Yesterday for the first time ever yours truly got into the meeting wing of the "Nervi Spawn" (the top of the seventies Sala Nervi) where the bishops meet. It was nice, with the feel of a theatre, with eight television screens and comfortable seats.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
What the Aula Nova del Sinodo dei Vescovi looks like...
Yesterday for the first time ever yours truly got into the meeting wing of the "Nervi Spawn" (the top of the seventies Sala Nervi) where the bishops meet. It was nice, with the feel of a theatre, with eight television screens and comfortable seats.
Where the Pope gets fresh air...
This is a new model that was just produced of the Vatican City State. The structure in the middle is the Apostolic Palace where the Pope lives (on the top floor). This is nice as we can see here the roof-top terrace where the Pope goes for daily walks/fresh air.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Comments: whoever you are thanks...
Some people really hate this blog as sometimes readers leave [always anonymous] comments which I am obliged to delete as they are vulgar, crass, rude, etc.
But here's a nice comment somebody left today which made me laugh and blush:
"I read your blog daily and I have come to the conclusion that you are the Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, of our day. Like him you record your real time experiences in the epi-center of power, Rome, rather than Versailles. Like him, you bemoan the disconnect with the past: in ceremony, etiquette, rank and fashion. Like him you are highly moral and idealistic in an increasingly decadent society, a voice crying in the desert. In his day he was considered an insignificant complaining gadfly and ignored, but history has proven him invaluable to understanding the decline and final abolition of the French monarchy. Keep up the good work."
But here's a nice comment somebody left today which made me laugh and blush:
"I read your blog daily and I have come to the conclusion that you are the Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, of our day. Like him you record your real time experiences in the epi-center of power, Rome, rather than Versailles. Like him, you bemoan the disconnect with the past: in ceremony, etiquette, rank and fashion. Like him you are highly moral and idealistic in an increasingly decadent society, a voice crying in the desert. In his day he was considered an insignificant complaining gadfly and ignored, but history has proven him invaluable to understanding the decline and final abolition of the French monarchy. Keep up the good work."
Vatican City's 80th b-day celebration...
Such handsome and handsomely dressed Catholic soldiers to protect the Pope and the Vatican!
(N.B. Really nice to see, but remember that the sacred colors are not to touch the ground).
Vatican City's 80th b-day celebration...
Yesterday evening was the black tie concert at the Vatican to celebrate 80 years of the Vatican City State. All the papal knights showed up and the concert was really nice (bits from Handel's Messiah with Irish choir and orchestra).
Vatican City's 80th b-day celebration...
The colors used under the reign of Pius XI until the Lateran Concordat of 1929 when the Holy See designed its own flag as we know it today.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Vatican City's 80th b-day celebration...
Hey, is that Card. Gasparri?! The official celebration was today in the Lateran Palace. It was a great honor to be there. An 80th birthday means that the Vatican City State is just a spring chicken!
Vatican City's 80th b-day celebration...
This is the original table in which the concordat was signed 80 years ago on February 11, 1929. It's located in the sala now called the Aula della Conciliazione in the Palazzo Laterano.
Vatican City's 80th b-day celebration...
For the celebration today they brought out the old flag of Pius pp. XI. Needless to day, it was just glorious.
Lateran Archbasilica: the old altar cards...
These objects are in the wrong place. Today they are located in the Lateran tesoro, but they are to be used as a part of our living tradition.
We are not a Church of just archaeologists and museums but instead a living Church with a living tradition.
Were all of our liturgical objects just made for museums or no? Brings to mind the phrase of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, as we are to become "seekers of the inner future...[of the] past."
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Aquino: from the birthplace of St. Thomas Aquinas...
About 140 km south of Rome is the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino. From the Abbey one can see this small town of Aquino off in the distance. One can even visit the house where Thomas Aquinas was born!
Euthanasia in Italy: Eluana was in fact killed...
Fr. Paul Marx, OSB taught us the simple order of things: contraception...abortion...euthanasia.
Intrafamily relationships, anomalies and homosexuality...
While at the HLI Conference in Minneapolis in the spring of 1997 it was a great pleasure to meet and chat with Dr. Gerard J.M. van den Aardweg, Ph.D. Such a nice and educated man. He's a bit of a behavioral scientist and has the mind of a rapier.
Later that same year he published a book entitled The Battle For Normality (Ignatius Press, 1997). This book is a must for every adult Catholic. Buy it online for $10.16.
Just recently a kid I knew in high school contacted me. He now has a child and was wed in Toronto to another young man.
As I glanced at his family photos I could only think of the inner child of the past and psychic infantilism as well as gender identification and gender inferiority. Neurotic emotionality is now more and more common.
Catholics need to get smart and educate themselves on this subject. Buy this fine book here:
http://www.ignatius.com/ViewProduct.aspx?SID=1&Product_ID=742&SKU=BNST-P&ReturnURL=search.aspx%3f%3fSID%3d1%26SearchCriteria%3dhomosexuality
Later that same year he published a book entitled The Battle For Normality (Ignatius Press, 1997). This book is a must for every adult Catholic. Buy it online for $10.16.
Just recently a kid I knew in high school contacted me. He now has a child and was wed in Toronto to another young man.
As I glanced at his family photos I could only think of the inner child of the past and psychic infantilism as well as gender identification and gender inferiority. Neurotic emotionality is now more and more common.
Catholics need to get smart and educate themselves on this subject. Buy this fine book here:
http://www.ignatius.com/ViewProduct.aspx?SID=1&Product_ID=742&SKU=BNST-P&ReturnURL=search.aspx%3f%3fSID%3d1%26SearchCriteria%3dhomosexuality
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
From Monte Cassino: feast of St. Scholastica...
This is the tomb of St. Scholastica located just south of Rome inside the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino, overlooking Cassino. We just got back and please know that all readers of this blog were prayed for in front of this tomb as well as all readers of all Catholic blogs.
The monstrance on the pianeta...
Photo taken in Cathedral of Aquino, where St. Thomas Aquinas was born.
Teach your kids what the tiara is/means...
If you don't know what the tiara is then do your homework with a Wikipedia search and then teach your kids what it is and gift them with a reverence for the whole of Catholic culture.
Monday, February 09, 2009
After a long winter: Summa of Thomas again available in Latin-English...
News Flash: the sixties are ending.
Everybody has been screaming for an available Latin-English version of the Summa Theologiae (yes, there is the Blackfriars edition, but it's 60 volumes and the translation is dated 1970s).
So the good news is that it's finally here and the first volme is just $24.95.
The first volume has just been completed and is now available for purchase on Amazon. Please spread the word.
For info see this new website: http://novantiqua.com/2009/01/16/a-new-latin-english-summa/.
Every copy purchased helps the growing Keiser family - one baby here and more to come!
Everybody has been screaming for an available Latin-English version of the Summa Theologiae (yes, there is the Blackfriars edition, but it's 60 volumes and the translation is dated 1970s).
So the good news is that it's finally here and the first volme is just $24.95.
The first volume has just been completed and is now available for purchase on Amazon. Please spread the word.
For info see this new website: http://novantiqua.com/2009/01/16/a-new-latin-english-summa/.
Every copy purchased helps the growing Keiser family - one baby here and more to come!
A nice place to eat in Rome...
If you are with a group and want some real "della cucina Romana" then consider the Ristorante der Pallaro.
This is a favorite ICK Rome haunt. They have no website, but are near S. Andrea della Valle on the Largo del Pallaro, 15. The boss is Mario Fazi.
This is a favorite ICK Rome haunt. They have no website, but are near S. Andrea della Valle on the Largo del Pallaro, 15. The boss is Mario Fazi.
A nice place to eat in Rome...
Everybody has their favorite places to eat in Rome.
Consider the Old Bear, near Piazza Navona. It's a favorite old haunt of FSSP Rome parishioners.
See here: http://www.oldbear.it/ .
It feels tirolese, but in some respects is rather Roman.
Consider the Old Bear, near Piazza Navona. It's a favorite old haunt of FSSP Rome parishioners.
See here: http://www.oldbear.it/ .
It feels tirolese, but in some respects is rather Roman.
Rome pub quiz teams...
If you live in Rome and want to be on a Rome pub quiz team then see here and join the fun:
http://www.romepubquiz.blogspot.com/ .
This English-speaking crowd is a blast and if you win you bring home the expensive booze.
http://www.romepubquiz.blogspot.com/ .
This English-speaking crowd is a blast and if you win you bring home the expensive booze.
Where to have your Rome reception...
A good place to have your wedding reception or ordination party is at the Columbus on the Via della Conciliazione, in front of the Vatican.
www.hotelcolumbus.net
www.laveranda.net
www.hotelcolumbus.net
www.laveranda.net
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Thou shalt not kill (Non ammazzare)...
Yesterday they started to starve to death the Terri Schiavo of Italy, Eluana Englaro.
If you live in Italy please sign this petition asking the President of the Republic of Italy to save her life by signing into law a new anti-euthanasia law.
Sign here: http://www.appellonapolitano.enter.it/.
Preghiamo.
And just for the record, the phrase persistent "vegetative" state is offensive and should not be used.
If you live in Italy please sign this petition asking the President of the Republic of Italy to save her life by signing into law a new anti-euthanasia law.
Sign here: http://www.appellonapolitano.enter.it/.
Preghiamo.
And just for the record, the phrase persistent "vegetative" state is offensive and should not be used.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Feast of Blessed Pius IX in Rome...
Every year on the evening of February 7 they always have a nice Mass celebrated over the incorrupt corpse of Bl. Pius IX, of happy memory.
A coach bus from the region of Marche always brings the faithful from his birthplace, Senigallia, located on the shore of the Adriatic Sea.
He was Pope for 31 years!
Be informed: know the enemy...
When St. Maximilian Kolbe was a student in Rome the Masons would plaster Rome with such posters and then march on the Vatican. This inspired him to form the Militia Immaculata. Today it's anarchist kids and college professors full of rage. They even bus them in from all over Italy when they have such rallies (from big university towns such as Pisa, Bologna, etc.).
Pope Beer (Papst-Bier!) in Rome...
One entire question in the Summa is dedicated to the subject of drunkenness (II II, q. 150). "Sober drinking," writes St. Thomas quoting Ecclesiasticus, "is health for the body and soul."
College: gift your kids with Catholic "verve"...
If you want your kids to remain Catholic, or if you want to increase the chance of their staying Catholic, consider sending them here or here:
http://www.christendom.edu/
http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/
And the good news is they might likely find a Catholic spouse while away at college.
http://www.christendom.edu/
http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/
And the good news is they might likely find a Catholic spouse while away at college.
San Giovanni Rotondo: home of Padre Pio...
For over fifty years Padre Pio lived in the village of San Giovanni Rotondo. This is the church where he received the stigmata in 1918 and where he celebrated his daily liturgies from 1916-1959.
The Capuchin friars first arrived in this village in 1540. They then began construction of this little church, still standing today, that was consecrated and dedicated to Our Lady of Grace (Santa Maria delle Grazie) in 1676.
The colorful ceramic over the main entrance was blessed and dedicated in 1935.
Millions of pilgrims have entered and prayed here.
San Giovanni Rotondo: home of Padre Pio...
So lovely to see this magnificent outdoor statue of the Madonna and child. A pity we don't see more of these in major gateway cities. Francesco Messina was the artist (1900-1995).
Friday, February 06, 2009
When scandal hits the Church...
The secular media has had us fettered in galling chains the past several days with more than one juicy story. How do we explain scandal in the Church to good Catholics? In short, our answer is this: the human element, even in the Church, will always be.
"This kingdom of Christ is spiritual and eternal, begun on earth but perfected in Heaven. He discharges by His admirable Providence the duties of King towards His Church, governing and protecting her against the assaults and snares of her enemies, legislating for her and imparting to her not only holiness and righteousness, but also the power and strength to persevere. But although the good and the bad are found within the limits of this kingdom, and thus all men by right belong to it, yet those who in conformity with His commands lead unsullied and innocent lives, experience beyond all others the sovereign goodness and beneficence of our King."
-Roman Catechism
Promulgated in 1566.
"This kingdom of Christ is spiritual and eternal, begun on earth but perfected in Heaven. He discharges by His admirable Providence the duties of King towards His Church, governing and protecting her against the assaults and snares of her enemies, legislating for her and imparting to her not only holiness and righteousness, but also the power and strength to persevere. But although the good and the bad are found within the limits of this kingdom, and thus all men by right belong to it, yet those who in conformity with His commands lead unsullied and innocent lives, experience beyond all others the sovereign goodness and beneficence of our King."
-Roman Catechism
Promulgated in 1566.
Fired-up Catholics: the fervor must glow...
A great object of this blog has been to convert the Catholics to Catholicism. Where are the unreservedly fired-up warriors that we read about in the lives of the saints?
Images can help to inspire, but it's a colossal task. Of all the youth I knew while growing up through all Catholic schools maybe just a few still go to church today. How do we induce others to care?
Since early childhood I have had an intense interest in religious "fervor." I always wondered why it had been stronger in former years and why it was dead now. Catholic fervor is a very beautiful thing and it's great to meditate upon.
Liturgy plays a part in fervor. We cannot be ignorant of the extent of the liturgical favors that we have received from God through the Church. Through the gift of faith we are enabled to understand so much through and in the context of the liturgical rites. The liturgy teaches us and we can send and receive our fervor in that direction. Teach your kids. Mothers, teach your sons. Fathers, teach your daughters.
Let us be a deeply liturgical people, a people of liturgical fervor.
Images can help to inspire, but it's a colossal task. Of all the youth I knew while growing up through all Catholic schools maybe just a few still go to church today. How do we induce others to care?
Since early childhood I have had an intense interest in religious "fervor." I always wondered why it had been stronger in former years and why it was dead now. Catholic fervor is a very beautiful thing and it's great to meditate upon.
Liturgy plays a part in fervor. We cannot be ignorant of the extent of the liturgical favors that we have received from God through the Church. Through the gift of faith we are enabled to understand so much through and in the context of the liturgical rites. The liturgy teaches us and we can send and receive our fervor in that direction. Teach your kids. Mothers, teach your sons. Fathers, teach your daughters.
Let us be a deeply liturgical people, a people of liturgical fervor.
San Giovanni Rotondo: confessional of Padre Pio...
While living here for over fifty years Padre Pio heard confessions in a few different confessionals. However, this one in the photo was the latest one in which he heard the confessions of women in from 1935-1968.
San Giovanni Rotondo: body of Padre Pio...
This is the body of Padre Pio. Although the face is wax, see his gloved hands with his true fingers exposed, now black in color.
San Giovanni Rotondo: Feast of St. Pio...
A good time to visit San Giovanni Rotondo is on the day of the feast of Padre Pio.
Euthanasia: Nazis and then us...
The next time you find yourself in Berlin make a visit to Tiergartenstrasse Street number 4 and visit the post-war memorial that marks the site.
Go there and you will see where Hitler had his Euthanasia Center (codename "Aktion T4"). The world knew this as the "Reich Committee for the Scientific Registration of Serious Hereditary and Congenitally Based Diseases."
From here doctors organized the murder of psychiatric patients as well as persons living in nursing homes, etc. The personnel were later moved to Poland in 1943 to be responsible for more "mercy" killing of Jews and others.
They now say that under this Nazi Euthanasia program over 200,000 were killed. Today, we are again creeping toward this as laws are being advanced to make this process legal; murder under the title of "mercy."
Is history not prologue?
Go there and you will see where Hitler had his Euthanasia Center (codename "Aktion T4"). The world knew this as the "Reich Committee for the Scientific Registration of Serious Hereditary and Congenitally Based Diseases."
From here doctors organized the murder of psychiatric patients as well as persons living in nursing homes, etc. The personnel were later moved to Poland in 1943 to be responsible for more "mercy" killing of Jews and others.
They now say that under this Nazi Euthanasia program over 200,000 were killed. Today, we are again creeping toward this as laws are being advanced to make this process legal; murder under the title of "mercy."
Is history not prologue?
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Pope quotes are the best...
"Nothing emboldens more the audacity of the naughty ones than the weakness of kind people"
-Pope Leo XIII (from Sapientæ Christianæ, January 10, 1890).
-Pope Leo XIII (from Sapientæ Christianæ, January 10, 1890).
In a happy world: a happy pic...
Yesterday while feeling depressed over Euthanasia in Italy a friend sent this one and it brought joy and laughter. Thanks, Padre Moore!
First Friday Prayers for His Holiness: pass the word...
This is the latest from SIPA (http://sipastorangelicvs.blogspot.com/):
1. Today, 4th February 2009, the Secretariat of State of His Holiness has issued a note on the last events regarding the Holy Father’s decision of lifting the excommunications latae sententiae touching the four Bishops of the Priestly Society of St Pius X since 1988, when they were illicitly consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. As it is known, certain statements –previous to the Decree of the Roman Congregation for the Bishops of last 21st January and unpublished– by Bishop Williamson, in which the prelate appeared to be close to the revisionism of the Holocaust, have provoked an intensive campaign in the mass media directed against the Holy Father Benedict XVI. He is accused of favouring the anti-Semitism by having “rehabilitated a bishop that denies the Holocaust”. Moreover, some sectors are taking advantage of these circumstances to reiterate their attacks to the Pope for carrying out what they call “politics of regression and of oblivion of the Second Vatican Council” that are marking His with measures like liberalizing the Traditional Roman Mass and the approaching to the FSSPX.
2. The note of the Secretariat of State of His Holiness we are talking about ends with this appeal: “The Holy Father asks to be joined by the prayers of all the faithful, so that the Lord may enlighten the path of the Church. May the effort of the Pastors and of all the faithful increase in support of the delicate and burdensome mission of the Successor of Apostle Peter as «custodian of the unity» in the Church”. Conscious, then, of our duty as Catholics, loyal children of the Pope, we want to echo His petition, by determinedly siding His Holiness in these hard circumstances and by offering our prayers for His intentions. At the same time, we make a humble but fervent appeal to all Catholics in order to gather in a Crusade of Prayers for the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI this forthcoming Friday 6th of February, First Friday of the Month, especially dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “source of all consolation” and “our peace and reconciliation”.
3. We, therefore, propose:
a) the priests:
- that they may offer the votive Mass of the Sacred Heart ad mentem Romani Pontificis with the commemorations Pro Papa,
- that, they may add, in the Eucharistic Adoration (if they do not do it yet) the prayers Pro Romano Pontifice before the reservation of the Holy Sacrament.
b) the faithful:
- that they may offer the Holy Communion of Reparation specifically for the sake, intentions and incolumity of the holy Father,
- that they may attend to the Eucharistic Adoration where it is scheduled and join the prayers for the Pope,
- that they may offer the Holy Rosary, privately or in common, entirely for the Roman Pontiff.
c) everyone:
- if possible, that they may publicly (or at least privately) recite the Seven Penitential Psalms with the Litanies of the Saints in redress for the attacks against Pope Benedict XVI and the Holy Mother Church.
We thank in advance the reception given to this initiative, emerged from the love and attachment to the Successor of Peter, that are the touchstone of a true Catholicism. We also pray everyone to share it with as many people as possible in order to narrow rows around Pope Benedict, that God save many years for the sake of His Church.
+ Barcelona, 4th February 2009.
Annum Paulinum
Annum Pacellianum
COMITATVS PRO ECCLESIA ET PONTIFICE
ROMA AETERNA
SODALITIVM INTERNATIONALE PASTOR ANGELICVS
1. Today, 4th February 2009, the Secretariat of State of His Holiness has issued a note on the last events regarding the Holy Father’s decision of lifting the excommunications latae sententiae touching the four Bishops of the Priestly Society of St Pius X since 1988, when they were illicitly consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. As it is known, certain statements –previous to the Decree of the Roman Congregation for the Bishops of last 21st January and unpublished– by Bishop Williamson, in which the prelate appeared to be close to the revisionism of the Holocaust, have provoked an intensive campaign in the mass media directed against the Holy Father Benedict XVI. He is accused of favouring the anti-Semitism by having “rehabilitated a bishop that denies the Holocaust”. Moreover, some sectors are taking advantage of these circumstances to reiterate their attacks to the Pope for carrying out what they call “politics of regression and of oblivion of the Second Vatican Council” that are marking His with measures like liberalizing the Traditional Roman Mass and the approaching to the FSSPX.
2. The note of the Secretariat of State of His Holiness we are talking about ends with this appeal: “The Holy Father asks to be joined by the prayers of all the faithful, so that the Lord may enlighten the path of the Church. May the effort of the Pastors and of all the faithful increase in support of the delicate and burdensome mission of the Successor of Apostle Peter as «custodian of the unity» in the Church”. Conscious, then, of our duty as Catholics, loyal children of the Pope, we want to echo His petition, by determinedly siding His Holiness in these hard circumstances and by offering our prayers for His intentions. At the same time, we make a humble but fervent appeal to all Catholics in order to gather in a Crusade of Prayers for the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI this forthcoming Friday 6th of February, First Friday of the Month, especially dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “source of all consolation” and “our peace and reconciliation”.
3. We, therefore, propose:
a) the priests:
- that they may offer the votive Mass of the Sacred Heart ad mentem Romani Pontificis with the commemorations Pro Papa,
- that, they may add, in the Eucharistic Adoration (if they do not do it yet) the prayers Pro Romano Pontifice before the reservation of the Holy Sacrament.
b) the faithful:
- that they may offer the Holy Communion of Reparation specifically for the sake, intentions and incolumity of the holy Father,
- that they may attend to the Eucharistic Adoration where it is scheduled and join the prayers for the Pope,
- that they may offer the Holy Rosary, privately or in common, entirely for the Roman Pontiff.
c) everyone:
- if possible, that they may publicly (or at least privately) recite the Seven Penitential Psalms with the Litanies of the Saints in redress for the attacks against Pope Benedict XVI and the Holy Mother Church.
We thank in advance the reception given to this initiative, emerged from the love and attachment to the Successor of Peter, that are the touchstone of a true Catholicism. We also pray everyone to share it with as many people as possible in order to narrow rows around Pope Benedict, that God save many years for the sake of His Church.
+ Barcelona, 4th February 2009.
Annum Paulinum
Annum Pacellianum
COMITATVS PRO ECCLESIA ET PONTIFICE
ROMA AETERNA
SODALITIVM INTERNATIONALE PASTOR ANGELICVS
Eluana: day one of starvation...
Today, at a clinic near Venice, they will begin to starve Eluana Englaro to death because for seventeen years she has been a "vegetable."
So now we're telling our kids that it's not okay to have done this during WWII, but that it's okay to do it today.
Give us legal protection from butchers.
The fifth Commandment reads: "Thou shalt not kill."
So now we're telling our kids that it's not okay to have done this during WWII, but that it's okay to do it today.
Give us legal protection from butchers.
The fifth Commandment reads: "Thou shalt not kill."
Rome Anti-Euthanasia Conference...
Day-Long International Conference in Rome:
I segni della vita.
La "morte cerebrale" è ancora vita?
Hotel Columbus
Via della Conciliazione, 33
February 19, 2009
9 am registration
Participation is free. Just send an e-mail to confirm your participation:
info@famigliadomani.it . In the subject line write: confermo partecipazione.
Associazione Famiglia Domani
American Life League
Family of the Americas Foundation
Human Life International
International Foundation for Genetic Research
Life Guardian Foundation
Northwest Ohio Guild of the Catholic Medical Association
United States Coalition for Life
I segni della vita.
La "morte cerebrale" è ancora vita?
Hotel Columbus
Via della Conciliazione, 33
February 19, 2009
9 am registration
Participation is free. Just send an e-mail to confirm your participation:
info@famigliadomani.it . In the subject line write: confermo partecipazione.
Associazione Famiglia Domani
American Life League
Family of the Americas Foundation
Human Life International
International Foundation for Genetic Research
Life Guardian Foundation
Northwest Ohio Guild of the Catholic Medical Association
United States Coalition for Life
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
FYI: Judaism and the crucifixion of Christ...
Some have suggested that the "Catholic Church" or the "Vatican" or the "Holy See" has in the past blamed Jews for the crucifixion of Christ.
Interestingly, the evidence is contrary. Between the years 1566 until 1992 the Catholic Church had just one "official" catechism (book explaining beliefs). This book, the Roman Catechism, had this to say on the subject:
"This guilt seems more enormous in us than in the Jews, since according to the testimony of the same Apostle: If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8); while we, on the contrary, professing to know Him, yet denying Him by our actions, seem in some sort to lay violent hands on Him."
-Catechism of the Council of Trent
Reasons Why Christ Suffered under "Suffered Under Pontius Pilate"
Interestingly, the evidence is contrary. Between the years 1566 until 1992 the Catholic Church had just one "official" catechism (book explaining beliefs). This book, the Roman Catechism, had this to say on the subject:
"This guilt seems more enormous in us than in the Jews, since according to the testimony of the same Apostle: If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8); while we, on the contrary, professing to know Him, yet denying Him by our actions, seem in some sort to lay violent hands on Him."
-Catechism of the Council of Trent
Reasons Why Christ Suffered under "Suffered Under Pontius Pilate"
Padre Pio's surplice and preaching stole...
The rites show a bit of the incorporeity and church lace really adds to this.
What is wrong with this picture?
"Incongruity" makes something funny. These two images are hilarious because they are incongruous. The inconsistency makes one laugh as God has been replaced with man. Show this one to your kids, too. And not only was the holy tabernacle dethroned, but also the consecrated and permanent altar itself.
Euthanasia in Italy: Eluana Englaro sta morendo...
The paradox of history: now it's okay for us to be butchers. First came contraception, then abortion and now euthanasia.
Tomorrow will be day one of stolid starvation. They are starving Eluana to death and does anybody care?
There is no outrage. No public outcry. No demonstrations in the street. Many don't even have an opinion. People are tired of hearing about it.
The front page news in Italy read like this today:
Eluana, la fine sara' graduale... (she will be killed in a gradual manner).
Una volta sospessa l'alimentazione potrebbe restare in vita altri 15 giorni... (it could take as long as fifteen days to starve her to death).
The journalists remain the opinion makers and the blind millions care about themselves with the placidity of the ego.
After 17 years they will lock her bedroom door in a new clinic and are starving her to death because she is a "vegetable."
Watch out because innocent blood screams out for justice.
Chesterton wrote that the eighteenth century thought of itself as the age of reason while the nineteenth century thought of itself as the age of common sense while the twentieth century turned into an age of uncommon nonsense. And today? It's getting worse again as in '39 and that is a fact.
Rule number one: "Thou shalt not kill" and if people don't get this then we have really failed in this Catholic country.
Tomorrow will be day one of stolid starvation. They are starving Eluana to death and does anybody care?
There is no outrage. No public outcry. No demonstrations in the street. Many don't even have an opinion. People are tired of hearing about it.
The front page news in Italy read like this today:
Eluana, la fine sara' graduale... (she will be killed in a gradual manner).
Una volta sospessa l'alimentazione potrebbe restare in vita altri 15 giorni... (it could take as long as fifteen days to starve her to death).
The journalists remain the opinion makers and the blind millions care about themselves with the placidity of the ego.
After 17 years they will lock her bedroom door in a new clinic and are starving her to death because she is a "vegetable."
Watch out because innocent blood screams out for justice.
Chesterton wrote that the eighteenth century thought of itself as the age of reason while the nineteenth century thought of itself as the age of common sense while the twentieth century turned into an age of uncommon nonsense. And today? It's getting worse again as in '39 and that is a fact.
Rule number one: "Thou shalt not kill" and if people don't get this then we have really failed in this Catholic country.
Young theologians: read this book...
Do you aspire to be a part of the new generation of Catholic theologians? Buy and read this book that came out in 1933:
Saint Thomas Aquinas
By G.K. Chesterton
An Image Book Published by Doubleday in 2001.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
By G.K. Chesterton
An Image Book Published by Doubleday in 2001.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Euthanasia in Italy: svegliavi!
This blog has always been positive.
However, the world is getting darker, and more so with each year. And that is why many more Chrisitans are now continuing to advocate for homeschooling.
Here's the latest from the formerly Catholic Italy:
ROME (AP) — A woman at the center of Italy's right-to-die debate was transferred Tuesday to a hospital where she is to be allowed to die after 17 years in a vegetative state.
Eluana Englaro was moved to the northeastern city of Udine overnight, said family lawyer Vittorio Angiolini.
A small crowd of anti-euthanasia activists gathered outside the clinic in Lecco, where she had been cared for, seeking to prevent the ambulance from leaving, TV footage showed. Some were shouting "Eluana, Wake Up!"
Englaro has been in a vegetative state since a car accident in 1992, when she was 20. Her father has led a protracted court battle to disconnect her feeding tube, insisting it was her wish.
An Italian court in the summer granted his request, setting off a political storm in the Roman Catholic country.
Her father then sought to have her removed from the Catholic clinic in Lecco to Udine, in the region where the family is from. But the government issued a decree last month telling state hospitals that they must guarantee care for people in vegetative states, leading at least one hospital in Udine to refuse to take Englaro.
She was moved overnight to La Quiete, a private clinic.
Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said the government is looking into the situation.
Italy does not allow euthanasia. Patients have a right to refuse treatment but there is no law that allows them to give advance directions on what treatment they wish to receive if they become unconscious.
The case has provoked the strong reaction of the Vatican, which is opposed to euthanasia. Pope Benedict XVI said this weekend that euthanasia is a "false solution" to suffering.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the pope's health minister, told La Repubblica that removing Englaro's feeding tube "is tantamount to an abominable assassination and the church will always say that out loud."
However, the world is getting darker, and more so with each year. And that is why many more Chrisitans are now continuing to advocate for homeschooling.
Here's the latest from the formerly Catholic Italy:
ROME (AP) — A woman at the center of Italy's right-to-die debate was transferred Tuesday to a hospital where she is to be allowed to die after 17 years in a vegetative state.
Eluana Englaro was moved to the northeastern city of Udine overnight, said family lawyer Vittorio Angiolini.
A small crowd of anti-euthanasia activists gathered outside the clinic in Lecco, where she had been cared for, seeking to prevent the ambulance from leaving, TV footage showed. Some were shouting "Eluana, Wake Up!"
Englaro has been in a vegetative state since a car accident in 1992, when she was 20. Her father has led a protracted court battle to disconnect her feeding tube, insisting it was her wish.
An Italian court in the summer granted his request, setting off a political storm in the Roman Catholic country.
Her father then sought to have her removed from the Catholic clinic in Lecco to Udine, in the region where the family is from. But the government issued a decree last month telling state hospitals that they must guarantee care for people in vegetative states, leading at least one hospital in Udine to refuse to take Englaro.
She was moved overnight to La Quiete, a private clinic.
Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said the government is looking into the situation.
Italy does not allow euthanasia. Patients have a right to refuse treatment but there is no law that allows them to give advance directions on what treatment they wish to receive if they become unconscious.
The case has provoked the strong reaction of the Vatican, which is opposed to euthanasia. Pope Benedict XVI said this weekend that euthanasia is a "false solution" to suffering.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the pope's health minister, told La Repubblica that removing Englaro's feeding tube "is tantamount to an abominable assassination and the church will always say that out loud."
San Giovanni Rotondo: home of Padre Pio...
In Medjugorje the visioners and others took the money and ran for England, Canada or the next best thing, the United States.
In places like Lourdes and San Giovanni Rotondo, though, they took the money and built magnificent Catholic hospitals to care for the sick and dying which are still in operation today.
The hospital in the photo is beautiful with its marble floors and two chapels and persons from all over Italy come to it. It was the wish of Padre Pio and he even named it: The Home of the Relief of Suffering.
When bishops, too, get it wrong...
For some the small stuff does not count, but for many of us it does.
So the next time you find yourself at the P.T. Barnum ordinations under the big top in Winona let His Grace know the right way to address a prelate in writing (the red letters are those which I have changed so as to be in correct form)...
Your Eminence:
Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of You to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to Yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.
For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God. So I have only one comment, from the prophet Jonas, I, 12:
"Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you."
Please also accept, and convey to the Holy Father, my sincere personal thanks for the document signed last Wednesday and made public on Saturday. Most humbly I will offer a Mass for both of You.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
N.B. And "Sincerely yours in Christ" sounds a bit Anglican/Evangelical. It's always safe to instead write: "Asking the blessing of Your Eminence, I remain, Sincerely Yours in Christ."
So the next time you find yourself at the P.T. Barnum ordinations under the big top in Winona let His Grace know the right way to address a prelate in writing (the red letters are those which I have changed so as to be in correct form)...
Your Eminence:
Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of You to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to Yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.
For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God. So I have only one comment, from the prophet Jonas, I, 12:
"Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you."
Please also accept, and convey to the Holy Father, my sincere personal thanks for the document signed last Wednesday and made public on Saturday. Most humbly I will offer a Mass for both of You.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
N.B. And "Sincerely yours in Christ" sounds a bit Anglican/Evangelical. It's always safe to instead write: "Asking the blessing of Your Eminence, I remain, Sincerely Yours in Christ."
Monday, February 02, 2009
San Giovanni Rotondo: home of Padre Pio...
The modern church you see here was constructed in 1959. For the last nine years of Padre Pio's life he prayed inside of this church. Some have seen the old VHS of his last Holy Mass celebrated here on Sept. 22, 1968, in the Extraordinary Form.
On the left of the new church is the old church. Padre Pio was in the choir loft of the old church when he received the stigmata in 1918. The five wounds remained open, fresh and bleeding for fifty years.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
World's greatest living latinist: prayers requested...
Everybody has been asking for an update on Fr. Foster.
Back in Rome from Puglia I went late this afternoon to visit Reggie.
This morning he went in for heart surgery, as a doctor explained. When I saw him after he was resting and asleep.
Reggie is no longer at Fatebenefratelli, but is now at the European Hospital on the Via Portuense (bus 228 from Stazione Trastevere and the driver can tell you where to get off on the Via Portuense). I.C.U. visiting hours are from 7 -8 pm.
In the presence of Reggie I prayed, aloud in Latin. The grace of his Baptism was invoked as well as the grace of his Confirmation and Holy Orders. St. Reginald and St. Thomas were invoked as well as his Confirmation saint. May his Guardian Angel and all Angels surround and protect him at this time as always!
Please, everybody still pray for the health and well-being of Fr. Reggie Foster, the world's greatest living latinist.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!
Back in Rome from Puglia I went late this afternoon to visit Reggie.
This morning he went in for heart surgery, as a doctor explained. When I saw him after he was resting and asleep.
Reggie is no longer at Fatebenefratelli, but is now at the European Hospital on the Via Portuense (bus 228 from Stazione Trastevere and the driver can tell you where to get off on the Via Portuense). I.C.U. visiting hours are from 7 -8 pm.
In the presence of Reggie I prayed, aloud in Latin. The grace of his Baptism was invoked as well as the grace of his Confirmation and Holy Orders. St. Reginald and St. Thomas were invoked as well as his Confirmation saint. May his Guardian Angel and all Angels surround and protect him at this time as always!
Please, everybody still pray for the health and well-being of Fr. Reggie Foster, the world's greatest living latinist.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!
Pro-Life Day in Italy (Giornata della Vita)...
Christians are the world's strongest pro-life voice.
In many Italian parishes one sees the pro-life efforts of the Movimento Per La Vita (The Movement for Life).
With their "Gemma Project" they have saved over 10,000 babies that were about to be aborted. With this same project/foundation they ask for every woman with child in need to be adopted by an Italian family.
Since 1981 they have been active in the port of Rome, Civitavecchia.
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