Fr. Michael Pfleger - A Priest No Longer Worthy of The Roman Collar

I wonder if this so-called catholic priest will give such a fiery sermon to Obama on his support of abortion?! I, as a Catholic, would like to see that and then would have some respect for the man. The sins committed by the Bush White House are many and grave (from the lies of the Iraq war to the neglect of New Orleans pre- and post-Katrina) but is the sin of abortion any less grave? Why stand so strong for a man who might send a few bucks to the Gulf Coast but will certainly allow millions of babies to be murdered in the womb, including those that actually make it into the world?

Its time for this priest, and many other Catholics, to conform their politics to the teachings of Christ and His Church and not the other way around.

Holy Week at the Church of Our Saviour in NYC

HOLY WEEK SERVICES

PALM SUNDAY, March 16
Masses: 5:00 pm Vigil Mass on Saturday
Sunday at 7:30 am, 9:30 am, 12:30 pm, 5:00 pm
Solemn Liturgy at 11:00 am

MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY
March 17, 18, and 19
Masses: 7:45 am and 12:05 pm
Confessions: 7:00–7:30 am and 12:30–1:00 pm

THE TRIDUUM

HOLY THURSDAY, March 20
12:05 pm: Mass (for commuters)
6:00 pm: MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
Celebration of the Institution of the Eucharist
Procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until 9:00 pm

GOOD FRIDAY, March 21
Confessions: 12:00–3:00 pm
MEDITATION ON THE SEVEN LAST WORDS
Noon to 3:00 pm
PREACHED BY FR. GEORGE W. RUTLER
(Prayers and hymns are offered between each meditation,
during which time worshippers may arrive or leave.)
3:15 pm: SOLEMN LITURGY OF THE PASSION
Liturgy of the Word, Recitation of the Passion,
Veneration of the Cross, and Holy Communion
5:00 pm: STATIONS OF THE CROSS

HOLY SATURDAY, March 22
Confessions: 4:00–5:00 pm
7:30 pm: THE SOLEMN LITURGY OF THE VIGIL
The Service of Light, the Liturgy of the Word,
Renewal of Baptismal Promises, and the First Mass of Easter

EASTER SUNDAY, March 23
Masses: 7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:00 am, 12:30 pm
(No 5:00 pm Mass.)
The 9:30 and 11:00 am Masses will be sung.
The 9:30 am Mass will be celebrated in the Extraordinary Use of
the 1962 Latin Missal of Blessed John XXIII.

CINO

You have got to be kidding me!

"Chopra-consciousness"

Carl Olson of Ignatius Insight Scoop is reading Chopra so we don't have to.

Paranoia Will Destroy Ya!

Uh, no...Gov. Spitzer was brought down because he has alienated everyone in Albany, both Democrats and Republicans with his win at all cost approach to governing and his arrogant personality. This left him with few friends and no allies willing to back him up.

His bill to make abortion and "right", the so-called the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act, was reprehensible and, like other Catholics here in New York State, I was fighting it, but belief that there was some sort of Vast Anti-Abortion Conspiracy out to destroy him is ludicrous. You may as well think advocacy groups for the blind brought him down to put in office the first blind governor in US history.

This type of silliness is what drove me away from the Left.

A Rosary For Christendom

The Battle of Lepanto as well as the Battle of Vienna in 1683 are pivitol moments in the history of Western Civilization and Western Christianity. Students of history (as I am sure all of my readers are!) know these battles well, but while they may be in the past, the threats that faced the West then still face us today. We know of the murderous attacks in London, New York and Madrid and that groups like Al-Qaeda want us to bow in submission to Islam, or die, and they will use airplanes, IEDs and the mentally disabled strapped with suicide belts to kill us. But, in my opinion, the threats by groups like Hizbollah and al-Qaeda pale in comparison to the threat of the slow drip, dripping of growing militancy among second and third generation Muslims living in the West coupled with the dramatically low birth rates of Catholic and other Christian Westerners. As others have noted, it may be only a few decades before the great cathedrals of Europe see the Star and Crescent replace their Crosses. There is no massive fleet racing for the shores of Italy but the invasion has begun.

But it is not only militant Islam that seems to have us on the ropes. As in the years leading up to Lepanto when Christian powers like France, due to petty political and religious differences, failed to take action, thus actively leaving Europe and the faithful vulnerable, many here at home leave us vulnerable in the name of so-called multiculturalism and "tolerance". We face secularism, its "life-partner" relativism and an increasingly militant anti-Christian sentiment at home among non-believers and "progressives". The abomination of abortion slaughtering innocents, acceptance and active promotion of the LGBT and sometimes Q lifestyle and gay "marriage", and a growing number who live 'etsi Deus non daretur', it almost seems as if it will soon be a crime to have the faith , proclaim the Truth , or teach it to our children. although Socialism has been discredited around the world, some still haven't gotten the memo, and we are still living with its disastrous results.

Everywhere Christendom is under attack. But as Catholics we possess one of the most powerful weapons in the universe...The Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I have pledged that from now on every Wednesday my Rosary prayer will include an intention for the protection and defense of Christendom. It worked well enough for Pope Pius V, so it will work for us if enough of us still love and hold dear the Sacrifice of Christ and the words of the Blessed Mother.

I hope you will join me in this simple but powerful act. Out civilization and our Church and Faith depend on it. Remember, we are a Church Militant not a Church passive.

True Words

Father George Rutler of Our Savior with words for our time:

The middle of Lent, marked as Laetare Sunday, points to the Heavenly Jerusalem as the goal of all living. This is not escapism, any more than a lighthouse on a far coast is a distraction. The fullest life is one lived in knowledge that mortal life leads to eternal life. The alternative to this truth is utopianism, the attempt to create an earthly paradise. It is the delusion of both the watered-down kind of religion called "Modernism" and the controlling kind of politics called "Statism."

As Modernism, in its denial of a supernatural perspective, is a contradiction of religious truth, religious denominations that teach only vague precepts about earthly happiness dwindle quickly. Reliable statistics for last year indicate that the more a religious sect embraces the materialistic trends of a secular culture, the more it fades. While denominations with firm counter-cultural beliefs, however inadequate they may be, grew (Southern Baptists: +0.22%; Mormons: +1.56%; Jehovah’s Witnesses: +2.25%), the once popular "mainline" denominations are melting from the scene (United Methodists: –1%; Presbyterian Church: –2.36%; Episcopalians: –4.15%). The Catholic Church, which is not a denomination but rather the rock from which denominations are chipped, increased 0.88%, or about 640,000, and these figures, including priestly vocations, are highest where doctrine is clearest.

It is characteristic of Modernism that it engages platitudes about the human condition. Our Lord warned against the allurements of this: "There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive even the elect" (Matt. 24:24). The true Christ never uttered platitudes. His words cut liars and consoled the innocent.

As with Modernism in religion, so does Statism in politics tend to be platitudinous, with what Chesterton called "easy speeches that comfort cruel men." Statism is the veneration of the secular government as the primary agent of human happiness. It removes faith and hope and love from their focus on God and reduces them to exclusively civil virtues. The language has emotional appeal, and can even foment hysteria, but it soon collapses, though its human toll is painful to count.

The twentieth century was littered with disasters caused by substituting illusions for the Heavenly Jerusalem. "But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:23). Unless human enterprises keep an eye on the ultimate goal of Heaven ("sub specie aeternitatis"), faith in progress is superstition, hope for the future is fantasy, and love of the good things of life is delusion. To fear nothing but the loss of Heaven is to activate the highest human virtues. To fear nothing but the loss of earthly life is to reduce all emotion to one mood, which fluctuates between mere neurosis and blatant despair, and that mood is terror.

(H/T misere.org)

Speak it, Bishop!

Father Tim Finigan has posted a great video of an interview with Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Bishop Schneider is the author of Dominus Est (not yet in English) and not a fan of communion in the hand.

Also Fr Z. has a terrific podcast on this very subject. Go have a listen.

We are slowly making progress in purging the stain of Modernism and Protestantism (i.e "the smoke of Satan") from the Church.

The "Me" Christianity

Two posts over at Closed Cafeteria exemplify the scourge of the Modern age. Its all about me and my needs” It is never about what Christ taught and said.

Senator Obama claims the Sermon on the Mount instead of the “obscure” Epistle to the Romans, is the reason for his support of same-sex “marriage.” He also claims his support of abortion does not make him less a Christian.

Also we hear about some long time dissenters who are setting up an “underground church” in response to the local bishop clamping down on their innovative “liturgy”

What do both of these “Christians” and “Catholics” have in common? The ever present “I”. Their ego, like Lucifer’s, keeps them from kneeling before the teaching of either Christ or those to whom He gave authority. Sen., Obama, for example, repeatedly uses the following phrases in his rationalization for his unchristian policies:

“In my mind, for my faith”
“my view”
“That's my view.”
“In terms of my faith”

Romano Guardini in his book ‘The End of the Modern World” states the following:

“With the new consciousness of self, however, which arose late in the e Middle
Ages and especially renaissance, man became important to himself. The “I”-
particularly the “I” of the extraordinary, of genius- became the measure by
which all human life was judged”

This has become even more so in contemporary times we are deluged with marketing and technology whose only purpose is to entertain us or validate us. That is neither the purpose of Christianity (as Sen. Obama seems to think) nor the Mass (as the “9 am” parishioners seem to want).

We need to pray for these folks that they see the fallacy of their ways and stop attempting to make Christ follow their ways but follow the path the “Light of the World” has illuminated.