DO THE RIGHT THING

I'm posting this because American Catholics need to be reminded, or in some cases hear for the first time, that Communion in the hand and eating meat on Fridays are not the norms. Both are exceptions to the laws of the Church. We are still supposed to take Communion on the tongue and abstain from meat on Fridays. Those are the universal laws of the Church.

Just like so many other things, we've taken the exceptions and made them the rules. As the Church splits here in America I believe one of the signs that this is happening will be that Rome will require the exceptions to be done away with. Many won't accept this return to traditional Catholicism and will move to form their own church. I believe the current Pope was chosen to lead the Church back to its future and cleanse it of the abuses foisted upon it by the agents of evil that have slithered their way in over the past fifty years.

There's going to be a lot of unhappy "Catholics" in America in the very near future.

"Americans have the option of receiving the Holy Eucharist on the tongue or in the hand. The Vatican granted us the option of receiving on the hand in 1977. This was accomplished by an indult, a lifting of the law, so we may receive either way, on the tongue or in the hand. The indult was granted because the American Bishops told the Vatican that their parishioners were clamoring for it. “We can feed ourselves” was one of the specious arguments put forward.

...The universal Church law, which requires Holy Eucharist to be distributed to the faithful on their tongues, remains in force; it remains the law. However the indult has the effect of making the law inapplicable where in force.

Foreseeing the demand for the indult coming, the Sacred Office for Divine Worship sent a letter to the presidents of the bishops’ conferences to advise them how they may implement this option if granted. The letter spoke about reverence for the Holy Eucharist being the number one priority. With this in mind, the letter went into great detail trying to explain this crucial concern. The letter contained the following specifics.

Communion on the hand is an option; it is not the primary way of receiving. Catholics must be catechized to understand this important point. No one is to be forced to receive on the hand.

When receiving the Body of Christ on the hand, the faithful must be aware of the fact that each and every particle, no matter how small, is truly the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Therefore no particle should ever be discarded or treated with less than total respect due to the Body of Christ.

The faithful must also be reminded that their hands must be clean to receive our Lord, Jesus Christ."

Spirit Daily

"SOCIAL JUSTICE" CAN GET SOMEBODY KILLED ALONG THE BORDER

I just don't get it. People from other countries come here, break the law, avoid taxes, use the public services they don't pay for, take jobs from legal citizens by working for slave wages and yet, we are supposed to turn our backs. Many of these same people are involved in the drug trade, complicit in murder, extortion, kidnapping and all sorts of felonious activities and we're supposed to turn our backs.

WHY??!!

Because of some misplaced religious concern for the welfare of criminals that completely overlooks the very real threat posed by these same criminals to the welfare of the law abiding citizen, regardless of ethnicity.

Families may be separated; true enough. Families are separated every time a criminal is sentenced to prison. Yet, I don't hear an outcry from these same religious leaders to abolish prisons and set the felons free to maintain the cohesion of the family structure. Why?

Witnesses may be afraid to come forward. Again, true enough. The real and complete truth is that they are already afraid to come forward because they know that the drug gangs have the power along the border. If anyone is found to have reported criminal activity they will be killed along with their family. So tell me bishops, how does refusing to allow law enforcement to do it's job protect anyone from drug gang coercion? And who are you more afraid of; the American law enforcement officer that is controlled by the force of law or the Mexican drug gangster that controls by the gun?

We must absolutely control our borders before any other discussion takes place. Murder is a greater sin than separation of families and until immigration is controlled and our borders are secured murder will be the way of life along our Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California border. The bishops have let a false sense of compassion blind them to evil. They've accepted this idea of a seamless garment; that all sins are equal, abortion and murder equivalent to a perceived denial of "social justice".

Common sense and our faith tell us this is a lie.

"Arizona’s three Catholic bishops and other religious leaders in the state have issued a statement calling on Gov. Jan Brewer to veto recent legislation targeting undocumented immigrants. They warned the bill would separate families and discourage crime victims and witnesses.

The Arizona Senate passed SB 1070 on Monday by a vote of 17 to 11. It requires state and local police to determine the immigration status of people if there is “reasonable suspicion” they are illegal immigrants. They must arrest those unable to provide documentation showing they are in the United States legally.

The religious leaders’ April 19 letter voiced “common serious concerns” about the bill. Bishop of Gallup James S. Wall, Bishop of Phoenix Thomas J. Olmsted and Bishop of Tucson Gerald Kicanas were signatories to the letter, as were leaders from Protestant denominations and a rabbi with the American Jewish Committee.

They warned it could classify as felons not only dangerous criminals, but also undocumented immigrants who came to the United States at “a very young age” and have “no familiarity” with any other country."
Catholic News Agency

SELLING FISH BAIT TO KIDS ILLEGAL IN ENGLAND

I can only imagine what they'd do to the lady that owns the baitshop up the road from me. The law everywhere has become disconnected from reason and the common good. Is it any surprise that there is so little respect for it?

"Her offence was to unwittingly sell a goldfish to a 14-year-old boy taking part in a trading standards 'sting'.

At most, pet shop owner Joan Higgins, 66, expected a slap on the wrist for breaking new animal welfare laws which ban the sale of pets to under-16s.

Instead, the great-grandmother was taken to court, fined £1,000, placed under curfew - and ordered to wear an electronic tag for two months.

...Defending the goldfish case, Iain Veitch, head of public protection at Trafford Council, said: 'The evidence presented for this conviction clearly demonstrates that it is irresponsible to sell animals to those who are not old enough to look after them.

'Let this conviction send out a message that we will not tolerate those who cause unnecessary suffering to animals. The council will always try to support pet and business owners so that they are able to care for their animals properly, but where they continually ignore the advice they are given, we will not hesitate to use our statutory powers.'

The goldfish was later adopted by an animal welfare officer and is in good health."
Daily Mail

What about the unnecessary suffering of poor Mrs Higgins? And how do they know the goldfish is in good health? Does the government pay for regular examines?

VATICAN STATEMENT REGARDING FATHER MURPHY

It is important that people read the following statement from the Vatican without emotion. The application of law, whether by civil or Church authorities, has to be cold and orderly. The law can only be enforced inside the framework established to guide it. Regardless of the sentiment attached to any act the law must be restrained to only the questions laid before it and must act only within it's legal jurisdiction. To step outside these boundaries is to leave the law behind, to see the law destroy itself in a fit of moral outrage which would leave both the guilty and innocent accountable only to the vagaries of emotion and mob justice.

The secular press is trying to tie the Pope to this sex abuse scandal regardless of guilt. The object of their inquisition is not justice but the destruction of the Church and the last barrier to the modernist Marxist Utopia they desire.

Pray for the Pope, the truth, the Church and all of mankind. We are slipping over the edge. As Rome goes, so goes the world.

"The following is the full text of the statement given to the New York Times on Wednesday by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office.

* * *

The tragic case of Father Lawrence Murphy, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, involved particularly vulnerable victims who suffered terribly from what he did. By sexually abusing children who were hearing-impaired, Father Murphy violated the law and, more importantly, the sacred trust that his victims had placed in him.

During the mid-1970s, some of Father Murphy's victims reported his abuse to civil authorities, who investigated him at that time; however, according to news reports, that investigation was dropped. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was not informed of the matter until some twenty years later.

It has been suggested that a relationship exists between the application of Crimen sollicitationis and the non-reporting of child abuse to civil authorities in this case. In fact, there is no such relationship. Indeed, contrary to some statements that have circulated in the press, neither Crimen nor the Code of Canon Law ever prohibited the reporting of child abuse to law enforcement authorities.

In the late 1990s, after over two decades had passed since the abuse had been reported to diocesan officials and the police, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was presented for the first time with the question of how to treat the Murphy case canonically. The Congregation was informed of the matter because it involved solicitation in the confessional, which is a violation of the Sacrament of Penance. It is important to note that the canonical question presented to the Congregation was unrelated to any potential civil or criminal proceedings against Father Murphy.

In such cases, the Code of Canon Law does not envision automatic penalties, but recommends that a judgment be made not excluding even the greatest ecclesiastical penalty of dismissal from the clerical state (cf. Canon 1395, no. 2). In light of the facts that Father Murphy was elderly and in very poor health, and that he was living in seclusion and no allegations of abuse had been reported in over 20 years, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith suggested that the Archbishop of Milwaukee give consideration to addressing the situation by, for example, restricting Father Murphy's public ministry and requiring that Father Murphy accept full responsibility for the gravity of his acts. Father Murphy died approximately four months later, without further incident."
Zenit
H/T LaSalette Journey

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE PROTESTANTS

As Catholics we know that our faith contains the fullness of truth. However, we've lost an awful lot of ground to the Protestants when it comes to proclaiming it. Like the Pharisees and Sadducees we follow the law (if we feel like it) but we don't live the faith.

"This past weekend I again had the opportunity to attend a local Pentecostal church, and my experience there may prove fruitful for others. This place is called the Brookfield Church of God. Its pastor is Rev. Timothy Cowan and its Choir Director Judy Carver. Both of these individuals deserve public recognition for the work they did this Sunday, I can only hope and pray that we Catholics follow suit in proclaiming the Gospel of repentance and conversion. Again, as I have repeatedly said here at this forum and elsewhere, if we Catholics with the fullness of grace and all seven of the Holy Sacraments don’t start practicing and preaching and teaching the Gospel, then God Almighty will raise up from the very stones themselves sons to Abraham to carry out His holy work. If Pentecostals can do this, then what excuse shall we have on Judgment Day?"

Commentarius de Prognosticis

JEFFERSON DAVIS AND THE HIGHER LAW

“You have among you politicians of a philosophic turn, who preach a higher morality; a system of which they are the discoverers, and it is hoped will long remain the exclusive possessors. They say, it is true the Constitution dictates this, the Bible inculcates that; but there is a higher law than those, and call upon you to obey that higher law, of which they are the inspired givers. Men who are traitors to the compact of their fathers-men who have perjured the oaths they have themselves taken-they who wish to steep their hands in the blood of their brothers; these are the moral law-givers who proclaim a higher law than the Bible, the Constitution and the laws of the land. This higher-law doctrine, it strikes me, is the most convenient one I ever heard of for the criminal. You, no doubt, have a law which punishes a man for stealing a horse or a bale of goods. But the thief would find convenient a higher law which would justify him in keeping the stolen goods. The doctrine is now advanced to you only in relation to property of the Southern States, thus it is the pill gilded, to conceal its bitterness; but it will re-act deeply upon yourselves if you accept it. What security have you for your own safety if every man of vile temper, of base purpose, can find in his heart a higher law than that which is the rule of society, the Constitution, and the Bible?...The man who with syncophantic face and studied phrase, and with assumed philosophic morality, preaches treason to the Constitution and the dictates of all human society, is a fit object for a lynch law that would be higher than he could urge.”

Senator Jefferson Davis
Future President Confederate States of America
Palace Garden Meeting October 19, 1858
New York, New York

Speeches of the Honorable Jefferson Davis 1858
Jefferson Davis
Published by Echo Library

I’ve been reading a lot about Davis lately and the causes of the War Between the States. I’m struck by the similarities with the political realities we face today. While slavery was a contributing factor it was not the primary cause of the war. The war was caused by problems that could be traced back to the very beginning of the Republic; the role of the Federal Government and its relationship with the states, the control of the economy through a central banking system and the corrupting influence of business interests involved directly in controlling government policy for their own benefit. Does any of this sound familiar?

Sure it does. It could be on the front page of the papers today, that is if the papers cared to print the truth. On the one side we have Abraham Lincoln, a wealthy railroad lawyer and former Whig representing the interests of the steel producers by supporting tariffs that will benefit them at the expense of the agricultural Southern States. On the other side we have the South, represented by Davis, determined to protect their economic freedom by opposing tariffs that will strangle them.

This was not a new problem. In 1832 South Carolina nearly went to war with the Federal Government over this very issue. They passed nullification laws based on the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution and refused to enforce the Federal law. The crisis was barely averted when a new tariff law was negotiated in Congress.

All states had the right to do exactly what South Carolina did. The constitution narrowly defines the role of the Federal Government. Lincoln promised in his first inauguration speech that he would not allow the states to exercise their sovereign authority and furthermore that he would go to war to enforce his views. The only time Lincoln mentions going to war is over the issue of taxation (tariffs):

“The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion -- no using of force against or among the people anywhere.”

But, what about slavery you may ask. Again, from the first inauguration speech:

…"I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."…

…"No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due."…
Lincolns First Inaugural Speech

The Republican Party backed the tariffs and the formation of a central bank that would issue currency for one reason; the construction of the Trans Continental Railway. The tariff was necessary to make sure that the steel contracts went to Republican business interests in the North and the Central Bank was necessary to make sure the money could be created to fund it. Lincoln had not forgotten his friends in the railroad business.

Over one half million Americans were sacrificed for the profit of the businesses and the power of the bankers. The Constitution was burned and our Republic destroyed to benefit the powerful. I believe that these were the first shots fired in the war that we see coming to a conclusion today. These same interests are determined to finish the job, to take over the country completely and control every aspect of our lives for their benefit.

All because they have the “Higher Law” on their side and all we have is the shell of the Constitution. They also have ignorance on their side; the ignorance of an American public that has forgotten what this country was meant to be. But, that may be starting to change.

The question is, is there still time?

ARCHBISHOP BURKE COMES THROUGH AGAIN

The words of Archbishop Raymond Burke in his homily at a Red Mass in Phoenix. Once again, he nails it. The Archbishop is one of the greatest thinkers in the Church today and we were lucky to have him here in St. Louis.

"In our culture, “the law more and more dares to force those with the sacred trust of caring for the health of their brothers and sisters to violate the most sacred tenets of their consciences, and to force individuals and institutions to cooperate in egregious violations of the natural moral law,” he said. “In such a society, the administration of justice is no longer a participation in the justice of God, an obedient response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but a façade cloaking our own selfishness and refusal to give our lives for the sake of the good of all our brothers and sisters.”

“It is a society which is abandoning its Judeo-Christian foundations, the fundamental obedience to God’s law which safeguards the common good, and is embracing a totalitarianism which masks itself as the 'hope,' the 'future,' of our nation. Reason and faith teaches us that such a society can only produce violence and death and in the end destroy itself,” Archbishop Burke warned."
Catholic News Agency

MAN IN PRISON FOR DEFENDING FAMILY

I knew that it is nearly impossible to get a gun to defend your family in Britain, but I had no idea that just the act of self defense could land you in jail.

How can the government expect anyone to obey the law when the law is insane?

"A MILLIONAIRE businessman jailed for taking on a knife maniac who threatened to slaughter his family yesterday told of the hell his sentence has caused.
Munir Hussain was sent down for two and a half years on Monday for GBH with intent while the masked burglar who broke into his home with two accomplices brandishing 12inch knives was set free.

Munir, 53, told his lawyer the injustice had left him "stunned - in a living hell". He said: "I just can't understand a justice system that would jail me for trying to save the lives of my children."

The Sun