Saturday, May 14, 2005
THE WEEKEND
I have a husband at home who wants to concentrate on yard work. All you wives out there know what that means--I am not going to do what has priority for me. Such is the state of marriage.
I will say one thing that targets the current climate in the Church.
We cannot get to our future by jettisoning our past and still claim that we believe in an unchanging Truth. We can't have novelty, innovation, and modernism, and still claim our Tradition. The two are not compatible. They are polar opposites, and someone with authority has to start addressing this or the Catholic laity is going to walk away from the Church and never come back because it no longer finds the Church credible.
Friday, May 13, 2005
THE GLORY OF THE OLIVE ?
That is what St. Malachi dubbed the current pope.
A reader sent in this information about Archbishop Levada's ancestors and his coat of arms.
From the diocesan website:
His great-grandparents immigrated to the San Francisco Bay area from Portugal and Ireland in the 1860's.
His great-grandparents immigrated to the San Francisco Bay area from Portugal and Ireland in the 1860's.
Then down near the bottom:
The shield is divided in two in a heraldic device called marshalling, or the combining of two coats of arms. On the left side, we see the insignia of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The crossed arms of Christ and St. Francis of Assisi are a classical representation of St. Francis. On the right is the personal coat of arms of Archbishop Levada. These arms are composed with the three main colors of the Portuguese flag: red, gold (yellow) and green. The olive tree is taken from the arms of the Oliveira family, from which the name of Levada is derived. Above the tree is a red cross which is common in monastic arms and is used to honor the Archbishop's baptismal patron, St. William, who was an abbot. (emphasis mine)
Of course, as with all prophecy, unless the Church makes a pronouncement, it can only be evaluated in terms of whether or not it comes true.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
WHAT THE CHURCH HAS TAUGHT
Speaking of the Montanist Heresy, Irenaeus says:
There is, it appears, a village near the Phrygian border of Mysia called Ardabau. There it is said that a recent convert named Montanus, while Gratus was proconsul of Syria, in his unbridled ambition to reach the top laid himself open to the adversary, was filled with spiritual excitement and suddenly fell into a kind of trance and unnatural ecstasy. He raved, and began to chatter and talk monsense, prophesying in a way that conflicted with the practice of the Church handed down generation by generation from the beginning. Of those who listened at that time to his sham utterances some were annoyed regarding him as possessed, a demoniac in the grip of a spirit of error, a disturber of the masses. They rebuked him and tried to stop his chatter, remembering the distinction drawn by the Lord, and His warning to guard vigilantly against the coming of false prophets. Others were elated as if by the Holy Spirit or a prophetic gift, were filled with conceit, and forgot the Lord’s distinction. They welcomed a spirit that injured and deluded the mind and led the people astray: they were beguiled and deceived by it, so that it could not now be reduced to silence.
[The spiritual man] shall judge false prophets, who, without having received the gift of prophecy from God…pretend to utter prophecies, while all the time they lie against God. He shall also judge those who give rise to schisms, who are destitute of the love of God, and who look to their own special advantage rather than to any kind of reason which occurs to them, cut in pieces and divide the great and glorious body of Christ, and so far as in them lies, destroy it,--men who prate of peace while they give rise to war, and do in truth strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel. For no reformation of so great importance can be effected by them, as will compensate for the mischief arising from their schism.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (it it were possible) even the elect. Behold, I have told it to you before hand. (Matt. 24:24-25)
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
WHAT THE CHURCH HAS TAUGHT
So Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it. Mortalium Animos Encyclical of Pope Pius XI
This gift of God has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to the first created man, for this purpose, that all the members receiving it may be vivified; and the [means of] communion with Christ has been distributed throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the earnest of incorruption, the means of confirming our faith, and the ladder of ascent to God. "For in the Church," it is said, "God hath set apostles, prophets, teachers" [1 Cor 12/28], and all the other means through which the spirit works; of which all those are not partakers who do not join themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life through their perverse opinions and infamous behaviour. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth. Those, therefore, who do not partake of Him, are neither nourished into life from the mother's breasts, nor do they enjoy that most limpid fountain which issues from the body of Christ; but they dig for themselves broken cisterns out of earthly trenches...Alienated thus from the truth, they do deservedly wallow in all error, tossed to and fro by it, thinking differently in regard to the same things at different times, and never attaining to a well-grounded knowledge, being more anxious to be sophists of words than disciples of the truth. For they have not been founded upon the one rock, but upon the sand, which has in itself a multitude of stones. Irenaeus of Lyons
Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense ‘Catholic’ which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. St. Augustine
Since the true Christ is to come a second time, the adversary, taking occasion by the expectation of the simple, and especially of them of the circumcision, brings in a certain man who is a magician, and most expert in sorceries and enchantments of beguiling craftiness; who shall seize for himself the power of the Roman empire, and shall falsely style himself Christ; by this name of Christ deceiving the Jews, who are looking for the Anointed, and seducing those of the Gentiles by his magical illusions….At first indeed he will put on a show of mildness (as though he were a learned and discreet person), and of soberness and benevolence; and by the lying signs and wonders of his magical deceit having beguiled the Jews, as though he were the expected Christ, he shall afterwards be characterized by all kinds of crimes of inhumanity and lawlessness, so as to outdo all unrighteous and ungodly men who have gone before him; displaying against all men, but especially against us Christians, a spirit murderous and most cruel, merciless and crafty. And after perpetrating such things for three years and six months only, he shall be destroyed by the glorious second advent from heaven of the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus, the true Christ, who shall slay Antichrist with the breath of His mouth, and shall deliver him over to the fire of hell. St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Christ will not come to judge quick and dead unless Antichrist, His adversary, first come to seduce those who are dead in soul; although their seduction is a result of God’s secret judgment already passed. St. Augustine
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
LEVADA HAS BEEN APPOINTED - IT'S OFFICIAL
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/16539.php?index=16539&po_date=13.05.2005&lang=en
Thursday, May 12, 2005
EMAIL FROM DR. BOND
Dear Friends,
Below please find links to two more articles on the settlement of the Society of St. John sex abuse lawsuit, as well as the SSJ's flight from Shohola.
http://www.tristatenews.com/article_5196.stm
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/050506
Pax vobiscum,
Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond
PENTECOST - MORE RECENTLY KNOWN AS RAINBOW SASH SUNDAY
is coming up, and the gay community is ready is usual.
A group of homosexual activists plan to protest Mass at Catholic churches nationwide Sunday in opposition to the church's stance on homosexuality.
The group, Rainbow Sash, explained on its website that they "stand opposed to homophobia at the Eucharistic table" and "make no apologies for God's gift of our sexuality." The group encourages its members to wear the Rainbow Sash in a parish or cathedral as "an act of faith in the Lord, who works through weakness."
"This year, Rainbow Sash has upped the ante," Catholic League President William Donohue said in a statement. He pointed to a May 2 press release in which the group said that the purpose of the protest is to 'counter the lies that Pope Benedict XVI is promoting about our community' and called the new pope an 'aggressive homophobe.'
Does anyone know why they chose Pentecost? Could it have anything to do with "Baptism of the Holy Spirit"?
THE UNITED RELIGIONS INITIATIVE - VATICAN OPPOSITION, LIBERAL SUPPORT
by Lee Penn.
This article lists the Catholic support for URI.
The Fatima Freehosting website has several of Lee's articles. Here is the index.
DON FREW
representing Covenant of the Goddess, a Wiccan group, describes his involvement with United Religions Initiative and his attendance at the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1993.
UNITED RELIGIONS INITIATIVE - A BRIDGE BACK TO GNOSTICISM
by Lee Penn.
This is one of Lee's articles from New Oxford Review.
Down at the very bottom is a note that includes this:
In a letter published in the June 1999 issue of Homiletic & Pastoral Review, a magazine for Catholic priests, Fr. Chidi Denis Isizoh, of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (the Vatican body responsible for interfaith work) said: "Religious syncretism is a theological error. That is why the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue does not approve of the United Religions Initiative and does not work with it.
READ IT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK
Here's a hint:
Pope was investigating Knights Templar before his election...
He added, cryptically: “The pontiff chose Benedict as his papal title, a name with special significance for the Knights Templar. The Rule of the Templars, which is like a code of conduct for the Order, was originally known as the Rule of Benedict.”
Blogger credit to Spirit Daily
NATIONAL ID
From the UK Register, "Congress Passes Gestapo ID Legislation":
House and Senate Republicans have rammed through the so-called Real ID Act - a legislative Trojan horse that lets the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dictate drivers' license standards to the states - by attaching it to a $76 billion military spending package for Iraq that no one in the Senate dared oppose....
it will give the federal government long-sought control over the movements of Americans, which is exactly what about half of its boosters had in mind. It will also make life more difficult for undocumented immigrants, which the remaining boosters had in mind.
Within two years' time, state ID cards and driver's licenses will have to satisfy federal standards. The new cards must feature anti-counterfeiting measures and machine readable elements (i.e., RFID) approved by DHS, and anything else that DHS thinks would be useful. The language is open-ended, meaning that DHS can issue new requirements as it sees fit, whenever some new gimmick for invading the privacy of citizens captures its imagination.
INTERVIEW WITH EXORCIST FATHER JOSE ANTONIO FORTEA
an interview at Zenit. Two significant answers from the interview:
Father Fortea: The devil tempts, but not always, only sometimes. He is not always by our side, although he can tempt to very evil and demonic things. For example, in the flesh. In it we see symbolized many sins that come from our own person. Above all, what are most striking are the sins of lust, as they are the one's the human being falls into most easily and are the ones with the least malice; they are, rather, of weakness. This type of sin opens the door to worse sins, and so we go descending step by step if we don't change our ways.
Father Fortea: The lack of information is the taboo that has been created around this [exorcism]. The devil knows it well. The less that is know about him, or of the work of the Church against him, the better. But, of course, it is what interests him. What I am interested in is that his plans be uncovered. Above all, an exorcist must know that the devil exists and that the possibility of exorcism exists.
Hat tip to Spirit Daily for the link.
BENEDICT SPEAKS ABOUT SATAN
as reported at CNN:
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -- Satan is still at work in the world unleashing "evil energy" but God will be the final arbiter of history, Pope Benedict XVI said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the third general audience since his election last month, the pope also said that nations and leaders had to look for God's hand in history in the past and learn from it.
"History, in fact, is not in the hands of dark forces, left to chance or just human choices," he told thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.
Hat tip to the Papa Ratzi Post.
UNBELIEVABLE
I’ve already used the word so many times that it’s worn out. Right now it’s the best word that comes to mind with which to explain this. And that's not the only discussion on the subject in Dom's blog.
The decision has not yet been made. We do not yet have confirmation that it is coming from Benedict. In fact the whole thing is looking by its fruits more and more like the seeds of chaos magick that have been sown by an unknown hand. When the word first broke, we were supposed to have an announcement the next day. But instead it is dragging on and on.
Yet despite that, the apologists are already manning the barricades. One gets the impression that they would defend Lucifer himself if someone put the pallium on him. If Levada is chosen and the URI approved by Benedict, in hindsight they will in fact have been defending Lucifer, as Blavatsky so blatantly makes known.
The mantle of the religion of John Paul II has been passed to Benedict with the papacy, but it is not a religion of John Paul II or of Benedict. It is not a religion of the Second Vatican Council. It is the religion of Christ, and it has been handed on to us from Peter. It is greater than any pope, and no pope can reshape it contrary to that Tradition and still be credible.
It’s too bad Lee couldn’t have participated in that discussion in Dom's blog. His head is cooler than mine when under fire, and a better discussion would have ensued. Where is his book when it’s needed? All we have to cite are articles that are more than a year old. There is precious little on the web, and what is there is not located in one place. The book is needed now, especially if Levada is in fact going to be chosen. There is no better voice to speak for Christ in this particular instance than the man who has done the research and knows what URI is about.
A wedge is being driven between those who follow the current pope and those who follow the teachings of the Tradition. This has been going on since the Council, but it has been notched up to fever pitch with this anonymous announcement. There is nothing so indicative of the spirit of Lucifer as this wedge of division. It is a constant feature of occult groups. It is becoming a constant feature of the Roman Catholic Church. Something is frighteningly wrong internally.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
LEVADA
This article on Levada from the Mercury News doesn't exactly give reason for hope, saying as it does that
``I think it does not bode well,'' David Clohessy, national director of the clergy victims' group SNAP, said of Levada's possible appointment to the Congregation, which reviews all defrocking cases, many of which are sex-abuse related. ``It's a victory for the pro-secrecy forces within the church.''
and
Rose Marie Berger, Catholic columnist and associate editor of Sojourners, a popular Christian magazine, said Levada's history at the California Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and as archbishop of Portland shows a man who prefers to deal with things ``deeply behind the scenes.''
He was one of a few bishops, she said, who in the early 1990s lobbied to keep internal debate about the role of women in the church from being published. ``He was not interested in open discussion,'' she said.
Keeping the discussion of women's ordination "behind the scenes" has merit because it is contrary to the faith and is a change being proposed, not something that has already happened. However, it was this very tendency toward secrecy that got us into the sexual abuse mess that we are still suffering from. Sexual abuse, by the time it got to the bishop, in most cases one would hope was a fact of history and not something being contemplated for the future. Therefore, it would not be handled in the same way as a proposed doctrinal challenge with no merit.
The article spins these two instances of cover-up as though they rest on equal ground, when in fact they do not even come close to being the same. Secrecy is not always bad, but secrecy that covers up a scandal is not justified.
BRUSKEWITZ ON DIALOG AND TOLERANCE
"The Limitations on Dialog and Toleration."
His limitations on dialog from the article:
1. Dialog cannot rationally be accepted as a permanent state of affairs.
2. There is no guarantee that the process will always result in the emergence of truth.
3. It can result in the mutilation or marginalizing of truth. Concensus and good feeling may become the outcome of desire, in the process trivializing things that are important for the sake of compromise and consensus.
4. It can reverse the relationship of teacher and student. "It must be clearly seen that the Church is already in possession of a certain measure of truth, and the purpose of dialog is to make sure that the terminology in which this truth is phrased is acceptable and can be accommodated by the one who is the partner in the dialog."
On the subject of toleration, quoting Cardinal Newman he writes:
"A great scandal it is, and a perplexity to the little ones of Christ, to have to choose between rival claimants upon their allegiance, or to find a condemnation at length pronounced upon one whom in their simplicity they have admired."
This would clearly be the consequence of not recognizing what I call limits of tolerance or toleration. Once again. Cardinal Newman sets the matter forth in an exceptionally coherent way. He says that "what we may be dealing with is a teaching that all religions are tolerated and all are simply matters of opinion. Revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a taste; not an objective fact, not miraculous, and it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strikes his fancy. Devotion is not necessarily founded on faith. Men may go to Protestant churches and to Catholic, may get good from both and belong to neither. They may fraternize together in spiritual thoughts and feelings without having any views at all of doctrines in common, or any need of them. If a man puts on a new religion every morning, what is that to you? It's as impertinent to think about a man's religion as to think about his sources of income or the management of his family."
Frankly, in that he has given a summary of the philosophy of Freemasonry on the subject of God. It aptly describes what Bishop Swing is promoting in URI as well.
This paper of Bruskewitz's certainly comes much closer to what Cdl. Ratzinger wrote in his book Truth and Tolerance than anything being promoted by Bishop Swing with Archbishop Levada's help.
ANOTHER UNBELIEVABLE
Scroll down to Orlandoseminarian's response to my quote from the Douay-Rheims. At this rate I'll be looking for a church loyal to Bishop Williamson before it's all over!
His comments about mistranslation are utterly ridiculous considering the length of time the Douay-Rheims was the bible of Roman Catholicism. What are they feeding the seminarians in Orlando--junk food only?
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!!
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
LEVADA, SWING, AND ANTHONY MEET THE POPE
On Bishop Swing's Diocesan website are pictures of the Pope meeting with Archbishop Levada, Bishop William Swing, and Metropolitain Anthony as the three of them together went on a peace pilgrimage. From the website:
Archbishop Levada spoke into his right ear, introducing Anthony and me as well as presenting a menu of topics unique to each of us. When he mentioned the United Religions Initiative and how we were working around the world seeking peace among religions, the Pope spun around toward me moving his hands up and down, saying, "Blessings, blessings!"
LEVADA
This appears to be the latest information on the appointment. It's an AP story, if that means anything.
DO ENCYCLICALS HAVE AN EXPIRATION DATE ?
I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: And shewing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Clearly we have alternatives. Clearly from this Commandment we can reject our Creator and worship other gods. If it were not possible, God would not have warned us of the danger.
Pope Pius XI was aware of the possibility when he wrote Mortalium Animos, an Encyclical promulgated on January 6, 1928, from which this passage is taken:
4. Is it not right, it is often repeated, indeed, even consonant with duty, that all who invoke the name of Christ should abstain from mutual reproaches and at long last be united in mutual charity? Who would dare to say that he loved Christ, unless he worked with all his might to carry out the desires of Him, Who asked His Father that His disciples might be "one."[1] And did not the same Christ will that His disciples should be marked out and distinguished from others by this characteristic, namely that they loved one another: "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another"?[2] All Christians, they add, should be as "one": for then they would be much more powerful in driving out the pest of irreligion, which like a serpent daily creeps further and becomes more widely spread, and prepares to rob the Gospel of its strength. These things and others that class of men who are known as pan-Christians continually repeat and amplify; and these men, so far from being quite few and scattered, have increased to the dimensions of an entire class, and have grouped themselves into widely spread societies, most of which are directed by non-Catholics, although they are imbued with varying doctrines concerning the things of faith. This undertaking is so actively promoted as in many places to win for itself the adhesion of a number of citizens, and it even takes possession of the minds of very many Catholics and allures them with the hope of bringing about such a union as would be agreeable to the desires of Holy Mother Church, who has indeed nothing more at heart than to recall her erring sons and to lead them back to her bosom. But in reality beneath these enticing words and blandishments lies hid a most grave error, by which the foundations of the Catholic faith are completely destroyed.
How does one square this with interrelgious dialogue? But even more to the point:
10. So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it. During the lapse of centuries, the mystical Spouse of Christ has never been contaminated, nor can she ever in the future be contaminated, as Cyprian bears witness: "The Bride of Christ cannot be made false to her Spouse: she is incorrupt and modest. She knows but one dwelling, she guards the sanctity of the nuptial chamber chastely and modestly."[20] The same holy Martyr with good reason marveled exceedingly that anyone could believe that "this unity in the Church which arises from a divine foundation, and which is knit together by heavenly sacraments, could be rent and torn asunder by the force of contrary wills."[21] For since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His physical body, is one,[22] compacted and fitly joined together,[23] it were foolish and out of place to say that the mystical body is made up of members which are disunited and scattered abroad: whosoever therefore is not united with the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with Christ its head.[24]
Did this encyclical expire? Does "infallibility" not extend beyond the reign of the pope who promulgates it? If the answer is "yes," then all of our doctrine is subject to change at the whim of a given pope. If the answer is "no," then how to explain Unitatis Redintegratio in which what had formally been declared a heresy is proposed for study and dialogue:
9. We must get to know the outlook of our separated brethren. To achieve this purpose, study is of necessity required, and this must be pursued with a sense of realism and good will. Catholics, who already have a proper grounding, need to acquire a more adequate understanding of the respective doctrines of our separated brethren, their history, their spiritual and liturgical life, their religious psychology and general background. Most valuable for this purpose are meetings of the two sides-especially for discussion of theological problems-where each can treat with the other on an equal footing-provided that those who take part in them are truly competent and have the approval of the bishops. From such dialogue will emerge still more clearly what the situation of the Catholic Church really is. In this way too the outlook of our separated brethren will be better understood, and our own belief more aptly explained.
"Equal footing"?? Heresy and orthodoxy are "equal"? If we are not allowed to "take part in assemblies of non-Catholics" how are we to dialogue with them on equal footing? How are we to worship with them as Archbishop Levada has done--as Cardinal Law has done?
They can't both be infallible doctrines while at the same time directly contradicting each other. There must be an expiration date on Mortalium Animos, but search the encyclical as I might, I just can't find it.
Which brings me to Medjugorje and the Charismatic Renewal.
The problems with this movement are spelled out clearly in one of the publications at the Unity Publishing website where Craig Heimbichner has asked the appropriate questions but found no satisfactory answer.
In the light of these questions...in the light of the deception I've been posting...how is it possible that the Church hierarchy fails to make a definitive statement condemning this apparition, without any extraneous provisions for "pilgrims" who are making a pilgrimage to God knows what when they travel to Medjugorje? Is it the Church's new business to promote the Father of Lies?
Closely related to this is the bafflement brought about by the hierarchy's promotion of the charismatic movement which violates Mortalium Animos by joining with Pentecostals to worship together in an antinomian atmosphere poised to undermine the priesthood.
We are a sacramental faith. We have no sacrament called "baptism of the Holy Spirit." We have Baptism. We have Confirmation. Both rely on the Sacrament of Ordination. We have no history of signs and wonders of the sort engaged in by the Charismatics. This is a new and novel phenomenon which began in the Protestant church and which has been the practice of those called heretics down through the history of Catholicism, as Msgr. Ronald Knox clearly spells out.
When did trafficing in spirits become a practice of the Roman Catholic Church?
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph pray for us!
LEVADA RUMOR
SFGate picks up the Times story and adds a spin of its own:
But Vatican analyst Rocco Palmo, the source of the May 4 report, predicted Tuesday that Levada, 68, would get the Vatican post and then be elevated to cardinal at a June 29 Vatican assembly.
"He will be the first American cardinal named by the new pope,'' Palmo said in an interview with The Chronicle. "He is about to become the highest- ranking American in Vatican history."
Palmo noted that Levada has extensive experience dealing with the sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. church.
"He has on-the-ground experience in the United States," Palmo said. "That is priceless."
It boggles the mind to try to comprehend "Levada" and "priceless experience" both in the same sentence.
"If they want to address the ethical and moral issues in the church in Europe and North America, you have Ratzinger speaking to Europe and Levada to the United States,'' said Paul Murphy, a church scholar at the University of San Francisco.
Murphy, the director of the Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought, noted that Levada may serve a very liberal archdiocese, but he carries strong credentials as a doctrinal conservative.
"He won't necessarily please liberals in North America, but he is someone very familiar with the North American situation,'' Murphy said.
A "doctrinal conservative"? I guess he and Cardinal Law can worship Allah together. I see no reason to believe that Archbishop Levada would have any problem with that. They must be celebrating with champaign and caviar over at United Religions Initiative!
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us!
MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC
When the man of the car likes country and the woman of the car likes classical, and they are going somewhere together, a compromise is essential. Andrea Rieu has been that compromise recently, and I've enjoyed his CDs. He was in Cleveland for one performance tonight at Playhouse Square. My husband is an even bigger fan, a veteran of PBS fundraisers featuring Andre Rieu at the Royal Albert Hall, and has been trying to get tickets for one of his concerts within driving distance for 6 months or more. We had seats in the nosebleed section.
The State Theater, an old renovated movie theater with interesting interior design, is part of a complex of three similar ventures, and is billed as the second largest performing arts complex in the U.S. The State certainly seats a lot of people, and the acoustics are the best I've heard so far. The seats are sufficiently banked and staggered that even up there in heaven you can get a good view of the stage. They are not, however, intended for any man with broad shoulders or long legs.
The concert was a cross between Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, and Lawrence Welk. That probably explains why there were more senior citizens in the theater than I have seen in one place in a long time.
It was sort of a strange concert--a dizzying eclectic jumble of waltz music, popular music from 1910, belly dancing music, an aria from Carmen (sung), and one from a German operetta that I can't remember the name of, some patriotic American songs, "The Last Rose of Ireland" played on a tin whistle, bagpipes, and more that I've forgotten. I went from curious to bored, to downright angry when they played and sang the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah which was so totally inappropriate for the setting and the time of year. (No one stood.) All of this was interspersed with Rieu's canned "extemporaneous" commentary intended to make the audience laugh. It has somewhat taken the pleasure out of listening to his CDs though I'll probably recover my enthusiasm the moment Allen Jackson sings his first note.
THE RUMOR MAY BE TRUE
Lee sent in the link to this story from Time:
Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco is likely to be chosen to be the new Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the powerful Vatican post held for 24 years by the man who last month became Pope Benedict XVI, several well-placed Vatican sources have told TIME.
"It's a done deal," a senior Vatican official told TIME on Tuesday, after days of rumors that the American was emerging as the frontrunner. "This was a decision directly from the Pope. Levada was already asked, and has accepted. If it ends up not happening, it means somebody got to [the Pope] and convinced him to change his mind."
I guess Cardinal Law will have company now.
This news makes me sick. I thought our new Pope would uphold orthodoxy. Apparently he has turned over a new leaf now that he is the top man. I can't think of another logical explanation for this.
Here are the comments Lee made in Michael Rose's pope blog:
===================
In January 2002, I wrote a letter of complaint to +Levada about the support given by his ecumenical affairs officer to the United Religions Initiative (URI), a loony interfaith venture led by the Episcopal Bishop of San Francisco. As part of the letter, I included a copy of this Touchstone Magazine story:
http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=13-05-044-r
All I got from the Archbishop was a 2-sentence "thank you for sharing" letter, and an angry call from the ecumenical affairs officer ... who remained on the URI board till the next elections were held in mid-2002. Since early 2002, the Archdiocesan paper has given plenty of free publicity to the URI, and URI literature is passed out at Diocesan events.
Lee
LeePenn at aol dot com
7:26 AM
=================
Lee Penn said...
Here is a sample of what one can find about +Levada, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and the Scandal, thanks to Google:
http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_press_releases/2004_press_releases/
111204_withdraw_from_bishops_race.htm
and
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/11/12/MNGE79QGG71.DTL
and
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2005-01-19/news/feature_1.html
and
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2003-05-21/news/feature.html
There is a lot more out there ... I got hundreds of Google hits by using the terms archbishop Levada "San Francisco" abuse scandal.
My view: he is, and has been, part of the cover-up. If the Pope moves +Levada to the CDF, I will view it as the highest-level decision that the coverup should continue.
May God have mercy on him ... and on us.
Lee
8:07 AM
=====================
Lee Penn said...
For more data on the Archbishop of San Francisco and his record on the Scandal, go to http://www.bishop-accountability.org and use their Google tool to search the site on Levada. 12 documents come up.
More raw data for researchers ... and for Rome.
Lee
8:23 AM
======================
Lord have mercy on this beleagured Church!
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY REPORTS
Rome, May. 09, 2005 (CNA) - The Secretary for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino, says a rediscovery of the Eucharist is needed as an answer to the spread of satanic practices. “The Church is concerned” about sacrileges and profanations committed against the Eucharist by satanic cults during so-called “black masses.”
Blogger credit to Spirit Daily
ANNE RICE
known for her books on vampires and witches, has a new character to write about--Jesus Christ. Specifically her book will be about His early years according to an ABC News article linked at CruxNews. In Lucifer Rising Gavin Baddeley says that she is a favorite of the Goth culture.
CHAOS MAGICK AT MEDJUGORJE
It’s common knowledge that the nation of Yugoslavia disintegrated into ethnic war in the midst of the Medjugorje apparitions, and following the fall of communism. E. Michael Jones demonstrates in The Medjugorje Deception how the cultural factors associated with the apparitions were instrumental in the development of ethnic cleansing shown to the world for the first time in the upheaval there. "Chaos" is a word that aptly fits what happened in former Yugoslavia.
According to the Metareligion website, Magick is about manifesting the magician’s will in the universe. It is about change for the benefit of the magician. This “can range from a simple acquisition, such as creating circumstances favorable to getting a job, to the highly metaphysical, such as conversing with the angelic entities of the Elizabethan magus John Dee” as the Metareligion website explains it.
Chaos Magick is a relatively new discipline of the proverbial magus, one with ever more sinister connotations. It “is an innovative, modern, and disturbing approach to the realization” of the intentions of those who invoke it. It is "Magickal Terrorism," according to Metareligion.
The discipline “uses the deconstructionist theories of Jacques Derrida, the interest in random phenomena of John Cage and Minimalism, and the humor of Dada to create ritual spaces for magickal acts.” It is not a reformulation of old techniques. It attempts to “deconstruct consensual belief structures, free the energy trapped by these beliefs, and radically alter the movement of the quantum flux.” It assaults accepted patterns of belief and attacks the status quo, targets the mechanism of belief, and suggests that what is important is the mechanism of belief rather than the object of belief. Thus no belief is sacred, and disrupting belief is a tool of the process. Change is the state of choice.
As such it lies in direct opposition to any religious system, which can become the target of it. Disruption can include deception and lies. Although the technique itself rejects dualism, from the Christian perspective is relies on fallen spirits to work its system. What better hope has the fallen angel than to convince practitioners of his art that nothing else exists outside of him, and hence the system he proposes is not dualistic, leaving no ground for the possibility of goodness?
Chaos magick uses and borrows from religion, particularly Buddhism. It borrows from psychological techniques of brainwashing, and the works of Jung and Freud on the unconscious. It even borrows from method acting the technique of forgetting your identity. The practice of chaos magick can recreate the personality of an individual.
In his essay "Liber KKK," Peter J. Carroll, one of the developers of the chaos discipline in magick, breaks the techniques down into "five classical magical acts" including evocation, divination, enchantment, invocation, and illumination. He describes evocation as "work with entities which may be naturally occurring or manufactured. They may be regarded as independent spirits…"
Co-founder, along with Carroll, of the chaos discipline in magick, Austin Osman Spare, according to Jaq D. Hawkins, indicates that "the key element is to achieve a state of 'vacuity' which can be done through exhaustion, sexual release or several other methods." It’s an apt description of the state of a channeler.
Drugs are used in magick, as chaos magician Princess Jess relates in this description of the enhancement marijuana provides:
I did magick for about a year and a half before I ever used drugs with magick. During that time I smoked marijuana (dragonswort) from time to time with my friends. The thought to use dragonswort for magick didn’t even occur to me until I met someone who did. Maybe it was like a shortcut, but when I tried doing magick with dragonswort, my magick became more intense and somewhat easier. Easier in that smoking dragonswort + some other simple form of gnosis, like breathing or dancing, would get me into really extreme states of consciousness where magick seemed to flow all around me.
With this explanation of chaos magick in mind, let’s move on to some passages from The Medjugorje Deception.
The "children" who had the first vision claimed to have been attending sheep until they were warned not to lie, at which point they changed the story to that of going up the mountain for a smoke. What were they smoking? (The Medjugorje Deception p. 84-85)
Seer Mirjana was known in the village as a "Pankerica," someone on the trendy side of city culture who was rumored to have used drugs. Did an entity take advantage of her while she was "high"? Is it possible that she was in contact with one of the numerous OTO groups in the area where she learned a method of evocation? The possibility cannont be entirely ruled out, especially in light of her reputation and the fact that black metal musicians gravitate to OTO activities, as Gavin Baddeley makes clear in his book Lucifer Rising: sin, devil worship & rock 'n' roll.
But Mirjana is not the only seer who may have been or still is in contact with disembodied spirits. Among the seers spun off from Medjugorje is one named Vassula Ryden who claimed to get messages directly from Jesus in the form of handwriting. In occult literature this would be called "automatic writing." According to Jones:
In April 1991 [Fr.] Pavich met a young Australian by the name of Kim Davison, who handed him another book, or at least the manuscript copy of what was to become a significant book on the Medjugorje circuit. Kim was an exotic figure from the homosexual demimonde of Athens. A seller of trinkets by day, a homosexual prostitute by night, and some-time drug dealer… (p. 195)
Davison’s manuscript was the automatic writing of Vassula Ryden after it had been edited by "an itinerant Austrian souvenir peddler named Erwin Schlacher." (p. 195) The manuscript was left with Fr. Pavich. It contained theological errors as demonstrated by the following:
At one point Jesus tells Vassula that the souls in Purgatory could "escape from my foe’s claws" with the help of her prayers, evidently not understanding that they had already done so by the very fact that they were in Purgatory. (p. 196)
Yet despite the dubiousness of this method and the material it produced,
all of the theological luminaries of the Medjugorje movement, including Father Rene Laurentin and Father Edward O’Connor of the University of Notre Dame, fell over themselves in their haste to endorse Vassula. "What the Serbs did not get done with guns and cannons," Pavich wrote to Father Mitchell Pacwa, S. J. in September 1993, "the Orthodox Vassula has achieved through the very mouths of the ‘pillars’ of Medjugorje…. Pavich feared the "wreckage and fall-out this is bringing or will bring." (p. 196)
Vassula claimed that the urge to write was uncontrollable and that the handwriting was not her own, but rather that of Christ. She indicated that she felt "a kind of supernatural vibration that was flowing through my hands. I had been writing a shopping list, but my hand began to shake, and the pencil was too strong for me to control." (p. 197)
If Christ were doing the writing and there was no control on the part of Vassula, there should be no errors, yet her manuscripts needed serious editing. "Page after page of text is littered with the most arrant nonsense and theological error." (p. 198)
Vassula’s arrival on the scene seemed to be confirmation of the fact that the apparition movement was in the grip of a spirit which excluded reason from its deliberations. It was also an indication that one of the primary fruits of the apparition mania was a spirit of division. The psychological dynamics of the movement’s followers seemed to guarantee this. The spiritual restlessness…among the apparition followers demanded novelty as the effects of a particular apparition wore thin with familiarity. This set up a craving for something new, something a little more shocking than the previous apparition. Once a new seer arrived on the scene, however, there were always those who were reluctant to go along and the result was division. (p. 198)
Vassula’s appearance was more divisive than most.
What began as an attempt to maintain order in the chaos following the Council, started, after a while, to sound suspiciously like a power struggle in the movement. Either way, the charges and countercharges must have seemed bewildering to the same people, who, not too long ago, saw the alleged messages of Our Lady of Medjugorje as a way out of the confusion plaguing the Church…. By the fall of 1991, Medjugorje was full of the same cacophony of competing and contradictory claims that had made the movement an appealing alternative in the first place. (p. 199)
That is a description of chaos. Coming as it does as a result of what certainly suggests occultism, the label of "chaos magick" is easily applied. Certainly even a brief study of the Ordo Templi Orientis phenomenon will give the reader a clear picture of formation, division, reformation of the various occult groups. Schism is the modus operandi of occultism.
The ultimate division finally came over Vassula’s promotion of The Poem of the Man-God, a book written by Maria Valltorta, and a book which had been on the Catholic Index of Forbidden Books in 1959. Now this book turned up on the booklists of Medjugorje centers worldwide.
Fr. Pavich disapproved of the book. Jones writes, "Pavich, however, never came to the conclusion that fraud was involved. His involvement in Vassula confirmed him in thinking that the seers were "in touch with an entity." "That’s the scary part," he said. "That’s the worst scenario you can imagine." (p. 200)
Seer Marija Pavlovic claimed that "the Blessed Mother told her that Valtorta’s book was good reading." Caritas of Birmingham announced that seer "Vicka asked Our Lady about the book…and Our Lady is reported to have said, ‘It makes for good reading.’" (p. 201)
Yet in spite of the book’s condemnation in 1959, those who refused to endorse it were "excommunicated" from the Medjugorje movement. The book is still being promoted today at Vassula Ryden’s website. It is being promoted by Wayne Weible (click the "Other Materials" link on the left), a familiar name in the charismatic movement. It is being promoted by Medjugorje centers. Promotion of such a book makes the Medjugorje movement with its internal divisions look like the work of an entity intent upon the destruction of the Catholic faith, such destruction being the result of internal divisions that undermine the credibility of the Church and set one group of believers against another group.
Those who accept this book as authentic Catholicism have set themselves in direct opposition to the hierarchy of the Church. That is the typical antinomianism that follows in the wake of signs and wonders.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
BISHOPS SHOULD UPHOLD CANON LAW
if they want lay Catholics to take them seriously, is the topic of Michael J. Gaynor's commentary at MichNews.com. He makes a good point near the end: "But if the USCCB won't enforce canon law, why should 'Catholic' colleges follow USCCB suggestions?"
To make that point he uses
the law the bishops have failed to support, namely the prohibition spelled out clearly by Cardinal Arinze, against giving Communion to pro-abortion politicians; and Cardinal McCarrick's spinning of this prohibition to get the bishops off the hook.
He then relates that failure to the Catholic colleges failure to deny honors to pro-abortion speakers, and especially the latest example of this failure at New Orleans University, argued in the article to be a direct result of the bishops failure to protect the Eucharist.
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL COURT
Inter Press Service News Agency reports on a human rights violation trial in the International Criminal Court being held in Belgium. The article discusses the trial of two war crimes suspects in the Rawanda massacres. Buried near the bottom of the article is this bit about two nuns:
This is the second Rwanda genocide trial to be held in the country after the law was changed to allow prosecutors to bring war crimes suspects to trial even if the defendants are not Belgian and the crimes were committed outside the country.
In 2001, a Belgian court convicted two Roman Catholic nuns, a former government minister and a university professor from Rwanda for their complicity in the atrocities.
That trial was hailed as a milestone in international law. Belgium held the groundbreaking trial under a 1993 law that gave local courts jurisdiction over violation of the Geneva Convention on war crimes, no matter where they occurred. That trial led to a wave of lawsuits in Belgian courts. People filed grievances against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former U.S. president George Bush senior and other leaders.
Perhaps it has simply slipped my mind, but I don't recall hearing about these nuns until now. How ironic is it that the first such trial held under this international system of justics included two Catholic nuns? Were they actually guilty of war crimes? Framed? Was this hushed up? Where are they serving their sentence?
Frankly this whole International Court thing makes me very uneasy.
YOU KNOW THINGS ARE SLOW IN CLEVELAND
when they write about Twinkie myths.
I didn't find any of them funny. Did you? Well, I might be handicapped by indifference to Twinkies. (No chocolate, dontcha know.)
ONE DIOCESE SELLS ALL OF ITS PROPERTY TO PAY ABUSE CLAIMS
From CNN.com
The Catholic Diocese of St. George's will sell about 150 properties to raise $10.5 million as part of a settlement for the victims of the Rev. Kevin Bennett, who was convicted in 1990 of hundreds of sexual assaults during three decades as a priest in the province of Newfoundland.
"All of the churches, all of the parish houses, all the missions," will be sold, Bishop Douglas Crosby said. Forty properties, apparently cemeteries, weren't part of the deal.
The organization was appealing to its 32,000 parishioners for donations to buy back core properties when they go on sale in the coming months. "What we're hoping is we can save, or repurchase, one-third of them," Crosby said.
Bennett admitted his guilt and was sentenced to four years in prison in the early 1990s. Now retired and in his 70s, he continues to draw a church pension while living on a family property.
Monday, May 09, 2005
FIGHTING WITH ANGELS ?
From an article at Grand Forks Herald sent in by a reader:
A man who lived most of his life in northern Minnesota, much of it as a Catholic priest and as an educator, was removed this week from a parish in Alaska after a man alleged the priest solicited sex from him in return for giving him construction work at the church.
The Archdiocese of Anchorage announced Wednesday that the Rev. Robert Bester, about 75, reported to his superiors that a man had accused him of inappropriate behavior, according to the Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror.
Bester was put on leave from the parish while a church panel investigates the allegations.
The accuser, Fred May, cooperated with a local television station in Anchorage in taping conversations secretly with Bester in which the priest talked about graphic sexual acts. He also spoke of being "Dracula," and of engaging in "combat," with angels.
HELLO EDGAR
A reader found this link to the...uhmmm...evidence that Edgar Cayce has reincarnated. Thought you'd all like to check it out. It will never due to be underinformed about these things. :-)
APPARITIONISTAS
A reader sent the link for this article about Mary in a tree trunk.
Frankly all I see is a man blowing a horn. Or perhaps it is two eyes and the mouth of a ghost attempting to haunt the apparitionistas. Whoooooooooooooooooooo.
And we wonder why people abandon the faith! Catholicism is a lot more appealing when the Catholics appear to be rational.
PAGANIZATION OF FRANCE AND THE DEATH OF CATHOLICISM
A reader sent in this article at Chiesa by Sandro Magister in which he reviews two books:
George Weigel, “The Cube and the Cathedral. Europe, America, and Politics without God,” Basic Books, New York, 2005.
Danièle Hervieu-Léger, “Catholicisme, la fin d’un monde [Catholicism, the end of a world],” Bayard, Paris, 2003.
There is much material for thought in the article, too much to blog everything. He speculates on the possible reason for the choice in the last conclave:
By electing Joseph Ratzinger as pope, the cardinals made a strategic decision too: they identified Europe as the epicenter of the great conflict of faith, culture, and civilization – which hinges upon the vision of life and man – that the Catholic Church must face during the next years and decades.
Within Europe, France is both the real and symbolic center of this conflict.
He goes on from there to contrast the Christian roots of France with the Pagan enculturation that is taking place there, in the process listing several symptoms of the transition.
What he fails to do is label the rise of occultism as the very source of that Paganization. Yet Webb makes it obvious in The Occult Underground and The Occult Establishment that this new way of thinking has overtaken the culture, and it began in France, so it should surprise no one that France is the first to fall. But as the occult revival spread throughout Europe, into America, and into the Orient through the efforts of H. P. Blavatsky's Theosophical Society, so this dismissal of faith will spread around the world.
It comes down to a choice, Christianity or barbarism. Right now it appears that in the near term barbarism will be the winner.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
EMAIL FROM DR. BOND
Dear Friends,
In response to my request that the faithful contact Bishop Martino to urge him not to ordain Deacon Joseph Levine, many of you have asked if Bishop Martino has an email address. Unfortunately, he does not have a published email address.
If you cannot call (570/207-2238) or fax (570/207-2236) the Chancery, I would suggest that you express your concerns about Deacon Levine's ordination by contacting the Secretary for Clergy Formation:
Monsignor Vincent J. Grimalia, V.G.
Msgr-Vincent-Grimalia@dioceseofscranton.org
In fact, even if you have already called or faxed the Chancery, I would encourage you to send an email to Monsignor Grimalia as well.
Pax vobiscum,
Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond
JOSEPH D'HIPPOLITO'S ARTICLE IS UP AT JERUSALEM POST
which is unfortunately requiring registration now. From the article:
John Paul II cultivated a relationship with Islam not only as part of his ecumenical agenda. He viewed Islam as an ally against communism and secular materialism, particularly abortion. In 1994, the Vatican forged a coalition with the radical regimes of Iran, Libya and Sudan to oppose any proposals advocating abortion at a United Nations conference on world population.
Moreover, the brutal Nazi occupation of Poland traumatized John Paul to the point where he deeply feared a similar clash of civilizations between Christianity and Islam.
But John Paul's successor, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who led the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has other ideas, as Amir Taheri wrote on April 16 in Arab News:
"Ratzinger believes that John Paul II's strategy of alliance with Islam has put the Vatican not on the side of the Muslim peoples, but on the side of despotic regimes that dominate the Muslim world. Ratzinger sees relations between Islam and Catholicism as one of competition over the truth.
"Ratzinger suggests an alternative strategy under which the Catholic Church would focus on the consolidation of its position in its traditional strongholds in Europe and the American continent.
I hope he is right, because if he is, Benedict's attitude will be not only refreshing, but also more in line with the Catholic Tradition.
BENEDICT XVI CONTRASTED TO JOHN PAUL II
at the Jamaica Observer.
The contrasts are striking as this reporter sees them, including:
"He has not had too much contact with people. He was a bishop for a short time, but was not very successful."
Weisner said the pope's Bavarian background as well as his own bookish nature would make him more reserved and less effusive than John Paul II.
"He is much more intellectual and very modern," Weisner said.
Theologians at the Jesuit-run Gregorian University in Rome said that even judging from the experience of a day, the new pope was clearly different from the pontiff for whom he had worked for the past two decades.
They noted that his homily during his first mass for the cardinals who elected him at a secret conclave was theologically sound and solidly based on Christ's teaching.
John Paul II always placed more emphasis on Mary, the mother of Christ, posing a problem for Protestant and Anglican churches who do not accord her the same cosmic importance as the Catholics.
It would be remiss to fail to note that this same concentration on a woman--specifically Sophia--is typical of occultism. It would be remiss to fail to note that Soloviev, of whom John Paul II spoke highly, concentrated on visions of Sophia. It would also be remiss of me not to affirm that Marian devotion is prominent in Catholic theology, as the article indicates. The key, of course, is to maintain a focus through the eyes of the Blessed Virgin to the Person of Jesus Christ, to Whom she will always direct us, unlike Sophia who will draw our attention to herself.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
EMAIL FROM DR. BOND
Dear Friends,
It was reported in the Scranton Times yesterday that Bishop Joseph Martino intends to apologize to John Doe and his family for the harm done to them by Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey of the Society of St. John. In the article linked below, Bishop Martino is quoted as follows:
"In view of the serious claims made by the young person and in light of the statements by the witnesses who supported his claim, it was determined that the just decision was to reach a settlement that will assist the victim and his family as they attempt to heal."
http://www.scrantontimes.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14486344&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=6
Although Bishop Martino's attorneys have no doubt counseled him to avoid any explicit admission of wrongdoing on the part of Urrutigoity and Ensey, nevertheless Bishop Martino's statement clearly acknowledges that the Diocese recognizes the truth of John Doe's accusations. Moreover, the settlement price of $455,550 is itself an admission of guilt.
The Scranton Times article also reports that the SSJ's Shohola property has been sold to repay the 2.65 million dollar loan made to the SSJ by former Bishop James Timlin. The timing of the sale of the SSJ property and the announcement of the settlement are obviously not coincidental. Indeed, the timing raises serious questions:
(1) Who bought the property and what were the terms?
(2) What was the Diocese's involvement in the sale of the property?
(3) Is it merely coincidental that the sale price of the property was equal to the amount loaned to the SSJ by Bishop Timlin?
(4) Did the sale of the property involve a deal between the Diocese and the SSJ that will allow the SSJ members to incardinate in another diocese?
(5) Why is the SSJ web site still soliciting money to expand the chapel on their Shohola property?
(6) If the SSJ members are no longer living on the Shohola property, where are they now living?
(7) Are Urrutigoity and Ensey to be laicized? What about the other SSJ priests who lied to protect them?
(8) Is Deacon Joseph Levine, former SSJ Superior General, who also lied to protect them, going to be ordained a priest in the Diocese of Scranton?
In light of these unanswered questions, we are troubled by Bishop Martino's statement to the Scranton Times that suggests the SSJ scandal is now over:
"It is unfortunate that this group of priests brought so much scandal and consternation to the priests and laity of the diocese. It is now time to move forward and put the society behind us."
Bishop Martino's claim is clearly premature. If we are to put the SSJ behind us for good, then the faithful must know that Urrutigoity and Ensey are to be laicized, that the SSJ has not been allowed to relocate, that the remaining SSJ members have been fully investigated and disciplined, and that Deacon Levine will never be ordained a priest.
Finally, the College of St. Justin Martyr must be justly compensated. In retaliation for the College's efforts to inform the Diocese of the SSJ's immoral conduct, Bishop Timlin obstructed and harmed the legitimate business and goals of the College. In response to Bishop Timlin's gratuitous attack, the College filed lawsuits against the Diocese and the SSJ. Our quest for justice has been documented at www.SaintJustinMartyr.org/news/notices.html.
Pax vobiscum,
Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond
President
College of St. Justin Martyr
(570) 685-5945
