L'Osservatore Romano, A new secret desire

L'Osservatore Romano, A new secret desire:

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Something like this happened in Massachusetts not too long ago.   It is of course horrifying to parents to see something like this happen, but the article touches something about the emptiness, brokenness and absurdity of a life devoid of meaning.    It reveals something that the feminists of our day reject and are scared witless about:  motherhood empowers women!   Read the article from L'Osservatore here: L'Osservatore Romano, A new secret desire:

Lapsed Catholics explain why they leave church – USATODAY.com

Lapsed Catholics explain why they leave church – USATODAY.com: "Their reasons ranged from the personal ("the pastor who crowned himself king and looks down on all") to the political ("eliminate the extreme conservative haranguing") to the doctrinal ("don't spend so much time on issues like homosexuality and birth control").
BLOG: Religious liberty cry fails to rally Catholics
In addition, they said, they didn't like the church's handling of the clergy sex abuse scandal and were upset that divorced and remarried Catholics are unwelcome at Mass.
The findings, based on responses to a survey in the Diocese of Trenton, N.J., are included in a report presented March 22 at the "Lapsed Catholics" conference at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C."

Well, if you object to fundamental Catholic doctrine and dogma:  Good bye and farewell, comeback when you convert and repent.



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Vitrearum's Church Art

Vitrearum's Church Art:

This a great blog about Church Art in England.  It has many magnificent pictures of Churches in that country from before the destruction by Henry VIII, Edward and Elizabeth.  It remind us that England was Catholic at one time and the pictures show the remnants of that Catholic art.   While the blog is  not updated often, the archive of images is stunning.




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Episcopal church ordains transgendered woman as deacon « The Deacon's Bench

Do you think that a man that thinks he is a woman, becomes a woman by having a mutilating surgery?  And then this confused man becomes a deacon (or deaconess?) in the Episcopal Church.  Genetically this man will be a man till the day he dies even if he thinks he is a woman.  Well, the only thing I can say is am glad am not in that 'Ecclesial Community".

The linked article below is from the Deacon's Bench:

Episcopal church ordains transgendered woman as deacon « The Deacon's Bench:

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"Spiritual but not religious"?

Can Christians NOT Be Religious? | VirtuousPla.net: "I would like to propose a challenge that in fact one cannot be a Christian and not be religious in the true sense of the word."

"Am Spiritual but not Religious"

Great post; how many times have you heard that ; "Am spiritual but not religious"?

Read the rest of the post here

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Protect Conscience Rights

Protect Conscience Rights: "Twenty Catholic leaders sign joint statement for reform of health care law
HHS mandate harms religious freedom, access to care"

Catholic organizations urge the protection of conscience rights before the push by the Obama administration to force catholic organizations and taxpayers to pay for abortions and contraception.

Read the story here.

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Cowardice!

Latest Headlines : Catholic school principal may lose job over 40 Days for Life - Catholic Culture: "The board of directors of Christ the King School, a K-8 Catholic school in Winnipeg, may fire the school’s principal after he offered community-service credit to seventh and eighth graders who attended a 40 Days for Life rally. Principal David Hood was asked not to report to work on October 13."




And this Canadian school calls itself "Catholic", but they kowtow to the the government if fear of loosing their tax exemption.  Cowards!  and kudos to the principal.  


Read the rest

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Das ElevatorMusik, PapstTrip Edition

Whispers in the Loggia: Das ElevatorMusik, PapstTrip Edition: "To be sure, gang, while the liturgy's always supposed to give God's people a lift, the following feels a bit of a stretch."

Opening of Berlin Papal Mass from Rocco Palmo on Vimeo.


Oh boy, now that is elevator music, or worse.  
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Archbishop Dolan defends marriage in letter to president Obama.

"The Administration's failure to change course on this matter will, as the attached analysis indicates, precipitate a national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions."

Archbishop Dolan's letter to President Obama must be read. It is a defense of marriage against the Federal Government effort's to change its definition to include so called "gay marriage" and put the strength of government against those opposed to such radical redefinition.  See the complete letter here. 
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St. Vincent de Paul: Faith in Action.

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Vincent de Paul: "His zeal for souls knew no limit; all occasions were to him opportunities to exercise it. When he died the poor of Paris lost their best friend and humanity a benefactor unsurpassed in modern times."





Saint Vincent de Paul shows a life of faith in action.  His works of mercy speak louder than any sermon as his life was dedicated to help the poor, sick, and unfortunate slaves.  His biography is an example of love in action as he organized all kinds of charity ministries and mobilized believers into working towards those less fortunate.  Tomorrow, September 27 is his memorial and he is a worthy example of faith that is demonstrated by works, a faith that is alive and active, obeying our Lord's commandment to love others as we love ourselves.   Read his bio here. 

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Cardinal rips suicide ballot effort - Boston.com

Cardinal rips suicide ballot effort - Boston.com: “We are called upon to defend the gospel of life with courage and resolve,’’

Good for the Archbishop! He defends life against the proposed euthanasia legislation, read the article here.

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Kill All The Babies Before It Is Too Late

Kill All The Babies Before It Is Too Late | Blogs | NCRegister.com: "A Palm Beach jury has awarded a couple $4.5 million dollars because medical professionals did not alert them soon enough that they needed a hitman in surgical scrubs to kill their child before it was too late."

The Culture of Death gallops ahead in its war on children and life in general with the stupid collaboration of many.  Read the rest of the story from the Catholic Register here. 


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London Times officially atheist

Did you know that it is the Times newspaper’s official view that a creator God doesn’t exist? Neither did I | CatholicHerald.co.uk: "“The existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by the light of human reason”"

The London Times is officially atheistic, are you surprised? I am not, nor would I be if the New York Times, Times Magazine and others would come out with the same "policy". Read the whole peace by William Oddie.

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The Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria

As a follow up to the earlier blog I reproduce here the legend of the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria 

Commemorated on March 19th

The Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria and with them the Martyrs Claudius the Tribune with his wife Hilaria and their sons Jason and Maurus, and Diodorus the Presbyter and Marianus the Deacon.
St Chrysanthus came from a pagan family who had moved to Rome from Alexandria. He received a fine education, and among the books he read were those in which pagans discussed Christianity. The young man, however, wanted to read books written by Christians themselves. He finally managed to find a copy of the New Testament, which enlightened his rational soul.
Seeking someone to instruct him in the Holy Scriptures, he found the presbyter Carpophoros hiding from persecution, and received holy Baptism from him. After this, he began to preach the Gospel. Chrysanthus' father tried to turn his son from Christianity, and finally married him to Daria, a priestess of Minerva.
St Chrysanthus managed to convert his wife to Christ, and the young couple mutually agreed to lead celibate lives. After the death of the father, they began to live in separate houses. St Chrysanthus converted several young men to Christ, and many pious women gathered around St Daria.
The people of Rome complained to the eparch Celerinus that Sts Chrysanthus and Daria were preaching celibacy and attracting too many young men and women to monasticism. St Chrysanthus was sent to the tribune Claudius for torture.
The torments, however, did not shake the bravery of the young martyr, since the power of God clearly aided him. Struck by this, the tribune Claudius himself came to believe in Christ and accepted holy Baptism together with his wife Hilaria, their sons Jason and Maurus, and all his household and soldiers. When news of this reached the emperor Numerian (283-284), he commanded them all to be executed. The Martyr Claudius was drowned in the sea, and his sons and soldiers were beheaded. Christians buried the bodies of the holy martyrs in a nearby cave, and St Hilaria constantly went there to pray. Once, they followed her and led her off for torture. The saint asked that they give her a few moments to pray, and as soon as she finished, she gave up her soul to God. A servant buried the saint in the cave beside her sons.
The torturers sent St Daria to a brothel, where she was protected by a lion sent by God. A certain man who tried to defile the saint was knocked to the ground and pinned down by the lion, but the lion did not kill him. The martyr preached to them about Christ and set them to the path of salvation.
They threw St Chrysanthus into a foul-smelling pit, into which all the filth of the city flowed. But a heavenly light shone on him, and the pit was filled with a sweet fragrance.
Then the emperor Numerian ordered Sts Chrysanthus and Daria to be turned over to the executioners. After many cruel tortures, the martyrs were buried alive in the ground.
In a cave near the place of execution, Christians began to gather to honor the anniversary of the saints' martyrdom. They celebrated Church services and partook of the Holy Mysteries. Learning of this, the pagan authorities sealed the entrance to the cave, and those within received the crown of martyrdom.
Two of these martyrs are known by name: the Presbyter Diodorus and the Deacon Marianus.
Troparion Tone 1
Let us honour the like-minded pair of Martyrs,/ Chrysanthos scion of purity, and supremely modest Daria./ United in holiness of faith, they shone forth as communicants of God the Word./ They fought lawfully for Him and now save those who sing:/ Glory to Him Who has strengthened you; glory to Him Who has crowned you;/ glory to Him Who through you works healings for all.
Kontakion Tone 1
O Chrysanthos, in the sweet fragrance of holiness/ thou didst draw Daria to saving knowledge./ Together in contest you routed the serpent, the author of all evil,/ and were worthily taken up to the heavenly realms.

Source:  www.oca.org, Menologian Software 2.0

The decline on decorum and the "sluttification" of dress

The decline in decorum on the way people dress for church can’t be separated from the overall decline in the general culture.   The 60’s gave birth to the hippie movement, the sexual revolution and the so called “youth rebellion”.  There was a tremendous shift in the way people dressed and acted in public.   Today we are seeing the logical conclusion of the Cultural Revolution, most of all in the glorification of sex and the widespread “pornificacion” of culture, where behavior and dress that was seen as disgraceful in the past is now celebrated.  We saw that in the so called “Slut Walks” http://www.esarcasm.com/21870/slutwalk-2011-organizer-plans-one-million-slut-march/.  

Worse, we have parents encouraging their children to dress in such manners, especially girls and buying them or giving them the money to acquire clothing that would make prostitutes of a bygone era blush.  And every year this poisoning of decorum targets younger children.  Look at the type of dolls little girls play with now such as the “Bratz” dolls and the type of make-up sold to girls as young as five or six years old.   Parents should put boundaries on this behavior, but unfortunately it is parents who are sometimes the worst offenders. 

They were real! Saints found show Christian stories are based on true events.

I recently watched a National Geographic program called “Mystery of the Murdered Saints”.  The program is fascinating as it explores how the bones of Chrysanthus and Daria, young saints martyred in Ancient Rome for their Christian faith, ended in the Cathedral of Reggio Emilia in Italy.  The bones of the martyrs were kept under the main altar in a stone sarcophagus while their skulls were inside reliquary busts made of gold and silver.  As the program develops the scientists involved in the investigation can’t but recognize that the bones do belong to a young man and female, carbon dating puts them smack right at the appropriate time period (circa mid third century) and the characteristics of the skeletons match what we know of the saints based on the legends. 

It is funny to see that the scientists come to a positive conclusion, while the religion scholars are skeptical, which is typical of today’s Catholic scholarship.   This reminds me of many other cases where the relics taken as archaeological evidence match the stories of saints and martyrs passed on to us throughout the centuries.  Some examples are the relics of St. Cecilia, Saint Augustine, Saint Ambrose, and many others.   These martyrs and saints were real and God has preserved their holy relics to enable us to have a direct contact to their lives and know that their faith was real and worthy of imitation. 

Of all places I was not expecting National Geographic to affirm that these relics are indeed real and that the Church does preserve these valiant young martyrs for veneration and remembrance.   You can see the previews for the shows here and read about Chrysanthus and Daria here.   SAINT CHRYSANTHUS AND SAINT DARIA PRAY FOR US!  

The Destruction of The Church

Little Catholic Bubble: "If you think, as I naively once did, that the general public will be horrified by the loss of so many wonderful, longstanding Catholic charities, think again. Most Americans are clueless about what's happening, and the secular left loathes the Catholic Church. We've had at least one atheist in the Bubble state with pride that she would be pleased to see a world without the Catholic Church, and she is far from alone in her desire."

Read this from the "Little Catholic Bubble", Leilla Miller the author is absolutely right. Unfortunately many Catholics are deceived into thinking that they can negotiate and accommodate the left and its anti-Catholic stands. Let it be said clear: The aim of the left, in government and inside the Church is the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church by undermining its orthodoxy. The Obama administration, the Gay movement, the rabid Feminists, the Atheists, are out to destroy the Church. So far they have been very successful, helped by either malicious or deceived Catholics.

50 Years of the most lavish welfare state in the planet produced this.

Police water cannon and plastic bullets? After 50 years of the most lavish welfare state on earth? What an abject failure - Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog: "No doubt they will find ways to save themselves. But they will not save the country. Because even now they will not admit that all their ideas are wrong, and that the policies of the past 50 years – the policies they love – have been a terrible mistake. I have heard them in the past few days clinging to their old excuses of non-existent ‘poverty’ and ‘exclusion’."

Read the rest here.  

And now for something truly scary

Catholic Culture : Latest Headlines : Former consultant to US bishops keynotes conference pushing for acceptance of pedophilia

"A former consultant to the US bishops was the keynote speaker at a conference organized by a group that is lobbying for decriminalization of pedophilia."

"Fred Berlin was for years a consultant to the US bishops in their attempts to develop policies for handling complaints of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. Archbishop Rembert Weakland has testified that in 1985, Berlin strongly argued against removing abusive priests from public ministry."


While we are distracted by the efforts to discredit Michael Voris, this is a really scary note, a former consultant to the Catholic Bishops is advocating for a "normalization" of pedophilia of all things.   Noted homosexual and retired bishop Rambert Weakland used the services of this person.   Talk about the Church in the hands of the devil. Read the story here.