Catholics?

Many years ago, when I wrote a book of historical poetry and monologues on Fountains Abbey, I had access to two libraries' special collections. I also had a Reader's Pass to the British Library.

In these collections, I discovered books of the actual letters of Thomas Cromwell's visitators to the abbeys and monasteries of England and Wales. As the master-mind behind the suppression of the monasteries, Cromwell dictated the rules, organized the men, and oversaw the systematic theft, destruction, and murder of the land, buildings, and inhabitants, not only of Fountains, but the hundred of other holy houses.

Cromwell oversaw and caused the downfall of SS. John Fisher and Thomas More, as well as the persecution of Katherine of Aragon and the death of Anne Boleyn. Cromwell said of the excellent Queen Katherine, (who should be canonized), that "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History".  

He master-minded the complete change of the face of English spirituality. At the beginning of his several steps of suppression, there were at least 900 religious houses, including monasteries, priories and convents, involving over 12,000 persons in the land. He was responsible for the destruction of the shrine of Thomas a Becket, among all the other shrines, including Walsingham, the only place where Mary had appeared in England and, like Canterbury, one of the two major pilgrimage sites in England. All these places not only were physically destroyed, but ruined in memory.

At the end of the few years of violence, only a handful of religious houses remained, those which had gone over to Henry, all under the control of Cromwell. The Visitators were led and controlled by a group of commissioners of theValor Ecclesiaticus, and the later general visitation of 1535, Richard Layton, Thomas Leigh, John ap Rice and John Tregonwell, who "visited" the holy houses themselves and wrote back to Cromwell. One of the Visitators sent to Walshingham was the grandfather of St. Robert Southwell, Sir Richard Southwell, who became wealthy from his part of the theft. John Tregonwell, for example, went to Oxford to force the religious to take the Oath of Supremacy. At first, the suppression was supposedly a commission to collect data on the wealth of the religious houses, but quickly these visitations included the forcing of the oath, and the destruction of the houses.

Cromwell also raised Hugh Latimer and others to positions of great power in the newly formed Anglican "church".  The fact that letters remain testifies to the vast organization which Cromwell establish in order to destroy the Catholic Church.

Reading the actual letters of these men who were sent to Walsingham, Glastonbury, Furness, Buckfast and the long list, including Fountains, chilled my heart. Here is a list of the dissolved monasteries.  Such phrases relating to the monks and priests, such as this one, that they were"sore bent rathre to die then to yelde to  this youre royals style" indicate the great spiritual and physical battles surrounding the dissolution. Such phrases are found in the Original Letters, Three Chapters of Letters and other books complied and edited by such scholars as Ellis, Wright and Thompson, as well as State Papers, Published under the Authority of His Majesty's Commission. There are other compilations as well.

Today, one can estimate that the worth of the land, buildings, altar ware, goods, including sheep and cattle stolen would be over 1.07 billion pounds sterling. Even though the visitators claimed that many of the monks, priests and nuns were evil, some of the letters indicate that the vast majority were good, Godly people. We know this from many sources, that the evils of the monasteries were not only exaggerated, but downright deceitful reports, created in order to suppress the houses and kill the monks, nuns, and laity who were faithful. Most became the great martyrs and homeless of England and Wales--some, like St. John Houghton, killed at Tyburn, and some dying on the roads in ditches and hovels far from their original monasteries. One of the greatest scholars tracing the evils of this time is David Knowles. 

Blaspheming God and committing the sin of sacrilege, such as at Fountains, when the men threw the Consecrated Hosts, the Body of Christ on the ground and forced their horses to trample God, these men then wrote back to the commissioners and Cromwell as to their "successes". The letters remain as proof of the greatest sins men can commit against Christ Himself in the Eucharist.


Some types of sacrilege cannot be published on this blog.

As a young person, I was shocked to realize that the vast majority of the men involved in violence against God, God's Church, the People of God, had been born and raised Catholic.

When I first did research into the dissolution, in 1979, I had somewhat of an idea of the horror which blighted the religious landscape of England and Wales. When I had finished my many months, and eventually years, of researching, reading and reflecting, I knew that we would see times like this again. We would witness Catholics destroying the Church of Christ, causing Christ to suffer the pains of Calvary again and again and again.

All these men, who perpetrated the murder of the martyrs and the desecration of the Eucharist had been or were still Catholics.

These men were Catholics who instructed the bullies to take the nuns out of the convents and push them onto the streets and wild roads of all the counties and shires of England and Wales. The bullies were or had been Catholics.

These men were Catholics who became wealthy lords, feasting on the backs of those who had provided livelihoods in farming, the wool trade, and even shoe-making for thousands of lay people, lay people who either lost their jobs, homes, and were separated from families, or who succumbed to the oath. 

These men were Catholics who committed the sins of blasphemy and sacrilege in the name of king, country and even the new false religion, with a new God of hatred and compromise, not the Trinity revealed and revered by those they sent to Tyburn, and other places of death.

These men were Catholics who killed such women as SS. Anne Line, Margaret Clitherow, Blessed Margaret Pole and others.

As I sit in my little "cell" in a country which is fast losing its Catholic identity, I consider the number of Catholics who are aiding this destruction of the Catholic Church from within. I consider the weak and heterodox priests, who have led their sheep into stinking marshes of falsehood, instead of green pastures with fresh water.

I have discovered the lies of some priests giving sinful advice to the laity. Priests and laity are men who are Catholics, creating a mind-set of anti-Catholicism from within the Church, which will end here, in this gorgeous country, with the abandonment and destruction of some of the most beautiful churches in the world,

Those who were Catholics destroyed Fountains. But, they also help to destroy souls. This is happening here. 


These priests are Catholics who preach and encourage not only contraception, but fornication, and even the supposed goodness of homosexual lust.

These men are Catholics who want to sell the beautiful churches, altar ware, vestments, and give the money to the poor, not realizing that it is their duty to clothe the naked and feed the poor. God deserves beauty and honor, and theirs is enough wealth here to keep all the churches and still care for the homeless and unemployed. But, such are the lies of the worldly, those Catholics who hate the Church, hate the Incarnate One, and hate the teachings of the Church.

May God preserve Europe and America. He did not preserve England and Wales, allowing free will to have supremacy in the mystery of His Divine Providence.

Therefore, we honor Edmund Campion, John Fisher, Thomas More, Oliver Plunkett and the myriad martyrs of England and Wales, the stars in the Church Triumphant,  some tortured, some mutilated, all killed by those who were. at one time in their lives, Catholics.

A Bit on a Progressive Prelate Advancing an Aura of "Avanti"

Cardinal Reinhard Marx is a progressive prelate who was an outspoken advocate for change at the Synod of the Family.  German bishops have been motivated to usher in a change for divorced Catholics who have been civilly remarried to have access to the sacraments.  

Synod Fathers were visibly upset at the midterm relatio, which highlighted hot-button issues like homosexuality and remarried Catholics but did not seem to reflect Catholic doctrine or the overall discussions.  

To remedy this anomaly, Pope Francis consented to having the Synod vote on each paragraph and publish the results.  In an interview with Die Zeit, Cardinal Marx insisted that including these pieces opened the door and should not be seen as a setback, even though they did not receive the required  2/3rds majority.

One wonders if Cardinal Marx's insistence of the inevitability of change is an aura of "avanti". 

***

It remains to be seen how deliberations on hot button Synod on the Family hot button issues are resolved.  But it seems from afar that those motivated to usher in change are using the Synod of the Media approach, which plays upon secular sentiments to create an aura of inevitability. 

SEE MORE at DC-LausDeo.US 

Some Residue from Remembering the Gunpowder Plot

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence [or By God's mercy] he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Hulloa boys, Hulloa boys, let the bells ring.
Hulloa boys, hulloa boys, God save the King!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!

  

Today is Guy Fawkes day in the UK.  Today it seems treated as just another bank holiday to enjoy carousing and fireworks.  Despite the 400 years that separates them, the Gunpowder Plot is analogous to the Islamists attacks on 9/11/2001.

The Protestant Reformation in England was not simply King Henry VIII making himself the supreme head of the English church in 1534.  After Queen Elizabeth I assumed the English throne after the Catholic Queen Mary, there were a series of Sixteenth Century laws enacted to reinforce Protestant dominion over England.    The Act of Uniformity from 1558 forced subjects to attend Anglican Churches and use the Book of Common Prayer.  Fines for following one's conscience became exorbitant  for most Catholics, it became treasonous to be absolved from schism, Jesuits were banned and priests were executed. 

After the death of the "virgin" Queen and the demise of the Tudor dynasty, King James I was settling into power under the aegis of the Stuart dynasty in a de facto united kingdom of Scotland, England and Wales.  Aggrieved Catholic partisans hoped to restore a Catholic monarchy to England.  Guy Fawkes was a Catholic convert who fought in religious wars on the continent.  When he returned to England, he plotted with others to attempt regicide.  Fawkes and his cohorts leased an undercroft which was directly beneath the House of Lords.  The plan was to blow up Westminster Palace (the Houses of Parliament) with 36 barrels of gunpowder.  Black humorist quip that Fawkes was the only man to ever enter Parliament with honest intentions.

[The Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot/ Henry Peronnet Briggs c. 1823]

The plot failed in part because Parliament delayed meeting for several months due to threats of the Plague.  Some of the gunpowder had decayed during the delay.  Concerns about Catholics being in the chambers may have tipped off security.  In the end, an anonymous tip turned Guy Fawkes in on November 5th as he was guarding his stash of explosives.

Fawkes was not cooperative after he had been taken into custody.  In fact, he earned some admiration from James I for his "Roman Resolution".  Fawkes was transferred to the Tower of London where his interrogators were authorized to start easy and proceed to the worst, hence starting with manacles to potentially the rack.  After a few days of torture, Fawkes told all and was forced to sign a confession.

Almost three months later, Fawkes and seven cohorts had a pro-forma trial at the Star Chamber. Fawkes and three others were slated for public execution.  The others were hanged, drawn and quartered. Fawkes begged for forgiveness from the King and the state while still keeping his "crosses and idle ceremonies".  Afterwards,  Fawkes unexpectedly jumped from the gallows which  broke his neck. Nevertheless, Fawkes lifeless body was still quartered and his body parts scattered to the four corners of the Earth.

***

While several centuries may have dulled the severity of the Gunpowder Plot, this was a vigilante attempt to decapitate the Government by destroying the seat of power.  This is the same plot lines as 9/11 although the Al Qaeda hijackers used airplanes missiles instead of kegs of gunpowder to try and achieve their ends.

 Today, "Guy Fawkes Day" is made light be burning effigies and lighting fireworks. But this was a violent reaction by a persecuted religious minority intent on a paradigm shift. While western nations have become secular and there is a separation of church and state, Islamists intent on building a Caliphate and imposing Sharia law do not make that distinction.

***

While there are no longer sectarian battles in Christendom,  a strong case can be made that political correctness is zealously being mandated as a state secular religion in America.  In 2010, President Obama had a spate of incidents where he could not read his own teleprompter well enough to utter "One Nation…Under God"  when echoing the Declaration of Independence.  Now the Obama Administration is fighting to prevent FDR's National Prayer on the eve of D-Day be incorporated into the World War II Memorial on the National Mall.  Lest one dismiss this assertive secularism as being merely rhetorical, consider how the implementation of Obamacare is eviscerating the right of conscience clause for Catholic health care workers.

The Gunpowder Incident of 1605 shows the stakes and consequences of imposing state religions.  But even the  most onerous of laws did not shake the faithful.  Some groups like the Puritans left England to follow their conscience in tolerant Dutch territories before becoming Pilgrims to the New World.  Others stayed within the Church of England but their Anglo-Catholic worship retained most of the vestiges and spiritual orientations of traditional "Papists". 

***

Perhaps the lessons that we should draw from the residue of the Gunpowder Plot is that we ought to cherish our liberties, such as the freedom of religion and the rights of the individual over the tyrannical predilections of the state so that we do not have to wait for a masked avenger to lead us to freedom.

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com

Thoughts on Purgatory and Perfection

Matthew 5:48 DR 

"Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect." 

Christ, Who is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity speaks only the truth, as He Is Truth.He asks us to be perfect, another word for holy. Only those who are perfect will see God. Simply, if we do not submit to purgation while living, in order to become as perfect as God has called us to be, then we must be purified after death.

Purgatory is a gift, but it is a secondary gift, not a primary one. The primary gifts are those graces God bestows on us, usually through the sacramental life of the Church, in order to become perfect now, while on earth, for our own good and the good of the entire Church. One reason the Church is so weak is that too many Catholics are not pursuing perfection, not wanting to be holy. Frequent confession, frequent reception of Holy Communion, going to Adoration, daily prayer and the meditation of Scripture, are all things we can do to cooperate with grace in order to become perfect.

This is not impossible. God does not call us to do the impossible. He has already opened the floodgates of grace so that we can become holy while on earth.This process of becoming holy brings suffering and death to the self. There is no other way. 

I have been reading the three books by the Pope Emeritus, in the trilogy of  Jesus of Nazareth. A short quotation from one can help us understand purgatory better.

"Purity of heart is what enables us to see." 

When we sin, we are not seeing God's reality clearly. We are blinded by our own desires, and our ears listen to the siren songs of the world. Too often, we depart from simplicity of heart by coveting things, people, knowledge. Purity of heart cannot be obtained without great suffering simply because we are rarely formed in the virtues at an early age and, therefore, learn bad habits which keep us from thinking clearly and seeing clearly the working of God in our lives. In other words, our muddied hearts react in ways which are imperfect. 

Garrigou-Lagrange in his masterpiece, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, reminds us of this:

Christ tells us: "Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God." He does not say that those are blessed who have received a powerful intellect, who have the leisure and means to cultivate it; but rather, blessed are the clean of heart, even though they may be naturally less endowed than many others. If they are clean of heart, they shall see God. A truly clean heart is like the limpid waters of a lake in which the azure of the sky is reflected, or like a spiritual mirror in which the image of God is reproduced.

That the heart may be pure, a generous mortification is prescribed: "If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out. . . . If thy fight hand scandalize thee, cut it off." (17) We must particularly watch over purity of intention: for example, not giving alms through ostentation, not praying to draw upon ourselves the esteem of men, but seeking only the approbation of "the Father who seeth in secret." Then will be realized the words of the Master: "If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome." (18)

Even here on earth, the Christian will, in a sense, see God in his neighbor, even in souls that at first seem opposed to God. The Christian will see God in holy Scripture, in the life of the Church, in the circumstances of his own life, and even in trials, in which he will find lessons on the ways of Providence as a practical application of the Gospel. Under the inspiration of the gift of understanding, this is the true contemplation which prepares us for that by which, properly speaking, we shall see God face to face, His goodness, and His infinite beauty. Then all our desires will be gratified, and we shall be inebriated with a torrent of spiritual delights.

This contemplation of God ought, even here on earth, to be fruitful. It gives peace, a radiating peace, as the seventh beatitude says: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." According to St. Augustine and St. Thomas, this beatitude corresponds to the gift of wisdom, which makes us taste the mysteries of salvation and see, so to speak, all things in God. The inspirations of the Holy Ghost, to which this gift renders us docile, gradually manifest to us the wonderful order of the providential plan even in those things, and at times especially in those things, which at first disconcerted us, in the painful and unforeseen events permitted by God for a higher good. One could not thus perceive the designs of Providence, which directs our lives, without experiencing peace, which is the tranquillity of order.

My highlights...so, the need for purification is now established and the fact that mortification and suffering are necessary is seen. If one does not pursue mortification and suffering now in order to free one's self from egosim and sin, one will experience this after death in order to be made ready for union with God

Only the perfect see God. Purgatory is the time for purification which did not happen on earth. It is also punishment for sin, which is another type of purgation, but not the same as being made ready for Love. That punishment is reparation, which one can also do while alive.

Sin is the negation of truth, the blinding of the senses and spirit and the resultant making of erroneous decisions. Sin must be "paid for" in the justice and mercy which belong to God Alone. One must do reparation for offending Innocence, Purity, Love.

But, the purgation of purgatory is also the destruction of those predominant faults which cause one to sin over and over and over. These tendencies to sin are imperfections which must be purged before one enters into the Beatific Vision, which is Heaven.

The feast day of All Souls gives us all a chance to remember those, the Church Suffering, who are in the state of purgation. One cannot imagine the pain of seeing God in the particular judgment, then losing His Presence because one is not yet perfect enough to receive His love.

As long as the heart is clogged with self, one is imperfect and God cannot come and be the Bridegroom in one's life. That calling is the daily calling to become holy. 

Pray for those who died in the state of imperfection. They will remember your prayers and pray for you as well after they are in heaven. Such is our faith and our hope. They no longer can merit anything, for themselves or for us. But, when they finally are made perfect and see God, they will not forget those who prayed for them in agony.

Remember, only the perfect see God. 

A Bit on Reconsidering Liturgy

America, the Jesuit magazine, published an interview with Cardinal Francis George as he prepares to cede pastoral responsibilities for the Archdiocese of Chicago to current Spokane Archbishop Blaise Cupich. The  wide ranging interview touched upon secular hot button political issues, sacerdotal celibacy, clerical sexual abuse and the recent Synod of the Family.

But Cardinal George's comments about Liturgy have particular as the third anniversary of the implementation of the New (Third) Translation of the Roman Missal approaches.

SEE MORE at DC-LausDeo.us

Prophetic Dust

Yesterday, the dust was from Africa, in a wind storm called ghibli, and today the wind is from Turkey and is called the grecale, I think.

The point is that I and my flat are covered in dust. This dust reminds me of the ruins of the great cathedrals of Northern Africa and Turkey, the ruins of Christianity, which no longer exists in any of the seven great churches mentioned in the book of Revelation.

Dust is the symbol of humanity and Livy called the sirocco vulturnus. 

We are the stuff of the wind and rain.

Genesis 3:19Douay-Rheims 

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.

Walking around with sand in one's eyes makes one aware of one's own body's destination.

It is a good thing to think about death and the fact that all of us will be dust. 

My sister is dust and so is her casket. This does not bother me as I grew up going to funerals and hearing sermons on the Four Last Things.

But, it does not hurt us to think of our own passing from life to death to life again.

When I am wiping up dust from the floor, the counter tops, my clothes, shoes and even my breviary, I wonder if some of this dust comes from the old basilica in which St. Augustine gave his sermons.

Am I cleaning away sacred bits? This dust is prophetic, reminding me of whom I am and the fact that this beautiful city which I see before me could be a pile of dust in the very near future.

I always wanted to be an archaeologist, and this dust is the dust of centuries. I could be cleaning up part of Tell el-Amarna.

A Bit on Archbishop Charles Chaput on the Meaning of Christianity and the Family

Even though Archbishop Charles Chaput was not a participant in the Extraordinary Synod on the Family at the Vatican, the Archbishop of Philadelphia certainly had some strong opinions about the Synod.  After delivering a lecture titled  "Strangers in a Strange Land" at a First Things symposium in Manhattan, Archbishop Chaput was asked the Extraordinary Synod.

Archbishop Chaput opined:  “I was very disturbed by what happened [at the synod]. I think confusion is of the devil, and I think the public image that came across was one of confusion".  

SEE MORE at DC-LausDeo.US 

On Blogging....

This blog helps me as much as it does my readers. I wrote months ago on my own blog how I meditate with a pen in my hand, as did Blessed Cardinal Newman. Some of us work out insights in writing. 

But, since August, I have seriously considered dropping that blog for three reasons.

First, as God shows me more and more of my hidden sins, those predominant faults, the more I realize I 

have no right to write about anything.

Second, the times are such that people must now make decisions and stop reading how to be perfect, and 

become perfect. One can only share so much and then it is time for readers to act.

Third, being in the Dark Night is exhausting. I cannot imagine how Mother Teresa kept going in fifty years of 

the Dark Night. Will power keeps me going...sometimes passion.

But, I cannot yet leave off the blog...not yet. I keep waiting to hear that clear voice I heard to start, stop and re-start again.

My blogging is a work of love and passion, for God and for the Church, which is all of you out there in the 

blogosphere.

But, knowing how much I am the wounded healer becomes more and more of a burden.

Today, I read this, by the Pope Emeritus:

"Redemption is not 'wellness' it is not about basking in self-indulgence; on the contrary it is a liberation from imprisonment in self-absorption. This liberation comes at a price, the anguish of the Cross."

Being a writer demands some sense of self-absorption. One must be a wordsmith, working with ideas on paper, 

on the computer, moving pieces of type around mentally in order to communicate clearly.

But, for those of us called to write, the action is part of who we are as well as what we do.

To break through the self-absorption, one must reflect and pray much, and, listen. I must daily listen to God and 

listen to His People.

My liberation from sin comes at a price. Someday, God will clearly say, "Stop writing."

That day has not come, yet.

But, I wait on orders, knowing that more of me will die when I have to give up blogging.

Today, in the Carmelite Church where I went to Mass, I saw the large modern stained-glass window of 

Blessed Titus Brandsma. A bit of comfort, as there is a window of him in the Carmelite Church I attended 

regularly the summer of 2013. It was almost as if he was saying-"No, you cannot quit yet. Keep going."

The Cross is writing in the pain of knowing I have no right to write, that my readers need to out-grow me, and 

that so many I love the most do not read this blog. I write for the absent ones as well as you.

I encourage the members of this Guild to write while the sun shines. Darkness is coming for us all soon.

A Challenge to English Lay People

thanks to wikimedia

I have loved three men in my life. One I was engaged to and did not marry, one I married, and one I was neither engaged to or married.

Now, it has always been interesting to me that these great loves of my life were English.

One, was an English Jewish convert, whose family had been in London since the 16th century. One was descended from the Danes and the Normans from the 8th century and 11th century. The third came from old English stock as far back as the 12th century.

My great love for England and my passionate love for the Faith and the Church in England became focused like a laser pointer in these relationships. 

In each encounter, I learned to love England more and more, as well as loving the person more and more. The blood and bone, soul and mind of these three men taught me to love England and the Catholic Church in England more and more. Each one taught me something new about my own faith as well.

There is no mistaking that this all was part of a plan in God's Mind to keep alive in me a passionate desire to bring others to Christ in England and more so, to strengthen the Church in England in any way that I could. 

My missionary heart and my woman's heart merged into one big flame at these three different times. From the one marriage, came my son, the seminarian, no accident, but a God incident of the first degree.

He is named after two martyrs and a bishop. He is English through and through. He is dedicated to Mary. He loves England, our home.

Now, my love for these men has not faded. It has changed, but love is love, and if from God and not tainted by lust or selfishness, love brings one to God.  Love is the stairway to God. One may suffer loss, but love transcends loss, and becomes the grist of prayer and sacrifice. And, real love of a Catholic sister for her Catholic brothers never ends. It is the love of heaven.

Of course, because of circumstances, I was not allowed to be in these relationships. In each case, my love was not answered with love or constant commitment. In other words, I was spurned.

Today, in Adoration, God showed me that He is in the same position, and let me experience through my very soul and heart a tiny bit of His tremendous love for the laity of England and for the Church.

Christ's love remains unanswered, unappreciated, unrecognized by the vast majority of English men and women. He yearns for His Mother's Dowry to be renewed, strong and pure. He loves England in a special way. Christ will not lead Mary back to England until there is a band of strong men to greet her. Spiritually, we need that renaissance of holy knights.

In my own small way. God has let me join Him in His love--a teeny-tiny way.

But, here is what is absolutely wonderful. God wants the laity of England renewed in order to renew the clergy. Most people think the other way around. No, God wants strong, dedicated, loyal lay people to renew the Church by evangelizing, by creating strong families, by forming saints in the home, by nurturing vocations.

It is not the other way around. God wants to raise up strong men and women to challenge the mediocrity of the clergy in England.

God wants that old Anglo-Saxon and Norman courage, that rich Hebrew heritage, that Danish independence, to stand up and create a new Church, full of traditional Catholics who are leaders.

They are out there. I know some. I have loved some.

God is calling England to renewal right now in the midst of clerical crises.

It is up to the laity to respond, now, and not with arguments or antagonism, but with love and real leadership.

Bede, Anselm, Boniface, Richard of Chichester, Etheldreda, Stephen Harding,the great mystics, came out of the same stock which died at Tyburn. They were formed on English soil, by English culture, the English Church.

Where are those courageous hearts now? Where are these daring men and women? Where is the new cloud of witnesses?

Where are the recusants, the remnant?

This is the call of the laity, to keep the Church going in hard times when the clergy is either too weak or decimated by persecution. 

With great love in my heart for my adopted country, which has also spurned me, I pray for the renewal of the recusant heart and mind. I desire so much to help the Church in England. Let Mary come and guide us all again.

Ave Maris Stella, guide us, lead us to forgiveness and light. 

Some of the Confusion Surrounding the Synod of the Family Interim Report

The Extraordinary Synod on the Family is a two week gathering at the  Vatican of over 250  Bishops to grapple with “pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization.”  Each day was dedicated to contemplating a different issue. This Extraordinary Synod will produce a working document which will lay a foundation for an ordinary synod in 2015 which would implement any formal changes to church guidelines touching about difficult family matters as well as a prospective Apostolic Exhortation.

 The Synod Fathers heard from selected lay Catholics from across the globe to illuminate some of the challenging issues facing the modern family.  “Synod 2014"  touched upon hot button issues such as: cohabitation; divorced Catholics who civilly remarry, contraception, homosexuality; and the current elite cause celebre same sex so called marriage. Considering the subject matter the secular media keenly monitored the Synod and promoted any signals of progressive politics.

Unfortunately for the faithful not participating in the proceedings, there are conflicting signals coming from the Extraordinary Synod on the Family.  For example, Pope Francis encouraged participants to “speak fearlessly and listen humbly.”  Pope Francis spoke out against bishops afraid to disagree with the Pope when he said: “This is no good.  This is not synodality.”  Archbishop of Durbin, South Africa Wilfrid Cardinal Napier certainly followed this exhortation.

 ***
 Despite assurances from the Vatican Press Office at the start of the Synod that there would be no doctrinal changes only better strategies for communicating the truths of the family, the secular and liberal Catholic media reports  as demonstrated by Jesuit Fr. James Martin report of “stunning changes” on how the Catholic Church approaches the LBGTQQ? persons. This characterizes the Synod of the Media, which capitalizes on the media blackout to interject their Synod spin.

 ***

 Mid way through the Synod, a relatio post disceptationem was released which summarized the large group session discussion for the small working groups.  Progressives praised the relatio, implying that it marked monumental changes rather than discussion points.  Conservatives are concerned that final pastoral positions may be preordained.

 ***

  Cardinal Burke's reaction to the relatio has be likened to aftershocks to the pastoral earthquake of the synod summary

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After the relatio was released and not universally welcomed, the Synod did not hold a regular media briefing with questions and answers. Catholic media sources like the Archdiocese of New York's Catholic Channel on Sirus XM satellite radio went wall-to-wall to correct impressions of the relatio.

 The groundswell of dissent coming from within the Synod demonstrates that those pulling the strings did  not appreciate how the interim report would be proclaimed as the gospel truth in the so called Synod of the Media which has its hot button issues on sexuality. In addition, the relatio did not reflect a balanced view of the discussion points.  Moreover, this relatio concentrated pastoral approaches without clearly reaffirming Church teachings.

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Pray for the Repose of the Soul of Richard Collins

Richard Collin's excellent blog, 'Linen on the Hedgerow', has been updated by his family to tell his readers the sad news that Richard, a devoted and caring husband, father and grandfather, died peacefully this morning surrounded by loved ones, fortified by the Sacraments of Holy Mother Church. An entertaining blogger, kind, humourous and gifted, courageous, honest, humble, always courteous and dignified, devoted to Christ, to His Catholic Church, to the Mass of Ages, to Our Blessed Lady and the Saints, as well as to his wife and family, we are now asked by his family to pray for the repose of Richard's soul.

Pray too, for his family, those closest to him, who have lost such a good and noble man. Richard was blessed to receive the Last Rites and Holy Mass was celebrated in the Extraordinary Form at his bedside. May he enjoy forever the praise, adoration and worship of the Triune God and the ceaseless joys of Heaven. May the soul of Richard Collins, a member of the Guild of Blessed Titus, our dear brother in the Lord, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of our Lord and God, rest in peace.

A Bit on the Bayonne Nun Who Was Beatifed-- Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich

On October 4, 2014, Miriam Teresa Demjanovich will be beatified at the Gothic styled Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey.  When Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints Cardinal Angelo Amato declares Demjanovich beata, it will be the first time it has been done on American soil.

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One may wonder why the Church recognizes Demjanovich entrance into heaven. While Miriam was a postulate and novice, she only took her vows in articulo mortis in April, 1927.  Demjanovich's cause for beatification was advanced by the Sisters of Charity in 1945 because of her saintly life as  her striving for perfection in her religious life, her spiritual writings and intercessions with God.

In December, 2013, Pope Francis approved the miracle of a boy whose eyesight was completely restored from macular degeneration after praying for the intercessions of Miriam Teresa Demjanovich.

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