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| Transcription: Fr. Hewko's Sermon for Third Sunday after Epiphany [2025] "I Will Be Made Clean" |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-30-2025, 06:36 AM - Forum: Rev. Father David Hewko
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Third Sunday After Epiphany
"I Will Be Made Clean"
January 26, 2025
By: Father Hewko
![[Image: rs=w:1280]](https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/df55e1a9-c854-4d0b-a2a9-94177954436c/IMG_5070.png/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:1280)
Transcription by The Catholic Trumpet [slightly adapted and reformatted]| January 29, 2025
Click here to listen to this sermon.
Today is the third Sunday after Epiphany here in central New York.
The Epistle is taken from St. Paul's letter to the Catholics in Rome, chapter 12:
Brethren, be not wise in your own conceits to no man render evil for evil but provide good things, not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as far as in you lies, be at peace with all men. Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to to the wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, give him food, and if he is thirsty, give him to drink, for by so doing you will heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The Holy Gospel from St. Matthew, chapter 8:
At that time when Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him, and behold, a leper came up and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And stretching forth his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, I will be made clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one, but go, show yourself to the priests, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a witness to them. Now when he had entered Capernaum, there came to him a centurion, who entreated him, saying, Lord, my servant is lying sick in the house, paralyzed, and is grievously afflicted. Jesus said to him, I will come and cure him. But in answer the centurion said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou should come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, and I have soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it. And when Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who were following him, Amen. I say to you, I have not found such great faith in Israel.And I tell you, that many will come from the east and from the west, and will feast with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be put forth into the darkness outside. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then Jesus said to the centurion, Go your way, as you have believed, so be it done to you. And his servant was healed in that hour.
Thus are the words of the Holy Gospel.
By way of announcement, please pray for Bishop Williamson. There's been a few reports that he's already dead, but as far as I (can) confirm now, from a very reliable source, Bishop Williamson is not dead. He's still hanging on. He's now on life support in England, and apparently he's waiting for his brother [...] to come, and some of the bishops to come. So please pray for Bishop Williamson, but he's not expected to live much longer. So pray for him, and Bishop Williamson, as you know, consecrated six bishops for tradition, and at least he did this for the continuation of the true Catholic Mass and of Catholic tradition. So pray for him, because very soon he will face his judgment.
Judgments of bishops are always more severe than priests, and judgment of priests are more severe than the laity. So it's a scary thing when bishops and popes and priests come before the throne of God. So they do need prayers, and don't forget Bishop Tissier de Mallerais, who died also about a month or so ago. Pray for him as well.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
St. Ambrose makes a very powerful point on this Gospel. He says this: “When Christ said, “I will be made clean”, he said this because of Photinus. He commands and says, “Be made clean”, on account of Arius, the heretic, and he touches the leper on account of Manicheus, the heretic.” “For Photinus”, that's P-H-O-T-I-N-U-S, Photinus. “Photinus the heretic taught that Christ was a mere man and not God, whose attribute is an almighty will by which He says, ‘I will be thou clean’.” So Photinus the heretic said Christ was just a man and not God, and Arius the heretic taught that Christ was inferior to the Father, and not equal to the Father, and therefore did not himself command, but received the Father's commandments. So to counter that heresy, Christ commands the leprosy to go: “I will it. Be made clean.” So Christ shows He's God by commanding the sickness to leave. And then thirdly, “Manicheus, the heretic, taught that Christ had not real flesh, but only an appearance such as a ghost, as could not in reality either touch or be touched.” So to refute that heresy, Christ touches the leper with His hands to show He's not a ghost, He's a real body. So Christ counters all these heresies in this one curing of the leper, that He's really the true God, He really commands, and He really has a real body to sanctify that touches.
And when we go to Communion today, in the Holy Eucharist, Christ is truly present, His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It's not a representation, it's not a symbol, it's not as they say in the New Mass, 'a symbol of the communities gathering and sharing one another's awareness and consciousness.' That's not what the Holy Eucharist is, but that's what they turned it into, some kind of symbol of the fellowship of the community, which is all just Protestant and Lutheran garbage. That's not the Catholic faith. The Catholic faith is this, that Jesus Christ is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the most Holy Eucharist.
The angels know it and adore Him by the millions. Right now the angels are gathering all in this whole area for miles. Millions of angels are coming down from heaven to get ready for the sacrifice of the Mass. And even the devils, they also form their flanks, because they hate the Mass, and they want to do everything to destroy the Mass. And is the devil ever wreaking havoc now? He wants to destroy this Catholic Mass, and now he has a Pope who is working with him to destroy the Mass. Pope Francis is trying to destroy the Tridentine Latin Mass. He can't stand the Latin Mass, and he mocks priests and says, “They have mental disease.”, all those priests who want to say the Tridentine Catholic Mass. Well, at his judgment, he'll see who really has the mental disease, and it's not Catholic tradition. It's not those priests faithful to tradition. So let's pray for this Pope. It'll be a frightening thought when he dies, and he's not far from it. Pray for his conversion. It's a frightful thought when these Popes die.
You know that Pope John Paul II, when he died two years later in Poland, there was a photograph at a celebration of his life. Someone took a photograph of a huge bonfire that just, you know, happened to be there in Poland celebrating Pope John Paul II. And when he developed the photograph, he was shocked to see the flames took the shape of the body of Pope John Paul II. And in Poland, the Polish people tell me the Muslims could not destroy Poland's Catholic faith. The Communists could not destroy Poland's Catholic faith. But who could? Pope John Paul II and Vatican II could destroy the faith of the Poles with a New Mass and the whole new religion. And they only keep the faith through the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Czestochowa.
So when Pope John Paul II's body was taken in that photograph, shaped in flames, let's just be very kind and hope that's the fires of purgatory and not the fires of hell. Let's just pray that's the case. At least Pope John Paul II condemned what every bishop and pope and priest should condemn. He condemned the IVF and he condemned abortion. And he told priests and nuns, “Wear your habits!” And he did have a devotion to the Virgin Mary. So maybe Our Lady saved him. Remember, he was one of the most scandalous popes in the history of the Church. People declare him a saint and even the fake Church declares him a saint. But no saint can crucify Our Lord again, gathering all the world religions and praying with them, which he did. He started that Assisi meeting, which Pope Benedict continued to do, to the scandal of the whole world. And of course, Pope Francis continues this horrible ecumenism, which is really insulting to God. It really mocks the First Commandment: “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.”
And what do these modernist popes do? They gather all the world religions and treat them like they're all valid religions. And it's a very grave insult and blasphemy against the Most Holy Trinity. There's only one God and you have a beautiful depiction of the Most Holy Trinity here on the wall behind the altar. You see God the Father, God the Son holding the Cross of our redemption, and God the Holy Ghost, the Dove. And the love of the Father and the Son spirates the Holy Ghost without a beginning of time. And in God the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, the Holy Ghost is uncreated. They are all eternal, yet (there) are not three gods, but one God, as the creed of St. Athanasius says: “And he who does not hold the Catholic faith cannot save his soul. He will be cast to the eternal fires of hell”, says the Athanasian Creed.
And we read in the Gospel today where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So that gives us an insight of what hell will be like for the souls who go there, and how Our Lord does not want any soul to go there. He died on the cross to rescue souls. But if a soul rejects God and doesn't want to go to heaven, and doesn't want to keep His commandments, what can our Lord do? He's not going to force us into heaven. Our Lord does not want battery-operated robots in heaven that are forced to say, “I love you Lord, I love you Lord, I obey you Lord.” Our Lord does not want robots. He wants those who love him freely.
If you get married, or if you are married, (do) you want your wife and spouse or your husband to be forced to tell you that you love them at gunpoint? There wouldn't be love. So in heaven, God only wants those who freely love Him and seek Him. He doesn't force us. So those who go to hell, knowingly, turn their back to God. And no one in hell can say that our Lord did not do all He could to save them. Because every soul in hell knows that our Lord knocked and knocked and knocked to save them. And if they're in hell, they have only themselves to blame. So it's such a sad tragedy when even one soul is lost, to know that our Lord suffered the whole passion, scourging, crowning of thorns, the way of the cross, the agony on the cross for three eternal hours, suffocating for the love of souls. And it kills Him literally, if one soul is lost. And we know that many souls are lost by their free will. So it's so tragic.
And St. Anthony of Padua says, “What is the weeping and the gnashing of teeth?” He says, “The weeping is the flames”, the souls in the burning flames. They can't get out. And another aspect of hell is they lose all equilibrium. When Sister Lucia looked into hell, the children saw the souls tossed around like sparks in a flame. So they have no balance. We appreciate being able to stand on solid ground. If ever you've been out deep sea fishing, and you're easily seasick, and you get sick, you're happy to get back on ground because it's solid. But in hell, you're never on ground. You're always being tossed around. You're always bubbling in lava and flames. Nothing is solid to stand on. And that alone is a hell, let alone the flames. So the tears of hell, and then the terrible loneliness of hell.
The rock musicians, in their delusion, and poor things often sell their souls to the devil, poor souls. But in hell, it's an extreme loneliness. There's no friends. There's no father or mother to turn to. There's nobody. Everybody's panicking, screaming. Everybody's in a state of eternal frenzy, like a psych ward. Nobody's normal. Everybody's panicking and screaming wildly, like a bunch of wild animals. So there's no calm to just say, look, I got a headache. Can we just discuss a little thing? Any friendship at all? None in hell. Nothing. No consolation. It's a total loneliness. Yet in parts of hell, their bodies are crushed together. Someone's elbow is here. Someone's knee is there. Someone's feet are in your back, and they're all kicking and biting each other. It's a horrible thing. And it's not, as the souls of hell said, in the case of Annette and Claire, Annette told Claire who was in hell, she said, “Your silly priests can try to scare you with what hell is like, but nothing they say even compares to how terrible it is.” And then St. Anthony says that “What is the gnashing of teeth?” He says “It's the ice cold parts of hell.” There are parts of hell that are so cold that when they have their bodies reunited to their soul, the bodies just crack and fall off. Arms and legs will just crack off and then be put back together again. It's so bitterly cold.
So this is why the battle for Catholic tradition is really a matter of saving our soul. It's not an option. The New Mass and the New Conciliar Church and any false religion, they're not options because we can't save our soul in them. It's not a question of which one is better, the Catholic tradition or the Novus Ordo or some false religion, the Buddhist, Muslim. There is no other option. The only bridge Christ built, and He was a very good carpenter, the only bridge He built is His cross that leads to heaven and His holy Catholic Church of tradition, not the phony Conciliar Church.
Listen to Archbishop Lefebvre. This is from the recent Recusant of Autumn 2024: “The real fundamental opposition between modernist Rome and Catholic tradition is the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord came to reign. They, (modernist Rome,) they say no and we say yes along with all the popes.” And he's talking about all the popes from Pius XII before him.
“Our Lord did not come to be hidden inside houses without coming out. Why missionaries, so many of them were massacred to preach that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only true God, to tell the pagans to convert. So the pagans wanted to make them disappear, but they didn't hesitate, (the missionaries), they didn't hesitate to give their lives to continue preaching our Lord Jesus Christ. But now we're meant to do the opposite, telling the pagans, ‘Your religion is good. Keep it as long as you are a good Buddhist, a good Muslim, or a good pagan.’” And that's what Vatican II teaches, by the way. And this is what Pope John Paul II taught, by the way. And so did Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. And these are outright heresies. You cannot save (your) soul in these false religions.
And Archbishop Lefebvre says, “That's why we can't get along with them, because we are obeying our Lord who said to the Apostles, go and teach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. That's why we shouldn't be surprised that we cannot get along with modernist Rome. This will not be possible as long as Rome does not return to the Faith [and] the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as long as it gives the impression that all religions are good. We clash on a point of the Catholic faith, just as Cardinal Bea and Cardinal Ottaviani clashed over it, and as all the popes clashed with liberalism. It's the same thing, the same current, the same ideas, and the same divisions within the church.
But before the Council of Vatican II, (which was from 1962-65), the Popes and Rome supported tradition against liberalism, whereas now the liberals have taken their place. Obviously they are against traditionalists, so we are persecuted. But we are at peace, because we are in communion with all the Popes since Our Lord and the Apostles. We are keeping their faith, and we're not going to switch now to the revolutionary faith in the Declaration of the Rights of Man. We do not want to be Sons of 1789, but the sons of Our Lord, sons of the Holy Gospel. The representatives of the [Conciliar] Catholic Church say that everyone is free, and that we can bring all religions together to pray, like at Assisi. (That was in 1986 with Pope John Paul II.) This is an abomination, and the day when our Lord gets angry, it will be no laughing matter. For if our Lord punished the Jews as He did, it was because they had refused to believe in Him. He had announced that Jerusalem would be razed to the ground, and Jerusalem was razed to the ground, and the Temple has never been rebuilt since. He could well say the same thing now, that all His pastors are against Him. They no longer want to believe in His universal reign.”
So when you get popes, cardinals, bishops fighting the reign of Christ the King, the punishment, he's saying, will be severe. And one of those punishments is blindness. The blindness, they've lost the faith. The blindness is just stunning. The Catholic Church of Vatican II is falling to pieces. It's dying. It's sterile. It's empty. Dying monasteries, dying convents, dying parishes, selling off churches, and is being punished by the blindness.
And Archbishop Lefebvre says, “We must remain attached to the doctrine of the Church, remain attached to our Lord, who is everything to us. He is the master. He is the one who will judge us as He will judge everyone else. So we must pray for His kingdom to come, even if we are persecuted.”
So this beautiful little chapel, where does it exist? [It is a] barn on the outside, it's a barn. It's a chapel in a barn. Why? Because you and I cannot go to our local parish, because the bishops are modernists. They don't want the Tridentine Mass. And if they allow the Tridentine Mass, it's only because the priest has to compromise with the devil. He has to shake hands with the devil and say, “I accept Vatican II. I accept the New Mass. I accept the new Code of Canon Law.” Only then is he allowed to say the Latin Mass. So he makes a mockery of the Latin Mass. And no priest should compromise with Vatican II and the New Mass. That goes with the compromises of Bishop Fellay in 2012. That goes with the Fake Resistance also, with its dancing with the New Mass.
So Archbishop Lefebvre says: “Extraordinary as it may seem, that's the situation today. I didn't invent it. Why do I find myself almost alone in opposing this liberalism, when the vast majority of bishops, even in Rome, are in favor of it? It's a great mystery. In remaining faithful as before to everything the popes have said, one finds oneself almost alone.”
And that's true. Archbishop Lefebvre was basically alone, like Saint Athanasius against the whole world. It was Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop de Castro Mayer against the whole tidal wave of modernism. “If you're with our Lord, that's the main thing, even if you have to be alone. If you are with all the teaching of the Church over more than 20 centuries, you have nothing to fear. There's nothing to worry about. It is there. Thanks be to God, the good Lord who knows the future will set things right one day, because the Church cannot remain in this situation indefinitely. So let's put our trust in the Blessed Virgin and our Lord, and let's not be discouraged or worried, because we are carrying on the Church. Let us remain in peace. May the good Lord bless you.” Archbishop Lefebvre.
So that's his conference in this, Liberalism, the Church's worst enemy, the conference of Archbishop Lefebvre. So yes, so we must simply fight on and carry on the Catholic faith and Tradition. Keep what Our Lady asks us to keep, the daily Rosary, wear Her Scapular, make devotion to the Sorrowful Heart of Mary, be greatly devoted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, do the five first Saturdays as best you can to make reparation to her Immaculate Heart. And we must also study liberalism. We must understand this beast, this devil, this horde of devils that makes Catholics lose their faith and get confused. So we follow our Lord, we follow the Catholic tradition, and the teachings are clear.
The Popes have condemned modernism, liberalism, evolution. They have condemned communism, socialism. They have condemned compromise with error. They have condemned the New Mass. The Council of Trent clearly condemns the New Mass and says, “If anybody dares to take this Mass, turn it to face the people, let him be condemned. If anyone dares to say that the Mass should be put in the English or vernacular, let him be condemned. If anyone says that you got to simplify the rites and cut the prayers and cut and shorten everything, let him be condemned. If anyone denies that the Sacrament of Penance is the sacrament whereby sins are forgiven, let him be condemned. If anyone denies that the Sacrifice of the Mass is the same exact Sacrifice of Calvary and denies this, let him be condemned.” That's the Council of Trent. The teachings are clear.
And then you've got Pope Pius VI condemning all compromise and (the) using (of) slippery language and ambiguous phrases to seduce Catholics into error. And that's Vatican II. It's a total double-tongued document. All the documents have double-tongued. And our Lord hates the double-tongued, says the Holy Ghost. “I have hated the double-tongued.” So our Lord says, “Say yes or no but not double-tongued.” And that's Vatican II. And Vatican II is still destroying the church. Pope Francis is destroying marriage. He's destroying the priesthood. He's destroying the Mass. He's doing everything to destroy our Catholic Church in the name of what? Vatican II. Vatican II. And you might say well what does Vatican II have to do with us now? That's back in 1965. Well good question. But all that these modernist bishops and popes are doing is in the name of Vatican II. And Vatican II stands condemned by all of Catholic tradition. Every bit of it. [Emphasis - The Catacombs]
So you're fighting on the right side. And who cares if we have Mass up in a barn? Big deal. Saint John Vianney grew up going to Mass also in a barn. He didn't have a chapel this fancy. He had hay and cows and some chickens, (he was) probably sleeping on the rafters during Mass because it would be at midnight in a barn in the middle of the night. And the people would gather at the neighbor's barn when the priest would come. A priest who did not sign the Oath of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. The Catholics would not go to Mass (with) a priest who signed the Oath. They were called juring priests- traitor priests. So today it's the same thing. Priests who compromise with Vatican II and the New Mass or the New Code. They're traitor priests. “Yeah but they're nice. They wear the cassock. They say the Latin Mass.” Big deal. They're still traitors if they accept Vatican II and the New Mass and the New Code in any way.
Sorry that's the way it is. And if I accept the New Mass or try to argue New Mass miracles or try to argue that you can get grace at the New Mass or “Vatican II is not so bad”, “You have to interpret it in the light of tradition”. If I start talking that way I become a traitor. I become a traitor to Jesus Christ our God and the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the court of heaven and to the most Holy Trinity. I have become salt that has lost its flavor worth nothing to be thrown out on a field to be trampled on by the Amish wagons and cow's feet. That's a priest who compromises or a bishop or a pope.
So it's a frightening thing today because we are quite alone but on the other side tradition is building. The Modernists are scared now because tradition is growing all around the world. It's growing and it's young people, young families who are having children and lots of children and that was an encouraging thing to hear from the vice president two days ago at the March for Life. It's encouraging to hear. Let's keep praying for Trump and Vance. They came in saying we're pro-abortion so let's pray they convert and condemn abortion and take action against it but at least Vance, J.D. Vance, at his talk at the March for Life he said: “America needs many babies, many children, families and good mothers and fathers to raise them.” Those are good words. Those are good words and President Trump, just yesterday, he cut the tax funding for Planned Parenthood which Biden, a traitor Catholic, funded the Planned Parenthood but Trump just cut that so that's a good thing. Those are good steps and he also released from prison these good people who were arrested under the Biden administration, even an old lady, 89 years old, in a wheelchair (was) put in prison, put in prison and when she was nine she was in a concentration camp under the Communists in Yugoslavia. She comes to America and Biden puts her in prison because in her wheelchair she goes down the hall singing hymns in a hallway where they're doing abortions in the hospital. Horrible thing. So Trump if he keeps going this way, it will win his conversion. Let's pray for him. Pray for him. He's a good man, in the sense that he's a good natural leader. He does have the ability to be a good leader but is he working with the dark side? Is he only playing two faces? Is he trying to please the synagogue of Satan? I don't know. God knows but let's pray for him and let's pray for Vance. Let's pray for Pope Francis.
Let's beg the Virgin Mary to give us finally a good pope, a good pope who will restore tradition, condemn Vatican II, condemn the New Mass, condemn the new Code of Canon Law, restore the pre-55 Liturgy where it belongs and restore our Catholic tradition. This day is going to come! It's promised: “In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
But our Lord, He could grant this today, and many people are praying the rosary, but we got to keep faithful. He just wants us fighting. He is pleased that we are fighting and walking the trenches with bullets flying and bombs and mines. He's just as pleased that we fight that's all, like Saint Joan of Arc said: “God may not want us to see the victory.” He may not want us to live to see a good pope or the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, maybe He will, but that doesn't matter. What He wants of us now is that we keep fighting and we keep fighting and we keep fighting and persevere with grace. I ask (this) for all of you through the hearts of Jesus and Mary in this holy Mass.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
And for those who do not have recourse to thee especially all Communists and Freemasons and other enemies of holy mother Church, Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Ghost, Amen.
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| Holy Mass in New Hampshire - February 2, 2025 |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-29-2025, 07:57 PM - Forum: February 2025
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Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
w/ Commemoration of the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3...ipo=images]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.NVHOMofcmIOhtuWfmGC8ZwHaD4%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=2057bb94fe6457c78549ce77bae0245bfdef6d353594195cd778057f24a3da21&ipo=images)
Date: Sunday, February 2, 2025
Time: Confessions - 10:00 AM
Holy Mass - 10:30 AM
Location: The Oratory of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary
66 Gove's Lane
Wentworth, NH 03282
Contact: 315-391-7575
sorrowfulheartofmaryoratory@gmail.com
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| Opinion: The End of the Male Clergy? Here's What's Happening Behind the Scenes |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-29-2025, 11:36 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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This article reinforces the point often made by The Catacombs, that one can find the roots of the errors of Pope Francis deeply embedded in the errors of Vatican II and the actions of the post Conciliar popes. Francis has become the latest vehicle for pushing the most progressive interpretation of those errors.
The End of the Male Clergy? Here's What's Happening Behind the Scenes
Gaetano Masciullo, Remnant Columnist [Emphasis mine - slightly adapted] | January 21, 2025
Are we reaching the end of an all male clergy in the Catholic Church? Pope Francis disguised phase 1 of this change, breaking with 2000 years of Church precedent. Pope Francis, at the end of the recent Synod on Synodality, stated that “times are not yet ripe” for the female diaconate. This statement, far from being a definitive closure, seems rather to indicate a path to be developed gradually: shifting public debate towards initially unthinkable positions until they become acceptable.
Pope Francis' motu proprio Spiritus Domini, promulgated about four years ago on January 10, 2021, introduced a small but significant change to the Code of Canon Law, extending the ministries of lector and acolyte to women. This decision, which reforms a two-thousand-year-old tradition, did not receive much attention nor did it provoke significant reactions or analyses from the traditional Catholic world. However, I believe it is useful to revisit it today, in the aftermath of the conclusion of the last session of the Synod on Synodality (October 27, 2024), to try to fully understand its scope and implications, perhaps even its hidden intentions. To do this, it is necessary to analyze its content, historical and theological context, and finally its possible consequences for the life of the Church.
The document is based on precise reasoning. It starts by considering the action of the Holy Spirit, who gives all the faithful, men and women, the charisms necessary to contribute to the growth of the Church and the spread of the Gospel. While the ordained ministries (bishops, priests, deacons) are so called because they are based on the sacrament of Holy Orders and exercise its offices, the minor ministries, which are now significantly called 'lay ministries,' would be based not on the sacrament of Holy Orders, but on Baptism. Pope Francis argues that, in the years preceding the promulgation of the motu proprio, a doctrine (it would be interesting to understand by whom) was developed that would clearly and definitively distinguish the efficient cause of lay ministries from that of ordained ministries. In the former, the efficient cause would indeed be Baptism; in the latter, Holy Orders. This distinct sacramental causality would make ordained ministries and lay ministries not only distinct but even independent of each other in their nature, although connected from a functional point of view, in the sense that the latter remain functional to the former. Lay ministries are 'at the service' of deacons, priests, and bishops. Consistently, this distinction, if accepted, can only pave the way for the conferment of minor ministries also to women, as Francis has indeed done with the publication of this motu proprio. Interestingly enough, according to what Francis wrote, this difference in the efficient cause of ministries would be 'implicitly' present in can. 230 § 2, but evidently only because it does not specify male exclusivity: “Lay persons can fulfill the function of lector in liturgical actions by temporary designation. All lay persons can also perform the functions of commentator or cantor, or other functions, according to the norm of law.” Nevertheless, this canon refers to temporary assignments and those that have always been outside the minor ministries. It is not clear, therefore, where the implicit connection would be.
Following this reasoning, Francis deemed it appropriate to approve the new version of can. 230 § 1. In its old version, it read: “Lay men who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte.” The updated version of this canon removes the specification ‘men’ (whose presence, however, demonstrates that the Law did not intend to make any implicit allusion against male exclusivity, at least regarding this canon). Naturally, the Pope concludes the document by citing his authority, stating: “I order that the provisions of this Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio have firm and stable effect, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, even if worthy of special mention.”
From a theological point of view, however, Francis’ reasoning (which, as we will see, was actually already prepared in its premises by the reform of the minor orders by Paul VI) presents some critical issues. The Tradition of the Church, confirmed by the perennial magisterium (as we will see in analysis shortly, albeit briefly), has for centuries taught that the minor ministries do indeed have their efficient cause in Baptism, but at the same time had as their final cause the sacrament of Holy Orders. In other words, the minor ministries (today called 'lay ministries') have always been considered preparatory steps towards the sacrament of Holy Orders, but did not confer the sacrament of Holy Orders in the strict sense, and in this analogical sense, these ministries have always been called 'minor orders.' According to Francis and other neo-modernist theologians, however, the purpose of these ministries is only to assist the ordained ministers.
We know that the ecclesiastical hierarchy, by divine right, has a sacerdotal character and for this reason is based on Holy Orders, which consists of three main degrees: episcopate (which represents its fullness), presbyterate, and diaconate. These three degrees are therefore irreformable. Over the centuries, these three degrees have been accompanied by other offices, reaching a total of eight ministries, distinguished as major orders and minor orders. The major orders were four, and in addition to the three of divine right already mentioned, the subdiaconate was added at least since the 3rd century. The minor orders have been, for centuries, from highest to lowest, as follows: acolyte, exorcist, lector, and porter.
The Council of Trent, in its XXIII Session (July 15, 1563), promulgated, engaging infallibility, the document on the Doctrine and Canons concerning the sacrament of Holy Orders. In it, the intention was to affirm the “true Catholic doctrine on the sacrament of Holy Orders” (Denz. 1763) and it was taught that “in the sacrament of Holy Orders [...] the character is imprinted” and that “if anyone says that all Christians, without distinction, are priests of the New Testament, (...) then he seems to do nothing but disturb the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which is like ‘troops with banners’ (cf. Song of Songs 6, 3.9); just as if, contrary to what the blessed Paul teaches, all were apostles, all prophets, all evangelists, all pastors, all teachers (cf. 1Cor 12, 29; Eph 4, 11)” (Denz. 1767).
And again, Trent explained the relationship between minor orders and major orders as follows: “Since the ministry attached to such a holy priesthood is a divine thing, it has followed that, to exercise it more worthily and with greater veneration, in the orderly articulation of the Church there should be several orders of ministers and different from each other, connected by their office to the priesthood, and distributed in such a way that those who had already received the clerical tonsure would arrive at the major orders through the minor ones. [...] It is known that from the beginning of the Church the names of the orders listed below and the ministries proper to each were in use, namely: subdeacon, acolyte, exorcist, lector, porter, although not with equal rank.” (Denz. 1765). Therefore, it has always been the official doctrine of the Church that the minor orders, while finding their efficient cause in the sacrament of Baptism, see as their end and reason for being the sacrament of Holy Orders, not the simple 'ancillarity' to priesthood.
Paul VI, renewing this centuries-old discipline with the motu proprio Ministeria quaedam (January 1, 1973), in fact laid the groundwork for Francis’ reform, whose implications, as we will see shortly, are not so minimal. St. Thomas Aquinas said: a small error at the beginning leads to a grave error at the end. In his document, Paul VI, among other things, officially renamed the 'minor orders' as 'ministries' (p. II), thus emphasizing at the terminological level that they “can also be entrusted to lay people, so that they are no longer considered as reserved for candidates for the sacrament of Holy Orders” (p. III). He also abolished the fourth major order of the subdiaconate, delegating and distributing its tasks to the minor orders (now called ministries) of lector and acolyte. The minor orders of exorcist and porter were also abolished, reducing the former to a particular office for priests only, to be exercised by appointment of the ordinary and concerning the administration of a sacramental (exorcism, precisely); and the latter to a generic office of supervision of the sacred place, to be entrusted to any layperson, and which does not require necessary skills.
Regarding the subdeacon (which once belonged to the major orders), he had the task of preparing the altar and the sacred vessels, assisting the deacon and the priest during the liturgy (a duty that today is also referred to as 'ministering'), carrying the book of the Gospels during processions, overseeing the discipline of the minor clergy and the faithful during celebrations, and was obliged to recite certain parts of the Liturgy of the Hours. It was considered a major order precisely because it was the link between the minor orders and the major orders proper, the latter being irreformable because they are of divine right, namely the diaconate, presbyterate, and episcopate. It was the connecting link that led those aspiring to the priesthood towards the reception of Holy Orders proper, which occurred with the conferment of the diaconate.
Therefore, affirming that these ministries proceed from Baptism is certainly correct from a theological point of view, but it is not sufficient to make them independent from the major orders, since the final cause that Francis and Paul VI before him see for the minor ministries is partial compared to what the Church has always indicated. To prove this, consider the fact that, for centuries, the term 'clergy' did not only refer to the group of deacons, priests, and bishops, but also to all the candidates who had been 'approved' by the ordinary bishop to receive priestly ordination, and who had therefore embarked on the climb of the minor orders. Significantly, this climb began with the rite of the First Tonsure (abolished by Paul VI with the same motu proprio), which consisted of the cutting of five locks of hair by the bishop, thus symbolizing the aspirant priest's renunciation of the world. This 'death to the world' is precisely one of the peculiar vocations of the priest, eminently represented by the use of the black cassock (which, not coincidentally, has also fallen into disuse today). Furthermore, consider the fact that, even today, in common Italian language, the acolyte is often referred to as 'chierichetto,' meaning 'little cleric’.
The decision to extend the ministries of lector and acolyte to women is not an isolated act, but part of a broader strategy of gradually normalizing the introduction of women into the liturgical sphere. To confirm this, Pope Francis, at the end of the recent Synod on Synodality, stated that “times are not yet ripe” for the female diaconate. As if to say: the majority of the faithful are not yet ready to accept it. This statement, far from being a definitive closure (unlike, for example, what John Paul II had stated), seems rather to indicate a path to be developed gradually, according to the Overton window technique: shifting public debate towards initially unthinkable positions until they become acceptable. The official introduction of women in the presbytery contributes to this strategy. Women acolytes and lectors at the altar, in fact, have been accustoming the majority of Catholic faithful - actually, long before the promulgation of Francis' motu proprio - to a female presence in formal liturgical roles, making the next step, which would be admission to the diaconate, less unthinkable (whether this goal will actually be achieved is another matter: personally, I find it very unlikely).
Beyond the highly probable 'synodalist' and revolutionary intention just expressed, there is the more problematic aspect of this decision, namely its negative impact on priestly vocations. Serving at the altar is, in fact, the privileged place for vocational discernment. Not the seminary, not spiritual exercises, not directions, not sessions with psychologists, but the Altar is the place of the call. As Sacred Scripture teaches us, the young Samuel understood that he was called by the Lord during his service in the Temple, under the guidance of the priest Eli. After three calls, Eli realizes that it is God calling Samuel, and commands him to respond: “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” (1Samuel 3, 10). Many priests discovered their calling by serving as altar boys, experiencing the beauty of the liturgy and the closeness to the Eucharistic Christ. However, the introduction of girls into this role has generated a dissuasive effect on adolescent boys. Those with educational experience know that young people, at this stage of growth, tend to avoid mixed environments, particularly those where the female presence is predominant. The introduction of girls into liturgical service, in fact, and not coincidentally, has led to a decrease in the number of boys involved in the same, further reducing opportunities for vocational discernment.
This change introduced by Spiritus Domini is therefore not without consequences for ecclesial life. By extending the so-called lay ministries (minor orders) to women, it breaks with a two-thousand-year-old tradition that reflected the hierarchical, sacerdotal, and sacramental nature of the Church. This change might seem minor, but it actually has significant symbolic and practical implications. Tradition is not merely a matter of custom, but the expression of a theological truth: liturgical ministries find their reason for being in Holy Orders, even when it comes to minor orders. Their separation from Holy Orders is a step towards a more functionalist and less sacramental view of ministry in the Church. Furthermore, by normalizing the female presence at the altar, there is a risk of further confusing the specific role of the priesthood [...]
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| The Catholic Trumpet: Lessons from the Vendée |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-28-2025, 12:05 PM - Forum: The Catholic Trumpet
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Lessons from the Vendée: An Audio Experience
![[Image: rs=w:1280]](https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/df55e1a9-c854-4d0b-a2a9-94177954436c/IMG_5009.png/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:1280)
The Catholic Trumpet | January 28, 2025
Join us for another compelling audio experience as we delve into the courageous resistance of the Vendée during the French Revolution and its profound application to today’s Catholic fight for Tradition. Drawing parallels between the Vendéen martyrs’ unwavering fidelity to the Faith and the challenges faced by faithful Catholics today, this article serves as both a reminder and a rallying cry to resist modernist errors and compromises.
While my French pronunciation may not be perfect (a challenge for this Canadian-born narrator!), the mission and the message remain crystal clear: we must hold fast to the unchanging truths of the Faith, following the example of the Vendéens and rejecting the tide of modernism.
Thank you to all who have tuned in and supported The Catholic Trumpet so far—your encouragement and prayers mean everything to this mission. If you haven’t already, please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing to stay connected with future content. Together, let us move forward with courage, conviction, and unwavering fidelity to Christ and His Church.
No Compromise. No Retreat.
Vive le Christ Roi! Vive Marie, Reine du Ciel!
-The ☩ Trumpet
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| CA Drops Prosecution Against Sandra Merritt, Who Exposed Planned Parenthood Aborted Baby Part Sales |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-28-2025, 06:39 AM - Forum: Abortion
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California Drops Prosecution Against Sandra Merritt, Who Exposed Planned Parenthood Aborted Baby Part Sales
![[Image: sandramerritt2.png]](https://www.lifenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/sandramerritt2.png)
LifeNews | Jan 27, 2025
After eight years of prosecuting Sandra Merritt, the California Attorney General’s office agreed to a plea deal to end this criminal case with no prison time and no fines for her role in the undercover journalism and videos that exposed Planned Parenthood’s trade in aborted baby body parts.
Before this unprecedented case, the State of California had never criminally prosecuted undercover journalists for surreptitious recordings made in the public interest. Yet, this courageous grandmother was charged with 16 felonies and faced more than 10 years in prison for shining a light on the abortion industry’s profit from illegal organ harvesting from aborted babies.
Liberty Counsel has defended Merritt for more than a decade against California’s and Planned Parenthood’s two-pronged strategy of criminal indictments and a civil lawsuit. The negotiated plea agreement includes the state dropping all remaining felony counts.
Merritt will plead “No Contest” to only one felony charge, which, after a one-year probationary period will be reduced to a misdemeanor at sentencing, and then expunged from her record entirely. Merritt will serve no prison time, will pay no fines, and will have no other penalties imposed for revealing the truth about Planned Parenthood. The deal is essentially a complete victory for Merritt in this politically-motivated criminal case.
Merritt, along with her co-defendant, David Daleiden, the founder of the Center for Medical Progress, produced a series of undercover videos recorded at the National Abortion Federation’s (NAF) 2014 and 2015 abortion convention and trade shows. The videos explicitly show the abortion industry’s illegal abortion practices and sales of human body parts. The recordings capture Planned Parenthood executives haggling over the prices of baby body parts, picking through bloodied arms and legs of aborted babies in a pie tray, and discussing how to alter abortion methods to avoid violating partial-birth abortion law and obtain more profitable body parts to sell.
Rather than investigate Planned Parenthood, then California Attorney General Kamala Harris met with top Planned Parenthood officials in 2016 and subsequently ordered criminal investigations into Merritt and Daleiden while the next state attorney general, Xavier Becerra, eventually charged them with violating California’s recording law.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Sandra Merritt did nothing wrong. She did the right thing by exposing the depravity of the abortion industry. This plea agreement ends an unjust criminal case by dropping these baseless criminal charges without any prison time, fines or other penalties. Sandra deserves to be applauded and acclaimed for revealing these horrors and then enduring this selective and vindictive prosecution as a result. Murdering human babies to harvest their body parts for profit is evil and there is no excuse for Sandra’s political persecution. This is an extraordinary result for Sandra and the State of California deserves to walk away virtually empty handed.”
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| CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of extended withdrawal |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-28-2025, 06:07 AM - Forum: Health
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CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of extended withdrawal
![[Image: AP25021053982407.jpg]](https://www.stripes.com/incoming/yrt5dl-ap25021053982407.jpg/alternates/LANDSCAPE_910/AP25021053982407.jpg)
President Donald Trump signs an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 20, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Starts and Stripes/Associated Press | January 27, 2025
NEW YORK — U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately.
A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and “await further guidance.”
Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as brewing global threats. It also comes as health authorities around the world are monitoring bird flu outbreaks among U.S. livestock.
The Associated Press viewed a copy of Nkengasong’s memo, which said the stop-work policy applied to “all CDC staff engaging with WHO through technical working groups, coordinating centers, advisory boards, cooperative agreements or other means — in person or virtual.” It also says CDC staff are not allowed to visit WHO offices.
President Donald Trump last week issued an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from WHO, but that did not take immediate effect. Leaving WHO requires the approval of Congress and that the U.S. meets its financial obligations for the current fiscal year. The U.S. also must provide a one-year notice.
His administration also told federal health agencies to stop most communications with the public through at least the end of the month.
“Stopping communications and meetings with WHO is a big problem,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a University of Southern California public health expert who collaborates with WHO on work against sexually transmitted infections.
“People thought there would be a slow withdrawal. This has really caught everyone with their pants down,” said Klausner, who said he learned of it from someone at CDC.
“Talking to WHO is a two-way street,” he added, noting that the two agencies benefit from each other’s expertise. The collaboration allows the U.S. to learn about new tests, new treatments and emerging outbreaks — information “which can help us protect Americans abroad and at home,” Klausner said.
The CDC details nearly 30 people to WHO and sends many millions of dollars to it through cooperative agreements. The U.S. agency also has some of the world’s leading experts in infectious diseases and public health threats, and the two agencies’ staffers are in daily contact about health dangers and how to stop them.
The collaboration halt isn’t the only global health effect of Trump’s executive orders. Last week, the president froze spending on another critical program, PEPFAR or the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
The anti-HIV program is credited with saving 25 million lives, including those of 5.5 million children, since it was started by Republican President George W. Bush. It was included in a Trump administration freeze on foreign aid spending slated to last at least three months.
PEPFAR provides HIV medication to more than 20 million people “and stopping its funding essential stops their HIV treatment,” International AIDS Society President Beatriz Grinsztejn said in a statement. “If that happens, people are going to die and HIV will resurge.”
A U.S. health official confirmed that the CDC was stopping its work with WHO. The person was not authorized to talk about the memo and spoke on condition of anonymity.
A WHO spokesperson referred questions about the withdrawal to U.S. officials.
Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. And CDC officials didn’t respond to the AP’s request to speak with Nkengasong about the memo.
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| Trump administration halts cases against pro-lifers, strongly limits future FACE Act use |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-27-2025, 11:17 AM - Forum: Abortion
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Trump administration halts cases against pro-lifers, strongly limits future FACE Act use
The Department of Justice stopped three pending Biden-era prosecutions of pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act on Friday, with strict new requirements for future invocations of the law to prevent it from being weaponized in the next four years.
![[Image: GettyImages-2189744490.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2189744490.jpg)
President Donald Trump
Getty Images
Jan 25, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews [slightly updated - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — (Updated.) The Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) put a stop to three pending Biden-era prosecutions of pro-life activists under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act on Friday, with stringent new requirements for future invocations of the law to prevent it from being weaponized again in the next four years.
In response to this development, Dr. Monica Miller of Red Rose Rescue and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society told LifeSiteNews that her organizations are “incredibly grateful”:
Quote:We are incredibly grateful, especially grateful to God, that this pathetic lawsuit is gone. It never should have been brought in the first place. Indeed, Red Rose Rescues do not violate the FACE Act, as Red Rose Rescuers do not physically block or interfere with anyone’s freedom of movement. (Please see redroserescue.com for information on this innovative rescue strategy.) But, under the Garland/Biden DOJ, federal prosecutors were simply bending, twisting, and broadening the language of the FACE Act to make what we did fit their perverted interpretation. If we needed to go to trial our Thomas More Society attorneys felt confident we would prevail against this unjust charge. With the dismissal of this FACE case it is the total icing on the cake, on top of Trump’s pardons of the pro-life prisoners who were convicted of violating the FACE law and the extra charge of Conspiracy to Interfere with Civil Rights, resulting in draconian years-long prison terms. Now all pro-life rescuers are free at all levels in terms of the federal prosecutions.
We look forward to the repeal of the FACE act, the worst pro abortion law next to Roe v Wade.
Enacted in 1994, the FACE Act ostensibly protects access to facilities run by both pro-life and pro-abortion organizations, including abortion facilities, pro-life pregnancy centers, and churches. However, conservatives have argued that the DOJ under the Biden administration weaponized the act to prosecute pro-life activists while only a handful of pro-abortion vandals had been arrested after a string of attacks on churches and pro-life centers in the wake of the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Among the most egregious Biden prosecutions have been 23 pro-lifers prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department for entering abortion centers and refusing to leave, and who received prison time despite several of them being elderly with medical issues. Also concerning was the case of Mark Houck, a Philadelphia pro-lifer whom the DOJ prosecuted under the FACE Act after arresting in a morning FBI raid for a physical altercation with a hostile abortion supporter that local authorities had already dismissed. Houck was acquitted in January 2023; Trump pardoned the 23 others on Thursday.
On Friday, multiple media outlets obtained a copy of a memo from Kathleen Wolfe, a supervisory official at DOJ’s Civil Rights Division (CRD). Citing President Donald Trump’s “promise of ending the weaponization of the federal government,” it directs that “future abortion-related FACE Act prosecutions and civil actions will be permitted only in extraordinary circumstances, or in cases presenting significant aggravating factors, such as death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage.” In the absence of such factors, incidents will be left to state or local law to adjudicate.
“Additionally, until further notice, no new abortion-related FACE Act actions criminal or civil – will be permitted without authorization from the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division,” it says.
It also instructs prosecutors to “immediately dismiss, with prejudice,” three pending cases against pro-life activist Cal Zastrow, Matthew Connolly, and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society.
“If needed, further case-specific guidance will follow for cases in which a criminal conviction has already been obtained but in which a sentence has not yet been imposed, or in which the appeals are not yet completed, that did not present significant aggravating factors,” the memo adds.
“In all three of these cases, our attorneys have led the defense of pro-life advocates targeted by Biden’s DOJ – which had sought crushing penalties, fines, and injunctions against them, to stop them from sharing their pro-life message,” Thomas More Society executive vice president and head of litigation Peter Breen responded. “These cases should have never been brought and we are thankful to the Trump administration for righting that wrong.”
“While this handful of cases are now slated for dismissal, there is no shortage of ongoing attacks on life-affirming ministries across the country as pro-abortion states double down on anti-life policies and lawfare,” he added. “As these legal battles multiply in pro-abortion states, we will tirelessly continue to defend the entire pro-life movement.”
The Trump administration’s actions give relief to those already targeted and ensure no new federal cases will arise in the next four years, but the danger remains of a future Democrat administration using the FACE Act just as President Joe Biden did. To solve the issue, Republicans in Congress reintroduced this week a bill to simply repeal the FACE Act.
The FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025 is expected to easily pass the U.S. House of Representatives and be signed by Trump if given a chance, but before reaching the president’s desk, it will still face a challenge in the Senate, which has a Republican majority with 53 seats but requires 60 votes to pass most types of legislation.
[See also: Mike Lee introduces Senate version of House bill to repeal FACE Act]
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| Dom Guéranger on these Latter Days |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-26-2025, 08:11 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
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Dom Guéranger on these Latter Days
The Liturgical Year, Vol. XI, pp. 426-429
Taken from here. January 25, 2025
Dom Prosper Guéranger, in his commentary on the Epistle of the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, offers a profound description of these times, when there is “an almost universal falling off” from infinite and unchangeable truth. These words can well be applied to our times, where the apostasy has reached the highest cupola of the Church and the sons of darkness seem to be victorious.
We know, however, that after God lets fall a great chastisement on mankind and on the Church representatives responsible for that great apostasy, Our Lady will intervene and we will see a time of peace and holiness, the Reign of Mary promised at Fatima and Ecuador.
Dom Guéranger:
It is then [in the Latter Days] more than at all previous times that the Faithful will have to remember the injunction given to us by the Apostle in today’s Epistle; that is, they will have to comport themselves with that circumspection which he enjoins, taking every possible care to keep their understanding, no less than their heart, pure in those evil days.
Supernatural light will, in those days, not only have to stand the attacks of the children of darkness, who will put forward their false doctrines; it will, moreover, be minimized and falsified by the very children of the light yielding on the question of principles; it will be endangered by the hesitations and trimmings and human prudence of those who are called far-seeing men.
Many will practically ignore the master truth, that the Church never can be overwhelmed by any created power. If they do remember that Our Lord has promised Himself to uphold His Church even to the end of the world, they will still have the impertinence to believe that they do a great service to the good cause by making certain politically clever concessions, which, if they were tried in the balance of the sanctuary, would be found under weight!
Those future worldly-wise people will quite forget that Our Lord will have no need for helping Him to keep His promise of crooked schemes, however shrewd those may be; they will entirely overlook this most elementary consideration - that the cooperation, which Jesus deigns to accept, at the hands of His servants in the defense of the rights of His Church never could consist in the garbling, or in the disguisement of those grant truths which constitute the power and beauty of the Bride.
Is it possible that they will forget the Apostle’s maxim, which he lays down in his Epistle to the Romans - that the conforming oneself to this world - the attempting an impossible adaptation of the Gospel to a world that is un-christianized is not the means for proving what is the good, and acceptable, and the perfect will of God. So that it will be a thing of great and rare merit, in many an occurrence of those unhappy times, to merely understand what is the will of God, as our Epistle expresses it.
Look to yourselves, would St. John say to those men, that ye lose not the things which ye have wrought; make yourselves sure of the full reward, which is only given to the persevering thoroughness of doctrine and faith!
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| Lutheran women ‘priests’ help lead pilgrimage organized by Pope Francis’ diocese |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-26-2025, 08:03 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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With frustrating consistency, Pope Francis continues to expand and fructify the errors of Vatican II and his Conciliar papal predecessors:
Lutheran women ‘priests’ help lead pilgrimage organized by Pope Francis’ diocese
Attended by religious leaders of various creeds – including the Catholic Church, the Lutheran church, the Greek Orthodox – an ecumenical pilgrimage took place through Rome on Thursday night, with participants joining in a call for increased unity.
![[Image: ecumenical-vigil.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ecumenical-vigil.jpg)
Ecumenical leaders at the Jan 23 pilgrimage in Rome
© Michael Haynes
Jan 24, 2025
ROME (LifeSiteNews) — Male and female clerics of the Lutheran, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic Churches joined in an ecumenical pilgrimage across Rome last night, praying for Christian unity in their respective churches.
Attended by religious leaders of various creeds – including the Catholic Church, the Lutheran church, the Greek Orthodox – an ecumenical pilgrimage took place through the streets of Rome on Thursday night, with participants joining in a call for increased unity between their churches.
“Today, gathered here as a community of Christians, we are gathered from different cultures and denominations to celebrate our common faith,” said Bishop Paolo Ricciardi, an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rome since his appointment by Pope Francis in 2017.
The ecumenical vigil formed part of a week-long series of official events sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Rome, marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Concluding the week, and forming the ecumenical highlight, will be the Pontifical Vespers on Saturday, presided over by Pope Francis and joined by a plethora of ecumenical delegates.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, from January 18 through 25, has become an occasion for an increasing variety of ecumenical ventures between Catholics and members of others creeds. While such events take place on a more local level, those in Rome are afforded a particular significance, not least due to the role the Pope plays by virtue of his own participation.
Thursday’s ecumenical pilgrimage began at the Lutheran Evangelical church of Rome, before walking through the streets in a candle-lit procession to the Greek Orthodox church belonging to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, before concluding at the Catholic church of St. Camillo de Lellis.
Alongside Ricciardi (who was the leading Catholic prelate in attendance) the event also drew: Dr. Ian Ernest, the outgoing representative of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome; Mirella Manocchio, the female pastor of Rome’s Lutheran church and president of the work of the Evangelical Methodist Church in Italy; Matthew Laferty, the director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, who has responsibility for the World Methodist Council’s relationship with the Holy See; Archimandrite Simeon Katsinas, of the Greek Orthodox Church.
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Bp. Ricciardi reads a message in Rome’s Lutheran Christuskirche. © Michael Haynes
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Lutheran pastor Mirella Manocchio preaches in the Lutheran Christuskirche. © Michael Haynes
Each church stop saw ecumenical leaders read a Gospel passage, deliver a brief homily-style reflection, and a series of petitions invoking divine assistance in fostering further unity.
At the Lutheran church, Manocchio delivered her homily to the congregation, marking her out as the lead female religious leader amongst the group.
An oil lamp was also lit inside the Lutheran church, and carried in procession to each church, where it was handed over to the respective religious leaders, followed by the sign of peace between all.
Such gifts represented “light and hope,” said Monsignor Marco Gnavi, who leads the Office for Ecumenism and Religious Dialogue of the Diocese of Rome. “This offering of gifts also represents circularity, sharing and diversity in the same faith,” he added.
Once in the Catholic church, the participants jointly recited the Our Father using the customary Protestant version, which ends with the line “for thine is the kingdom, the power and glory, for ever and ever.” They also recited the ecumenical version of the Nicene Creed.
Scripture readings and prayers were centered on the theme of Christ’s conversion with Martha, which Gnavi said was a “central theme” in the current age.
Explaining why, he said that “not only the Churches but also the people must face many expressions of real death, which also means division, separation, up to conflict and the massacre of the innocents. … The dialogue between Jesus and Martha shows how in every man and every woman there is a question, implicit or explicit, of faith.”
Much attention has also been paid to the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea which occurs this year. The year 2025 is a rare occurrence in that the See of Rome and those of the East celebrate Easter on the same date, which has in turn given further motivation to the ecumenical bodies of both parties. Gnavi cited the Nicaea anniversary in relation to this year’s Christian Unity Week.
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Lutheran pastor Mirella Manocchio preaches in the Catholic church of St. Camillo de Lellis, Rome. © Michael Haynes
Despite the significant anniversary of Nicaea, this year’s events for Christian Unity Week are notably less prominent than in 2024. This is likely due in no small part to the scandal-driven resignation of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, in recent weeks. Welby was a leading figure in the ecumenical events last year, even receiving Pope Francis’ permission to celebrate and Anglican “Eucharist” in an ancient Catholic basilica in Rome.
Anglican Evensong was also celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica as part of last year’s proceedings. This year, such events have been noticeably absent. Apart from Thursday’s processional vigil, the official ecumenical proceedings linked to the Diocese of Rome have been largely limited to a nightly ecumenical vespers with various Christian bodies, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
Contrary to the Vatican’s contemporary approach to ecumenical relations is the Church’s traditional teaching and approach to interreligious relations. Indeed, in Pope Pius XI’s 1928 encyclical Mortalium animos, Catholic participation in Protestant ceremonies or “assemblies” was expressly forbidden. Pius XI wrote:
Quote:… it is clear that the Apostolic See cannot on any terms take part in their assemblies, nor is it anyway lawful for Catholics either to support or to work for such enterprises; for if they do so they will be giving countenance to a false Christianity, quite alien to the one Church of Christ.
He added that the Gospel-style of unity involves return to the Catholic Church:
Quote:The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it.
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| Pope Francis institutes 23 women as Lectors, described as ‘tectonic shift’ in Catholic Tradition |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-26-2025, 07:54 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Once again, Pope Francis expands and fructifies the errors in Vatican II.
The following is taken from Vatican II's "Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People," Apostolicam Actuositatem (Nov. 18, 1965):
Quote:The lay apostolate, in all its many aspects, is exercised both in the Church and in the world. In either case different fields of apostolic action are open to the laity. We propose to mention here the chief among them: Church communities, the family, the young, the social environment, national and international spheres. Since in our days women are taking an increasingly active share in the whole life of society, it is very important that their participation in the various sectors of the Church's apostolate should likewise develop (AA §9).
The article by SiSiNoNo on The Errors of Vatican II reminds us with respect to the above quote that:
Quote:The more active participation is provoked, to a great extent, by the false "dogmas" that we have just related, and carried out under their signature, a participation that was condemned by Pius XI as "a grave disorder to eliminate at all cost" in his encyclical, Quadragesima Anno, because it takes "mothers of families" away from their proper duties (AAS23 [1931] 200).
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Pope Francis institutes 23 women as Lectors, described as ‘tectonic shift’ in Catholic Tradition
Following his Canon Law changes in 2021, Pope Francis has now instituted men and women as Lectors four times, citing the 'common priesthood' in doing so. Liturgical scholars have warned that such actions contradict centuries of Catholic Tradition.
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Pope Francis institutes a woman as Lector, Jan 26, 2025
Vatican News Youtube
Jan 26, 2025
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews [Emphasis mine]) — Pope Francis instituted 40 men and women in the ministry of Lector today, marking the fourth time he has done so since his controversial changes to Canon Law in 2021.
During Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on January 26, Pope Francis formally instituted 23 women and 17 men as Lectors, handing them a copy of the Bible and instructing them to proclaim the faith to young and old:
Quote:As readers and bearers of God’s word, you will assist in this mission, and so take on a special office within the Christian community; you will be given a responsibility in the service of the faith, which is rooted in the word of God, You will proclaim that word in the liturgical assembly, instruct children and adults in the faith, and prepare them to receive the sacraments worthily.
The ceremony is a recently formed event, and takes place in light of the Pope’s two liturgical writings in 2021. These include his motu proprio “Spiritus Domini” – by which he changed Canon Law to open up the male roles of lector and acolyte to women – and his apostolic letter “Antiquum ministerium,” which further drew on texts from Vatican II to establish the lay ministry of catechist for both men and women.
The 40 men and women hailed from Europe, South America and the Philippines, and it is by far the largest group to receive the ministry in the four years that Francis has performed the ceremony.
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Pope Francis, Jan 26, 2026. ©Vatican News YouTube
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Pope Francis, Jan 26, 2026. ©Vatican News YouTube
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Male and female Lectors line up before Pope Francis, Jan 2025. ©Vatican News YouTube
Prior to the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church formed seminarians for the priesthood by the series of minor and major orders.
However, in his 1972 motu proprio “Ministeria quaedam,” Pope Paul VI curtailed the “minor orders” of Tonsure, Porter, Lector, Exorcist and Acolyte, as well as the major order of subdeacon, highlighting instead “the universal priesthood of believers.” Paul VI also changed the minor orders from “ordinations” to “institutions.”
The minor orders of Lector and Acolyte are still practiced in seminaries offering the post-conciliar liturgy, but referred to as “ministries” rather than minor orders, due to Ministeria quaedam.
Since Paul VI’s text, the liturgical actions traditionally performed by seminarians holding the respective “minor orders” have been performed by lay men and women in the Novus Ordo liturgy.
By virtue of his 2021 text Spiritus Domini, Francis codified what had become widespread practice whilst also raising what had become the widespread practice of women in the Novus Ordo liturgy to a formal ministry.
To accompany the new motu proprio, Pope Francis penned a letter, addressed to then-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer SJ. In his letter, the Pope asserted that there is “an ever greater urgency today to rediscover the co-responsibility of all the baptized in the Church, and especially the mission of the laity.”
Drawing from the Amazon Synod in Spiritus Domini, Francis urged “the need to think about ‘new paths for ecclesial ministeriality.’ Not only for the Amazonian Church, but for the whole Church, in the variety of situations.”
Focusing his attention on the institution of female ministers, Francis quoted again from the Amazon Synod, saying “it is urgent that ministries be promoted and conferred on men and women[.] … It is the Church of baptized men and women that we must consolidate by promoting ministry and, above all, the awareness of baptismal dignity.”
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Pope Francis with a new female Lector, Jan 2025. ©Vatican News
However, liturgical scholars have opposed Francis’ move. One such individual is Dr. Peter Kwasniewski – Thomist and liturgical scholar – who has long warned against Francis’ opening of the Church’s orders to women and laymen.
Authoring a book-length response to the question of women as ministers – Ministers of Christ: Recovering the Roles of Clergy and Laity in an Age of Confusion – Kwasniewski defended the traditional Catholic teaching on reserving the liturgical ministries to men only.
Spiritus Domini, he wrote, was “a tectonic shift both in theology and in praxis,” before adding:
Quote:The motu proprio Spiritus Domini therefore commits a double categorical error by conflating the dignity of the baptized with the dignity of active liturgical ministry.
Joining Kwasniewski was Bishop Athanasius Schneider, of Astana, who has written at length on the liturgical history and import of male-only roles at the altar.
Commenting on the role of women in the liturgy, Schneider wrote:
Quote:“The liturgical service of women in the Eucharistic liturgy, as reader and as acolyte and servant at the altar, was altogether excluded in the theological reasoning of the whole Old Testament and New Testament traditions, as well as of the two-thousand-year-old Eastern and Western tradition of the Church (see the cited study by Martimort).”
Instead, he posited the “common priesthood” – the aspect cited by recent popes in expanding liturgical roles to laity – as being exercised by praying from the nave of the church: “the common priesthood, on the other hand, is represented by those persons who, during the liturgy, are gathered in the nave of the church, representing Mary, the ‘handmaid of the Lord,’ who receives the Word and makes it fruitful in the world.”
With files from David McLoone.
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