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| Austrian bishop could face legal complaints for placing pig heart ‘lenten cloth’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-22-2023, 07:36 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Why are the faithful leading the charge against what the blasphemy this bishop is committing? Why aren't his superiors ordering the removal of such horrible things from a consecrated church?
† † †
Austrian bishop could face legal complaints after placing pig heart ‘lenten cloth’ in Catholic church
Bishop Hermann Glettler of the Diocese of Innsbruck installed the so-called 'lenten cloth' in the 18th century Innsbrucker Spitalskirche.
Tue Mar 21, 2023
INNSBRUCK, Austria (LifeSiteNews) — An Austrian bishop will remove from one of his churches a highly controversial “lenten cloth” that has caused outrage amongst faithful Catholics.
The cloth shows a pig heart half covered by a condom, and Austrian Catholics might file a criminal complaint against their bishop for “disparagement of religious teachings.”
Bishop Hermann Glettler of the Diocese of Innsbruck installed the so-called “lenten cloth” in the 18th century “Innsbrucker Spitalskirche”(i.e. hospital church). He previously defended it as an “attempt to create a dialogue with contemporary art” and stressed that the image is “of course” not a depiction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
However, the anger of faithful Catholics was seemingly too much for the prelate, leading Glettler to announce on Tuesday that he will “take down the work of art before Holy Week” as “a sign of reconciliation,” the local newspaper Tiroler Tageszeitung reported.
The Bishop of Innsbruck is under pressure by his critics. In fact, he is facing legal charges on two accounts. Firstly, faithful Catholics are thinking about filing a criminal complaint against Gletter for “disparagement of religious teachings,” according to kath.net. Secondly, local politician Gerald Depaoli announced that he will file a legal complaint against Glettler because the bishop made public the email addresses of all his critics in his response email. This means that Glettler may have violated the Austrian Data Protection Regulation.
A few days earlier, Glettler had lashed out at the conservative Catholic news site kath.net, which covered the story and criticized the Austrian bishop. He claimed that “this platform is manipulative and hateful in its reporting.” The bishop furthermore alleged that he received “very much positive feedback” for the “artwork.” He did not providing any proof of this, however.
This was not the first time that Glettler displayed a heterodox “artwork” in one of his churches. Last year, the bishop installed a giant photograph of a half-naked pro-LGBT activist in a Catholic Church in Innsbruck. In 2019, the bishop allowed a “Jesus clock” made from an upside-down corpus with broken arms to be installed in a church.
Glettler is known for his heterodoxy. He has publicly called for “blessings” for same-sex couples and condoned an active homosexual lifestyle. He furthermore said in 2020 that the Church’s doctrine that women cannot be ordained as priests is an “inequality” that is “difficult to justify.” In 2019, he hosted seminars for divorced and “remarried” couples living in adultery in which he allowed the couples to receive Holy Communion and a “celebration of reconciliation and of blessing.”
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| Catholic church in France vandalized with satanic messages, nearly set on fire |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-22-2023, 07:29 AM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence
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Catholic church in France vandalized with satanic messages, nearly set on fire
In mid-March, Sacred Heart Church in Bordeaux was desecrated by vandals who marked the church’s doors and walls with satanic and communist phrases and symbols.
![[Image: Sacre-Coeur-Bordeaux-wiki-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Sacre-Coeur-Bordeaux-wiki-810x500.jpg)
Church of the Sacred Heart, Bordeaux
Olivier432/WikiCommons
Mar 21, 2023
BORDEAUX, France (LifeSiteNews)— Another Catholic church in France was vandalized this month.
In mid-March, Sacred Heart Church in Bordeaux was desecrated by vandals who marked the church’s doors and walls with satanic and communist phrases and symbols. A fire was lit in the church’s courtyard, but it was extinguished before causing damage to the building.
“During the night of March 12 to 13, the door and some of the walls of the facade of the Church of the Sacred Heart were defaced with graffiti,” said the Archdiocese of Bordeaux’s head of communications, Constance Pluviaud, in a statement. “A trash fire in front of the church was extinguished by firefighters called to the scene. This fire did not damage the church.”
Pluviaud revealed that the archdiocese had filed a complaint about the damages by Sunday evening, March 12 and described the curia’s feelings.
“The diocese shares the emotion of the Catholic faithful and the inhabitants shocked by this act,” she said.
According to local news sources, on the evening of March 12, locals saw a crowd of young people, many of them in disguises, gathered in front of the church, drinking and listening to music. Pictures of the damage show messages such as “Lucifer is right,” “Devil, take me with you,” “Thank you, Satan,” and “The neighbors hate the Church” scrawled on the church.
The prefect, or state representative, of New Aquitaine, a region in the southwest of France, condemned the attack in a tweet on March 13, saying an investigation was underway.
“The Church of the Sacred Heart of #Bordeaux was targeted last night by hate tags and acts of vandalism,” tweeted the prefect, Étienne Guyot, following the attack.
Guyot denounced the act of vandalism as “intolerable,” saying that “an investigation has been opened so that the perpetrators can be identified and brought to justice.”
Sacred Heart Church was commissioned in 1837 by the archbishop of the time, Cardinal Ferdinand-François-Auguste Donnet. It was built by Jean-Jules Mondet, an architect credited with other neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic churches in France.
Sadly, this is not the only church to suffer recent vandalism. Over the last few years, France has become a hotbed for anti-Christian sentiment, with attacks on Catholics and Catholic churches alike becoming the norm. LifeSiteNews has reported that in 2018 alone, France’s Ministry of the Interior documented 1,063 anti-Christian acts. These numbers have only increased since then, with reports showing that there was a 70% increase in anti-Catholic hate crimes from 2019 to 2020.
In October 2020, LifeSite reported that three Catholics were killed in an attack on Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Nice, France by an Islamic terrorist. They also reported that a similar attack occurred in Nice in April 2022, when a 31-year-old national stabbed a priest and nun multiple times shortly before the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass at the church of Saint Pierre d’Arène.
In 2021, France saw an onslaught of attacks, with numerous acts of terrorism perpetrated against Catholic churches across the country. A report put out by the French Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) details many of these attacks, one of which included an attack on the Holy Eucharist.
As mentioned in the report, one such attack occurred on the night of November 21, when the Church of St. Joseph in Cannes in the diocese of Nice was broken into by vandals who took the Eucharist from the tabernacle and desecrated it. St. Jean-Baptiste Church in Ambert, diocese of Clermont-Ferrand, was attacked multiple times by vandals who attempted twice to set the church on fire, once on the feast of All Saints, and then again on December 5.
According to the SSPX, the most violent of the attacks occurred against St. Anne d’Arvor Church in Lorient last year, where terrorists destroyed three large plaster statues of Our Lady, St. Therese, and St. Joan of Arc, as well as the Church’s nativity scene, only three days before Christmas and in broad daylight.
Only days before, the Church of St. Roch in Paris was vandalized with anti-Catholic graffiti.
While rampant in France, the targeting of Catholic churches has not been limited to Europe, but has been happening also in the Americas, with LifeSiteNews reporting last week that since the spring of 2020, at least 301 Catholic churches in the United States have been vandalized.
RELATED: Over 300 Catholic churches hit with destructive acts of vandalism since spring 2020: report
Most recently, on March 8, various churches across Latin America were vandalized by pro-abortion activists to mark the worldwide observance of International Women’s Day. As previously reported by LifeSiteNews, rioters in Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador and Mexico, as well as other countries, broke windows, attacked police and civilians, and covered walls with anti-life graffiti and slogans in support of their so-called “right” to abortion access.
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| The pope and the US auxiliaries |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-21-2023, 09:03 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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The pope and the US auxiliaries
Where has Pope Francis appointed auxiliary bishops in the US?
![[Image: bishop-zuchettos.jpeg]](https://www.pillarcatholic.com/content/images/size/w1304/2023/03/bishop-zuchettos.jpeg)
Credit: Shutterstock
The Pillar | March 20, 2023
When historians assess the impact of a pope’s leadership on the life of the Church, they often review his public image and speeches, his engagement with political leaders, and the internal policies he promulgated, upheld, or modified.
It would be easy to miss the impact of a pope’s episcopal appointments — but folly to ignore them.
As any pope does, Pope Francis has shaped and directed the Church through his episcopal appointments — moves which will help chose his successor, and set direction in the Church even beyond the tenure of his pontificate.
To date, Pope Francis has appointed a majority of the voting age cardinals who will select the next pope. And closer to home, much of the American episcopate now bears a Pope Francis stamp. This is particularly true of auxiliary bishops.
According to data from CARA - the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate - there were 78 active auxiliary bishops in the US during 2022. Seventy-two auxiliary bishops have been consecrated since the election of Pope Francis, though 11 of those 72 have since gone on to be consecrated diocesan bishops.
This means that more than 75% of current auxiliary bishops were consecrated during Pope Francis’s papacy, as compared to just more than 60% of diocesan bishops.
Where has he appointed them?
The Pillar takes a look.
What is an auxiliary bishop?
The function of auxiliary bishop dates back in the Church to the 1500s, though its definition and scope has changed over the centuries.
An auxiliary bishop is consecrated to serve as a deputy to a diocesan bishop or archbishop, because of some situation in which a diocese would benefit from more than one bishop in the area. The auxiliary is generally appointed as vicar general or to another senior leadership position in his diocese.
Customarily, auxiliary bishops are consecrated as bishops of a “titular see,” that is a diocese which no longer exists. (Historically, many of these titular sees are ones which ceased to exist as historically Christian areas of North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Europe were subjected to Muslim conquest during the Middle ages.)
Auxiliaries by the numbers
Perhaps unsurprisingly, 2013 saw the fewest new auxiliary bishops consecrated in the US, with just two.
Bishop Robert Coyle’s appointment as an auxiliary bishop was announced on February 11th, the same day which Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, effective at the end of the month. Bishop Coyle was consecrated a bishop on April 25th, 2013, thus putting his consecration within Pope Francis’s pontificate.
The first US auxiliary bishop selected during Pope Francis’s papacy to be consecrated was Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who was appointed an auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis on October 11 and consecrated December 9, 2013.
2017 marked the year with the most auxiliaries consecrated, with 14 bishops consecrated to serve in nine different dioceses.
Covid did not initially slow the consecration of new bishops, with five auxiliaries who had been appointed prior to shutdowns being consecrated in June and July of 2020 and four more who were appointed later in the year being consecrated in the fall.
But whether due to the pandemic or other reasons, 2021 was the lightest full year for auxiliary consecrations, with only two new auxiliary bishops in the U.S.
2023 is already shaping up to be at least average, with three new auxiliary bishops consecrated to date and two more who have been appointed but have not yet been consecrated.
Naturally, the dioceses which have received the most auxiliaries in the last 10 years have been among the larger dioceses in the U.S.
The Archdiocese of New York, which in terms of Catholic population is the second largest in the U.S., has seen the most auxiliaries consecrated during Pope Francis’s papacy, with a total of seven.
The Archdiocese of Chicago, which has the third largest Catholic population in the U.S., came in second, with five auxiliaries consecrated.
San Bernardino, with 1.37 million Catholics, is the diocese with the largest Catholic population which does not have any active auxiliary bishops. San Bernardino's last auxiliary bishop retired in 2015 at the age of 75.
Like San Bernardino, the Dioceses of Fort Worth and Sacramento have no auxiliaries, and more than one million Catholics.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles – the largest U.S. diocese by population – has only two auxiliaries to assist Archbishop Jose Gomez in ministering to 4 million Catholics.
Auxiliary bishop Edward Clark retired in 2022 upon reaching the age of 75, and auxiliary bishop David O’Connell was murdered earlier this year.
If you're looking for the most unusual piece of trivia about recent U.S. auxiliary bishops, here it is: There is one U.S. auxiliary who is an archbishop.
Archbishop Paul Russell was appointed in May 2022 an auxiliary in the Archdiocese of Detroit. But Russell's title dates back to his service as apostolic nuncio to Turkey and Turkmenistan: In 2016, Russell was made the titular archbishop of Novi, a titular see which was located in Dalmatia.
While Russell is the only archbishop auxiliary in the U.S., he is not presently in ministry – the auxiliary archbishop stepped back from public ministry in August 2022, when he was accused of sexually abusing a minor in 1989 and 1990, when he was a priest of Boston.
The archbishop has denied the allegation.
Editor's note: This analysis was updated after publication to reflect some omissions from our data set, including the 11 auxiliary bishops consecrated since 2013 who have since gone on to become diocesan ordinaries. Our analysis initially made use of a list of new episcopal ordinations compiled by GCatholic.org, but because bishops were listed by their current titles, we missed those who had since become diocesan bishops. We have now expanded the analysis based on the transcription of episcopal appointments from the Vatican’s daily Bulletino hosted by Catholic-Hierarchy.org We regret the initial omission.
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for the Fourth Week of Lent |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-20-2023, 05:40 AM - Forum: Lent
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It is a terrible subject for our consideration that God does nothing but threaten sinners with a bad death. I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock. It is true that in whatever hour the sinner is converted, God has promised to pardon him, but God has not said that in death the sinner shall be converted. On the contrary, He has often declared that the sinner shall die in his sins. You shall die in your sins.
I.
It is a terrible subject for our consideration that God does nothing but threaten sinners with an unhappy death: Then they shall call upon me, and I will not hear. (Prov. i. 28). Will God hear his cry when distress shall come upon him? (Job xxvii. 9). I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock. (Prov. i. 26). God laughs when He will not show mercy. Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide; the day of destruction is at hand. (Deut. xxxii. 35). In many other places God threatens the same; and yet sinners live on in peace, as secure as if God had certainly promised them Paradise. It is true, that in whatever hour the sinner is converted, God has promised to pardon him; but He has not said that in death the sinner shall be converted; on the contrary, He has often declared that he who lives in sin shall die in sin: You shall die in your sins. (John viii. 21). He has said that he who seeks Him at the hour of death shall not find Him: You shall seek me and shall not find me. (John vii. 34). We must, then, seek God when He can be found: Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. (Is. lv. 6). Yes; because a time will come when He will not be found. Poor sinners! Poor blind ones, who wait to be converted till the hour of death, when there will be no more time for conversion. "The wicked," says Oleaster, "will not learn to do good till there is no more time for doing it." God wishes to save all, but He punishes the obstinate.
If perchance some unhappy sinner were to be seized with apoplexy, and deprived of his senses, what compassion would it not excite in all to see him dying without the Sacraments, and without a sign of repentance! And what joy would everyone experience if he came to himself again, begged for absolution, and made acts of contrition! But is he not mad, who, having time to do this, continues in sin, or returns to sin, and runs the risk of being surprised by death, when he perhaps may, or perhaps may not, repent? It is terrible to see a man die suddenly; and yet how many voluntarily incur the peril of dying thus, and of dying in sin!
Ah, my God, who would have had so much patience with me as Thou hast had! If Thy goodness were not infinite, I should despair of pardon. But I have to deal with a God Who died to obtain my pardon and my salvation. Thou commandest me to hope, and I will hope. If my sins alarm and condemn me, Thy merits and Thy promises give me courage. Thou hast promised Thy grace to whoever returns to Thee: Return ye and live. (Ezech. xviii. 32). Thou hast promised to embrace whoever turns to Thee: Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you. (Zach. i. 3). Thou hast said Thou canst not despise an humble and contrite heart. (Ps. 1.). Behold me, Lord; I come again to Thee; I turn to Thee; I acknowledge that I deserve a thousand hells; and I repent of having offended Thee. I firmly promise never again to offend Thee, and always to love Thee.
II.
Weight and balance are judgments of the Lord. (Prov. xvi. 11). We keep no account of the graces God bestows on us; but the Lord keeps an account of them and measures them; and when He sees them despised up to a certain point, He leaves the sinner in his sin, and in this state permits him to die. Miserable indeed is he who defers his repentance till death. "The repentance demanded of the sick is also itself sickly," says St. Augustine. St. Jerome says, "that out of a hundred thousand sinners who continue in sin till their death, scarcely one merits indulgence from God in death." St. Vincent Ferrer says, "that it would be a greater miracle if habitual evil-livers had a good end, than to raise the dead to life." What sorrow, what repentance, can he conceive at the hour of death, who until then has loved sin? Bellarmine relates that having gone to assist a certain dying person, and having exhorted him to make an act of contrition, he replied that he did not know what contrition was. Bellarmine endeavoured to explain it to him; but the sick man said: "Father, I do not understand you; I am not capable of these things." And thus he died, "leaving clear signs of his damnation," as is recorded in the writings of Bellarmine. The just punishment of the sinner, says St. Augustine, will be, that having forgot God in his lifetime, he shall forget himself in death: "He is most justly struck, who having forgotten God in his lifetime, dies forgetful of himself." Be not deceived, says the Apostle, God is not mocked: for what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall he reap corruption. (Gal. vi. 7). It would be mocking God to live despising His laws, and then to receive a reward and eternal glory; but God is not mocked. That which we sow in this life we shall reap in the next. He who sows forbidden pleasures of the flesh shall reap nothing but corruption, misery, and eternal death.
Dear Christian, that which is said for others is said likewise for you. Tell me, if you were now at the point of death, given over by your physicians, all your senses failing, and in your last agony, would you not then pray fervently to God to grant you another month, another week, to settle the affairs of your conscience? God gives you now this time. Return Him thanks, quickly repair the evil you have done, and take every means to restore yourself to a state of grace, and be so found when death comes; for then there will be no more time to remedy the past.
Ah, my God, do not permit me to live any longer ungrateful for so much goodness. Eternal Father, through the merits of the obedience of Jesus Christ, Who died to obey Thee, grant that I may obey Thy will until death. I love Thee, O my Sovereign Good; and through the love that I bear Thee, I will obey Thee in all things. Give me holy perseverance; give me Thy love, and I ask nothing more of Thee. Mary, my Mother, intercede for me.
Spritual Reading
HEROES AND HEROINES OF THE FAITH
ST. ADALBERT, BISHOP OF PRAGUE (April 23)
St. Adalbert was born in Bohemia, of noble parentage, about the middle of the tenth century. His father, a Slavonian, sent him to study at Magdeburg, under the care of the Archbishop Adalbert,* who placed him in a school, under the direction of a holy monk named Odericus, where the pupils, by serious attention to their studies and most exemplary morals, edified one another.
*This prelate, charmed with the happy disposition of his pupil, conceived for him the tenderness of a father, and gave him his name in admitting him to the Sacrament of Confirmation. Young Adalbert was a child of the Blessed Virgin. While yet an infant, he was attacked by an illness that reduced him to the last extremity. His parents then carried him to the church and placed him on the the Altar of the Blessed Virgin and promised to consecrate him to the service of God if he should recover his health. Their prayers were heard.--Ed.
Adalbert, having remained nine years in this school, made considerable progress in human sciences, but still more in the Science of the Saints; for whatever time was allowed for recreation, he spent in holy prayer, in relieving the poor, and visiting the sick. Having made a copious collection of books, consisting chiefly of the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, he returned to Bohemia, and entered the ecclesiastical state at Prague. Diethmar, Bishop of that city, was greatly enamoured of his virtue, and ordained him subdeacon. About this time Bishop Diethmar died.
An assembly was held to propose a successor, at which the prince of Bohemia and other grandees were present, and, by unanimous consent, Adalbert was chosen. Not-withstanding all his reluctance, and his pleas of unworthiness and youth, he was obliged to accept the onerous charge; and the election having met the approval of the emperor, our Saint received the episcopal consecration at the hands of Villegisus, Archbishop of Mayence. He immediately proceeded to Prague, to take possession of his See, and was received amid the acclamations of the people. In assuming the government of his Church, his extraordinary piety became manifest; for on all Festivals he distributed alms, and supported twelve poor persons continually. He slept upon the bare floor, or upon sackcloth, and passed a considerable part of the night in prayer. His continual preaching, and frequent visits to the sick and those in prison, manifested how totally he was devoted to the glory of God and the welfare of his flock.
But they treated his admonitions with an obstinacy surpassing the enthusiasm with which they had at first hailed his arrival; and Adalbert accordingly resolved to leave them, having first consulted, and obtained permission from Pope John XV. His first intention was to make a pilgrimage on foot to the Holy Land; but on his arrival at Monte Cassino, the Abbot and some of the monks induced him to remain with them for some time, until it became known who he was; whereupon the holy bishop proceeded to Rome, and by the advice of the Pope, received the religious habit in the monastery of St. Alexis, in the year 900. Here he lived in tranquillity for three years and a half, until the Duke of Bohemia, moved by the wretched state of the Church at Prague, induced the Pope to send him back.
Upon his return, the most ample promises of obedience were made, but never fulfilled. So the Saint again abandoned his rebellious flock, and went to preach the Gospel to the idolaters of Hungary. His success, here, was not proportionate to his zeal; and the Bohemians continuing as obstinate as ever, he again returned to his monastery at Rome.
He was obliged by the Pope to repair a second time to Prague. The Saint set out in obedience to this command; but being informed that his ungrateful flock had shown their implacable hatred of him by murdering his brothers, he requested the Duke of Poland to ascertain whether they were willing to receive him. The Bohemians replied: "Adalbert is a Saint and we are sinners; so it is impossible to expect that we can live quietly together." The Saint took this as a sufficient exoneration from the solicitude of the Church, and went to undertake the conversion of the pagans who were then in Prussia.
After he had suffered many hardships on this mission, the idolaters one day assembled in great numbers, and demanded of him why he had entered their country. The Saint replied that he had come for their salvation, and exhorted them to abandon the worship of idols, and to adore the true God. But the barbarians were displeased at his words, and Siggo, the priest of the idols, ran him through the breast with his lance, whereupon the others rushed upon him also, while the Saint, raising his hands to Heaven, prayed to the Lord for their conversion. The inhuman wretches placed his head upon a pole, and bore it away amid shouts of exultation. His Martyrdom took place on the 23rd April, of the year 997, and the Lord honoured him by many subsequent miracles.
Evening Meditation
REFLECTIONS AND AFFECTIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
Behold, here we are at the Crucifixion, at that last torture, which brought death to Jesus Christ; here we are at Calvary, converted into a theatre for the display of Divine love, where a God departs this life in an ocean of sufferings: And when they had come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified him there. (Luke xxiii. 33). The Lord having, with great difficulty, at length reached the top of the Mount alive, they violently, and for the third time, tear His clothes off Him, sticking as they did, to the sores upon His wounded Flesh, and they throw Him down upon the Cross. The Divine Lamb stretches Himself out upon that bed of torment; He reaches forth to the executioners His hands and His feet to be nailed; and raising His eyes to Heaven, He offers up to His Eternal Father the great sacrifice of His life for the salvation of men. After the nailing of one of His hands, the nerves shrunk, so that they had need of main force and ropes, as was revealed to St. Bridget, to draw the other hand and the feet up to the places where they were to be nailed; and this occasioned so great a tension of the nerves and veins that they broke asunder with a violent convulsion: "They drew my hands and my feet with a rope to the places of the nails, so that the nerves and veins were stretched out to the full and broke asunder"; insomuch that all His bones might have been numbered, as David had already predicted: They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones. (Ps. xxi. 17, 18). Ah, my Jesus, by what power was it that Thy hands and Thy feet were nailed to this wood, but by the love Thou didst bear to men! Thou, by the pain of Thy pierced hands, wert willing to pay the penalty due to all the sins of touch that men have committed; and, by the pain of Thy feet, Thou wert willing to pay for all the steps by which we have gone our way to offend Thee. O my crucified Love, with these pierced hands give me Thy benediction! Oh, nail this ungrateful heart of mine to Thy feet, that so I may no more depart from Thee, and that this will of mine, which has so often rebelled against Thee, may remain ever steadily fixed in Thy holy love. Grant that nothing but Thy love, and the desire of pleasing Thee, may move me. Although I behold Thee suspended upon this gibbet, I believe Thee to be the Lord of the world, the true Son of God, and the Saviour of mankind. For pity's sake, O my Jesus, never abandon me again at any period of my life; and more especially at the hour of my death, in those last agonies and struggles with hell, do Thou assist me, and strengthen me to die in Thy love. I love Thee, my crucified Love, I love Thee with all my heart.
II.
St. Augustine says there is no death more bitter than that of the Cross: "Among all the different kinds of death, there was none worse." Because, as St. Thomas observes, those who are crucified have their hands and their feet pierced through, parts which, being entirely composed of nerves, muscles, and veins, are the most sensitive to pain--and the very weight of the body itself which is suspended from them, causes the pain to be continuous and ever-increasing in its intensity up to the moment of death. But the pains of Jesus were far beyond all other pains; for, as the angelic Doctor says, the body of Jesus Christ, being perfectly constituted, was more quick and sensitive to pain-- that Body which was fashioned for Him by the Holy Spirit, expressly with a view to His suffering as He foretold, and as the Apostle testifies: A body thou hast fitted to me. (Heb. x. 5). Moreover, St. Thomas says that Jesus Christ took upon Himself an amount of suffering so great, as to be sufficient to satisfy for the temporal punishment merited by the sins of all mankind. Tiepoli tells us that, in the Crucifixion, there were dealt twenty-eight strokes of the hammer upon His hands and thirty-six upon His feet.
O my soul, behold thy Lord, behold thy Life, hanging upon that tree: And thy life shall be, as it were, hanging before thee. (Deut. xxviii. 66). Behold how, upon that gibbet of pain, fastened by those cruel nails, He finds no place of rest. Now He leans His weight upon His hands, now upon His feet; but on what part soever He leans, the anguish increases. He turns His afflicted Head, now on one side, now on the other: if He lets it fall towards His breast, the hands, by the additional weight, are rent the more; if He lowers it towards His shoulders, the shoulders are pierced with thorns; if He leans it back upon the Cross, the thorns enter the more deeply into the Head. Ah, my Jesus, what a death of bitterness is this that Thou art enduring! O my crucified Redeemer, I adore Thee on this throne of ignominy and pain. Upon this Cross I read it written that Thou art a King: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. But apart from this title of scorn, what is the evidence that Thou dost give of being a King? Ah, these hands transfixed with nails, this Head pierced with thorns, this throne of sorrow, this lacerated Flesh, make me well know that Thou art King, but a King of love! With humility, then, and tenderness do I draw near to kiss Thy sacred feet, transfixed for love of me; I clasp in my arms this Cross, on which Thou, being made a victim of love, was willing to offer Thyself in sacrifice for me to the Divine justice: being made obedient unto death, the death of the cross. O blessed obedience which obtained for us the pardon of our sins! And what would have become of me, O my Saviour, hadst Thou not paid the penalty for me? I thank Thee, O my Love, and by the merits of this sublime obedience do I pray Thee to grant me the grace of obedience in every thing to the Divine will. All that I desire Paradise for is that I may love Thee for ever with all my strength.
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| Iste Quem Laeti - Gregorian chant to St. Joseph |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-19-2023, 05:42 AM - Forum: Catholic Hymns
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Iste Quem Laeti
Gregorian chant to St. Joseph
Adapted from here.
![[Image: P159_Ist_3.jpg]](https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/images_P/P159_Ist_3.jpg)
Iste quem laeti is a Gregorian chant hymn whose text is attributed to Carmelite Brother Juan of the Conception (Fr. Juan Escollar, d. 1700), sung at Lauds (1) on the Feast Day of St. Joseph, March 19.
The chant expresses the triumphant entrance of St. Joseph into Heaven, and how he had the blessed company of Our Lady and Our Lord at his death, who spoke serenely to him. Thus death was vanquished, and the foster-father of the Redeemer of the World entered into peaceful sleep. He intercedes for us in Heaven's Church Triumphant, with a golden garland upon his brow.
Lyrics - Latin
Iste, quem laeti colimus, fideles
Cuius excelsos canimus triumphos,
Hac die Ioseph meruit perennis
Gaudia vitae.
O nimis felix, nimis o beatus,
Cuius extremam vigiles ad horam
Christus et Virgo simul astiterunt
Ore sereno.
Hinc stygis victor, laqueo salutus
Carnis, ad sedes placido sopore
Migrat aeternas, rutilisque cingit
Tempora sertis.
Ergo regnantem, flagitemus omnes,
Adsit ut nobis, veniamque nostris
Obtinens culpis, tribuat supernae
Munera pacis.
Sint tibi plausus, tibi sint honores,
Trine qui regnas Deus, et coronas
Aureas servo tribuis fideli
Omne per aevum. Amen.
Lyrics - English
He, whom we the faithful joyously honor,
Whose high triumph we sing,
It is on this day that Joseph merited the joys
Of eternal life.
Exceedingly happy, exceedingly blessed one,
At whose last hour kept vigil
Christ and the Virgin stood together,
Speaking serenely [to him].
Hence death (5) was vanquished, broken the snare
Of the flesh; [Joseph] to the seat of peaceful sleep
He has eternally departed, glowing surrounds
A garland [upon] his brow.
Now, as he reigns, let us all beseech him
To help us, that upon us may come [his]
Procurement of pardon for our sins & the heavenly
Gift of peace.
To thee be acclaim, to thee be honor,
Triune God who reigns, and bestows a crown
Of gold to thy faithful servant
Throughought the ages. Amen.
![[Image: P159_Ist_1.jpg]](https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/images_P/P159_Ist_1.jpg)
For a high-resolution JPG version, click here.
For a PDF version, click here. |
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| In Francis' Religion: “Baptised And Unbaptised Are Equal” |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-19-2023, 05:27 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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*Vatican II is inspired with an erroneous concept of the "Redemption." Lumen Gentium §7 says:
Quote:In the human nature united to himself, the son of God, by overcoming death through his own death and resurrection, redeemed man and changed him into a new creation. For by communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation.
Here, the Redemption is incorrectly represented. "Redemption" is the possibility given all men through the Incarnation and by the sacrifice of the Cross of Our Lord to be saved, a possibility lost forever if one does not become or if one doesn't want to become sincerely Catholic, except in the case of invincible ignorance (with only God knowing the number of these cases) in which grace acts through the intermediary of baptism of desire. In this changed conception of the Redemption, it is seen as already realized for each man from the moment when it is declared that man has been transformed "into a new creation," not because he has become Catholic with the help of the Holy Spirit and guided by actual grace, but strictly by the fact of the Incarnation's advent and of Christ's "death and resurrection."
This is the theory known as that of "anonymous Christianity," already presented by Maurice Blondel and developed by Henri de Lubac and, in particular, Karl Rahner. It is a very grave doctrinal error because it declares personal justification as being already realized for every man without any participation of his will or free choice and, so, without any need of his conversion, faith, baptism or works. Redemption is guaranteed to all, as if sanctifying grace were ontologically present in each man just because he is man. This false doctrine denies original sin because our Faith teaches that, by the inheritance of original sin with which they come into the world, men do not possess grace at birth.
*There is present in Vatican II an unjustified and non-Catholic exaltation of man just because he is man.
Quote:In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear. For Adam, the first man, was a type of him who was to come, Christ the Lord, Christ the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals man to himself and brings light to his most high calling. It is no wonder, then, that all the truths mentioned so far should find in him their source and their most perfect embodiment (GS §22).
He who is the "image of the invisible God" (Col. 1 : 15), is himself the perfect man who has restored in the children of Adam that likeness to God which had been disfigured ever since the first sin. Human nature, by the very fact that is was assumed, not absorbed, in him, has been raised in us also to a dignity beyond compare. For, by his incarnation, he, the son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man. He worked with human hands, he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin (GS§7).
What is affirmed in GS"§22 is that Christ, having been incarnated, "fully reveals man to himself and brings light to his most high calling," elevated human nature to a "dignity beyond compare."
This makes it sound as if our Lord did not come to save us from sin and eternal damnation, but to make us fully conscious of the unequaled dignity naturally inherent in us. This assertion of the Second Vatican Council openly contradicts the Church's constant teaching according to which Jesus came into the world to save man, not to exalt him. Christ came to make man conscious of the fact that he is a sinner vowed to eternal damnation if he does not repent and convert to Him. There is no question in the mission of Christ of having him discover his "dignity beyond compare" in the meaning of Gaudium et Spes.
† † †
In Francis' Religion: “Baptised And Unbaptised Are Equal”
gloria.tv | March 18, 2023
"Who is more important in the Church: the religious sister or the ordinary person, the baptised, the unbaptised, the child, the bishop? They are all equal, we are equal,” Francis said during his March 15 General Audience.
In the Vatican, Francis practises an ideology of radical inequality, favouring some and disdaining others.
According to the Catholic truth, baptism is the gateway to life in the Spirit, to freedom from sin and to rebirth as sons of God (CCC 1213). Therefore the unbaptised are not sons of God.
Francis also spoke of himself, “If you find a person in the Church who has a higher vocation and you see that he is vain, say, ‘Poor soul’, pray for him, because he has not understood what God's vocation is.”
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| The new Mayan rite of Mass encouraged by Pope Francis is replete with pagan idolatry and symbolism |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-19-2023, 05:15 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Quote:Vatican II promoted the adaptation of worship to secular culture, to the different traditions and temperaments of people, to their language, music, and art, through creativity and liturgical experimentation (SC§§37-40,90,119) and through simplification of the rite itself (SC§§21,34). This was against the constant teaching of the Magisterium according to which it was the peoples' cultures that must adapt to the exigencies of the Catholic rite, with nothing ever having been conceded to creativity or experimentation or to any idea of men's temperaments in any given time in history. - Taken from SiSiNoNo's The Errors of Vatican II
† † †
The new Mayan rite of Mass encouraged by Pope Francis is replete with pagan idolatry and symbolism
Various photographs, images and statements from the Mexican diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas clearly show instances of pagan idolatry, symbolism and heretical practices being adopted into what is meant to be the Catholic Mass.
![[Image: priest-and-bishops-surrounding-Mayan-alt...10x500.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/priest-and-bishops-surrounding-Mayan-altar-1-810x500.png)
Priests and bishops worshiping in front of Mayan altar in the Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico
Seminario Conciliar De San Cristóbal / Facebook
Mar 17, 2023
(LifeSiteNews - adapted - see original article for all hyperlinks) — At the beginning of March, news came out of Mexico that a group of Mexican bishops had met in the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas with Bishop Aurelio García Macias, undersecretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in order to work on a new indigenous rite of Mass inspired by Mayan traditions. The Mexican bishops had met Pope Francis in February during their ad limina visit to Rome, and they announced that they wish to send a proposal of such a new rite in May to Rome for approval. Such a Mayan rite has already been practiced in the diocese of San Cristóbal, as it has been approved by the Mexican bishops’ conference. As with the Amazonian rite, it is clear that Pope Francis is in support of these new “inculturated” forms of the Roman rite of the Mass.
At the center of this new Mayan rite in Mexico are several elements that were already on the reform agenda of the 2019 Amazon Synod, namely a strengthening of the role of women in the liturgy (a step toward female “deacons”), a prominent role of married indigenous deacons (a step toward married priests), and a form of liturgical inculturation that has clear signs of idolatry, as we all were able to see in the worship of pachamama idols at the time of the Amazon Synod in Rome.
Now it is another form of paganism that is being promoted by Rome. The ancient Mayan religion is permeated by polytheism (the earth, the sun, the moon, and animals are all regarded as being gods), by animism (belief that objects and creatures have a soul), by the belief in communication with one’s ancestors (and even worshipping them), and by human sacrifice (to include women and children) as part of its worship. As we shall show, many of these idolatrous elements will be included in this new rite of Mass.
Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel – the former bishop of this particular Mexican diocese, San Cristóbal de las Casas in the southern Chiapas region – is a leading force of these adaptations of the Roman rite and has made it clear in multiple interviews and statements that Pope Francis has encouraged this work early on in his pontificate.
Arizmendi is also closely affiliated with 81-year-old liberation theologian Fr. Paolo Suess, the architect of the infamous Amazonian Synod.
Despite the current friendliness with Francis, the San Cristóbal diocese had been for decades a source of concern in Rome, due to its syncretism, community-based decision-making, leftist political activism, and the ordination of hundreds of indigenous permanent deacons whose wives are considered to be part of their ministry, all of which is part of the concept of an “autochthonous church.”
Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, who led this diocese from 1960 until 2000, was the major force behind these new concepts and actions. He is still being held in high esteem, even though he died in 2011. Bishop – now Cardinal Arizmendi – when taking over this diocese (2000-2017), continued this leftist agenda which caused much concern in Rome.
In 2000, the Vatican intervened and insisted that, during the ordination of permanent deacons the bishop does not lay his hands also on the head of the wife of the deacon, as had been the local practice. There were other numerous liturgical abuses taking place. The suggestion to suspend these ordinations altogether was ignored by Arizmendi at the time.
In October of 2005, the Vatican had told Ruiz’s successor, Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, to stop these ordinations to the permanent diaconate altogether as they seemed to establish a new form of ministry outside of the Church’s precepts. Then-Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arinze, informed the diocese that a decision had been made “for a suspension of eventual ordinations of permanent deacons until the underlying ideological problem has been resolved,” and that the concept of priestly celibacy should be strengthened. Arinze added that “the formation of more candidates for the permanent diaconate be discontinued. It is indeed an injustice against these faithful Christians to encourage hope [for the married priesthood] without real prospects.”
With regard to the “female” part of the indigenous permanent diaconate, the official directory of the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas is very revealing. We shall quote here from the official directory of 1999, since we were not able to obtain from Cardinal Arizmendi the newest version of the directory that was approved by Rome in May of 2013.
In 2007, Cardinal Arinze had instructed the diocese to remove the controversial passages in the directory that indicated that these permanent deacons could later become married priests.
The 1999 directory states: “The Indigenous Deacon and his wife, in order to receive the office of the Diaconate, should prepare themselves according to the tradition of their culture. For several days fast from food and companionship; seek time and places for prayer and contemplation; take into account the words of advice given to them by the wise people of the community who have long carried the life of the people, and who speak to them about what God is calling them to at this time; perform and participate in various rites and ceremonies of their own.”
It is clear here that the deacon’s wife is considered being close to “co-ordained,” as is also insinuated when she lays her own hand on the hand of her husband during his ordination.
At that point, when the Vatican forcefully intervened in 2005, the diocese had around 340 married permanent deacons (here are some of them with their wives) and only a fourth of that number priests, thereby creating a new ecclesial reality where parishes were mostly run by permanent deacons and their wives. This disordered situation was further encouraged when Pope Francis came into power.
In 2021, Cardinal Arizmendi – whose recent elevation to the cardinalate has been seen also as a papal encouragement for this reform project in Chiapas – recalled his first encounter with Pope Francis only a half a year after his papal election:
In December 2013, I requested a personal audience with him, to discuss matters in my diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, such as liturgical translations into the indigenous languages of the place, and especially the permanent diaconate for indigenous people,” which, according to this prelate, was stopped “due to inaccurate reports reaching Rome.
Arizmendi continued:
He received me together with my then-Auxiliary Bishop, Enrique Díaz, and listened to us very attentively and kindly, with great openness. He has since told us that the permanent diaconate could be a very timely solution in indigenous communities, and that more should be encouraged. This is recommended in [the post-synodal exhortation] Querida Amazonia, No. 92.
Only months after this meeting with Pope Francis, the prelate explained, “we were authorized to continue these ordinations.” Here is a report on these ordinations in 2014.
Not only did Pope Francis encourage an indigenous permanent diaconate in which the wives were considered to be a form of co-deacon (more on this later), he also encouraged the development of an indigenous rite of Mass.
Arizmendi wrote this year that “a little over two years ago, Pope Francis gave me this book: Papa Francesco e il Messale Romano per le Diocesi dello Zaire,[here a Vatican News report on the book] in which the process to reach the approval of the African rite of the current Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Mass is narrated, and encouraged me to follow this path of inculturation of the indigenous rites in the liturgical celebration, not only of the Mass, but of the entire Catholic liturgy.”
The undersecretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, who is involved in the planning of this new rite, also encourages this process. Bishop Aurelio García Macías is being quoted in a recent media report as saying that the Mexican bishops have “invited us to feel involved in this process and this is to be appreciated because it is an example of the collaboration of the churches’ work.” He called the recent meeting with the Mexican bishops “a personal enrichment for me because I believe that the local experience of San Cristóbal de Las Casas has discerned, has been able to study, reflect and can be enriched with the universal experience of the Catholic Church.”
Elements of the new Mayan rite of Mass
In light of these high-ranking encouragements coming from Rome, let us now consider more deeply what is being planned in Mexico, and in some cases what has already been implemented at the local level.
The current bishop of the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez (appointed in 2018 by Pope Francis), described the elements of the new rite of an indigenous Mass with Mayan elements in a March 14 interview.
He calls the new rite the “Roman rite with three main elements of adaptation: They are the prayers led by a ‘principal’ who is a morally upright layman; the office of censing mainly conducted by laywomen, and some [indigenous] thanksgiving dances as a form of prayer at the end of Mass.”
As can already be seen here, this local church is much more led by laymen and by women, the exact ideas now being promoted also by the German bishops’ Synodal Path.
“There are many catechists and permanent deacons, along with their wives, who uphold the faith of these communities,” explained Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez in the interview, “and there is a well-organized system of positions or services both at the level of their community life and of the Church.”
Here comes in the so-called “principal,” “who is an already mature person, both in his faith and in his person, who is in charge of caring for the harmonious life of the community, and in the liturgy has the role of direct certain prayers with the proper way as expressed by the original peoples,” according to the prelate. This principal is leading the faithful in prayers during this new indigenous Mass that is already implemented in the Chiapas region, with the approval of the Mexican bishops’ conference.
Examples of a Mayan rite of Mass as already practiced in San Cristóbal
Women incensing the altar at different moments of the Mass is also foreseen (as it is being practiced already, for example here at a priestly ordination; here (pictured below) is another example of a woman holding the Mayan incense burner; in this video, around minute 1:37, one can watch an indigenous woman incensing first the altar and then the people).
![[Image: Pagan-woman-holding-incense.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Pagan-woman-holding-incense.png)
(Seminario Conciliar De San Cristóbal/Facebook)
It is an old office of Mayan women to incense things such as the Mayan altar (here two examples of Mayan shamanesses/ priestesses using the same Mayan incense burner that the women use in the Catholic Church in San Cristóbal); it is being revived here, but it also gives women more liturgical roles on the altar itself. It could be seen as a further preparation for a female diaconate, since, in San Cristóbal de las Casas, the view is that wives of permanent deacons are participating in his ministry.
In this video of a Mass of the San Cristóbal diocese, one can see how the local bishop processes into the church with permanent deacons and their wives at their sides.
Ritual dances, that were part of the Mayan culture, are also foreseen at the end of Mass. Such Mayan ritual dances usually are seen as ways to communicate with the different gods and spirits.
The scholarly World History website describes Mayan dance rituals as follows: “Dance is another overlooked ritual. Dance rituals were performed to communicate with the gods. The dances would feature lavish costumes which depicted the visages of divinities. Often the Maya would wear or include ornaments such as staffs, spears, rattles, scepters, and even live snakes as dance aids. The Maya believed that by dressing and acting as a god, they would be overtaken by the god’s spirit and therefore would be able to communicate with him or her.” Further research would be needed to establish its fuller meaning during a Catholic Mass, but Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar calls this dance a “form of prayer.”
The Earth as “Mother Goddess”
There are many more forms of “inculturation” in this new indigenous rite, as we shall see, but they all relate to the earth as “Mother Goddess” (or pachamama, in another language).
The website Inculturacion.net, on which Cardinal Arizmendi has published several articles, explains this concept as follows:
In the ‘Indian Theology’ the earth is essential, they know her as the Mother Goddess. She has her own personality. She is sacred. She is the subject with whom one speaks and who is worshipped. The earth is the divine fecundity. Plants, especially corn, are the flesh of the gods that have been given to man for his subsistence.
Indian theology
This new liturgy is clearly permeated by Indian Theology as part of Liberation Theology, a theology that the Vatican has previously rejected.
In 2021, for example, the diocesan seminary of San Cristóbal hosted a seminary on Indian Theology with Professor Eleazar Lopez Hernandez, one of the main proponents of this theology who himself has been in conflict with Rome.
One 2019 study of the case of the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, written by Dr. Irene Sanchez Franco, quotes Bishop Ruiz as saying that “in myths and in popular religiosity,” there are elements of “social utopia” and “signs of a strategy in groups committed to overcoming the system.”
Still today, the diocesan seminary puts the Mayan religious practices – such as the Mayan Altar – in context with the battle against “injustices.”
It is a clearly leftist political and theological theory. The diocese is actively studying and reviving old Mayan symbols and rituals, as can be seen here in a class posted by the diocesan seminary.
Cardinal Arizmendi only recently spoke at a book presentation of an indigenous priest of the Diocese of San Cristóbal, José Elías Hernández Hernández, who dedicated his entire book to the “Mayan Altar.” Feminism is also part of the diocesan work, with their well-organized women’s council (CODIMUJ) calling for “radical change” and for gender equality in the hierarchy of the Church.
Syncretism and religious indifferentism
The revival of Mayan practices and symbols (as promoted by the diocesan seminary) is seen as a return to “pre-Columbian” traditions, that is, pre-Christian.
But for these theologians, however, there is no real contradiction between these two religions.
As stated by Dr. Sanchez Franco: “Bishop Ruiz pointed out that the God venerated in Indian theology was not different from the Jesus worshipped in Catholicism.”
Analogous to this attitude of religious indifferentism, the author describes the incorporation of ancient religious rituals into Catholic practices without seeing a contradiction: “Some groups have incorporated into their rituals elements such as water, fire, colors such as green, yellow, white, and purple as the main symbol of ancestral colors, the petitions have nothing to do with prayers taught by the Catholic Church, but with the inspiration of each one of the people; not only a Christian God is evoked, but also the earth, the mountains, the water, the moon, the sun, among others…”
Women’s liturgical role
Cardinal Arizmendi, in an 2017 essay entitled “Experiences of Inculturation in the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas,” describes in detail the syncretistic elements of this new Mayan rite, as well as the practice of including wives in the ordination of indigenous permanent deacons in the diocese.
Such a wife, Arizmendi writes, “remains at his [the deacons’] side throughout the ceremony [of ordination],” “she even joins her hand to that of her husband at the time of the promise of obedience. At the deacon’s prostration, she remains kneeling at his side.”
The wife’s liturgical participation in her husband’s ordination is very clear: Only the ordinand receives the imposition of hands, but she is at his side. She helps him to put on the alb and stole.”
Furthermore, adds the cardinal, “She receives, together with her husband, the Book of the Gospels. She helps as Extraordinary Minister of Communion. And in the ordinary celebrations, the woman is the one who incenses the altar, the Gospels, the images, the ministers and the other people.”
This incensing by a woman (pictured below), explains the prelate, stems from the indigenous religious culture where women “are in charge of incensing in all ritual celebrations.”
According to the prelate, “we have authorized two indigenous women to administer Baptism and preside at the celebration of marriage where there are no other ministers.”
Women are also involved when their sons get ordained. In these photos, a woman (most probably the mother) places part of the liturgical vestment on the candidate, on the altar and during the ceremony.
The constant presence of adult women on the altar and in liturgical ceremonies is striking in this diocese, for example here when a woman (presumably his mother) blesses the candidate at the altar during ordination, and in another case (around minute 31), where it is perhaps the father and the mother who do so.
![[Image: pagan-mother.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/pagan-mother.png)
(Seminario Conciliar De San Cristóbal/Facebook)
To return back to the elements of an indigenous Mass with Mayan elements in it.
The dominant liturgical role of women is also visible when, according to Cardinal Arizmendi, “upon arrival at the altar, it is kissed by the celebrant and, if present, by the deacons and his wife.” That is, at the beginning of Mass, a woman walks up and kisses the altar, as if she is part of the Sacrifice of the Mass conducted by the priest.
‘Pat o’tan’ (greeting to the heart)
Another lay-dominated element of this new rite of Mass is the “Pat o’tan” (greeting to the heart).
During this practice, a priest and lay people stand in front of the church and a principal is asked by other principals whether they may enter the church.
It is a lay rule, as Cardinal Arizmendi explains: “Inside the church, a principal is designated to lead and initiate a traditional prayer, which is joined by the entire community, all kneeling. Each one speaks to God in a loud voice, greets Him, thanks Him, presents his needs and petitions, asks for forgiveness, gives thanks, presents his or her needs and petitions, asks forgiveness for sins.”
That is to say, this liturgical prayer is not led by the priest, it is lay-led and performed by the entire community.
The Mayan altar
Very important to these practices also, is the Mayan Altar — an altar that is dedicated to the gods and beliefs of the Mayan religion.
These altars can already be found in churches in the area and at many church ceremonies.
![[Image: Mayan-Altar.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mayan-Altar.png)
Mayan altar on the floor of a church (Seminario Conciliar De San Cristóbal/Facebook)
On this topic, Arizmendi writes: “In some places, it is customary to make, in front of the altar of the Mass, the so-called ‘Mayan altar’, with flowers and colored candles, according to the four directions of the universe, with fruits of the earth.”
Each color of the candles have a specific meaning, four of them representing the four directions of the earth (North, West, South, East). At some point, the congregation bows down to the center of the altar which has two candles that are meant to represent Jesus Christ, according to Arizmendi, even though there are other meanings for these candles as well, which we shall see later.
Here is an example from the diocese of an indigenous man incensing the Mayan Altar in a Catholic church and kneeling in front of it, as does the bishop himself here. In another photo, a woman is seen kneeling in front of the Mayan Altar and imparting a blessing.
![[Image: priest-and-bishops-surrounding-Mayan-altar.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/priest-and-bishops-surrounding-Mayan-altar.png)
Priests and bishops worship in front of Mayan altar (Seminario Conciliar De San Cristóbal/Facebook)
The presence of this altar also opens up the possibility for “Holy Hour” at the “Mayan Altar” (here is an example).
To this, Arizmendi writes: “We have promoted the inculturation of the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the so called ‘Mayan altar’.” There are the “symbols and prayers that are customary with this ‘altar’, with the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus. One of the names by which, in the Mayan culture, “God is invoked as the Heart of Heaven and the Heart of the Earth [in Mayan terms],” explains the cardinal. “Jesus unites heaven and earth, for He is God and Man.”
Cardinal Arizmendi also describes how the diocesan seminary has tried to combine the Eucharist with the Mayan Altar, “to integrate the Eucharistic liturgy with the ‘Mayan altar’, which is the place and center of prayer for the indigenous peoples of Mayan roots.”
Blue and green stained windows and candles on the altar for Mass also contain Mayan symbolism: blue stands for heaven, green for earth. “We have green and blue stained glass windows on both sides of the central Crucifix,” writes the Mexican prelate, adding that this supports “the indigenous tradition of calling God the Heart of Heaven and the Heart of the Earth.” “For this reason, we also sometimes place candles or candlesticks on the altar of the Mass, candles or candlesticks of blue and green,” he concludes.
Pine needles
Another element of the Mayan Altar are pine needles or boughs that are placed around the altar.
As one description of the Mayan meaning of pine needles explains, they “are the portal to the other world. There is afterlife, often reincarnation depending on status. Memory must be kept, attended to. Here is ancestor worship — generations buried in the same space. The pine needles represent infinity, too numerous to count.”
The seminarians of San Cristóbal have these pine needles in their church, as can be seen here.
Shells as a means of communication with ancestors
Problematic also is the use of a shell, as can be seen being used in different liturgies in the diocese.
In one example, a shell can be seen being carried into the church in a procession.
Here, the shell is displayed by the diocesan seminary, and here it is even used by one of the seminarians during a church ceremony. This latter photo looks similar to the use of the shell by a Mayan shaman here.
![[Image: seminarian-using-Mayan-shell-1.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/seminarian-using-Mayan-shell-1.png)
Seminarian using Mayan shell (Seminario Conciliar De San Cristóbal/Facebook)
The shell is a Mayan practice of communicating with the spirits of their ancestors.
Mayan Day Symbols of the Mayan Sacred Calendar
Furthermore, the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas often also places the 20 Mayan Day Symbols (Nawales) of the Mayan Sacred Calendar around their Mayan Altars. These symbols are clearly not of Christian origin, but of pagan origin, and often represent “deities” such as wind or the sun.
Mayan Altar as a connection between heaven and earth
The Mayan Altar’s link to pre-Christian traditions is explained in a 2020 introductory article about this topic by author Claudio Rossetti Conti.
In the article, Conti states: “The Mayan Altar shows the spiritual connection between the Heart of the Earth and the Heart of Heaven, whose creation appears in Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Maya Quichè, which describes their cosmogony. When the assembly, as the community participating in the ritual is called, wants to get in touch with Mother Earth and Heaven, and with the Cosmos, to give thanks or, for example, to ask for abundance from the earth or rain from Heaven through the prayers and offerings that make up the altar itself, they are asked to form the Mayan Altar, a bridge of contact between Earth and Cosmos.”
Here, once more, the author explains that we are to encounter “Mother Earth” as a goddess: “The smoke of copal [the sacred incense that appears in Popol Vuh ] will bless the Mayan Altar and all the participants of the assembly. Those who lead the prayer will dialogue with God, Mother Earth and the various entities and will lead the community prayer, indicating the moment to literally open the dances, to kneel, kiss the ground three times and conclude the ritual.”
The use of sonajas (rattles)
Always accompanying the Mayan Altar are a type of rattle called “sonajas.”
One of them can be seen being used here in a local church in the diocese.
As Conti explains: “Violin, guitar and bass guide the dance steps and the rhythm of the sonajas, symbol of wisdom of the ancestors, represented by the sound of seeds of a specific orchid and metaphor of the movement of the spirits that dwell in the world. The sonajas represent the presence of the Ancients who return to counsel the members of the community.”
Another source explains that the rattles are used “to make a connection and communicate with the divine.”
Rattles, therefore, are also ways to call the ancestors to communicate with the living.
Let us now further consider the elements of the new rite of the Mass as presented by Cardinal Arizmendi in his own article.
Lighting of the candles
“The priest who presides over the celebration announces to the community that the universal prayer will be made in the modality of lighting the candles according to the tradition of the ancestors,” Arizmendi writes. Note here that, according again to Mayan tradition, one is able to communicate with one’s ancestors. Prior to the beginning of the Mass, a place in front of the altar is prepared where the candles are to be lit and placed vertically on the floor (they are “sown,” in the words of Arizmendi).
The number of candles varies according to what is to be prayed for. The principal – again a layman – invites the people to pray, whilst traditional music is played with harp, violin and guitars.
During this. all the people kneel down. A woman incenses the candles and then the leader lights them. The priest goes to stand in front of the place where the candles are and kneels and prays together with the principal.
Ritual dance
“At the end of the homily,” the cardinal writes, “a ritual dance can be performed.” This is a slight movement of the body and feet that can be done in either one or three dances. (Here is an example of two women dancing around the Mayan Altar, as posted by the diocesan seminary).
Papal Mass with Mayan elements in 2016
Cardinal Arizmendi, in his lengthy analysis of the inculturation of the liturgy as it is taking place in San Cristóbal de las Casas, explains also in detail the many Mayan elements that were included in the Mass of Pope Francis when he came to visit the diocese on February 15, 2016.
Most striking, when watching the ceremony, was seeing that Pope Francis incensed the altar together with two wives of deacons, both of whom had Mayan incense burners in their hands, as their husbands, two indigenous permanent deacons, watched.
A ritual dance, as well as other elements of the new indigenous rite were also present.
In his homily, the Francis quoted from the Mayan bible, the above-mentioned Popol Vuh.
Francis, while still on the altar after Mass, spoke with deacons and wives, further giving them the approving support that the diocese has long been searching.
His visit of the tomb of Bishop Ruiz after Mass also gave further insight into how much the attitude of the Catholic Church towards the Chiapas experiment has changed.
Proof that the diocese means to use these Mayan elements in idolatrous ways
A final note, lest people believe that LifeSite interprets the “inculturated” elements of the Mayan tradition in Catholic Masses in Mexico in a less friendly manner than is correct, we would like to refer our readers to a 2022 article from the Chiapas region, in which a representative of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas explains the meaning of the elements of the Mayan Altar.
Bartolomé Espinosa Vázquez, an expert in the Mayan culture and a member of the South Team of the diocese, was responsible for installing the altar that was placed during the official ceremony held on January 25, 2022, to remember the deceased former head of the diocese, Bishop Samuel Ruiz García.
Some of Espinosa Vázquez’ explanations of the Mayan Altar speak for themselves: “In the center [of the Mayan Altar] is blue and green that represent the heart of heaven and mother earth”; “When we blow the shell we are calling the spirit of our ancestors, we are connecting our hearts with theirs”; among the elements of the altar there is also “a pumpo that has a sacred herb that we use called bankilal, which is like receiving the spirit of the older brother. It is made of tobacco”; “We have the copal. Where the incense is placed, it is to purify the space.”
“The burning of copal is believed to call upon the God Tlaloc and the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue. Both of these dieties were associated with fertility and creation,” as one spiritualist website has it.
Resisting voices in the Church
In light of these many troubling elements of the new form of the Roman rite that is energetically being prepared by Mexican bishops with the explicit support of Pope Francis, let us conclude this essay with some resisting voices, voices who call for loyalty to the one True God and the Catholic Faith as established by Jesus Christ Himself.
One of these voices is the African priest, Father Jesusmary, who not long ago was expelled from Opus Dei for publicly rebuking Pope Francis’ support of same-sex unions.
In a new article published on LifeSiteNews, Fr. Jesusmary reveals that his grandfather was killed by relatives because he had chosen to leave the idolatry of his own people and to embrace the Catholic faith.
It is due to this family history that Father Jesusmary responds strongly against the fact that Pope Francis himself, during the 2019 Amazon Synod, had welcomed pachamama idols into the Vatican.
“Perhaps those who do not come from paganism do not realize what this means for us converts,” Father writes. “It is hard, very hard to see that the idols we have left to turn to Jesus are being honored in the Vatican, in the presence of Pope Francis!”
A Catholic laywoman and widow, Cynthia Sauer, showed her indignation about the fact that the prelates of the Catholic Church silently watch on as this new indigenous and idolatrous rite of Mass is established in Mexico.
In her comments to LifeSite, she addresses the prelates personally: “Bishops and Cardinals, you who are chosen princes of the Church: what are you prepared to do in light of this sacrilegious situation for which you will give an account before the judgment seat of God?” “For the sake of the Suffering Christ in this penitential season of Lent, with prayers and in fear and trembling, I beg you princes,” she continues, “to be worthy of your vocation which He has so graciously bestowed upon you.”
Mrs. Sauer calls upon the prelates of the Church to act. “Will you join arms as brothers and hold Pope Francis accountable? To hold your brother Bishops in Mexico accountable? Will you, courageous Bishops and Cardinals, have ears to hear and eyes to see in order to take action and defend your Mother, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church unto the salvation of souls? And if so, then, when? Will you do something or nothing?”
“The Faithful are counting on you,” are her final words of challenge to the princes of the Church.
Finally, the traditional blog Rorate Caeli, when posting the news about this forthcoming Mayan rite of the Church, draws a fitting comparison to the suppression of the traditional Latin Mass in the Church under Pope Francis.
It states: “Mayan dances, music, and new roles for women — all for the sake (apparently) of appealing to small ethnic groups speaking rare dialects. What about the ‘tiny minority’ of Catholic traditionalists who wish to worship as the entire Church once did? Or is the traditional Latin Mass not sufficiently exotic to win approval from today’s multiculturalists?”
Or, as one also could put it: so the Church persecutes Jesus Christ in one of His ancient rites of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass while she welcomes at the same time liturgies that honor false gods and demons?
LifeSite has reached out to the Vatican Press Office, as well as to the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas and to its former bishop, Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, in an attempt to inquire about the elements and nature of the new Mayan rite of Mass, as well as the rules regarding the ordination of indigenous permanent deacons.
We have not heard back so far, but will update our report should we receive an answer.
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| Federal Reserve announces July launch of central bank digital currency infrastructure |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-19-2023, 04:59 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Federal Reserve announces July launch of central bank digital currency infrastructure
A financial expert has warned that FedNow lays out the foundation for a central bank digital currency by centralizing all participating banks under the Federal Reserve.
![[Image: Federal-Reserve-Chair-Jerome-Powell-810x500.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Federal-Reserve-Chair-Jerome-Powell-810x500.png)
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
CNBC Television / YouTube
Fri Mar 17, 2023
(LifeSiteNews) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced a July launch of its FedNow service, which will enable all U.S. banks to offer instant payments 24/7, and will constitute the infrastructure of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by linking each banking node directly to the Federal Reserve, according to financial experts.
FedNow “will enable all the banks — any bank in the United States, not just the big ones — to offer instantly available funds in real-time payments to their customers”, explained Fed Chair Jerome Powell before the House Financial Services Committee on March 8.
According to a Federal Reserve press release, “many early adopters” plan on using the FedNow service in July upon its launch, “including a diverse mix of financial institutions of all sizes, the largest processors, and the U.S. Treasury.”
However, FedNow program executive Ken Montgomery noted that “growing the network of participating financial institutions will be key” to greater availability of the FedNow service.
Cointelegraph pointed out that FedNow could “stand in place of a central-bank-issued digital currency.”
While Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard maintained during a House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services hearing in May that a CBDC could take five years to launch due to needed security and design features, she added that FedNow will still serve many of the same functions as a CBDC, according to the financial news outlet.
Financial advisor Joe Brown has warned that FedNow serves as the foundation, or “infrastructure” for a CBDC, bringing the country only a step away from deployment of a central bank digital currency once the FedNow system is fully functioning.
Regarding FedNow, Brown explained on his video blog, “This infrastructure bypasses a lot of the need for the current banking infrastructure, which is the purpose of a central bank digital currency.”
“Eventually, every single economic participant has an account directly with the Federal Reserve, the central bank, and then you don’t need any of the decentralized nodes of the financial system, the previously existing banks,” said Brown.
“This transforms the purpose of the entire banking system really into infrastructure for the CBDC,” he continued, noting that it would “centralize everything under one roof.”
“And once that system is built, once all the kinks are worked out of the system … then they will have the foundation in place to build the Gen 2, the Version 2 CBDC on top of it. The only thing that would be left to do would be to have everybody open an account directly with the Fed.”
Brown believes the foundational CBDC technology is being rolled out “slowly” and independently of a full CBDC so that it doesn’t “look like a power grab.”
“Otherwise everyone would reject it. Everyone in their right minds would look at this thing and say, ‘Absolutely not,’” noted Brown, adding that the gradual implementation is also needed to test its component parts in “baby steps” and make sure the CBDC doesn’t fail “flat on [its] face.”
“But make no mistake, a central bank digital currency is coming and it looks like this new FedNow service is just the launch of the infrastructure for launching the full version of the CBDC later on,” said Brown.
Critics have increasingly warned in recent years that CBDCs enable full-blown tyranny by allowing the government to restrict or even freeze a citizen’s purchasing power, thereby coercing its constituents into submitting to its decrees.
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| Pope Francis denies that Hell is ‘a place,’ says it is ‘a posture towards life’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-18-2023, 04:49 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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While it is indeed scandalous what Pope Francis has said about hell, it was first said by Pope John Paul II, a fact which is omitted in the LSN article below:
Quote:POPE JOHN PAUL II REJECTS REALITY OF A LITERAL HELL
During his weekly address to the general audience of 8,500 people at the Vatican on July 28, 1999, Pope John Paul II rejected the reality of a physical, literal hell as a place of eternal fire and torment. Rather, the pope said hell is separation, even in this life, from the joyful communion with God. According to an official Vatican transcript of the pope's speech, Pope John Paul II noted that the Scriptural references to hell and the images portrayed by Scripture are only symbolic and figurative of "the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. " He added, "Rather than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy." He said hell is "a condition resulting from attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life." Concerning the concept of eternal damnation, the pope said, "Damnation consists precisely in definitive separation from God, freely chosen by the human person, and confirmed with death that seals his choice for ever." The pope also added, "The thought of hell and even less the improper use of biblical images must not create anxiety or despair." Rather, he stated, it is a reminder of the freedom found in Christ.
The Religion News Service reported that a Vatican-approved editorial published several weeks ago in the Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica agrees with the pope's latest pronouncement. The editorial explicitly pronounced, "Hell exists, not as a place but as a state, a way of being of the person who suffers the pain of the deprivation of God" (Los Angeles Times, 7-31-99). The pope said eternal damnation is "not God's work but is actually our own doing." Only a week earlier the pope stated that heaven is neither "an abstraction nor a place in the clouds, but a living, personal relationship of union with the Holy Trinity. " Source. See also here for full transcript.
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Pope Francis denies that Hell is ‘a place,’ says it is ‘a posture towards life’
The pope's latest scandalous comments contradict the teachings of the Church Fathers on the existence of Hell.
![[Image: Screen-Shot-2023-03-16-at-11.32.16-AM-1-810x500.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Screen-Shot-2023-03-16-at-11.32.16-AM-1-810x500.png)
Grupo Perfil Brasil/YouTube screenshot
Mar 16, 2023
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — In an interview to mark his 10-year anniversary, Pope Francis appeared to deny the existence of Hell, saying that “is not a place” but is instead simply “a state of the heart” and “a posture towards life.”
The pontiff’s comments formed part of a lengthy conversation conducted by Argentinian news site Perfil, one of a number of recent interviews the Pope granted journalists to mark his decade upon the papal throne. Touching on a number of topics he discussed with other reporters, Francis also spoke about his philosophical and theological thought, along with aspects relating to global politics.
As part of the in-depth discussion, Francis was asked, “What is your own interpretation of Hell and paradise, and what happens to people who go to Hell, and what happens to those who go to paradise?”
Giving a trademark lengthy, convoluted, and somewhat evasive answer, Francis appeared to deny the existence of Hell as an actual place. “Hell is not a place,” he said. “If one goes to attend the Last Judgment, and sees the faces of those who go to Hell, one gets scared. If you read Dante, you get scared. But these are media representations.”
Expanding on his answer, Francis described Hell simply as “a state” — a description which appeared to refer to a state of mind. “Hell is a state, there are people who live in Hell continuously.”
He clarified that he was not referring to suffering generally, but to “those who make a world of bad or sick self-referentiality, and end up living in Hell.”
Quote:Hell is a state, it is a state of the heart, of the soul, of a posture towards life, towards values, towards the family, towards everything. There are people who live in Hell because they seek it, there are others who do not, who are suffering. And who goes to Hell, to that Hell, to that state? They are already living from here.
Not content with appearing to deny the existence of Hell, however, Francis implied that there was no one actually in Hell — an about-turn in his argument that saw him appear to thus accept that Hell could be real.
“If you ask me how many people are in Hell, I answer you with a famous sculpture of the cathedral of Vézelay,” he said. Providing a description of the sculpture, Francis noted that the sculpture “has Judas hanging and the devil pulling him down, and on the other side they have the Good Shepherd, Jesus who grabs Judas and puts him on his shoulders with an ironic smile.”
“What does that mean?” he queried. “That salvation is stronger than damnation. This pilaster is a catechesis that should make us think.”
“God’s mercy is always at our side, and what God wants is always to be with his people, with his children, and not for them to leave him,” he ended.
His remarks echo those made in a controversial interview with atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari, in which Scalfari claimed that Francis denied the existence of Hell and argued instead that “lost souls” were annihilated upon the death of the earthly body.
The Vatican subsequently issued a process of damage control following Scalfari’s publication of the interview. At the time, Fr. Thomas Rosica, English-language assistant to the Holy See Press Office, told LifeSiteNews: “All official, final texts of the Holy Father are found on the Vatican website,” and since they were never published by the Holy See Press Office they “should not be considered official texts.”
They were, said Fr. Rosica, “private discussions that took place and were never recorded by the journalist.”
Catholic teaching on existence of Hell
Pope Francis earnest attempt to deny the existence of Hell, or the possibility of anyone being in it, runs in the face of the Catholic Church’s teaching on the subject.
The Gospels present the words of Christ on the matter. In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Christ warns how the greedy and selfish rich man, who died unrepentant, “also died, and he was buried in hell.” (Luke 16:22)
So also in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Christ presents the account of Judgment Day and the separation of the just from the unjust. Those who did not follow the law of God “shall go into everlasting punishment,” teaches Christ. (Matt 25:46)
In yet another discourse with His disciples, Christ explained the meaning of the parable of the sower, likening it to the final days of judgement. “The Son of man shall send his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals, and them that work iniquity. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt 13:41)
In his supplement to the Summae Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas draws upon the teaching of Scripture to clearly outline and defend the existence of Hell. Writing about where souls are borne immediately after death, the great theologian writes:
Quote:And since a place is assigned to souls in keeping with their reward or punishment, as soon as the soul is set free from the body it is either plunged into hell or soars to heaven, unless it be held back by some debt, for which its flight must needs be delayed until the soul is first of all cleansed.
“This truth is attested by the manifest authority of the canonical Scriptures and the doctrine of the holy Fathers,” he continues, “wherefore the contrary must be judged heretical as stated in Dial. iv, 25, and in De Eccl. Dogm. xlvi.”
Later in the same section, St. Thomas reaffirms the physical existence of Hell, drawing as always from the Fathers of the Church and Sacred Scripture. Citing St. Basil, Aquinas writes that:
Quote:at the final cleansing of the world, there will be a separation of the elements: whatever is pure and noble remaining above for the glory of the blessed, and whatever is ignoble and sordid being cast down for the punishment of the damned: so that just as every creature will be to the blessed a matter of joy, so will all the elements conduce to the torture of the damned, according to Wisdom 5:21, “the whole world will fight with Him against the unwise.”
This is also becoming to Divine justice, that whereas they departed from one by sin, and placed their end in material things which are many and various, so should they be tormented in many ways and from many sources.
So resolutely did St. Thomas teach regarding the existence of Hell, that he outlined the manner in which the tormenting fire – of which the Scriptures speak – would be real. “However, whatever we may say of the fire that torments the separated souls, we must admit that the fire which will torment the bodies of the damned after the resurrection is corporeal, since one cannot fittingly apply a punishment to a body unless that punishment itself be bodily.”
Aquinas further cites the teaching of Pope St. Gregory along with that of St. Augustine to support his writing. ...
Pope Francis’ caricature of Hell as being a psychological state is yet another example of an idolatrous humanism that reduces everything to this world, as if man’s experience is the measure of God, rather than God’s eternal design and plan as being the measure of man’s destiny. Pope Francis’ offhand dismissal of our Lord’s description of the physicality of Hell is yet another example of his dethronement of the true God for one of his own making.
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| CDC Bought Phone Data To Monitor Americans' Compliance With Lockdowns, Contracts Show |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-16-2023, 04:49 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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CDC Bought Phone Data To Monitor Americans' Compliance With Lockdowns, Contracts Show
![[Image: cdc%20hq.jpg?itok=bSHzgPr-]](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/cdc%20hq.jpg?itok=bSHzgPr-)
ZH | MAR 16, 2023
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) purchased data from tracking companies to monitor compliance with lockdowns, according to contracts with the firms.
The CDC paid one firm $420,000 and another $208,000. That bought access to location data from at least 55 million cellphone users.
The contracts, approved under emergency review due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were aimed at providing the CDC “with the necessary data to continue critical emergency response functions elated to evaluating the impact of visits to key points of interest, stay at home orders, closures, re-openings and other public heath communications related to mask mandate, and other merging research areas on community transmission of SARS-CoV-2,” the contracts, obtained by The Epoch Times, state.
The CDC said it would be using the tracking data to “assess home-by-hour behaviors (i.e. curfew analysis) by exploring the percentage of mobile devices at home during specific period of time.” The data could also be integrated with other information “to provide a comprehensive picture of movement/travel of persons during the COVID-19 pandemic to better understand mandatory stay-at-home orders, business closure, school re-openings, and other non-pharmaceutical interventions in states and cities.”
Under a heading labeled “potential use cases” for the data, the CDC said it could be used to try to connect the forced closures of bars and restaurants with COVID-19 infections and death rates, as well as try to assess the impact of state restrictions on close contact between people outside of their home.
The data could also be used to monitor adherence to mandated or recommended quarantines after arrival from another state and to examine the correlation of mobility patterns and spikes in COVID-19 cases at facilities such as churches, concerts, and grocery stores. It would also enable examining movement restrictions such as curfews to show “patterns” and “compliance,” the contracts state.
The contracts were previously reported on by Vice News, but the outlet only released a screenshot of a single page. Together, the contracts run 71 pages. Both were signed in 2021.
Early Research Published, Unclear What Purchased Data Used For
The CDC, early in the pandemic, received the data for free from the firms, SafeGraph and Cuebiq.
CDC researchers in 2020 published two studies utilizing the data. One focused on data from four U.S. metropolitan areas, finding that people moved around less when measures such as social distancing were imposed. Another found that harsh lockdown orders led to decreased movement, while there was more movement after states began lifting the orders.
Other researchers have also used the mobility data for studies.
No CDC studies were published after the agency bought the data and a CDC spokesperson did not provide examples of what the purchased data were used for.
“For COVID-19, the insights derived from these data provide essential information on the impact and effectiveness of policies and COVID-19 mitigation measures (e.g., jurisdictional stay-at-home orders and business closures) that had profound effects on communities,” Scott Pauley, the spokesperson, told The Epoch Times via email.
“These data provide important insights to protect public health and have been used to understand population-level impacts of COVID-19 policies and can shed important light on other pressing public health problems, like natural disaster response, and toxic environmental exposures. CDC does not and could not use these data for monitoring compliance with COVID-19 orders or individual tracking,” he added.
While the data is deanonymized, it can be used to identify people, researchers have shown.
Read more here...
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| VT Christian HS banned from tournaments after refusing to play team with transgender player |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-16-2023, 10:27 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Vermont high school banned from tournaments after refusing to play team with transgender player
The punishment stems from Mid Vermont Christian School forfeiting out of the Vermont Division IV girls basketball state tournament
CBS | Mar 14, 2023
The Vermont girls high school basketball team that forfeited out of a tournament in February after refusing to play against a team with a transgender player has been declared ineligible to participate in future tournaments, the Vermont Principals' Association announced this week. The ban will apply to all sports.
"With feedback from membership at large, our Diversity Equity and Inclusion in Activities Committee, and our Activity Standards Committee, The VPA's Executive Council met today, March 13th, 2023 to discuss the relevant forfeiture," reads a statement from the VPA. "The result was a determination that policies have been violated at the school level, thus there is an immediate determination of ineligibility for Mid-Vermont Christian in VPA sanctioned activities and tournaments going forward."
Mid Vermont Christian School forfeited out of the Vermont Division IV girls basketball state tournament after refusing to play against Long Trail School on Feb. 21 in the first round. Long Trail has a transgender player on its roster, but according to Valley News, MVCS was the only opponent to have an issue with that all season.
In a statement, MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg explained that the reason for the forfeit was her school did not think it was fair to have the girls team play against an opponent with a biological male because it "jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players."
After the meeting on March 13, the VPA sent the school a letter to the school saying that forfeit and the rationality behind it "violates VPA Policies which are aligned with Vermont state law."
"Specifically, the school's actions do not meet the expectations of the VPA's 1st and 2nd policy, Commitment to Racial, Gender-Fair, and Disability Awareness and Policy of Gender Identity, respectively" reads the letter. "Thus, Mid-Vermont Christian school is ineligible to participate in VPA activities going forward. The prorated dues will be returned to you via check."
As of 2022, Vermont private schools are expected to follow the state's anti-discrimination rules if they want state funding. Earlier this year, MVCS and another religiously affiliated school told the Vermont Board of Education that they wanted to reserve the right not to follow all of the anti-discrimination laws due to their religious beliefs.
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| China’s new ‘Smart Religion’ app requires faithful to register to attend worship services |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-16-2023, 08:20 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism
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China’s new ‘Smart Religion’ app requires faithful to register to attend worship services
![[Image: 1280px-people-singing-chant.jpg?w=670&h=447]](https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/1280px-people-singing-chant.jpg?w=670&h=447)
A house church in Beijing, China. | Credit: Huang Jinhui/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 4.0
CNA | Mar 7, 2023
A human rights group active in China is reporting that religious believers in a populous Chinese province are now required to register on a government app in order to attend worship services.
ChinaAid, a U.S.-based Christian charity, reported March 6 that the religious department of the provincial government of Henan is rolling out a system whereby all believers must make online reservations before they can attend services in churches, mosques, or Buddhist temples.
The reservations are to be made through an app called “Smart Religion” developed by the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission of Henan Province. According to ChinaAid, applicants must fill in personal information, including their name, phone number, government ID number, permanent residence, occupation, and date of birth before they can make a reservation. Those who are allowed into a place of worship must also have their temperature taken — suggesting the app may be related in some way to COVID-19 restrictions — and show a reservation code.
Henan, located in the east-central part of the country, has one of the largest Christian populations in China — as much as 6% — according to a 2012 government survey. The communist government of China is officially secular, and the same survey suggested that just 13% of the 98 million population of Henan belongs to an organized religion.
The Chinese government technically recognizes Catholicism as one of five religions in the country, but there exists an underground Catholic Church, which is persecuted and loyal to Rome. Government-approved Catholic churches, on the other hand, have comparatively more freedom of worship but face other challenges, including pressure from the government to censor parts of Catholic teaching, while including Chinese nationalism and love for the party in preaching. Religious believers of all stripes are surveilled in China.
ChinaAid reported that there are concerns that less tech-savvy elderly people might be isolated from signing up for religious services, but officials said staff would assist them in doing so.
ChinaAid said the development and rollout of the app is part of the communist government’s efforts to “strictly manage religion in a comprehensive way,” in part by gathering data about religious believers. The group also expressed concern that the introduction of this additional barrier will turn people away from the practice of religion.
“These management measures did not stem from the intention to protect the religious rights of religious people but rather are mediums to accomplish political purposes,” the group wrote.
“China’s Henan Daily reported that on Feb. 24 this year, Zhang Leiming, member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and head of the United Front Work Department, went to the Provincial Ethnic and Religious Committee to investigate and pointed out that it is necessary to strictly manage religion in a comprehensive way, unite and guide the majority of religious believers to follow the Chinese Communist Party unswervingly.”
Henan was the site of the razing of a Catholic Church in 2017 by government authorities, who also detained dozens of people. The government had reportedly deemed the church an “illegal structure” and ordered it removed. Church property, as well as that of parishioners and construction workers, was confiscated. The Chinese Communist Party also claimed that the church had failed to pay a “road usage fee” that villagers wanted imposed.
In April 2016 Li Jiangong, a pastor in Zhumadian, another city of Henan province, lost his wife when the couple tried to save their house church from being bulldozed in a government-ordered destruction of the church. He “barely escaped” death, according to the most recent annual report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
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| Court rules against employee fired for refusing to attend LGBTQ training session |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-15-2023, 10:02 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Court rules against employee fired for refusing to attend LGBTQ training session
Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES said the LGBTQ training was intended to help prevent discrimination in the workplace
Fox News [slightly adapted] | March 15, 2023
A federal appellate court rejected the appeal of a former account clerk in upstate New York who was fired from his job for refusing to attend a mandatory LGBTQ training in 2018.
Raymond Zdunski was employed at Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES for seven years before his termination, which he likened to "unlawful religious discrimination." He sued the Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES seeking reinstatement, back pay and $10 million in damages. The Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) is a public organization that was created by the New York State Legislature in 1948 to provide shared educational programs and services to school districts within the state.
The plaintiff had argued that the LGBTQ training and makeup session were "aimed at changing his religious beliefs about gender and sexuality," and that attending the training "would have caused him to violate the religious teachings to which he adheres," according to the lawsuit. BOCES denied his request for a religious accommodation.
District Court Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford dismissed Zdunksi's lawsuit in 2022, concluding that his claims were "unsupported" and agreeing with BOCES that he was fired for refusing to attend the trainings, which BOCES had maintained were intended to help prevent discrimination in the workplace.
"Plaintiff's unsupported assumption that Defendants believe him to be ‘bigoted’ due to his religious beliefs is insufficient to support an inference of discrimination," Crawford said in his ruling. "In sum, no facts in the record support a finding that Mr. Zdunski was terminated because of his religion; rather, the evidence in the record supports Defendants' position that his termination was due to repeatedly refusing to attend a mandatory employee training."
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed BOCES this week, saying in its opinion that Zdunksi had failed to provide "sufficient evidence" for his claims.
"It just seems like the country is against the Christian way of life, and it's for everything else," Zdunski responded. "We're not allowed to practice our way of life but anyone else can, it seems."
Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES said in a statement to Fox News Digital that Zdunski was fired for "insubordination."
"Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES is committed to providing educational and employment opportunities in an environment free from unlawful discrimination, including harassment and intimidation," David O'Rourke, Ph.D., District Superintendent and Chief Executive Officer, said. "The plaintiff in this matter was terminated for insubordination after he repeatedly refused directives to attend a mandatory cultural competency training program that was designed to facilitate a safe environment for both students and staff consistent with Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES obligations under New York State and Federal laws. We agree with the decisions of both the United States District Court and the Court of Appeals, and remain committed to fostering a safe and supportive environment for all students and staff."
Zdunski's lawyer Kristina S. Heuser, meanwhile, maintained that her client's rights were violated "for no other reason than his refusal to be indoctrinated with anti-biblical teaching."
"Though the lower courts did not find in his favor, we are not deterred and will seek redress from the U.S. Supreme Court," she added, according to The Buffalo News.
Heuser expanded in comments to Fox News Digital.
"We are very disappointed that the Second Circuit decided the matter incorrectly," Heuser said. "This country was founded upon and for religious freedom, but these days people of faith - particularly Christian faith - are among the most discriminated against in our nation. Mr. Zdunski sought a religious accommodation to avoid a training his employer was requiring aimed at teaching ‘cultural sensitivity’ towards transgender persons."
"Mr. Zdunski was an account clerk," Heuser continued. "He worked on spreadsheets in a cubicle. The training was not even remotely related to the requirements of his job. The Left will stop at nothing to force their ideology upon everyone, including stripping people of their livelihood if they do not submit to their beliefs. Mr. Zdunksi refused to violate his sincerely held religious beliefs by submitting to teaching that contradicts what Scripture teaches, which is his absolute right under prevailing federal law. The Court's ruling was clearly erroneous and we intend to petition the United States Supreme Court to hear Mr. Zdunski's case."
U.S. workplaces have in recent years experienced more of a push toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). But a recent study found that companies are slashing DEI jobs while workers were leaving these fields at a higher rate than non-DEI positions. The study by Revelio Labs said last year companies who had layoffs cut DEI positions at a 33% rate versus a 21% cut for other roles.
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