American Catholic leaders on the "life issues". He once told me, "You have to be pro-life to be Catholic, but to be Catholic it's not enough to be pro-life.")
Ever the creature of the Accademia, the Vatican's elite school for diplomats, Sambi was the kind of guy who always hated to tip his hand. One of my last conversations with him came this spring, talking about the appointment of a new archbishop in Philadelphia. In typical fashion, when I asked him off the record what he was hearing about who might wind up in Philadelphia, he turned it around and asked: "Tell me, what are you hearing?"
Sambi, of course, was not without his critics. Like most diplomats, he was adept at shifting with the wind, and his penchant for answering questions with questions could leave people puzzled about what he was trying to say (which, in some cases, was probably intentional). It was also sometimes hard to figure out exactly where Sambi stood with the home office in Rome, and whether what he was telling you truly reflected the thinking either in the Secretariat of State or the papal apartment......

Allen's article is not written "to trash" the Nuncio but to explain a much admired friend. In this, Allen probably comes closer to presenting a clear picture of what the Archbishop was all about, than some of the eulogies delivered by conservatives.

Some conservatives credit the Nuncio with having been a straight talker, and/or a willing booster of the Church's pro-life activists. John Allen says Archbishop Sambi was neither.

k.c.

http://www.catholicsforobama.blogspot.com/

Raymond Arroyo interviews Cardinal Wuerl

2011-07-31T16:03:00.026-05:00

update......Instead of a funeral in the U.S., a memorial Mass for Archbishop Sambi will be held at noon in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 14. The Mass will be televised on EWTN.......

Last Friday, EWTN's Raymond Arroyo chose Cardinal Wuerl as the person to eulogize the Papal Nuncio, Pietro Sambi. RIP.

http://pfaffenheini.gloria.tv/?media=181530

It was very fitting that Arroyo should interview Cardinal Wuerl about Archbishop Sambi. Cardinal Wuerl is deeply indebted to Archbishop Sambi. When Pietro Sambi came to America, Wuerl was an embattled progressive bishop in Pittsburgh http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/060518 . Wuerl is now head of the most prestigious see in America and has been promoted to Cardinal as well. As Arroyo pointed out in his interview, Archbishop Sambi was the man most influential in picking American bishops, archbishops and cardinals since his arrival in 2006. Cardinal Wuerl, being Sambi's top pick, must be considered the epitomy of the American episcopacy Sambi was trying to shape.

Wuerl's 2006 installation Mass as D.C.'s archbishop included at least two striking previews of the now infamous papal Mass Wuerl would choreograph for Holy Father's 2008 visit: multicultural/multilingual performances --and prominent pro-choice politicians receiving Holy Communion, in the former case, from the Nuncio himself.
http://catholicforum.fisheaters.com/index.php?topic=1213571.0

Since his promotion to the United States' chief see, Cardinal Wuerl's pronouncements have been in line with his liturgical practices. He has been outspoken about a pro-choice politician's right to Holy Communion. http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/05/06/archbishop-wuerl-why-i-won-t-deny-pelosi-communion/ It would seem Cardinal Wuerl's defense of pro-choice politicians; AND his fondness for Raymond Brown hermeneutics; AND his enthusiasm for loud, non-traditional liturgies work to drown out the Holy Father's 'cri du coer'. I cannot see many logical explanations as to why Wuerl was moved from Pittsurgh to D.C.

Either the Holy Father deliberately elevates leaders who march to a dissonant tune to carry out his reforming mission, or else the Holy Father was convinced by his 'man on the ground' that Wuerl was a good pick to run things in America. (As well as being convinced by the same man that the American Church could do without bishops like Martino of Scranton http://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/nuncio-gravely-ill-0 who had the nerve to deny the Vice President of the U. S. Holy Communion. )

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2008/apr/08041707

Let us all pray for the Nuncio's soul . His funeral will be held under Cardinal Wuerl's auspices [pray for him too!] and which will be certainly well-attended by pro-choice Catholic politicians.

update......Instead of a funeral in the U.S., a memorial Mass for Archbishop Sambi will be held at noon in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 14. The Mass will be televised on EWTN.......

Let's pray the funeral will not become a scandal and occasion of sin to Catholics who would like to see the Church speak clearly to politicians who flaunt the Church's teachings and then present themselves for Holy Communion. I suspect we will simply see cameras switched off for Holy Communion, as was the case with Senator Kenedy's Funeral. That is one way to avoid scandal.

There is another way to avoid giving scandal: Don't do scandalous things!

Corpus Christi Monsignor explains the multiplication of the "Loaves and Fishes" clearly and traditionally

2011-07-31T10:44:00.004-05:00

btw, it's NOT about Jesus shaming the crowd into pulling out picnic baskets which were hidden under their dish-dashes!

Prior to dismissing the faithful, Monsignor also reminds them that each time Jesus becomes present in the Eucharist, a greater miracle occurs than the "Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes". It is Heaven itself breaking in on us!

http://www.goccn.org/mass.asp

then click on button for video of English Mass (you should see two huge bouquets of flowers on each side of the altar, if you have the correct Sunday)

Head of CDW calls on Catholics everwhere to kneel for Holy Communion [the beginning of the end of this blog!]

2011-07-28T10:02:00.005-05:00

Friends!

Victory is in sight! The Holy Father's humble example of kneeling Communion has fallen on many deaf ears but not all ears are deaf! Cardinal Canizares hears and he-as head of the CDW- is in the position to do something!

This was just made known to us by "Surge Propera" blog. Cardinal Canizares, the head of the CDW, has recommended that all Catholics (period) receive Communion kneeling and on the tongue. (period)

The Cardinal said this in a July 27? interview with (ACI/EWTN Noticias)

"Yo creo que es necesario para toda la Iglesia que la comunión se haga de rodillas"

Which is roughly translated "I believe it is necessary for the entire Church to receive Communion kneeling"

The ACI interview follows in Spanish.....Somebody get me a translation!! (please).......

Cardenal Cañizares: Es recomendable comulgar en la boca y de rodillas
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Cardenal Antonio Cañizares Llovera
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REDACCIÓN CENTRAL, 27 Jul. 11 / 12:04 am (ACI/EWTN Noticias)En entrevista concedida a ACI Prensa, el Prefecto de la Congregación para el Culto Divino y la Disciplina de los Sacramentos en el Vaticano, Cardenal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, señaló que es recomendable que los católicos comulguen en la boca y de rodillas.
Así lo indicó el Purpurado español que sirve en la Santa Sede como máximo responsable, después del Papa, de la liturgia y los sacramentos en la Iglesia Católica, al ser consultado sobre si es recomendable que los fieles comulguen o no en la mano.
La respuesta del Cardenal fue breve y sencilla: "es recomendable que los fieles comulguen en la boca y de rodillas".
Asimismo, al responder a la pregunta de ACI Prensa sobre la costumbre promovida por el Papa Benedicto XVI de hacer que los fieles que reciben la Eucaristía de él lo hagan en la boca y de rodillas, el Cardenal Cañizares dijo que eso se debe "al sentido que debe tener la comunión, que es de adoración, de reconocimiento de Dios".
"Es sencillamente saber que estamos delante de Dios mismo y que Él vino a nosotros y que nosotros no lo merecemos", afirmó.
El Purpurado dijo también que comulgar de esta forma "es la señal de adoración que es necesario recuperar. Yo creo que es necesario para toda la Iglesia que la comunión se haga de rodillas".
"De hecho –añadió– si se comulga de pie, hay que hacer genuflexión, o hacer una inclinación profunda, cosa que no se hace".
El Prefecto vaticano dijo además que "si trivializamos la comunión, trivializamos todo, y no podemos perder un momento tan importante como es comulgar, como es reconocer la presencia real de Cristo allí presente, del Dios que es amor de los amores como cantamos en una canción española".
Al ser consultado por ACI Prensa sobre los abusos litúrgicos en que incurren algunos actualmente, el Cardenal dijo que es necesario "corregirlos, sobre todo mediante una buena formación: formación de los seminaristas, formación de los sacerdotes, formación de los catequistas, formación de todos los fieles cristianos".
Esta formación, explicó, debe hacer que "se celebre bien, para que se celebre conforme a las exigencias y dignidad de la celebración, conforme a las normas de la Iglesia, que es la única manera que tenemos de celebrar auténticamente la Eucaristía".
Finalmente el Cardenal Cañizares dijo a ACI Prensa que en esta tarea de formación para celebrar bien la liturgia y corregir los abusos, "los obispos tenemos una responsabilidad muy particular, y no podemos dejarla de cumplir, porque todo lo que hagamos en que la Eucaristía se celebre bien será hacer que en la Eucaristía se participe bien".

email for kneelingcatholic is kneel4jesus@sbcglobal.net

"Clerical Whispers" blog reports Archbishop Sambi's Death

2011-07-28T05:03:00.002-05:00

His funeral will be August 6th at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in D. C.

May God grant him mercy!

[Everyone, please do say an Ave for the Archbishop!]

"Te Deum" Blogger calls for Kneeling Catholic to come out of the anonymity closet

2011-07-24T11:30:00.006-05:00

Maybe I deserve it! But my BFF over at Te Deum [whose blog name I wanted to use, but she had already owned it] wants her virtual friendship ring back! I commented on her Nuncio Sambi post and Te Deum responded.............

>>>>
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Diane M. Korzeniewski, OCDS said...
To "K.C." who submitted a comment:Given the gravity of Archbishop Sambi's illness, it was truly disappointing to see your comment which I promptly rejected. Being well familiar with your blog and your line of thought on things, I think it's time you man-up and come out from behind that pseudonym. You might think twice before you blog or comment when you can't hide behind anonymyity.[[you can say that again! I wouldn't blog or comment about anything!! Call me paranoid! my feelings won't be hurt.]]

As an aside, there is more to Catholicism than what you paint. 1 Corinthians 13:1* If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2* And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, * but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5* it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7* Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; 10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. 13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Sun Jul 24, 12:02:00 PM 2011<<<<

btw, if someone is curious to know what I wrote--it's gone now off into cyber limbo-- but I think it contained basically the following....

1) Te Deum's utube video of the papal nuncio at a pro-life rally seemed to show him only reading the Holy Father's letter (not really speaking his own words).

2) It is hard to find any articles where the nuncio condemns abortion or homosexual marriage or stemcell research.

3) It is very easy to find pictures of the nuncio yukking it up with pro-choice politicians and giving at least one of them a very public hand Communion.

4) I will pray for the nuncio's soul....

[Is that about it, Diane?]

BTW everyone, please do pray for the Nuncio's soul, and that he will in the future refrain from giving scandal to those of us who like to see the Church's positions portrayed with clarity and less nuance, and apparent contradiction.

[[update! Since the Nuncio has passed away RIP, I'm not accepting any more comments. Sorry, Tancred! ]]

Bishop Mulvey Explains 1.2 million dollar sexual abuse settlement

2011-07-23T20:15:00.004-05:00

>>>...Doing all in my power to protect our children and young persons from any type of abuse by church workers has always been a priority. As part of that responsibility, and following the recent settlement of the lawsuit aginst the Diocese of Corpus Christi regarding allegations of sexual abuse made against the late Monsignor Hugh Clarke, I felt the need to reach out and reassure you of my continuing commitment in this area.

The case against Monsignor Clarke was brought by three individuals who alleged sexual abuse more than 35 years ago and was settled by agreed mediation. Monsignor Clarke passed away in 2002. It was alleged thatthe Diocese knew, or should have known about Monsignor Clarke's alleged propensities and should not have allowed him to continue in ministry. Because of these allegations, and to try and bring closure and healing to the three plaintiffs, these claims were settled [[for $1.2 million.]] I ask that you join me in keeping these individuals and their families in your prayers....

Sincerely yours in Christ
Most Rev Wm Michael Mulvey STL DD
Bishop of Corpus Christi<<<<

EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH BEARS FRUIT

2011-07-23T07:22:00.007-05:00

[[via Drudge and the Daily Mail]]

"150 human animal hybrids grown in UK labs: Embryos have been produced secretively for the past three yearsRead more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017818/Embryos-involving-genes-animals-mixed-humans-produced-secretively-past-years.html#ixzz1SvrteRYm

The British Parliament gave permission for human animal embryo experiments in 2008...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080118102223.htm

U.S.' New Papal Nuncio Vigano: Advocate for Middle East Christians

2011-07-13T17:00:00.008-05:00

>>>The archbishop pointed to the issue of globalization and the problems associated with it, namely "the political and economic changes which are often uncontrolled" Turning to the Middle East he encouraged Interpol to pay more attention the the crimes commited against Christians in the region and spoke of the attack on the Church in Iraq which left 52 dead, including 2 priests.<<<

http://storico.radiovaticana.org/en3/storico/2010-11/438077_archbishop_carlo_maria_vigano_encourges_work_of_interpol_at_meeting_in_doha.html 11/438077_archbishop_carlo_maria_vigano_encourges_work_of_interpol_at_meeting_in_doha.html

Archbishop Vigano replaces Pietro Sambi (DEO GRATIAS!!!!)
Perhaps this picture best sums up out-going Sambi's "predominantly cordial" [[whispers in the loggia's phrase]]attitude towards President Obama and his policies.

or this post.....

http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/search?q=sambi

('nuff said!)

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles blows away Cardinal Schonborn's balloon mass!

2011-07-12T04:49:00.015-05:00

Which of these pictures is an accurate re-enactment of the ancient Vestal Virgin procession and which is this year's concluding Mass for the LA Religious Education conference held in March of this year? It's a good thing the real Vesta people are all dead or else they would be suing us for copyright violation!!!

We cannot credit Cardinal Mahony for such goings-on any more.

http://youtu.be/YL9tmkBS9K0 (link from 2011 religious ed conference)

Nor for this:

http://youtu.be/hS6-M-yZ7f4 (link from 2011 youth congress)

Certainly Opus Dei's only "Numerary" bishop deserves full credit, given his presence and his presiding and his jurisdiction. Want to see the Precious Blood consecrated in Koolaid pitchers? see 1:07:00 of the video.

btw, No kneeling for the Eucharistic prayer (see 1:11) No kneeling at Communion and Zero kneeling Catholics [I keep telling you people---if you could make Catholics kneel for Jesus with nuvo-vesta Masses or by banging tambourines around their ears, then I would be a big fan!--]

Thanks, Laudemgloriae for this link.

Somebody! Please! Give me some good news!

Archbishop Nichols pressures Catholics in UK to stop kneeling for Communion

2011-07-11T09:37:00.010-05:00

and to begin practicing hand Communion.... the Archbishop of Westminster has prepared the following statement to be read in all his parishes .....

>>>"The usual practice in our parishes is for the Sacred Host to be received on the hand, standing, and – when practical and prudent to do so reverently- for the Precious Blood to be received from the Chalice, also whilst standing. This practice of standing is now confirmed in the Liturgical Norm for England and Wales, just recently approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome...." <<<

His Emminence later goes on to footnote that kneeling for Communion has not been totally banned, as his preceeding bluster "approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome"!!! seems to imply.

Thank you 'reluctant sinner blog' for the heads up!

http://areluctantsinner.blogspot.com/2011/07/archbishop-nichols-please-reflect-on.html

The CDW's weakness in publishing its norm

http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/2011/06/cdw-mush-solidifies-catholic-truth.html

is being exploited to the fullest extent in order to marginalize those Catholics who wish to accept the Holy Father's invitation to kneel for Communion. Bishop Athanasius Schneider has warned us already not to expect the 'collegial' bishops to fall in line with the Holy Father.

Get Ready! The powerful people that run things do not like kneeling, period! Is that a news flash or what?!!

Catholics of UK! The Holy Father wants you to kneel for Jesus. Archbishop Nichols wants you to 'stand up'. Who will you follow?

Focolare chief priest, Fr. Silvano Cola, says humanity's 'collective consciouness' has matured

2011-07-11T05:00:00.012-05:00

This link explains how Focolare and Father Silvano say we must adopt a "new type of behavior" which fits our new modern collective consciousness. http://www.focolare.ie/General/BeingOneArchives/1992/Number01/04Silvano.htm

Father Cola (RIP)>>>>>>.....The considerations we will make may sound like a criticism of the past. However, they should not be regarded as negative. Obviously with time a new consciousness emerges and with it a new type of behaviour which automatically seems to deprecate former ways. My intention in this article is not to criticize the past. All that was done in the past was perhaps the best for those times, for those people, in that situation and for the collective consciousness of that historic moment. At present the collective consciousness of humanity seems to have matured, resulting in a new step forward. This requires a change in the way we read the Gospel .....

Focolare views traditional practices as a necessary crutch for rigid, old-fashioned people who aren't ready for the coming change....

......we preserve what is still useful to assist those who are unable to change their own ways of thinking and consequently unable to change their way of acting. At the same time we should allow for the possibility of something new, even if small, which is more adapted to the maturity of today's collective human consciousness.....

The late Father Silvano has a South Texas connection.....
http://www.southtexascatholic.com/display.asp?id=897

Sisters and brothers, as the Pope prepares for another Assissi prayer meeting, I think it is important for us to understand the Focolare. They were the spiritual architects for the first two meetings.

Thursday's July 7 Cristiada showing was '1st Director's Cut'

2011-07-10T16:21:00.003-05:00

from Director Wright's facebook page......

Cristiada [DIRECTOR DEAN WRIGHT] What a great audience we had! It was a thrill for you all to see the movie at this stage. This was my official first "Director's Cut". We're making just a few changes based on the great comments we got - trimming the running time - then it's out to the world. Thanks for coming and being a part of the creative process!!......

Dean Wright's Cristero Film undergoes private screening tonight!

2011-07-07T17:37:00.003-05:00

That's right! Thursday July 7, 2011 in Woodland Hills, CA!!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cristiada/313576978430?sk=wall&filter=1

Children and Latin Chant

2011-07-06T08:02:00.002-05:00

Thanks, Father Ray Blake!

http://youtu.be/ZDu90-eeulA

Where's my Corpus Christi Procession post?

2011-07-01T06:54:00.007-05:00

Sisters and Brothers!

I was asked by a friend of Bishop Mulvey to please take the post down. This friend is quite certain the Bishop did not intentionally slight our Celebration and that it has all been an unhappy coincidence. Yes, I know, others have copied my post in its entirety, therefore it will live on in cyberdom. I can't control that....

Plus....my carping has served to stoke the fires of an unrelated controversy. A controversy I am thankfully ignorant of. I don't know if those fires need to be stoked, --I am assuming they should not be [or at least it's not my place to play of role of Mrs. O'leary's cow!]--hence my post, which caused my 'hit meter' to overheat, is gone. Now I shall get back to my regular followers: me, myself and I.

Please, everyone, before you 'go off ' on bishops and priests, do say a prayer for your target and do a 'google' on the sin of detraction!! I have been, rightly, called to task for detracting remarks I have made in the past. Try not to put yourself in the same position!

Thanks for reading this.

k. c.

Diane of Te Deum>>>>>Diane M. Korzeniewski, OCDS said...
KC - Perhaps some months from now, you could send a letter to Bishop Mulvey and ask him to have a Corpus Christi procession. We know of very orthodox priests who cannot kneel during Mass due to knee or back problems. Similarly, a procession in the hot Texas sun could be difficult for some bishops and priests if they suffer from high blood pressure or other health conditions. You might ask Bishop Mulvey that if his schedule or other thing prohibits him from leading the procession next year, if priests of the diocese can lead it in his name. Perhaps he would lead a Holy Hour in the cathedral before it begins. Also, some dioceses may have trouble securing necessary permits. The best way to get more Corpus Christi processions is to first pray, then to write charitable letters to the bishop and let God take it from there.
July 3, 2011 9:18 PM

K.C. replies:

Right, Diane! Better sugar than vinegar!

CDW Mush Solidifies: Catholic Truth Society bans kneeling in UK

2011-06-28T22:15:00.006-05:00

Remember the CDW's mealy-mouthed ruling about England and Wales?
http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/2011/06/cdw-dumps-mush-on-kneeling-catholics-in.html

Supposedly this 'ruling' allowed for Catholics, who wished to do so, to still kneel for Communion. Now that tolerant 'window-dressing" has gone out the window.

Liturgists in the UK have taken their inch and mile! The Catholic Truth Society has now published a missal which states, unequivocally---Communicants come forward in reverent procession; They receive Communion standing. (none of the earlier qualification allowing people to kneel appears!! oh yeah, remember how everyone is obliged to make some kind of gesture of reverence--like taking a bow or .... kneeling!-- That is also out the window. Apparently lining up, like we do at Whataburger, or at the bank, or at a public restoom on a busy day, counts as a reverent gesture!)---

Thanks to Fr. Finnegan for this sad news......
http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com/2011/06/rogue-instruction-in-new-peoples-cards.html

Website reports that the Pope's Master of Ceremonies is again calling for Catholics to kneel for Holy Communion

2011-06-25T22:25:00.003-05:00

The Adoratio Conference in Rome, meeting during the Feast of Corpus Christi, is covered here....

http://offerimustibidomine.blogspot.com/2011/06/ppe-benedicts-intention-beyond-indults.html

Our hero, and prophet! Athanasius Schneider spoke at the conference and, again, called for Catholics to follow the Holy Father's example and to kneel for Holy Communion

More Background for upcoming Director Dean Wright's Cristero film!

2011-06-19T15:57:00.010-05:00

A real Cristero!

http://youtu.be/5FGQsKW7uQY

btw. The gentleman in the video is not exaggerating. The Cristeros won the last huge battle of the conflict, Tepatitlan. 900 of their forces defeated 3000 Federales--resoundingly.

Often winning a war is defined by winning the last huge battle, but not in this case.

Reminiscent of the Catholic Pilgrimage of Grace against Henry VIII---where the 'Pilgrims' lost their crushing numerical advantage at the bargaining table, (due to the Duke of Norfolk's use of false promises)---the Cristeros lost their struggle by trusting an agreement hammered out between the Federales and the Catholic Bishops, (mediated by the U.S. State Department). The Cristeros obediently went to their homes where subsequently the government rounded up and executed 5,000 (10%) of them. (see sepia photo above)

President of John Paul II High School (Corpus Christi, TX) sends secret message to Kneeling Catholics!

2011-06-19T12:36:00.010-05:00

Father Peter Marsalek has been a positive influence for holy reverence at his school, John Paul II High School, as exemplified here...

http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/2010/05/first-graduating-class-from-corpus.html

and here....

http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.com/2009/10/father-peter-marsalek-wins-october-don.html

Last week, at John Paul II's graduation ceremony, Father asked the students to remember their school mascot, the Centurion, and how the Centurion knealt down for Jesus and how they must always remember to do the same. [--though Matthew -- only records that he 'beseeched' Jesus, I think the Centurion did kneel. Joseph Marie Vien's depiction above --appropriately-- has the Centurion kneeling].

Thank you Father Marsalek! For everything!

CDW dumps mush on Kneeling Catholics in UK

2011-06-18T11:26:00.004-05:00

from 13 JUN Hermeneutic of Continuity...

"In the Dioceses of England and Wales Holy Communion is to be received standing, though individual members of the faithful may choose to receive Communion while kneeling. However, when they communicate standing, it is recommended that the faithful bow in reverence before receiving the sacrament."

Calling all Kneeling Catholics in England and Wales! This 'clarification' is empty because it contradicts itself. The first phrase is a command which is then qualified, negating its meaning. Sort of like a drill sergeant shouting at his recruits 'Formation at 0430, except for those who don't show up!'.

Blah! Blah! NTL it is clear from this that we have at least one enemy in the CDW. I.e. someone who prefers double talk over the Holy Father's humble example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3zHpo3gtN0

Director Dean Wright confirms the historicity of 'Cristiada' film

2011-06-10T13:31:00.004-05:00

Hey Everyone!

Want to know the latest about Director Dean Wright's Cristiada film?

Wright's facebook page is linked below. The film is still scheduled to be released later this year! It sure would be great to have a few more trailers!!

From the tone and contents of Wright's posts--in particular his desire that another film be produced featuring the Blessed Padre Miguel Pro--it is plain to see that he is 'one of us'.!

Wright pays to tribute to Cristero Chronicler Jean Meyer below....

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=313576978430&topic=15856

--------Cristiada

We consulted with Jean Meyer extensively while researching the project, as well as meeting with relatives of those involved in the conflict.

While this is still a movie - not a documentary - I don't think you'll be disappointed in how the story is told.

- Dean--------

As Director Wright likes to say VIVA CRISTO REY!

More background for Cristero film, Cristiada

2011-06-02T06:31:00.006-05:00

This is a clip from the 2007 Mexican film, El Padre Pro, by Loyola Producciones. Father Pro was martyred in 1927. A 'must see' for those of us anticipating Dean Wright's Cristiada (starring Corpus Christi's own Eva Longoria) which should be released this fall!

http://youtu.be/NKIYUqJXkXo

from an interview with the actor/priest who plays the Blessed Padre Pro

La película Padre Pro:

Entrevista con el P. Pedro Reyes, protagonista

La cinta, que aportará información y anécdotas inéditas, se apega estrictamente a la vida del Padre Pro, pero también refleja los problemas sociales y políticos que tuvo que enfrentar el sacerdote durante su ministerio, dada la prohibición y condena del gobierno de Plutarco Elías Calles a cualquier acto de culto religioso público, además de una abierta injerencia del Estado en cuestiones de la Iglesia.

La producción de esta película fue posible gracias a las aportaciones voluntarias de distintas personas y fue grabada en locaciones de México y Europa, continente en el que vivió el Padre Pro luego de que, a causa de la Revolución Mexicana, cerraran los seminarios en nuestro país.

La Arquidiócesis de México y el semanario Desde la fe desea todo el éxito a esta gran producción cinematográfica, cuya intención de ninguna manera es levantar polvaredas con el Estado, ni meter el dedo en las llagas del pasado, sino mostrar con base en fuentes documentales y testimoniales fidedignas, la vida de uno de los personajes más importantes de la vida de la Iglesia en el siglo XX: el beato Agustín Pro......

Cristero Film coming up!

2011-05-24T02:21:00.012-05:00

Dean Wright has completed the new film 'Cristiada'. The film stars well-known actors, e.g. Ruben Blades, Andy Garcia, Corpus Christi's own Eva Longoria, and Peter O'Toole.

As I understand, Professor Jean Meyer was consulted in making this film.
Professor Meyer's book, Cristiada, is the premier chronicle of the Cristero conflict. It certainly seems that director Dean Wright has done his homework and created a powerful, historically accurate film!!

Director Wright won an Oscar for being visual effects supervisor for Lord of the Rings and also served in the same capacity for Chronicles of Narnia. I have to admit, I like his pedigree and predict this film will 'instruct the ignorant', many of whom include not only American Catholic laity, but unfortunately also our clergy! I think this film will blast away cynicism which masquerades as sophistication and knock the snot out of the snotty!

What a blessing and inspiration this film might be for our young people, --well accustomed to seeing the media portray Church scandals--, to see what it 'used to be like' to be Catholic [before our Church leadership was so heavily infiltrated by effeminates].

Once upon a time, Catholicism blended with Mexican chivalry and machismo to produce.....the Cristeros!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8GZwQa3cM&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKIYUqJXkXo&feature=related

how meyer got to be the cristero historian (Spanish)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SmCxiPyJco

Cristero Film

2011-05-24T02:18:00.001-05:00

http://youtu.be/6pu4gst3FmI

Her Highness gets a little higher

2010-12-27T17:28:00.004-06:00

Spain's Queen Sofia's refusal to kneel for Jesus prompted this outburst from a contributor to Praytell Blog (he mentions pictures of Padre Pio and Grace Kelly. I wonder where he saw those! his post is italicized)

...."Because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted." (Jesus Christ)

When I see beautiful photos of Grace Kelly and the Blessed Pio kneeling to receive, and then see this acrobatic publicity stunt!!, It is a reminder to me that this Pope's gentle reforms are particularly offensive to the high and mighty.

Priest advocate for homosexuality hates the new English translation and loves 'Vatican II'

2010-10-01T04:40:00.013-05:00

Sisters and Brothers!

There is a freight train coming our way! Next year, the first Sunday of Advent we will no longer be using the same English (no changes for any of the other 9,999 translations of the Mass, just English!) Rome has spoken.

Why? ...remember words/concepts like 'Incarnate', 'grievous fault', etc. ? People from other countries do because they still say them. Every Sunday!! It was only the traitorous translators of the English missal who did away with these treasures along with much else....

I know what your thinking ....."Doesn't 'and became man' doesn't count for Incarnate?" Absolutely not since the credo has both 'and became man' 'et homo factus est' AND 'et Incarnatus est' , the English translators just decided to lessen the emphasis so they got rid of the latter phrase entirely. 'Incarnate is 'Too big of a word!' or else more sinisterly, they just didn't believe it THAT strongly!

Now the pope is telling the American Church to rejoin the rest of the Catholic Church in prayer and there are a number of clerics, who are livid! Imagine! Rome wants the American Church to pray the same way Catholics all over the world already do!! The nerve!!! So much for the American Church being the vanguard for change! The old 'peter-paul-and-mary crowd are griping and backstabbing!

If you can stomach it, visit the link below and you will discover many things! There is at least one priest advocate for homosexual marriage and homosexual sex and homosexual sex and ...!! who is especially angry about the pope's scheduled 2011 tsnami.

http://josephsoleary.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/09/the-new-translation-as-a-betrayal-of-vatican-ii.html

Is EWTN luke warm on kneeling for Holy Communion?

2010-09-28T08:25:00.004-05:00

It has been a while since k.c. has seen a televised Mass from EWTN. Hopefully things have changed...Yes, those of you who have seen them already know what k.c. will say!

Why do so few people @ EWTN kneel for Holy Communion? I understand when people who are ignorant of what the pope is doing, ignore him. They are too busy putting bread on their table, or don't have cable or a computer. But what about pope groupies? (k.c. is one! and so are EWTNees!) If you watch EWTN, then I know you have cable! What about we who follow what the pope is doing and deliberately *choose* ignore his humble invitation to kneel for our dear Lord?

Father Anthony Ruff of with the 'in' crowd blog, Praytell, says he knows why American Catholics, both conservative and liberal refuse to kneel.....it is because we have benefited form two generations of good, post Vatican II liturgical formation !! Really!!!

There are those who would say that EWTN has gone over to the 'dark(usccb) side'. Ever since it passed out of Mother Angelica's control. I don't know what the problem is, but the daily spectacle of stalwarts 'standing' with the American Catholic Church against the Holy Father is a huge disappointment.

k.c.

Kneeling suggests a childish attitude toward ordained authorities!

2010-09-14T09:16:00.010-05:00

Praytell blog recently discussed our favorite topic: Kneeling for Communion!

Pray tell is run by Father Anthony Ruff OSB and is affiliated with Liturgical Press. On their home page, Father 'says' he actually likes kneeling..... would that it were true! Father shows a different side in the following exchange with someone called 'raymond lull'. (raymond apparently has been reading this blog!) Lull is red and Father Ruff's words will be green.

Lull>>>

The lands where latin-rite Catholics still kneel for Holy Communion are largely former Soviet Union republics…e.g. Latvia, Estonia, Kazakhstan. I have visited Latvia but know only second hand of the others.

If one were to think about what Catholics from these countries do not have in Common with the U. S. Catholics, the elephant in the room would be that one group has endured intense persecution for their Faith and the other has not.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, of Kazakhstan, is most certainly the reason we are even having this discussion. He is the man who convinced the pope to re-introduce the Communion kneeler into papal liturgies. For Bishop Schneider the act of kneeling conveys a message from your body into your soul. That message is dependence like that of a child who waits to be fed, and intense gratitude, like that of the one leper who bothered to come back to our Lord and fell on his knees before Him to thank Him! Does not the word eucharist mean gratitude?

The Holy Father is commanding no one to kneel! He does invite us….and as Amercans reject wholesale his humble invitation to demonstrate gratitude, we are saying way too much about ourselves.

Fr. Ruff>>

I think you’re making a few unfair leaps here. I wouldn’t assume that people who don’t kneel for Holy Communion aren’t as grateful, nor would I assume that people who kneel have greater gratitude. Surely the human heart is more complex than that. (Perhaps – just perhaps – some proponents of kneeling are judgmental of others and lacking in humility.) Regarding your last line, Americans are perhaps saying about themselves that they’re obedient to their Bishops (since our Bishops don’t permit kneeling) and that they’ve been well-formed by a couple generations of renewed liturgical practice.

Humility and complete dependence upon God are very good things. Jesus spoke often of them. The problem is that kneeling for Communion suggests, rather, complete dependence upon a clergyman who feeds you like a child. There is nothing in the teachings of Jesus to even hint that Christians should have this childish attitude toward ordained authorities in their community.

I think for this question we need a richer and broader understanding of receiving Communion: humility and adoration, yes, but not only! Also sharing in the entire Paschal Mystery, anticipating one’s resurrection on the Last Day, being divinized by God’s grace, being given one’s full human dignity, completing one’s action in the EP, sharing with the gathered community, anticipating the final Banquet, and so forth.

(Father's original comments did not have bold print)

Comments anyone?

k.c.

Jack Palance explains the Pope

2010-09-13T12:15:00.008-05:00

This excellent article by Sandro Magister can be found on Father Z's blog here:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2010/09/overcome-idolatry-in-life-by-kneeling-at-during-mass/

Here is an excerpt.....

....But among the standard-setting practices of Benedict XVI, the one least understood – so far – is perhaps that of having the faithful kneel for communion.

This is almost never done, in any of the churches all over the world. In part because the communion rails at which one knelt to receive communion have been abandoned or dismantled almost everywhere.>>>>>

Why is it so least understood, so hard to figure out? Just listen to Curly (Jack Palance) explain the 'secret of life' to Billy Crystal!

Bishop Schneider and the Holy Father have figured it out!

Stop, don't burn the Koran! Burn Catholic Missals!

2010-09-09T07:58:00.010-05:00

His Excellency Michael Mulvey has announced, via his website, the implementation of the new missal translation.

On the Corpus Christi Diocese website, goccn.org, there is a link to the USCCB's announcement of the new, true-to-the-underlying-Latin-prayer missal's implementation at the close of 2011.

Most everyone in the diocese is unaware that that all the familiar responses they say during Mass are being done away with. Of the hundreds of versions of the missal translated after Vatican II (into hundreds of languages) only one translation has been deemed to be deficient and worthy of being tossed into the dustbin..... Ours![don't ask why! there is no good answer for the USCCB, other than that the people who translated it were dishonest manipulators! May God have mercy on their souls.]

Hey, Mr. Gainseville burning preacher man! Don't burn the Koran! We'll send you thousands, wait,...MILLIONS of Oregon Catholic Press Missals which we will help you burn with extreme prejudice and animus! Give us time to take off work and we'll come join you!

k.c.

Alec Guinness was a kneeling Catholic!

2010-09-05T05:55:00.011-05:00

Guinness on Vatican II's wake:

>>>>...Much water has flown under the Tiber's bridges, carrying away splendor and mystery from Rome since the Pontificate of Pius XII.... [T]he banalities and translations which have ousted the sonerous Latin and Greek are of a supermarket quality which is quite unacceptable. Hand shaking and embarrassed smiles or smirks have replaced the older courtesies: kneeling is out, queuing is in, and the general tone is like BBC radio broadcast for tiny tots....<<<< [courtesy of pblosser and joseph pearce]

...It is very sad that Guinness, who passed away in 2000, did not live to see any restoration of the Liturgy which he loved.

I probably have said this before, but I will repeat it anyway: Laity! do not be discouraged when our priests and bishops continue to stop their ears at our Holy Father's call to restore worship, and reverence, and humility! Better people than we have endured the same frustration --only worse because they had no straw at which to grasp, no distant glimmer.

I believe God is testing us! Our clergy, as whole, have royally failed that test! So now He -has given us a pope who is reaching over and around disobedient and unbelieving clergy...straight out to us-laity.

Can a bishop keep us from hearing the Mass in Latin? No! The Holy Father has given that decision to us-laity!

Can a bishop keep us from kneeling for Communion? No! The Holy Father's humble example has rudely interrupted the United States Council of Catholic Bishops' slickly worded info-mercial for standing.[How these bishops must dread that someone will ask them the meaning of the Holy Father's gesture. There can be no good USCCB answer to that question!]]

Laity! Get your Sensus Fidelium on!

If we don't kneel now...then we can blame no priest, no bishop, nor peer pressure. The Holy Father has given that decision over to each and every layperson.

Even more than that, he doesn't just hold kneeling out as 'an option'. Rather, his daily reminder at papal liturgies, all and every! exalts kneeling as the ideal!!

The Holy Father is gently inviting us to have our bodies do what our souls already need to be doing. True, the Pope issues no fiat, no bull, no command....he gestures like a nervous teenage boy who stands with unruly slicked down hair and a 'white sportcoat' and silently extends his hand to his would-be dance partner. And for now, we refuse. We sit, like the girl who pretends not to see because she's afraid of what her smart-aleck girlfriends might say ....

Alec Guinness RIP! and pray for us if you can!

k.c.

Father Z's blog discusses kneeling for Communion, (Again!)

2010-08-31T08:30:00.003-05:00

Dear Friends!

Our cause will not go away! It is the pope's cause! It is the pope's cause because it is our Lord's!!

Father Z's blog revisited this topic several days ago, 28 AUG. One comment seems to indicate that 'old hippies' in the USCCB may try to use the occasion of the introduction of our new English Translation to confuse people about 'obedience' and kneeling......

>>>That being said I have found a “Bulletin Insert” on the USCCB website which is linked to the new Missal Translation area.Link: (http://www.nccbuscc.org/romanmissal/resources-bulletins5.shtml)This insert and description uses language that I have never seen before.Granted, I am an attorney, so my reading may be nuanced and over-technical, but it seems as if there is a slight shift in thinking:
“...The new edition of the General Instruction asks the Conference of Bishops in each country to determine the posture to be used for the reception of Communion and the act of reverence to be made by each person as he or she receives Communion. The Conference of Bishops of the United States has determined that in this country Communion will be received standing and that a bow will be the act of reverence made by those receiving. These norms may require some adjustment on the part of those who have been used to other practices, however the significance of unity in posture and gesture as a symbol of our unity as members of the one body of Christ should be the governing factor in our own actions. ..”
The part that concerns me is: the USCCB “...has determined that in this country Communion WILL BE received standing…”

<<<< “The Conference of Bishops of the United States has determined that in this country Communion will be received standing ” (!!)

Hey Defend Us In Battle!

That USCCB insert to which you are referring is old. I have found posts quoting it going back to 2003. The USCCB site webpage doesn’t have a date. Whoever linked it to the new translation is either not paying attention to its contents, or else is deliberately contravening the Holy Father’s own humble example.

The days of bishops’ conferences usurping the authority of individual bishops or that of the Pope and ‘determining’ things. are over.

to those who say kneeling catholics are drawing attention to themselves:

Is it drawing attention to oneself to follow what your conscience tells you is right even when others don’t see it that way? yes.

Were the few who stood by our Lord in His Agony drawing attention to the themselves?

yes. Sometimes “drawing attention to yourself” is not a bad thing.

Instructing the ignorant is almost always a good thing.

k.c.

Comment by kneeling catholic — 29 August 2010 @ 12:36 am

Holy Father's Communion kneeler was in response to reading Bishop Schneider's book!

2010-08-20T06:58:00.003-05:00

Thank you Father Blake for bringing this to light!

http://marymagdalen.blogspot.com/2010/08/downside-review-last-installment.html

The Mass' new translation might disturb Marty Haugen, et.al.

2010-08-05T16:31:00.002-05:00

......"Much of the music that has come up over the last 30 years will no longer be useable," said Father Alan Jurkus of St. Alphonsus Parish in Greendale, who sent out a letter this month notifying members of the coming changes.......

http://www.jsonline.com/features/religion/99995394.html

(thanks to Gregorian Rite Catholic for finding this!)

Father Ray Blake's Blog answers the question!

2010-08-02T20:50:00.003-05:00

Why do no Orthodox or any other early Apostolic splinter churches have Hand Communion ?

Finally an orthodox Christian from St. Mary Magdeline blog answers:
That's the way they have always done it!

Doesn't that just make sense? Why else would they resemble pre Vatican II Roman Catholics in this regard? The only logical explanation is that Communion on the tongue had to have been the general practice of the Catholic Church at whatever time the split of each group occured. In the case of the Copts, Armenians, and Nestorians....we are going back way into the 400s. Any other explanation means that separate churches, each one antagonistic to all the others, all independenty decided to introduce the same identical innovation. [here we count Communion directly on the tongue as the 'innovation']

Hence, in k.c.'s opinion, the oft repeated axiom that: "Hand Communion was commonly practiced in the Catholic Church up until the year 1000": is a big, fat, lie!

k.c.

listen to Scott........

I am an Eastern Orthodox Christian, and to my limited knowledge Eucharist given in the hand has never been a widespread or accepted practice in the Church. Certainly we Orthodox – Eastern or Oriental - would be horrified at the thought nowadays. St. Basil the Great in the 4th Century wrote very clearly that the practice was only justified during times of persecution, presumably because priests might not be available to distribute the Eucharist in person. The text implies that to receive in the hand under other circumstances, outside of persecution, would be a grave fault. Other references from the first millennium, including references from the Western Church, support the conclusion that the normal and accepted manner of reception of the Holy Eucharist was in the mouth, given by a spoon, as it is still today in the East, and in Eastern rites in communion with the Roman Catholics.It appears that only St. Cyril of Jerusalem (also 4th Century) mentions reception in the hand as if it might be an accepted and legitimate practice, and this is the passage that is typically trotted out as evidence from this early period.In other words, to answer the question, my belief is that the Eastern churches didn’t “abandon” the practice. I think the likelihood is that they never particularly condoned it, but allowed it as a necessary evil during times of extreme persecution. It became unnecessary after the Peace of Constantine in 313, as another contemporary reference appears to indicate.Here is a link with further information. http://www.catholic-pages.com/mass/inhand.aspI’m sorry I don’t have more information from the Orthodox point of view. It has never occurred to me that such a practice might have been legitimate at any time in the history of the Church. I will certainly look deeper into the history of the practice, particularly its history in our Church.....

Bishop Athanasius Schneider to visit UK in August

2010-07-31T09:04:00.004-05:00

....The Latin Mass Society has announced that Bishop Athanasius Schneider ORC, Auxiliary Bishop of Karaganga in Kazakhstan, will be attending the forthcoming priests’ training conference to be held at Downside Abbey from Tuesday 10th to Friday 13th August. Bishop Schneider will celebrate a Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form in the Abbey Church at Downside on Thursday 12th August at 11.00am. He will also deliver a lecture as part of the conference......

Thanks to Father Ray Blake for publicizing this!!

k.c.

sadly, there are many if not an overwhelming majority of 'conservatives' who still do not accept the importance of 'lex orandi'. Some negative comments have surfaced regarding Father's hosting Bishop Schneider.......

gemoftheocean said...
Phisiocrat - do be a bit careful and realize that in the western church for the 1st thousand years or so Communion was distributed in the hand.

To which your's truly must respond!
Gem!

Are you still at it??

If hand Communion were widespread until 1000 AD "or so", then why don't any of the Orthodox who split with us around that time, practice Hand Communion?

Why do none, absolutely none of the Apostolic groups, like the Nestorians, Armenians, or Copts who split with us since 400 AD or so, practice Hand Communion?

Do you know of any group which split off from us, except for the 16th CTY reformers, which practice Hand Communion?

k.c.

Bishop Mulvey eradicates kneeling at Corpus Christi Cathedral

2010-07-21T20:03:00.003-05:00

Sisters and brothers!

If actions speak loudly, then it appears Bishop Michael Mulvey is not a friend to kneeling catholics.

His Excellency, Bishop Michael Mulvey @ 49:25 of the Sunday Mass broadcast (link below) stations himself and his altar girl right in front of the altar rail. This effectively blocks out the kneeling cushion which many use when the Bishop is not saying mass. Enough 'said' your Excellency! As John Madden would say: BOOM! 99.9% seem to get the message! One brave soul @ 49:48 refuses to take the hint!

The "Fulness of Truth" conference was in town. Therefore I assume there are many people present who take their Faith seriously and probably even a few VIPs in the Catholic conference circuit. Kneeling for Holy Communion is apparently neither on their, nor our Bishop's radar.

:-( :-( :-( Please pray that our Bishop will take our cause as seriously as our Holy Father.
Pray for courage to personally broach the subject! Your Excellency! Why does the Pope require all his Communicants to kneel, And you don't even invite them?

http://GoCCN.net/avdl/viddl/100718ccmass.wmv

k.c.

Thank you Father Ray Blake,

2010-07-07T12:21:00.006-05:00

The Te Deum!

This is most likely the same tune to which St. Edmund Campion and his fellow martyrs, Sherwin and Briant, sang Te Deum when they learned that they were to be drawn and quartered.

It has been the song of martyrs and the joy of persecuted Catholics for well over a thousand years. It was well known throughout the Church prior to the great Wreckovation. The Te Deum needs to make a comeback!

k.c.

Brazilian Blogger gets a pat on the back from our hero, Bishop Athanasius Schneider!!

2010-07-01T13:00:00.003-05:00

(this is a google translation of Bishop Schneider's 24 April 2010 letter)

Praise our Lord Jesus Christ!

Dear Mr. Dr. Rafael Vitola Brodbeck and all friends of the blog SAVE THE LITURGY!

Having seen the goals of Your blog, I think they are commendable and very current. They try to walk with the authentic spirit of the Church, cultivating the "sentire cum ecclesia", ie thinking and how the Church. Divine Providence has given to our time the most precious gifts in the person of Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope shows in his teaching and practical examples to the whole Church in unequivocal and clear the true spirit of the liturgy.

Even before the pontificate Cardinal Ratzinger he left a rich education on the Sacred Liturgy, especially in his book "The Spirit of the Liturgy." If we love the Church, we follow with great docility liturgical teaching and the specific examples that pertain to the liturgy of the Supreme Pastor of the Church. I think this Pope had entered history as Pope angelic, like Pope and zealous lover of Divine worship.

The teaching and example of Pope Benedict XVI are the most authentic interpretation of liturgical spirit of Vatican II. God grant that every bishop and priests to meekly accept this liturgical teaching of the Pope and implement it in their churches. I want to encourage you all to continue this noble and vital goal for the church, which is living with abundant spiritual fruit liturgy and promote the sanctity and its authentic spirit in the Church of our times.

For that I thank and bless you in Christ and His Blessed Mother Mary,

+ Bishop Athanasius Schneider, ORC Auxiliary Bishop of Karaganda, Kazakhstan

Thanks, Diane at Te Deum!

2010-06-06T11:31:00.004-05:00

http://bishop-schneider.blogspot.com/

And on a non-unrelated note....Bocelli talks about abortion

First Graduating Class from Corpus Christi's John Paul II High School

2010-05-30T07:36:00.004-05:00

Don't lose hope!
Corpus Christi's Bishop Emeritus, Edmund Carmody distributes Communion to kneeling Communicants with the diocese' master of ceremonies, Fr. Pete Elizardo stands in the background.

Who is responsible? The new Bishop Mulvey?
Bishop Emeritus Carmody? Father Peter Marsalek, the president of the school?

K.C. opines on Father Z's question about implementing the new ICEL Mass translation

2010-05-20T19:48:00.004-05:00

most of Father's blogger's are cautious, e.g. this comment from 'ipadre'>>I would love to use it now, but, I will wait for the signal from my bishop and the USCCB. All of this preparation is good and well, but they did nothing when they forced this current translation on the poor people. < <<

Dear ipadre!

how about this? let’s demand that liturgists stop using the old ICEL ASAP period. (The Vatican has declared it is worthy of the dustbin! If that judgment is warranted, then the time to stop using it has long since passed!) God’s children are hungry and the American Church just keeps feeding them stones.

Let’s just teach the people the ordinary Latin responses as per Paul VI’s wishes. We then can wait 20 years or so until the last ‘Woodstock’ anti-new translation bishop retires and then implement the new translation!

Each year, in only the 6 weeks of Lent, people forget the forgettable ICEL ‘Gloria’. It would be best for them to forget the entire old ICEL liturgy. As long as they keep practicing it, it will never die out.

k.c.

Holyrope1 disturbs us

2010-05-17T23:30:00.003-05:00

Picked these up over at Gloria.tv

Don't know the location where this first one is filmed. I hope it was faked!

This one is more of a montage. pitting the beauty of the liturgy of the ages against ...... well-known scenes....including Cardinal Schonborn and his now-famous balloon mass where he consecrated pita bread and passed out huge Chunks to everyone...(Please recall how he sent out his lieutenant to say the Cardinal learned this liturgy from the Chaldeans--who- by the way -lick the Eucharist from the floor if it falls! Ok, your Eminence, I didn't see anyone licking up all those crumbs at your joke of a liturgy!)

Holy Father's humble example ignored at Fatima

2010-05-14T23:27:00.004-05:00

The German title of this, 13 May, video from Gloria.tv is 'lay ministers of Communion'. We see people kneeling for Jesus when they receive from the Pope, but everywhere else it is Communion AOW [any old way]!

Brigadier Cristero inspires us with Bocelli's 'Our Father'

2010-05-12T23:52:00.003-05:00

btw, those guys with the white hoods are penitents. The scenes towards the close of the video are from a Holy Week procession in Spain. Apparently it has long been customary, hundreds of years before the KKK copied them, for penitents to wear hoods which point towards heaven.

Cristeros' Chronicler, Jean Meyer, explains their significance

2010-05-08T14:25:00.005-05:00

…(40 seconds into the tape) …it was a huge tragedy in that the Mexican people knew how to respond, and in a specific way they knew how to fix the errors of their authorities, authorities from both sides… their political authorities from the side of the state and their ecclesiastical authorities from the Church’s side…. They [the people] were often seen as nothing more than a pawn on a chess board to be moved around … neither the state nor the Church in their games of opposition and lies, could ever dream that Catholic people were capable of rising up in arms…and the political and military authorities were oppressing the people…thinking that being a Catholic incapacitated you, they thought that Catholicism was only for old people … or for cowardly men…Never did they think the Catholics could rise up in arms. And when they did take up arms, the authorities never thought that the war was going to be so difficult and to last for three years …. [in an earlier episode Meyer recounts the miracle of how the Cristero insurgency could survive for three years without ANY outside help and battle its well supplied, atheist/leftist, government to a standstill . The 'settlement' to the stalemate was negotiated by the Church. The 50,000 Cristeros laid down their arms and went home. Many were then arrested and hung. The Church went on being controlled and persecuted. ]

Thank you, Sonya Leigh Scott!

2010-04-24T03:02:00.016-05:00

Dear Friends!

This is an excellent paper on our buddies, our heroes, the Cristeros! Miss Scott makes her point: The 'Cristiada' Cristero Rebellion of the 1920s in Mexico was a lay movement. The Catholic Church officially and openly opposed it, even though the movement was dedicated to saving the Church in Mexico.

There is a theme which recurs down thru the centuries....from the common people of the 4th century who joined with Athanasius 'against the world' of Catholic bishops and kept the Church from embracing Arianism, to the English peasants of the 'Pilgrimage of Grace' who stood up for their Faith when priests and Bishops had long since surrendered ...on up to the brave Cristeros of the 1920s who saved the Church in Mexico from complete annihilation: The Church needs the laity, the 'sensus fidelium', to hold her true to her mission, to save her! Do not be discouraged when our bishops and priests are mealy-mouthed or scared or just plain traitors ---better people than we have endured this very same tragedy! And believe it, sisters and brothers.... those people intercede for us now at God's altar!

We need the clergy to get us into heaven, but God does not force them to go there with us! When our leaders wobble then we must do all the more to make the Church's mission and her saving message clear and never, ever expect a pat on the back from some well-heeled cleric.

We must only hope to hear 'well done' from ..............................One!

"“without their [ the Bishops'] permission and without their orders we are throwing ourselves into this blessed struggle for our liberty, and without their permission and without their orders we will go on until we conquer or die.”

(members of the Quintanar brigade, 1928)

Viva Cristo Rey!

k.c.

The Many Faces of the Cristero Rebellion
Sonya Leigh Scott
Sonya Leigh Scott, a member of Phi Alpha Theta, is a graduate student in history from Champaign, IL.
She wrote this paper for Dr. José Deustua in History 5400, Latin America, during the fall of 2008.
The power struggle simmering between the Catholic Church and the
Mexican national government erupted with Catholic bishops and priests
suspending religious worship in protest of the anticlerical policies of the
Calles administration on July 31, 1926.197 President Plutarco Elias Calles
called for “submission to the law,” known as Calles Law, that implemented
anticlerical conditions set forth in the Constitution of 1917.198 Laws that
controlled property rights in Article 27 of the Constitution forbade Church
ownership of property and limited foreign ownership. All land served the
public interest by the protection of communal rights of indigenous groups
and redistribution of land under control of a strong national government.199
Under Calles’ Law, the government nationalized all church buildings,
outlawed religious houses, banned public religious functions, and required
priests to register in order to avoid severe fines or imprisonment.200
Examination of the Cristero Rebellion as simply a conflict between
church and state misses the many faces, or nuances, that surrounded the
uprising. In the work of historians from Jean Meyer, in the 1970s, to
Ramon Jrade in the 1980s, and more recently the works of Jennie Purnell
and Adrian Bantjes, reveals a multilayered portrait of the rebellion. The
secular nature and the anticlerical position of the Calles administration are
clear. What proves more complex, however, is how the conflict is defined.
Was the rebellion a “holy war” with religious motivations? Was the
conflict based in an economic struggle between a variety of peasant groups
and the policies of a strong national government? Was the rebellion the
culmination of long-standing grievances between the Church and the state?
Or, as Purnell suggests, was the rebellion the articulation of factional
conflicts between various communities that included economic, political,
regional, and community concerns?201
This paper examines the complexities of the Cristero Rebellion,
exploring the motivations of the many factions that emerged on both sides
of the conflict and the many faces of the participants. The rebellion cannot
197 Matthew Butler, “The ‘Liberal’ Cristero: Ladislao Molina and the Cristero Rebellion in
Michoacan, 1927-9.” Journal of Latin American Studies 31, no. 3 (October, 1999): 645; Jennie
Purnell, Popular Movements and State Formation in Revolutionary Mexico: The Agraristas and
Cristeros of Michoacan (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1999), 72.
198 Purnell, 76.
199 Earl Shorris, The Life and Times of Mexico (New York and London: W.W. Norton &
Company, 2004), 272; Purnell, 76.
200Matthew Butler, “The Church in ‘Red Mexico’: Michoacan Catholics and the Mexican
Revolution, 1920-1929,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 55, no. 3 (July, 2004): 530.
201 Purnell, 3.
be characterized as purely a battle between two dominating forces. Like
much of Mexican history, the story of the rebellion is one of continuing
struggle for political, economic, and regional autonomy among a variety of
groups. Indeed, the portrait of the Cristero Rebellion has many facets, each
with its own interests, ideologies, hopes, and dreams.
The Face of the State
In 1925, Tobasco cacique Tomas Garrido Canabal criticized
Catholic clerics and stated that “’the cassocked vultures have seized their
prey, digging their talons into the heart of the Indian, who is less prepared
than any other race to resist the seduction of the whole ritual farse.’”202
President Plutarco Elias Calles, like Canabal, believed that the power of the
Church obstructed modernization and that he must eliminate the power of
the Church and its domination of the peasantry.203 Calles wanted absolute
control and was suspicious of the politicization of the Church after the
creation of a fairly successful Catholic Party in 1912. Although the party
had dissolved, Calles sought to rid Mexico of the potential for Church
control.
The origins of the ideology of de-fanaticization were found in
radical liberalism of the nineteenth-century scientific positivism, Marxism,
and Protestantism. Mexican revolutionaries understood the revolution as
more than an economic struggle, but also one of spirituality. They
considered religion, like many of their Russian counterparts, a “drug” and
the “Catholic ritual […] a seductive trick designed to exploit ignorant
peasants ‘hallucinated by floats, adorned with clouds, little angels, chalices
and all the artiface the clergy uses to cheat them out of their last penny.’”204
They clerics accused of sustaining the “backwards” nature of rural
peasantry and presenting an obstacle to the formation of a modern state.
However, the development of a secular state was not the only
motivation for Calles’ actions toward the Church. Following the February
1926 proclamation of the “primate of Mexico” in which he “repeated a 1917
declaration that the Church did not recognize the constitution,” Calles
proceeded to fully implement all the provisions of the Constitution
regarding the Church.205 He called for “submission to the law” that would
be required anywhere and explained that this did not indicate the
‘decatholicisation’ of Mexico.206 The Church antagonized Calles who
202 Manifesto a los obreros organizados de la republica y al elemento revolucionario
(Villehermosa, Tabasco, 1925), 9-10 in Adrian A. Bantjes, “Idolatry and Iconoclasm in
Revolutionary Mexico: The De-Christianization Campaigns, 1929-1940.” Mexican
Studies/Estidios Mexicanos 13, no. 1. (Winter, 1997): 94.
203 Butler, 520.
204Guanajuato Veccinos Moroleon, to Sec. Gob., 31 December 1934, DGG 2.347, exp.
2.347(8)15257, AGN in Bantjes, 96.
205 Butler, Church, 521.
206 Ibid.
already sought its end, or at least minimizing its strong presence in
Mexico.
The State sought to end what they believed to be the hegemony of
the Church over the Mexican people, in particular, indigenous and rural
populations. In order to modernize, the secular state must rid Mexico of
fanaticism and mysticism that kept the people ‘backwards’ and without a
national identity. The Mexican government wanted absolute control over
the social, cultural, economic, and political lives of the people, and the
Church was considered a significant obstacle.
The Face of the Church
The Catholic Church, although present in the daily life of many
Mexicans and a fixture in many rural communities, was noticeably absent
from the rebellion. The majority of priests, according to Jean Meyer, were
quite hostile to the cristeros. Meyer found that in January 1927, out of 3,600
priests, only five were participated in the rebellion. One hundred priests
were “actively hostile,” sixty-five were neutral but provided support to the
cristeros, forty were “actively favorable,” and 3,600 priests left their
parishes.207 The Vatican had forbade bishops and priests aiding the
insurgents and demanded that they follow the law of the land. Many feared
persecution as priests had been attacked and murdered and so fled to the
cities or went into hiding in the hinterlands of Mexico under the protection
of their parishes.208
Mexican clerics suspended of worship on 31 July, 1926, in order to
encourage private worship. This was “an attempt to put the sacraments
and the clergy beyond the reach of civil law.”209 However, the “majority of
clergy withdrew from rural areas and sought refuge in the big towns under
the control of the Government.”210 Not only did the majority of priests
withdraw from their parishes, they encouraged nonviolence, patience, and
humility. According to Aurelio Acevedo, one of the cristero rebels, “the very
Fathers forbade us to fight for Christ, for the religion our fathers taught us
and then reaffirmed for us in baptism, confirmation and our first
communion.”211 Many priests offered sermons opposing the cristeros, calling
them ‘cattle-thieves’ and discouraging parishioners from participation in
rebel activities.212
A few priests, such as Fr. Adolfo Arroyo, the vicar of Valparaiso,
stayed with his parishioners and joined the rebellion in defense of the
Church. Fr. Arroyo criticized his fellow priests and wrote, “The
overwhelming majority of the bishops and priests, displaying a criminal
207 Meyer, 75.
208 Ibid. 69.
209 Butler, 531.
210 Meyer, 70.
211 Interview of Meyer with Aurelio Acevedo, in Meyer, Cristeros, 70.
212 Ibid.
degree of conformism, wallowed in an accursed inertia, all expecting sheer
miracle from Heaven to give liberty to the Church.” They were content to
give exhortations and say a few prayers. The priests had recourse to
theology and, without further consideration, announced the illicit nature of
the violent struggle in defence of the Church.213 Msgr. Gonzalez y
Valencia, Archbishop of Durango wrote in a pastoral letter on February 11,
1927, “We never provoked this armed movement. But now that this
movements exists, and all peaceful means have been exhausted, to our
Catholic sons who have risen in arms for the defence of their social and
religious rights … we must say: be tranquil in your consciences and receive
our blessing.”214
Because of Vatican-issued orders that bishops and priests abandon
their parishes and spiritual duties, and submit to the mandates of the
Constitution, priests rarely supported the rebellion. Fear of persecution
and death also created a barrier to clerical support, although many priests
found ways to remain with their parishioners as spiritual leaders and
conduct the sacraments covertly. The face of the Church was not
represented among the cristeros, only the presence of a few priests who felt
they could not and would not abandon their charges. If the rebellion was a
conflict between the Church and the state, the Church was missing.
The Faces of the Cristeros
In ideological, socioeconomic, and geographical terms, the cristeros
were the most diverse of all the actors in the rebellion. They were, in other
words, not engaged in a large collective action, rather the cristeros
represented numerous causes and concerns, not all of which were religious.
Jennie Purnell writes that “communities did not rebel en masse during the
cristiada unless revolutionary anticlericalism and agrarianism attacked local
resources, values, and institutions that had been successfully defended until
the revolution itself.”215 In fact, the peasants were deeply divided on the
issue of rebellion and their opinions reflected their economic interests, the
impact of agrarian reform on their villages and towns, and their feelings
toward local authorities. Although various communities and factions
shared religious beliefs, there were differing political viewpoints.216 The
rebellion acquired the name cristero because of the battle cry “¡Viva Cristo
Rey!” and not necessarily because they shared a single view.217
213Archives of Aurelio Acevedo, notes on the religious persecution, armed defense, and
agreements, by Fr. Adolfo Arroyo, MS of 8 pp., 24 January 1934, in Meyer, Cristeros, 69-70.
214 “Outside the Flaminian Gate,” pastoral letter of Msgr. Gonzalez y Valencia, 11 February
1927. Original sheet in the possession of Jean Meyer (double sheet written on recto and verso),
in Meyer, Cristeros, 67.
215 Purnell, 19.
216 Ibid. 8.
217Ramon Jrade, “Inquiries into the Cristero Insurrection against the Mexican Revolution.” Latin
American Research Review 20, no. 2. (1985): 54.
Some cristeros engaged in rebellion for purely political and
economic reasons. Ladislao Molina, a large landowner in Michoacan, did
not demonstrate any religious motivation, and was known to embrace
liberal ideology first, and Catholicism second.218 According to Jose Perez, a
delegate to the National League for the Defence of Religious Liberty
(LNDLR), writing to his superiors, “he is not a cristero: whilst he is a
Catholic, he is also a liberal, and does not fight for the same reasons as the
Catholics. He has his own point of view, but it is personal.”219 In the case of
Molina, and most likely others like him, “Catholicism served as a dissident
ideology for resisting state encroachments on his sphere of influence.”220
Some of the cristeros focused their revolutionary efforts on the local
agraristas who benefited from Cardenas-era land reforms.221 Agrarian land
reform created sporadic problems throughout Mexico as villages and towns
lost territorial autonomy. However, the problem for the cristeros did not
necessarily revolve around the agraristas, it revolved around religion with
political overtones. Cristero Jose Gonzalez Romo wrote in a letter to
agrarista Jesus Morfin, “Tell the agraristas that we are not fighting them
because they are agraristas, but because they support the tyrant who is
trying to wipe out the religion of our country and hand us over to the
Protestant Gringos.”222 Government control over land distribution often
meant foreign ownership and control, the previous statement suggests that
some cristeros saw a connection between elimination of the Catholic Church,
and the introduction of liberal, state-controlled, and foreign-based
exploitation.
Despite the economic and political tones of the rebellion, defense of
religion still motivated many of the cristeros. Because of their commitment
to Church restoration, they often defied the Church’s instruction to obey
the laws and observe restraint and non-violence. In a letter to the parish
priest, the Quintanar Brigade wrote, “without their permission and without
their orders we are throwing ourselves into this blessed struggle for our
liberty, and without their permission and without their orders we will go on
until we conquer or die.”223 Many cristeros “believed they were fighting a
‘holy war’ against an anticlerical government frequently depicted as the
Anti-Christ.”224
218 Butler, 645.
219 Archivo Aurelio Robles Acevedo, Mexico City, caja 20/expediente 90/foja 14117, Perez to
Guerrero, Morelia, 22 February 1929, in Butler, Molina, 646.
220 Butler, 649.
221 James Krippner-Martinez, “Invoking ‘Tato Vasco’: Vasco de Quiroga, Eighteenth –
Twentieth Centuries,” The Americas 56, no. 3. (January, 2000): 23.
222 Archives of the Society of Jesus, Mexican Province, 9 April 1929 in Meyer, Cristeros, 107.
223 Archives of Aurelio Acevedo; collective letter of the Quintanar Brigade to the parish priest of
Mesquitic, Norberto Reyes, in Meyer, Cristeros, 71.
224 Javier Villa-Flores, “Religion, Politics, and Salvation: Latin American Millenarian
Movements,” Radical History Review Issue 99 (Fall, 2007): 246.
According to Javier Villa-Flores, during periods of “accelerated
cultural, political, and economic change,” increased religious and spiritual
participation is common.225 He suggests that the cristeros, in response to
crisis, mobilized around a religious belief that served as a source of
motivation.226 Alliances and grassroots defense of the Church solidified in
response to the rapid changes the government attempted to impose.227 In
fact, cristeros were not only found in peasant communities and rural villages,
but in urban areas as well, although their character and composition were
significantly different.
In the cities, large urban networks formed. They engaged in
clandestine operations collecting taxes for supplies, obtaining ammunition
and food to sustain the rebels, and formed elaborate communication
networks. Workers and artisans, along with professionals filled the urban
ranks of the cristeros. Women played a critical role as cristeros. They carried
messages, ammunition, obtained and delivered food, among many other
duties, at great peril.228 What united the cristeros was their need to cope
with and respond to government controls over every aspect of their lives.
Government attacks against the Church mobilized the cristeros. The
Church, in many ways, was the symbol of autonomy, of cultural identity, an
institution that sustained the people through decades of turmoil.
Conclusion
The question remains, after this short discussion of the actors of
the Cristero Rebellion, was this a conflict based on religion, or was it more
a conflict between competing factions based on economic and political
interests? We have seen that the Church as an institution played a very
minor role, if any role at all. We have also seen that economics and local
interests figured strongly in mobilizing the cristeros as in the ongoing
conflict between the agraristas and the peasants. Agrarian and land reform
provided much of the fuel for the cristiada.
Religion served as a common denominator mobilizing the lower and
middle class against the elite. Devotion to the church bound diverse antigovernment
sentiments, and the government’s action against the Church
and religious freedom were springboards that propelled the cristiada. In the
Cristero Rebellion a variety of concerns converged, and the Church served
as a symbol and catalyst for anti-government expression. The desire of the
government to inflict its control over Mexican life and create a new
national identity based on secular terms intensified the commitment of
many Catholics to practice their religion, with or without clerical guidance
or support.
225 Ibid. 243.
226 Ibid. 242.
227 Butler, 525.
228 Meyer, 95, 128-130.

Fulton Sheen explains the Mass

2010-04-23T00:06:00.000-05:00

Remember Cardinal Schonborn and the balloon mass?

2010-04-02T18:01:00.007-05:00

One of the lame excuses the Cardinal's defenders gave was that he was only imitating the Chaldean/Assyrian Eucharistic practices. This was to explain why people were casually munching on pieces of Eucharist which they bit off from large Chunks which they held in their hands.

K.C. recently spoke with a Chaldean Catholic who explained that:

1) a lay Chaldean would never dare touch the Holy Eucharist and would only receive directly in the mouth.
2) She had observed Chaldean priests who - when a Host was accidentally dropped -- dropped to their knees, bent down and licked the Host from the floor.

I didn't bother asking her about Chaldean use of balloons.

Assisi Meeting Is Only a Beginning, Says Chiara Lubich

2010-03-16T11:52:00.003-05:00

2002 interview with Focolare's foundress.
If having a Voodoo chief assist the 2002 Assisi prayer meeting (http://www.vatican.va/special/assisi-testimonianze_20020124_en.html#chef amadouGasseto), or having a statue of Buddha placed over a tabernacle, or having the Pope kiss the Koran (http://www.jimmyakin.org/2006/04/jp2_and_the_qur.html) shook you up a little, then maybe you better buckle your seatbelt!!! Assisi is "only a beginning" says Miss Lubich.....

>>>ROME, FEB. 19, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, addressed the question of ecumenism and progress in interreligious dialogue, following the World Day of Prayer in Assisi last month.Lubich has organized a series of initiatives for this year, such as a "Hindu Christian Seminar" (Castel Gandolfo, June 14-18), and an International Conference of Muslim Friends of the Focolare Movement (Nov. 1-3). Over the past few weeks Lubich has met with religious leaders who were in Assisi.Following are excerpts from an interview with Lubich, published in the Feb. 10 issue of Città Nuova magazine (http://www.cittanuova.it).

Q: What could help this event, and the solemn commitments taken by religious leaders, to have the greatest impact? Do you see a concrete contribution on the part of the Focolare Movement?

Lubich: As for the first question, we should see this gathering as the historic event that it was, and not as an isolated moment. It has already, and not just in the Christian world, sparked local prayer events and other moments for peace building. It is not an isolated event, because there should also be a follow-up to it in some way. That´s what we´re hoping for.After Sept. 11, we have yet another reason to meet and pray to God for peace. In reality, certain wars going on in different regions of the world are not just the result of hatred and resentment over injustices that have been inflicted, or built-up bitterness that then explodes.These are all negative factors, but perhaps simply human factors. With the emergence of widespread terrorism, we are facing what the Pope has called "forces of evil." To vanquish them, human efforts alone are not enough, nor it is sufficient to set the political world in motion.The religious world has to come to grips with the need to make good triumph over evil -- Good with a capital G -- through a common effort to create all across the planet that universal brotherhood in God that religions are called to bring to fulfillment. Only this brotherhood can be the soul of that world community which recent Popes have spoken of and which many Christians aspire to.The hope in our heart is that Assisi 2002 will mark the beginning of a series of well-planned initiatives prepared and carried out by those who have this responsibility so that the cry "war never again" becomes a reality.As for the Focolare Movement, since it is the fruit of a charism for our times, we feel we are already in tune through our different dialogues, activities and spirit, with the needs of today. However, the event in Assisi helped to speed up the movement. We´ll do our best to keep up and increase the pace. As with everything, we are always at the total service of what the Spirit and the Church may ask of us.

Q: Among some Christians there is a certain reluctance when it comes to interreligious dialogue. They are afraid of losing their identity or that syncretism might occur. What is your opinion on this? What would you say to someone who is hesitant about getting involved in this dialogue?

Lubich: It is definitely not wrong to fear losing one´s identity or to be wary of syncretism when it comes to approaching the faithful of other religions. If we think that any Christian is capable of getting involved in dialogue then we run a real risk. In fact, only those who are prepared for it, who have the vocation to it, should do so.On the other hand, in this day and age, in many different countries, persons of different religions live right next door to one another. So there must be a way to relate. I believe that as Christians we can do so by putting into practice the love that Jesus brought about on earth and this love has certain demands.It is a love that has to go out to everyone, not just to our relatives and friends, following the example of the love of the heavenly Father who sends the rain and the sun on the bad and the good alike, which means on our enemies, too. Furthermore, it is a love that urges us to take the initiative in loving, without expecting to be loved, just as Jesus did. Thus, when we were still sinners, when we were not loving, he gave his life for us.It is a love that urges one to see the other as oneself, to love the other as oneself. This love is not just a matter of words and feelings; it is concrete. It requires that we make ourselves one with the others, that we "live" the person we are with, in their pain and in their joy, so as to understand them and help them effectively.Finally, this love requires us to see Christ in the person we love. This means that even though we love a given individual, Christ takes whatever we do, whether good or bad, as having been done to himself. My advice to reluctant Christians, therefore, would be what I have just explained to you, so as to put them at peace and encourage them to love, too.

Q: You mentioned the golden rule in your talk, as did the Pope, Patriarch Bartholomew and Cardinal Kasper. How can this help dialogue?

Lubich: It is the basis upon which interreligious dialogue can be built. The sacred books of the world´s religions affirm that you should do to others what you would like others to do to you (see Matthew 7:12).Practically speaking, this rule asks everyone to love. It does it with the very voice of one´s religion through the presence of this sentence, which is none other than one of the "seeds of the Word," that is, principles of truth that are present in different faiths.

Get ready for Holy Thursday!!

2010-03-12T08:14:00.004-06:00

http://www.sectorcatolico.com/2010/02/el-papa-podria-preparar-una-sorpresa.html

The above 'Sector Catolico' webpage reported on 24 FEB that its 'sources' say the Holy Father will make a significant announcement!!

(they suggest it could involve Summorum Pontificum or hand Communion)
http://www.sectorcatolico.com/2010/02/el-origen-de-la-comunion-en-la-mano-en.html

>>>>....Según han apuntado estas fuentes, que no han sabido concretar con exactitud en qué consistirá la medida, hablan, sin embargo, de dos posibles hitos. Por un lado, la supresión del indulto universal para recibir la Sagrada Comunión en la mano. La otra posibilidad es que, por fin, el Papa se anime a celebrar la Santa Misa in cena Domini según la "forma extraordinaria" del Rito Romano. .....<<<

k.c.

Ad Orientem worship returns to Corpus Christi Cathedral!

2010-03-07T20:26:00.004-06:00

k.c. has it from reliable sources that Corpus Christi Cathedral (Corpus Christi diocese)
conducted all five of its Masses this weekend of March 7th 'ad orientem' http://www.goccn.org/mass.asp .

The reorientation of the altar was well received by the parishioners with many commenting both on the awe they felt and the extraordinary reverence with which the parish's priests celebrated the ordinary form of the Mass!!

Pope's Master of Ceremonies suggests that kneeling during Holy Communion may become universal norm

2010-03-04T15:05:00.004-06:00

[by John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, yesterday! March 3rd, 2010]

ROME -- For the better part of five years, plenty of experts on Catholic liturgy have been waiting for the “real” agenda of Pope Benedict XVI, known as a traditionalist on matters of worship, to emerge from beneath a façade of patience seemingly built on dropping hints rather than imposing sweeping new rules.

Now, however, the pope’s own liturgist insists that the patient façade is actually the agenda.

One month ago, that papal liturgist, Msgr. Guido Marini, sparked wide debate with his public call for a “reform of the reform,” suggesting to some a desire to roll back the clock on liturgical reforms associated with the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). However, Marini insists that no such rollback is underway, and no dramatic new rules are in the works.

When Benedict employs more traditional touches in his own liturgies, such as giving Communion on the tongue, those amount to “proposals,” Marini said, intended to gradually influence the church’s liturgical culture, and are not harbingers of forthcoming papal edicts.

“I don’t believe that the liturgy of the church needs any radical changes or distortions,” Marini said, saying he “fully” agrees with a comment from then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, that Catholic liturgy needs a “period of stability” after the wave of dramatic, and at times contentious, reforms that flowed from Vatican II.

Marini, the master of papal liturgical celebrations, spoke in an exclusive interview with NCR Feb. 9 in his Vatican office. (Read more of the interview here: Q & A with Msgr. Guido Marini, papal liturgist.)

When Marini addressed a Jan. 6 conference in Rome sponsored by the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy and the U.S.-based Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, he seemed to call into question at least some of the reforms from Vatican II, such as active participation by laity in the liturgy and greater “inculturation,” meaning adjusting the church’s rites to reflect local cultures.

In his conversation with NCR, however, Marini said that undoing those reforms is not what he had in mind. Marini conceded that the liturgical winds are blowing in a traditional direction, but said any change should happen slowly and without new upheaval.

“I believe it’s a matter of consolidating what we already have, in a more authentic way, according to the true mind of the church,” Marini said. He said that’s what Benedict has in mind when he talks about “development in continuity.”

Marini, 44, has served as Benedict’s master of liturgical celebrations since October 2007. In that role, he is the chief organizer of the pope’s own celebrations; liturgical policy for the wider church is set by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, presently headed by Spanish Cardinal Antonio Cañizares.

Trying to turn back the clock on Vatican II “wouldn’t make any sense, because it’s not how the life of the church works,” Marini said. New developments, he said, should happen “organically,” and “the best way, the most correct way ... is certainly not to reject the reforms that were determined by the Second Vatican Council.”

In his Jan. 6 speech, Marini also pointed to certain specific practices that have been adopted in Benedict’s own liturgical celebrations. They included placing a cross on the altar during Mass, so that both priest and people are oriented toward God rather than one another, and the practice of administering Communion to people on the tongue while kneeling rather than taking it in the hand while standing.

Marini told NCR, however, that Benedict’s style is to “propose” these practices so that they may be slowly “welcomed” into the life of the church, rather than imposing them by authority.

“It’s the style of the current pope to move forward not by imposing things, but proposing them. The idea is that, slowly, all this may be welcomed, considering the true significance that certain decisions and certain orientations may have,” Marini said.

Marini did not rule out, however, that such practices might be made binding at some future point.

“Whether sometime down the line, in the future, what the pope is presenting should become more of a disciplinary norm [for the whole church], we don’t know and can’t say,” he said.

Marini said much the same spirit of preferring gradual evolution to dramatic exercises of authority applies to Benedict’s decision in 2007 to authorize wider celebration of the older Latin Mass, the so-called Tridentine rite. No one is compelled, he said, to worship according to that rite, but rather both now have “full legitimacy.”

“What’s important now is that both forms of the Roman rite look upon one another with great serenity,” he said, “realizing that both belong to the life of the church and that neither is the only true, authentic expression.”

In general, Marini suggested, anyone expecting a dramatic liturgical overhaul from Benedict is likely to be disappointed.

“The pope has a vision based on great faith in the life of the church,” he said. “The church has its own sense of time, its own rhythms. … Sometimes things can’t just be imposed. They have to slowly enter into the way of thinking of the church, its way of feeling, its climate.

“Within that,” Marini said, “maybe one can eventually arrive at providing a more precise disciplinary norm, but maybe first you have to shape a consensus.”

[John L. Allen Jr. is NCR senior correspondent. His e-mail address is jallen@ncronline.org.]

Chiara Lubich's 2003 Mumbai address to Hindus

2010-03-02T21:50:00.010-06:00

[from K.C. ... to my priest readers who have already condemned me:
Fathers! Help me! Please tell me why neither 'Jesus' nor 'Mary' are ever mentioned in Miss Lubich's address? ]
...from the 'youth for a United World' website>>>>>from: http://www.mondounito.net/spip.php?article243&lang=en&id_rubrique=17&parent=14

At the beginning of January, Chiara began her visit to India to strengthen the bonds of reciprocal love and fraternity with the Hindus she met on various occasions. Among the many meetings, we report the one with the Swadhyaya Movement whose leaders Chiara met during the Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi in January 2002.

Close to Thane, a city with 500 thousands inhabitants to the north of Mumbai, there is a Cricket stadium which can sit 50 thousand people. On January 16 Dadaji Athawale’s Movement held the "Sports Festival". It involves 300 thousand young people in tournaments all around India. It finishes with this festival including the cricket and race finals and prize giving to all national winners. This activity involves six Indian States and the parade of all the representatives is accompanied by typical music and dances. Dadaji and his heir Didi arrived at the stage after going all around the stadium by car among the crowd that cheered to show their love and acknowledgment for this leader. Swadhyaya means self-awareness = to understand that God is in us.
The founder is called Shri Pandurang Shastri Athawale, and is well known as Dada (elder brother) o Dadaji (master Dada).
Dada teaches that God lives in every human being and that the fulfillment of the spiritual unit will bring in itself the solutions for all the world problems.
"Only those who see the invisible can do the impossible" (Dada). The Swadhyaya Movement has 8 million members and has widespread irradiation.
The "zones" parade has also been mixed with songs made with the writings and poems by Dadaji, also by choreographies and stage games. Other 20 thousand people followed the events from outside on two big screens. Many of those had had to travel 2800 kilometers by train!! There were also present civil and political authorities, also from the artistic and sports areas. A huge map of the world at the side of the stage turned slowly showing a Sanskrit writing: "We want to make the world a place in which God may be at home" During the speeches, they very often referred to their "ideal", as they call it, made of fraternity, listening to the Scriptures and application of them, friendship, forgiveness, love and unity.
A moment during the program was reserved for the presentation of the Focolare. First of all Didi wanted to introduce Chiara and Natalia: "Today we introduce -she said- a big Movement spread in more than a 150 countries with millions of members, just like ours. They work for the good of society and their ideal is based on what Chiara Lubich says. Today she is in Mumbai, she is not feeling well so the doctor would not let her come. But she is present among us, and has sent a representative. I met Chiara in Assisi, where only two women spoke during the big interreligious prayer: she and me. I was deeply touched by her, and I wanted to keep in contact. We have also been in touch with the Focolare in America. We have to be one human family: this is their ideal as well as ours. Dadaji was born in 1920, as well as Chiara, and like her, he began to spread this spirit in 1943".
After this introduction, Chiara’s message was read -we enclose it- and it was often interrupted by applause, especially when she made Hindi quotations or when she appealed to universal brotherhood.

[Miss Lubich's address follows...]

Mumbai, January 16th 2003

Dear Everyone,

It was with great joy that I had accepted the invitation to speak to you today, and for this reason I sincerely thank the well-deserving founder of your wonderful family, Reverend Dada Athavale.

You might ask me: you come from so far. How did you hear about us? I’ll tell you how it happened.
A year ago Mrs. Didi Talwalkar came to see me in Rome, in Italy, where I live. She spoke to me about you, about the Reverend Dada, about the high ideals that animate you and the many endeavors you are involved in. I really admired all that she told me.
Above all, I found in the words of Mrs. Didi a remarkable harmony between the spirit of your family and that of the Focolare Movement, which I represent. This made us experience an immediate and profound friendship with one another.

I remember that one of these similarities became evident when she told me that you see God in all people and therefore that you devote yourselves to your neighbors with much love. This has given rise to many social works that are flourishing everywhere in your family.
It is like this with us too: love of neighbor is fundamental in our Movement.
Indeed, like you, we are very committed to living its requirements, because it is a love that is directed to everyone, making no distinctions between those who are pleasant or unpleasant, beautiful or ugly, young or old, Hindu, Christian or Muslim, etc.
It is a love, which asks us to be the first to love, without waiting to be loved.
It asks us to love the other person as we love ourselves, sharing his or her sufferings, successes, joys....
It is also a concrete love; it is not expressed only with words but with facts.
And this can easily be seen in the many works that have begun in your family as in ours.
Moreover, this love is even ready to love enemies, to respond to offenses with forgiveness, as we find in a very beautiful image in your Hindu tradition: "While the axe chops the sandalwood, it in turn offers its virtue by scenting the axe with its fragrance."

Then if this love is lived by two or more persons together, it becomes mutual love, and I know that among you there is what you call "divine brotherhood".

Very well, my dear young people, you can understand that it is very important that we spread this love to as many people as possible. If we do, we will see portions of universal brotherhood rising up everywhere.
The destiny of humanity depends on it.

In fact, as you all know, today peace is being threatened more than ever before. After September 11th, with the crumbling of the towers in New York and with widespread terrorism, it is becoming increasingly clear that all this is not only the fruit of hatred among individuals or peoples, but that it is the effect also of the dark forces of Evil, of Darkness, as the Pope, John Paul II, also said.

Thus, the situation is such that it is not enough to oppose such danger solely with human forces, such as political or diplomatic ones. We need to engage the forces of Good.

And this was the reason for the meeting held a year ago in Assisi, in Italy, where Mrs. Didi and I met one another. At that time the representatives of the major religions of the world [including Amadou Gasseto an African Voodoo chief] gathered together to invoke peace from heaven.
But it is not even enough just to pray for peace. We must all do something to safeguard it.

We know that the imbalance in the world between rich countries and poor countries is one of the factors, perhaps the most decisive, that generates resentment, hostility, revenge, terrorism.
Therefore, we need to create greater equality, to bring about a kind of communion of goods.
However, we cannot move goods unless we move hearts.
Therefore, we need to spread love, that reciprocal love which generates brotherhood.

We are already doing this. But if we all do so more and more, universal brotherhood will spread, and as a consequence, solidarity will blossom, goods will be distributed more justly, and the rainbow of peace will shine over the world, the world which, in a few years, will be in your hands, my dear young people.

Chiara Lubich
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Why does KC have egg on his face?

2010-02-18T21:31:00.008-06:00

[

Why does KC have egg on his face?

Because he recants what he has written earlier today.

I, k.c. do apologize and beg the forgiveness of all of you, most especially our new Bishop Elect Mulvey and to his movement, the Focolare.

I will leave up your condemnation of my words, since it is well deserved. Thank you Diane, especially.

This blog will go off the air soon. It has become a danger to my soul.

k.c. please pray for me

country singer Craig Morgan's tribute to this Vale of Tears

2010-02-15T21:28:00.000-06:00

Thiberville with subtitles! Bishop Christian Nourrichard against Thiberville parish!

2010-01-31T13:17:00.004-06:00

A very informative rendition of the 03JAN2010 fiasco...

and the second part!

a 17 JAN 2010French TV report (no English subtitles)

Corpus Christi's new Bishop

2010-01-18T07:31:00.002-06:00

Welcome Msgr. William Michael Mulvey! (Sorry about getting your picture wrong!)

k.c.

26 September interview (in German) with our Hero! (Bishop Athanasius Schneider)

2010-01-16T23:12:00.004-06:00

1:50 in the video:..... this is an urgent situation in the Church! Receiving Holy Communion is the most important moment! Where the believer meets his Lord and God, before Whom angels prostrate themselves! It must be expressed outwardly that this moment is like no other, a totally holy moment....

Kneeling Catholics:1, Bishop Nourrichard: 0

2010-01-10T21:06:00.005-06:00

from Fr. Anthony Chadwick on "anglo-catholic" k.c. is in purple>>>>>>

Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Luigi Ventura
I am informed by the Forum Catholique article that Bishop Nourrichard has backed off, after having seen the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, recently appointed to France by the Pope. This Nuncio was previously in Canada, and this much-loved prelate was known to our Canadian TAC Bishops, as Bishop Peter Wilkinson has told me.

The new priestly team appointed by Bishop Nourrichard will not minister in Thiberville and the 12 other churches of the parish group, and Fr. Michel is to be allowed to continue his ministry.

Bishop Nourrichard spent the day last Thursday in Paris with the Nuncio. The scandal of Thiberville had taken on international dimensions.

Many priests in France in France and elsewhere have refused to be moved from their parishes. What is now happening is that Benedict XVI wants parishes and the stability of their priests to be respected by diocesan bishops.

The tide has turned. Deo gratias! And may this be an encouragement for us all.>>>

This is the equivalent of a substitute teacher being manhandled by jr. high students and then being told by his principal that he had it coming!

The Holy Father is reaching out to us. the laity! if he fails in his crusade to restore solemnity, then it is our fault!

k.c.

Sensus Fidelium

2010-01-05T19:21:00.002-06:00

Someone who knows French help out!

Apparently the faithful are rescuing their Church from a rainbow clad Bishop Nourrichard who has had enough of the Latin Mass and ad orientem worship. He makes his triumphant entrance to expel the offending traditional priest....then something unexpected happens the people rise up.....