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  British Court Rules That Competent & Conscious Patient Can Be Denied Life-Sustaining Treatment
Posted by: Stone - 09-05-2023, 05:40 AM - Forum: General Commentary - Replies (1)

British Court Rules That Competent & Conscious Patient Can Be Denied Life-Sustaining Treatment Against Her Will


ZH |  SEP 04, 2023
Authored by Jonathan Turley

In my torts class, I often compare the different approaches and doctrines in the United States and the United Kingdom.

One of the most pronounced is the position and authority of physicians on issues like consent and malpractice. This week produced a particularly striking example.

British doctors are seeking to take a 19-year-old critically ill female patient off the intensive care despite her objections and those of her parents.

Unlike most such cases, the woman known only as “ST” is conscious and communicative.

Yet, the doctors argue that she is not being realistic about her chances of survival from a rare disorder.

Now a British court has agreed and ordered that she can be placed on end-of-life care against her will.

ST is suffering from a rare genetic mitochondrial disease that is progressively degenerative. The case has similarities to that of Charlie Gard, an infant who was removed from life support at the insistence of doctors despite objections from the parents. The Gard family was seeking to take Charlie to the United States for experimental treatment.

ST has been in the ICU for the past year, requiring a ventilator and a feeding tube. She also requires regular dialysis due to chronic kidney damage from her disease.

She wants to be allowed to travel to Canada for an experimental treatment but the doctors oppose the plan and say that she is not accepting the realities of her terminal illness.

They say that she is “actively dying” without any hope of resuming life outside of intensive care.

Her deeply religious family have spent their entire life savings on her care and has complained that a “transparency order” requested by the hospital barred their ability to give details on the case to help raise public funds.

What is so remarkable about this case is that it is not an infant or a comatose patient.

The court found that ST “is able to communicate reasonably well with her doctors with assistance from her mother and, on occasion, speech therapists.”

Moreover, two psychiatrists testified that she is mentally competent to make decisions about her own care.

Quote:Despite all the difficulties which currently confront her, ST is able to communicate reasonably well with her doctors with assistance from her mother and, on occasion, speech therapists. Over the course of the last week she has engaged in two separate capacity assessments. I heard evidence from two consultant psychiatrists whose conclusions in relation to her capacity in both domains are set out in full written reports. . . .

She has been described by those who know and love her as “a fighter”. That is how she sees herself. At the heart of the issues in this case is what ST and her family perceive to be a ray of hope in the form of an experimental nucleoside treatment outside the United Kingdom which might offer her hope of an improved quality of life, albeit a life which is likely to end prematurely in terms of a normal life expectancy. She has told her doctors that she wants to do everything she can to extend her life. She said to Dr C, one of the psychiatrists who visited her last week, “This is my wish. I want to die trying to live. We have to try everything”. [Court’s emphasis] Whilst she recognises that she may not benefit from further treatment, she is resistant to any attempt to move to a regime of palliative care because she wants to stay alive long enough to be able to travel to Canada or North America where there is at least the prospect that she may be accepted as part of a clinical trial. . . .

ST is well aware that she has been offered a very poor prognosis by her doctors. She acknowledges that they have told her that she will die but she does not believe them. She points to her recovery from previous life-threatening episodes whilst she has been a patient at the intensive care unit. She believes she has the resilience and the strength to stay alive for long enough to undergo treatment abroad and she wishes the court to acknowledge her right to make that decision for herself.

Nevertheless, the judge found that she is mentally incapable of making decisions for herself because “she does not believe the information she has been given by her doctors.”

The court appears to reject her ability to make this decision because she is making the wrong decision:

Quote:In my judgment . . . ST is unable to make a decision for herself in relation to her future medical treatment, including the proposed move to palliative care, because she does not believe the information she has been given by her doctors. Absent that belief, she cannot use or weigh that information as part of the process of making the decision. This is a very different position from the act of making an unwise, but otherwise capacitous, decision. An unwise decision involves the juxtaposition of both an objective overview of the wisdom of a decision to act one way or another and the subjective reasons informing that person’s decision to elect to take a particular course. However unwise, the decision must nevertheless involve that essential understanding of the information and the use, weighing and balancing of the information in order to reach a decision. In ST’s case, an essential element of the process of decision-making is missing because she is unable to use or weigh information which has been shown to be both reliable and true.

Accordingly, the court ruled that decisions about ST’s further care should be determined by the Court of Protection based on an assessment of her best interests. Her “best interest,” according to the doctors, is to die.

Thus, the courts have declared that ST cannot choose to continue life-extending treatment and can be forced into palliative care against her will.

The logic of the decision is chilling.

The court is told that ST has cognitive and communicative abilities to make such decisions. However, because the court disagrees with her desire to continue to fight to live, she is treated as effectively incompetent.

It seems like the judicial version of Henry Ford’s promise that customers could pick any color car so long as it is black.

Here is the opinion: In the Matter of ST

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  Pope Francis repeats the errors of V-II and Assisi Meetings on Equality of Religions
Posted by: Stone - 09-05-2023, 05:21 AM - Forum: Pope Francis - Replies (2)

Pope Francis urges Buddhists, Muslims, and Shamans to promote their religions during event in Mongolia
Speaking to Buddhist, Shinto, Shaman, Jewish, Muslim, and assorted Christian religious leaders, Pope Francis praised the assembled religions for being the continuation of 'ancient schools of wisdom.'

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Pope Francis greets Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, September 2023.
Vatican News

Sep 4, 2023
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (LifeSiteNews) – Speaking as part of an ecumenical gathering during his trip to Mongolia, Pope Francis quoted from Buddhist texts while arguing that “every religious institution” has “the right to freely express what it is and what it believes.”

He urged gathered non-Catholic religious leaders to promote their own religions, saying:

Quote:May it be so for us, as committed followers of our respective spiritual masters and faithful stewards of their teachings, ever ready to offer the beauty of those teachings to those whom we daily encounter as friends and companions on our journey. May it be so, for in a pluralistic society committed to democratic values, such as Mongolia is, every religious institution, duly recognized by civil authority, has the duty, and above all the right, to freely express what it is and what it believes, in a way respectful of the conscience of others and in view of the greater good of all.


Papal encounter with Mongolian religions

The Pope’s comments came as part of his address Sunday morning, delivered to Buddhist, Shinto, Shaman, Jewish, Muslim, and assorted Christian religious leaders. The ecumenical gathering took place during the Pontiff’s short trip to Mongolia, a nation with a strong Buddhist majority and fewer than 1,500 Catholics.

Seated in the capital’s Hun theatre, the Pope joined twelve other leaders in the event, during which speeches were shared promoting religious dialogue and co-existence.

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Pope Francis introduced himself as “a brother in faith to those who believe in Christ, and as a brother to all of you in the name of our shared religious quest and our membership in the one human family.”

He outlined his perception of the assembled religious leaders’ creeds, saying that “the social significance of our religious traditions can be gauged by the extent to which we are capable of living in harmony with other pilgrims on this earth and can foster that harmony in the places where we live.”

Francis quoted from the Buddhist collection of sayings from Buddha, The Dhammapada, along with the Dutch writer and Catholic critic Soren Kierkegaard and Ghandi.

Ecumenical and Interreligious Meeting in the “Hun Theatre”


Pope Francis in the ecumenical meeting. Credit: Vatican News
“The religions are called to offer the world this harmony,” said Francis, adding that at the ecumenical event, the assembled leaders “are meeting together as the humble heirs of ancient schools of wisdom.”

Quote:In our encounter with one another, we want to share the great treasure we have received, for the sake of enriching a humanity so often led astray on its journey by the myopic pursuit of profit and material comfort.

He issued a call for “all” to “explore and appreciate” the “great patrimony of wisdom” found in the “various religions” of Asia. Among ten aspects of Mongolian culture which he praised as part of the “great patrimony,” Francis included “a healthy relationship to tradition, despite the temptations of consumerism,” which echoed his praise and approval at the numerous traditional costumes on display to honor his visit.

The pontiff also decried the mixing “of religious beliefs and violence, of holiness and oppression, of religious traditions and sectarianism.”

Consequently, Francis expressed a call for the plurality of religions to work in society, stating that this was both a “duty” and a “right.”

Quote:May it be so, for in a pluralistic society committed to democratic values, such as Mongolia is, every religious institution, duly recognized by civil authority, has the duty, and above all the right, to freely express what it is and what it believes, in a way respectful of the conscience of others and in view of the greater good of all.

While he did not cite the primacy of the Catholic Church or its teachings, Francis stated “that the Catholic Church desires to follow this path, firmly convinced of the importance of ecumenical, inter-religious and cultural dialogue.”

The Church, he added, “offers the treasure she has received to every person and culture, in a spirit of openness and in respectful consideration of what the other religious traditions have to offer.”

Pope Francis made several condemnations of “proselytism” during his various speeches on the papal trip, but while speaking to the assembled religious leaders, he argued that “dialogue, in fact, is not antithetical to proclamation: it does not gloss over differences, but helps us to understand them, to preserve them in their distinctiveness and to discuss them openly for the sake of mutual enrichment.”

He expressed a desire that the “prayers we raise to heaven and the fraternity we experience here on earth spread seeds of hope.”


Catholic Tradition on promotion of other religions

While Pope Francis advocated the “right” of other creeds to “freely express” what each believes, his predecessors in the papal throne have condemned such arguments.

Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors condemns as erroneous and heretical the notion that “every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.”

In his 1888 encyclical Libertas, Pope Leo XIII wrote about the Catholic Church’s relationship with other religions, stating that the Catholic Church tolerates:

Quote:certain modern liberties, not because she prefers them in themselves but because she judges it expedient to permit them, she would in happier times exercise her own liberty; and, by persuasion, exhortation, and entreaty would endeavor, as she is bound, to fulfill the duty assigned to her by God of providing for the eternal salvation of mankind.

Pope Leo XIII clearly noted, however, that “one thing, however, remains always true — that the liberty which is claimed for all to do all things is not, as We have often said, of itself desirable, inasmuch as it is contrary to reason that error and truth should have equal rights.”

Leo repeated this when he wrote in his 1896 encyclical Satis cognitum that everyone should become a child of God by taking “Christ Jesus as their Brother, and at the same time the Church as their mother.”


This was similarly taught by Pope Pius XI in his 1928 encyclical Mortalium animos. Explaining why Catholics were prohibited from participating in non-Catholic “assemblies,” Pius XI wrote:

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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  A Great Miracle of Our Lady of Czestochowa
Posted by: Stone - 09-04-2023, 04:36 AM - Forum: Our Lady - No Replies

A Great Miracle of Our Lady of Czestochowa
Adapted from Saints Who Raised the Dead
by Father Albert J. Hebert, TAN, 1986, NO. 24


TIA | September 2, 2023

Our Lady of Czestochowa is one of the largest Marian shrines in Poland and the greatest treasure of the city of Jasna Gora. Tradition tells us that St. Luke the Evangelist painted the Icon on the back of the tabletop used by the Holy Family in Nazareth. Many miracles have been worked through the ages by the Virgin of Czestochowa and what follows is one of the greatest and most marvelous.


In 1540, in Lublin, Poland, a butcher named Marcin Lanio went to town to buy some things. His wife Malgorzata stayed home to bake some bread and look after their two little boys, Poitrus, age 4, and Kazimierz, age 2.

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Making bread for the family in the large outdoor oven

As it happened Malgorzata ran short of yeast, and so she went to borrow some from her neighbor, leaving her two boys home alone.

Poitrus, the older of the two, who had often watched the butchers slaughter the livestock in the year, decided to imitate them in play. Without realizing the consequences of such an action, Poitrus took a sharp knife and slashed the throat of his brother, sleeping peacefully in a nearby crib.

Seeing the flow of blood, he realized that something bad had happened. Fearing punishment from his mother, the boy hid in the large baker’s oven left open by his mother.

Soon the mother returned to the quiet house. Suspecting nothing, she started a log fire in the prepared oven and went on with her baking.

Suddenly her blood froze in her veins as she heard the agonizing screams of her son Poitrus coming from the oven. She rushed to pull him out, but the boy was already dead, suffocated in the smoke-filled chamber. Only then did she notice her dead little Kazio in the blood-stained crib.

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The miraculous image of Our Lady of Jasna Gora

All this was too much for the poor woman, and she went crazy, striking her head on the wall, pulling out her hair and tearing her clothes to shreds.

When her husband Marcin returned home, he saw the terrible scene. Seeing his demented wife he believed she had killed her sons. In uncontrolled fury he took an axe and crushed her skull with a single blow.

When he realized what he had done, a dreadful fear and remorse seized him. His mind, however, became enlightened by a sudden heavenly impulse. Instead of despairing and taking his own life, he placed his entire faith and confidence in the Madonna of Czestochowa, to whom he had a great devotion. He begged her not to forsake him in his critical moment.

By now many of his neighbors had assembled at the scene of the tragedy. Dumbfounded they watched. Marcin Lanio, without a word, load the three corpses into a wagon, make the Sign of the Cross, and turn the horses in the direction of the Shrine of Czestochowa.

In silence Marcin journeyed through the narrow roads, followed by a great number of skeptical people, whose number increased as he drew nearer to the Shrine. Marcin paid no heed to them, because his mind and heart were focused on the Blessed Mother of God.

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Blessed Stanislaw Oporowski, known for his devotion to Our Lady & miracles

When Marcin finally arrived at the Shrine, some of the bystanders helped to carry the dead bodies into the church. He himself did not enter, lacking both the strength and the courage. Instead he lay prostrate before the main door, kissing the feet of the people who entered and begging them to pray to Our Lady for his family before the throne of the Miraculous Madonna.

Inside, Blessed Stanislaw Oporowski, a devout priest, was conducting the Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The portrait of the Black Madonna, high above the main altar, glowed with heavenly splendor. In tears Blessed Stanislaw and all the people prayed and begged the intercession of Our Lady for the poor butcher and his family.

As the Magnificat was entoned, a supernatural air penetrated the chapel. At the words, "Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His Name," a dumbfounded shock came over the congregation. The three lifeless corpses came to life and slowly rose from their places.

For a moment there was a great and profound silence. Then all joined spontaneously in a thanksgiving hymn to the Madonna. Soon the fame of this miracle became known worldwide, and the Emperor himself ordered that a copy of this miraculous portrait be made and placed in the Cathedral in Vienna.

Now then, let no Protestant or heretic refuse this truth of this miracle, for if they do, they will have to face God and Our Lady on this matter, and I would not like to be in their shoes.

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  EPA move to allow new pesticide use on food crops worries health advocates
Posted by: Stone - 09-04-2023, 04:28 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

EPA move to allow new pesticide use on food crops worries health advocates

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The New Lede | May 8, 2023

Federal regulators are poised to allow US farmers to start applying a pesticide currently restricted to non-food uses on fields producing an array of food crops in a move that scientists and advocates say could threaten human and ecological health.

Last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposed decision to allow the first-ever uses of chlormequat chloride on wheat, barley, oats and a hybrid of rye and wheat known as triticale. The agency said the move is aimed at helping farmers limit the bending and breaking of small grains, a condition called lodging, which can impair harvesting and reduce yields. The pesticide acts as a plant growth regulator, controlling plant size by blocking hormones that stimulate growth prior to bloom.

Chlormequat is not currently approved for use on food or animal feed in the United States, though it has been allowed for use on ornamental crops grown in nurseries and greenhouses since 1962.

Farm groups welcomed the EPA action; the pesticide is already used by farmers in other countries on small grain products that are imported to the US. But critics say laboratory research has linked the chemical to problems with reproduction and development, and the EPA should not be putting people and animals at greater risk of exposure.

The crops included in the proposed decision can make up a significant portion of a child’s diet, a fact that makes the EPA’s proposal potentially dangerous for children, according to Phil Landrigan, a professor of public health and epidemiologist at Boston College.

“There appears to be evidence for developmental and reproductive toxicity,” Landrigan said of chlormequat research. “Some little kids will spend a year of their life eating mostly a Cheerio diet. That’s what kids do. And in the end, the children who happen to be eating that atypical diet are the ones who are really heavily exposed.”

The EPA has “a legal duty to protect infants and children against the toxic effects of pesticides,” Landrigan said. “And they appear not to have taken that responsibility seriously.”


An “astronomical” increase

The EPA’s proposed action would greatly increase the amount of chlormequat used in the US, as well as the amount of chlormequat residue in food, according to the Center for Food Safety (CFS), a public health advocacy group. In a comment to the EPA about the proposed action, CFS said the rule would lead to an “astronomical rise in domestic use of [chlormequat],” estimating that use of the pesticide would increase 28,000-fold.

In its comments, CFS warned that approving new uses and higher tolerances could encourage growers to apply chlormequat at higher doses and across a longer period of the growing season than is necessary, which would further increase the ecological and human health impacts of the pesticide.

The maximum residue levels (MRLs) of the pesticide currently allowed on imported wheat, barley, and oat are 3 parts per million (ppm), 2 ppm, and 10 ppm, respectively. The EPA issued those rules in response to a request from Taminco US LLC, a subsidiary of Eastman Chemical Company that manufactures pesticides containing chlormequat.

The EPA’s newest proposed decision comes after a 2021 petition from Taminco asking the EPA to establish a new residue tolerance of 8 ppm for barley. Last month, Taminco updated the request to establish new tolerances for oats at 40 ppm, wheat and triticale grain at 5 parts per million.

A January investigation by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) research and advocacy group, found chlormequat residues at levels higher than the EWG health guideline of .03 parts per million in 11 of 14 oat-based food products in the US, despite the fact that the chemical is currently only allowed for use on imported grain. According to EWG, its health guidelines are much lower than EPA’s MRLs due to the danger chlormequat poses to children’s health, the variation of sensitivity between people, and uncertainty of the data on chlormequat’s health effects.

Taminco did not respond to a request for comment about the proposed decision.


Animal studies raise concerns

Humans can be exposed to chlormequat in various ways, including using the chemical, ingesting foods with chlormequat residues or by drinking groundwater contaminated with the pesticide. While there are no studies of the chemical’s effects on human health directly, studies have shown that chlormequat is toxic to mammals.

Notably, in one peer-reviewed study, offspring of rats exposed to the chemical had problems with growth and development. The chemical has also been shown to negatively impact bone development in rats and fertility in mice. A 1989 Danish study found that swine fed with chlormequat-treated wheat showed reproductive health problems at doses lower than what is currently considered safe for humans.

The chemical is “pretty clearly an endocrine disruptor,” said Bill Freese, CFS science director.

The EPA’s human health risk assessment for the proposed changes found decreases in body weight and neurotoxic effects in studies using rats, mice, and dogs. However, since neurotoxic effects were mostly found to be associated with high doses of chlormequat, the agency waived two additional studies: one to determine the effects of the chemical on fetal and infant nervous system development, and another to determine the toxicity of the chemical to animals’ immune systems.

Waiving those two studies was an improper action by the EPA, according to Freese.

“The point of doing the developmental neurotoxic is precisely that the effects can occur at much lower exposure levels,” he said. “You need to do this kind of study.”

The EPA did not respond to a request for comment. The agency has stated in regulatory filings, however, that it has determined that the proposed decision poses no “risks of concern” to human health.


Ecological concerns

In the announcement, the EPA said they have not identified any “risks of concern” to ecological health from the proposed decision, though in its assessment of ecological risks it did find the chemical to be slightly toxic to birds and moderately toxic to mammals.

Critics say the wild bees and other invertebrates may be harmed by the use of chlormequat and the agency’s risk assessment illegally fails to evaluate risks to threatened and endangered species.

The EPA’s pesticide approval process has been criticized previously by environmental advocates for failing to evaluate risks to threatened and endangered species. Last year, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the agency to address harms to threatened and endangered species from four pesticides after a lawsuit from CFS and other advocates.

“For decades the EPA has practiced a reckless spray-first-look-later approach to addressing the threats of pesticides to imperiled species,” Jonathan Evans, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

The EPA also did not respond to a request for comment about the threats of chlormequat to threatened and endangered species.

Despite the concerns, farmers are eager for the new uses of the pesticide. The National Association of Wheat Growers and National Barley Growers Association sent public comments to the EPA expressing support for expedited action to approve new uses of chlormequat-containing pesticide products.

The grower groups said farmers have a small window of time each season in which to apply certain products such as chlormequat, so urgent action is needed if farmers are to reap the advantages this growing season.

In contrast, in its written comments to the EPA, CFS said the risks are not worth the gain:

“The putative benefit of applying chlormequat to grains is far outweighed by the risks and costs to human health and the environment,” the group wrote.

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  Pope St. Pius X's prophecy on the One World Church of Apostasy by John Vennari
Posted by: Stone - 09-03-2023, 05:53 AM - Forum: Resources Online - No Replies

Pope St. Pius X's prophecy on the One World Church of Apostasy by John Vennari


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  St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Fourteenth Week after Pentecost
Posted by: Stone - 09-03-2023, 05:44 AM - Forum: Pentecost - Replies (7)

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Morning Meditation

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ALL ENDS AND SOON ENDS


The grass of the field which is to-day, and to-morrow is cast into the oven (Matt. vi. 30). Behold, the goods of the earth are like the grass of the field, which to-day is blooming and beautiful, but by the evening withers, and its flowers fade, and the next day it is cast into the fire! All flesh is grass and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.


I.

Behold, the goods of the earth are like the grass of the field, which to-day is blooming and beautiful, but by the evening it withers and its flowers fade, and the next day it is cast into the fire. This is what God commanded the Prophet Isaias to preach: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field (Is. xl. 6). Hence St. James compares the rich ones of this world to the flower of the grass: at the end of their journey through life they rot, and all their riches and grandeurs with them. The flower of the grass shall he pass away. For the sun rose with a burning heat, and parched the grass, and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways (James i. 10, 11). They fade away and are cast into the fire, like the rich glutton, who made a splendid appearance in this life but afterwards was buried in hell.

Let us, then, dearly beloved Christian, attend to the salvation of our souls, and to the acquisition of riches for eternity, which never ends; for everything in this world ends, and ends very soon.

When some great one of this world is in the full enjoyment of the riches and honours he has acquired, death shall come, and he shall be told: Take order with thy house; for thou shalt die, and not live (Is. xxxviii. 1). Oh, what doleful tidings! The unhappy man must then say: Farewell, O world! Farewell, O my villa! Farewell, O my beautiful gardens! Farewell, relatives and friends! Farewell sports and balls! Farewell, festivities and banquets! Farewell, honours! All is over for me! There is no remedy: whether he will or not he must leave all. For when he shall die, he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him (Ps. xlviii. 18). St. Bernard says that death produces a horrible separation of the soul from the body, and from all the things of this earth. Opus mortis, horrendum divortium. To the great of this world, whom worldlings regard as the most fortunate of mortals, the bare mention of death is so full of bitterness that they are unwilling even to hear it mentioned; for their entire concern is to find peace in their earthly goods. O death! says Ecclesiasticus, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions (Ecclus. xli. 1).

O my Jesus I give Thee thanks for having waited for me and for not having called me out of this world in my sins. During the remainder of my life I will weep over my iniquities. I will love Thee with all my strength. I know I must die, and by Thy grace I will prepare to die a happy death.


II.

If the bare mention of death is full of bitterness, how much greater bitterness shall death itself cause when it actually comes. Miserable the man who is attached to the goods of this world! Every separation produces pain. Hence, when the soul shall be separated by the stroke of death from the goods on which it had fixed all its affections, the pain must be excruciating. It was this that made king Agag exclaim, when the news of approaching death was announced to him: Doth bitter death separate in this manner? (1 Kings xv. 32). The great misfortune of worldlings is that when they are on the point of being summoned to Judgment, instead of endeavouring to adjust the account of their souls, they direct all their attention to earthly things. But, says St. John Chrysostom, the punishment which awaits the sinner on account of having forgotten God during life is that at the hour of death he forgets himself.

But how great soever a man's attachment to the things of this world may be, he must take leave of them at death. Naked he has entered into this world, and naked he shall depart from it. Naked, says Job, I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither (Job i. 21.). In a word, they who have spent their whole life sacrificing sleep, health, and their very soul in accumulating riches and possessions, shall take nothing with them at the hour of death. Their eyes shall then be opened, and of all they had so dearly acquired, they shall find nothing in their hands. Hence, on that night of confusion, they shall be overwhelmed in a tempest of pains and sadness. The rich man, when he shall sleep, shall take away nothing with him. He shall open his eyes and find nothing; ... a tempest shall oppress him in the night (Job xxvii. 19-20).

St. Antoninus relates that Saladin, king of the Saracens, gave orders at the hour of death that the winding-sheet in which he was to be buried should be carried before him to the grave, and that a person should cry out: "Of all his possessions, only this shall Saladin bring with him." The Saint also relates that a certain philosopher, speaking of Alexander the Great after his death, said: "Behold the man that made the earth tremble!" The earth, as the Scripture says, was quiet before him. He is now under the earth. Behold the man whom the dominion of the whole world could not satisfy: now six feet of earth is sufficient for him. An ancient writer says that having gone to see the tomb of Caesar, he exclaimed: "Princes feared thee; cities worshipped thee; all trembled before thee; whither has thy magnificence gone?" Listen to what David says: I have seen the wicked highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus. And I passed by, and lo! he was not (Ps. xxxvi. 35-36). Oh, how many such spectacles are seen every day in the world! A sinner who had been born in lowliness and poverty afterwards acquires wealth and honours, so as to excite the envy of all. When he dies, men say: He made a fortune in the world; but now he is dead, and with death all is over for him!


Spiritual Reading

DANGERS TO SALVATION

A boat on the waves of the sea represents man in this world. As a vessel on the sea is exposed to a thousand dangers -- to pirates, to quicksands, to hidden rocks, and to tempests, so man in this life is encompassed with perils arising from the temptations of hell -- from the occasions of sin, from the scandals or bad counsels of men, from human respect, and, above all, from the bad passions of corrupt nature, represented by the winds that agitate the sea and expose the vessel to great danger of being lost.

St. Leo says our life is full of dangers, of snares, and of enemies. The first enemy of the salvation of every Christian is his own corruption. But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured (James i. 14).

Along with the corrupt inclinations within us that drag us to evil, we have many enemies from without that fight against us. We have the devils, with whom the contest is very difficult, because they are stronger than we are. Hence, because we have to contend with powerful enemies, St. Paul exhorts us to arm ourselves with the Divine aid: Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places (Ephes. vi. 11-12). The devil, according to St. Peter, is a lion continually going about roaring with rage and hunger for our souls. Your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. v. 8). St. Cyprian says that Satan is continually lying in wait for us in order to make us his slaves.

Even the men with whom we must converse endanger our salvation. They persecute or betray us, or they deceive us by their flattery and wicked counsels. St. Augustine says that among the faithful there are in every profession insincere and deceitful men. Now if a fortress were full of rebels within, and encompassed by enemies without, who would not regard it as lost? Such is the condition of each of us as long as we live in this world. Who shall be able to deliver us from so many powerful enemies? Only God: Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it (Ps. cxxvi. 1).

What, then, is the means by which we can save our souls in the midst of so many dangers? It is to imitate the holy disciples -- to have recourse to our Divine Master, and to say to Him: Lord, save us; we perish -- Domine, salva nos; perimus. Save us, O Lord; if Thou dost not, we are lost. When the tempest is violent, the pilot never takes his eyes from the light which guides him to the port. In like manner we should keep our eyes always turned to God Who alone can deliver us from the many dangers to which we are exposed. It was thus David acted when he found himself assailed by the dangers of sin. I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me (Ps. cxx. 1). To teach us to recommend ourselves continually to Him who alone can save us by His grace, the Lord has ordained that, as long as we remain on this earth we shall have to live in the midst of a continual tempest and be surrounded by enemies. The temptations of the devil, the persecutions of men, the adversity which we suffer in this world, are not evils; they are, on the contrary, advantages, if we know how to use them as God wishes, Who sends or permits them for our welfare. They detach our affections from this earth, and inspire a disgust for this world, by making us feel bitterness and thorns even in its honours, its riches, its delights, and amusements. The Lord permits all these apparent evils, that we may take away our affections from fading goods, in which we meet with so many dangers of perdition, and that we may seek to unite ourselves with Him Who alone can make us happy.

The error and mistake is that when we find ourselves harassed by infirmities, poverty, persecutions, and all such tribulations, instead of having recourse to the Lord, we turn to creatures and place our confidence in their assistance, and thus draw upon ourselves the maledictions of God, Who says: Cursed be the man who trusteth in man (Jer. xvii. 5). The Lord does not forbid us in our afflictions and dangers to have recourse to human means; but He curses those who place their whole trust in them. He wishes us to have recourse to Himself before all others and to place our only hope in Him, so that we may also centre in Him all our love.

As long as we live on this earth, we must, according to St. Paul, work out our salvation with fear and trembling in the midst of the dangers by which we are beset. Whilst a certain vessel was in the open sea a great tempest arose which made the captain tremble. In the hold of the vessel there was an animal eating with as much tranquillity as if the sea were perfectly calm. The captain being asked why he was so much afraid, replied: "If I had a soul like the soul of that brute, I too would be tranquil and without fear; but because I have a rational and an immortal soul, I am afraid of death, after which I must appear before the Judgment-seat of God; and therefore I tremble through fear." Let us tremble. The salvation of our immortal souls is at stake. They who do not tremble, are, as St. Paul says, in great danger of being lost; because they who fear not, seldom recommend themselves to God, and labour but little to adopt the means of salvation. Let us beware, for we are, says St. Cyprian, still in the front of the fight, and combating for eternal salvation.


Evening Meditation

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST

I.

The Divine Priest, Jesus Christ, Who was both Priest and Victim, by the sacrifice of His life for the salvation of men completed the Sacrifice of the Cross and accomplished the work of the world's Redemption. By His death Jesus Christ stripped our death of its terrors. Until then it was but the punishment of rebels; but by grace and the merits of our Saviour it becomes a sacrifice so dear to God that when we unite it to the death of Jesus, it makes us worthy to enjoy the same glory that God enjoys, and to hear Him one day say to us, as we hope: Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord! (Matt. xxv.21).

Thus death, which was an object of pain and dread, was changed by the death of Jesus into a passage from a state of peril and danger of hell, into one of security and of eternal blessedness, and from the miseries of this life to the boundless delights of Paradise.

Therefore the Saints have ever regarded death with joy and desire, and no longer with fear. St. Augustine says that they who love the Crucified One "live with patience and die with joy." And common experience shows that they who in life have been most troubled with persecutions, temptations, scruples, or other painful events are in death most comforted by Jesus Crucified, conquering with great peace of mind all the terrors and pains of death. And if it has sometimes happened that some of the Saints, as we read in their Lives, died in great fear of death, the Lord God permitted this in order to increase their merits; because the more painful the sacrifice, the more acceptable it was to God, and the more profitable to them for eternity.

Oh, how much more bitter was death of old, before the time of the death of Jesus Christ! The Saviour was not yet come, and men sighed for His coming: they waited for His promise, but they knew not when it would be fulfilled. The devil had great power upon earth; Heaven was closed to men. But after the death of the Redeemer, hell was conquered. Divine grace was given to souls, God was reconciled to men, and the Kingdom of Heaven was opened to all those who die innocent, or have expiated their sins by repentance. And if some who die in grace do not immediately enter Heaven, this only results from the faults of which they are not yet cleansed; and death merely bursts their bonds, in order that they may be free to unite themselves perfectly to God, from Whom they are far away in this land of exile.


II.

Let us, then, take heed, O Christian souls, while we are in this exile, not to look at death as a misfortune, but as the end of our pilgrimage, which is full of difficulties and dangers, and as the beginning of our eternal happiness, which we hope one day to attain through the merits of Jesus Christ. And with this thought of Heaven, let us detach ourselves as much as possible from earthly things, which may cause us to lose Heaven and give us over to eternal pains. Let us offer ourselves to God declaring that we wish to die when it pleases Him, and to accept death in the manner and at the time which He has appointed; ever praying Him that, through the merits of Jesus Christ, He will cause us to depart from this life in His grace.

O my Jesus and my Saviour, Who, to obtain for me a happy death, hast chosen for Thyself a death so painful and desolate. I abandon myself into the arms of Thy mercy. For many years past I have deserved to be in hell, for the sins I have committed against Thee, and to be separated from Thee forever. But Thou, instead of punishing me as I deserved, hast called me to repentance, and I hope that now Thou hast pardoned me; but if Thou hast not already pardoned me through my fault, pardon me now that in sorrow I ask for mercy at Thy feet. O my Jesus, I could die of grief when I think of the injuries I have offered Thee! "O Blood of the Innocent, wash away the sins of the penitent!" pardon me, and give me grace to love Thee with all my strength till death; and when I shall reach the end of my life, make me to die burning with love for Thee, that I may continue to love Thee forever. Jesus, henceforth I unite my death to Thy holy death, through which I hope to be saved. In thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded (Ps. xxx. 2).

O thou great Mother of God, next to Jesus thou art my hope. "In thee, O Lady, have I hoped; I shall not be confounded forever."

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  Conflicting Evidence Of mRNA Technology Raises Serious Concerns
Posted by: Stone - 09-02-2023, 06:48 AM - Forum: Health - No Replies

Conflicting Evidence Of mRNA Technology Raises Serious Concerns About Rush For Use In New Vaccine Development

[Image: id5483377-shutterstock_2132788623-870x52...k=v8SDpNXI]
(wacomka/Shutterstock)]


ZH [slightly adapted] | SEP 01, 2023
Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. government and pharmaceutical companies are investing a substantial amount to develop new mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer, fueling a lucrative mRNA platform valued at $136.2 billion.

A newly established White House program announced on Aug. 23 that it is granting a total of $25 million over three years to Emory University, Yale School of Medicine, and the University of Georgia to develop personalized therapeutic vaccines against cancers and emerging infections, similar to how COVID-19 mRNA vaccines target SARS-CoV-2. They aim to use mRNA—an essential element in COVID-19 vaccines developed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections—to program a unique class of immune cells called dendritic cells to initiate a desired immunological response.

Pharmaceutical companies such as Moderna, BioNTech, and CureVac are conducting clinical trials using mRNA-based vaccines with advanced melanoma, ovarian, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers. The National Institutes of Health is partnering with BioNTech to develop a personalized vaccine for pancreatic cancers. In addition to COVID-19 and cancer, other mRNA-based vaccines in development target influenza, genital herpes, respiratory viruses, and shingles.

Although mRNA platforms are appealing because they reduce costs and shorten the vaccine development timeline, evidence and experience suggest the mRNA technology used for novel COVID-19 vaccines is associated with various harms and neither prevents COVID-19 nor its transmission.


Evidence Challenging Vaccine ‘Safe and Effective’ Narrative

The unprecedented rates of adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination overshadow the benefits, according to researchers from Australia who say the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, whether from the virus or created from genetic code in mRNA and adenovectorDNA vaccines, is toxic and causes a wide array of diseases.

In their recently published paper published in Biomedicines titled, “‘Spikeopathy’: COVID-19 Spike Protein Is Pathogenic, from Both Virus and Vaccine mRNA,” the researchers explored peer-reviewed data countering the “safe and effective” narrative attached to new technologies used to develop mRNA and adenovectorDNA vaccines at “warp speed” to end the pandemic.

Spike protein pathogenicity, termed “spikeopathy,” describes the ability of the spike protein to cause disease, and the researchers say it can affect many organ systems.

Researchers noted the following key problem areas:
  • Spike protein toxicity (spikeopathy) from both the virus and when produced by gene codes in people vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines.
  • Inflammatory properties in specific lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) used to transport mRNA.
  • Long-lasting action caused by N1-methyl pseudouridine in the synthetic mRNA—also referred to as modRNA.
  • Widespread distribution of mRNA and DNA codes via the LNP and viral vector carrier matrices, respectively.
  • Human cells produce a foreign protein that can cause autoimmunity.
Now that vaccines utilizing mRNA technology have been available and widely distributed for several years, data show these vaccines produce foreign antigens in human tissues and increase the risk of autoimmune, neurological, cardiovascular, inflammatory disorders, and cancers, especially when the vaccine ingredients do not remain localized at the injection site. An antigen is any substance that stimulates an immune response. If the immune system encounters an antigen that is not found on the body’s own cells, it will launch an attack against that antigen.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data show the design of the mRNA and adenovectorDNA COVID-19 vaccines allow uncontrolled biodistribution, durability, and persistent bioavailability of the spike protein inside the body after vaccination. Pharmacokinetics is the study of how the body interacts with administered substances for the entire duration of exposure. Pharmacodynamics assesses the drug’s effect on the body more closely.

This may explain the unprecedented number of adverse events that appear to be associated with the spike protein produced by the gene-based technologies employed by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, as well as the viral vector DNA technology used by other countries, researchers said.


mRNA Vaccines Are Gene Therapy and May Cause Harm

Gene-based COVID-19 vaccines are therapeutic products that actually fit within the FDA’s definition of gene therapy because they cause the cells of the vaccinated person to produce antigens for transmembrane expression that invokes an immune response. By design, these novel vaccine platforms risk tissue damage secondary to autoimmune responses raised against cells expressing foreign spike antigens, researchers said.

The FDA was aware of the pathogenicity of spike proteins before releasing COVID-19 vaccines to the public. In an October 2022 meeting with its vaccine advisors, the FDA presented a highly accurate list of potential adverse events associated with COVID-19 vaccines, including neurological, cardiovascular, and autoimmune “possible adverse events.”

React19, an organization that provides financial, emotional, and physical support to those experiencing long-term injuries from COVID-19 vaccines, provided a list of over 3,400 published papers and case reports of injuries affecting more than 20 organ systems. More than 432 peer-reviewed papers relate to papers and case reports of myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, hypertension, aortic dissection, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), tachycardia, and conduction disturbance—a problem with the electrical system that controls the heart’s rate and rhythm.

The most common group of adverse events reported following COVID-19 vaccination to both pharmacovigilance databases and Pfizer involve neurological disorders. According to the paper, neurological symptoms and cognitive decline with accelerated neurodegenerative disease are features of acute COVID-19 vaccine injuries and, to some extent, long COVID syndrome. Research suggests (pdf) LNPs transporting the mRNA to make spike proteins can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause neurotoxic effects.


Lipid Nanoparticles Are Toxic and Pro-Inflammatory

It’s not just the spike protein that can cause disease. LNPs that serve as the delivery method are also toxic and pro-inflammatory.

Research from 2018 showed even small amounts of nanoparticles taken up by the lungs can lead to cytotoxic effects. Ingested nanoparticles have been shown to affect lymph nodes, the liver, and the spleen, while when injected as a drug carrier, they can pass any barrier and translocate to the brain, ovaries, and testes, mainly after phagocytosis by macrophages, which help distribute them across the body. The effects on the reproductive system suggest lipid nanoparticles can be cytotoxic and damage DNA.

According to the authors, two components in the mRNA lipid nanoparticle complexes, ALC-0315 and ALC-0159, are concerning, as they have never been used in a medicinal product and are not registered in either the European Pharmacopoeia or in the European C&L Inventory database. A question posed to the European Parliament in December 2021 pointed out that the manufacturer of the nanoparticles specifies the nanoparticles are for research only and not for human use. The European Commission responded that the excipient in Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine “has been demonstrated to be appropriate … in compliance with the relevant EMA scientific guidelines and standards.”

Still, this could explain the root cause of numerous post-vaccination adverse events, researchers said.

Read more here...

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  Minnesota art center holds 'demon summoning session' for families
Posted by: Stone - 09-02-2023, 06:34 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

Minnesota art center holds 'demon summoning session' for families
"We’re just not very good at getting to know" demons, according to the activity description.

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Minnesota art center holds 'demon summoning session' for families


Post Millennial [slightly adapted] | Aug 17, 2023


The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis held a demon-related pagan ritual, called "Lilit the Empathic Demon" earlier this month that was geared toward families. 

Walker Art Center is guided "by the belief that art has the power to bring joy and solace and the ability to unite people through dialogue and shared experiences." Kids get in free to the center between the ages of zero and 18. 

An event description of the demon-themed activity said that the performance of Lilit the Empathic Demon was a "collective and playful demon summoning session" that will end with "a somatic movement meditation, designed to help you befriend your shadows."

Prior to the performance, another demon-themed activity gave instructions on "how to trap a demon." The description adds that demons will often "have a bad reputation.” One reason demons have a bad reputation is that "we’re just not very good at getting to know them,” according to the description. 

The activities were part of the Walker "Plant Teachers" day. This also included a performance from Catharus, which is music that "explores relationships to land, other-than-human beings, memory, and identity."

Featured artist, Tamar Ettun, has previously made an exhibit called How to Trap a Demon. One piece of the exhibit from Ettun instructs the observer to text "summon" to a phone number that is written on the wall that will communicate with Lilit. 

Ettun's exhibit description says that it revives the ancient traditions from "Sumerian, Akkadian, and Judaic mythology" that showed the demon, Lilit, appearing on "incantation bowls, a healing technology used to protect against demons."

The exhibit also "parts with the historical gender binarism" and "builds on "the artist’s research into the insidious side of empathy, empathy fatigue, trauma-healing modalities, and astrology as storytelling."

An article posted to Walker's website also explains how Ettun came in contact with Lilit "when she was at a residency, spending her days and nights in a haunted firehouse-turned-museum making knots and having just found out she was pregnant.”

The Walker Art Center is supported by millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.

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  Latin Mass Church Burns Down
Posted by: Stone - 09-02-2023, 06:25 AM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence - No Replies

Latin Mass Church Burns Down

[Image: 90v97dr0i9tf2neilf61we0jthjg3ujn3a7fv8k....19&webp=on]


gloria.tv | September 1, 2023

A huge fire tore through St Joseph's Church in Salem, Oregon, on Thursday night. The parish said that the sanctuary was “pretty much a loss.” The parish was founded in 1853, and the current church was built in 1953.

St. Joseph is one of eight parishes in Portland Archdiocese that offer the Latin Mass.

The fire was caused by arson, according to the police. Detectives arrested Billy James Sweeten, age 48.

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Photo The Synodal Process ——Is A—— Pandora’s Box 100 Questions & Answers José Antonio Ureta and Julio Lore
Posted by: ThyWillBeDone - 08-30-2023, 05:38 PM - Forum: The Architects of Vatican II - No Replies

https://www.complicitclergy.com/wp-conte...as_box.pdf
   
The Synodal
Process
——Is A——
Pandora’s Box
100 Questions & Answers
José Antonio Ureta
and
Julio Loredo de Izcue
With a Foreword by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke.

I - The Synod of Bishops

1. What Is the Synod of Bishops?
The Synod of Bishops is a permanent body of the Catholic Church,
external to the Roman Curia, which represents the episcopate. It was
created by Pope Paul VI on September 15, 1965, with the motu proprio
Apostolica sollicitudo.
The Synod is convened by the pope, who sets the topic. It can meet in
three forms: Ordinary General Assembly for matters concerning the good
of the universal Church, Extraordinary General Assembly for urgent
issues, and Special Assembly for matters regarding one or more regions. It
has a merely consultative character but can exercise a decision-making
function when the pope grants it.
So far, there have been fifteen Ordinary General Assemblies of the Synod
of Bishops. This year, 2023, will see the sixteenth.

2. Are a Synod’s Conclusions Binding?
No. In the past, a Synod of Bishops’ Final Document had no magisterial
value since its role was to give suggestions to the supreme pontiff. The
pope collected the Synod’s ideas and published a post-synodal apostolic
exhortation, which proposed the conclusions of the Synod to the whole
Church, sometimes with significant modifications. This papal document
constituted magisterium. After the reforms introduced by Pope Francis in
2015, the Final Document becomes directly part of the ordinary
magisterium if expressly approved by the Roman pontiff. And if the pope
previously grants the Synod decision-making power, its Final Document
becomes part of the ordinary magisterium once ratified and promulgated
by the pope.

3. Can a Pope or Synod of Bishops Change the Catholic
Church’s Doctrine or Structures?
No. Neither the pope, the Synod of Bishops, nor any other ecclesiastical
or secular body has the authority to change the doctrine or structures of the
Church, set and entrusted in deposit by her divine Founder. The First
Vatican Council teaches:

13. For the doctrine of the faith which God has revealed is put forward • not as some philosophical discovery capable of being perfected by human intelligence, • but as a divine deposit committed to the spouse of Christ to be faithfully protected and infallibly promulgated. 14. Hence, too, that meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained, which has once been declared by Holy Mother Church, and there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.1 The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith states: “Like all faithful, the Roman pontiff is under the Word of God, the Catholic faith … . He does not decide according to his own will but gives voice to the will of the Lord, who speaks to man in the Scripture lived and interpreted by Tradition; in other words, the Primate’s episkopè has the limits set by divine law and the Church’s inviolable divine constitution contained in Revelation.” 2 

4. What Changes Did Pope Francis Introduce at the Synod of Bishops? In 2015, Pope Francis announced profound changes to the Synod of Bishops on the fiftieth anniversary of its institution. Expressing his desire that the entire People of God be consulted in the preparation of the synodal assemblies, the pope proposed a plan to create a new “Synodal Church” based on this premise: Given their supernatural sense of faith (sensus fidei), the entire People of God cannot err (it is infallible in credendo) and has a “flair” to find the ways the Lord opens to His Church. The Synodal Church would be one of reciprocal listening between the faithful people, the episcopal college, and the bishop of Rome to know what the Holy Spirit “saith to the churches” (Apoc. 2:7). To this end, all ecclesial bodies—in parishes, dioceses, and the Roman Curia— should remain connected to the base and always start “from people and their daily problems.” 3 Getting to work, Pope Francis altered the Synod of Bishops with the apostolic constitution Episcopalis communio (Sept. 15, 2018) to involve the faithful. The Synod is now divided into three stages: the preparatory phase of consultation with the People of God; the celebratory phase, that is,
the bishops’ meeting in assembly; and the implementation phase, in which
the Assembly’s conclusions, approved by the pope, are to be accepted by
the whole Church.

5. How Does Pope Francis Justify This Radical Change in the
Synod of Bishops?
According to Pope Francis, bishops are both teachers and disciples. They
are teachers when they proclaim “the word of truth in the name of Christ,
head and shepherd.” But they are also disciples, when “knowing that the
Spirit has been bestowed upon every baptized person, he listens to the
voice of Christ speaking through the entire People of God.”
4 The Synod
thus becomes an instrument for giving voice to the whole People of God
through the bishops.

6. What Is the Coming Synod’s Topic and Program?
On April 24, 2021, in an audience with Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-
general of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis approved the theme and
program of the Synod of Bishops’ Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly.
Thus began the local/national consultation phase with the People of God,
which ended in 2022. The continental phase then began, culminating in
February-March 2023 with the Continental Assemblies, which presented to
the Vatican their conclusions, called a Continental Synthesis. From there,
the Synod moves on to the universal phase, for which two general
assemblies are convened in Rome: the first in October 2023 and the second
in October 2024. A spiritual retreat for all participants will precede the
2023 assembly.
The theme chosen is: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation,
and Mission.” According to the pope, it is a matter of “Journeying together
—laity, pastors, the bishop of Rome.”
1 The greatest difficulty to overcome
“is the clericalism that detaches priests and bishops from people” because
“there is a certain resistance to moving beyond the image of a Church
rigidly divided into leaders and followers, those who teach and those who
are taught; we forget that God likes to overturn things: as Mary said, ‘he
has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly’
(Luke 1:52). Journeying together tends to be more horizontal than
vertical.”
2
The next Synod, therefore, will not discuss a specific pastoral theme, as
is usually the case in these assemblies, but the very structure of the Church.
For this reason, it is also known as the Synod on Synodality.

7. Is This Synod Aimed at Reaching Specific Conclusions or
Opening a Process?
Unlike other general Synods, this Synod on Synodality is not held to
discuss doctrinal or pastoral questions and reach specific conclusions but to
open a way, to undertake a process to reform the Church. Its Preparatory
Document proposes to launch “a participative and inclusive ecclesial
process.”3 Rather than a Synod, we should speak of a synodal journey. In the Preparatory Document for the Synod, which we analyze below, the
term process is used no less than twenty-three times, along with synonyms
such as path, itinerary, route, and so forth.
This fluid approach must be seen in the broader perspective of the current
pontificate, which privileges becoming and not being, change and not
stability, search and not a certainty: “We need to initiate processes and not
just occupy spaces.”
4
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the Synod, stated,
“Sitting and talking only make a synod when the talking is about the
journey. Otherwise, it becomes a war of concepts.”

8. Why Did Pope Francis Decide to Hold Two Assemblies?
According to the initial plan, the Synodal Assembly would occur in
Rome in October 2023. However, at the end of the Angelus on Sunday,
October 16, 2022, Pope Francis announced that the Assembly would hold
two sessions, one year apart.
6
The reason given was that “the theme of the synodal Church, because of
its breadth and importance, might be the subject of prolonged discernment
not only by the members of the Synodal Assembly but by the whole
Church.”
7 A new phase of listening to the People of God on what the
delegates discussed in Rome will follow the first Assembly.

9. What Would Happen if a Significant Number of the Faithful
Disagreed With and Rejected the Decisions of the Synod or the
Pope?
There seems to be an internal contradiction in the apostolic constitution
Episcopalis communio, in which Pope Francis altered the Synod of
Bishops. Number 5 declares that every bishop is a disciple “when,
knowing that the Spirit has been bestowed upon every baptized person, he
listens to the voice of Christ speaking through the entire People of God,
making it ‘infallible in credendo.’” This idea is reinforced in number 7,
which insists that “the synodal process not only has its point of departure
but also its point of arrival in the People of God.” It would seem, then, that
the implementation of synodal decisions depends on their good reception
by the faithful, as the Synod Secretariat’s website suggests: “The
conclusions of the Synod, once approved by the Roman Pontiff, are
accepted by the local churches.”

However, section IV of Episcopalis communio, which deals precisely
with the Synod’s implementation phase, provides that diocesan bishops
“see to the reception and implementation of the conclusions of the Synod
Assembly, once they have been accepted by the Roman pontiff” (Art. 19 §
1) and that episcopal conferences “coordinate the implementation of the
aforementioned conclusions in their territory” (Art. 19 § 2).
It says nothing about what would happen if a disagreement arose
between the People of God and the pastors regarding concrete applications
of synodal orientations. If the pastors’ will prevailed, the whole listening
process would appear vain, and the rhetoric of synodality could appear
largely insincere. If the will of the People of God prevailed, the Church
would have been transformed into a de facto democracy.

10. What Is “Synodality”? According to the International Theological Commission, the noun synodality was coined recently and constituted “novel language” not appearing in the Second Vatican Council documents or the Code of Canon Law. In the context of a new model of the Church, according to the Commission, “synodality is the specific modus vivendi et operandi of the Church, the People of God, which reveals and gives substance to her being as communion when all her members journey together, gather in assembly and take an active part in her evangelizing mission.”1 According to Pope Francis, “Synodality is an expression of the Church’s nature, her form, style and mission.”2 And thus, synodality is “a constitutive element of the Church.”3 

11. What Does Synodality Seek? Synod promoters claim that it would be proper for synodality to increase the participation and co-responsibility of all the faithful in the life of the Church. As the Vademecum for the Synod on Synodality prepared by the Synod Secretariat states, “The path of synodality seeks to make pastoral decisions that reflect the will of God as closely as possible, grounding them in the living voice of the People of God… . In articulating the voice of the People of God expressing the reality of the faith on the basis of lived experience.”4 “Synodality calls upon pastors to listen attentively to the flock entrusted to their care.

28. What Does the Working Document for the Continental
Stage Say About Women’s Ordination?
For Synod promoters, women would be among the “excluded
minorities.” The Working Document for the Continental Stage says that a
new culture must be established in the Church, with new practices,
structures, and habits (see no. 60) for full and equal participation of women
in the governing structures of ecclesiastical bodies (see no. 64). It affirms
that many women feel sad that their contributions and charisms are not
always appreciated (see no. 61). Finally, it says that many demand the
female diaconate and the possibility to preach. Some propose the
ordination of women to the priesthood (see no. 64).
Pope Francis himself took a significant step. In April, for the first time in
history, he granted women the power to vote in the Synod. The Roman
pontiff determined that up to 25% of Synod participants would be
laypeople, men and women, all with equal voting rights with the bishops. 30.

31. What Is Behind the “Inclusion” Proposal?
Gavin Ashenden—former Anglican bishop and chaplain to Queen
Elizabeth II, a convert to Catholicism, and now vice-director of the well-
known Catholic Herald daily—denounced the Synod’s Working Document
for the Continental Stage as a Trojan horse. It seeks to manipulate people’s
minds by playing with “talismanic words”36 such as diversity, inclusion,
and equality. He writes: “The trick is very simple. It sets out to use a word
that looks very attractive at first sight but contains a hidden twist, so that it
ends up meaning something different, perhaps even the opposite.”
With great insight, Ashenden continues:
The document is called Enlarge the space of your tent (from
Isaiah 54:2). The controlling idea it sets out to implement is that
of “radical inclusion.” The tent is presented as a place of radical
inclusion from which no one is excluded, and this idea serves as
a hermeneutical key to interpreting the whole document.
The words trick is easily explained. The association
with being excluded is being unloved. Since God is love,
he obviously doesn’t want anyone to experience being
unloved and therefore excluded; ergo God, who is Love,
must be in favor of radical inclusion. Consequently, the
language of hell and judgment in the New Testament must
be some form of aberrational hyperbole which must not be
taken seriously, because the idea of God as inclusive love
takes precedence. And since these two concepts are
mutually contradictory, one of them has to go. Inclusion
stays, judgment and hell go. Which is another way of
saying, “Jesus goes, and Marx stays.”
This is then applied to overturn all the Church’s
dogmatic and ethical teaching.
Women are no longer to be excluded from ordination,
LGBT relationships are to be recognized as marriage; and
then the real extension of the progressive ambition breaks
the surface as there is the suggestion that polygamists are
reached out to and drawn “within the tent of the Church.”
It would be a serious mistake not to realize that the
progressive liberal mindset wants to change the ethics of
the faith. So it replaces the categories of “holiness and
sin” with “inclusion and alienation.” The roots of this
usage of the term alienation are of course found in Marx. 37.

33. Will This “Radical Inclusion” Change Church Structures
and Doctrines?
Yes. According to Synod promoters, the path towards greater inclusion
“begins with listening and requires a broader and deeper conversion of
attitudes and structures.”39 “This conversion”—the Working Document
continues—“translates into an equally continuous reform of the Church, its
structures and style.”40 One of the synodal process’ main goals is “to
renew our mentalities and our ecclesial structures,”41 which “will naturally
call for a renewal of structures at various levels of the Church.”42
The well-known American canonist and religious analyst Fr. Gerald E.
Murray rightly observes that the “inclusion” of these “marginalized
minorities” would have the immediate consequence of
discarding teachings that contradict the beliefs and desires of:
- those living in adulterous second “marriages,”
- men who have two or three or more wives,
- homosexuals and bisexuals,
- people who believe they are not the sex they were born as.
- women who want to be ordained deacons and priests, - lay people who want the authority given by God to bishops and priests. . . . [And he concludes,] there is plainly an open revolution going on in the Church today, an attempt to convince us that an embrace of heresy and immorality is not sinful, but rather a response to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through people who feel marginalized by a Church that has, up to now, been unfaithful to its mission.43 

34. Is “Inclusion” Implementing Liberation Theology’s “Church of the Poor”? Yes. For decades, the so-called liberation theologians had begun to broaden the Marxist concept of the “poor”—that is, the materially dispossessed—to include any category that supposedly feels “oppressed,” such as women, indigenous peoples, blacks, homosexuals, and so forth. In light of the synodal journey, the Synthesis of the Continental Stage of the Synod for Latin America and the Caribbean, strongly influenced by liberation theology, again proposes the old idea of the “Church of the poor” or “people’s Church.” Speaking of a “Church that is ‘a refuge for the wounded and the broken’” (one would say the “oppressed”), the Latin American Document affirms: It is important that in the synodal process, we dare to bring up and discern great themes that are often forgotten or pushed aside and to meet the other and all those who are part of the human family and are often marginalized, even in our Church. Several appeals remind us that, in the spirit of Jesus, we must “include the poor, LGTBIQ+ communities, couples in a second union, priests who want to return to the Church in their new situation, women who have abortions out of fear, prisoners, the sick” (Southern Cone). It is about “walking together in a synodal Church that listens to all kinds of exiles, so that they feel at home,” a Church that is “a refuge for the wounded and the broken.”44 F - The Working Document for the Continental Stage

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  Norway to spend $6 million a year stock-piling grain, citing pandemic, war and climate change
Posted by: Stone - 08-29-2023, 06:12 AM - Forum: Global News - No Replies

Norway to spend $6 million a year stock-piling grain, citing pandemic, war and climate change

[Image: ?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F4...d408a14eeb]

FILE - Farmers harvest a grain field near Wernigerode, Germany, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Norway will spend 63 million kroner ($6 million) per year until the end of the decade stocking up on grain as the COVID-19 pandemic, a war in Europe and climate change have made it necessary, the government said Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)


August 25, 2023
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway will spend 63 million kroner ($6 million) per year until the end of the decade stocking up on grain as the COVID-19 pandemic, a war in Europe and climate change have made it necessary, the government said Friday.

Starting next year, Norway will start storing 15,000 tons of grain and do so yearly until 2028 or 2029, according to Norway’s minister for agriculture and food, Geir Pollestad, who said the aim is to always have a three-month worth of consumption in storage.

Toward the end of the decade, 82,500 tons of grain should be in stock. Pollestad didn’t elaborate on the type of grain to be stored.

Pollestad told the Norwegian news agency NTB that they must take into consideration “the unthinkable” happening. “In a situation with extreme prices on the world market, it will still be possible to buy grain, but if we have done our job, we will not be so dependent on the highest bidder at auction. We can help keep prices down.”

The Norwegian Parliament will have to approve the plan before moving forward.

The storage location of these potential grain stockpiles has not been decided. Norway had stored grain in the 1950s but closed down these storages in 2003 after the Scandinavian country decided it was no longer necessary.

Norway houses the Global Seed Vault in its Svalbard archipelago, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from the North Pole.

Since 2008, gene banks and organizations around the world have deposited nearly 1 million samples of seeds at the vault to back up their own collections in case of man-made or natural calamities.

The Norwegian government funded the construction cost while an international nonprofit organization pay for operational costs.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has affected the global trade of grain with both countries being major suppliers of corn wheat, barley and vegetable oil.

In July, Russia halted a wartime agreement with Ukraine allowing grain to move to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger threatens millions of people already struggling with high local food prices.

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  New study finds extended use of ‘best’ COVID masks may cause cancer, liver damage
Posted by: Stone - 08-29-2023, 04:51 AM - Forum: Health - No Replies

New study finds extended use of ‘best’ COVID masks may cause cancer, liver damage
South Korean researchers found that KFAD and KF94 disposable masks, South Korea's equivalent of N95 masks made out of the same material, release eight times the EPA’s recommended safety limit of toxic volatile organic compounds.

[Image: triple_mask-810x500.jpg]

shutterstock.com


Aug 28, 2023
(LifeSiteNews [emphasis mine) – As some institutions in the United States begin to reimpose COVID-19 mask mandates, a new study suggests that the types of masks billed as most effective may actually contain dangerous and potentially even cancer-inducing chemicals.

The Daily Mail reports that according to a study by researchers from South Korea’s Jeonbuk National University, published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety and on the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) website, KFAD and KF94 disposable masks release eight times the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) recommended safety limit of toxic volatile organic compounds (TVOCs).

TVOCs are linked to headaches, breathing difficulty, and nausea, and with sufficiently-prolonged exposure even nerve system and liver damage as well as cancer.

KFAD and KF94 masks are the dominant equivalent of KN95s in South Korea, filtering out just one percent fewer particles than the surgical masks preferred in the United States, which raises the possibility of the same masks carrying the same danger. All three are made from polypropylene.

The NIH website contains a disclaimer that it does not necessarily endorse studies it publishes, and New York internal medicine physician Dr. Stuart Fischer cautioned that firm conclusions would be premature, but said “there seems to be diminishing returns on the need for masks,” and it was “indeed possible that certain masks have side effects, just as certain helpful medications (anti-histamines, psychotropic drugs, antibiotics) have side effects.”

“I think following the general recommendations might be helpful, but it’s not clear yet if we need the sweeping edicts of three years ago,” Fischer said. “Extreme fears about the lethality of Covid may have led to decisions that were counterproductive…Covid won’t be going away for a long time, if ever. We desperately need policies that do not fracture our society while providing minimal protection.”

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government recommended wearing face coverings in the presence of others, advice that many states and localities used to impose mask mandates on a wide range of public gatherings. But evidence has long since shown that masking was largely ineffective at limiting the spread of the virus.

Among that evidence is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s (CDC’s) September 2020 admission that masks cannot be counted on to keep out COVID when spending 15 minutes or longer within six feet of someone, and a May 2020 study published by the peer-reviewed CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases that “did not find evidence that surgical-type face masks are effective in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza transmission, either when worn by infected persons (source control) or by persons in the general community to reduce their susceptibility.”

In May 2021, another study found that, though mandates were largely followed, that usage did not yield the expected benefits. “Mask mandates and use (were) not associated with lower SARS-CoV-2 spread among U.S. states” from March 2020 to March 2021. In fact, the researchers found the results to be a net negative, with masks increasing “dehydration … headaches and sweating and decreas[ing] cognitive precision,” and interfering with communication, as well as impairing social learning among children. More than 170 studies have found that masks have been ineffective at stopping COVID while instead being harmful, especially to children.

N95 masks have long been touted as the most ideal protection, despite most mask mandates typically not distinguishing between them and simple cloth coverings. Writing for the Brownstone Institute, however, Megan Mansell explains that COVID virus particles are “far smaller than the apparatus is approved or designed to capture,” and even against a hypothetical perfect capture rate of 95%, “the 5% percent never captured is still a plentiful enough potential exposure to infectious matter to result in infection.”

In recent days, some schools, hospitals, and businesses have resumed mask mandates, citing rising cases from the EG.5 COVID variant.

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  Archbishop Viganò: Spadaro’s blasphemous article a manifestation of the ‘counter-church’
Posted by: Stone - 08-29-2023, 04:42 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò - Replies (1)

Archbishop Viganò: Spadaro’s blasphemous article a manifestation of the ‘counter-church’ and its false dogmas
Spadaro’s article is not a simple provocation – something already unheard of in itself – but the manifestation, the epiphany, as some 'theologian' of Santa Marta would call it, of a counter-church with its false dogmas, mendacious precepts, deceitful preaching, its corrupted and corrupting ministers.

[Image: Carlo-Maria-Vigano_3-810x500.jpg]


Aug 28, 2023
(LifeSiteNews - adapted) – Spadaro’s words are like a puddle of sewage containing the scum of the worst Modernism that has been plaguing the Church for more than a century. It is the Modernism that was never definitively eradicated from seminaries and self-styled Catholic universities, to which a sect of heretics and those who are misguided has erected the totem of the Second Vatican Council in place of two thousand years of Tradition. Until some time ago this “synthesis of all heresies” tried to make itself presentable by failing to manifest its antichristic nature, which was nonetheless consubstantial with it: there was still the risk that some vaguely conservative Prelate not yet fully committed to the cause would realize its intrinsic danger.

Of course, the divinity of Christ was considered to be merely wishful thinking flowing from the need for the sacred of the “primitive community.” His miracles were downplayed to exaggerations, His words to metaphors; on the other hand, “There were no recorders,” said Arturo Sosa, Superior General of the Society of Satan. Today, protected by a Jesuit who in violation of the Rule of Saint Ignatius occupies the See of Peter, the worst followers of this sect feel free to give vent to their rantings and arrive, in an infernal delirium, at the point of blaspheming Jesus Christ, who has already been the subject of disturbing epithets from Bergoglio. “Jesus became a snake, he became a devil,” the Argentine said some time ago. He is echoed by Spadaro, who with the arrogance of one who believes himself unpunished dares to define Our Lord as “a sick person, a prisoner of the rigidity and the dominant theological, political and cultural elements of his time”; “indifferent to suffering, angry and insensitive; unbreakably hard; an unmerciful theologian; mocking and disrespectful; blinded by nationalism and theological rigorism.” It is useless to explain to these entangled minds what the Holy Fathers have taught about the Gospel passage about the Canaanite woman: they are interested in keeping the idol of Vatican II high on its pedestal; and it matters little to them if in order to defend their errors they have to trample on the Son of God, offending and blaspheming Him as not even the worst heresiarchs of the past had dared to do.

Spadaro’s article is not a simple provocation – something already unheard of in itself – but the manifestation, the epiphany, as some “theologian” of Santa Marta would call it, of a counter-church with its false dogmas, mendacious precepts, deceitful preaching, its corrupted and corrupting ministers. A counter-church that lies prostrate to the Antichrist, to everything that represents the denial and challenge to the Lordship of God over man. Pride. Luciferian pride. Pride that knows no limits or brakes. The sect that eclipses the Church of Christ no longer hides: it shows itself and claims to definitively replace the true Church, it shows its idols and demands that they be worshiped, at the price of denying the Savior himself, refuting His divinity, judging His actions, disputing His words.

But if the simple have already understood that the price of this ὕβρις is νέμεσις, almost all the Pastors – Cardinals, Bishops, and priests – turn around and look away. They know well that their cowardice, their conformism, and their desire not to appear retrograde made them co-responsible for this infernal revolution, which they could have stopped in its time; but since for sixty years they too have joined the cult of the Council, they prefer to continue on the path undertaken towards the ruin of the Church and of souls, rather than stop and return to the point where they have deviated the path. Thus they end up preferring the triumph of the wicked – and with it the blasphemous vilification of Jesus Christ – to the humble admission of being wrong. They prefer to let it be said that Our Lord was wrong, “blinded by theological rigor,” rather than recognizing that they themselves are imprisoned in the errors and heresies of Modernism. The measure is full, and the time has come to choose which side we are on. Either with Bergoglio and Spadaro, with the Synod on Synodality, with a human and counterfeit church enslaved to the New World Order, or with God, His Church, and His Saints. And on closer inspection it is already unheard of to hypothesize that Catholics – I am not speaking of priests or prelates – can consider it possible to have a choice.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

August 27, 2023
Dominica XIII Post Pentecosten

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  Biden To Fund New COVID Vaccine "For Everybody... Whether They've Gotten It Before Or Not"
Posted by: Stone - 08-28-2023, 07:48 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines - No Replies

Biden To Fund New COVID Vaccine "For Everybody... Whether They've Gotten It Before Or Not"

[Image: AP23235704014794-e1692819550473_jpg.jpg?itok=UAvmR5jW]


ZH |  AUG 27, 2023


President Joe Biden on Friday told reporters that he's planning to request more money from Congress to develop a new coronavirus vaccine.

"I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is ne- — necessary — that works," the official White House transcript reads.

"Tentatively, it is recommended that — it will likely be recommended that everybody get it no matter whether they’ve gotten it before or not."


The announcement follows a recorded rise in Covid-19 cases in some regions, which has been accompanied by the return of mask mandates and cancelled classes by some colleges and businesses.

Quote:New vaccines containing the version of the omicron strain XBB.1.5 are already being developed by Pfizer, Novavax and Moderna. However, the virus’s continuing mutation will likely necessitate updated vaccines.

The Biden administration’s supplemental funding request for Congress for the start of the new fiscal year did not include COVID-19 vaccinations. Instead, the White House asked for roughly $40 billion to fund short-term key priorities such as more aide for Ukraine, federal disaster funds, climate change and border priorities. -The Hill

Maybe this time it will actually be safe and effective?

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  Massive emergency alert test will sound alarms on US cellphones, TVs and radios in October
Posted by: Stone - 08-28-2023, 07:40 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

Massive emergency alert test will sound alarms on US cellphones, TVs and radios in October

USA TODAY | August 26, 2023


This is a test. This is only a test. But it's going to be one very big test.

On Wednesday, October 4 at 2:20 p.m. ET, every TV, radio and cellphone in the United States should blare out the distinctive, jarring electronic warning tone of an emergency alert, accompanied by a notice along these lines:

“This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public."


What's going to happen?
On Wednesday, October 4, a test is planned of the entire nation’s Emergency Alert system, a tryout to ensure everything is working correctly in the event of a big, national disaster or attack.

In the wake of the horrific fires on the island of Maui on August 8, when warning sirens that might have alerted people to the danger weren’t deployed, it’s a reminder of what systems are in place should they be needed.


Why is a national test necessary?
Federal emergency management coordinators need to make sure the national alert system is still an effective way to warn Americans about emergencies, natural catastrophes, attacks and accidents at the national level.


What will the emergency message say?
The exact wording hasn't been released yet but it's very likely to be something along these lines: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public."

On cellphones, it will come as a text message:

“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

Phones on which the main menu set to Spanish will see this: “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”


When will it happen?
On Wednesday, October 4, the message will go out at the same moment across every time zone in the United States.

That means 2:20 in the afternoon in the East, 1:20 p.m. Central time, 12:20 p.m. Mountain time and 11:20 a.m. on the West Coast. People in Alaska will hear it at 10:20 a.m. and in Hawaii the alarms will go off at 8:20 a.m.


How long will the test last?
The test is scheduled to last approximately one minute. It will only go out once, there will be no repeats.


Where will it be heard and seen?
The message will be heard and seen pretty much everywhere. It's being conducted with the participation of radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video providers.

So all across the United States, TV shows will be interrupted, radio programming halted and phones will get a warning message. The message will go out in both English and Spanish, showing up most places in English but in Spanish depending on the language settings of the device.


Has something like this been done before?
The first national emergency broadcasting system in the U.S. was created in 1951 as a way for the government to use radio networks to warn the nation of an enemy attack during the Cold War. It was further refined and expanded as fears of nuclear attack grew in the 1950s and 60s.

The first nationwide test of the most recent version of the Emergency Alert System took place on November 9, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. ET.

That check revealed multiple problems with the national Emergency Alert System that could have meant not everyone would hear the alert in the event of a real emergency. With that knowledge, the system was improved and strengthened.

That 2011 test message was a lot wordier than those used now.

"This is a test of the Emergency Alert System. This is only a test. The message you are hearing is part of a nationwide live code test of Emergency Alert System capabilities. This test message has been initiated by national alert and warning authorities. In coordination with Emergency Alert System participants, including broadcast, cable, satellite, and wire line participants in your area. Had this been an actual emergency, the attention signal you just heard would have been followed by emergency information, news, or instructions. This is only a test. We now return you to regular programming."

The test on Oct. 4 will be the seventh nationwide test sent to radios and televisions, the third to consumer cellphones and the second to all cellular devices.


Will there be warnings about the test?
Expect a tidal wave of news stories and warnings leading up to the test, to avoid panic.

FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with wireless providers, television and radio broadcasters, emergency managers and others to get the word out. The goal is to minimize confusion and maximize the public safety value of the test.


Could anything stop the test?
It could be postponed if there is "widespread severe weather or other significant events," according to the FCC. The backup testing date is set for Oct. 11.


Are there ever false alarms?
Over the years there have been mistaken messages sent out that triggered false alarms at the local level, especially in the 1950s when the system was new and communication more difficult.

The most recent false alarm occurred in 2018 in Hawaii when the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency system mistakenly sent an alert notification warning of a ballistic missile threat to the Islands. During a shift change, someone had selected the wrong item on a computer.

A flurry of tweets, often with screenshots of the message, popped up on cellphones shortly after 8 a.m. local time. The message read, "Ballistic Missile Threat Inbound To Hawaii. Seek Immediate Shelter. This Is Not A Drill." Some state highway signs also noted the warning.

It took 38 minutes to clarify that the alert was due to user error.

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