Alicia Colon on the next Pope

Catholic journalist Alicia Colon writes about the Church and the next Pope. From the article:

The next Pope will have to be vigorous and healthy because the church is at war. It has always been at war against the forces of evil and totalitarianism and has been instrumental in the failures of socialism. But John Paul II had Ronald Reagan in his corner and this Pope has instead a man who is determined to neutralize the Catholic Church - Barack Obama

All one has to do is look at his record to realize that Obama is steering America in a straight course to Socialism. President Obama has surrounded himself, for appearance-sake, with nominal Catholics [those who have betrayed their Faith] like Joe Biden as his vice president, and Kathleen Sebelius [HHS Secretary]. The Democrat Party is overloaded with these faux Catholics in high powered positions like Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry. Obama has appointed pro-abortion Ambassadors to predominantly Catholic countries and the Vatican. Obama called on phony Catholic organizations like "Catholics United for the Common Good" and "Catholics United" [financed by George Soros] to push the enactment of ObamaCare. The Saul Alinsky method is to splinter, divide, and so isolate the Catholic Church as to render it ineffective. It's working.

BXVI's retirement home

The Council of the Media

Fr. Z unpacks part of Pope Benedict's talk with the clergy in Rome recently. In it, the Pope makes an important distinction between the Council of Vatican II and the media's interpretation of it...the Council of the Media. Here we see that as the Holy Father says, "...the world perceived the Council through them, through the media."

Think about that for a moment. Competing agendas, ideologies sometimes driven by Church insiders. The media was/is not the Fathers of Vatican II.

Then the Pope says, "The media saw the Council as a political struggle, a struggle for power between different currents within the Church. It was obvious that the media would take the side of whatever faction best suited their world. There were those who sought a decentralization of the Church, power for the bishops and then, through the Word for the “people of God”, the power of the people, the laity. There was this triple issue: the power of the Pope, then transferred to the power of the bishops and then the power of all … popular sovereignty. Naturally they saw this as the part to be approved, to promulgate, to help."

Note, when you hear someone talk about the spirit of Vatican II you are really hearing from the Council of the Media with its agenda-driven motives. The rupture that occurred in the liturgy is noted by the Pope:

"This was the case for the liturgy: there was no interest in the liturgy as an act of faith, but as a something to be made understandable, similar to a community activity, something profane. And we know that there was a trend, which was also historically based, that said: “Sacredness is a pagan thing, possibly even from the Old Testament. In the New Testament the only important thing is that Christ died outside: that is, outside the gates, that is, in the secular world”. Sacredness ended up as profanity even in worship: worship is not worship but an act that brings people together, communal participation and thus participation as activity. And these translations, trivializing the idea of the Council, were virulent in the practice of implementing the liturgical reform, born in a vision of the Council outside of its own key vision of faith."

From this Pandora's Box of 'reforms' of the Council of the Media came the endless stream of liturgical abuses, many of which are so common and accepted that most parishioners have no idea that certain actions are, in fact, incorrect. It was, indeed, a profanation of worship.

The Pope then explains how the Virtual Council, the Council of the Media is at long last breaking down. "It seems to me that 50 years after the Council, we see how this Virtual Council is breaking down, getting lost and the true Council is emerging with all its spiritual strength. And it is our task, in this Year of Faith, starting from this Year of Faith, to work so that the true Council with the power of the Holy Spirit is realized and Church is really renewed. We hope that the Lord will help us."

Pope Benedict XVI will be greatly missed.

The Mustard Seed

David P. Goldman writes a beautiful little tribute to Pope Benedict XVI:

I Have a Mustard Seed, and I'm  Not Afraid to Use It

Pope Benedict XVI to resign

Stunning, stunning news. Will update as information becomes available.

Fox News

Creative Minority Report

CNN

EWTN

Gold and more gold!

Check out this chasuble-in-progress. The local Latin Mass Society is busy sewing vestments for upcoming masses in the Extraordinary Form at All Saints Parish. Since 2007, when Pope Benedict XVI issued his Summorum Pontificum, an apostolic letter supporting the Traditional Latin Mass, many faithful have rejoiced. In our own parish, the Chant Schola formed and parishioners can hear them at the 7:30 a.m. mass on the first Sunday of each month. Additionally, on Ash Wednesday, the Schola will participate at the 10 a.m. mass at St. Mary's.

According to Summorum Pontificum:

Art. 5. § 1 In parishes, where there is a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept their requests to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962, and ensure that the welfare of these faithful harmonises with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the guidance of the bishop in accordance with canon 392, avoiding discord and favouring the unity of the whole Church.

Thus, mass in the Extraordinary Form brings continuity with the Universal Church to parishes who celebrate the two forms of the Latin Rite, the Ordinary and the Extraordinary.

Unfortunately, there is at times, a resistance by some to the truth that both forms are eminently desired. In fact, in his letter to the bishops regarding Summorum Pontifcum, the Holy Father wrote:

In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place. Needless to say, in order to experience full communion, the priests of the communities adhering to the former usage cannot, as a matter of principle, exclude celebrating according to the new books. The total exclusion of the new rite would not in fact be consistent with the recognition of its value and holiness.

Here the Holy Father lovingly supports a continuity with the Universal Church (past, present, and future), thus avoiding ruptures with the faithful, no matter which form of the mass is celebrated. Both are valid and to be desired as authentic expressions of Catholic worship.

Dr. Ben speaks -- UPDATE

Dr. Benjamin Carson: neurosurgeon. Son of a single mother who was illiterate. How did he succeed? And just why is he interested in politics? And what about the Carson Scholars Fund? Watch his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Dr. Carson's speech

And for juxtaposition, read this short pastoral letter from Brooklyn Bishop DiMarzio about how the culture of death is responsible for murdering the unborn babies of many women similar to Dr. Carson's mother. Hmmm.... (H/t to Cleansing Fire for the Bishop's letter.)

UPDATE: Here is an interview with Dr. Carson, courtesy of Mediaite. Lots of good stuff in there. His mom is a saint. Oh, and by the way, she is now a PhD!

Child care or a child's very life?

Cleansing Fire makes a crystal clear comparison between the DOR's emphasis on so-called social justice' issues and the right to life in this post.

The post details the bill, which includes expanded abortions up to the moment of BIRTH, allowing non-doctors to perform abortions and other disgusting and vile provisions.

Read it all, but here's a bit:

A lead story on the NYS Catholic Conference website  is the call for faithful Catholics to strongly oppose Gov. Cuomo’s NYS Abortion Expansion Bill, S-438.  And the timing is urgent, as it could come out of committee within days.  The Public Policy Day in Albany is not until March, and the track record of passing bills behind closed doors, sometimes in the dead of night, and without public input, is special cause for concern. 

So what is the Diocese of Rochester’s public policy priority now?  You will see it next weekend, on February 9-10th when pew petitions will ignore the threat of a seriously expanded intrinsic evil, and instead advocate for money, to subsidize some families’ child-care, which DoR reports can cost “up to $14,000 per year.”  Myriad questions are left unanswered, including who would be eligible and for how much and if this would simply route income to parents and grandparents who already take care of those children.  But there are much greater matters than the details of the pew petition.

And this:

Next weekend (February 9th and 10th) we will be asked to sign a petition at Mass, not to stop the killing of babies, but to dole out money on nebulous and unspecified terms for child care.  It is not merely a matter of disordered priorities, but it is a matter of truly misleading the people in the pews who reasonably may rely that a diocesan committee of dedicated souls has examined all the issues and made a reasoned and holy choice.  Such a priority impairs the very trust that should exist among the people  of God.

What should we do?  Certainly contacting our legislators to oppose S-438 is called for, lest our silence become endorsement.  Certainly spreading the word to others is crucial too.  But to let the misdirection of the DoR Public Policy Committee go unchallenged is wrong.  At a minimum, it seems reasonable to take the petition in the pew and mark it up to fit our convictions.  How about “Kill S-438; NOT BABIES!”

Ya think?

No comment needed. (H/t to the Treehouse)