Roman Catholic Blog

Inhuman Indifference

"Indifference is not an emotion for human beings,"

"To turn the other way or to mind your own business can sometimes be more devastating than the events that occur."

- Crecenzio Cardinal Seppe, Archbishop of Naples (quoted above and pictured below)

Shocking story out of Italy, once heart of Christendom.

Shocking Indifference to Roma (Gypsy) Drowning

TORREGAVETA, Italy (July 21) - Italian newspapers, an archbishop and civil liberties campaigners expressed shock and revulsion on Monday after photographs were published of sunbathers apparently enjoying a day at the beach just meters from where the bodies of two drowned Roma (gypsy) girls were laid out on the sand.

See the full story at:

http://news.aol.com/article/shocking-indifference-to-roma-drowning/94412?icid=100214839x1206338144x1200292688

The two girls were reportedly named Violetta and Cristina, aged 12 and 13.

_________________

V. Eternal rest grant unto Violetta and Cristina, O Lord.
R. And may perpetual light shine upon them.
V. May the souls of the faithfully departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
R. Amen.

Learn From The Poles!

Polish health minister excommunicated for abortion involvement?

Warsaw, Jun. 24, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Pro-life activists in Poland have called for the excommunication of the country’s health minister, Ewa Kopacz, who was involved in arranging an abortion for a 14-year-old girl.

Kopacz, who located a hospital willing to perform the abortion in the highly publicized case, has defended her action, saying: “As a government minister, I did my job.” She had located a willing hospital after institutions in the girl’s hometown, Lublin, and the capital city, Warsaw, had refused to perform the abortion.

“I don’t feel guilty,” Kopacz said. “Yesterday I was at church, so I have no reason to feel guilty.”

Others disagree. The Catholic magazine Fronda asked Bishop Zygmunt Zimowski of Radom to pronounce the excommunication of the health minister. And Archbishop Tadeusz Goclowski of Gdansk, where the abortion was eventually performed, said that everyone directly involved in the operation was “already excommunicated,” since the Code of Canon Law explicitly stipulates excommunication as the penalty for procuring an abortion. The canonical penalty is incurred latae sententiae-- that is, automatically, without the need for any formal announcement.

Father Piotr Kienewicz, a moral theologian at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, commented that even if the government supported abortion in this case, Kopacz could have resigned rather than locating a hospital to perform the operation. Because the health minister chose to aid in the abortion, he questioned whether her adherence to the Catholic faith is sincere. Moreover, because of the highly public nature of her action, Father Kienewicz said that Kopacz could not readily be absolved of her guilty. “Because her action was of a public nature, I do not believe in this case, confession and penance suffice,” he said.

The Feast Of Saint Rita Of Cascia: Saint Of The Impossible, May 22

Today is the feast of St. Rita of Cascia. (1386 - 1457) [She died on May 22nd]

St. Rita, also known as Margarita of Cascia and Rita La Abogada de Imposible, is the patron saint of the impossible.

Many people are devoted to St. Rita. Here is a forum for those with a devotion to her: Forum of St. Rita

Here is St. Rita's story: Saint Rita

St. Rita was born in the year 1381 in the village of Roccaporena near Cascia, Italy. Her parents, Antonio and Amata Lotti, considered her from birth a very special gift from God, for Rita was born to them as they were already advancing in age. As a young girl Rita frequently visited the convent of the Augustinian nuns of Cascia and dreamed of one day joining their community. Her parents, however, promised her in marriage, according to the custom of the day to Paolo Mancini, a good man of strong and impetuous character. Rita accepted her parents' decision, resolved to see this as God's will for her. The young couple were joined in marriage and soon twin boys were born to them. Rita found herself occupied with the typical concerns of wife, mother, and homemaker of Roccaporena, while Paolo was employed as a watchman for the town. In Cascia, as elsewhere, a great rivalry existed between two popular political factions, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. As a minor official of the town, Paolo often found himself drawn into the conflict and the strain which this caused probably accounts for the tension which he sometimes brought into the Mancini household. Her husband was a man with a violent temper which developed into brutality. He often kicked and struck his young wife for no other reason than he might be angry for losing at gambling. By her prayer, patience, and affection, however, Rita was able to ease the stress and worry her husband experienced, but she was not able to shield him altogether from the dangers to which society exposed him.

Her two sons, despite St. Rita's influence, turned to the evil ways their father taught them.

One day as Paolo was returning home from work he was ambushed and killed. The pain which this unexpected and violent death inflicted upon Rita was only compounded by the fear she felt that her two teenage sons, moved by the unwritten law of the "vendetta," would seek to avenge their father's death. Rita's only recourse was to prayer and persuasion. Her sons died at an early age (from natural causes) a short time later, but not before they repented and received the last sacraments and were thereby removed from physical and spiritual danger. Despite the great burden she could still thank God that they had died in peace, free of the poison of murder to which hatred and revenge might have otherwise drawn them.

Now alone in the world and without family responsibilities, St. Rita once more turned to thoughts to the desired vocation of her youth, that of joining the Augustinian Nuns of Saint Mary Magdalene Monastery. Some of the religious of the community, however, were relatives of the members of the political faction considered responsible for Paolo's death, and so as not to tempt the harmony of the convent. Rita's request for admission was denied. Fortunately, she was not to be easily dissuaded from following what she knew to be God's plan for her life. She implored her three patron saints, - John the Baptist, Augustine, and Nicholas of Tolentino - to assist her, and she set about the task of establishing peace between the hostile parties of Cascia with such success that her entry into the monastery was assured.

At the age of thirty-six Rita pledged to follow the ancient Rule of Saint Augustine. For the next forty years she gave herself wholeheartedly to prayer, works of charity, striving especially to preserve peace and harmony among the citizens of Cascia. With a pure love she wanted more and more to be intimately joined to the redemptive suffering of Jesus, and this desire of hers was satisfied in an extraordinary way. One day when she was about sixty years of age, she was meditating before the image of Christ crucified as she was long accustomed to doing. Suddenly, a small wound appeared on her forehead, as though a thorn from the crown that encircled Christ's head had loosed itself and penetrated her own flesh. For the next fifteen years she bore this external sign of stigmatization and union with the Lord. In spite of the pain she constantly experienced, she offered herself courageously for the physical and spiritual well being of others.

During the last four years of her life, Rita was confined to bed and was able to eat so little that she was practically sustained by the Eucharist alone. She was nevertheless, an inspiration to her sisters in religion and to all who came to visit her, by her patience and joyful disposition despite her great suffering.

One of those who visited her some few months before her death was privileged to witness first hand the extraordinary things wrought by Rita's requests. When asked whether she had any special desires, Rita asked only that a rose from the garden of her parents' home be brought to her. It was a small favor to ask, but quite an impossible one to grant in the month of January. Nevertheless, on returning home the woman discovered to her amazement, a single brightly colored blossom on the bush just as the nun had described. Picking it, she returned immediately and presented it to Rita who gave thanks to God for this sign of love. Thus the saint of the thorn became the saint of the rose, and she whose impossible requests were granted became the advocate of all whose own requests seem impossible as well. As she breathed her last, Rita's final words to the sisters around her were, "Remain in the holy love of Jesus. Remain in obedience to the holy Roman Church. Remain in peace and fraternal charity."

St. Rita's body is on display in a glass case in the Basilica of St. Rita in Cascia, Italy. Her body has been seen in different positions in the glass case in which her remains are displayed and her eyes have opened and closed unaided.

St. Rita is the patron saint of: abuse victims; against loneliness; against sterility; bodily ills; Dalayap, Philippines; desperate causes; difficult marriages; forgotten causes; impossible causes; infertility; lost causes; parenthood; sick people; sickness; sterility; victims of physical spousal abuse; widows; and wounds.

St. Rita's Shrine in the United States: National Shrine of Saint Rita of Cascia

St. Rita's Shrine in Italy: Basilica Di Santa Rita Da Cascia

You can learn more about St. Rita by reading this book, available online: Saint Rita of Cascia: Saint of the Impossible

St. Rita is a powerful intercessor. Because of the many miracles reported to have been wrought at her intercession she received in Spain the title of La Santa de los impossibiles.

I personally know people who have been greatly helped by her assistance. That is why I encourage you to ask her to pray for you.

Oration To The Saint Of The Impossible

O excellent St. Rita, worker of miracles, from thy sanctuary in Cascia, where in all thy beauty thou sleepest in peace, where thy relics exhale breaths of paradise, turn thy merciful eyes on me who suffer and weep! Thou seest my poor bleeding heart surrounded by thorns Thou seest, O dear Saint, that my eyes have no more tears to shed, so much have I wept! Weary and discouraged as I am, I feel the very prayers dying on my lips. Must I thus despair in this crisis of my life? O come, St. Rita, come to my aid and help me. Art thou not called the Saint of the Impossible, Advocate to those in despair? Then honor thy name, procuring for me from God the favor that I ask. (Here ask the favor you wish to obtain.) Everyone praises thy glories, everyone tells of the most amazing miracles performed through thee, must I alone be disappointed because thou hast not heard me? Ah no! Pray then pray for me to thy sweet Lord Jesus that He be moved to pity by my troubles and that, through thee, O good St. Rita, I may obtain what my heart so fervently desires.

(Pray the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, three times.)

Those wishing to offer a novena should repeat this prayer for nine days.

Below is an image of the incorrupt body of St. Rita:

Lourdes & Fatima

Rorate Caeli – Papal Reminders On Catholics & Politics: Three Non-Negotiables

Here's the link: Catholics and Politics: The Three Non-Negotiables

Quote:

As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable.

Among these the following emerge clearly today:

[FIRST NON-NEGOTIABLE]

- protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;

[SECOND NON-NEGOTIABLE]

- recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage - and its defense from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;

[THIRD NON-NEGOTIABLE]

- the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.

These principles are not truths of faith, even though they receive further light and confirmation from faith; they are inscribed in human nature itself and therefore they are common to all humanity.

The Church’s action in promoting them is therefore not confessional in character, but is addressed to all people, prescinding from any religious affiliation they may have. On the contrary, such action is all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, because this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, a grave wound inflicted onto justice itself. ~ Benedict XVI, Address to the Members of the European People's Party

See also:

Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics

Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Ratzinger) On Voting, Abortion & Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion

A Brief Catechism for Catholic Voters

Just War Doctrine

Any thoughts?

Plausible Deniability? Ron Paul Says He Has No Idea How Racist Comments Appeared In His Newsletters For Decades

Here are some bonus clips focusing on Ron Paul from the Republican debates in South Carolina...

HotAir.com: Fox News lets Ron Paul skate on the newsletters

Any thoughts?

The Daily Telegraph: Pope To Purge The Vatican of Modern Music

The Daily Telegraph reports, "The Pope is considering a dramatic overhaul of the Vatican in order to force a return to traditional sacred music."

Here's the story: Pope to purge the Vatican of modern music

Here's an extended quote:

After reintroducing the Latin Tridentine Mass, the Pope wants to widen the use of Gregorian chant and baroque sacred music.

In an address to the bishops and priests of St Peter's Basilica, he said that there needed to be "continuity with tradition" in their prayers and music.

He referred pointedly to "the time of St Gregory the Great", the pope who gave his name to Gregorian chant.

Gregorian chant has been reinstituted as the primary form of singing by the new choir director of St Peter's, Father Pierre Paul.

He has also broken with the tradition set up by John Paul II of having a rotating choir, drawn from churches all over the world, to sing Mass in St Peter's.

The Pope has recently replaced the director of pontifical liturgical celebrations, Archbishop Piero Marini, with a man closer to his heart, Mgr Guido Marini. It is now thought he may replace the head of the Sistine Chapel choir, Giuseppe Liberto.

The International Church Music Review recently criticised the choir, saying: "The singers wanted to overshout each other, they were frequently out of tune, the sound uneven, the conducting without any artistic power, the organ and organ playing like in a second-rank country parish church."

Mgr Valentin Miserachs Grau, the director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, which trains church musicians, said that there had been serious "deviations" in the performance of sacred music.

"How far we are from the true spirit of sacred music. How can we stand it that such a wave of inconsistent, arrogant and ridiculous profanities have so easily gained a stamp of approval in our celebrations?" he said.

He added that a pontifical office could correct the abuses, and would be "opportune". He said: "Due to general ignorance, especially in sectors of the clergy, there exists music which is devoid of sanctity, true art and universality."

Mgr Grau said that Gregorian chant was the "cardinal point" of liturgical music and that traditional music "should become again the living soul of the assembly".

The Pope favoured the idea of a watchdog for church music when he was the cardinal in charge of safeguarding Catholic doctrine.

I always enjoy Gerald's posts on this topic at The Cafeteria Is Closed. Here are a couple gems:

Kicking butt and taking names

Angry screed - Let me tell you how I really feel

My thoughts:

Deo gratias!

One can only hope that such a purge will eventually save Catholics from the banal music heard in so many parishes.

It's time to put the ubiquitous "Here I Am Lord" (words and music are by Daniel L. Schutte, S.J.) out to pasture.

Incidentally, has anyone else noticed that a section of the chorus sounds exactly like a slower tempo version of the Brady Bunch theme?

Is it I Lord?/of a lovely lady

I have heard You, calling in the night/Who was bringing up three very lovely girls

This quote sums things up nicely:

“Two thousand years of music for the Christian church, including some very fine recent contributions, and all of it gets shoved aside for The Brady Bunch.” - Thomas Day, Why Catholics Can’t Sing, on “Here I Am, Lord”

More on Schutte here:

Schutte is a leader of the dreadful movement in modern liturgical music that has changed the emphasis of our hymns from adoring, praising, and glorifying God to pridefully asserting how wonderful and faithful and loving and marvelous We ourselves are. A discerning eye will note how often these new hymns mention "I" and "My" and "Us" and "Our" far more often than the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Eucharist, God the Father, Jesus Christ, the angels and saints, or even the wages of sin or the grace that saved a wretch such as "me."

More troubling is the fact that Schutte is no longer a priest but is now publicly identified as a partnered gay man. He is best known for his song, "Here I am, Lord, " a song that has become the anthem for the dissenting gay rights movement within the Catholic Church.

There should be, and probably are, Church laws against Catholic dioceses and colleges sponsoring workshops by former priests living what most Catholics consider a scandalous lifestyle. But as one of our local pastors quipped, when asked why his parish was making a liturgical change that violated Canon Law, "In this diocese, we don't obey Canon Law. We obey the bishop."

More after the jump...

Courageous Archbishop Speaks Against "Episcopal Rebellion" Against Summorum Pontificum; St. Mary's by the Sea Is Promised the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite (Again)

Cestello Annunciation, by Sandro Botticelli, 1489-90

The Annunciation – a model of obedience given by "our tainted nature's solitary boast":

And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel being come in, said unto her: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women."

Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.

And the angel said to her: "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end."

And Mary said to the angel: "How shall this be done, because I know not man?"

And the angel answering, said to her: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God."

And Mary said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word." (Luke 1:26-38)

How wonderful it would be if all Catholic bishops and cardinals exhibited the kind of obedience demonstrated by the Holy Mother of God!

Yet, sadly, some do not obey...

From Rorate Caeli: Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige, speaks: Episcopal "rebellion" going on; "Bishops and Cardinals" must obey the Pope

Speaking of Summorum Pontificum, the weekly bulletin for St. Mary's by the Sea parish in Huntington Beach announced that the motu proprio will finally be implemented at St. Mary's beginning on the first Sunday of Advent.

Of course, that's much later than the September 14, 2007 deadline given by Pope Benedict XVI, but apparently, change can sometimes be difficult for progressive bishops.

We should also remember that back in August, Bishop Tod Brown forced Fr. Martin Tran to retract the statement made in the July 22, 2007 parish bulletin that Bishop Brown had made Fr. Tran the pastor of St. Mary's by the Sea. Apparently, Bishop Brown had made Fr. Tran the pastor, but then changed his mind.

You may recall that Bishop Brown's decision prompted this post: The Games People Play: Is Bishop Tod Brown Banning The Tridentine Mass At St. Mary's – Again?

So, although it is good to hear a date (however late) has finally been set to finally begin obeying the Holy Father, Catholics in the Diocese of Orange should bear in mind that Bishop Tod Brown has demonstrated in the past that he will not hesitate to demand retractions of promises made in the St. Mary's by the Sea bulletin regarding the date of the implementation of Summorum Pontificum, regardless of the express wishes of the Holy Father.

It's interesting how some people demand obedience from those they have been called to serve, but don't model the obedience they expect from the faithful with respect to their directives, especially when celebrating the liturgy or following the explicit directives of the Holy Father.

Any thoughts?

400,000 Anglicans Ask To Join The Catholic Church En Masse – Homosexuality Is The Flash Point

The Delivery of the Keys (detail), by Pietro Perugino, 1481–2, fresco, the Sistine Chapel, Rome.

This can't make "progressive" Catholic prelates like Tod Brown and Roger Mahony happy!

Here's the story: Traditionally Christian Anglicans Ask to Join Catholic Church En Masse

Here's a quote:

The splits in the Worldwide Anglican Communion over the church’s secularising trends and growing enthusiasm for homosexuality has led some to seek reunion with the Catholic Church after nearly 500 years apart. The bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC)are reported to have met in Plenary Session in Portsmouth, England, in the first week of October 2007 and “unanimously agreed” to send a letter to the Pope seeking full, corporate, sacramental union” with the Catholic Church. The group has agreed not to give interviews until the Vatican has responded to their request. The TAC boasts of some 400,000 members worldwide with at least 100 parishes in the US. It has been estimated that the TAC could have as many as 500 parishes supporting its goals in the UK. TAC has been seeking for some years to establish some agreement with Rome that would see the entire body into the Catholic Church. In 2005, shortly after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the TAC, Archbishop John Hepworth of Adelaide, Australia, said, “We are looking at a church which would retain an Anglican liturgy, Anglican spirituality and a married clergy.” The TAC has retained a positive relationship with Pope Benedict since, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, he was head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In related news, a group of traditionally minded members of the Church of England has warned Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that they would continue to resist the slide of the church towards secularisation. The group, called Reform, said that dozens of Anglican parishes in Britain will start ordaining their own clergy in defiance of their bishops who are overwhelmingly in favour of normalising homosexuality in the church.

My thoughts:

This is good news. It's also a wake-up call to deluded Catholics who want to follow the same disastrous course as the Anglicans and reject authentic Christian doctrine, rooted in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, on matters such as sexual morality (especially in regard to homosexual activity) and the ordination of women.

Any thoughts?

Saint Padre Pio Has Been Smeared In A New Book

This is the London Telegraph's "objective" headline: Italy's Padre Pio 'faked his stigmata with acid'

Here's a quote:

Padre Pio, Italy's most-loved saint, faked his stigmata by pouring carbolic acid on his hands, according to a new book.

The Other Christ: Padre Pio and 19th Century Italy, by the historian Sergio Luzzatto, draws on a document found in the Vatican's archive.

Padre Pio exhibited stigmata throughout his life, starting in 1911
The document reveals the testimony of a pharmacist who said that the young Padre Pio bought four grams of carbolic acid in 1919.

"I was an admirer of Padre Pio and I met him for the first time on 31 July 1919," wrote Maria De Vito.

She claimed to have spent a month with the priest in the southern town of San Giovanni Rotondo, seeing him often.

"Padre Pio called me to him in complete secrecy and telling me not to tell his fellow brothers, he gave me personally an empty bottle, and asked if I would act as a chauffeur to transport it back from Foggia to San Giovanni Rotondo with four grams of pure carbolic acid.

"He explained that the acid was for disinfecting syringes for injections. He also asked for other things, such as Valda pastilles."

The testimony was originally presented to the Vatican by the Archbishop of Manfredonia, Pasquale Gagliardi, as proof that Padre Pio caused his own stigmata with acid.

It was examined by the Holy See during the beatification process of Padre Pio and apparently dismissed.

I knew London and Europe were Godless, but I'm still disappointed to see how desperate they are to justify their abandonment of Christian values and reckless pursuit of the ephemeral pleasures of this life without any thought about how those pleasures came to exist (as though they can be had apart from God or could even exist without God). People seem to think that God's gifts can be enjoyed without advertence to their nature. They ignore the fact that violating the natural law by using any being in a manner inconsistent with its nature harms the user (and often the person or thing being used improperly). They simply pursue every perceived good as though it was due to them by divine right and genuinely seem to believe themselves to be the true arbiters of the nature of good and evil, which (for them) always conveniently coincides with whatever most pleases them at any given moment, regardless of inconsistencies in their logic. They often don't care if they hurt other people, and they'll tolerate evils like abortion for expediency's sake, but are the first to complain of any perceived injustice, and they'll still deny any talk of an objective moral law with a straight face right after complaining that something isn't fair or just (as though such concepts could exist without a standard with which to measure the justice or fairness of a thing).

The only thing that stands in the way of their insane delusions about the nature of reality is the sound human philosophy and divinely revealed Theology contained within Catholic teaching. The Catholic faith is a genuine threat to such people, and they will not rest until they convince themselves and as many other people as possible that they are not living evil lives. It is a sad state of affairs when the only way to make yourself look good is by trying to make others look worse than you are, and that is the motive of lies like this.

They way around these lies is to point to the myriad of other miracles and mystical phenomena within the Church. Let's see them explain the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano, the incorrupt bodies of the saints, the miraculous cures attributed to the intercession of those who have been canonized and beatified, the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, the miraculous cures at Lourdes, or even the fact that the Catholic Church has outlasted every human institution in all of recorded history, including those that began before the Church was founded. Let them try and explain away the fact that the apostles were martyred for their proclamation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which they, in an effort to salve their consciences, have to pretend to have been a hoax. Would you let people kill you to perpetuate belief in something you absolutely knew for a fact to be a lie? Before anyone tries to say so, that's not the same thing as being a suicide bomber for the glory of Islam. Such people may genuinely (albeit erroneously) believe their convictions to be true, but they did not invent their errors, whereas the apostles would have had to do so, since the articulation of the Resurrection originated with them.

Once the Divinity of Christ is established, it's a small step to establish the infallible authority of the Church He founded, promised to preserve in Truth and promised to remain with until the consummation of the world.

From thence we can move to the infallible authority of St. Padre Pio's canonization and realize that lies like those being spread about St. Padre Pio are another desperate attempt to justify the immoral lifestyles of those who spread them.

Any thoughts?