Still Running Off at the Keyboard

THE FOURTH SECRET OF FATIMA

John Vennari reports there are some strange claims being made by a prominent Italian journalist and by Archbishop Loris Francesco Capovilla regarding the text of the Third Secret of Fatima:

On May 31, Cardinal Bertone appeared on Porta a Porta [Door to Door], an evening program on RIA Uno, a nationwide Italian Television station.

The purpose of Cardinal Bertone’s appearance was supposedly to answer the claim that there is still a part of the Third Secret not yet published.

The controversy has received much attention in Italy due to Antonio Socci’s book The Fourth Secret of Fatima, released in November 2006. In this book, Socci concludes, based on substantial evidence, that the entire Third Secret has not yet been revealed. ...

Since the publication of Mr. Socci’s book, I have twice had the opportunity to correspond with Mr. Solideo Paolini, the Italian journalist who interviewed Archbishop Capovilla, who admitted there were two texts. It was Mr. Paolini who supplied this information to Mr. Socci who published it in The Fourth Secret of Fatima.

I asked Mr. Paolini to explain why the testimony of Archbishop Capovilla is important.

“Archbishop Loris Francesco Capovilla was the personal Secretary of Pope John XXIII,” responded Mr. Paolini, “the first Pope who opened the envelope containing the Third Secret of Fatima. When Pope John XXIII opened the envelope, Archbishop Capovilla, as his Secretary, was present. After this, taking dictation from Pope John, he wrote on the outside of the envelope the judgment given by John XXIII about the Third Secret, so he is an extraordinarily important witness.”

When asked for a brief summary of his meeting with Archbishop Capovilla, Mr. Paolini recounted:

“I met Archbishop Loris Francesco Capovilla on July 5th 2006 in Sotto il Monte [name of a town] at his house. Since this very first meeting, during our private conversation, he made me implicitly but unequivocally understand something about the existence of two texts, or at least about not revealed things regarding the Third Secret. When I asked him the question [about the Secret], he literally answered: ‘No, look, since it was officially revealed, I must abide by what was declared in the official documents, even if I may know something more’. And at that point, when he said those words ‘even if I may know something more’, he smiled ironically. Since I was there, I was able to see from his gestures that it was clear: there is something more than what was revealed during the Holy Year 2000 [by the Vatican].

“But what Archbishop Capovilla said to me during a phone call is even more a dead giveaway. When he sent me his answers [by mail to questions I had sent to him], I called him on the phone, and he gave me the answer to a question of mine which literally was: ‘So, Excellence, as regards the two dates in which Pope Paul VI (should have) read the Third Secret, March 27, 1965 and June 27, 1965, which are confirmed by different sources, are they both correct be-cause two texts regarding the Third Secret exist?’ I asked him pointblank: he remained silent for a moment, thinking about it, and then he said to me, literally: ‘Precisely so (Per l’appunto)’. This is the most explicit confirmation that anyone could give.”revealed.

There is also a question about text that should have appeared on the envelope but was not there, and the size of the envelope is also in question. But by far the most significant information in the article is the claim that there are two versions of the secret.

Read the whole article...

"THE ADVENT OF ISLAMOPALIANS & OTHER HYBRIDS"

is the title of Lee Penn's article in the current SCP Newsletter. It talks about people--even priests--from one religion embracing a second and contradictory religion, and holding to both mutually exclusive faiths simultaneously. This new trend seems to be growing out of the interreligious dialogue that is going on around the world.

This segment is particularly amusing:

Religious confusion is not limited to the United States. A Church of England priest, David Hart, "sees no contradiction in celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi or performing Hindu rituals in his home in Kerala, where he has been living for nearly a year, and offering Holy Communion as a priest at the St. James' Parish Church in Strethan, Cambridge, whenever he is in England," according to the Times of India. "he brought a Ganesh idol, conducted a puja for 10 days and subsequently joined a Ganesotsav procession organized by the Kerala unit of Shiv Sena to immerse his idol in the sea. He is also a follower of Lord Krishna, and had offered prayers at his local temple."

Hart, an Associate Professor in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Winchester, is also in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and is international secretary of the World Congress of Faiths, a London-based interfaith organization. He has said, "Becoming a Hindu has not brought about any change in my spiritual status. The act has not shaken my Christian beliefs by even one per cent.. ...Asking me to express my preference for any particular faith is like asking me to choose between an ice-cream and a chocolate. Both have their own distinct taste." He is...a priest and a professor--so he is able to spread religious confusion with an air of authority. As of this writing, he remains a priest in good standing; there is no indication that Hart has been disciplined by the Church of England.

I believe that is the same Church of England with which we conduct ecumenical talks. But maybe the man has merely been taking Catholic lessons. This Catholic priest, said to have been interviewed at the Vatican, claims he can be a Hindu at the same time that he is a Catholic priest. My question--when he consecrates bread and wine, given the beliefs that he holds, does he still have bread and wine?

Another interesting part of Lee's article talks about the influence of Harry Potter:

It is not just teenagers who can be lured into Wicca and Neopaganism by the Potter books; vulnerable adults can fall into the same trap.

Wayne Haney attended Virginia Theological Seminary, and served as an Episcopal priest for five years. He then left the church due to "the strain of leading a Christian flock while not fully being able to believe the message I was preaching." This plunged him into a "very early mid-life crisis." As the Battle Creek Enquirer reported in March, 2006, it was "during this crisis of faith that he began to read the Harry Potter series of books to his children. The magic depicted in the books aroused a curiosity in Haney that led him to Web-searches and other readings. This led finally to a Wiccan group in nearby Flint, Michigan, where he and his wife were welcomed." Now, Haney is "a practicing minister of the Sacred Birch Society, a Wiccan group that meets regularly in the Lampeer Michigan area." The ex-priest Haney read himself out of Christianity and into Wicca with the help of a child's fantasy about "good" sorcery.

And yet some parents think the kids aren't vulnerable!

MORE BLOOMER BLOG

I hope you're not all falling asleep over this. I find it fascinating actually. Yes, you could tell that, couldn't you. Anyway...

Sunday, February 18, 2007 - Out of Russia will come the leaders of my Church after the final defeat and conversion of Russia....Twelve Davidic Kings will reign in Europe under one Great Monarch and Holy Pope....in the North and West my Sacrifice will go underground and the Houses of Worship will offer a vain Sacrifice -the Sacrifice mentioned in the prophecy of my servant Daniel....Pray to the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael for protection, strength and healing. Invoke Uriel for Clarity in these times of confusion and Barakiel for the blessings needed and to Seatiel for the desire for Adoration. Invoke your guardian angels each day...

That actually sounds somewhat like Catholic prophecy. In Rev. R. Gerald Culleton's book THE PROPHETS AND OUR TIMES, originally published in 1941 with imprimatur and nihil obstat, the Great Monarch is said to come from the East, the West, the North, depending upon who is doing the prophesying.

The Holy Pope, according to Culleton, "will be born before the end of the 19th century", will be French, Galician, or Sabine. He will appear when the world is wartorn and the Church persecuted and the wicked are being chastised, and at the same time as the Great Monarch. There may be a succession of Great Popes, as many as five in number, who will rule for 17 years and one of them will die in exile. The succession will last until Anti-Christ.

It's interesting that Bloomer is telling us to pray to angels we have never heard of, and that using the names of angels out of the Kabbalah was what got Opus Angelorum into such hot water with the CDF.

It's also interesting that the picture of Rome and the pope presented in the third secret of Fatima fits the prophecy of a wartorn Europe better than it fits the assassination attempt which is said to have been its fulfillment.

Back to Bloomer...

Sunday, February 11, 2007 - Israel shall be restored to its freedom as the People of God. I will transfer the headquarters of my church to her land - Jerusalem will be the City of her God reigning supreme over all the earth after the victory of the Great Monarch and his brother....The holy French Pope will reign from Jerusalem and reform the world with the help of the 12 male apostles and 12 female apostles from among the Jewish people....One day the Holy Grail will return to light and many will pilgrimage to your land renewed in the Catholic faith...My beloved kinsman Joseph of Arimathea pleads for your conversion and for mercy for the land of his heart...The Rose of England intercedes for you and through her witness the Grail will be discovered near her heart - this is a mystery until the time to come...

Bloomer has placed a picture of Princess Diana in the midst of that prophecy about the Rose of England.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - I shall appear with Moshe Rabbenu on Tabor and Sinai in the coming years to reveal my Imma to you. She is the One in whom I delight, she is the Isha prophetess of the lineage of Nathan that is coming to assist and guide the Mashaich ben Efrayim who serves the Heavenly Mashiach ben Joseph....Yes days will be bad in Israel but worse in the lands of the West for you. Dark days for my people are about to descend...Return to Torah and mitzvot lived from the Heart- do not become fanatics but live my Way of sanctity with love...Be a light to the Goyim...Rebbe Menachem says to all of his children of Chabad that he was the anointed of his generation among the Yidden but he is not the Mashiach ben Yosef but he shared in the spirituality of the Mashiach ben Yosef in a hidden and deep way. Children of the Rebbe worship God alone who took flesh as a man in Yeshuah...I will bring my children of Lubavitch into my Heart and they will be my black army of salvation...an army for Adoration of my Presence...In the year called 5770 I will appear to you as the light of Mashiach...Many will be deceived by Armilus...he is only a man possessed by the evil one.

Well, that's enough for today. Interesting that of all the branches of Judaism he could mention, the one he does mention is Chabad Lubavitch, the organization promoting the Noachide Laws. I get the impression that he is implying that Chabad will worship Jesus when He returns. From the research I've done on Chabad Lubavitch, I didn't get the impression they wanted anything to do with Jesus. Hmmmmm.

ZUUKIE ISN'T HAPPY

It seems that I have upset Dorothy, who commented in my blog under the name Zuukie. She is complaining about me in Constance Cumbey's comments boxes. She has accused me of being anti-semitic because I object to Athol Bloomer's heretical Catholicism. Shows rather a significant lack of discernment on her part.

Interesting that she has concluded she is the only one who has been banned on my blog, as though that is some sort of singular achievement. Ah no, not quite. There are 32 entries on my banned list. I don't announce who has been banned. It's not something I consider worth blogging. I ban people who attack with ad hominem comments. Somehow Dorothy has failed to comprehend that even though I've said it several times, and issue a warning before I enforce the ban.

11-MONTH-OLD ABUSED AT CATHOLIC DAYCARE

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — With the child in their arms, the parents of an 11-month-old toddler who they say was sexually assaulted at a church day care center last month asked again Monday night for anyone with information to come forward

"What we know to be true is that our daughter was in good health when she was dropped off at day care, and when she was picked up, she was in a condition that required hospitalization," father Jason Schwaller said.

The girl was at Our Lady of the Lakes Child Care Center in Random Lake on June 26 from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to court documents.

Later that night, her grandmother was changing the girl's diaper when she found blood. The girl, 10 months old at the time, underwent reconstructive surgery at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee hours later.

The injuries were consistent with sexual penetration within the last 24 hours, court records said.

Read the rest...

Here is the website for Our Lady of the Lakes Child Care Center.

Yes, it's Catholic. I thought there were child protection policies in effect. I thought everyone who had any contact with children in Catholic parishes was screened and fingerprinted. What happened? How did someone slip through the process?

Here's the parish website.

ATHOL BLOOMER, BRIT-AM, AND THE DAVINCI CODE - CONNECT THE DOTS

I'm sure you remember the story of THE DAVINCI CODE (TDVC), right? You remember that central to that story is the claim that Mary Magdalene brought a child of Jesus to France. You remember that two of the authors of HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh sued Dan Brown for copyright infringement claiming Brown lifted his story out of the pages of HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL. I trust you also remember that Carl Olsen and Sandra Miesel debunked TDVC, as did Amy Welborn; each of them pointing out the historical errors in the tale. And lastly, you remember how damaging this story was to the Catholic faith, right?

Now comes Brit-Am making the same claims that Baigent, et.al. made in HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL (HBHG).

First, a quote from HBHG:

At Pepin's coronation bishops for the first time were authorized to attend with rank equal to that of secular nobles. And the coronation itself no longer entailed the recognition of a king, or a pact with a king. It now consisted of nothing less than the creation of a king.

The ritual of anointment was similarly transformed. In the past, when practiced at all, it was a ceremonial accoutrement--an act of recognition and ratification. Now, however, it assumed a new significance. Now it took precedence over blood and could "magically," as it were, sanctify blood. Anointment became something more than a symbolic gesture. It became the literal act whereby divine grace was conferred upon a ruler. And the Pope, by performing this act, became supreme mediator between God and kings. Through the ritual of anointment the Church arrogated to itself the right to make kings. Blood was now subordinate to oil. And all monarchs were rendered ultimately subordinate, and subservient, to the Pope.

In 754 Pepin III was officially anointed at Ponthion, thus inaugurating the Carolingian dynasty. The name derives from Charles Martel, although it is generally associated with the most famous of Carolingian rulers. Charles the Great, Carolus Magnus, or, as he is best known, Charlemagne. And in 800 Charlemagne was proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor--a title that, by virtue of the pact with Clovis three centuries before, should have been reserved exclusively for the Merovingian bloodline. Rome now became the seat of an empire that embraced the whole of western Europe, whose rulers ruled only with the sanction of the Pope.

In 496 the Church had pledged itself in perpetuity to the Merovingian bloodline. In sanctioning the assassination of Dagobert, in devising the ceremonies of coronation and anointment, in endorsing Pepin's claim to the throne, it had clandestinely betrayed its pact. In crowning Charlemagne it had made its beytrayal not only public, but a fait accompli. (Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL, p.255-256)

Now let's turn to "The House of David and the Lost Tribes" at the Brit-Am website. There, under the sub-heading "Jewish Descendants of David" you can read:

Meanwhile Gaul was being conquered by the Franks after which it became known as France. The early ruling house of the Franks was that of the Merovingians. These wore their hair long and often had Hebrew names. They were friendly towards the Jews and it is believed that some of their aristocracy converted to Judaism or at least were well influenced by it. Different Researchers have identified the Merovingians as from the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Dan. The Merovingian dynasty was to be displaced by the Carolingians but the possible presence of Jewish nobles or Israelites who were conscious of their origins amongst the early aristocracy of France places a different perspective on later developments.

The Arabs had conquered the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, and part of Southern France. Charles Martell defeated them in battle and saved France from Moslem domination. Charles Martell was not a Merovingian but he made himself de facto ruler, while his son Pepin formally usurped the monarchy. Henceforth, the Carolingians (named after "Charles" [Carol] Martell) replaced the Merovingians. The first Carolingian monarch was Pepin (751-768), the son of Charles Martell.

Athol Bloomer is given credit at the end of the article with "Dan".

Check out Athol Bloomer's "Carolingian Frankish Hebrew Catholic Dynasty" here. On the first page Pepin I and Dagobert I appear. On the second page of the Dynasty notice that a number of entries are marked "Exilarch". According to the Jewish Encyclopedia an Exilarch is the

Title given to the head of the Babylonian Jews, who, from the time of the Babylonian exile, were designated by the term "golah" (see Jer. xxviii. 6, xxix. 1; Ezek. passim) or "galut" (Jer. xxix. 22). The chief of the golah or prince of the exiles held a position of honor which, recognized by the state, carried with it certain definite prerogatives, and was hereditary in a family that traced its descent from the royal Davidic house. The origin of this dignity is not known. The first historical documents referring to it date from the time when Babylon was part of the Parthian empire, and it was preserved uninterruptedly during the rule of the Sassanids, as well as for several centuries under the Arabs.

In Athol Bloomer's "Carolingian Dynasty" website, webpage 3, Charles Martel, Pepin III, and Charlemagne appear.

Something else of interest...In Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln's follow up book to HBHG, one sub-section is devoted to Archetype and Myth. There symbols are discussed:

Archetypal symbols have an even broader frame of reference. They pertain not to a specific individual, but to mankind as a whole. The phoenix, for example, with its connotations of death and rebirth, is a typical archetypal symbol. So, too, is the unicorn, traditionally associated with virginal purity and mystical initiation. (p. 178)

Brit-Am uses a unicorn in its website.

Next let's turn back to Athol Bloomer's prophecy blog. On Monday, February 12, 2007 is an entry "Prophecy of the Swine". There you can read:

Beware my people the rise of the swine. In your midst a demonic herd of swine are about to possess the nations through those who serve the purposes of the Evil One....The red hogs shall come from the north and east to terrorise and slaughter your people, the blue pigs from the west from England and the Americas to steal your freedoms....I will loose my people from the blue pigs of America first and I will raise up a leader who will be a New Arthur to lead them into a New Camelot a people of the Grail and of my Will. They will unite with my remnant in the midst of Europe - a leader will rise in Germany and at his side will be the one who I have Anointed for War - the Warrior Ephraim a descendant of David and of Louis the Holy and pious King of the French. The flower of Europe's royal tree. With his brother Manesseh a mighty ruler in Joseph they will lead my armies to victory after much bloody struggle....Many will die, Europe will lie in ruins and many nations will exist no more...

ATHOL BLOOMER AND BRIT-AM

Athol Bloomer has written an article for the British Israel organization called Brit-Am.

HEBREW CELTIC NAMESAKES

Hmmmmm.

THE BLACK POPE AND THE WHITE POPE

Did you know that there are two popes--a black one and a white one? Athol Bloomer knows. He was given the message and on February 13, 2007, he blogged it:

The Black Pope who is no pope is seeking to seize the reigns of my church....He will serve the evil Armillus who is called Mahdi and third antichrist....Remain loyal to my White Pope who goes into exile and follow his teaching. This is not the time of the fourth and final antichrist but the time of the third of four....The final antichrist was conceived in 1998...My white Pope will die in the exile and my French Jewish Pope will be elected in exile. He is not a Cardinal at this time, nor bishop but is found among the lay awaiting the time of the exiled and underground Church; then will the white Pope raise him to clerical leadership. He is the Pope that will end the schism in the Church- all will be united under him. He will be the Pope of the Holy Spirit adorned in red.

VASSULA RYDEN

If it could be said that Athol Bloomer got to any of his errors legitimately, it could be said of his promotion of Vassula Ryden.

At the EWTN website you can read the condemnation of Vassula Ryden by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Notification is dated October 6, 1995.

In his Spiritual Journey blog Athol Bloomer wrote:

When I was in the Street Kid community I had heard of the Greek Orthodox visionary Vassula Ryden and heard her message on a audio tape and I read her early writings. Vassula visited Thailand in 1997or 98 and I attended her meeting at Holy Redeemer (Ruam Rudi) where I was prayed over and I felt such a power come forth from the Cross (it had a relic of the True Cross in it) that I was knocked to the ground (Vassula did not touch me at all) and I got up and went to my seat and I couldn't stop sobbing. I was so embarassed and I felt a burning cross on my forehead and a burning point in my hand that lasted for three weeks when I was in prayer. It was strange because in early 1997 before I even knew I was going to Thailand I received a message from God that I would go on eagle's wings overseas and that I should pray for Vassula and her mission and that I was linked to Patrick and Father Martin and their mission of Perpetual Adoration.

Being new to Catholicism, it is entirely reasonable that Bloomer would trust the parish to be doing the right thing in bringing Vassula in. But note that this took place in 1997 or 1998, at least two years after the Congregation had issued its Notification.

But that is not all. Bishop Manat brought Vassula to his diocese, and Vassula came accompanied by the Armenian Orthodox Bishop of Lyons France:

Vassula came again to Thailand in 1999 and she led a retreat with Bishop Manat at Tabor Retreat Centre and I ate with her and became close to her Greek Orthodox companion Katarina who I remained in contact with. Also with Vassula was a Jewish Philipino lady who was very interested in Vassula and I gave her a copy of the Jewish New Testament I had with me. So in 2001 I went to Bangladesh to stay with Katarina and her new husband Duleep (he had a deceased brother called Athol!). Vassula visited Bangladesh while I was there and I spent a lovely week with her and the Armenian Orthodox Bishop of Lyons in France that was travelling with her.

The British Orthodox Church has issued warnings about Vassula. (At the website scroll down to the last entry on the webpage.) It would appear that
the Monophysite Armenian Orthodox have not.

Vassula was even booted out of the Los Angeles Cathedral. When your heresy can't make it in L.A., your mission is in serious trouble.

Yet despite overwhelming evidence that Vassula Ryden is a fraud, Athel Bloomer is still recommending, in his January 29, 2007 prophecy blog that Hebrew Catholics should listen to her.

MORE ON ATHOL BLOOMER'S PROPHET

Kathryn Ann Clarke, alias "Anne", "The Hidden One"

She has good reason to hide. Susanna found another Rick Salbato/Unity Publishing article on this fraud.

Probably the most damaging evidence to her credibility is the following:

One of the people she gave marital advice to was a practicing Catholic woman, married to a practicing Catholic man and with five children. She was suffering from depression but there was no existence of domestic violence - no physical abuse, no threats of physical abuse, no adultery and no substance abuse. Their marital issues were minor compared to what most marriages suffer through and yet survive and thrive. She made questionable claims of verbal abuse against her husband as the reason for separation and ultimately divorce. Any expression of anger or frustration by her husband was summarily characterized as “controlling and abusive”.

Throughout the entire time of separation Kathy Clarke’s confidant/friend/business partner was suffering depression and was taking Paxil as an anti-depressant. Because of “Catholic” Kathryn Ann Clarke’s advice, this woman had her tubes tied immediately after her fifth child, (which is against Catholic law - surgical sterilization) so that she would have no more children. Within 8 months of the operation, Clarke’s advise led to filing divorce and later moving 4 of the 5 children over 100 miles away from their home town, father and brother. She is now seeking an annulment again at the advice of Kathryn Clark leading on to suggest that she plans to re-marry. I wonder of Clark told her that even if she was able (after 5 children) to get an annulment, she would have to have another surgery to reverse her sterilization in order to get married in the Catholic Church.

This woman now works with Kathryn Ann Clarke marketing and selling books and helping create and run her (now) two organizations. She is listed on the website’s “About Us” as Chief Executive Officer She is paid a salary of $50,000 plus insurance and expenses. Kathy and this CEO travel extensively throughout the United States and overseas. Over the past 5 years each of them has chosen to leave their children repeatedly for extended periods of time away from home, usually hiring nannies to watch the children and most of the time without even calling during these extended trips. The children say that they will not hear from them sometimes for up to seven days. As an outward sign that things are not quite right with this CEO, her language has become more like a truck driver than a humble Catholic.

"Anne" is a product of Medjugorje. She is the author of a book titled THE BREAKABLE VOW, the subject of which is spousal abuse. You can read about her at the Harper Collins website and also at the teenreads.com website.

This is the woman of whom Athol Bloomer says in his January 29, 2007 charismatic prophecy, which presumably comes from Jesus:

Listen to my prophetesses Wendy, Vassula and the hidden one who proclaim me as Returning King. I have risen Wendy up from my children who speak with the voice of Paul to your generation, I have risen up Vassula from my children that speak with the voices of John and Andres, and the hidden apostle from the children of the chair of Peter, the source of unity for the wounded Body. I am anointing these three women from the three flocks of my predilection - Listen to their voices.

WENDY AND THE ISRAEL TOUR 2008

In the blog below I have linked the website for "Wendy", a prophetess that Athol Bloomer promotes in his prophecy blog in the posting dated Monday, January 29, 2007.

Here is just one of the projects "Wendy" is promoting on her website--"Israel Tour 2008".

At this website you can learn a bit more about God TV's Israel Tour:

God TV has taken several tours to Israel, most notably more than 850 people in 2005, and our 2006 tour was historic, taking place as we moved into our new Broadcast Center in Jerusalem.

The God TV network is well-established and growing:

Speaking during the dedication broadcast for GOD TV’s Broadcast HQ in Jerusalem Wendy shared, that just as there were 12 ancient gateways in Jerusalem, so she believed the network would eventually have 12 channels to accommodate GOD TV’s various regions.

The good news is that we are halfway there! The following GOD TV channels are already being transmitted 24-hours a day from GOD TV’s global transmission center situated at the base of Mount Zion: GOD TV USA, GOD TV EUROPE, GOD UK, GOD TV AFRICA, GOD TV ASIA, and GOD TV AUSTRALASIA. All of these GOD TV feeds are time-shifted for their region and offer varying degrees of localized programming. Other new GOD TV channels will be introduced in time to come, with a Middle East Channel as a priority.

There is a God TV station in Orlando, Florida.

They have won a number of awards. On this webpage Wendy's last name is given as "Alec".

Check out the Coming Up in 2007 webpage which includes this passage:

In the last few months GOD TV has brought extended teaching and ministry from many different nations: Hillsong Nights from Australia; Prayer for Jerusalem with Robert Stearns from Israel; Joyce Meyer from England; John and Diana Hagee’s Feast of Tabernacles; Kim Clement from Washington, DC and Tampa; Rick Joyner from Charlotte; Rodney Howard-Browne Holy Spirit Weekends; Ron Luce, Acquire the Fire from California; The OneThing Conference from IHOP, Kansas City; J John, Clapham, London; Steve Hill from Washington DC; and John & Carol Arnott live from Toronto; not to forget our fantastic youth team Emma, Chip and Lindz LIVE each Sunday night from around the UK - to name just a few to television screens around the world. Now as 2007 unfolds, the revolution continues in intensity!

IHOP used to be a place to eat breakfast.

John & Carol Arnott were instrumental in the founding and popularity of the Vineyard Church, home of Toronto Blessing and Holy Laughter, where the congregation has been known to bark like dogs. This is Pentecostalism at its wackiest.

Rick Joyner is MorningStar Fellowship Church.

Let me recap, once again, what Bloomer said of Wendy:

I have called my prophets from my flocks - each with a portion of my messages. Listen to my prophetesses Wendy, Vassula and the hidden one who proclaims me as Returning King. I have risen Wendy up from my children who speak with the voice of Paul to your generation, I have risen up Vassula from y children tht speak with the voices of John and Andrew, and the hidden apostle from the children of the chair of Peter, the source of unity for the wounded Body. I am anointing these three women from the three flocks of my predilection - Listen to their voices.

None of these people sounds even remotely Catholic, do they? They don't sound Jewish either if what you mean by "Jewish" is Biblical Judaism. Why is a member of the Association of Hebrew Catholics promoting a seer who is leading a television station that is promoting these people? Bloomer claims to be "loyal to the infallible teachings of the Catholic Church and obedient to the Pope."

What has Archbishop Burke brought into St. Louis?

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

ATHOL BLOOMER'S PROPHECY

In addition to his blog "A Catholic Jew Pontificates", Athol Bloomer writes a "Jewish Catholic Prophecy" blog, http://yidmick.blogspot.com/. The header tells us that

This is a blog to discuss Jewish and Catholic prophecies for the period called the end of the times of the Gentiles. Prophecies given to Aharon are received through the charismatic level of prophecies not through apparitions or inner locution. Thus they have a lower level of authority and are more open to error than the higher gifts of prophecy through apparitions and inner locution.

What exactly is "the charismatic level of prophecies"? I haven't heard of this. Are his prophecies delivered during meetings of the Charismatic renewal? He doesn't explain.

The oldest post is dated Janury 24, 2007, so this would appear to be something new that has arisen in the life of Athol Bloomer. I've gone through the prophecies and here are some highlilghts.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - He begins with a prophecy for Australia and the West, not surprising since he was born in Australia and still has relatives living there. In this prophecy he speaks of a "red haired woman" who is the "humble Warrior for Australia who will become Prime Minister in 2011. He tells us "A prince of the Royal House will come to rule over Australia and found a dynasty of Australian Royalty that will reign in each State. The Great Monarch will reign as Emperor of the World in holiness." And further: "From Canada the High King and his brother will restore the United States to its nationhood under the Crown. No more a Republic but the Royal Kingdom of the United States of America- once more united after the Great Split during the time of disasters beginning in 2008. The Evil Woman of America will be destroyed in 2010 and the wicked leaders with her."

We are also told that "In 1993 Aharon received a prophecy that the labour government would lose the next election and that John Howard would be elected."

Thursday, January 25, 2007 - "Pray much and intercede for the World and especially for America to which I have sent my Australian son as a spiritual vessel of prayer...Woe unto those dioceses that reject my servants...great chastisements will befall those places that do not honour my Eucharistic Chapels..."

Monday, January 29, 2007 - "I am anointing you to proclaim my acts to the World by your daily life. I will love in your loving. I will act in your acting. I will pray in your praying. I will work in your working. Ponder, think and express your intellect but always united and rooted in your heart."

"Listen to my prophetesses Wendy, Vassula and the hidden one who proclaims me as Returning King. I have risen Wendy up from my children who speak with the voice of Paul to your generation, I have risen up Vassula from my children that speak with the voices of John and Andrew, and the hidden apostle from the children of the chair of Peter, the source of unity for the wounded Body. I am anointing these three women from the three flocks of my predilection - Listen to their voices."

Here they are:

Wendy - Does this look like one of God's prophets to you? Or does this look like a slick money-making operation?

Vassula - There have been numerous Roman Catholic warnings about the errors of this seer. The Eastern Orthodox have also rejected her as is noted at that website. Yet Athol Bloomer, who claims in his bio: "I am loyal to the infallible teachings of the Catholic Church and obedient to the Pope" disregards the warnings and promotes this woman.

The Hidden One - Her name is Anne, and the website sells her publications. I see that they are planning an Israel tour. I don't know of a judgment yet made in her case. Medjugorje Magazine is promoting this seer.

Rick Salbato has inquired of the organization about the imprimatur for the books being sold. It has been issued by a Philippine bishop despite the fact that the organization seems to be based in the United States. The organization refused to release the name of Anne's bishop. Here is Salbato's summary:

Okay, here's what new information I have at this moment. DFOT claims that the Imprimatur was granted by a bishop Escaler, of the Philippines, because the "Volumes" are all printed and published in the Philippines. Turns out that bishop Escaler retired in 1997(thanks, Lauretta!)--the first Volume of "Anne's" messages, however, seem to have been printed and published in 2003. According to canon law (824), only the local ordinary can grant the Imprimatur, so if bishop Escaler was in fact retired at the date of first publishing, the Imprimatur is invalid.

However--all this appears to be a moot issue--in doing a search of these "Volumes" at various online bookstores, a curious fact arises--none of them are listed as published in the Philippines. The Veritas online bookstore lists the publishers as either Veritas Warehouse in Dublin, Ireland, or Marian Publishers in Oak Lawn, Illinois. Amazon.com lists the publisher as "Soul Assurance Prayer Plan", which is connected with Marian Publishers, also located in Illinois.

It's also an interesting development that contact e-mail address for Marian Publishers in Chicago is also the same e-mail address for the person I've been in contact with at DFOT. Now, according to the Marian Publishing website, the President of Marian Publishing resigned, in order to devote "100% to Direction For Our Times". It also goes on to say that Marian Publishing will now be the distributors for "Anne's" Volumes. Here's the weblink for Marian Publishing. [The link at the website doesn't work. Apparently Marian Publishing has changed their URL. - ct]

It's also interesting to note that the Marian Publishing website says that they're waiting from the Imprimatur from Rome. Why? I thought that they already had the Imprimatur from bishop Escaler? Curious!

Curiously once again the Philippines turns up. It's worth noting. Who is the bishop?

To be continued...

JOHN PAUL II JEWISH

Another entry in Athol Bloomer's Ponficications. This one is dated Monday, November 07, 2005. It is based on a UK metronews article which is still online here.

Bloomer tells us that Emilia, John Paul II's mother, came from Biala or Bialystock, Poland. His grandfather was named Felix Kacz, and the names in his mother's family are found in the Jewish cemetary. At the time his mother's gransmother was alive 70% of Biala was Jewish.

I remember when the story came out. What I don't remember was any corroboration of the claims.

THE TRIDENTINE IS CATCHING ON

The Washington Times reports:

The Tridentine Mass, the Latin-only rite both loved and hated by many Catholics for its medieval qualities, is roaring back into use after a July 7 papal decree loosened the rules on celebrating it.

Two traditional priestly societies dedicated to the rite report that priests from all over the country are signing up in droves for weeklong classes to learn the rituals and language of the Mass, named after the 16th-century Council of Trent.

Monsignor Michael Schmitz, vicar-general of the Florence, Italy-based Institute of Christ the King, said he has received hundreds of calls from interested clergy.

"This is a nationwide phenomenon," he said. "Many more parish priests and younger priests are interested in learning to celebrate the Latin Mass.

"Whenever the Latin rite is celebrated, you get many young people," he added. "They are looking for something that speaks to the soul, and the beauty of the liturgy is awe-inspiring. The heartfelt presence of God really affects them."

The Elmhurst, Pa.-based Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter trained 50 priests on performing the rite this summer at its Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary in Denton, Neb.

Its September session is already full and its Elmhurst bookstore got a "big upsurge" in demand for priestly training materials within two days of the announcement, said the Rev. Carl Gismondi, a Fraternity priest studying theology at the Dominican House in the District.

Read more...

Hat tip to New Oxford Review.

ASSOCIATION OF HEBREW CATHOLICS IN ST. LOUIS

The designation Hebrew Catholic may seem incongruous. But not to David Moss, president of the Association of Hebrew Catholics.

Moss recently moved the organization�s U.S. headquarters here and plans a number of upcoming programs to better explain its message.

"Hebrew is the ethnicity. Our religious observance is Catholic," Moss said.

"There are tens of thousands of Jews in the Catholic Church. ... (The association was formed because) it is time once again for the Jews who entered the Church to come together and live out their eternal calling, their vocation to give collective witness to the truths that God has revealed � first in the Old Covenant, written in the Old Testament, and then the truth of the New Covenant, the New Testament."

The Association of Hebrew Catholics was begun in 1979 in Israel by two Hebrew Catholics � Father Elias Friedman, a Discalced Carmelite friar, and Andrew Scholl, a Holocaust survivor.

"That was the very year I entered the Church," said Moss, who was raised in Conservative Judaism.

Moss, 65, and his wife, Kathleen, 62, recently moved the U.S. headquarters of the Association of Hebrew Catholics to the Central West End. "God brought us here, with the blessing of Archbishop (Raymond) Burke."

Continue reading...

THE NEW COLD WAR

An article from the Daily Mail sent in by a reader talks about Russian youth forming movements similar to the Hitler Youth. This movement, however, is serving the motherland by having sex and getting pregnant. Judging from the picture at the website, the movement is a force to be reckoned with!

The article goes on to describe the return to totalitarianism in Russia. It sounds rather ominous.

SHOULD ABUSE VICTIMS MEET WITH MAHONY ?

A reader sent in a link to the following story from California Catholic:

Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the Times, has “cautioned members against meeting with Mahony” because “such discussions could cause them further harm.”

What harm?

“Oftentimes people think they’ll get a very sympathetic, compassionate response, and sometimes they don’t,” Survivors’ Network spokesman David Clohessy told California Catholic Daily. “Or sometimes they’ll expect that a bishop will be more forthcoming, especially, for example, “where there’s no dispute about the veracity of their claim. And yet they still walk away, feeling disappointed and hurt that they haven’t sort of gotten more.”

However, Clohessy said, “I don’t think we’ve ever said, ‘you shouldn’t do it.’ It’s every survivor’s individual choice.”

Clohessy said he understands the fear of a PR machine, “especially with Mahony.” With such meetings, bishops can “position themselves as men who didn’t get it but now they do; they know that in the PR world that generally works, that Catholics are especially a forgiving people, and if we think they just didn’t get it and now they do, that’s certainly a better impression to have of one’s bishop rather than to think that he’s cold-hearted or self-serving.”

Read the entire story here

HERESY ON THE RIGHT - CONNECTING THE DOTS

In my recent blogs you have seen that Athol Bloomer, alias Aharon Yosef, has been promoting a rehabilitation of the Jew Jacob Frank, follower of the Jewish heretic Sabbatai Zevi, who engaged in sexual rites in conjunction with Messianism. Frank converted to Catholicism under pressure, though it is believed that his conversion was not sincere. He introduced his heretical beliefs into the Church.

Despite reliable evidence that Frank has been treated fairly by historians, Bloomer wants us to believe, without documentation, that history is wrong.

We have seen that Bloomer is a member in good standing with the Association of Hebrew Catholics (AHC). They have published his article on "The Eucharist and The Jewish This Divine Point is also called Reshit (beginning). This is an attempt in a veiled way to describe the eternal begetting of the Son by the Father. The Son is perceived both as the Divine Phallus and the Divine Seed (zera) of the Father.


I wonder if there is more than coincidence involved?Mystical Tradition" in three volumes of their newsletter. Additionally he has contributed to their newsletter by answering questions in the Summer-Fall 2002 issue.

A fundraiser for Bloomer can be found on their website, and the fundraiser statement mentions that Bloomer "has served as a lay missionary for the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament."

The AHC Current Events page notes Athol Bloomer's arrival "at the new AHC center, from Perth, Australia, for an extended working visit" in 2006, and that "Athol, Fr. Arsenault and David & Kathleen Moss will visit the Daughter of Zion Havurah in Hardy, Arkansas" Jan. 26-29, 2007, indicating that Bloomer was still in good standing with the center last January.

The Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament has an interesting history. Fr. Martin Lucia was instrumental in its founding according to Bloomer. In his "My Spiritual Journey" blog he describes how he went to Thailand and became involved with Bishop Manat and a Father Surin. He writes:

The Bishop asked me to speak on Eucharistic Adoration and other spiritual topics while he translated for me. This started a ministry with Father Surin and the Bishop at which I would speak and pray over people for the Holy Spirit to touch them and heal them spiritually, emotionally and physically....When I left the seminary and returned to teaching I had lost contact with my best friend Patrick who had been my godfather...when I became a Catholic and we had worked together in the street kid community and then been in the Seminary together....I was later able to introduce Patrick and Father Martin our superior to Father Surin and the Bishop who was to become our Bishop protector in our re-formed Society called the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

An article at TCR News names the bishop--the Most Rev. John Bosco Manat Chuabsamai, DD, Founder of the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

A thread at Catholic Answers Forums discusses the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. The last entry in the thread is this one:

Re: Misssionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was on the web in the bulletin of St. Michael’s Catholic Church on Sage in Houston. It was written by Msgr. Frank H. Rossi, Pastor:

On another topic, Archbishop DiNardo has instructed each pastor to make known to his parishioners a recent action of the Holy See that has an effect for some Catholics here in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. A priest by the name of Fr. Martin Lucia had founded a community called the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. Though the Society had a most noble purpose, the promotion of perpetual adoration of the Lord in his Eucharistic Presence, there have been some serious concerns surrounding Fr. Lucia and his society. The Congregation for Clergy has notified Archbishop DiNardo (Prot. No. 2006/2161) that the Society has been suspended, pending the results of an investigation by the Holy See. Fr. Lucia, who has been living in Houston periodically over the years, has no faculties to celebrate the sacraments in the Archdiocese. A suspension is a canonical censure which means that the Society can not function as a Catholic organization. I need to bring this to your attention as over the years many very faithful and generous Catholics in Houston have been asked by Fr. Lucia to offer financial support to him and his Society. It is important for us to be aware of this investigation and to be very cautious regarding the situation of Fr. Lucia and the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

Suspended!?? Why?

Susanna was able to confirm that the notice is valid. It appears

- in the bulletin of St. Justin Martyr Roman Catholic Community in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, page 4

- in the Communique of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, page 76

But the sources offer no reasons for the suspension.

Fr. Martin Lucia has been involved in other activities that were banned.

At the Rick Ross website is an article from the Journal Enquirer titled "Apostolics Cause Catholics to Pull Videotape". Fr. Martin Lucia is pictured there. The article explains:

A firm specializing in Catholic educational materials has halted production and distribution of a videocassette after learning that two priests appearing on the tape had been key members of a Somers group that was banned last year from the Norwich diocese.

A spokesman for the company said the discovery of the roles of the Rev. Martin Lucia and the Rev. Donald Higgins in the Apostolic Formation Center for Christian Renew-All also has led to the closing of a religious organization the priests had set up in Lyndhurst, N.J.

Another article at the Rick Ross website describes the activities of the Apostolic Formation Center for Christian Renew-All. The article is titled "Ex-members Say Homosexuality Part of Group Rites". The title says it all.

Both articles speak of the homosexual acts which came to be known as the "Divine Intimacy of the Holy Seed".

Athol Bloomer is keeping curious company.

In one of Bloomer's Pontifications dated September 21, 2006, and titled "Zohar Bereshit" (scroll down at the link) he writes:

This Divine Point is also called Reshit (beginning). This is an attempt in a veiled way to describe the eternal begetting of the Son by the Father. The Son is perceived both as the Divine Phallus and the Divine Seed (zera) of the Father.

I wonder if there is more than coincidence involved?

THE REAL WORLD

is making demands this morning that can't be ignored. I won't have time to blog until this afternoon.

HERESY ON THE RIGHT - CONNECTING THE DOTS

In my recent blogs you have seen that Athol Bloomer, alias Aharon Yosef, has been promoting a rehabilitation of the Jew Jacob Frank, follower of the Jewish heretic Sabbatai Zevi, who engaged in sexual rites in conjunction with Messianism. Frank converted to Catholicism under pressure, though it is believed that his conversion was not sincere. He introduced his heretical beliefs into the Church.

Despite reliable evidence that Frank has been treated fairly by historians, Bloomer wants us to believe, without documentation, that history is wrong.

We have seen that Bloomer is a member in good standing with the Association of Hebrew Catholics (AHC). They have published his article on "The Eucharist and The Jewish This Divine Point is also called Reshit (beginning). This is an attempt in a veiled way to describe the eternal begetting of the Son by the Father. The Son is perceived both as the Divine Phallus and the Divine Seed (zera) of the Father.


I wonder if there is more than coincidence involved?Mystical Tradition" in three volumes of their newsletter. Additionally he has contributed to their newsletter by answering questions in the Summer-Fall 2002 issue.

A fundraiser for Bloomer can be found on their website, and the fundraiser statement mentions that Bloomer "has served as a lay missionary for the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament."

The AHC Current Events page notes Athol Bloomer's arrival "at the new AHC center, from Perth, Australia, for an extended working visit" in 2006, and that "Athol, Fr. Arsenault and David & Kathleen Moss will visit the Daughter of Zion Havurah in Hardy, Arkansas" Jan. 26-29, 2007, indicating that Bloomer was still in good standing with the center last January.

The Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament has an interesting history. Fr. Martin Lucia was instrumental in its founding according to Bloomer. In his "My Spiritual Journey" blog he describes how he went to Thailand and became involved with Bishop Manat and a Father Surin. He writes:

The Bishop asked me to speak on Eucharistic Adoration and other spiritual topics while he translated for me. This started a ministry with Father Surin and the Bishop at which I would speak and pray over people for the Holy Spirit to touch them and heal them spiritually, emotionally and physically....When I left the seminary and returned to teaching I had lost contact with my best friend Patrick who had been my godfather...when I became a Catholic and we had worked together in the street kid community and then been in the Seminary together....I was later able to introduce Patrick and Father Martin our superior to Father Surin and the Bishop who was to become our Bishop protector in our re-formed Society called the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

An article at TCR News names the bishop--the Most Rev. John Bosco Manat Chuabsamai, DD, Founder of the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

A thread at Catholic Answers Forums discusses the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. The last entry in the thread is this one:

Re: Misssionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was on the web in the bulletin of St. Michael’s Catholic Church on Sage in Houston. It was written by Msgr. Frank H. Rossi, Pastor:

On another topic, Archbishop DiNardo has instructed each pastor to make known to his parishioners a recent action of the Holy See that has an effect for some Catholics here in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. A priest by the name of Fr. Martin Lucia had founded a community called the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. Though the Society had a most noble purpose, the promotion of perpetual adoration of the Lord in his Eucharistic Presence, there have been some serious concerns surrounding Fr. Lucia and his society. The Congregation for Clergy has notified Archbishop DiNardo (Prot. No. 2006/2161) that the Society has been suspended, pending the results of an investigation by the Holy See. Fr. Lucia, who has been living in Houston periodically over the years, has no faculties to celebrate the sacraments in the Archdiocese. A suspension is a canonical censure which means that the Society can not function as a Catholic organization. I need to bring this to your attention as over the years many very faithful and generous Catholics in Houston have been asked by Fr. Lucia to offer financial support to him and his Society. It is important for us to be aware of this investigation and to be very cautious regarding the situation of Fr. Lucia and the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

Suspended!?? Why?

Susanna was able to confirm that the notice is valid. It appears

- in the bulletin of St. Justin Martyr Roman Catholic Community in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, page 4

- in the Communique of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, page 76

But the sources offer no reasons for the suspension.

Fr. Martin Lucia has been involved in other activities that were banned.

At the Rick Ross website is an article from the Journal Enquirer titled "Apostolics Cause Catholics to Pull Videotape". Fr. Martin Lucia is pictured there. The article explains:

A firm specializing in Catholic educational materials has halted production and distribution of a videocassette after learning that two priests appearing on the tape had been key members of a Somers group that was banned last year from the Norwich diocese.

A spokesman for the company said the discovery of the roles of the Rev. Martin Lucia and the Rev. Donald Higgins in the Apostolic Formation Center for Christian Renew-All also has led to the closing of a religious organization the priests had set up in Lyndhurst, N.J.

Another article at the Rick Ross website describes the activities of the Apostolic Formation Center for Christian Renew-All. The article is titled "Ex-members Say Homosexuality Part of Group Rites". The title says it all.

Both articles speak of the homosexual acts which came to be known as the "Divine Intimacy of the Holy Seed".

Athol Bloomer is keeping curious company.

In one of Bloomer's Pontifications dated September 21, 2006, and titled "Zohar Bereshit" (scroll down at the link) he writes:

This Divine Point is also called Reshit (beginning). This is an attempt in a veiled way to describe the eternal begetting of the Son by the Father. The Son is perceived both as the Divine Phallus and the Divine Seed (zera) of the Father.

I wonder if there is more than coincidence involved?

MORE CATHOLIC WOMEN'S ORDINATION

Women flout Church teachings at so-called “ordinations” in Santa Barbara

An ersatz woman “bishop” ordained a woman “priest” and two women “deacons” in a July 22 ceremony at an undisclosed interfaith center in Santa Barbara. Present at the ceremony were over 100 invited guests, including, it appears, some “Catholic” nuns.

“Reporters... agreed not to print the names or orders of the nuns in attendance,” reported the July 27 Santa Barbara Independent. However, multiple reports have surfaced on the worldwide web saying the secret ordinations were held at La Casa de María Retreat and Conference Center in Santa Barbara. The center is owned by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart, who, according to their web site, “gave up their official ties to the Roman Catholic Church to become a lay community” in 1970. Earlier such events have been held at the center as well.

Read the rest...

BENEDICT REFLECTS ON VATICAN II

Over at Chiesa, in an article linked at New Oxford Review, are Benedict's comments on the years following Vatican II:

We had such great hopes, but in reality things proved to be more difficult. Nonetheless, it is still true that the great legacy of the Council, which opened a new road, is a “magna carta” of the Church’s path, very essential and fundamental.

But why did this happen? I would like to begin with an historical observation. The periods following a council are almost always very difficult. After the great Council of Nicaea – which is, for us, truly the foundation of our faith, in fact we confess the faith as formulated at Nicaea – there was not the birth of a situation of reconciliation and unity, as hoped by Constantine, the promoter of the great Council, but a genuinely chaotic situation of a battle of all against all.

In his book on the Holy Spirit, saint Basil compares the Church’s situation after the Council of Nicaea to a nighttime naval battle, in which no one recognizes another, but everyone is pitted against everyone else. It really was a situation of total chaos: this is how saint Basil paints in vivid colors the drama of the period following the Council of Nicaea.

50 years later, for the first Council of Constantinople, the emperor invited saint Gregory Nazianzen to participate in the council, and saint Gregory responded: No, I will not come, because I understand these things, I know that all of the Councils give rise to nothing but confusion and fighting, so I will not come. And he didn’t go.

So it is not now, in retrospect, such a great surprise how difficult it was at first for all of us to digest the Council, this great message. To imbue this into the life of the Church, to receive it, such that it becomes the Church’s life, to assimilate it into the various realities of the Church is a form of suffering, and it is only in suffering that growth is realized. To grow is always to suffer as well, because it means leaving one condition and passing to another.

And we must note that there were two great historic upheavals in the concrete context of the postconciliar period.

Read the whole article at the Chiesa website.

SLOW NEWS DAYS

If Benedict was intending to get our attention with his recent two announcements, he probably couldn't have chosen a better time to make them.

Rome shuts down for vacation during the month of August. Benedict's vacation has sort of extended August back into July, since nothing much happens in Rome when the Pope isn't around. And so what we are left with is talking about the Tridentine and the fact that once again we have been told that the Catholic faith is the one true faith. That and the sexual abuse scandal.

Although Joseph-USA probably won't like it, I will probably not have a lot of time this week to concentrate on trying to ferret out news of interest Catholic on anything but my current research project. The real world is making unusual demands right now, and I can't ignore them. Hence less blogging time.

If I do happen to run across items of interest, though, you know I'll post them in Running Off.

WHO IS AHARON YOSEF ?

After dissecting just one Pontification of Aharon Yosef, the logical question is "Who is this guy?"

To answer that question I looked first at "About Me" in the right hand column of his Pontification where I discovered that Aharon Yosef is also (Athol), who is a Catholic Jew and a teacher in Bangkok, Thailand. There he claims to be "loyal to the infallible teachings of the Catholic Church and obedient to the Pope." He tells us his ideas "do not represent the Association of Hebrew Catholics". The link there to his Complete Profile provides the additional information that he has a blog called "Jewish Catholic Prophecy". More about that later.

On his Pontification, right hand column, we can learn that the hometown of his parents, Gil and Laurie, is in Western Australia. We can see a picture of the wedding of his neice Nyree. Note that the URL of Aharon Yosef is "aronbengilad"

I believe Aharon Yosef is Athol Gilbert Hal Bloomer. Check out the personal page of Bloomer. There you can see that he is an Australian, that his mother and father are named Laurie and Gilbert, and that he has a neice named Nyree. You can also see a link to "Hebrew Catholic". You can read that his interests are "genealogy, religion and history." Notice that the URL here also uses "aronbengilad".

Athol Bloomer provides us with his biography which he has titled "My Spiritual Journey", which once again uses "aronbengilad" in the URL. A fascinating journey it is, with genealogy, including the name of his mother--Beth Lorraine Bartram, and his father--Gilbert. Here is another tidbit:

My paternal grandfather George was a lapsed Catholic of Jewish ancestry. His family were Printers in Perth. George's father's mother was a Frankist Jew.

He was raised a Jewish Anglican, and influenced by British Israelite Gilbert Saddler. His grandmother's family were "fervent believers in the British Israelite theories about the Lost Tribes of Israel."

You can learn that he "read the books of Edgar Casey [Cayce, I presume - ct] an occult healer and became a believer in reincarnation." He tells us that he was "very close to my Russian Orthodox step-grandmother....She was also a follower of the occult and had many books on world religions which I devoured." However an encounter with the Holy Spirit at age 18 made him realize that occult beliefs were a false spiritual path. He studied with the Rabbis in Melbourne and at the Lubavitcher Yeshivah with a Lubavitch Rabbi.

He joined a Theatre Company in Sydney and began working with drug addicts and street kids with an Ecumenical Catholic community. In 1987 he became Catholic and began studying with Andrew Sholl's Hebrew Catholic study group. However, he continued to be Torah observant and attended the Orthodox Jewish synagogue on occasion.

He dyed his hair--red, black, blonde or orange--and wore stud arm bands. He was "in the Gothic scene at one stage." Later he began doing Eucharistic Adoration.

After becoming Catholic he continued to work with prostitutes, drug addicts, and street kids, running crisis centres, and joining a prayer and healing ministry. He prayed over people at the local parish with Father Joe, who is now a bishop, during the charismatic prayer meetings. He also held his own Passover Seders, and observed Jewish Sabbath and festivals with his family when he went home for visits. His parents were hostile to his becoming Catholic.

He seriously considered the priesthood or religious life. He applied to the Fathers of Our Lady of Sion to join them, but after the Sisters of Sion interviewed him, he never heard from them again.

He joined the Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament in the Philippines and studied philosophy at Christ the King Mission Seminary in Manila. The community he joined promoted Perpetual Adoration around the world, and he lived with seminarians from many countries and of all ages.

While in the Philippines he read preLurianic Kabbalists and the Zohar. It was here as well that he started to write and speak on the "Jewish mystical Tradition in the Light of the Eucharist".

After three years in the seminary he decided not to continue and returned to Australia to teach and become engaged to a Catholic girl, but broke the engagement when she decided to become a nun. In 1987 he began teaching in Thailand at a Technology College owned by Buddhist businessmen.

At a Catholic retreat center in Thailand he met Father Surin and Bishop Manat. He was asked by the Bishop

to speak on Eucharistic Adoration and other spiritual topics while he translated for me. This started a ministry with Father Surin and the Bishop at which I would speak and pray over people for the Holy Spirit to touch them and heal them spiritually, emotionally and physically. It was a bit of a shock to have a lay person ministering in this way in Thailand as it was very clergy centered but because I was a foreigner and I was under the authority of the Bishop and priests and ministered with them, I was accepted.

He "remained close to the mission of promoting Adoration".

Bishop Manat became the Bishop protector of the re-formed Society called the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

He volunteered to help a Presentation sister in running and teaching at an "English Camp for Thai Teachers of English from the Catholic Schools in Bangkok" while continuing his healing and teaching ministry with Father Surin and Bishop Manat. At one point he cast a demon out of a doctor he was praying over.

Some days he would do up to 13 hours of Eucharistic Adoration. He visited the couple who ran the True Life in God movement in Bangladesh. In 1997 or 98 he attended the meeting of Vassula Ryden where he was prayed over and

felt such a power come forth from the Cross...that I was knocked to the ground...and I got up and went to my seat and I couldn't stop sobbing. I was so embarassed and I felt a burning cross on my forehead and a burning point in my hand that lasted for three weeks when I was in prayer. It was strange because in early 1997 before I even knew I was going to Thailand I received a message from God that I would go on eagle's wings overseas and that I should pray for Vassula and her mission and that I was linked to ...Father Martin and their mission of Perpetual Adoration. Vassula came again to Thailand in 1999 and she led a retreat with Bishop Manat at Tabor Retreat Centre and I ate with her and became close to her Greek Orthodox companion Katarina who I remained in contact with. Also with Vassula was a Jewish Philipino lady who was very interested in Vassula and I gave her a copy of the Jewish New Testament I had with me.

He was also with Vassula, and the Armenian Orthodox Bishop of Lyons, France who was traveling with her, in Bangladesh.

Later he "went to teach at Thepwittiya Catholic Primary School" where he taught 19 classes with 50 students in a class.

In 2002 Father Martin offered him a chance to go to Jerusalem where he joined a man from Argentina who was subsequently ordained a priest, and a deacon from Nicauagua, who was also subsequently ordained a priest. Together with a former male fashion model from Texas they began Adoration at the Armenian Catholic church on the via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. They were joined by Sister Paracleta and three Protestant girls who did regular hours every week.

Athol Bloomer writes for "The Hebrew Catholic". In the Winter Spring 2003 issue you can read the second part of "The Euchrist and the Jewish Mystical Tradition", an article based on his talks given in the early 1990's.

At the Association of Hebrew Catholics website part three of the article appears. There is a caution posted as well:

Caution: Athol's reflections spring from his life previously as an observant Jew and now as a Catholic. Our inclusion of these articles are not to be understood as a recommendation to study Jewish mysticism as found in modern day versions of the Kabbalah. On the contrary, without special studies and a firm formation in the Catholic faith, we would urge all Catholics to avoid the Kabbalah - it is a mixed bag of the occult and other elements contrary to the faith. Athol's reflections sort through the distortions introduced by the Lurianic Kabbalists to show the truths of the Catholic faith hidden in the Jewish mystical traditions.

Indeed. My recent blogs on Athol Bloomer's spirituality indicate rather clearly the sorts of distortions it can lead to. Yet this man's theology is still there for all to see.

There is another webpage in the Association of Hebrew Catholics website. This one. The webpage solicits money for a journey planned by "Athol Bloomer, an Observant Jew who entered the Catholic Church" and who "has served as a lay missionary for the Missionary Society of our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament."

To be continued...

TALK TO THE ANGELS

According to London Greek Radio:

Norway's Princess Martha Louise says she has psychic powers and can teach people to communicate with angels.

The 35-year-old daughter of King Harald and Queen Sonja made the announcement on a website promoting her plans for a new alternative therapy centre.

She says she realised as a child that she could read people's inner feelings, while her experiences with horses had helped her make contact with angels.

Read the rest...

The story appears on a number of websites including the BBC and TheSpoof.com's slightly adulterated version of the story.

Try to imagine a queen speaking Enochian.

WHAT IS THE CHRISTMAS TREE DOING IN A HARRY POTTER MOVIE ?

I've been watching the HP movies this week. One of them portrays the mid-winter school break by including a Christmas tree in the dining hall scene. Why?

There is no mention of Christmas. There is no evidence of a Christmas celebration.

But even more importantly, in these movies there is no mention of God or Jesus Christ because the cosmology presented in the story line won't permit it. The students are in charge of the power. God is unnecessary under such an arrangement. All the students need is the proper knowledge and they can handle any situation. What hint of an afterlife there may be is contained in the disembodied spirits who continue to walk the halls of the school. There is no place for heaven at Hogwarts.

So why the Christmas tree?

FROM THE EMAILBOX

Spirit & Life®
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 01, Number 77 | Friday, July 27, 2007
.................................................................................. www.hli.org

The Demonic Abortion Industry

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book on exorcism. One chapter of the book is entitled, "Pro-Life and Exorcism" and is devoted to reflecting on the evil of abortion from a spiritual perspective. As a caution for those who may not be accustomed to the language of spiritual warfare, I would mention that the view of abortion contained in the passage below is derived primarily from Jesus' presentation of the devil as "a murderer from the beginning" (Jn 8:44) and from scriptural passages that identify other demons who collaborate with Satan in his attempt to destroy the very life of God's children. Make sure to pray as you read this passage.

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In what sense is abortion demonic?
The spiritual dimension of this grisly "business" is its systematizing of ritual blood sacrifice to the god of child murder, Moloch, who we know of from the severe condemnations of him in the Old Testament (Lev 18:21, 20:2-5, 1 Kings 11:5.33, 2 Kings 23:13 and Zephaniah 1:5). This demon of murder appears in many forms and cultures through history (Phoenician, Carthaginian, Canaanite, Celt, Indian, Aztec and others) but is always the same bloodthirsty beast that demands the killing of children as his form of worship. This demon is not content with a single act of murder here and there. His insatiable appetite for the death of innocents seeks public endorsement to justify his gruesome deeds, and he needs a systematic expression of it to increase his worship.

The modern abortion industry offers ritual blood sacrifice to the ancient abortion demon. It is in every way a demonic religion. It has its sacred dogma ("choice"), its ruling hierarchy (Planned Parenthood), its theologians (feminist ideologues), its sacrificing priesthood (abortionists), its temples (abortion mills), altars (surgical tables), ritual victims (primarily babies and secondarily women), acolytes and sacristans (clinic workers and death-scorts), congregations (all supporters of abortion) and its own unifying principle of sacramental "grace" (money). In short, the abortion industry is a perfect demonic system which offers a perverse form of worship to the devil.

The sacrificial victim in this demonic religion is not a brute animal as was offered to the Old Testament God of Israel in a legitimate system of religious sacrifices. In abortion, the victim is an innocent human being who is made in the "image and likeness of God" and who can never defend herself. This combination of innocence, parental participation and ritualized obliteration of the visage of God in human form is the devil's way of blaspheming the Father with the misguided participation of God's own children. The systematic destruction of the human body which St. Paul calls "the temple of the Holy Spirit" is a blasphemous insult to God. If the abortion business is not truly demonic, nothing is. (End of excerpt.)

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From this perspective, the need for a deeply spiritual approach to ending the abortion holocaust is fundamental. It does not absolve us from working in every way humanly possible to end abortion, but it puts all our human activity into the right perspective. In this month of the Precious Blood we must cover every abortionist, abortion mill and client of the abortion industry with Christ's Blood in order to conquer the blood sacrifice of the devil with the greatest force of good known to man. If His Blood is properly applied over time with great love, we will see conversions from even the most devoted advocates of abortion. The Blood of Christ is a strong shield for all who pray and work for life and reminds us that our pro-life work brings us to Calvary to stand in solidarity with the unborn child who is unjustly deprived of life.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International

LATIN VS. ENGLISH

The Mass I attended this morning was said partly in English and partly in Spanish. For this Catholic it was inevitable that the language I didn't understand had me thinking about Latin Mass from my childhood. I didn't understand Latin back then either, yet my missal kept me informed. I had no Spanish missal today.

What occupies the mind during the times when the Mass language is incomprehensible. One thing that captivates attention is the decoration in the church. If that decoration tells the Catholic story, Mass continues to be fruitful. Another is prayer. The spontaneous kind that is more conversation than ritual. If God is in our hearts, church is the best place to talk with Him, provided what's going on around us will permit it. An unfamiliar language facilitates that. When we talk with Him silently in our own words, we get a sense of His presence. Not a bad thing.

How ironic that I should open my email and find a link to an editorial in The New York Times, written by Editorial Observer Lawrence Downes, that describes his first experience of the Tridentine at Chicago's St. John Cantius.

Downes had a couple of problems. Not knowing what to expect and what to do and not being able to keep up with the priest in his paper missal made him uncomfortable and embarrassed, and his discomfort brought out his anger. But angry or not he makes some points that are valid:

Catholics are told that the church is the people of God, but from my silent pew, the people seemed irrelevant. This Mass belonged to Father and his altar boys, and it seemed that I could submit to that arrangement or leave.

Yes, that struck me forcefully when I attended a Tridentine low Mass several weeks ago. I, too, felt irrelevant.

For the first time, I understood viscerally how some Catholics felt in the ’60s, when the Mass they loved went away.

He felt it because he was irrationally angry that what he had been taught was the acceptable way to attend Mass--full and active participation--was suddenly ripped away. That is precisely the feeling Catholics in the 1960s who loved the pre-Vatican II Mass felt--and sometimes the anger was rational as well because what they were seeing before them didn't make any sense. And the Mass has slowly deteriorated in many places from there.

I called Eugene Kennedy, professor, author and former priest, an old Chicagoan and eloquent critic of church matters...he spoke fondly of the old Mass, of the majesty to be unearthed by learning and praying it, like reading Proust in French. It contains a profound sense of mystery, he said, which is what religion is all about.

Yes it does. The prayers are much more poetic--much more Old Testament in the sense of a God of majesty and our awe in His presence. The God of the Tridentine is not "my buddy Jesus." He is not "Abba", but much closer to "Grandfather." Much more formal.

...he said he wouldn’t want it back. Priests aren’t ready; it takes years to learn. And forget about the laity, he said, which is accustomed to a half-century of liturgical participation and rudimentary parish democracy. He seemed certain that most Catholics would never go for it.

Yes, we are used to liturgical participation. The Tridentine will not give us that. Only the servers are participants. But back then we were moving toward more participation. We were learning to pray in Latin. We could still do that.

What it will give us is time to actually pray, if prayer is a conversation with God in His house. It may take a few Latin Masses before the laity who are new to it catch on, though.

Reasserting the unchallenged authority of ordained men may fit the papal scheme for a purer church. But to hand its highest form of public worship entirely back to Father makes Latin illiterates like me irate.

Ah yes, been there. Done that. The "irate" part, that is. I can sympathize. If those who know nothing but the Novus Ordo are suddenly left with no choice but a Tridentine, they will be irate indeed. It's not likely to happen though. Much more likely is that the Mass they find most convenient might be that Tridentine that makes them irate. And somehow if that is what they face, I can only react by saying "Tough! Get over it."

Having come from a parish where the "downstairs Mass" was too progressive for any but a small number of parishioners, while the rest attended the "upstairs Mass" at the same time, only to become annoyed when they got out to the parking lot and discovered that one of the "downstairs people" had blocked in their car so they couldn't leave, I tend to take his closing comments to heart:

It’s easy enough to see where this is going: same God, same church, but separate camps, each with an affinity for vernacular or Latin, John XXIII or Benedict XVI. Smart, devout, ambitious Catholics — ecclesial young Republicans, home-schoolers, seminarians and other shock troops of the faith — will have their Mass. The rest of us — a lumpy assortment of cafeteria Catholics, guilty parents, peace-’n’-justice lefties, stubborn Vatican II die-hards — will have ours. We’ll have to prod our snoozing pewmates when to sit and stand; they’ll have to rein in their zealots.

And we probably won’t see one another on Sunday mornings, if ever.

Sadly, he may be prophetic. A divided parish is a sad thing to behold, and an even sadder thing to belong to. The war in the pews becomes the war in the school. The kids are not delicate in their choice of words to their fellow schoolmates. Two parishes in one church is the result. And that forces each parishioner to reflect on excatly what kind of Catholic he is. Out the window goes "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic." Sort of like the Catholics on the web. We know which blogs we belong in and which ones we must avoid.

There is not much unity in diversity after all.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

FISSURES IN AMERICAN ISRAELI SUPPORT

In recent years, conservative evangelicals who claim a Biblical mandate to protect Israel have built a bulwark of support for the Jewish nation — sending donations, denouncing its critics and urging it not to evacuate settlements or forfeit territory.

Letter to President Bush from Evangelical Leaders (July 29, 2007) Now more than 30 evangelical leaders are stepping forward to say these efforts have given the wrong impression about the stance of many, if not most, American evangelicals.

On Friday, these leaders sent a letter to President Bush saying that both Israelis and Palestinians have “legitimate rights stretching back for millennia to the lands of Israel/Palestine,” and that they support the creation of a Palestinian state “that includes the vast majority of the West Bank.”

They say that being a friend to Jews and to Israel “does not mean withholding criticism when it is warranted.” The letter adds, “Both Israelis and Palestinians have committed violence and injustice against each other.”

The letter is signed by 34 evangelical leaders, many of whom lead denominations, Christian charities, ministry organizations, seminaries and universities.

Read more...

Thanks to a reader for the link.