Thursday, October 31, 2024
Bishop Strickland on upcoming US elections: ‘Fight back the darkness the best we can’
‘Let us make our choice on November 5th in the Light of Jesus Christ and fight back the darkness the best we can,’ Bishop Strickland said ahead of the US elections. ‘Let us choose to turn our politics, our education, our recreation, our entertainment, our health care and our worship back to God.’
Editor’s note: The following statement is taken from an X post by Bishop Joseph Strickland originally published on October 30, 2024.
(LifeSiteNews) — “Jesus Christ is King, that is all that matters.” I’ve heard a lot of people say this, and it is so absolutely true.
When we forget that God is Lord of creation – yesterday, today, and forever – we are on a sure path to destruction.
Governments have forgotten, businesses have forgotten, schools have forgotten, hospitals have forgotten, entertainers have forgotten, athletes have forgotten, and even churches have forgotten that Jesus Christ is King.
Let us make our choice on November 5th in the Light of Jesus Christ and fight back the darkness the best we can, and it is crucial that we make every choice after that in the Light and Truth of Jesus Christ. Let us choose to turn our politics, our education, our recreation, our entertainment, our health care and our worship back to God.
Choose the Way of Christ at every level of your lives – stand with Him at the foot of His Cross, repent of your sins and confess them before God, do penance and make reparations for your sins and the sins of the world.
If we reject sin and stand with Christ at every turn, then we will stand strong, whatever happens to the Church and state.
If we remain silent, complacent and confused, allowing leaders of Church and state to deny the Truth and condone sin, then we will be complicit in the evil they allow and promote. We will find ourselves swept away in the river of evil that satan and his minions spew into the world.
Instead, choose Jesus Christ as King and Lord, and make your daily choices accordingly. Let us live with the cry on our lips…..
Largest ever survey of US Catholics shows faithful want an end to Communion in the hand
The largest survey of Catholics in the United States ever conducted found that the faithful overwhelmingly say that receiving Holy Communion in the hand has led to loss of faith in the Eucharist and that they want a restoration of traditional liturgical practices.
The origin of All Hallows’ Eve, “Hallowe’en” for short
Hallows Eve, “Hallowe’en” for short, originated with the Church’s vigil, the evening before All Saints’ Day every November 1st. The full name was All Hallows’ E’en, or Evening.
It therefore was preparatory to celebrating all the holy souls who have now reached their goal of loving God in this life, obeying and serving Him faithfully - fulfillment of eternal loving union with Him in the glory of heaven.
You can see that verbalized in the proper prayer for the vigil:
“Pour forth abundantly upon us of thy mercy, O Lord our God, and grant us grace to follow in their joy in their holy testifying all thy blessed servants the Eve of whose glorious and solemn Commemoration we are keeping.”
Over time, and as a symptom of de-Christianization, other pagan elements crept in so that now some spend the evening celebrating evil, quite obviously the opposite of the intended, with images of devils, witches and other symbols of satanic possession.
Celtic pagan practices before Christianity included the superstition of dressing as a frightening or evil entity in order to scare the spirits who came with the increased hours of darkness in the Fall. Scaring them away successfully was believed to turn the curse around so that daylight increased toward Spring.
The most appropriate way to celebrate the vigil of All Saints is by attending the holy Mass designated for the purpose: In Vigilia Omnium Sanctorum ~ Simplex (more about that here: http://mcitl.blogspot.com/2024/10/in-vigilia-omnium-sanctorum-simplex.html)
The full celebration takes place on the day of the feast. The vigil anticipates and prepares for the feast by means of fasting and self-denial, signified by the violet color of the Mass vestments.
Another element of modern corruption of Hallowe’en which is a contradiction: the glut of candy. Not a healthy celebration at all. For body or spirit.
From the Martyrology {anticip.} for this day:
The morrow is the Feast of All the Saints. This famous feast was instituted to be held every year throughout the whole city of Rome, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and of all the holy martyrs, by Pope Boniface IV, after he had consecrated to Christian worship the temple called the Pantheon or Temple of all the gods. And the same festival was afterwards being kept in diverse ways in diverse churches, when Gregory IV decreed that it should be solemnly observed for ever throughout the universal Church upon the first day of November, in honour of all the Saints.Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Do We Vote for Christ the King?
What do we do if both major candidates for POTUS are essentially pro-abortion? If they’re both on the wrong side of the fundamental moral and human rights issue of our day?
We cannot be a nation of justice if the fundamental principle of justice, the right to life for every human person from conception until natural death, is not guaranteed by the laws of the land. And we will never have justice when our elected leaders, whose precise task is the upholding of justice, without which there is no protection under the law for any of us, are on the side of injustice.
Not to speak of our religious convictions, that every human person is sacred, created in the image and likeness of God. We must carefully consider whether a vote for a candidate based on his or her morally upright policies is outweighed by his or her policies which promote evil and injustice, whether directly intended or not.
Abortion is at the same time both gravely sinful and an abominable crime. God’s command “Thou Shall Not Kill” admits of no exceptions. Never is it so clear that we are talking about murder as that action intentionally taken to end the life of an innocent, completely vulnerable, unborn child in what is intended by our Creator to be the safest place for a growing human, the mother’s womb.
What do we do if one candidate for office is open to killing the baby in the womb through all nine months of pregnancy and perhaps even leaving unwanted babies to die alone if, as happens, they survive abortion? And if the other candidate is in favor of abortion in cases of “rape, incest and the life of the mother”? Do we write in “Christ the King” for president?
I recently preached on the fact that civilization is crumbling all around us as it was in the last days of Saint Augustine. We remember him as a Doctor of the Church and a spiritual writer of great wisdom who has beautifully expressed the treasure of our faith for the benefit of millions of Catholics and other Christians for more than a millennium. How many know that he had every reason to despair of the future as he lay dying,witnessing as he did the Arian Vandals climbing over the walls of his see city of Hippo Regius in formerly Roman Africa. Today, very little trace remains of that once teeming and prosperous city.
The vandals are once again at the gates, and some of our own people are letting them in this time. We wonder what will be left of the once beautiful Western civilization to which our holy Faith gave birth, with its cathedrals, universities, hospitals, and many other ennobling remnants of its two thousand plus year old influence, to include the writings of Saints and Doctors like Augustine who help to bring the teachings of Our Lord and the Scriptures to life?
And what of the work of the Church? As a result of contraception, abortion and a general lack of hospitality toward new life, we lack the native vocations sufficient to serve our own parishes. We depend now so much on the ministry of foreign priests and religious that a bishop has urged a letter writing campaign to our legislators to ease up on newly restricted immigration regulations that are resulting in deportations of guest clergy back to their countries of origin. Bishops are also suing the US government to demand the immigration rules be loosened to accommodate foreign clergy.
There is no more important task for our Church or for the world than administering the sanctifying grace of the sacramental life, conferred by Our Lord for salvation along with the teaching and governing munera of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Ecclesia.
The crisis in pastoral life comes from two directions as shrinking family size, a result of striving so hard to “be like everyone else” in the heady days of Kennedy-esque “Camelot”, both leaves pews increasingly empty and America short of parish priests. It didn’t help that certain bishops actually locked their church doors during the COVID panic to qualify for more government handouts.
The teaching on matters of faith and morals enables believers to know they are cooperating with the grace they receive through the sacraments and thus that they remain, and grow, in the state of grace.
The discernment necessary for avoiding participation in moral evil is an obligatory facet of the life of grace. We may do no evil that good may come of it. Thus the concern for some Catholics of the licitness of voting for either candidate when both are pro-abortion.
With all of this as background I received recently the following email message:
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“Happy Monday, Father. Have you heard or seen this movie before? Le dialogue des Carmélites (1960). I am sure you know the history on it, as they were martyred for Our Catholic faith at end of the Reign of Terror. https://youtu.be/ZytUn3PMRFY?si=rLSKGncgIlBezA77
“It's a wonderful movie...and my take away is that we must not compromise our faith. Not out of fear, nor out of being shamed or blamed for what may come.
“I will trust that whatever happens ...will be what God allows in His perfect Justice, love and for His glory. God's Will be done.
“I knew before watching it that I would not in any way shape or form vote for Kamala nor Donald Trump. There is a third option....to write-in the Social reign of Christ the King or just simply Christ the King on the ballot. I will not compromise my faith for any amount of evil. Even when I am told...well, no vote is a vote for Kamala. They are both evil. I stand steadfast for my faith, the Catholic Church, for truth, and God's rights, for Christ the King.
“Like you mentioned in your homily....Our Lady of Akita says there will be compromises made...and many will lose their souls. I plan to keep the faith...even unto martyrdom.
“I will pick up my cross and follow Him. He is the way the truth and the life. I will not veer off of the path for a supposed ‘lesser evil’.
“May we all stand firm like our Blessed Martyred sisters of Compiegne and the Vendee.
“Arise, soldiers of Christ!”
I suspect many Catholics may be thinking along similar lines. Are we not witnesses of Christ? Will we not at our particular judgment answer for every moral decision good or evil? Should we not avoid every possible cooperation, even remotely, with moral evil?
But is there a difference between our situation and the martyrs of Compiegne? Unlike them, those who face a bloody martyrdom are not we who vote but the numbers greater or lesser of child victims of abortion and IVF as a result of our choice at the ballot box. Is it morally upright to vote for fewer victims of abortion which may or may not result from the policies of one candidate as opposed to the other? But we may never contemplate cooperation with a moral evil and thus better abandon such lines of inquiry.
There is only one course open to us for making a decision. And that is to base our vote solely on the good or goods that may otherwise be lost as a result of our decision to vote. Or not. This alone will enable us to set about considering what is at stake for keeping what remains intact of our Christian civilization and thus seeking a future in which we can foresee once again achieving a truly moral consensus for the common good.
Christ our King will never be president. But perhaps, one day soon, He will indeed rule over the heart, mind and policies of one who is.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ our King, now and forever.
Surprise, Surprise!
"The left’s ideas have failed and failed spectacularly, and all they have left is cheating.” Elizabeth Nickson
Of course, there’s no “pandemic” this time to cover for the trip that the Party of Chaos wants to lay on the country, no excuse for gross and glaring ballot fuckery, for the days of anxious uncertainty following an election. Everybody and his uncle expect a gigantic tantrum to follow November 6 if Mr. Trump somehow overcomes the tide of bogus harvested votes, illegal alien votes, phantom overseas votes, voting machine swapped votes, lost-and-found votes, last-minute rafts of votes, and other products of the Marc Elias election sabotage machine.
I am not so sure that the tantrum will materialize. Despite the orgy of Orwellian language inversions you have been subjected to in recent years, and the bending of reality it induced, you will know a real insurrection if you see it. You already know the real reason the Democratic Party went insane: its crime spree against the citizens of this land was so obvious and outrageous that a thousand Beltway bureaucrats are now going crazy in fear of prosecution. The tantrum everyone expects them to provoke would be a real insurrection and they are liable to find themselves in even deeper trouble for resorting to it.
Crime is the whole reason for the Democrats’ desperation. There was no “policy” the past four years, only crime. The Covid operation was a mass murder. The open border was not something that just happened, like a spell of bad weather. It was a colossal racketeering operation. They worked it hard. “Joe Biden” paid dozens of NGO cut-outs to systematically jam more than ten million sketchy interlopers into the country, and then support them lavishly with cash payments when they got here.
The political prosecutions of AG Merrick Garland are gauche and lawless. The pervasive censorship by DHS and other agencies is an affront to our constitution. The transgender campaign is a malicious prank against American children (and their parents). Our CIA may be a party to the fentanyl crisis. The war in Ukraine is a failed resource-grab, unbelievably stupid in inception. “Joe Biden’s” empty treasury is writing trillions in IOUs to stealthily bail out the banks and jack-up the stock market. Everything about our government has become criminal and those responsible for it know they are bound for a reckoning now.
Will the Democrats’ Antifa street-army be allowed to terrorize the cities? I expect the remaining cops not de-funded in DC, New York, Chicago, and LA won’t hold back this time, no matter what mayors Muriel Bowser, Eric Adams, Brandon Johnson, and Karen Bass tell them to do. You will instead see the return of something that has been missing for years: a sense of duty to public safety and the common good. Won’t that be a surprise? And there will be nothing that the FBI can do about. It’s one thing to incite a riot among a mob of ordinary middle-aged folks moiling around the US Capitol. It’s another thing to try to subvert the police in carrying out their duties. New heroes will emerge and there will be no ambiguity about what happens.
Black Lives Matter had already been outed as a lowlife money-grubbing hustle. But the Democratic Party may no longer depend on its old “plantation” field-hands to stage mostly peaceful anarchy and arson if the election goes the wrong way for the masters. Forty years of pretending to be an oppositional culture hasn’t worked. It was just minstrelsy updated, when all was said and done. Too many black men are rising up to speak out in support of Donald Trump, and of one America, and of acting like men. They appear to be tired of self-stigmatizing as designated victims in the Woke-Jacobin DEI psychodrama. A new generation of black male leaders is emerging to replace embarrassing con artists like Al Sharpton, Michael Eric Dyson, and Ibram X. Kendi. It’s been a long time coming.
Will we ever know how Kamala Harris was put over on the Democratic Convention like the sale of a used car? How the rank-and-file delegates got swindled into nominating her by acclamation without any debate, without anyone else rising to object, anyone else offering up themselves for a vote? There wasn’t even a smoke-filled room this time where the bosses actually haggled over who would front for them, not a minute of suspense, no process whatsoever. Kamala Harris was just pulled out of a hat, like a rabbit. And everybody involved knew she was a dud, a slow learner, inattentive, not well-educated, lazy, possibly high a lot of the time, self-medicating due to anxiety, insecurity, purposelessness.
It took four years for slightly more than half of America to see that our country’s fate was in the hands of villains wrecking the joint. It looks like their depredations are nearly over. The USA really does not want to gurgle down the drain of history. We’re not ready to roll over and die. We’re waking up from an induced coma, starting to remember who we are. That has been the weird lesson of 2024. Surprise, surprise!
https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/surprise-surprise-a4d
BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court allows Virginia to remove non-citizens from voter rolls
Huge victory for Governor Youngkin and Virginia citizens.
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Prominent Italian priest claims Francis is not the pope in viral sermon
Father Giorgio Maria Faré Veritatem facientes in Caritate / YouTube
Famous Italian priest Father Giorgio Maria Faré said in an October 13 sermon, which now has over 38,000 views, that he believes Francis is not a true pope because Pope Benedict XVI did not fully resign his office.
Faré claimed Benedict didn’t properly resign from the papacy and remained pope until his death in 2022. The priest also charged that Pope Francis was doubtfully elected and Benedict intentionally didn’t resign.
Francis is not the pope
Faré opened his sermon by explaining that in recent years, he has spent a great amount of time discerning the state of the Church and after much prayer and reflection, he has come to an uncomfortable conclusion.
“[A] priest must choose whether to preach what Sacred Scripture and the Church have always taught or to adhere to what the so-called Pope Francis teaches in his ordinary magisterium. Yes, you understood correctly. I said the so-called Pope Francis. What I am telling you today… is that for over eleven years, a man recognized as Pope by the majority has been sitting on the Chair of Peter, but he is not, however, the legitimate Pope,” Faré said.
Benedict’s resignation was invalid
Faré then dove into why he believed Pope Benedict’s resignation was invalid, namely that it was a declaration, not a formal abdication, and it lacked the act of resignation.
“The formula: ‘I declare to renounce,’ in legal terms, is not the same as saying, ‘I renounce.’ The Pope [Benedict] should have said, ‘I declare to renounce, as in fact, I renounce,’ or a similar formula. As it was pronounced, Benedict XVI’s declaration is, in fact, only a declaration, not a legally valid act, nor was it followed by any ratification.”
The priest then underscored that Benedict chose the title Declaratio, or “Declaration,” for his official resignation instead of “resignation” or “abdication.”
Faré added that Benedict’s resignation lacked the will to renounce the papacy. The priest highlighted that in his original Latin declaration, Benedict used the term ministerium, which refers to the visible execution of the papal office. But, citing Canon 332 §2 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, Faré claims that for the resignation to be valid, he would have needed to resign from the munus, the “office” of the papacy.
Francis is a heretic whose election is doubtful
Circling back to Francis, Faré claimed his 2013 election is doubtful because a coalition of four radically liberal Cardinals, who are allegedly members of the St. Gallen Mafia: Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Walter Kasper, Godfried Danneels, and Karl Lehmann, conspired for years to make Francis the pope in order to start a revolution in the Church. The priest added that this alleged conspiracy would violate articles 79-82 of Pope John Paul II’s motu proprio on electing a new pontiff, Universi Dominici Gregis.
Read the rest: https://medforth.biz/prominent-italian-priest-claims-francis-is-not-the-pope-in-viral-sermon/