“Somebody, a long time ago, did it for all of us.” — Abdul Rahman
94 Year Old Jesuit Priest Commanded to Stop Saying Traditional Latin Mass!
From the St. Joseph’s News Service:
Santa Clara, California: Shocking information was revealed today, that a 94 year old Jesuit Priest who is retired to the Sacred Heart Jesuit Retirement Facility in Los Gatos, California, has been “commanded” by his immediate superior, Rev. John Martin, to stop saying the Traditional Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at a small private chapel in Santa Clara, California.
Father Phillip Bourret, S.J., a retired Jesuit Missionary to China has, in recent years, returned to the practice of saying the Immemorial Mass. This was the Mass for which he was ordained nearly 70 years ago. He remains a hard working priest in the service of Our Blessed Savior, and though retired, continues to minister to souls wherever and whenever he is needed.
A small independent chapel, which is used by retired priests to provide the Holy Mass, welcomed Father Bourret to celebrate his private Mass in their chapel once a week on Tuesdays. He had started devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (A Traditional Devotion of the once orthodox Jesuit Order) with Mass and Novena as a simple way of providing for the spiritual needs of a few individuals who were fortunate enough to attend his Mass.
…
Father John Martin had the unmitigated audacity not only to command the old priest to stop saying the TLM but applied the sanction that he would be SUSPENDED if he disobeyed the perverse command.
You can contact Fr. Martin here:
Sacred Heart Jesuit Center
Rev. John Martin, SJ
300 College Ave.
Los Gatos, CA 95030
Phone 408-884-1756
Or better yet, E-mail the Provincial Office.
Ban of Easter Bunny draws unwanted attention to St. Paul
From the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Easter Bunny’s gigantic ears must be burning now that he’s gotten the boot from St. Paul’s City Hall.
The story of the bunny’s eviction from the lobby of the City Council offices is the talk of the town on public airwaves, in skyways and on Web sites throughout the country. Even Fox’s Bill O’Reilly asked about it.
Those who agreed with the decision to pull “Happy Easter” messages kept a relatively low profile; several city employees who applauded the move asked to remain unidentified.
…
The items included a cloth rabbit and pastel-colored eggs bearing the “Happy Easter” message. They belonged to one of the council secretaries and were not bought with city money. The secretary has also put up decorations inside the City Council lobby to celebrate fall, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day for at least a decade.
“My issue was not about the rabbit or the egg, it was the sign on the door that said, ‘Happy Easter,’ ” Terrill said Thursday. “We talk about diversity, respect, inclusion. When you put that on the front door of a government office, it could be offensive to someone who’s a Muslim, a Jew, an atheist, what have you. That’s my job to bring it to someone’s attention.”
…
“As much as I believe in the separation of church and state, I think it’s an overreaction,” Thune said. “This makes everyone look foolish, to ban the bunny.”
He said producers for “The O’Reilly Factor” called to inquire.
Lantry said her decision was not about “being politically correct” but that government shouldn’t advance the cause of religion with Easter signs.
Note to self, find the church of the happy-slappy Easter Bunny so I can attend the early morning chocolate bunny and egg liturgy.
The City can happily go about its business of removing ridiculous decorations any time it likes, with my blessing. As a matter of fact, thank you! Let’s end the commercialization of the most sacred day of the year.
Second note to self, remember to be insulted by anyone who finds my beliefs insulting, most especially Muslims who feel so insulted they have to pronounce death sentences on Christians.
San Francisco City Government Calls Catholics ‘Hateful, Discriminatory, Insulting, Ignorant’
From LifeSiteNews:
Top Cardinal is “decidedly unqualified”, says resolution
By John-Henry WestenSAN FRANCISCO, March 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In one of the most startling attacks on the Catholic Church coming from a governmental body in the United States in half a century, the governing body of the city of San Francisco – the Board of Supervisors – voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a non-binding resolution blasting the Catholic Church for its opposition to homosexual adoption…
Uh, remember that separation of Church and State thingy? And you are interfering in and commenting on Church matters because…? Oh yes, that’s it, political hypocrisy.
The following is an excerpt from East Bay Newspapers on the closing of St. Casimir’s Parish in Warren, Rhode Island.
St. Casimir’s Church closure still pains Warren parishioners
Tough void to fill
A small community is what brought former St. Casimir parishioner Barbara Godek to St. Thomas the Apostle Church. But it also took her time to find a new parish, and the warmth of the church she spent 45 years of her life at was one of the many things she lost when it closed its doors late last year.
“Finding a church, it’s like buying a pair of shoes. You try on a few but they just don’t seem to fit,” Ms. Godek said.
Another thing lost was the Divine Mercy Novena Sunday group that consisted of nearly a dozen Rosary women —” Ms. Godek’s fondest memory. But the group is inactive in other church’s and she finds no place puts as much emphasis on prayer as St. Casimir’s once did.
“We didn’t mind praying hours after hours for different things and different people. You don’t get that at other churches,” Ms. Godek said.
Members of the church’s Rosary Society were close. They met the Sunday after Easter for the Divine Mercy Novena, which celebrates a picture of Christ said to spawn miracles. People in Poland placed the photo in their homes during wars in hopes of sparing their family from bombings.
The Rosary Society, the feasts, the Polish music, the smiles, the prayers and the sermons remain simple memories.
“It’s sad and it was a very difficult thing,” Ms. Godek said. “We lost so much at one time that it was hard to cope with —” we’re like Moses in the desert.”
The simple faith of these people has been injured. Not only that, a community that practiced intercessory prayer is gone. It certainly won’t be reconstituted in the mega parishes with their focus on the bottom line. Yes, Ms. Godek, much has been lost. It’s just sad, discouraging…
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe (in me) to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
The AP is reporting that the Afghan man, who is facing a trial and the death sentence, for converting from Islam to Christianity, may be insane.
How convenient. The Afghan government escapes international condemnation, this man will go —free— (you know the Mohammedans will kill him in the street), and an international incident is averted.
I fully agree that to be Christian is to be mad. We are fools for Christ. If people would only label me insane for the love of Jesus Christ!
What should happen here is that the Western armies in Afghanistan should do an Israel and plow into the prison where this man in being held, free him, and bring him to safety in the West.
Here’s a few snippets from the AP story
Afghan convert may be unfit for trial
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan man facing a possible death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity may be mentally unfit to stand trial, a state prosecutor said Wednesday.
Abdul Rahman, 41, has been charged with rejecting Islam, a crime under this country’s Islamic laws. His trial started last week and he confessed to becoming a Christian 16 years ago. If convicted, he could be executed.
But prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari said questions have been raised about his mental fitness.
“We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn’t talk like a normal person,” he told The Associated Press.
Thank the Lord for that. What these Mohammedans see as madness we know to be the truth.
…
The Bush administration Tuesday issued a subdued appeal to Kabul to let Rahman practice his faith in safety. German Roman Catholic Cardinal Karl Lehmann said the trial sent an “alarming signal” about freedom of worship in Afghanistan.
Is the West waking up?
The case is believed to be the first of its kind in Afghanistan and highlights a struggle between religious conservatives and reformists over what shape Islam should take there four years after the ouster of the fundamentalist Taliban regime.
Afghanistan’s constitution is based on Shariah law, which is interpreted by many Muslims to require that any Muslim who rejects Islam be sentenced to death. The state-sponsored Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has called for Rahman to be punished, arguing he clearly violated Islamic law.
The case has received widespread attention in Afghanistan where many people are demanding Rahman be severely punished.
No, not the first of its kind. Remember the roundups during the Taliban times. People were herded into a western built soccer stadium and summarily executed. People sat in the stands cheering on the executions. Executions of men, women, and children. But hey, its Shariah.
“For 30 years, we have fought religious wars in this country and there is no way we are going to allow an Afghan to insult us by becoming Christian,” said Mohammed Jan, 38, who lives opposite Rahman’s father, Abdul Manan, in Kabul. “This has brought so much shame.”
You insult yourselves by clinging to the falsehood of Islam.
Rahman is believed to have converted from Islam to Christianity while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
He then moved to Germany for nine years before returning to Kabul in 2002, after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime.
Police arrested him last month after discovering him in possession of a Bible during questioning over a dispute for custody of his two daughters. Prosecutors have offered to drop the charges if Rahman converts back to Islam, but he has refused.
The witness of the martyrs stands strong in the face of the falsehood of Islam.
The folks at Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam are at it again.
Not satisfied with dealing with the problems in their own Archdiocese in St. Louis (St. Stan’s, Archbishop Burke, and all, which they have ranted on about incessantly in their ‘we’re more Catholic than thou’ way), they now have to take pot shots at the PNCC.
In commentary about some Roman Catholics from Toledo who have left the R.C. Church for the PNCC due to the Toledo Bishop’s closing of their parishes the AMDG folks said:
How many disgruntled individuals go about starting their own “church”? How many professed Catholics do this?
“Some people will say we are not Catholic. That is not true,” Father Nowak said after the service. “We are independent but Catholic.”
A defective understanding of what it means to be Catholic…A defective understanding which has been propagated among the faithful for years by many who have claimed to be Catholic and who have been allowed to spread their poison of dissent and heresy due, in part, to the failure of leadership to discipline those responsible for leading souls away from the Church.
And how exactly are the clergy in the PNCC, and former Roman Catholics to be disciplined by the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church?
I would imagine that the AMDG folks would have us all whipped, put in stocks, and then burned at the stake. Better yet, why not advise their leadership to start closing cemeteries too. Perhaps then they could dig up our R.C. ancestors and throw their bodies out —“ you know they must have had a hand in fomenting heresy.
I’ll even one up that. Since you’re so bent on punishing heretics why not drive down to St. Stan’s on Sunday and forment a pogrom. Give them a taste of the hell fire you so adamantly claim they are destined for.
The article on the Toledo situation is available at the Toledo Blade.
Of course the Toledo Diocesan spokesman gave the typical line:
The Rev. Michael Billian, episcopal vicar of the Toledo Catholic Diocese, said “it is important to note” that Father Nowak and the PNCC are “not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, or Bishop Blair.”
Uh, yup. That’s right. No mystery there. The PNCC never purports to be R.C. I think these people very well know that. That is what they are running from.
Did you ever notice that this is a stock statement? They pull it out when the SSPX shows up too.
A final word to the AMDG folks: Read Dominus Iesus, specifically IV, 17. Also check out the Code of Canon Law, the USCCB Ecumenical Directory, and the R.C. —“ PNCC Dialog Documents.
You will find that the members of the PNCC are not heretics (unless of course you consider Orthodox Christians heretics as well – which you probably do.)
So, get busy pulling the plank out of your own eye, while you sit inside your comfy parish, before you pull the speck out of the eyes of the folks in Toledo while they sit outside their closed churches.
—The Denim Revolution—
SUPPORT FREEDOM IN BELARUS!
March 16, 2006
Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
At Embassy of Belarus, 18th & New Hampshire, Washington, DC
Why Your Help is Required:
- Europe’s —last dictatorship— is facing presidential elections on March 19
- Results of election likely to be falsified, as has happened previously
- Ignorance to what is happening strengthens the dictator and harms the world
For the Last 12 Years in Belarus:
- Politicians seeking democracy and freedom have been kidnapped and killed
- The list of permanent political prisoners grows each day
- Dictator calls his opponents —bastards— on TV, while arresting youth activists for plotting a —coup— against the government
- Opposition candidate beaten and arrested, his cameraman shot at
Demonstration Location:
Across from the Belarusian Embassy
1619 New Hampshire Ave NW, (Near 18th & New Hampshire), Washington, DC 20009
Metro: Dupont Circle, Red Line, Q St. Exit
You are invited to attend a demonstration of solidarity with the democratic movement in Belarus to show the Belarusian dictator that the world is not indifferent to the destruction of life and liberty.
We welcome all diversity of backgrounds, colors, religions, opinions, and ideassome of the very things that Belarus and its people have been deprived of during the 12 years of Alexander Lukashenko’s rule.
What is Belarus?
Belarus is a former republic of the Soviet Union, located north of Ukraine and to the west of Russia. It has been ruled by Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, who is currently seeking an illegal third term in office with plans to stay in power indefinitely.
What is the Occasion?
Belarus will have its next presidential “elections” on March 19th, 2006. March 16th was chosen as a —Day of Solidarity with Belarus— to remember all those who are oppressed in Belarus on the behalf of democracy and freedom and it is vital that this event continue ahead of the elections.
Why Should I Come?
Significant amounts of people demonstrating in Washington, DC, will show the Belarusian people that the world supports to their right to choose another president on election day, and that freedom and democracy are the right of all peoples, not dictatorship and fear. Like the people of Ukraine, Belarusians will come out onto the streets to peacefully show their disagreement with rigged results and you can join with them in support.
Who Will Win the Presidential Elections?
The “elections” are expected to be officially won by Mr. Lukashenko by over 70%, and he has already stated his victory. This situation has happened many times before, including during the last presidential “elections” in 2001, parliamentary elections, referendums, and other votes which have all been in his favor. Alyaksandar Milinkevich is a united opposition candidate, and has been campaigning despite the numerous obstacles forced upon him. Another independent candidate, Alyaksandr Kazulin, is also running.
Will the Presidential Elections be Fair in Belarus?
No. During the current campaign, one of the opposition candidates was beaten up and detained for 8 hours. Police are arresting campaign volunteers and do not allow peaceful gatherings. Belarus has no independent media and students are threatened and expelled for expressing disagreement with the current government, for attending gatherings, or for supporting the opposition campaigns. It is already expected that Alexander Lukashenko will be announced the —winner— having gathered at least 70% of the vote.
You can make a real difference by showing solidarity – by showing up!
What to bring: You can bring a cowbell (Belarus’ dictator was once the head of a collective farm), or any other fun musical instruments. To pass the time, a few skits will be performed.
More information on Belarus and the upcoming elections can be found at: Charter 97
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Actually, Americans are fed up with Roe vs. Wade’s impact
By Barbara L. LyonsAre Americans fed up with Roe vs. Wade? Recent actions in South Dakota and other state legislative bodies to prohibit abortion indicate they are.
For well over 100 years, states had the ability to decide when or if abortions were legal. But in 1973, in an act of raw judicial power, seven of nine U.S. Supreme Court justices shattered the abortion laws of all 50 states and forced their own regime on the nation.
Abortion is legal in every state for any reason essentially for the full nine months of pregnancy.
That’s right. While the public has been lead to believe for over 30 years that abortion is legal only in the first three months of pregnancy, abortions can be performed even as a method of birth control essentially up until the moment of birth. The people, through their elected state legislative bodies, have been shackled in their desire to protect unborn children from a cruel abortion death.
Why are Americans fed up with Roe? Because it has gone too far for too long.
…
Abortion proponents claim that reversal of Roe will send abortion to the back alleys. I maintain that we already exist in a heinous back alley, where 47 million unborn children have lost their lives to abortion under Roe.
Everyone loves a hero, and here are mine:
- The pregnant woman who resists pressure to take the supposedly “easy” solution of abortion by digging deep inside herself and deciding to give life to her precious baby.
- The woman who learns she is pregnant and has breast cancer on the same day and chooses treatment that preserves her baby’s life.
- The man who forsakes career opportunities to stand by the child he has fathered.
- The parents who fight disappointment to support a pregnant daughter.
- The family that welcomes a child with a disability with open arms.
To love and nurture a child is heroism at its best. It gives validity to the American dream that everyone deserves a chance – the America where our most fundamental right is the right to life.
Read the stuff in the middle. The article is powerful stuff —“ and very true.
The business braintrust in western Massachusetts has decided to build an exclusive community – Paradise One (and no, I won’t link to it). Here’s a quote from their website:
Our vision:
We envision Paradise One as a microcosm of the Northampton / Amherst / Easthampton communities, a mix of gay and straight, older and younger. A place that is especially gay-friendly for the LGBT community who lack real options. Rather than the “gay place” or “old folks home”, we’d like it to be known as the vibrant, beautiful, place where a mix of progressive people choose to live in harmony.
Uh, yep.
Sure they go on about the fact that they are open to everyone. Does this sound open:
THE COMMUNITY:
Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender & Straight are all welcome at Paradise One. Each member of our community will have one thing in common: The desire to continue living life to the fullest.
I imagine they would be open to a regular rosary rally in the community room praying for the end of homosexual sodomite abomination? It would certainly help me to live life to the fullest in the way Jesus intended. But then again, their two statements contradict eachother. How can it be gay friendly, yet open to everyone.
Perhaps we can persuade Tom Monaghan to buy up the condos? I’m thinking ‘Ave Maria North’. I think rather that Gene Robinson will be “‘blessing'” the place.
Unfortunately, this gay friendly exclusive community (don’t come here if you’re a serious Catholic or otherwise committed Christian) is only a little over an hour from Albany. That means that when the destruction comes I had better not be looking in that direction. I don’t want to end up a pillar of salt like Lot’s wife…
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building;
on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.
So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, a person who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise a person in the field must not return to what was left behind.
Remember the wife of Lot.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. — Luke 17:26-33
Bush: Port Deal Collapse Sends Bad Message from the AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush said Friday he was troubled by the political storm that forced the reversal of a deal allowing a company in Dubai to take over take over operations of six American ports, saying it sent a bad message to U.S. allies in the Middle East.
Bush said the United States needs moderate allies in the Arab world, like the United Arab Emirates, to win the global war on terrorism.
…
“I’m concerned about a broader message this issue could send to our friends and allies around the world, particularly in the Middle East,” the president said. “In order to win the war on terror we have got to strengthen our friendships and relationships with moderate Arab countries in the Middle East.”
No Mr. President, we need honest allies who share our core values. We do not need allies that say one thing when facing west and another when facing east. Those types of ‘allies’ are simply pandering for their own benefit.
I really think this is a worst case scenario.
If the church fires in Alabama had been the work of a hate group the country would very readily condemn them and the group —“ and have a fairly good understanding of their motives.
In this case people will just shake their heads and say —“ what went wrong. Hey, they’re from good families, just like mine.
Well, I’d say a lot went wrong and it most likely started in their families. Let’s consider these points:
- Did they have an upbringing that had faith in God as a central tenant?
- Were they ever taught anything about judgment, accountability, personal and family honor?
- Did they ever work for anything, or was everything handed to them?
- Did they have good role models or good ‘ole boy role models?
It is no joke. Our country, and indeed the world, has to come to grips with the fact that solid families that have an adherence to basic values like God, family, citizenship, education, cultural history, etc. produce good solid citizens for the future. Those ‘families’ that swim in the anti-cultural morass, that go along to get along, and that fail to identify and criticize wrong, will just produce more jokesters.
Unfortunately for all of us, most will not see the reality of the problem, and those future jokesters will wreak havoc on our communities.