Still Running Off at the Keyboard

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 84 | September 14, 2007
.................................................................................. www.hli.org

Beyond Belief: Is Hannity Getting Religion?

Has anyone noticed how Sean Hannity's "tele"vision of America has gotten a bit more, shall we say, "religious" recently? In the past few months Mr. Hannity has aired some very interesting documentaries on religious and pro-life issues that never seem to have gotten coverage on cable TV before. His major weekend show even has a feature called "Beyond Belief" which deals exclusively with religious themes such as the Shroud, exorcism, the stigmata, miraculous cures, etc. After the reaction to the famous "contraception" interview I had with him on March 9th, I suspect that Fox News clued into how many traditional Catholics are viewers of their network and are now playing to that audience. As entertainment, these shows may pull big ratings, but I doubt that real Catholics will be convinced of any real conversion on Mr. Hannity's part from his cultural Catholicism to authentic Catholicism.

On the plus side, we owe a great debt of gratitude to Sean for last week's documentary on the perverse deceptions of Planned Parenthood in trying to open their new abortion fortress in Aurora, IL. Apparently the 15 abortion services that advertise or operate in Aurora already were not enough, so the masters of abortion had to step in there to provide more killing services. Sean's program highlighted not only the legal manipulations but showed the actual documentation and featured interviews with activists like Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League and abortion survivors. The graphic interview with Yvonne Florczak-Seaman was unprecedented in detailing the brutal nature of the abortion industry and its destructive effects on women. Sean couldn't have done a better job in going after the abortion kingpins!

The irony of exposing Planned Parenthood, however, is that Hannity's own position on contraception is literally no different than that of the murderous organization. In the March 9th interview, he used the hackneyed argument that if we want to reduce abortion we need contraception. Well, this argument is no less deceptive than the hypocrisy that he condemns in Planned Parenthood. Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota said something similar last year: "Since half of all pregnancies are unintended and half of those result in abortion, I suggest [pro-lifers] put their money toward family planning services to people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford it and thereby really make a difference in the rate of abortion."

What Sarah conveniently neglects to tell us (and what Sean refuses to acknowledge) is that more than half of all abortions in the US are done as back-up for failed contraception. On that same show, former abortionist Beverly McMillan admitted as much when she said that the clinics try to get teenage girls into their clinics for three or more abortions in their lifetimes. The only way this can be done is through contraceptive promotion. Sean Hannity seemed to be unconvinced of that argument when I made it, but it is nonetheless true and, I might add, it is the Catholic Church's official teaching.

While I am grateful for his exposé of Planned Parenthood, what we still need from Sean Hannity and other "Catholics" in the media is some evidence that they are faithful to the core beliefs of the Church. Anyone can provide religious entertainment for ratings, but Catholics in public life have an extra grave obligation to be faithful to the Church's vision, not their own "tele"vision.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

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

P.S. By the way, just for the record, I did indeed write to Mr. Hannity after the March 9th interview and ask to meet with him again. He did not answer my letter, but then again, I didn't expect him to. What I do expect of him, however, is some deep soul-searching to decide whether his Catholicism is a matter of entertainment or a matter of salvation.

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Fr. Euteneuer doesn't say it, but I will. You have to back up still further if you want to eliminate abortion...you have to eliminate adultery and fornication. Or at least you have to develop a concensus that sex belongs within marriage and only there. More often than not the aborted pregnancy involves an unmarried woman. The wives I know who have discovered they are pregnant when they didn't want to be just made room for another kid.

Of course playing fast and loose with the marriage vows ala annulment doesn't contribute to the protection of the unborn either. A stable marriage is essential for the welcoming of children.- ct

HERESY ON THE RIGHT

Someone has asked in a comments box what I mean by that.

I would place on the right:

Eucharistic Adoration
Solemn, reverent Masses
Gregorian chant
The Rosary
Apparitions
Piety
Conservative dress/chapel veils
Latin
Novenas
Statues
Scapulars
Medals
Veneration of the saints
Litanies
Formal prayer
Kneeling

There's more, but you get the idea.

On the Left I would place:

Guitar Masses
Contemporary hymns
Bongo drums
The social gospel
Wreckovated churches
Liberation theology
Extemporaneous prayer
Gay Masses
Charismatic Renewal (though this has elements of the right as well, so it's a tough call)
New Ecclesial Communities
Standing for communion
Iconoclasm
Priests in non-clerical clothing
Nuns in street dress
Vaished tabernacles

I'm sure you can add to the list.

Conservative/Traditional Catholics take it for granted that, while there are authentically Catholic elements in my Left list, there are blatant departures from the faith as well. When I speak of heresy on the right, I am talking about a distortion of those Traditional elements of Catholicism, listed above, that at first glance appear to be traditional, but upon further digging turn out to be heretical.

LATE DAY BLOGGING

Had to go for a bone scan today, which means one trip to the hospital for the nuclear junk they shoot into your vein, and another trip to the hospital 3 to 5 hours later so they can do the scan. On Bone Scan Friday, nothing much else gets done. And now you know why you've checked this blog three times only to find the same old stuff on the top. Sorry about that.

THE FIFTEENTH STATION, E.T. PHONES HEAVEN

Tradition in Action reports on the Stations of the Cross in the Diocese of Belfort-Montbeliard. "Is this for real?" one is inclined to ask after viewing the pictures over there.

Well, yes, it is for real. The one on the diocesan website is every bit as bizarre.

A corpse? A ghost? An extraterrestial? A nightmare? Yeah, all of the above.

Just in case you were thinking of giving the diocese the benefit of a doubt--that perhaps they didn't know what they'd be getting, take a look at more bizarreness at the artist's website. Oh, and uh here. (Ladies only, please.) If we can identify the priest who approved of these stations, we may just have stumbled on another of that rare breed Joseph-USA tells us no longer exists! Not that I'd want to clone this one, you understand.

Lord praise Your Holy Face.

THE INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE GAME

[Religion News Service] According to Islam, do humans carry the sins of their ancestors? What is more important in Judaism -- the self or the community? What does "70 x 7" refer to in the Bible?

If you answered "no," "the community" and "how often Jesus says we are to forgive each other," you would be ahead in a new board game designed to promote interfaith understanding.

The game, "7th Heaven," tests players' knowledge of Judaism, Islam and Christianity in a way that people from junior high school age and up can enjoy learning about different religious practices, said John Cooper, a mechanical engineer from Lincoln, Nebraska, who developed the game.

Does the game succeed?

The consensus, after a recent contest among four interfaith leaders from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim traditions in Cleveland, was that "7th Heaven" is a useful, if limited and occasionally flawed, way to make interfaith learning fun.

"It would be a great discussion starter among already knowledgeable adults," said Sister Donna Wilhelm, board president of InterAct Cleveland, an interfaith group. Playing a board game can make "dialogue and understanding more simple, more human."

Cooper said he began thinking about the concept a couple of years ago after he met some Iraqi refugees while volunteering at Lincoln's People's City Mission. Conversations with refugees and others led him to an appreciation of common themes shared by the three faiths.

Yet he also realized that while understanding is a widely held goal, it often ends up a relatively low priority as many religious groups struggle to educate people on their own faith.

His answer: "Well, why don't I make a game out of it?"

Read the rest here.

NOT THE USUAL COMMONWEAL FARE

From their blog:

Power and Awe/Innocence and Ecstasy
September 14, 2007, 12:54 pm
Posted by Robert P. Imbelli
I have discovered lately (and belatedly) the religious music of the Scottish Catholic composer, James MacMillan.

I am growing to love his Mass, performed wonderfully by the men and boys of the Westminster Cathedral Choir (Hyperion CD).

The Mass is a setting of the English translation of the Novus Ordo and includes a sung Eucharistic Prayer that one can play and use for prayer.

The "Holy, Holy, Holy" evokes something of the awe Isaiah must have experienced that long ago day in the Temple.

Also included on the recording are some of MacMillan's other religious compositions, including "A Child's Prayer."

The simple text is sung by a boy treble and conveys a remarkable sense of innocence and ecstasy:

Welcome Jesu,
Deep in my soul forever stay,
Joy and love my heart are filling
On this glad Communion day.

Does anyone else know MacMillan's work?

No, I don't know it, but it sounds as though I'd like to. Anyone else?

VATICAN INVESTIGATES AN AMERICAN THEOLOGIAN

The Vatican and U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are investigating the writings of a well-known American theologian who has analyzed how the Catholic faith relates to other religions.

The inquiry's focus is the Rev. Peter Phan, of Georgetown University, a Vietnamese-American priest from the Dallas diocese and former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America.

The U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine has traded correspondence with Phan since July 2005 seeking clarification on his writings, said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"There was not complete satisfaction with his response, which is why the dialogue continues," Walsh said. She did not go into further detail.

Phan declined comment Wednesday.

Read more...

HERESY ON THE RIGHT - ARMY OF MARY EXCOMMUNICATED

Army of Mary cast out

Vatican excommunicates members of a Quebec Catholic movement

Joseph Brean, National Post

Published: Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Calling it a "very grave situation," the Vatican has excommunicated members of a controversial Quebec Catholic movement, the Army of Mary, for their heretical beliefs that derive from the writings of Marie-Paule Giguère, an 86-year-old mystic who claims to be a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary.

In a judgment delivered to the group on Monday, and announced yesterday, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the ordinations of six priests in the Army of Mary this past June were illegitimate, because they were performed by a priest rather than a bishop. As a result, at least one recent marriage, performed by one of these new priests, is now regarded by the Vatican as null.

Further, the ruling says that anyone who participates in the Army of Mary, which has centres in Quebec City and Lac-Etchemin, Que., is in schism with the Catholic Church, and therefore automatically excommunicated.

The group has been in conflict with the Vatican for at least 20 years - its members claim to be fully Catholic, but with extra beliefs - and so it received the ruling with equanimity, calling it the "will of God."

Continue reading...

WHAT DO THE ROSICRUCIANS BELIEVE ?

The organization is secretive and so it isn't always easy to answer that question. A review of the book MYSTICAL LIFE OF JESUS by H. Spencer Lewis, at an ebay website describes the contents.

Lewis was Imperator of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC until his death in 1939. According to the review the book claims to reveal the early life of Jesus including the belief that Jesus accepted reincarnation as did the Early Church, and as the Jewish community still does. It claims that Jesus survived the crucifixion. He was one of many Christs who have appeared through the pages of history. He was possibly a Gentile since as a Jewish Rabbi he would have been required to marry. Lewis claims that the custom of releasing a prisoner at Passover never existed. The book, and thus one presumes the Rosicrucian Order, covers a lot of the current heresies floating around.

A question that has been going through my mind a lot recently is whether Rosicrucianism is nothing more than the beliefs of the first century Jewish Christians disguised in a form that would permit them to be passed down through an underground organization in order to escape persecution.

THE RABBI AND THE CRAFT

Check out the website of Societas Rosicruciana in Canada. The link brings up a webpage devoted to an Open Lecture Series of ten lectures. The second lecture was titled "Qabalah and the Carft" and was presented by Rabbi Moses Kirsh at the West Toronto Masonic Temple.

Three ceremonies were performed. The third ceremony was this one:

3 - Candle Evocation
Evoking Great Jewish Universal Souls & Spirits through Candle Lighting.

An important focus will be on the SHECHINA, the Divine Mother, who is represented by the Mother Earth, which receives all the Blessings from the Heavens to nourish her Children.

SPEAKING OF THOSE DOUBLE STANDARDS...

A bishop can be forced out of his chancery for adultery in Africa, but a Catholic priest who uses "bidding prayers" to solemnize "civil partnerships" during LGBT masses held in an Anglican church across the pond has been moved into a Catholic church venue courtesy of the cardinal who has been labeled "Cardinal Compromise" Levada in a "New Oxford Review" editorial in the September issue.

When you've picked your chin up off the floor, go over to sohomasses.googlepages.com to see what I'm talking about. Soho Masses is the website of Soho Masses Pastoral Council. The announcement of the change of venue can be seen here on their website.

The following quote from NOR explains the move:

In an article titled "Selling Out to Sodom" in the traditional Catholic "Christian Order", published in England (May 2007), Michael McGrade details the strange ascendancy of the "radical homosexual movement Roman Catholic Church Caucus of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (RCC)," which sponsored biweekly "Masses" for the London LGBT...community at St. Anne's Anglican Church in Soho, beginning in 1999. Writes McGrade: "After several years of complaints from Catholics about this grave sacrilege, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor [Archbishop of Westminster] did the absolute bare minimum and asked the RCC to desist from celebrating these Masses and to stop using the title 'Roman Catholic.' RCC responded by forming a sub-committee, titled Soho Masses Pastoral Council (SMPC) and simply continued celebrating the Masses under the SMPC aegis." A clear flaunting of Cardinal Murphy O'Connor's authority. ...

Amid this malestrom of dissent,
SMPC Convenor Mike Egan, mentions McGrade, in the SMPC's Spring 2006 newsletter, "stated that the group 'view with optimism' the appointment of Cardinal William Levada as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith."

Cardinal Levada didn't disappoint.

After receiving "scores of complaints that the Soho Masses were used to campaign against Church teaching about sexual morality",

...Cardinal Compromise swooped in and went to work. Cardinal Levada, says [Simon] Caldwell [in an article in London's "Catholic Herald"], "personally authorized the services in Soho in an attempt to end a dispute which has raged since "irregular' Masses began at St. Anne's Anglican Church in Soho...Cardinal Levada found a way through the impasse by moving the Masses to Our Lady of the Assumption [Catholic] Church on Warwick Street and insisting that they must conform to Church doctrine.

We can see from the Civil Partnerships webpage just how well that has worked out.

No wonder I no longer feel as though I belong to the same Church as the people I'm worshipping with on Sunday morning. If this is any indication, I don't.

DOUBLE STANDARDS

If the Vatican can force Bishop Ncube, Archbishop of Zimbabwe's second largest city, to resign after being caught in an adulterous affair with a parishioner's wife, why are Mahony and his ilk still in office? Is adultery a worse sin than teaching heresy and facilitating the rape of the laity's children?

ESCRIVA TAUGHT JUDAISM

From the website dedicated to Josemaria Escriva, a quotation from his writing:

“Be imitators of God, ... cooperating humbly but fervently in the divine purpose of mending what is broken, of saving what is lost, of bringing back to order what sinful man has put out of order, of leading to its goal what has gone astray, of re-establishing the divine balance of all creation.

That is a good description of Tikkun Olam, a Jewish concept derived from Lurianic Kabbalah and proposing a cosmology incompatible with Roman Catholicism.

From My Jewish Learning, the entry for Tikkun Olam:

TIKKUN OLAM (REPAIRING THE WORLD)

Overview: Tikkun Olam

"Tikkun olam" (literally, "world repair") has come to connote social action and the pursuit of social justice. The phrase has origins in classical rabbinic literature and in Lurianic kabbalah, a major strand of Jewish mysticism originating with the work of the 16th-century kabbalist Isaac Luria.

The term "mipnei tikkun ha-olam" (perhaps best translated in this context as "in the interest of public policy") is used in the Mishnah (the body of classical rabbinic teachings codified circa 200 C.E.). There, it refers to social policy legislation providing extra protection to those potentially at a disadvantage--governing, for example, just conditions for the writing of divorce decrees and for the freeing of slaves.

In reference to individual acts of repair, the phrase "tikkun olam" figures prominently in the Lurianic account of creation and its implications: God contracted the divine self to make room for creation. Divine light became contained in special vessels, or kelim, some of which shattered and scattered. While most of the light returned to its divine source, some light attached itself to the broken shards. These shards constitute evil and are the basis for the material world; their trapped sparks of light give them power.

The first man, Adam, was intended to restore the divine sparks through mystical exercises, but his sin interfered. As a result, good and evil remained thoroughly mixed in the created world, and human souls (previously contained within Adam's) also became imprisoned within the shards.

The "repair," that is needed, therefore, is two-fold: the gathering of light and of souls, to be achieved by human beings through the contemplative performance of religious acts. The goal of such repair, which can only be effected by humans, is to separate what is holy from the created world, thus depriving the physical world of its very existence—and causing all things return to a world before disaster within the Godhead and before human sin, thus ending history.

Cardinal O'Malley has taken up the cause in an address to the Boston Jewish community May 10, 2006, at the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center.

The cardinal had said in his address that he had always liked “the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam.

“As Catholics, we speak of repairing the world in terms of the social gospel, of building a civilization of love. I hope that we can do this together. Working together, we can address the social problems of our community and the world. Illiteracy, hunger, war, must be eliminated. Such goals can be achieved only if we are working together to repair the world, he said”

Tikkun Olam has baggage that Catholics cannot fit into our theology of creation and redemption. We do not save ourselves. We are dependent upon redemption. Unlike the Jewish social gospel of Tikkun Olam, the Christian gospel preaches salvation through Jesus Christ. How, then, can Cardinal O'Malley like "the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam"?

Rabbi Isaac Luria, composer of the Lurianic Kabbalah, lived from 1534 to 1572. His life significantly pre-dates any conception of the social gospel in Christianity. Has the Kabalistic concept of repair of the world filtered into Christianity through modernism?

In America the Christian world adopted the social gospel via the vision of Walter Rauschenbush who died in 1917.

According to one writer, political correctness is derivative of the social gospel. In an article that originally appeared in News World Communications, Inc., Paul Gottfried, professor of the humanities at Elizabethtown College, argues that "political correctness has been too quickly embraced by the Christian Church in North America." He writes:

The liberal Protestantism described above has been a bridge between traditional religious belief and the establishment of PC as a civic religion. This docile, widespread acceptance of social guilt amounts to an act of faith, mimicking the acceptance of original sin and the need for a lifetime of repentance. In the new version of Christian faith, it no longer is acceptable to question the enduring culpability of victimizers or the received narratives concerning designated victims. Such undue skepticism is equivalent to blasphemy and in England and Canada may result in the miscreant's being criminally prosecuted for hate speech.

The hardening of PC into pseudo-religious dogma can be seen in the defense of the new moral consciousness by University of Virginia professor of philosophy Richard Rorty. This descendent of Social Gospel theologian Walter Rauschenbush, in his book Advancing our Country, defends the cause of "protecting those who have been humiliated." The politically correct is raised by Rorty into a vision of spiritual grandeur that leads away from the sadism of the past. In his description, coercive social engineering becomes synonymous with conversion and moral progress. Though a self-described agnostic, Rorty appeals to the idealism many associate with PC. It is not simply lethargy but straying religiosity that lies behind the new political orthodoxy.

Born of liberalism, it is into secularism that the social gospel ultimately leads. Once we conclude that we can repair the world ourselves, what need have we of Christ? Is it any wonder that Judaism discovered this concept much earlier than Christianity? They had no Christ to need, and now we note that within Judaism today, the majority of genetic Jews are secular. The trend is progressing apace within Christianity as well.

Yet despite this dangerous precedent, we see Pope Benedict espousing this same mantra:

Pope Benedict XVI voiced "sadness and repentance" as he paid solemn tribute Friday to the victims of the Nazi Holocaust at the start of a three-day visit to Austria.

Shortly after his arrival in Vienna, the pope made a brief stop at Judenplatz (Jews' Square) which is home to a monument to the 60,000 Austrian Jews killed during World War II. ...

"It is time to express our sadness, our repentance and our friendship towards the Jews," Benedict XVI had said earlier on the plane while flying into Vienna from Rome.

It is easy to forget that Pope Benedict is a liberal who appears traditional only because conservative thinking has caught up with him, not because he has changed his stripes. Whether he is correct or not, whether he is being led by the Holy Spirit or merely acting on his own conclusions, his position on Judaism is not traditional Catholicism.

Christian and Jewish cosmologies are not compatible. Christians do not believe in reincarnation. We do not believe that man can save himself. We do not believe that man is in charge of repairing the world. To believe this is to dispense with Jesus Christ as Judaism demonstrates.

Pope Benedict and Cardinal O'Malley cannot go around making the sorts of statements we see here and remain credible in claiming that secularism is the menace of Western society. A basic principle of logic is the law of non-contradiction. We can admire Jewish efforts on behalf of the less fortunate without embracing Jewish theology in the process. We can claim our own doctrine of "love your enemies" in the service of preventing persecution. We do not need to embrace the theology of other faiths. If embarrassment over the Holocaust or a desire to be politically correct is leading our shepherds to abandon Christ, we must either convince them to redirect their thinking or abandon them to their own foolishness.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

RABBI ANGEL KREIMAN

Opus Dei Cooperator. Member of The Millennium World Peace Summit, an effort of The World Council of Religious Leaders, which networks with United Religions Initiative.

OPUS DEI, RABBI KREIMAN, AND THE JEWISH TRADITION

A cached version of an article, dated January 31, 2002, that appeared on an Opus Dei website but that has since been removed contains the following passages:

Rabbi Angel Kreiman recently contended that Josemaria Escriva's teachings are strongly rooted in Talmudic traditions about work. Kreiman, who is the international vice president of the World Council of Synagogues, made his remarks in an address to a congress in Rome on Opus Dei's founder. ...

"Many of Josemaria Escriva's concepts call to mind the Talmudic tradition and reveal his profound knowledge of the Jewish world, as well as his passionate love, as he openly repeated, for two Jews, Jesus and Mary," said Rabbi Kreiman. "Moreover, that which most likens his teachings to Judaism is the vocation of man to serve God through creative work, perfecting creation every day, through perfection of work."

QUESTIONS...QUESTIONS...ASKING OPUS DEI QUESTIONS

Ninety-nine questions about Opus Dei are offered for consideration by the Sede website Opus Dei Alert. Take this one for example:

69. Why was Msgr. Escriva's confessor, Portillo, permitted to testify ad nauseum during the canonization process in direct contradiction to the explicitly laid down rule that the candidate's "confessor" may not be called to testify during the canonization process?

Good question, if in fact the claim is true. At the time Escriva was canonized, a lot of voices objected. Maybe they knew something we don't know.

The website raises a number of questions pertaining loosely to issues I've brought up on this blog. I suppose the usual epithet has been applied to them already.

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There are a number of interesting coincidences between Opus Dei and Opus Angelorum that I want to take note of. Whether they mean anything or not I can't say. I'm blogging them simply because I found them.

Order of the Holy Cross

1977 Restoration of the Order of the Holy Cross

The restoration of the Order was undertaken in 1977 by members of the spiritual movement called the Work of the Holy Angels (Opus Sanctorum Angelorum). In 1979 the Congregation for Religious and Pope John Paul II formalized the restoration by Decree.

Priestly Society of the Holy Cross

The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross is an association of clergy intrinsically united to Opus Dei. It is made up of the clergy of the prelature, who are automatically members, and other diocesan priests and deacons. The prelate of Opus Dei is the president of the society.

** "Order of the Holy Cross" ~ "Society of the Holy Cross"

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According to an article in The Tablet, Opus Angelorum spirituality presented the angels of the Kabbalah until Cardinal Ratzinger demanded a change.

Opus Dei studies Jewish sources for proof that Jesus existed.

** In a Church that traditionally opposed Judaism, these two organizations, which are claiming to adhere to Tradition, are both looking to Judaism to provide answers to who Catholics are and what their spirituality should look like.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Opus Angelorum ~ Opus Dei

"Opus" means "work".

** "Work" is a word that was not used in our spirituality prior to Vatican II. We believed the work had already been done by Christ. What "work" are these two organizations referring to in their title? The spirituality of Judaism involves the "work" of repairing the world. Work is a term that also turns up in Freemasonry.

Both organizations are secretive. Do they "work" together, I wonder?

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A website devoted to the writings of Escriva provides his comments on angels:

562

Have confidence in your guardian Angel. Treat him as a lifelong friend — that is what he is — and he will render you a thousand services in the ordinary affairs of each day.

563

Win over the guardian Angel of that person whom you wish to draw to your apostolate. He is always a great 'accomplice'.

564

If you remembered the presence of your own Angel and the angels of your neighbours, you would avoid many of the foolish things which slip into your conversations.

565

You are amazed that your guardian Angel has done you such obvious favours. And you should not be amazed: that's why our Lord has placed him beside you.

566

You say that in such surroundings there are many occasions of going astray? That's true, but is there not also the presence of the guardian Angels?...

567

If you call upon your guardian Angel at the moment of trial, he will protect you from the devil and will bring you holy inspirations.

568

How joyfully the holy guardian Angels must have obeyed that soul who said to them: 'Holy Angels, I call on you, like the Spouse of the Song of Songs, ut nuntietis ei quia amore langueo, to tell him that I languish with love.'

569

I know you will be glad to have this prayer to the holy guardian Angels of our Tabernacles:

O Angelic Spirits that guard our Tabernacles, wherein lies the adorable treasure of the holy Eucharist, defend it from profanation and preserve it for our love.

570

Drink at the clear fountain of the Acts of the Apostles. In the twelfth chapter, Peter, freed from prison by the ministry of Angels, comes to the house of the mother of Mark. Those inside will not believe the girl, who says that Peter is at the door. Angelus ejus est! It must be his Angel!' they said.

See on what intimate terms the early Christians were with their guardian Angels.

Sounds a lot like the writings of Opus Angelorum.

Escriva's statue in St. Peter's basilica incorporates two angels at his feet, reminiscent of the fact that Opus Dei was founded on the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels.

Saint Mary of the Angels in Chicago is administered by Opus Dei.

** Is there a common denominator between Opus Dei and Opus Angelorum?

LOST IN OUR IDENTITY CRISIS

As I read Catholic news in recent weeks, I often come to the conclusion that no one has a vision of a clear path out of our present difficulties. The Chapel of Opinion is where all of us presently worship, and Confusion has become our god. We are all sure we know what is best for the Church, and we all cite our reasons, even though no two of us can completely agree about that knowledge. I've made my own contributions to the mix.

Evidence of our confusion has been appearing in the pages of "New Oxford Review" as readers discuss Thaddeus J. Kozinski's article in the June issue titled "The Gnostic Traditionalist". Each letter writer makes convincing points until the next letter strikes out the last ones. None dominates the field.

When only one path is presented, our decisions have been made for us, but with diversity arrives the demands of choice, and with choice we each become a little potentate ruling over our individual kingdom. The history of the kingdoms of the world should give us pause to consider the consequences of diversity.

It seems that the Catholics are not alone. A reader sent in an article from the Telegraph titled "Israeli neo-Nazi gang filmed attacking Jews".

The article describes "eight young men in their late teens and early twenties" arrested a month ago in Petah Tikvah, Israel. They are Nazi sympathizers, "recently arrived Russian immigrants who are nominally Jewish through a grandparent" and who "were found to have filmed themselves giving Nazi salutes and carrying out mob attacks on homosexuals, non-whites and observant Jews."

During a police interview one of the eight "said they vowed to 'kill them all', referring to people outside the frame of white supremacism."

According to the story,

The ringleader, 19-year-old Eli Boynatov, who styled himself "Eli the Nazi", was taped denouncing his own grandfather as a "jewboy" and vowing not to have any children because it would continue the "jewboy bloodline".

They have been the cause of new legislation in Israel to allow for the "deportation of Nazi sympathisers".

They had their five minutes of fame when Israeli TV "showed grainy footage of people lying helpless on the floor while the gang kicked them, and of a man being hit on the head with an empty bottle" demonstrating that the god of confusion is capable of random acts of violence. This scene brought immediately to mind other scenes I've witnessed on DVDs--visions of members of Tony Sopranos' soldiers kicking people who were lying helpless on the floor.

How far down this road to chaos must the Church travel before some common sense dawns? How much of our faith in God must be destroyed in the Catholic pew wars? How many of us will simply witness this waging of pew war and decide to opt out? For myself, I move ever closer to opting out as I continue to search for a reverent Mass that will look like the Mass I attended the previous week.

If we can no longer identify who we are, everyone else becomes who we are not, and who we are not can quickly turn into the enemy we need to destroy. Attacking each other with words is a sacred rite we enshrine in the laws of our nation. Yet how quickly words turn to deeds on our television screen. If we are learning from what we are viewing, and if our religious confusion deepens, what will we leave to our grandchildren?

Each time we attend Mass we have before our eyes where pew wars can lead as we gaze upon the Jewish Man on the cross who got caught in the crossfire.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!