Monday, February 23, 2015

S.F. archbishop goes against grain with strict morality code


By Kevin Fagan

(San Francisco Chronicle) The Catholic Church is famously conservative, but San Francisco’s archdiocese is carving out new ground on the right even for that religion as it tries to require its teachers to reject homosexual relations and other “gravely evil” behavior in their lives.

Only a handful of U.S. dioceses have added such forceful language to their teacher conduct codes in recent years requiring conformity to church doctrine in their public and private lives, experts say. Oakland, Santa Rosa and Cleveland were foremost among them — but none has pressed the point home as adamantly as San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. And Oakland and Santa Rosa have backed down from their pushes...

“I believe these men are acting out of sincere conviction, because clearly the ecclesial winds have shifted,” said Bretzke, who taught at the University of San Francisco and in Berkeley before going to Boston. “This is not the way to put winds in your career sails anymore. Whatever you want to say about them, you cannot say they are political opportunists...”

The local conservative stance finds more resonance in Cleveland than most other places. There, Bishop Richard Lennon expanded the morality clause last year for his diocese’s teachers that banned activities including same-sex relations, pornography viewing and cohabitation outside marriage on pain of being fired.

Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek said the move was made to “be more specific” at a time of growing moral need.

“Like the Archdiocese of San Francisco, we here in the Cleveland Diocese recognize that now, more than ever, the secular culture is offering a view of life and humanity that is often at odds with Christ’s truth as presented through the Catholic Church,” read a diocese statement forwarded by Tayek. “In response to that reality, we have added language to our teacher contracts...” (continued)


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Friday, February 20, 2015

Cardinal Ratzinger told Cardinal Bergoglio “something very important was missing in the ars celebrandi"


By

(Catholic Herald) The liturgy should help the faithful enter into God’s mystery and to experience the wonder of encountering Christ, Pope Francis has told priests of the Diocese of Rome.

People should feel the wonder and allure “that the apostles felt when they were called, invited. It attracts – wonder attracts – and it lets you reflect”, the Pope said during an annual Lenten meeting with Rome pastors in the Paul VI audience hall...

Pope Francis told the priests that “the homily is a challenge for priests” and he said he, too, had his own shortcomings – pointed out in a reflection he prepared for a plenary meeting of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments on “ars celebrandi” in 2005.

As Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he was a cardinal-member of the congregation. After he presented the reflection, he said, Cardinal Joachim Meisner “reprimanded me a bit strongly over some things”, as well as then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who “told me that something very important was missing in the ‘ars celebrandi,’ which was the feeling of being before God. And he was right, I had not spoken about this,” he said, adding that both cardinals had given him good advice... (continued)


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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Texas AG: Same-sex marriage is void

 By Katey Psencik and Ashley Goudeau, KVUE

(KVUE) AUSTIN -- Hours after the Travis County clerk issued the state's first same-sex marriage license, Texas' attorney general said the marriage is void.

Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday the Texas Supreme Court granted his request to stay two court rulings declaring Texas' ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

"The Court's action upholds our state constitution and stays these rulings by activist judges in Travis County," Paxton said in a statement. "The same-sex marriage license issued by the Travis County Clerk is void, just as any license issued in violation of state law would be. I will continue to defend the will of the people of Texas, who have defined marriage as between one man and one woman, against any judicial activism or overreach."

According to the Travis County Clerk's office, Judge David Wahlberg signed a state court order from the 167th District Court to Travis County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir on Thursday, commanding Debeauvoir to "cease and desist relying on the unconstitutional Texas prohibitions against same-sex marriage as a basis for not issuing a marriage license specifically to Plaintiffs Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant," due to the fact that Goodfriend has ovarian cancer... (continued)


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Conflicts of Interest



Conflicts of Interest

February 19, 2015

(ChurchMilitant.TV) Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Vortex, where lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed. I’m Michael Voris.

What appears to be a conflict of interest at the Vatican is raising eyebrows across the Catholic world.

Papal spokesman and English translator Fr. Thomas Rosica, who in his public position with the Holy See should always be striving to maintain at least the appearance of impartiality, has been taking to social media and expressing his personal opinions. For example, a short while ago a key African Archbishop, Charles Palmer-Buckle of Ghana, came out publicly saying he’s open to allowing divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion.

His comments caused quite the stir, largely because they exploded the impression that all the African hierarchy are against the idea. Here was an African bishop publicly stating his support, or at least his openness.

When the article came out on a twitter feed, papal spokesman Fr. Thomas Rosica re-tweeted it, suggesting of course that he supports the idea.

Representatives of the Pope, whose duties are to express the Pope’s wishes, should not be using their offices to express their own opinion, appearing to gin up support for a case that is the very issue at hand for those above him to debate at October’s Synod. But this is not the first occasion that Fr. Rosica has gone to social media to express personal “out there” thoughts and opinions.

Father Rosica has publicly stated, for example, that this question of giving Holy Communion to those living in adultery is a “continuing journey.”

He said in a public interview, “I feel that deep down something has to change here.” And this is precisely the point: what Fr. Rosica thinks or feels makes no difference.

This priest represents the Holy See, the Vicar of Christ. Frankly, he doesn’t get to have a public opinion. He knew that when he took the job.

There is a list a mile long of very questionable and very public comments by Fr. Rosica that are not only questionable because of their theological import, but exactly because when he speaks, he speaks with the authority of a close aide to the Pope himself.

It gives the impression that Pope Francis is either ignorant of his minions and their doings, or he is supportive of their mouthings.

Imagine White House spokesman Josh Earnest standing in front of reporters and saying or tweeting out that the US needs to attack the Middle East. An announcement would be made the next day by the NEW white house spokesman that Mr. Earnest had resigned for personal reasons.

In an absolute shocking announcement at last October’s Synod on the Family, Fr. Thomas Rosica publicly stated that the Holy Family—Our Blessed Lord, Our Blessed Mother, and St. Joseph—constituted an “irregular” family in an attempt to justify the rationalizations in the infamous Midterm Relatio calling for near-normalization and acceptance of sodomy and adultery.

The term “irregular” was in the Relatio and was referring to sinful relationships, such as same-sex couples and those living in adulterous situations.

That a priest of God would even dare to think such a thought, and then utter such a comment—much less announce it in front of the entire world press corps—shows a grave lack of prudence and suggests something much deeper is at play.

Divine Justice must surely visit one who impurely suggests that the Holy Family was “irregular”, as in they lived the carnal complications of fallen twisted human nature. And this man is a spokesman for the Vicar of Christ?

What’s going on here? Why does his boss Fr. Frederico Lombardi not silence him, or reduce him to position of file boy?

We ourselves had a personal encounter with Fr. Rosica in the Holy See Press briefing room at the Synod. He approached us and said, “Do you really think that these irregular situations don’t have any good in them, nothing, not one thing?”

I answered him immediately, “Not if they go to Hell, Father.” He immediately drew back in dramatic flare and said, “The Church doesn’t teach that.”

To be certain, the Church does absolutely teach that dying in a state of mortal sin warrants a soul eternal damnation and the Church teaches that adultery and sodomy are mortal sins.

Is Fr. Rosica laboring under the mistaken belief that the Church no longer teaches that these actions are sinful? Is he suggesting that the Church no longer teaches these sins are mortal? Is papal spokesman Fr. Rosica suggesting—in total defiance of Church teaching—that dying in a state of mortal sin no longer merits a soul hell?

Is it a conflict of interest for a papal spokesman to keep expressing his personal opinion and either asserting that the Pope holds the same opinion or creating that impression? How is this situation being allowed to continue? A lot of people are beginning to wonder.

GOD love you.

I’m Michael Voris

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American gay Catholic group welcomed to Vatican

By Corky Siemaszko

(NY Daily News) Their group was the elephant in the room.

For the first time ever, a delegation of American gay and lesbian Catholics were in the VIP seats at a public papal audience in the Vatican.

Pope Francis did not mention New Ways Ministry in his remarks Wednesday.

They were identified on the list of attendees only as a “group of lay people accompanied by a Sister of Loreto.”

And when a Vatican official read out the list of the groups that made the pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Square, he skipped over them altogether.

But they were there. And veteran Vatican watcher David Gibson says that is a very big deal.
“It’s a substantial change of direction for the Catholic Church, not just a symbolic move,” Gibson, of the Religion News Service, told The Daily News.

“In the past, such groups or individuals would never be formally acknowledged in any way — not even a response to a letter — for fear that some could view such an attitude as approval,” he said. “Now Francis is saying the Church must cast aside such fears...”

New Ways honcho Francis DeBernardo said they were thrilled to have been invited.

“We didn’t get the shout-out, but we were very, very close,” DeBernardo told The Associated Press.

New Ways co-founder Sister Jeannine Gramick said, “Pope Francis gives me hope.

“To me, this is an example of the kind of willingness he has to welcome those on the fringes of the church back to the center of the church,” she said.

Gramick would know.

Back in 1999, she defied an order to stop ministering to gay Catholics from the Vatican’s chief liturgical watchdog, who concluded that she didn’t sufficiently adhere to church teaching on the “intrinsic evil” of homosexual acts.

That watchdog was the future Pope Benedict.

DeBernardo told the AP he had tried twice before to get his group VIP seats to a papal audience — and each time he was turned down.

This time, both the Vatican ambassador in Washington and the archbishop of San Francisco forwarded the group’s request to Rome.

And in another sign that the Vatican might be shifting course, the bigwig who invited New Ways to sit up front was none other than Benedict’s right-hand man, Msgr. Georg Gaenswein.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Catholic Biship [sic] Creating All Inclusive Church


"FOX 5 reached out to the San Diego Catholic Diocese about Bishop Rodgers’ plans.
'Bishop Dermot Rodgers and the group associated with him is not affiliated with the Catholic Diocese of San Diego and therefore we have no comment,' the diocese said."

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Sunday, February 8, 2015

Cardinal Burke: Forces of Evil Will Not Have Victory Over the Church




13h15 interview extract [in Italian with French subtitles]

(SSPX.org) Some frank answers from Cardinal Burke during a French TV interview that will be broadcasted on Sunday, February 8th.

We present here some extracts of Cardinal Raymond Burke's comments given during an interview conducted by Lionel Feuerstein, Karine Comazzi, Patrice Brugeres, Nicolas Berthelos and Claire Aubinais for the “13H15 le dimanche” episode of French Television channel, France2.

The complete interview will be broadcasted on Sunday, February 8 on FranceTV.info.

Cardinal Burke: I cannot accept that Communion can be given to a person in an irregular union because it is adultery. On the question of people of the same sex, this has nothing to do with marriage. This is an affliction suffered by some people whereby they are attracted against nature sexually to people of the same sex.

Question: If perchance the pope will persist in this direction, what will you do?

Cardinal Burke: I shall resist, I can do nothing else. There is no doubt that it is a difficult time; this is clear, this is clear.

Question: Painful?

Cardinal Burke: Yes.

Question: Worrisome?

Cardinal Burke: Yes.

Question: In your opinion, can we say today that the Catholic Church as an institution is threatened?

Cardinal Burke: The Lord has assured us, as He has assured St. Peter in the Gospel, that the powers of evil will not prevail, “non praevalebunt” as we say in Latin, that the forces of evil will not have victory over the Church.

Question of the end: The pope is your friend!

Cardinal Burke (with a smile): I would not want to make the pope an enemy for sure; let us hope for the best.

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Pope Francis Is Not Saving Souls, But Losing Them

By Fr. Peter Carota

(Traditional Catholic Priest) Pope Francis’ concept of the Catholic Church is a welcoming home for all the Lesbians, Gays, Transgenders, Bisexual, divorced and remarried, Evangelicals and atheists.  He feels that these people have been oppressed by the Church by Her condemnation of these “sins” and he wants to welcome them into the “hospital church” to be accepted and healed.

pope-francis-interview-1980284w300 

I think he puts them in the same category as the poor, the unemployed youth and anyone else who may have been oppressed.  Although his compassion is to be commended, it is misplaced.   These people are living in sin and will go to hell if they are not corrected before they die.

pope-francis (1) 
The pope has a pattern.
  1. He receives a letter from someone feeling alienated from the church because he is gay or had a “sex change”, (which is impossible genetically, a boy is always a boy no matter what operations he may use to change his exterior body. Boys have an X and a Y chromosome. Girls have two X chromsomes), or is divorced and remarried, or is a single mother separated from a violent boyfriend, who could have killed her baby by abortion but did not.
  2. Then there comes the phone call from the pope to make them feel accepted by the “church”.
  3. In some cases, they are invited to have a private audience with him.
  4. Then somehow the media hears about it.
  5. The liberals acclaim the pope as a hero.
  6. Almost every Catholic and nonCatholic gets confused.
  7. People begin to believe that the Catholic Church can, and has changed Her teachings on sexual morality.
  8. Most Catholics who have already accepted the “world’s new morality” feel affirmed in their deviant life styles.
  9. Their conscience is appeased because they have heard from the pope that their deviant life style is not immoral after all.
  10. In fact it is something to celebrate and be proud of.
  11. More people copy these sinful “Catholics” immoral life styles.
These same people continue to die at every age imaginable, every minute, all over the world and here are the consequences:
  1. These people are judged by God’s rules, not Pope Francis’ rules.
  2. These people may be damned to hell for all eternity.
  3. Their souls are lost, not saved.
Now let us look at what then happens to someone who might disagree with the pope and instead, uphold what Jesus teaches in the Holy Bible and His 2000 year old Catholic Church.
  1. Progressive blogs, media, clerics and people strongly condemn them as extremist.
  2. They are immediately labeled as unloving and extremely judgmental.
  3. If they happen to speak the truth at a parish or Catholic school, an angry group of opposition is organized against them.
  4. They justify their anger, hate and persecution of that person by quoting “their loving pope” who says “Who am I to Judge” and “Do not talk about Abortion or Birth control”.
  5. The cardinals, (like Cardinal Burke), religious, (like Franciscan Friars), Franciscanos Inmaculadapriests or persons who spoke the Catholic truth, are then demoted, removed, silenced or punished.
  6. All over the world, traditional Catholics are being persecuted and suppressed by the pope, bishops, religious and other priests.
  7. Being a believing and traditional Catholic is the only “unforgivable sin”.
The very first Spiritual Work of Mercy is to Admonish the sinner.  Yes, we Bible believing and Catholic Church believing people also love and care about the sinners.  We love those struggling with same sex attraction or gender identity confusion or any sinful temptation and confusion.  But we help them to realize;
  • Sin is still sin.
  • God loves us and put His commandments to protect us.
  • God is just.
  • Any unconfessed mortal sin at time of death will condemn us to hell for all eternity.
  • Heaven is our true home and where true pleasure is to be found.
c2 

Let us keep on speaking the Biblical and Catholic truth no matter how much we are persecuted, judged, condemned, hated, silenced, called extremist and black listed.  We are in great company with Jesus, St. John the Baptist and all the saints throughout history. Be a prophet of truth, you will be ridiculed, ostracized, called names, exiled and maybe soon, imprisoned or killed.  Jesus said: “Do not be afraid”.
 “Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.”  Matthew 5:11-12.

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Friday, February 6, 2015

Governor Jindal to Barack Obama: ‘the Medieval Christian threat is under control’


By

(National Review) Bobby Jindal on Friday released a statement responding to the president’s remarks on Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast in which he cautioned Americans from getting on a “high horse” when taking a stance against radical Islam because people have committed “terrible deeds” in the name of Christianity, too.

“It was nice of the President to give us a history lesson at the Prayer breakfast,” Jindal said. “Today, however, the issue right in front of his nose, in the here and now, is the terrorism of Radical Islam, the assassination of journalists, the beheading and burning alive of captives. We will be happy to keep an eye out for runaway Christians, but it would be nice if he would face the reality of the situation today. The Medieval Christian threat is under control, Mr. President. Please deal with the Radical Islamic threat today.”

Jindal, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, caused a stir on a recent trip to London when he assailed so-called “no go” zones and, in subsequent remarks both in Europe and in the U.S., insisted on the importance of assimilation among immigrants.

“You’ve got people who want to come to our country but not adopt our values,” the Louisiana governor told CNN last month, calling the idea ”dangerous.”

Expect this to be a major theme of a Jindal presidential campaign, if and when it gets off the ground.

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Thursday, February 5, 2015

Alabama chief justice: Don't issue gay marriage licenses

By KIM CHANDLER

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's chief justice, who famously refused to remove a Ten Commandments monument from a state judicial building, has urged probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples even though a federal judge ruled the state's same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional. Related Stories

Roy Moore sent a letter to Alabama probate judges on Tuesday saying they are not bound by the ruling because they were not defendants in the lawsuit and have not been directly ordered to issue the licenses. He said the federal court did not have the authority to allow same-sex marriages.

"No federal judge, or court, should redefine marriage," Moore said in an interview Wednesday.

Moore said state courts, including probate courts, have the authority to interpret the U.S. Constitution independently, just like lower federal courts do, and the U.S. Supreme Court will resolve disputes over those interpretations.

The fiery Republican judge is no stranger to controversial remarks about homosexuality and the decisions of federal judges. Moore was removed as Alabama chief justice in 2003 after he refused to obey what he called an "unlawful" federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building. Moore in 2002 called homosexuality "an inherent evil" in ruling against a lesbian mother in a child custody case.

Moore, who was re-elected in 2012, said he sent the letter to offer advice to probate judges because of confusion over the federal ruling. However, a legal group that has clashed with Moore in the past says he is the one trying to incite chaos. And Moore's advice is contrary to that of the Alabama Probate Judges Association, which said last week that the decision is binding on the state's probate judges.

U.S. District Judge Callie Granade's order striking down the state's ban on gay marriage will go into effect Monday unless the U.S. Supreme Court grants Alabama's request for a delay. Gay couples are expected to apply for marriage licenses across Alabama that day.

Granade clarified her first order, saying the judges have a constitutional duty to issue the licenses. But she stopped short of ordering them to do so.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the group that filed the complaint that led to Moore's ouster in 2003, filed a new judicial ethics complaint over his comments about the gay marriage ruling.

"Justice Moore is, I think, a dangerous person. He's created a crisis in the state before. He just seems hell-bent determined to do it again," said Richard Cohen, president of the SPLC.

Cohen said judges who refuse to issue licenses risk being sued and were being led into "very, very hot water by suggesting they ignore Judge Granade's order."

But Moore said it was his duty as head of the court system to try to help judges sort out the issues.

"I can't tell them how to think. I can't tell them how to interpret the Constitution. I can say that they are obliged to follow the Alabama Constitution and nothing prevents that," Moore said. "To disobey the Alabama Constitution would be to ignore the 81 percent of the people in this state that adopted the Sanctity of Marriage Amendment."

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