St. Philip Howard, pray for us

The third saint to be commemorated in the new chapel at Horsham is the star of the Howard Family, St. Philip Howard, 13th (20th) Earl of Arundel. His image is surrounded by the two Jesuits, Ss. Robert Southwell and Thomas Garnet. One of the endearing charms of this man are his writings, which became popular immediately after his death in the Tower, in 1595. A short list of these publications follows: "Epistle of Christ to the Faithful Soul " translated from Lanspergius (Johann Justus of Lansberg), was printed at Antwerp, 1595; St-Omer, 1610; London, 1867; his "Fourfold Meditations of Four Last Things" (once attributed to Southwell ), London, 1895; his "Verses on the Passion", by the Cath. Record Soc., VI, 29. from the Catholic Encyclopedia. 

Photo from Diocese of Arundel and Brighton News Blog 09-02-12

That he suffered so terribly for such a long time imprisoned for his faith gives us hope in our own increasingly troubled times. I, for one, find it comforting that a layman of the stature of St. Philip went before us to God to intercede for us now. His feast day is October 19th and he is the main patron of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton.

St. Thomas Garnet, pray for us

On the new altar dedicated in Horsham, West Sussex, are the three Elizabethan martyrs dear to the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. St. Thomas Garnet, Jesuit, whose uncle was the famous superior of the Jesuits, Henry Garnet, went to Horsham Grammar School, the connection, growing up in that area. Can one imagine him, a new priest of only twenty-four, going from Catholic house to house, catechizing, administering the sacraments, saying Mass?

He was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, primarily for his relationship to Henry Garnet, considered one of the plotters. More of his story may be found here. He was actually freed after some time, but returned and finally was killed at Tyburn on June 23rd, 1608, and shares a feast day with Ss. Edmund Campion, who was martyred in 1601, and Robert Southwell, martyred in 1595. May the Holy Spirit raise up such men again.

St. Robert Southwell, pray for us

20 February 1595 was the date of the death, the martyrdom of one of England's most loved martyrs. St. Robert Southwell, Jesuit, is one of the saints honored in a new altar in Horsham. His life and death bear witness to the glorious grace given to many of the Jesuits during the horrible days of Elizabeth I's persecution of the Roman Catholic Church. Robert Southwell's life may be found here, but I want to emphasize a few points. I first met Robert Southwell in a class I took on the mystical poets of England. His "Burning Babe", which I show here, is one of the best English poems ever penned. And, even though it is cold and wet February, this poem resonates and touches us with a great emotion of spiritual Love. That the martyr, who suffered under the hands of Richard Topcliffe, could write such symbols and images of God's Incarnation shows us the type of sentiment and faith which breeds martyrs. 

As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,

Surpris’d I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;

And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,

A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;

Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed

As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.

“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,

The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

      So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”

      With this he vanish’d out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,

      And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day.

The second aspect of Robert Southwell's life to examine is his connection to Horsham, home of the new

altar. There is an irony in that Southwell was born in Horsham St. Faith in Norfolk, but found himself 

the private chaplain of St. Philip Howard, 13th (20th) Earl of Arundel's wife, Anne. Countess of 

Arundel and Surrey, thus making the connection with Horsham in West Sussex. That this sensitive, 

intelligent and talented young Jesuit would work in the area of what is now the Diocese of Arundel and 

Brighton makes him even more beloved to those born and bred in Sussex. His feast day is December 1st, 

with a memorial on February 20th, in some places.

Vatican to be forced to pay taxes on schools, hospitals, hostels with chapels

"This is a victory for public pressure," said Mario Staderini, the leader of the Italian Radicals party. "We've managed to break down – a little bit – the wall protecting the Church."  The Italian leader of the Radical party has been trying to change the exemption which came into effect 2005. The Tablet correspondence made the situation look worse than it is by pointing out difficulties in the Vatican. Sadly, there is a false idea that the Church is wealthy beyond belief. 

This is persecution, plain and simple.

Catholics Marginalized-Buchanan Out of MSNBC

Thanks, Wiki

Pat Buchanan will no longer be a commentator on MSNBS. Here is the story.

Directly from LifeSiteNews: double standard from Government regarding Occupy Washington and Priests for Life--Is anyone surprised?

UPDATED: Catholic priest, pro-life activists arrested outside White House protesting Obama mandate

Kathleen Gilbert

Thu Feb 16 13:39 EST

Abortion

Co-authored with John Jalsevac

Updated: Feb. 16, 2012 at 4:48 pm EST.

February 16, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Six pro-life activists, including one Catholic priest, were arrested this morning in front of the White House while holding a peaceful prayer vigil in protest against the Obama administration’s birth control mandate. They were released shortly thereafter, after paying a $100 fine.

Fr. Denis Wilde, the Associate Director of Priests for Life, told LifeSiteNews that by their arrests the protesters hoped to send a “wake-up call” to President Obama that opposition to his mandate is not going away.

The six were arrested on a charge of “disobeying a lawful order.” The priest explained that while it is legal to hold protests in front of the White House, protesters are not allowed to remain stationary, including if they kneel down and pray.

“Occupy Wall Street protesters have been occupying federal property for months, but when we kneel in prayer, the police are called in and we are arrested,” Father Wilde said. “We knew that was the risk when we gathered today, and we will do it again regardless of the risk. What people of faith – of every faith – need to do now is stand with us.”

In addition to Fr. Wilde those arrested were Jeff White and his teenage daughters Joanna and Jayne White of Survivors, Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, and a local pro-lifer named John Randy Corish.

Fr. Frank Pavone, the head of Priests for Life, told LifeSiteNews.com: “The men arrested today, including our Associate Director, reveal the fact that the response to the unjust Obama mandate cannot be limited to the Courts, the Congress, and the press. It must bring us to the streets of America.”

“Over the years, the other side in this battle has tried to make the public afraid of us by painting us as arrogant, hateful, and violent. In reality, the other side should be afraid precisely because we are humble, peaceful, and prayerful, because therein lies the force that uproots injustice from society.”

A note on the Facebook page of Fr. Pavone of Priests for Life prior to the protest said that the protesters at the prayer vigil Thursday morning expected to meet with arrest, but said that “civil disobedience is called for.”

Pro-life groups including the Christian Defense Coalition, Operation Rescue, Rock for Life, Students for Life of America, and Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust were all slated to join the prayer vigil.

“The faith community can never be silent or indifferent when it comes to matters of justice, human rights and religious liberty. We want to make it clear to President Obama that Christians would rather spend time in a jail cell than be coerced into complying with an mandate that violates our religious beliefs!” said Operation Rescue in a statement Tuesday.

Obama’s mandate that all employers cover all birth control, including abortifacients like ella, and sterilizations, has united Christians from numerous denominations in an unprecedented show of opposition. Despite an “accommodation” from the Obama administration last Friday ostensibly designed to appease religious-based opposition, the protests have only increased in vehemence, with the United States Conference of Catholic bishops denouncing the “accommodation” as insufficient.

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has said that he would “go to jail rather than cave in to a government mandate that violates what God commands us to do.” Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), has also said Christians would go to jail if the mandate was not changed.

Kemper pointed out what he said was a double-standard in the police treatment of the pro-life activists: that while “Occupy people can live on federal property…these leaders cannot pray on public property” without being arrested. Kemper posted images of the protest in progress on his blog Thursday morning.

from the LifeSiteNews website

When Does the Virtual Community Become the Real Community?

I have been thinking of the need for blogging among Catholics. Pope Benedict XVI, when Cardinal Ratzinger, in 2001, reiterated an earlier comment about the future of the Church: he stated, "it will be reduced in its dimensions, it will be necessary to start again. However, from this test a Church would emerge that will have been strengthened by the process of simplification it experienced, by its renewed capacity to look within itself." The Church Militant would not in any way resemble Christendom, or the Church Triumphant. The isolation of Catholics causes many problems, especially sacramentally for the number of priests who cannot meet the needs of those in rural or isolated areas already.

The blogging community has characteristics different than other groups already. Firstly, the people in the group are technically savvy to a certain degree, have time to blog and post, and want information. This narrows the community down to a small group among Catholics in general.

Secondly, the people in the group have an unusually high level of reading comprehension, like to pursue the Teachings of the Church and want to grow as adults. The Catholic Faith has always been "intellectual", even in opposition to the Protestant denominations, which undermined the rational and emphasized experience, as the Pentecostals do today. This great heritage of the rational merged with the faith life is essentially Catholic.

Thirdly, these communities are self-selecting and tend to be either conservative, or orthodox, or liberal or liturgical and so on. If one looks at the blog lists of many of the bloggers, one sees overlaps, which indicated a community of sorts.

Lastly, the blogging community is temporary and immediate. That is, it responds to needs and events which are "now". Father Ray Blake's blog and Father Z's blog have responded in depth to areas needing action, political and financial, for example, in the past weeks especially.

But, the temporariness of the blogging community needs to be addressed more seriously. If a lone blogger in Germany cannot find the community with which he or she can share Faith, except online, this is a possible area of real concern. Even me, in a semi-rural area of Ireland, rely on bloggers for my main source of Catholic conversation daily or weekly. The local church communities no longer exist as communities, and the anti-intellectualism of most Catholics leads to isolation. How long we can rely on the virtual communties is a key discussion, as real communities must function in close proximity. I was in a lay community for seven years, and the day-to-day life of a basic Christian community barely resembles the virtual. However virtual communities exist now, this will change and we shall have to adjust in ways which may demand moving or being completely isolated.

Perfection Part Five in a Series: Children, Grace and Parental Duty

The great Spencer has a chilling video on his site today. The entire episode reminded me of the Jesuit saying, "Give us a child in education before the age of five, and he is a Catholic for life." Or, paraphrases thereof.

Two concepts totally ignored in the liberal Catholic Church follow: firstly, the age of reason is still age seven in the formation of conscience. This indicates that a child by that age knows, by natural law, right from wrong. Of course, if the child has had good catechesis and good parenting, that child will have the advantage of grace building on nature-that is, the life-changing gifts of Baptism imprinted on the soul, aiding nature to move towards perfection. The subject of Baptism is found below in more than one posting, but we become children of God, heirs to heaven, freed from Original Sin, and given sanctifying grace, which means, the Indwelling of the Trinity.

If a child, who as a human has a proclivity towards natural law, then a child can choose sin and hatred over obedience and love.

This leads to a second teaching, which is that, sadly, children can go to Purgatory, and even Hell.
The liberals in the Church deny this idea, creating a false feeling of safety for bad parents, who have not catechized their own children. I know many. Excuses rain down like showers in Ireland--daily excuses from parents who hold these ideas, which are all wrong and even, damning, for themselves and their children. "We are letting her choose whether she wants to be a Christian when she gets older." She may die tomorrow. "He is too young to be scared of Hell." Look at his computer games-scarier than most things I would watch. "He cannot understand good and evil." Parents, that is your fault.

I write fairy tales. I have written stories for children for over forty years. I taught children before going back to university and college teaching (there are similarities). In my stories, people die, choose evil or good, are happy or sad. Art is not real, even fantasy, unless a similitude of the truth of life weaves through these stories.

Children choose good and evil daily. Children can go to Heaven, Hell, Purgatory. Adults must stop being in denial about their own responsibilities.

I have "heard" the voice of God clearly, startlingly, rarely in my life, except as the still, small voice, but I can put my hand on my heart and tell you all one event. The second day after my son's birth, and he was born late the night before, almost twenty-four years ago, I was holding him in the old Cuckfield Hospital in Hampshire, sitting on the side of the bed. It was a gloriously sunny April day. The lilacs and other flowers bloomed outside the window by my bed in the dormitory like wing. I was holding my tiny boy.

Suddenly, I could not hear anyone, not even the birds. My baby and I were wrapped in a deep silence. I heard God the Father say, "When you die, I shall ask you one thing. Did you pass your Faith on to your son?" I was stunned, humbled. I said, "Yes, Lord. I shall. I will." I did.

For all parents, please say "yes" and do your duty. And, pray for the lost child in the video above. Perfection consists in this, from Garrigou-Lagrange:


There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in purgatory. No one enters heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into purgatory to be purified.

The interior life of a just man who tends toward God and who already lives by Him is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves. It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Cure of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: "For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?" (2) If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? "Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?" our Lord adds. (3) "One thing is necessary," He tells us.(4) To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary: to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul even though it should lose everything else.


By the way, the word in Hebrew for "thing", dabar, also means word, work, matter, cause, act, judgment...In Revelation, a thing is not merely a concept, but a deed. And, the Word of God is efficacious, Christ Himself in the Flesh. When God asks us about a "thing", He does not merely mean intellectual assent, or triviality, but that which is and always will be.

Prayer for Priests, Four

Prayer for Priests of St. Catherine of Siena

I beseech You, direct the hearts and wills of the servants of Your Bride, the Holy Church, unto yourself so that they may follow the poor, bleeding, humble, and gentle Lamb of God on the way of the Cross. Make them angels in the shape of men; for after all, they have to administer and distribute the Body and Blood of Your Only Begotten Son!  Amen    

Prayer for Priests, Three

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for Priests by Blessed John Paul II
O Mary, 
Mother of Jesus Christ and Mother of priests, 
accept this title which we bestow on you 
to celebrate your motherhood 
and to contemplate with you the priesthood 
of, your Son and of your sons, 
O holy Mother of God.

O Mother of Christ, 
to the Messiah-priest you gave a body of flesh 
through the anointing of the Holy Spirit 
for the salvation of the poor and the contrite of heart; 
guard priests in your heart and in the Church, 
O Mother of the Savior. 

O Mother of Faith, 
you accompanied to the Temple the Son of Man, 
the fulfillment of the promises given to the fathers; 
give to the Father for his glory 
the priests of your Son, 
O Ark of the Covenant. 

O Mother of the Church, 
in the midst of the disciples in the upper room 
you prayed to the Spirit 
for the new people and their shepherds; 
obtain for the Order of Presbyters 
a full measure of gifts, 
O Queen of the Apostles. 

O Mother of Jesus Christ, 
you were with him at the beginning 
of his life and mission, 
you sought the Master among the crowd, 
you stood beside him when he was lifted up from the earth
consumed as the one eternal sacrifice, 
and you had John, your son, near at hand; 
accept from the beginning those who have been called, 
protect their growth, 
in their life ministry accompany your sons, 
O Mother of Priests. 
Amen.

From the conclusion of the Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Pastores dabo vobis" on the formation of priests in the circumstances of the present day, March 25, 1992: 

Santorum (Finally) Criticizes the "Christianity" of POTUS

Brietbart.tv  has a clip of Santorum attacking Obama's connections to the Black Liberation Church in Chicago, which I have written about several times in 2008 and here on this blog. This hit the media before the last election.  Thank God that one of the major politicians in the race is paying attention to the anti-Semitism and angry, hateful language which comes out of that movement. Check here on the "church" website for a view. This movement makes up Jesus in its own image and likeness, which has nothing to do with Revelation and the Incarnation. If people did not pay attention to all the media hype about this in 2008, they should now.

Catholics and the Media II: Edmund Campion

Because I am thinking of the Catholic use of the media today, here is Campion's Brag. If you remember, he printed this up at Stonor House, and distributed it, among other places, at the parish in Oxford. Brave, brave member of the Church Militant. Are we going to be so brave under the threat of disembowelment?

Thanks again, Wiki

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, the Lords of Her Majestie's Privy Council: Whereas I have come out of Germanie and Boëmeland, being sent by my Superiours, and adventured myself into this noble Realm, my deare Countrie, for the glorie of God and benefit of souls, I thought it like enough that, in this busie, watchful, and suspicious worlde, I should either sooner or later be intercepted and stopped of my course.

Wherefore, providing for all events, and uncertaine what may become of me, when God shall haply deliver my body into durance, I supposed it needful to put this writing in a readiness, desiringe your good Lordships to give it y^r reading, for to know my cause. This doing, I trust I shall ease you of some labour. For that which otherwise you must have sought for by practice of wit, I do now lay into your hands by plaine confession.

And to y^e intent that the whole matter may be conceived in order, and so the better both understood and remembered, I make thereof these ixpoints or articles, directly, truly, and resolutely opening my full enterprise and purpose.

i. I confesse that I am (albeit unworthie) a priest of y^e Catholike Church, and through y^e great mercie of God vowed now these viii years into the Religion of the Societie of Jhesus. Hereby I have taken upon me a special kind of warfare under the banner of obedience, and eke resigned all my interest or possibilitie of wealth, honour, pleasure, and other worldlie felicitie.

ii. At the voice of our General Provost----which is to me a warrant from Heaven, and Oracle of Christ----I tooke my voyage from Prage to Rome (where our said General Father is always resident) and from Rome to England, as I might and would have done joyously into any part of Christendome or Heathenesse, had I been thereto assigned.

iii. My charge is, of free cost to preach the Gospel, to minister the Sacraments, to instruct the simple, to reforme sinners, to confute errors----in brief, to crie alarme spiritual against foul vice and proud ignorance, where- with many my dear Countrymen are abused.

iv. I never had mind, and am strictly forbidden by our Father that sent me, to deal in any respect with matter of State or Policy of this realm, as things which appertain not to my vocation, and from which I do gladly restrain and sequester my thoughts.

v. I do ask, to the glory of God, with all humility, and under your correction, iii sortes of indifferent and quiet audiences: the first before your Honours, wherein I will discourse of religion, so far as it toucheth the common weale and your nobilities: the second, whereof I make more account, before the Doctors and Masters and chosen men of both universities, wherein I undertake to avow the Faith of our Catholike Church by proofs innumerable, Scriptures, Councils, Fathers, History, natural and moral reasons: the third before the lawyers, spiritual and temporal, wherein I will justify the said Faith by the common wisdom of the laws standing yet in force and practice.

vi. I would be loth to speak anything that might sound of any insolent brag or challenge, especially being now as a dead man to this world and willing to put my head under every man's foot, and to kiss the ground they tread upon. Yet have I such a courage in avouching the Majesty of Jhesus my King, and such affiance in His gracious favour, and such assurance in my quarrel, and myevi- dence so impregnable, and because I know perfectly that no one Protestant, nor all the Protestants living, nor any sect of our adversaries (howsoever they face men down in pulpits, and overrule us in their kingdom of grammarians and unlearned ears) can maintain their doctrine in disputation. I am to sue most humbly and instantly for the combat with all and every of them, and the most principal that may be found: protesting that in this trial the better furnished they come, the better welcome they shall be.

vii. Because it hath pleased God to enrich the Queen my Sovereign Ladye with notable gifts of nature, learning, and princely education, I do verily trust that----if her Highness would vouchsafe her royal person and good attention to such a conference as, in the ii part of my fifth article I have motioned, or to a few sermons, which in her or your hearing I am to utter----such manifest and fair light by good method and plain dealing may be cast upon these controversies, that possibly her zeal of truth and love of her people shall incline her noble Grace to disfavour some proceedings hurtful to the Realm, and procure towards us oppressed more equitie.

viii. Moreover I doubt not but you, her Highness' Council, being of such wisdom and discreet in cases most important, when you shall have heard these questions of religion opened faithfully, which many times by our adversaries are huddled up and confounded, will see upon what substantial grounds our Catholike Faith is builded, how feeble that side is which by sway of the time prevaileth against us, and so at last for your own souls, and for many thousand souls that depend upon your government, will discountenance error when it is bewrayed, and hearken to those who would spend the best blood in their bodies for your salvation. Many innocent hands are lifted up to Heaven for you daily by those English students, whose posteritie shall never die, which beyond seas, gathering virtue and sufficient knowledge for the purpose, are determined never to give you over, but either to win you Heaven, or to die upon your pikes.

And touching our Societie, be it known to you that we have made a league----all the Jesuits in the world, whose succession and multitude must overreach all the practices of England----cheerfully to carry the cross you shall lay upon us, and never to despair your recovery, while we have a man left to enjoy your Tyburn, or to be racked with your torments, or consumed with your prisons. The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God, it cannot be withstood. So the Faith was planted: so it must be restored.

ix. If these my offers be refused, and my endeavours can take no place, and I, having run thousands of miles to do you good, shall be rewarded with rigour, I have no more to say but to recommend your case and mine to Almightie God, the Searcher of Hearts, who send us His grace, and set us at accord before the day of payment, to the end we may at last be friends in Heaven, when all injuries shall be forgotten.

Still in print.


St. Edmund is one of our family patrons. As he also worked in Bohemia, from where some of my ancestors hailed, I am partial to him above many saints.

SAINT EDMUND CAMPION, PRIEST AND MARTYR, Evelyn Waugh, 1937 and above link.

The Lack of Catholic Identity in Europe and Blogging for the Catholic Community

Part I On Catholics and the Media

Having traveled in Europe during the past year, I am struck again and again by the lack of Catholic identity among families. Obviously, there are exceptions, such as the families of children which attend the Latin Mass on Sunday in two locations where I have been in Ireland. But, the lack of Catholic identity is a hole in the spirit which seems to be filled with another identity, which is not even European.

It is as if Europeans do not want to be Europeans. The youth wear clothes which look like any styles popular in any large city in the States. The most common tee-shirt, and I am not kidding, which seems popular, besides those with band logos, is the Che Guevara tee-shirt. I wish I had a euro for every time I have seen a young man or woman with a Che shirt. I wonder if these young people have actually read his biography, which I have.

The lack of identity is not merely superficial. It reflects the death of the soul of Europe and, indeed, the national identity of many nations. Language is not the only mark of national identity. But, there is an insidious, slow, chipping away of the family, wherein customs, habits, consciousness of person-hood develop. One notices even in small towns the lack of identity-partly because of the EU regulations which allow all EU nationalities to go and live in other countries and work, creating a pan-European identity. This pan-European identity seems chic, but it has a downside. This identity is not based on the Catholic Faith.  Two young Catholic men-each from two different European countries, told me recently that they have no one with whom to discuss the Faith in their communities. They rely on the Internet Catholic connections and blogs, which seem to be more important than one realizes at first.

For those of us who grew up with Fulton J. Sheen, for example, using the media for an encouragement of our Faith is not a new phenomenon. Resources such as the Catholic Encyclopedia online and other such study guides, including the Vatican website and other websites with the Encyclicals and teachings of the Church provide great sources of information-solid and true.

To be an adult Catholic, one must study the Faith. Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's famous quotation comes to mind: An ignorant Catholic is a Protestant.  Fulton J. Sheen repeated that truism. And, history shows us that the Catholic Church has always used the media of the day-letters, bulls, documents, etc. to pass on the Faith. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, for example, was widely published, as were pamphlets, such as St. Edmund Campion's tract on Catholicism- his "brag". Using the media of the day marks Catholicism. With the lack of Irish or Maltese identity, or Portuguese or Spanish, comes the lack of a Catholic identity. The Churches are full in Malta, Ireland and elsewhere, but the average Mass attender is older than I am, which is old.

The children from the Catholic schools do not attend daily Mass anywhere that I have seen, coming occasionally. This seems odd to me, as someone who grew up going to Catholic schools where daily Mass attendance was normal. In the States, I am familiar with many NAPCIS schools which have daily Mass, either joining the parish Mass, or having their own, if the schools are fortunate enough to have a chaplain.

The town where I am now literally is full of unemployed men in their twenties. They could be going to daily Mass, which would help them in many ways, I am sure. They lack the center of their being-their Catholic Faith, and the identity which would help them through life to become the person God created them to be.

Catholic media has become more important than ever. Catholics who want the Catholic identity watch Catholic television and such videos as The Vortex in places through-out the world. In my last blog, I had people in Indonesia and Australia, Russia, etc. reading about Catholic issues daily. This is true for most bloggers. The Internet at this moment in time is a key instrument for catechesis and evangelization.

The virtual Catholic community is an important resource for young people and the not-so-young. That we can share ideas and ideals gives many the identity and strength needed. Obviously, Catholic identity must be internalized and that is the job of the Catholic adult. But, until that happens, and perhaps even after that identity is solid and true, the Catholic virtual community remains essential.

Sweden is a Nation which Hates Families

Chart is American Statistics for Home Schooling Excellence

Homeschooling is illegal in Sweden, and if you are a Catholic, this could be a matter of religious freedom. For over a hundred years, Popes have declared the parents as the primary teachers of their children, with the necessity, the duty of passing the Faith on to each child. In a country where public schools teach sex education and anti-natural law concepts, such as the pc idea that having a gay life-style is ok, Catholic parents would have to educate their children at home if there were no alternative private schools.

In one case, here, Sweden took away a child who has not been with his parents for one year. Parents who want to leave Sweden and educate their children at home in another country are not allowed to do so.

This is tyranny. No State owns a child. Now, Ireland and the EU want to pass so-called child protection and child rights acts which would undermine the authority of the parent even more. Could anything be more damaging to religious freedom than the inability to teach one's own children the Faith? Persecution is the name of the game. HSLDA, (and I have another link on the side on this blog), claims the United States is in danger of copying European draconian laws on homeschooling. The Obama Admin, as seen in the post listed on the side, does not support home schooling. Look at this selection from an article on WND:

The conflicts in Sweden are getting as contentious as in Germany, where a long list of families simply have fled their home country instead of face the crushing fines, jail sentences and even destruction of families that government officials demand.

It was in a dramatic case just last year, involving the Romeike family, that a U.S. immigration judge granted political asylum in the U.S. because of the persecution they would face in they return to Germany. The Obama administration is appealing that ruling, seeking to send the family back.

Donnelly said what happens in Germany and now Sweden needs to be noted in the United States because of the habit officials have of adopting controversial European actions.

Dated but typical and all well above average for most States in America

And, for the doubters, take a look at these scores from the HSLDA site. 

Voris on The Issue-not merely religious freedom, but a chance to condemn, nationally, contraception

Apostles to the Slavs and Patrons of Europe

Without Ss. Cyril and Methodius, I might not be Catholic. My ancestors came from the same areas, including Moravia, where the two "equal to the Apostles" preachers, philosophers, translators, missionaries came. The first ancestor to come to America, to Iowa, on the Czech side, was my great uncle, a missionary priest. Like Ss. Cyril and Methodius, the priest brought the Gospel and Sacraments to the far regions. Several key events of the Apostles of the Slavs in their missionary work was the creation and translation of the Bible, using the Cyrilic alphabet, named after St. Cyril, as well as the translation of the Mass of St. John Chysostrom into that Slavic language; in addition, many more Moravians, Bohemians, and others became Catholic because of the baptizing of Prince Borovoi and Princess Ludmilla. My grandmother's name was Ludmilla and I had a great-uncle Methodius. I pray for all the Czech people today, and especially for my old friend, Filip. From the Eastern rite prayer of the feast, which is on a different day, here is a chant:

Apolytikion of Sts. Cyril and Methodios in the Fourth Tone

Cyril and Methodius, inspired by God, you became Equals-to-the-Apostles by your life. As you were teachers of the Slavs, intercede with the Master of all, that He may strengthen all peoples in the true faith; that He may grant peace to the world and great mercy to our souls!

And, as I use the Monastic Diurnal and the 1962 Missal, Happy St. Valentine's Day to all as well.

The Ruling Class as the Societal Norm is the Class of Subjectivity and Utilitarianism

Gramsci noted in his prison notebooks, a new edition which came out last year, and in other earlier editions, that the ruling class will create the norms which society itself creates subjectively and in various groupings, after the quiet overthrow of religion and other class distinctions. As I have noted before, Gramsci benefited in his life, outside of his prison days, of course, from the Western life-style of an intellectual. However, he did not see his own inconsistencies, as his own well-being depended largely on the capitalism of Western Europe and the music, art, and literature of that culture. His idea of hegemony, which merely means ruling class, is that the ideas of the dominant culture, or political will becomes the lords and masters of the masses. History will see this momentum.  He foresaw the failure of a violent Marxist take-over, and therefore came up with this mode of revolution in changing the education and then cultural mores to move along Marxist principles. A slow removal of the norms of Western civilization, especially in areas of morals and religious thought, can be removed from the public life merely by the agreement of the culture itself, having various groupings coming into agreement through common goals.

I must correct myself, as I made an error in an earlier posting that Gramsci created the phrase "the long march through the institutions", a phrase of Rudy Dutschke, a liberation theology-type revolutionary, who coined the phrase. The ideals of Gramsci inspired this phrase, however, and I am happy to retract the error. 


The point of all of this is that we are now seeing in America the result of these revolutionary ideals and the hegemony of society, which now dictates, through Washington and other means, such as the media, a culture which denies natural law philosophy and the normal Western moral norms for the godless, relativistic and subjective pursuit of power and complete autonomy. Of course, the great enemy of the ruling class, which basically is the same as de Tocqueville's Tyranny of the Majority, is the Catholic Church.

Follow up on Marriage Post...

Once a King or Queen in Narnia, always a King or Queen.


This post comes out of a response to the one on marriage below. In my years working in RCIA, I recognized that the catechesis on the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation had been woefully inadequate for years, both in America and in England. One of the misunderstandings among people is that one can "undo" the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. No, once a Catholic, always a Catholic. One can chose to be lapsed, an apostate. But, the theology of the Sacraments is clear. One receives an indelible mark, lasting forever, on the soul. Now, we physical beings have a hard time understanding spiritual concepts outside of lame, material metaphors or images. However, this indelible mark, as mysterious and invisible as it may seem, signs us for life and for eternity. It is a real efficacious sign, not an metaphor. All the Sacraments are efficacious. These actions from Christ Himself do something, not merely represent something. 


Eternity is a very long time. In the Catholic Encyclopedia, the term character is used to describe this mark.  If any one shall say that in three sacraments, viz. Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy orders, there is not a character impressed upon the soul, that is a certain spiritual and ineffaceable mark [signum] whence these sacraments cannot be iterated, let him be anathema (Concil. Trid. Sess. ult., can. vii). (and see the motu proprio listed below in the post on marriage).


And, if one denies it, one is, as seen above from the Council of Trent, excommunicated. The apostate, as I indicated below a few days ago, no longer has to make a formal, public declaration of apostasy. The "ineffaceable" sign changes us in the eyes of God, and should, change how we see ourselves. 


If we truly believe in the doctrines concerning the Sacraments, we can understand the ramifications in the denial of our Baptismal character, not to mention that of Confirmation.


Baptism changes us forever, giving us God's Life, Sanctifying Grace and taking away Original Sin. We become Children of God, then, as seen in the CCC. I have provided the links.

We are irrevocably changed, forever, in Baptism. To state otherwise is heresy. To live otherwise is to chance giving up Eternal Life for Eternal Death. We should thank God for our parents who saw fit to have us baptized and cooperate with grace. What a gift!


In addition, to think that the Sacraments are not doing anything spiritual is to fall into subjectivity and relativism. Father James V. Schall wrote on the Pope's visit to England in an excellent article here.


Part of the article dealt with false sincerity, which covers up, denies Truth. Father wrote,  We all become isolated in our own subjectivity. No one has to or can agree with anyone else on any grounds but sympathy or compassion. In such a world, "equality of opportunity" becomes the equality of doing whatever we want. We insist that the public order has no other purpose but to support us to do what we want. Since there is no truth, this latter "what we want" becomes the only truth. The only sin is to affirm that this view is false and destructive to everyone concerned, even those who rejoice in doing whatever is it that they want.

Benedict concludes his remarks to the English bishops by saying that "Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others—on the contrary is serves their freedom by offering them the truth." We are not free if we do not live in truth. The slavery to sin is much worse than political slavery, which is bad enough. We cannot be what we are except in the truth of what we are. When we exercise our "right" to do what we want, when we sympathize with lives of disorder, we lock ourselves and others into a world of self-centeredness in which the only law that counts is the one we give ourselves, whatever it is. 

Bless the Lord all birds of the air...The little Benedictine bird, in her black feathers, has just sung one of the Hours.

This morning I was awakened by the song of the Thrush commonly called the Blackbird. Like the American Robin, Turdus migratorius, this Turdus merula is a harbinger of Spring, and both birds are among my favorites for their early morning choral melodies. The songs of the Blackbirds and American Robins, to me, are part of Vigils, the early morning Hours or, technically, Night Hours, before Lauds, said in monastic settings much earlier than the 6:30 hour at which I heard the singing. The Blackbird sings in the dark, before dawn, whereas the American Robin sings just as Dawn arrives. When I lived in Missouri, I heard hundreds of Robins in the Dawn. This morning, the moon was shining while the Blackbird sang.


This bird reminds me in turn of one of Shakespeare's craziest and most humorous play, A Midsummer Night's Dream in which the Blackbird is mentioned. As I have aged, I have warmed up to this play more and more, as it shows the "battle of the sexes" as well as the unity of love which crosses and crisscrosses our paths in a multiple of manners. The entire story is framed in the harmony of marriage, as opposed to the disharmony of courtship and carnal love. As Valentine's Day approaches, (and I started this little series of meditations on love, and included chickens below), I now acknowledge the small, but growing Morning Chorus as sign of our love and all creation's love for God, our prayers going "up like incense before the Lord" in the darkness just before dawn, rather than in the evening, as the psalmist states. Vigils takes the place of Matins in the more traditional orders, whereas in some breviaries, Matins and Lauds are combined. Here is a quotation from St. Benedict: As the Prophet saith: "Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee,"this sacred seven fold number will be fulfilled by us in this wise if we perform the duties of our service at the time of Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline; because it was of these day hours that he hath said: "Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee." For the same Prophet saith of the night watches: "At midnight I arose to confess to Thee." At these times, therefore, let us offer praise to our Creator "for the judgments of His justice;" namely, at Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline; and let us rise at night to praise Him.


The little Benedictine bird, in her black feathers, has just sung one of the Hours.

Pascendi Part Two: Gramsci and America

Time for a Gramsci post. That Obama is the heir to Gramsci I have been trying to point out since 2007. However, few have listened, and the younger generation, I am told, simply do not care about Gramsci (see post below, http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-this-post-post-modern-generation.html).

However, the recent events in the past two weeks prove my point that the Marx, Alinksy, Chomsky, Gramsci influences on this Administration hold firm. I want to highlight only two points I wrote about before on this blog-the idea of immanentism, condemned by several Popes and a key Gramsci idea, and the idea of hegemony of the mind.

I am doing this series on Pascendi (http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/02/series-on-pascendi-dominici-gregis-part.html) and if there are seminarians out there who have read this great encyclical, do so now. You will need the information now and in days to come. If you understand the ideology of Gramsci and his ideas, you will be able to counteract the messy theology of social justice wafting across the Church in the States like poisonous gas.

But, first, let us look at the document's discussion of the heresy of immanence and then, Gramsci's use of the term. Pope St. Pius X writes that,  Concerning immanence it is not easy to determine what Modernists mean by it, for their own opinions on the subject vary. Some understand it in the sense that God working in man is more intimately present in him than man is in even himself, and this conception, if properly understood, is free from reproach. Others hold that the divine action is one with the action of nature, as the action of the first cause is one with the action of the secondary cause, and this would destroy the supernatural order. Others, finally, explain it in a way which savours of pantheism and this, in truth, is the sense which tallies best with the rest of their doctrines. 


In this small section, one can see that those agnostics or atheists who believe in a type of divine immanence place it firmly either in man or men, or in the movement of history, as some sort of power which is not of the supernatural order, but purely natural or human. Gramsci would see this power as a freedom from the rules, or laws of the Church, and place all power in some sort of historically based movement, almost like an evolutionary political utopian vision which grows within a people and a particular time period. As I noted in the post before this one, there is a momentum in this movement, the immanence no longer being ascribed to the Divine, but to humans, or to history. The denial of God and the denial of the Church allowed Gramsci to place immanence in the material-as he is a true materialist, as is Marx. All activity moves towards a goal of human freedom, almost like a utopian anarchy, except not quite. The "not quite" are the elite leaders, be they from the working class or be they from the academic class, the elite are part of this momentum towards freedom from all constraints.

The immanence is not a supernatural one, but caught in a context of history and even economic determinism.

This section from Pascendi should be memorized: Hence we have that distinction, so current among the Modernists, between the Christ of history and the Christ of faith, between the sacraments of history and the sacraments of faith, and so on. Next we find that the human element itself, which the historian has to work on, as it appears in the documents, has been by faith transfigured, that is to say raised above its historical conditions. It becomes necessary, therefore, to eliminate also the accretions which faith has added, to assign them to faith itself and to the history of faith: thus, when treating of Christ, the historian must set aside all that surpasses man in his natural condition, either according to the psychological conception of him, or according to the place and period of his existence. Finally, by virtue of the third principle, even those things which are not outside the sphere of history they pass through the crucible, excluding from history and relegating to faith everything which, in their judgment, is not in harmony with what they call the logic of facts and in character with the persons of whom they are predicated. Thus, they will not allow that Christ ever uttered those things which do not seem to be within the capacity of the multitudes that listened to Him. Hence they delete from His real history and transfer to faith all the allegories found in His discourses. Do you inquire as to the criterion they adopt to enable them to make these divisions? The reply is that they argue from the character of the man, from his condition of life, from his education, from the circumstances under which the facts took place - in short, from criteria which, when one considers them well, are purely subjective. Their method is to put themselves into the position and person of Christ, and then to attribute to Him what they would have done under like circumstances. In this way, absolutely a priori and acting on philosophical principles which they admit they hold but which they affect to ignore, they proclaim that Christ, according to what they call His real history, was not God and never did anything divine, and that as man He did and said only what they, judging from the time in which he lived, can admit Him to have said or done. 


I hope this sounds familiar to many sems and university students, as you are getting this heresy rammed down your throats, as I did in some theology classes. The last part of this section describes the new Marxists, who would not used violence to overcome, but supplant Catholic definitions, which are objective truth, which subjectivism and material immanence. Thus, Western democracies would be destroyed by a new hegemony of the mind, my second highlighted point here.

This hegemony of the mind is a force against the domination of religion and the Church in the culture. The authority of the Church was to be undermined, slowly but surely, through historical movements of the human mind and activity, changing the culture incrementally, and creating crises to destroy religion. Does this sound familiar?

I grew up in the shadow of Alinksy's "rules for radicals". One of the main rules is never let a crisis go to waste. We have a crisis in the States concerning religious freedom and the Gramscians in power will not let it go to waste. Destroy religion and capitalism will fall naturally--this is the way of Gramsci.  To be continued.