Running Off At The Keyboard

2004-10-20T23:04:00.000-04:00

NEW BLOG

In an effort to have greater flexibility in the times when I can post to it, I've created a new blog--STILL RUNNING OFF AT THE KEYBOARD--though it's really just a continuation of this one.

The link will take you to the new blog.

See you over there.

Incidentally, this blog has gotten over 29,000 hits since April 27, 2004. The hit counter has reset itself to zero on three different occasions for some unknown reason.

2004-10-16T01:11:00.000-04:00

THE VAMPIRE'S BALL

Dom has the story behind the story on the Salem Knights of Columbus over at Bettnet.

2004-10-15T23:46:00.000-04:00

IS THE PATIENT REALLY DEAD ?

Earl Appleby, Jr. has an editorial up on the Christian Order website that discusses the confusion that has krept in over defining the moment of death. He goes on to make the following startling statement:

Anyone unwise enough to have signed an organ donor card also has legitimate cause for concern. Would you trust a doctor who regards your body "not as an organism in need of healing but as a container of biological useful materials" (to use bioethicist Arthur Caplan’s apt description)? That’s exactly what organ donors do.

He elaborates on this further at the website.

2004-10-15T23:32:00.000-04:00

RED ARMY SERENADES POPE

From BBC News:

Pope John Paul II has marked his 26th year as head of the Roman Catholic Church by attending a concert given by Russia's Red Army choir.

Unthinkable before the fall of the Soviet Union, the event staged in the Vatican's general audience hall was televised live in Italy and Russia.

A Swiss Guard marched across the stage and a Russian military guard goose-stepped in the opposite direction.

Cossack dancers capered where religious ceremonies normally take place.

2004-10-15T23:24:00.000-04:00

FATIMA IN THE NEWS AGAIN

From Frontpage online: The Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, D. Serafim Ferreira e Silva, has this week admitted to the existence of “enemies” of Fátima, saying many emanate from within the Catholic Church. Speaking at a press conference held at the Sanctuary, the Bishop preferred not to identify these “enemies”, saying only that some of them are involved in “science or pseudo-science”. He added he has personal instructions from the Pope to promote interfaith dialogue.

The Bishop used the conference to highlight the fact that the Fátima Sanctuary is open to all, including the “Dalai Lama or an agnostic, and to those who believe and to those who do not”.

He further explained that he has “personal instructions” from the Pope regarding inter-religious dialogue.

"Science or pseudo-science." Now how are we to interpret that? There seems to be two opposing factions over there. Last message was that heads were going to roll over the Hindu prayer service. Now we're back to everything is copacetic. This is getting old and I am getting jaded.

2004-10-15T23:13:00.000-04:00

E-MAIL FROM DR. BOND

Dear Friends,

The Times Leader reports that Fr. Eric Ensey of the Society of St. John has filed a petition in federal court for personal bankruptcy. This all-too-predictable move is the latest in a series of legal maneuvers designed to forestall the release of Ensey's psychosexual evaluation. As has become clearer with every new stalling tactic, Ensey is desperate to keep his evaluation locked up in Canada and out of the courtroom where he is accused of homosexually molesting a minor.

I wonder if Ensey has considered filing a petition for moral bankruptcy.

Pax vobiscum,

Dr. Jeffrey Bond

2004-10-15T11:02:00.000-04:00

THE FLAP OVER BUTTTIGLIONE

First of all Sodano calls the spade:

The row over Italian EU justice commissioner designate Rocco Buttiglione widened on Friday when a senior Vatican official said the case showed Roman Catholics were the object of discrimination in Europe.

In an interview with Italian daily La Repubblica, the Vatican's secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano made no direct reference to the Buttiglione case, in which the Italian's nomination as EU commissioner was rejected because he said homosexuality was a sin.

However, the cardinal said: "This is not the first time that Catholics, Christians, men of the Church find themselves confronted by problems of this type and in danger of becoming victims of isolation and discrimination."

Just an early salvo of the coming culture war. Oh, and while you're in there, look at the last paragraph:

In the interview, Sodano, the second most powerful cardinal in the Vatican, also said that the Catholic Church's real problems lay elsewhere.

"The big problem of the future will be our relationship with the Islamic world. It is a challenge that does not only concern the Church," he said.

I think that is more significant than we realize at the moment. But back to Butligione. In a post from BBC News which you can read down below, Peter Mandelson is quoted as saying "his colleague Rocco Buttiglione was 'unwise' to express his views on homosexuals at an EU committee hearing."

Peter Mandelson. Paragraph 4 is pertinent.

Gay.com offers a much more revealing story of the situation over there. Has Tremaglia been seen having lunch with Cardinal Martino? Just wondering...

2004-10-14T23:15:00.000-04:00

ANOTHER BUDDHIST PRAYER SERVICE

This time in Mexico's National Cathedral with Cardinal Rivera looking on.

Photos courtesy of a link at Novus Ordo Watch.

2004-10-14T22:56:00.000-04:00

ALJAZEERA COLUMNIST DR. MUSTAFA AL-BAZERGAN COMMENTS ON IRAQ

painting a dismal picture of the situation on the ground. He concludes his opinion piece with this: Events in Iraq are bound to impact on the outcome of the American presidential elections in November.

Whether Iraq can still emerge from the debacle as a democratic and united country will depend on Bush's ability to break the stranglehold of the neo-conservatives who surround him and control America's defence and foreign policies.

But with time running out and American casualties, as also the Iraqi resentment, mounting, there is little hope for such a change. But most Iraqis believe that if the US pulled out of Iraq and handed over the control to the UN, it might even save the Bush administration.

Hard to believe he's talking about the same war Bush talked about in the debate last night.

2004-10-14T10:59:00.000-04:00

LIFE IN THE REAL WORLD

is heating up at this end, as it does from time to time. Posting may be light to non-existent over the next week or so, depending upon what's happening here.

2004-10-14T10:56:00.000-04:00

BIG FLAP ACROSS THE POND OVER REJECTION OF BUTTIGLIONE

From BBC News:

Nominee EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson says his colleague Rocco Buttiglione was "unwise" to express his views on homosexuals at an EU committee hearing.

The Italian candidate for EU justice commissioner told a panel of MEPs that he thought homosexuality was a "sin".

The MEPs decided that Mr Buttiglione, a devout Catholic, was unsuitable for the justice post.

Mr Mandelson said some arguments were best deployed in academic seminars rather than at political gatherings.

He stopped short of directly criticising his Italian colleague, insisting it was a matter for the incoming president, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.

Buttiglione has written, among other things, a book on the philosophy of John Paul II, and is on good terms with the Pope.

2004-10-14T10:46:00.000-04:00

CINCINNATI BISHOP GRIFFIN RESIGNS

The pope has accepted the resignation of Bishop James Griffin of Columbus.

The Vatican has given no specific reason for the resignation of the 70-year-old Griffin.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus has a news conference scheduled for later this morning but has refused to say what it is about.

Bishop Griffin kept Columbus on an orthodox path. The replacement is coming out of Minneapolis-St. Paul, not exactly a conservative diocese. I hope this is good news, but have some looming misgivings.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for Columbus!

2004-10-14T01:19:00.000-04:00

RUSSIA WANTS YOU TO "VOTE FOR BUSH"

From Pravda:

Leaders of some Western countries have already experienced Bush's tough character on their own skin. As it is known, Bush has been refusing to converse with Chirac and Schroeder over the phone. This is something absolutely unheard of in world politics! AS for the Russian president Vladimir Putin however, Bush behaves quite friendly. Obviously, there is a huge amount of condescension in his good attitude towards the Russian president. In general, Bush and Putin just like their Defense Ministers Rumsfeld and Ivanov understand each other very well. Their worldviews are somewhat similar. Both presidents view the world in black and white colors: one can either be for or against us! ...

At the moment, one thing is clear: slogans of the democratic presidential candidate concerning foreign affairs suit Russia the most. Our country will definitely benefit in case Kerry keeps his word to pay closer attention to America"s partners and to think through his actions. The problem however is such that it is still unclear how Kerry"s slogans will be implemented in reality if he wins. This candidate from the democrats has absolutely no work experience in the system of executive power. In addition, Kerry is famous for his habit to change his mind quite frequently as well as for his innate inability to provide concise answers such as "yes" and "no". ...

Democrats can blab with enthusiasm about Bush"s miscalculations. However, as soon as liberals attempt to explain what actions should be taken, foreigners cannot believe their ears. It turns out, it would be enough to put UN in the forefront in order to solve all world problems.

2004-10-14T01:18:00.000-04:00

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR SPACE-SHIP-ONE

They appear to be serious about it. From Pravda:

Recent manned flight of privately-owned SpaceShipOne, which was able to reach a 100 km height and remain up there for several seconds, turned out to be a great success.

The flight fascinated everyone involved in the project including directors of major tourist agencies. One of them got so anxious, he exclaimed that tens of thousands of men will travel to space in the nearest future.

In reality however, things are not as simple as one would hope them to be. ...

What will happen with a tourist aboard SpaceShipOne for instance should the spaceship"s controls malfunction? Today"s spaceship is not equipped with the ejection seat, no durable space-suit is designed for the tourist, he hasn't spent numerous hours practicing like professional astronauts. ...

Safety requirements get tougher when one wishes to make an orbital flight around the Earth. In this case, one will need a much more powerful carrier with state of the art equipment as well as more reliable safety features.

However, what a space tourist should fear the most is weightlessness. Here is how one of our famous astronauts describes the sensation during his flight to the "MIR" space station: "During my spacewalk on the near-earth orbit, I found myself in a state of weightlessness. It felt as though someone hung me by my feet. I naturally wanted to return to the normal position. In addition, even the slightest motion made me spin like a whipping top. It made me feel dizzy. While inside the station, it took me sometime before I could differentiate floor from the ceiling. It took a lot of time to adapt. .However, the most mind-boggling experience was the moment of descent. I felt as though I was flying through a volcano"s core. When the parachute opened, our apparatus began jerking back and forth. The landing itself was very rough.".

2004-10-13T23:33:00.000-04:00

GOD VERSION 6.0

brought to you by Today's Christians and a blog reader.

2004-10-13T11:07:00.000-04:00

THE KNIGHTS AND THE VAMPIRES BALL

I have still not received a response to my email to the Massachusetts Council of the Knights of Columbus regarding the Vampires Ball at the Salem KofC hall. As you can see at the above link, the ball is still being advertised on their website as taking place in the Knights' facility, as of 11 o'clock this morning.

I did receive another email from Christian Day--a cc of an email she sent to the Knight's representative which appears to be a response to something sent to her. Since I have no further information to go on and there is nothing on the Massachusetts KofC website about this, I'm posting unedited both the KofC email and her response, exactly as they appear in my mailbox. The statement from the KofC deputy appears below her response to it.

Dear Mr. Guerriero,

Given that all of the people I emailed were also assured by the Salem Knights of Columbus that the Cabot Witches' Reunion last November was not happening when it in fact was (according to my dvd), I certainly hope that, this time, this is in fact the case.

While I understand the reasons behind your canceling of our event last October, we did not appreciate Mr. Thomas Ledbetter's identifying our event as Satanic or implying that we misled the local KofC hall, which had knowingly rented to Witches for years without incident. If you can look beyond us as merely Witches, I'm sure you can understand our point of view that it seems unfair to cancel us only to have another Witch's event a mere month later (again, captured on dvd), and now, a vampire's ball.

When Mr. Ledbetter told Dave Gershman of the Salem News last year that the second Witchcraft event to be held after ours was cancelled was merely "a rumor on the internet," our organization did not and will never know whether it was Mr. Ledbetter who lied to the Salem News, or the Salem council who lied to Mr. Ledbetter, but one of them surely did lie and I make no bones about saying so since, as I mentioned above, I have the proof of this lie captured on dvd. We hope that both your council and theirs are telling the truth in unison this time around, but hopefully the reporters on this list will be present on the 29th at your hall to make sure.

I may sound harsh in all of this, but you left our event host scrambling the week before her event to find something else, only to welcome in not one but two events that fit the criteria under which you cancelled us. You'll simply have to understand our skepticism as a result.

Best regards,

Christian Day
Festival of the Dead

On Oct 13, 2004, at 10:15 AM, Mastatekofc@aol.com wrote:

> > To clarify the e-mail being sent to many people from Christian Day of > Festival of the Dead about the renting of the Knights of Columbus Hall > in Salem for the Vampire and Victims Ball,, there will be no rental to > this Vampire group.

> > The hall was rented under the pretense of a Halloween Party by a > member of the Knights of Columbus who was contacted as a caterer to > cater and use the hall for this Halloween party for local > individuals. No mention was ever made of Vampires. When informed of > rental, this member canceled his contract and was quite upset at being > placed in the middle by this > group's methods of rental the K of C hall.

> > We have been reassured by the Grand Knight of the Salem Knights of > Columbus that the hall rental has been canceled.

> > Richard Guerriero
> State Deputy

2004-10-13T10:57:00.000-04:00

AN AMERICAN PILGRIMMAGE

Pilgrimmage is a word not usually spoken in post Vatican II Roman Catholicism. It's being revived in New York by traditional Catholics. Seattle Catholic reports:

Auriesville, NY - The ninth annual Pilgrimage for Restoration drew throngs of enthusiastic Catholics from across the US, Canada, and beyond to the Shrine of Our Lady of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, central New York State, from Wednesday, September 15 through Saturday, September 18.

Saturday's participants, which included senior citizens and many young parents pushing infants in strollers, were joining those pilgrims who began the pilgrimage for the seventh straight year from the shores of the Lake of the Blessed Sacrament (commonly called Lake George, NY) on the previous Wednesday.

With the number of participants again increasing, 250 pilgrims prayed, sang and walked 68 miles to the Fonda Shrine in three days to meet up with hundreds more walking the last leg to Auriesville Saturday. This year again many families with small children, and seniors, joined the ranks of those pilgrims walking more than one day.

2004-10-12T22:39:00.000-04:00

UPDATE ON THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS AND THE VAMPIRES

I have not yet received a reply to my email to the Massachusetts Knights of Columbus. Later yesterday I did receive a cc of email sent to the Mass. office by Christian Day, explaining basically what I've posted about the ball, so the state office should be aware what is going on. Seattle Catholic, the website that reported the scheduled event in the K of C hall last year, has nothing up about this year's event on their website tonight.

2004-10-12T09:02:00.000-04:00

PART 2 OF THE ZENIT INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS MADDEN

is up at the Zenit website. Madden addresses the Pope's apology at the end of the interview. He seems to be splitting hairs to exempt the Pope from actually apologizing for the Crusades. I think the statement could be read either way. It would sure have been helpful had the Pope been more clear. But perhaps the ambiguity was intentional?

Thanks to a reader for the link.

2004-10-12T08:42:00.000-04:00

NUN'S HABITS DECLARED ILLEGAL IN GERMANY

From the Chicago Sun Times:

Nuns who teach in state schools in the Black Forest region of Germany are to be banned from wearing their habits in the classroom in line with a judgment on Muslim headscarves, a federal court has ruled.

The federal administrative court decreed that it would be unjust if a law passed this year in the southern state of Baden Wurttemberg prohibiting Muslim women teachers from wearing headscarves did not also apply to Christian symbols.

"There can be no exception. Any form of religiously motivated clothing in certain regions is not in question," said the written ruling from the court in Leipzig, eastern Germany.

Nuns who form an active part of the teaching staff in the predominantly Roman Catholic state will in future have to change from their habits into ordinary clothing before they enter the classroom, according to today's edition of Spiegel magazine, which has published details of the ruling for the first time.

2004-10-12T08:21:00.000-04:00

THE MAGNITUDE OF THE CALIFORNIA SITUATION

An AP story at newsobserver.com documents the scope of the cases soon to come up for trial:

Hundreds of sexual abuse claims targeting the Roman Catholic Church in California have converged into one of the most complex civil litigation cases the state's judicial system has ever faced.

More than 850 alleged victims are suing dioceses throughout the state, with millions of dollars in potential settlements at stake in a legal battle that involves more than 300 attorneys and dozens of church insurers. The scope is so vast that the lawsuits have been lumped geographically into three consolidated cases, known simply as Clergy I, Clergy II and Clergy III.

After nearly two years, the pace of the complicated legal drama is finally starting to accelerate. Some trial dates have been set, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles is expected to be deposed by year's end in cases related to his tenure in the Stockton and Fresno dioceses and a hearing on public access to internal church documents is scheduled for Wednesday.

Legal analysts and attorneys agree that the developments, all of which involve Northern California cases, will affect settlement negotiations that have dragged on for months in Southern California - though exactly how is less certain.

Trials in a handful of Northern California cases, scheduled for March, May and June, could prompt settlements beforehand. Others say that, if there are a few multimillion-dollar jury verdicts, they could chill the ongoing talks in Southern California by giving plaintiffs inflated expectations and exhausting church resources.

Sounds like it's a difficult time to be a Catholic in California, and destined to get worse.

2004-10-12T08:19:00.000-04:00

SEATTLE ARCHBISHOP SAYS PROBLEMS STARTED IN 60'S

From the Detroit Free Press:

Archbishop Alexander J. Burnett was an academic dean at a seminry in the 60's. He complained about the homosexuality among the students and was rewarded with reassignment to parish work.

2004-10-12T01:00:00.001-04:00

THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS AND THE VAMPIRES

Some of you may remember that last year the Salem Knights of Columbus rented their facility to a Wiccan group for their Halloween party. When the information became public, the party was cancelled.

Tonight I've received an email from someone who claims to be a member of that Wiccan group, who indicates that this year's Halloween party at the Knights of Columbus hall will be this:

Welcome to the homepage for the 2004 Vampire and Victims Ball. New England's vampire Queen ( Tracy Devine ) rises from her coffin once again, calling all October's children to partake in the celebration of this the most dark and magical season, when the veil is thin, and the spirits beckon from the grave. Join your vampire brothers and sisters, drink in the morbidly romantic atmosphere, feel the vampires kiss. This years Vampire and Victim's Ball should not be missed.

Vampire and Victims Ball
Friday October 29, 2004
8pm till Midnight 18+
Knights of Columbus Hall
94 Washington Square
Salem, MA
Right across from the common

The writer of the email who signs herself "Christian Day, Festival of the Dead" indicates that:

Last fall, after a wave of protest on the part of traditional Catholic organizations, your organization cancelled an October 2003 event that my organization was to hold at the Knights of Columbus hall in Salem because we were Witches,. The reason Thomas Ledbetter gave in his press release was that "no event relating to Witchcraft would ever be held in a Knights of Columbus hall." Interestingly, only a month later, that same Salem Knights of Columbus hall was host to a Cabot Witches' Reunion, hosted by the state's most famous Witch Laurie Cabot. While the event was scheduled before ours was cancelled, it was not cancelled because they did not advertise their venue as we did, but advertising the venue was not the reason given for our cancellation. Of course when anyone interested asked about the second Witchcraft event, Thomas Ledbetter told them it was not happening, even going so far as to tell one Salem News reporter that "that's just a rumor on the internet" before hanging up on him. Strange, because I have a dvd of Laurie Cabot's reunion that was allowed to proceed at the Salem Knights of Columbus Hall while ours was cancelled. Needless to say, we were confused about this apparent ambiguity of morals presented by your organization at the time.

Here is the website for the Massachusetts Knights of Columbus. The website link doesn't work. I will email them asking for a comment.

2004-10-11T21:32:00.000-04:00

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CONDEMN CONTRACEPTION

The Russian Orthodox Church condemned abortion, contraception, pre- and extra-marital sexual activity for their role in Russia’s “moral degradation”.

An Assembly of Hierarchs, meeting in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin Wednesday, said the pervasive use of “family planning is a pernicious practice that leads not only to the reduction of the country’s population but also to its moral degradation,” an Itar-Tass news agency report said.

At the meeting, Putin himself said that lack of faith was one of the reasons for the spread of terrorism. The Assembly of Hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church condemned abortion, and blamed it for the collapse of the Russian population.

Thanks to a reader for the link.

2004-10-11T15:41:00.000-04:00

WHILE CATHOLICS CONTINUE TO REEL FROM DAN BROWN'S NOVEL

new books are being published on Gnostic themes.

2004-10-11T14:16:00.000-04:00

VATICAN DOES 180 ON IRAQ

A reader sent in this story from the UK Telegraph:

Senior Vatican officials have decided to put aside their differences with Tony Blair over the war in Iraq, calling for multinational troop reinforcements to secure the country's fledgling democracy.

In February last year, both Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state, offered some of the fiercest denunciations of Mr Blair and President George W Bush for their strike on Saddam Hussein.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano Their private criticism of Mr Blair was made embarrassingly public by Vatican officials, who revealed at a press conference that the Pope had urged him to "make use of all the resources offered by international law to avoid the tragedy of war".

Now, in light of the post-war chaos, Cardinal Sodano has announced a newly hawkish line on Iraq from Rome. "The child has been born," he declared recently on behalf of the Vatican. "It may be illegitimate, but it's here, and it must be reared and educated."

Is this a subtle, or perhaps even not so subtle, vote of support for Bush in the election?

2004-10-11T10:39:00.000-04:00

COURAGE ON THE BATTLE LINES - "FREEDOM" UNDER KERRY

A reader sent in a link to this story about a group of seminarians for life who wanted to attend a Kerry campaign stop, but found out they were being uninvited under escort because their pro-life position made them unwelcome. It's a good story that reveals the fate of the pro-life position if Kerry is elected. The bit about the letter from the ACLU is priceless! These guys did their homework.

Life for some but not for all morphs into freedom for some but not for all. Think about it!

UPDATE

Dom has blogged part two of the story. Things didn't get any better when they moved outside. The Kerry people treated them as could be expected from anti-life supporters. Again the question of "Freedom Kerry-style" is dramatically presented for consideration.

If you check out the story, consider dropping them a word of appreciation.

2004-10-11T10:06:00.000-04:00

IS FREEMASONRY ANTI-CATHOLIC ?

The question invariably arises when any discussion involves both Catholicism and Freemasonry. Masonry is invariably quick to deny any antagonism. Gustavo Raffi, Grand Master, Grande Oriente d'Italia, presents an excellent example of the denial in an Allocution to the Grand Lodge 2004, titled "The City of Man."

Freemasonry, therefore, does not oppose the concept of God or intend to rationalise it in a deist way a priori. It does not oppose religion in general or the Christian one in particular, especially the Catholic one. The legends, which are still circulating, concerning the hostility of the Freemasonry towards Christianity are unfortunately founded on bad faith and ignorance and sometimes on both. Not by chance the founding rules of the universal Freemasonry were drawn up by a Protestant minister and therefore with great difficulty can they be antithetic to the spirit of Christianity also seeing that in the following years even the extremely Christian sovereigns of the United Kingdom were able to unite the government of the Church of England with that of the Grand Lodge of their country.

Does saying it make it so? Not if the evidence presented by Raffi in this Allocution can be trusted:

...the Grande Oriente d'Italia turns a great deal of attention to the world of the young because it believes that eduction in the highest values of civil living must be strongly instilled in our schools. The school, therefore, becomes a strong point in the democratic and educational system of our country. Such a school must be multi-cultural and multi-religious. In this context the defence of the state school must not be sacrificed as the State must guarantee a high level of formation for its citizens, even for those that have had and will have only little or inadequate opportunity of promotion and formation from their families. Only a school capable of sowing profound subject matter, different from the everydayness of the television and of the talk shows, capable of producing culture and giving it to everyone, capable of forming the citizen over and above the diversity of religion, can give a strong response to fundamentalisms. Globalization and multi-ethnicity cannot be stopped. Up to us is the task of directing this process according to a way of peace, knowledge and respect - not building new ghettoes or new forms of school apartheid, in which every religion can build its own school - what sort of society would rise from such a model? Not a multi-cultural complex society even though embracing the civil values of the Constitution, human rights, the law and the State, but a society of separateness, or antagonistic areas, of parts split up among religious and ethnic groups, of racism and inter-ethnic antagonism.

To us this perspective would seem to be madness and therefore we feel it right to underline its dangerousness.

Get that? Freemasonry targets the young and considers a Catholic school dangerous because it is fundamentalist. That may not sound antagonistic to Gustavo Raffi, but it certainly sounds antagonistic to me.

Once again echoes of the Alta Vendita come to mind. Quoting from the document, Mgr. George E. Dillon writes:

"It is to the youth we must go. It is that which we must seduce; it is that which we must bring under the banner of the secret societies. In order to advance by steps, calculated but sure, in that perilous way, two things are of the first necessity. You ought to have the air of being simple as doves, but you must be prudent as the serpent. Your fathers, your children, your wives themselves, ought always to be ignorant of the secret which you carry in your bosoms. If it pleases you, in order the better to deceive the inquisitorial eye, to go often to confession, you are as by right authorised to preserve the most absolute silence regarding these things. You know that the least revelation, that the slightest indication escaped from you in the tribunal of penance, or elsewhere, can bring on great calamities and that the sentence of death is already pronounced upon the revealer, whether voluntary or involuntary." (`Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked, p. 92-93)

Considering that Raffi openly states that Freemasonry is not opposed to Catholicism, and shortly thereafter states that Catholic schools are dangerous, it is not illogical to conclude that deception does not break the Masonic code of ethics.

Consider the intention to target the youth in the light of the evidence that has been coming out of sexually abused minors, of poorly written catechetical texts, and the emerging multi-cultural aspect of Catholic schools which sometimes employ teachers who are not Catholic.

2004-10-11T01:52:00.000-04:00

BL. ANNE KATHERINE EMMERICK

I have just pulled Yves Dupont's book Catholic Prophecy down from the shelf in order to read Emmerich's prophecies again. Thought I'd blog some, including this one which is dated October 7, 1820:

"As I was going through Rome with St. Francoise and the other saint, we saw a great palace engulfed in flames from top to bottom. I was very much afraid that the occupants would be burned to death because no one came forward to put out the fire. As we came nearer, however, the fire abated and we saw the blackened building. We went through a number of magnificent rooms (untouched by the fire), and we finally reached the Pope. He was sitting in the dark and slept in a large arm-chair. He was very ill and weak; he could no longer walk. The ecclesiastics in the inner circle looked insincere and lacking in zeal; I did not like them. I told the Pope of the bishops who are to be appointed soon. I told him also that he must not leave Rome. If he did so, it would be chaos. He thought that the evil was inevitable and that he should leave in order to save many things beside himself. He was very much inclined to leave Rome, and he was insistently urged to do so. The Pope is still attached to the things of this earth in many ways.

Another one about the pope is dated June 1, 1821:

I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound. I also saw the Holy Father--God-fearing and prayerful. Nothing left to be desired in his appearance, but he was weakened by old age and by much suffering. His head was lolling from side to side, and it dropped onto his chest as if he were falling asleep. He often fainted and seemed to be dying. But when he was praying, he was often comforted by apparitions from Heaven. Then, his head was erect, but as soon as it dropped again onto his chest, I saw a number of people looking quickly right and left, that is, in the direction of the world.

"Then, I saw that everything that pertained to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge of young school-teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction.

"In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars."

One from April 22, 1823:

"I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone as to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church...But God had other designs."

And another from January 27, 1822:

"I saw a new Pope who will be very strict. He will estrange from him the cold and lukewarm bishops. He is not a Roman, but he is Italian. He comes from a place which is not very far from Rome, and I think he comes from a devout family of royal blood. But there must still be for a while much fighting and unrest."

She predicts that the Church will survive even if only one Catholic remains alive in the world, and that it will thrive once again when this turmoil has passed. Oddly enough, at the beginning of the section on her prophecies, DuPont refers to her as "blessed." The book was published in 1970 by Tan.

2004-10-10T23:29:00.000-04:00

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR OF A BOOK ON THE CRUSADES

at the Zenit website:

What the Crusades Were Really Like (Part 1)

Thomas Madden Dispels Myths

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, OCT. 10, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The Crusaders were not unprovoked aggressors, greedy marauders or medieval colonialists, as portrayed in some history books.

In fact, Thomas Madden, chair of St. Louis University's history department and author of "A Concise History of the Crusades," contests that the Crusaders were a defensive force that did not profit from their ventures by earthly riches or land.

In fact, Thomas Madden, chair of St. Louis University's history department and author of "A Concise History of the Crusades," contests that the Crusaders were defensive wars, not wars of conquest.

Madden shared with ZENIT the most popular myths about the Crusades and the modern findings that prove them wrong.

Go to the website to read the rest of the interview.

2004-10-10T18:46:00.000-04:00

FREEMASONS KEEP DIVIDE ALONG RACIAL LINES

In September, North Carolina white Masons voted against recognition of the black Prince Hall Lodge. The fraternity of brotherly love is racially prejudiced according to the AP story. N.C. is one of 14 states that still do not recognize Prince Hall Freemasonry.

2004-10-10T18:12:00.000-04:00

THEOSOPHY AND THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS

There is a curious little story at The Capital Timesabout a woman who was a Theosophist, was thrice married, and knew Winthrop Rockefeller. She founded a restaurant in Madison based on Theosophical principles which featured local produce and cooking from scratch. It generated other restaurants and became a legend in Masidon. The founder's son, a university Vice Chancellor, reported that his mother had moved to Ohio to seek treatment for schizophrenia, and died recently at the age of 77.

The stories about Theosophists usually tend to be interesting.

2004-10-10T17:47:00.000-04:00

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER SAYS AIDS WAS MANUFACTURED

as a biological weapon, according to an ABC Newsonline story linked by Spirit Daily.

2004-10-10T10:59:00.000-04:00

THE GREY SISTERS OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

have hired a speaker, and LifeSite exposes the subject.

PEMBROKE, Ontario, October 7, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Tickets are on sale now for the October 16 offering of “The Cosmic Culture of the Canoe”, offered as one of many new age programs running at the Marguerite Centre in Pembroke Ontario this year.

The Centre, run by the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception and housed in their Motherhouse, features the Executive Director of the pro-abortion Sierra Club of Canada Elizabeth May as well as renegade Catholic Bishops Thomas Gumbleton and Remi De Roo as part of its series entitled “Created and Sustained By Love: Earth as Home.”

Bishop De Roo is the hard-left churchman who retired from his post as bishop of Victoria in disgrace after leaving the diocese in deep financial trouble losing millions in ‘investments’ of diocesan funds into a friend’s Arabian horses. He will be speaking on “Biblical Characters and the Enneagram” during November, just after the completion of “Introduction to the very Enneagram. De Roo is heavily involved in promotion of the new age Enneagram, speaks on it regularly and includes prominent links to Enneagram resources on his website.

Despite its vast popularity in certain sectors, a recent Vatican document on the new age noted the enneagram is a form of Gnosticism, a formally declared heresy, which says Pope John Paul II is in “distinct, if not declared, conflict with all that is essentially Christian."

2004-10-09T22:24:00.000-04:00

IT SEEMS TO BE A GROWING TREND

2004-10-09T18:56:00.000-04:00

THE MASONIC LABYRINTH

at the Loge "La Fraternite" website that was linked in the Loge Maconnique Rene Guenon, No. 76, Grande Loge Suisse Alpins website.

2004-10-09T14:25:00.000-04:00

BABIES CONCEIVED WITHOUT PARENTS

A reader sent in this story from LifeSite: October 8, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One of a series of articles in the National Post on "Extreme Babymaking" has alarmed a US bioethics expert who warns that the creation of children from corpses is only the beginning if current research is allowed to continue. Dr. Dianne Irving, PhD, a graduate of the Kennedy Center for Bioethics at Georgetown University, told LifeSiteNews.com that research is moving forward to create cloned children out of left-over body parts from aborted babies and 'spare' IVF embryos. ... Dr. Irving calls for an honest public debate on such issues, which she says, has not been forthcoming while these and nearly identical laws are being passed around the world. She says that the era of human genetic engineering has already begun. "Similar scenarios describing the asexual reproduction of human beings -- or a combination of both -- should also be addressed publicly."

The Catholic Church opposes genetic experimentation such as this. There is one of considerable influence who protests the Church's opposition:

ATT. RAFFI (GOI) SAYS ITALY IS GOING BACK TO RELIGIOUS PREJUDICES

Rome, Sept.2nd (Adnkronos) -"The law in effect relative to assisted reproduction not only demonstrates the return of religious prejudices which attempt to take the place of the right to choose of the individual, but also the usual attempt by the church to subordinate free-thinking scientific research to metaphysical dogmas. As with Galileo Galilei, today, religious obscurantism is trying to place legal limits on science, progress and human creativity" said Attorney Gustavo Raffi, the Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy at Palazzo Giustiniani in his intervention at the debate on assisted reproduction.

2004-10-09T13:02:00.000-04:00

E-MAIL FROM DR. BOND

Dear Friends,

The Times Leader of Wilkes-Barre reported today that Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity and Fr. Eric Ensey "are losing" the legal battle that has now spilled over into the Canadian courts. The spillage was caused by Urrutigoity's and Ensey's efforts to prevent their psychosexual records from being released by the Canadian institute where they were sent for evaluations by then Bishop James Timlin.

What the Times Leader article does not mention is that James Bendell, the attorney for the young man who is suing Urrutigoity and Ensey for sexual abuse, has filed a motion for sanctions against Ensey. This motion, which appears on the PACER web site, is attached below. In sum, the motion accuses Ensey of willful obstruction of discovery as ordered by a federal judge.

I think it is fair to say that Ensey is concerned about the contents of his psychosexual evaluation.

Pax vobiscum,

Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond

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

Plaintiff's Motion for Sanctions Against Fr. Eric Ensey

COME NOW Plaintiffs, by and through counsel, pursuant to Local Rule 37.1 and Local Rules 83.1 et seq., and move this court for an order imposing sanctions against defendant Eric Ensey for his willful obstruction of discovery in this matter. This motion is based upon the memorandum below, the exhibits attached hereto, and pleadings previously filed with the court.

On March 23, 2004, this court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order regarding the psychological evaluations of defendants Ensey and Urrutigoity. In that opinion the court ordered Fr. Urrutigoity's records turned over to plaintiffs' counsel as part of discovery. With regard to Fr. Ensey's records, the court deferred ruling until Fr. Ensey's records from Southdown Institute (in Canada) were sent to the court. At footnote 18 the court noted that the Southdown records were in the possession of Dr. Mikhail of the Southdown Institute. During oral argument at that hearing, attorney Sal Cognetti assured the court that every effort had been made to obtain those records from Dr. Mikhail but that the doctor was refusing to send the records to the court. The court's Opinion refers to correspondence between Mr. Cognetti and Dr. Mikhail. However, contrary to Federal Civil Rule 5, Mr. Cognetti did not copy this correspondence to opposing counsel, and has not copied that correspondence to this date.

After the court's ruling, counsel for Plaintiffs retained a Canadian attorney, Mr. Andrew Kerr, for the purpose of having Fr. Ensey's Southdown records subpoenaed and sent to this court. Mr. Kerr served his Canadian application upon counsel for Fr. Ensey and Urrutigoity. Fr. Ensey subsequently obtained a Canadian attorney, Mr. Andrew MacDonald, to fight the production of these records to this court. Attached hereto as Exhibit 'A' is a letter from Fr. Ensey's Canadian attorney to plaintiffs' Canadian attorney. The letter not only obstructs the production of Fr. Ensey's records, but even threatens the imposition of costs and attorney fees against Plaintiffs for seeking the records.

Fr. Ensey's conduct flies in sharp contrasts to the assurances of his attorney, Sal Cognetti, that he had attempted to have the Southdown Institute send his psychological records to this court. Accordingly, Fr. Ensey should be sanctioned. Because the conduct involves an already pending order, Plaintiffs request that Fr. Ensey's Answer in this case be stricken.

2004-10-09T11:42:00.000-04:00

EVERYTHING GOES

These days in the realm of spirituality everything is acceptable, or so some believe, even within Catholicism, where a Catholic group which is a part of Dignity and called The Defenders promotes leather sex. Honestly, the first time I saw it, I had to actually blog "leather sex" to confirm that it really was what I suspected it was.

It seems to have gone mainstream. The American Academy of Religion's 2004 Annual Meeting in San Antonia will feature workshops on leather sex, according to WorldNetDaily:

An annual convention of American religion scholars from prominent institutions will feature sessions favorable toward sadomasochism, transvestism, transsexualism and polyamory – participation in multiple sexual relationships.

One paper scheduled to be presented interprets a passage in the book of Jeremiah "through the lens" of a sadomasochistic encounter between God and a man.

The presentations offered at the American Academy of Religion's 2004 Annual Meeting in San Antonio next month demonstrates that "bringing male homosexual behavior into the mainstream produces a slippery slope" that serves only to destroy basic societal norms rather than tame risky behavior, says Robert A. J. Gagnon, associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Two workshops on the sexual themes are being offered by the Gay Men's Issues in Religion Group at the meeting, scheduled for Nov. 20-23.

"One wonders what is next for the Gay Men's group at AAR – the promotion of incest, 'pedosexuality' and bestiality?" Gagnon asked in a written critique. "There is certainly little or nothing in the presenters' theology that would lead away from such ultimate absurdities."

Their website indicates they are engaged in "Fostering Excellence in the Study of Relgion." How exactly do they define the word "excellence"?

Here are the Program Unit Types, most of which are expected topics for a religious forum to discuss. Except for a couple of them which could easily be overlooked in the long list.

Here is the "Call for Papers on gay men's Issues In Religion Group." The S/M topic really is in there.

They also have Tantric studies on the agenda, described here in the "Call for Papers."

Such creative ways to legitimize sexual practices that even within my lifetime were considered deviant back-room topics. Come to think of it, all sex used to be considered a back-room topic. Now we talk about it so much that the heterosexual event has become boring and more novel encounters are the topic of conversation. And religious symposiums as well apparently. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

2004-10-09T11:03:00.000-04:00

VATICAN BANK SCANDAL STILL HAUNTS US

From Reuters:

The class action lawsuit accuses the Vatican Bank of receiving hundreds of millions of dollars of gold and other assets looted from victims of Croatia's brutal Ustasha regime from 1941-1945. As many as 700,000 people, most of them Serbs, were killed at death camps run by the Nazi-allied government. Vatican Bank attorney Jeffrey Lena argued foreign policy, not lawsuits, should address such historical claims.

"Losses that occur in the chaos of war need to be handled by the state which suffers the loss," he said. "It is well beyond the provenance of the district court to manage."

"Getting to the merits of this case...would require the gathering of evidence from multiple countries, evidence that is more than 50 years old."

The lawsuit does not seek any specific monetary amount but, at least initially, a review of how much money is involved.

The plaintiffs say the illicit funds may have been funneled to groups working to smuggle Nazis out of Europe after the war, including Adolf Eichmann.

2004-10-08T23:19:00.000-04:00

IS THAT A COMMITMENT, SENATOR ?

He wants to decide the fate of America, but he has trouble picking a hair color.

Brown

Grey

Black

Brown

Grey

Brown

Black

2004-10-08T13:17:00.000-04:00

UNITY IN DIVERSITY

Crux News links a report from the International Herald Tribune on recent statements concerning French culture:

President Jacques Chirac of France warned Thursday of a catastrophe for global diversity if the United States' cultural leadership goes unchallenged. ...

The French president warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by U.S. values.

Did he consider that one of the reasons U.S. values are "choking" other cultures is that there is something desirable about U.S. values, at least in the eyes of those other cultures? If "global diversity" is a cherished value, all of the world's cultural values are offered for the taking. If true freedom is sought, the cultures of the world then have the freedom to choose. It is not greater freedom, but rather lesser freedom that Chirac is hinting at.

The Pope also speaks of diversity.

In an address to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate on Sept. 24:

First, he invited them to live "a renewed fraternal union" so that the congregation will be "a family, whose members form only one heart and soul."

...the Pope acknowledged that they face a "compromising challenge," but "extremely important for humanity, called to journey the path of solidarity in diversity." ...

On January 13, 2003, in a statement to the ambassadors to the Holy See, he said:

Today’s Europe [is] at once united and enlarged. Europe has succeeded in tearing down the walls which disfigured her. She has committed herself to planning and creating a new reality capable of combining unity and diversity, national sovereignty and joint activity, economic progress and social justice. This new Europe is the bearer of the values which have borne fruit for two thousand years in an "art" of thinking and living from which the whole world has benefited. Among these values Christianity holds a privileged position...

In a statement made at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, he said:

"God of our fathers, you chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your name to the nations: We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and, asking your forgiveness, we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the covenant."

In his just released apostolic letter opening the Year of the Eucharist, he said:

The Eucharist, John Paul writes, opens the possibility for "a culture of dialogue." In a world torn by tragedy and terrorism, the Church finds in the Blessed Sacrament "a great school of peace."

"Fraternal union," "solidarity in diversity," "unity and diversity," "brotherhood," "dialogue" and "peace" are all phrases that have fallen from the Pope's lips repeatedly, and anyone who reads news about him is familiar with them. These words are unique to this papacy, but they are not unique to this time period.

Another voice in Rome is using them as well--the voice of Gustavo Raffi, the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grande Oriente d'Italia, when speaking to members of the Grand Lodge.

In an Allocution made in 2002 to the Brothers of the Grand Lodge, titled "The Ways of Dialogue," he said:

If we have faith in the virtuous side of man and we work to limit that which is obscure everyone of us must make an effort to spread and reinforce those values which are the bedrock of civilized life and an expression of the potential of every man, the ethic of brotherhood and equality, which freemasonry has always brought to the forefront and transfused in society, are thus placed at the centre of social life and in relationships between human beings.

Albeit this attitude is fundamental, it is not sufficient, we must go beyond it, realize the historical importance of an apply these values and principles to the specific conditions of a human society, rendered equal in its diversity, its differing points of view, opinions and outlook on the world, cultural traditions, religious creeds, having clearly injested the idea that the architecture of sharing has it foundation in the principle of reciprocation. ...

The pedagogical-educative way is therefore the one which stimulates personal growth with respect for differences and puts at the disposition of the individual judgement those values which are the fundamental expression of one's own individuality and of community living.

The second way is that of dialogue.

Without dialogue one distances oneself, remains anchored to one's own horizon, fast in the fortress of one's own limited interests one remains on the other side of the barricade and so the other person appears far away and not in frequently becomes the enemy. Without dialogue there is meeting and our point of view appears as the sole horizon of our actions. In the actual condition of man we believe that dialogue between adherents of opposing positions is the only way to get people to meet, to get to know one another, to put on the table their own points of view, to declare their interests in order to enable them to mature and negotiate possible solutions. ...

These sound bites about dialogue are alluring. We don't want to fight with anyone. We certainly don't want war, and especially over our faith. And so the Pope has instituted programs of interreligious dialogue in an attempt to alleviate growing animosity engendered by globalism.

We can't stuff the genie back into the bottle. Ease of transportation and communication together with transient populations spreading their ideaologies around the globe have made a solution to religious differences imperative. But at what price?

Gustavo Raffi expresses the Masonic philosophy on this interreligious dialogue:

Freemasonry has, since its beginnings, always sought to encourage dialogue and has urged men to meet in a climate of mutual respect.

The masons do not espouse one particular philosophy or ideology but a method of co-habitation between all possible philosophies and ideologies stating the lay principle which consists of the rule "do not lay claim to possessing the truth more than every other person who may claim likewise."

The condemnation of this intolerant attitude is an integral part of the cultural heritage of universal freemasonry, which not by mistake, has seen its best men fight absolutism and tyranny, working in the construction of organizations for peace and aid such as the red cross, the United Nations, Amnesty International and many others.

If we may not "lay claim to possessing the truth," what then may we lay claim to? The Pope indicates we must lay claim to the superiority of Jesus Christ. That is not compatible with meeting members of other religions in "brotherhood and equality."

And in fact, Europe has just recently shown the world how this works, by refusing to acknowledge Christianity in the constitution of the European Union, much to the Pope's dismay. His cherished "solidarity in diversity" does not accommodate Christ the King. In fact, no religion can be accommodated in this scheme. As Raffi puts it:

Let them come to our temples to shout that peace, dialogue and respect should be banned. Let them try to erect new pyres to universal brotherhood, to the profound sense of the divine who unites every one beneath the light of reason and with different faiths. They even go so far as to say that heaven is with them whilst raising shouts of hatred.

Our faith is unfailing. A faith in the highest values of mankind and of he who gave life; a faith in the reason for comparison and of peace in the hope that one day, would that it is not too far off, even those who today would forbid us to speak will understand the superiority of respect and dialogue.

We have interreligious dialogue going on all over the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, we are witnessing the destruction of the faith. In the Pope's own diocese, adherence to Catholicism is slipping away. Christ is no longer "the way the truth and the life" but rather merely another god in the pantheon from which mankind can pick and choose in his diversity.

In an address to the Omayyad Mosque of Damascus, May 6, 2001, the Holy Father stated:

I truly hope that our meeting today in the Umayyad Mosque will signal our determination to advance interreligious dialogue between the Catholic Church and Islam. This dialogue has gained momentum in recent decades; and today we can be grateful for the road we have travelled together so far. At the highest level, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue represents the Catholic Church in this task. For more than thirty years the Council has sent a message to Muslims on the occasion of Îd al-Fitr at the close of Ramadan, and I am very happy that this gesture has been welcomed by many Muslims as a sign of growing friendship between us.

If we are friends traveling the road together, isn't it reasonable to travel in either your car or mine?

2004-10-08T01:11:00.000-04:00

CATHARISM IN THE LIGHT OF THE SOPHIA PERENNIS

With respect to neo-Catharism, anti-traditional in essence, some of our readers may rightfully wonder what convinced us to create a Cathar section, the "Perfect Heresy". A quick overview of the writings of our friend Philippe Roy may have convinced them that his perspective is not that of the Perennialists, far from it. No reference there is made to Guénon or to Schuon but instead to C. G. Jung as well as some sharp critiques of the Catholic church.

Then, why Catharism ?

In reality, many dimensions of Catharism belong to the world of the Tradition. The Consolamentum is not a mere sacrament but a purely initiatic and esoteric rite in its essence, which, according to the Cathars, dates from Christ Himself ! Also are found, in the writings of the Cathars and in the Inquisition testimonies, a doctrine of posthumous conditions which differs much, as far as the Perfecti are concerned, from a gross reincarnationism. At last, their doctrine as a whole, as far as it is possible to know it, appears a way of knowledge, not necessarily a doctrine purely metaphysical but a path including some jnanic elements.

2004-10-07T18:03:00.000-04:00

PAINTINGS OF FRITHJOF SCHUON

I've found the source of the icon--which is really a painting--in the Sophia Perennis website. It's Frithjof Schuon's work. I wonder if Lentz copied Schuon's style in writing his icons?

He did a lot of paintings of Indians.

2004-10-07T14:46:00.000-04:00

GRAND MASTERS ON KOSOVO

A Joint Statement of the Grand Lodges of Italy and Yugoslavia, signed by Grand Master Gustavo Raffi, and Grand Master Novak Jaukovic, reads in part:

Freemasonry, on the basis of its cosmopolitan view refuses and condemns ethnic, racial and religious fanatism. Defend and supports fraternity among men and people.

Strives toward the end of the war and favour international negotiations, aiming to conciliate civil freedom, autonomy and territorial integrity of States; towards immediate solution that has to be reached within the UN, custodian of the Universale Declaration of Human Rights, generated in European Lodges and inspired by masonic ideals and practice.

2004-10-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

GRANDE ORIENTE d'ITALIA AND ESOTERICISM

It is often said that Freemasonry does not concern itself with occult topics. There is a paper online at the Italian Grand Orient website titled "The Esoteric Way, Social Engagement and Moral Conduct" by Gustavo Raffi, to the Brothers of the Grand Lodge, 2001, that makes clear this is a concern of the lodge. It reads in part:

What we call our esoteric tradition, which is parallel and complementary to our ideals of illuministic nature, is seen from diverse perspectives, such as Hermeticism, the Cabbalah, Pythagoreanism, Templarism, Rosicrucianism, alchemy, and others again, that are, so to speak, the esoteric foundation that characterizes our Institution, that make it unique and render it possible that the Freemasons can consider themselves like initiates, beyond any kind of self-certification.

We do not presume to hold that the Freemasons are the sole heirs of these traditions, and neither to think of a direct historical derivation from these associations, but it is certain that such esoteric traditions are our point of reference to which we must look to give meaning to our initiation, to our spiritual journey, and to our beings as Freemasons.

Grand Lodge is a senior governing body of a particular obedience, in this case Italian Grand Orient Freemasonry.

Access the paper here. If that doesn't work, go to the Italian Grand Orient websiteand click the logo. On the page that comes up, the right-hand top column, beside the year 2001, there are two entries. Click "Via esoterica, partecipazione sociale e condotta morale." This paper will come up.

2004-10-06T19:55:00.001-04:00

TRADITIONALISM CONTINUED

Rene Guenon is compared to Joseph Campbell here:

Sophia Perennis announces a new addition to The Collected Works of René Guénon:

Symbols of Sacred Science

What Joseph Campbell and Robert Graves did for comparative mythology on the exoteric level, René Guénon does on the level of esoterism. In this quintessential work, Guénon proves himself a master of mythopoetic exegesis as well as "pure" metaphysics.
Cover drawing by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
(available through Ingram)

Sophia Perennis, 2004; 464 pp.
PB: ISBN 0900588772, $25.95;
HB: ISBN 0900588780, $40.95

Lee Penn lumps Campbell with Stanislav Groff in his description of Jean Houston's Labyrinth Project:

Houston can thus add the Veriditas Project to her long list of accomplishments on behalf of the New Age movement. Houston claims wide influence, having "worked to implement cultural growth and social transition in more than 40 countries with international development agencies, and in Bangladesh and Burma with UNICEF. She consults to CEOs and leads workshops at companies such as Kraft, Xerox, General Electric, Beatrice Foods, and others."(614) Over the years, Houston's collaborators and advisers have included a host of advocates for the post-1965 spiritual upheaval in the US and Western Europe, including Stanislav Grof, Elaine Pagels, Joseph Campbell, Margaret Mead, Alan Watts, Moshe Feldenkrais, and Edgar Mitchell.(615)

Ken McCormick, in a paper titled "The Magical Journey," says this of Campbell:

In any case, Neopagan Eric S. Raymond in his Internet FAQ on Neopaganism says of Joseph Campbell's four-volume The Masks of God that "the theoretical framework of these books is a form of pragmatic neo-Jungianism which has enormously influenced the neopagans; we can accurately be described as the practice for which Campbell and Jung were theorizing."

I look forward to reading what Lee has to say about Guenon in his forthcoming book to be published this fall by Sophia Perennis Press.

But to continue on with Traditionalism...

Take a look at the very brief history of Masonry in the Harpers' Encyclopedia. In that history you will find the following passage:

Followers of Sufic mysticism believe that the builders of King Solomon's temple were really Sufi architects incorporating the holy words of God in numerical equivalents expressed in temple measurements, making Freemasonry Arabic in origin. According to this view, the Saxon King Aethelstan (A.D. 894-939) introduced Masonry to England after learning of it from the Spanish Moors.

If you read the entire passage on Freemasonry in Harpers, you will get a good overview of the variety of threads of belief contained in the various rites and obediences. Take note, also, of this passage which will come up again:

Many of these rites passed quickly into oblivion, but not all. Thirty higher degrees, representing more spiritual and esoteric understanding, became the Antient and Accepted Rite of the Thirty-Third Degree. Philosopher Manly P. Hall, who himself achieved the Thirty-Third Degree, compares the ascension to the Higher Degrees to "passing beyond the veil" to true mystic union with God.

That "mystic union with God" is the Alchemical Wedding?

This passage from the article explains the position of the Catholic Church with regard to Freemasonry:

Many readers of the above list might liken the Brotherhood to an elaborate fraternity, blessed with an abundance of mystical offices. But the Roman Catholic Church and some other Christian faiths take Freemasonry's hermetic side very seriously and outlaw its practice among church members.

The Vatican issued its first papal condemnation of Freemasonry in 1738, and by 1917 decreed that anyone joining a Masonic organization was excommunicated. Many Catholics, including Vatican prelates, had joined Masonic lodges in the beginning. Many church officials continue to look the other way, especially in England, home of most European Masons. The Greek Orthodox church officially condemned Freemasonry in 1933, calling it a system reminiscent of heathen mystery religions.

S. R. Parchment, author of Operative Masonry and founder of the Rosicrucian Anthroposophic League, stated in no uncertain terms that Masons believe in the potential of Christ in each man, but not in Jesus as the Son of God. Even the Anglican vicar and Masonic apologist Vindex called Freemasonry the embodiment of all religious systems and ancient mysteries, not the Christian organization inherited from the guilds. Of course, many Masons are not Christians.

Turning to the publication "Freemasonry Today," edited by Michael Baigent, one of the authors of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" on which Dan Brown based his book, this passage from Issue 17 explains the view of religion held by Masonry:

Initiation was, and is, the entrance into direct knowledge of that eternal other world, one suffused by omnipresent Divinity, perceived, to this very day, in the form of an endless clear and living light. Research currently progressing at the University of Wales has revealed – contrary to the endless sceptical arguments of philosophers of religion – the existence of a "common core" to religious experiences which cuts across the differences of faith and culture. 1000 members of Christianity, Islam and Judaism have all described having religious experiences of "intense light and a sense of encompassing love". The researchers suggest that humans "share a common spirituality regardless of religious affiliations".

That seems to be the same message as The Foundation for Traditional Studies offers. That same concept is contained in the interreligious dialogue of the Catholics which has been ongoing since Vatican II, but which was anathema prior to that Council. Notice also at the beginning of the article a Sufi poet is quoted.

Some postulate a relationship to the Grail Mysteries in Sufi mysticism. Here is an example of this at the Alchemy Lab website:

2. Sufi Alchemists and the Grail Myth

Marcel Eliade has commented that there may be a Zoroastrian (here referred to as Parsi) origin for the Grail Myth: “In a work published in 1939, the Parsi Scholar Sir Jahangir C. Coyajee has also remarked upon the analogy between the Grail and the Iranian Glory, xvarenah , and the similarities between the legends of Arthur and those of the fabulous King Kay Khorsaw.” Interestingly the xvarenah mentioned, is the same substance the sacred Haoma was said to be rich in. Eliade goes on to say that in one of the many forms of the legend, the Grail is found in India: “Let us add that in the cycle of compositions posterior to Wolfram Von Eschenbauch, the Grail is won in India by Lohengrin, Parzival’s son, accompanied by all the knights .”

Barbara Walker tells us that the whole wasteland motif is of an Arab origin, and that the early crusaders brought it back to Europe believing that if the grail were not recovered then the wasteland that befell the Saudi-Arabian dessert would befall their more fertile land.[10] The story about Parzival and his son is closely paralleled in the following account given by Idries Shaw in The Sufis:

It is just possible that Baigent, et. al. got their idea for the Priory of Sion from Sufi mysticism, but that will take further research to verify.

In any case, Pallavicini's Milan Sufis are Ahmadiyyas. The Ahmadiyyas believe Jesus survived the crucifixion and went to India. From the website:

The Ahmadiyya

In about 1949, Abd al-Wahid Pallavicini (1926- ), a wealthy young Italian who had read Guénon's Crise du monde moderne, visited its Italian translator, Evola. Evola told Pallavicini that his own interests were more in temporal than spiritual power, and referred him instead to Burckhardt. In 1951, Pallavicini became Muslim at Burckhardt's hands and took the Alawi tariqa, and the name of Abd al-Wahid Yahya.(98) Having earlier broken with Schuon over the vexed question of the validity of Christian initiation, Pallavicini visited (in 1971) the zawiya in Singapore of the Ahmadi shaykh Abd al-Rashid ibn Muhammad Said (1918-92), an Azhari alim [scholar trained at the prestigious Azhar mosque-university in Cairo] as well as an important shaykh.(99)

according to the ancient and noted historian, Flavius Josephus whom we quoted above, it was more than common for a crucifixion victim to be taken down from the cross alive and given “treatment so they could get better.” And, in the case of Flavius’s friends, one of them recovered from his crucifixion wounds. Dr. James Deardorff views Josephus’s testimony as the most powerful evidence that crucifixion victims could survive their ordeal.

Notice that the last section proposes 29 saviors before Jesus. Is that the fate of the Son of God? To become just another one of a number of saviors? The issue comes down to who Jesus was. Was he man or was he God? From the Ahmadiyya website:

The debate over Jesus as a simple human being versus Jesus as the Son of God, or God Himself, is occurring both inside and outside of Christianity. The commonality between the debates inside and the debates outside of Christianity is that both are rooted in the subject of Jesus’ divinity or lack thereof.

2004-10-06T11:17:00.000-04:00

A TRADITIONALIST WEBSITE

The founder and webmaster of this one is Associate Professor in French Cultural Studies at Miami University, Patricia Reynaud. In her current research she is focused on Simon Weil, Rene Guenon and Frithjof Schuon, Hinduism, Islam, and Medieval Catharism. Clicking the "Religio Perennis" button on her website takes you here where a picture of Rene Guenon and that very unusual icon of the Indian Virgin Mary can be found again.

I've attempted to discover the iconographer, but so far been unsuccessful. It is written very much in the style of Franciscan Brother Robert Lentz who is also known for his Celtic Trinity.

Here is another website devoted to Traditionalism. Authors here include Wendell Berry, Titus Burckhardt, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The Dalai Lama, Rene Guenon, Thomas Merton, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, E. F. Schumacher, Frithjof Schuon, and Huston Smith.

The whole concept of Traditionalism as presented in these two websites and in The Foundation for Traditional Studies website appears to be syncretistic in the sense that a foundation spirituality or "perennial philosophy" is said to be the source for all religions. While it is currently being acknowledged that different paths have grown out of the common source, the emphasis still remains on the commonality. Albert Pike said much the same thing in Morals and Dogma.

2004-10-06T11:13:00.000-04:00

NATIONMASTER.COM DESCRIBES CATHOLIC TRADITIONALISM

2004-10-06T01:06:00.000-04:00

GUENON, SCHUON, PALLAVICINI

Mark Sedgwick has a paper online about "Traditionalist Sufism." In it he describes some of Guenon's activities during his years in Paris, including these passages:

Guénon, meanwhile, had taken part in the Spiritualist and Masonic Congress in Paris in 1908,(14) and in the same year had founded his own Ordre du temple rénové, in which one authority has distinguished elements of Theosophy and of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.(15) As a result of the establishment of the Ordre du temple, Guénon and his followers were expelled from the Ordre martiniste by Encausse. In 1909, Guénon joined the Gnostic Church of Fabre des Essarts ('the Patriarch Synésius'), and edited until 1912 the periodical La Gnose, described as 'the official organ of the Universal Gnostic Church.'(16) ...

Guénon's conversion to Islam was followed by an unequivocal repudiation of his earliest connections and interests, testified to by two books in which he attacked and exposed Theosophy and spiritualism in general and, in particular, a number of organizations ranging from Aleister Crowley's Golden Dawn to the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.(27) He however retained a conviction of the efficacy of magic, as we will see, as well as an involvement in Masonry, which he considered to contain the vestiges of 'valid' Western 'initiatic traditions.'(28) Lings suggests that Guénon's secluded lifestyle in Cairo - extending to a refusal to give his actual address even to regular correspondents - was the result of fear of attack by magic by certain Europeans.(29) These included, according to a slightly dubious source, Téder / Charles Detré, an enemy of his from the days of the Ordre du temple.(30) In a letter to Evola in 1948, Guénon wrote that an 'attack of rheumatism' in 1939 had been caused by 'une influence maléfique,' and disagreed with Evola, who had evidently said that such things could not hurt those who have spiritual stature. Guénon pointed out that the Prophet himself was made ill by sorcerers.(31) Most Guénonian biographers tend to gloss over Guénon's concern with magic, sometimes referring to attacks of persecution mania when Guénon was ill, but in one sense such apologies are unnecessary. A belief in the efficacy of magic is not un-Islamic, as Guénon's own reference to the Prophet reminds us. Such a belief was (and is) widespread in Egypt amongst all types and classes of person,(32) and so may be described as traditional within Islam. ...

Guénon is perhaps best described as an influential commentator on modernity, which - he argues - is the Last Age (kali yuga)....Guénon is also the great exponent of Tradition in a second sense, in the sense of the need to adhere to one of the great orthodox religious traditions which embody 'perennial' Truth. This concept of the Transcendent Unity of Religions is one of Guénon's most important and problematic legacies...

A proponent of Guenonian ideas, Frithjof Schuon, is described in the paper as a visionary:

In 1937, Schuon received, in a vision, 'Six Themes of Meditation' from God; these themes were introduced into the Alawi practice of his zawiya.(65) The receipt of some special practice, often in a vision, frequently heralds the creation of a new tariqa; receipt from God directly, without any intermediary, is highly unusual, if not otherwise unheard of.

His tariqa, which he called Maryamiyya, was unusual in that the Virgin Mary had a place of prominence:

In 1965, Schuon had a vision of the Virgin (Maryam in Arabic), as a result of which he changed the name of his tariqa to 'Maryamiyya.'(83) Shortly afterwards, rumors of unorthodoxy were circulating, notably of the display of pictures of the Virgin in the Lausanne zawiya. Such pictures, referred to as 'icons,' were used (at least by the 1980s) as a focus for meditation in the practice of the tariqa.(84) Maryamis stress that these icons are not used 'in the zawiya,'(85) but this is a distinction which would mean little to most Muslims. In 1985, in a further vision of the Virgin, Schuon received the unusual wird [element of litany; office] 'Ya Maryam aleyka al-salam ya rahman ya rahim' [O Mary, on you be peace, O Compassionate, O Merciful].(86)

Eventually Schuon and Guenon came to a parting of ways:

The immediate grounds of the breach between Schuon and Guénon were the ever problematic question of the Transcendent Unity of Religions.(67) Schuon went further than Guénon on this point, holding that Christian initiation retained 'virtual' validity, and needed only to be somehow 'activated.' Whilst Guénon agreed with Schuon in accepting the validity of Masonic initiation, he held that Christian baptism had ceased to have any esoteric value at the end of the Middle Ages.(68) Schuon held that it was impossible for the Christian baptism to lose all validity, since this would be a betrayal by the Holy Ghost.(69)

Schuon had both Christian and Buddhist followers. He "saw the Christian sacraments as 'initiatory' and Christians as thus able to follow a Master while remaining Christian."

Ultimately, near the end of his life, his spirituality drifted into that of the American Indians. He was adopted into the Lakota tribe and took part in Primordial Gatherings and Pow Wows. He also developed an interest in nakedness following his 1965 vision of the Virgin. Both he and the Virgin appear naked in certain "Tantric icons." In Primordial Gatherings women wore a sort of American Indianized bikini or loin-cloths. Schuon maintained that nakedness was compatible with Islam. He "married" the wife of one of Guenon's followers, Whithall Perry in what Schuon termed a "vertical" marriage" while she was still married to her husband in a "horizontal marriage."

Another follower of Guenon, Abd al-Wahid Pallavicini, became involved in Muslim-Christian dialogue in Rome and used his fame from this to spread the Guenonian message:

One of the high points of Pallavicini's involvement with this dialogue was the Day of Prayer held by Pope John Paul in Assisi on 27 October 1986, at which representatives of twelve religions met together to pray for peace.(106) Ten delegations represented Islam; Pallavicini went with the CICI, the main Islamic organization in Rome, made a speech to a 'round table of the representatives of religions,' and issued a press release.(107) Pallavicini became a popular interviewee for the Italian newspapers,(108) reflecting the role he had played at Assisi, both because a much interviewed person becomes newsworthy anyhow, and because at this time the position of Islam in Italy was changing significantly. By 1990, Pallavicini had become the most interviewed Muslim in Catholic papers, a sort of Muslim 'de confiance.'(109) He was even being described by the major newspaper Corriere della Sera as shaykh 'of one of the most important Sufi brotherhoods.'(110)

During his Muslim-Christian dialogue, Pallavicini did not try to proselytize for Islam, but found that many of those persons with whom he was trying to carry out an inter-religious dialogue became Muslim (and Ahmadi), so that in the end the 'dialogue with Christians' became a 'monologue of Muslims.'(111)

Zenit also indicates his involvement with interreligious dialogue:

For his part, Abd al Wahid Pallavicini, president of the Italian Islamic Religious Community in Milan, expressed his disagreement with Imam Moussa's words, and said the threats are not part of native Italian Islam.

Pallavicini was the official representative of Islam at the 1986 interreligious meeting at Assisi. He also represents the Rome mosque at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He said that the group in Milan stands for an Islam that is "fully compatible with society and with the Italian juridical ordering."

2004-10-05T23:35:00.000-04:00

E-MAIL FROM LEE PENN

Early this summer, I did a story for The Christian Challenge on the "coronation" of Rev. Moon and his wife at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 23 of this year. Now, I am forwarding this update ... with new information, showing broader Congressional involvement in the event, and noting that President G. H. W. Bush spoke on Moon's behalf in 1996.

The Christian Challenge - wfsection-3. Focus
http://www.challengeonline.org/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=22

Scroll down toward the bottom of the page, where the headline reads "Washington Mooned." Or, use the text that I copied into this e-mail.

Use, blog, post, forward, or link as you wish.

Lee
=================================================
Washington Mooned
Two Lawmakers Join In “Coronation”
Of Unification Church Leader, Wife

Report/Analysis By Lee Penn

YOU MAY NOT KNOW IT YET, but a pair of Messiahs is among us, and were crowned as such at a federal building in the nation’s capital this spring.

Two U.S. Congressmen, Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), helped to crown Unification Church leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his wife as “True Parents” of mankind at a March 23, 2004, banquet held at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington D.C.

Photos from a video of the event produced by Moon’s church show that Rep. Davis carried a crown toward the Rev. Moon and his wife as a prelude to their dual coronation. Rep. Bartlett was seen “holding Moon’s robes, bowing to Moon and his wife, and participating in a four-way handshake with the couple.”

In his speech after the ceremony, Moon said that the spirit world has “declared to all Heaven and Earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity’s Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent.”

A number of other House and Senate members also were involved or claimed by Moon’s organization to be involved with the coronation/banquet, though most denied any connection with it or said they were misled about the nature of the event or its link to Moon; the gathering was billed as a function of the Interreligious and International Peace Council (IIPC)—which, however, is one of Moon’s groups.

Rev. Moon claimed shortly thereafter, though, that “the Senate and House together offered the Crown as Peace King to True Parents.”

When interviewed earlier this summer by THE CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE, Rep. Davis confirmed his role in the event. He said, “I was attempting to provide an accolade to the Rev. Moon and his wife for promoting visions of world peace” and “family structure.”

He added, “From my vantage point, it did not have anything to do with religion. I am a practicing Baptist, and have been a Protestant all my life.” According to Davis, Moon’s speech “was similar to a baseball team owner telling team members that ‘we are the greatest team on earth’” just before a game.

Davis’ reason for supporting Moon is that “if we try to bring people from different races, religions, and ethnic groups back together, this becomes good for the world order.”

Rep. Bartlett’s press secretary, Lisa Wright, told TCC that Bartlett received an “Ambassadors for Peace Award” from the Washington Times Foundation (the conservative-leaning Times is owned by Moon) for his work in Congress, and attended part of the banquet. She said that “this was the sum total of his participation...His attendance in no way reflects an endorsement of what the Rev. Moon said or did at that event, or at any other time.”

However, in early July, Rep. Bartlett defended his participation in the crowning. “What was so strange?” he asked. “I’m not rude, and if I was there and asked to do something that was benign, handing a robe to an old person and honoring him for his contribution to world peace and fundamental morality, now why wouldn’t I do that if I was asked to?”

On March 24, The Washington Times identified Reps. Davis, Bartlett, Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN), Curt Weldon (R-PA), Chris Cannon (R-UT), Sanford Bishop (D-GA), and Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN), as “assisting at” the March 23 banquet.

Other than Davis and Bartlett, all but one of these lawmakers have denied that they support Moon and the Unificationists. Those who attended the event said that they were there briefly to honor constituents who were receiving awards, or to receive a peace award themselves. Chris Lisi, the press secretary for Sen. Dayton, said that the meeting planners “were not being up front as to who was sponsoring the event. We would never have been there if we knew what the event really was.”

A knowledgeable source on Capitol Hill confirmed that some legislators attended the March 23 banquet without knowing the real sponsorship and intent of the gathering. “There was a mass exodus from the event as soon as folks realized that it was a Rev. Moon event, and that he was there,” the informant said.

The Moonies claim in a video of the banquet that, in all, “81 U.S. senators and members of Congress...26 ambassadors to the United States...and some 450 leaders from various fields... came to participate in an Ambassadors for Peace Awards...and Crown of Peace Ceremony.” If this is true, it would account for a “mass exodus” when assembled legislators realized whose party they were unwittingly attending.

However, the Unificationists have denied tricking the congressmen, saying those invited knew Moon would be there. In response to the coronation controversy, a Unificationist spokesman said “an invitation letter sent initially to every Congressional office clearly identified Rev. and Mrs. Moon as the founders of the [IIPC], and stated that they would participate and be honored at this event.”

At deadline, TCC had not received a reply to its questions from the office of Rep. Cannon. However, Cannon was photographed in attendance at a Moon event at the Reagan Building on February 4, 2004; at this gathering, Moon’s son, Hyun Jin, accepted royal crowns on behalf of the Rev. Moon.

==================================

Go to the website to read the rest of the story -ct.)

2004-10-05T11:01:00.000-04:00

ELECTION FRAUD ?

Remember the last presidential election when the Democrats caused such a stir in Florida over counting ballots? At the time it seemed very odd...almost as though the decision were much more important than other presidential elections had been.

A reader sent in this News Max article:

1. More Evidence of Massive Vote Fraud Plans?

NewsMax's Insider Report has been warning our readers that Democrats and their supporters may be laying the groundwork for a massive effort to "steal" the election come Election Day.

But that is not how it will be played by the big media. If John Kerry wins, the media spin will be about the "new voters" who threw the election to Kerry in swing states and were "undercounted" by the polls.

The New York Times headlined in Monday's editions: "As Deadlines Hit, Rolls of Voters Show Big Surge."

NewsMax previously reported that Democrats have been out-registering Republican voters by 5 to 1 in key states such as Ohio and Florida. In some states, such as Iowa, Democrats already have supplied absentee ballots to election boards at a rate of more than 2 to 1 over Republicans.

In its latest article the Times confirms these trends, reporting that in so-called swing states all across the nation potential voters seeking to register in time for the November presidential election are swamping election officials.

The record rise in the number of registrants has jammed boards of election from Pennsylvania to Oregon, as the registration deadlines for the largest of the crucial swing states was today (Oct. 4).

Once again it appears there is more at stake than we know.

Here in northeast Ohio, there are Kerry-Edwards signs everywhere, and very few Bush-Cheney signs. The Catholic vote is vital. And the Catholic vote must take abortion into consideration.

For what it's worth, the four leading states in Masonic Lodge membership are California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. That may mean nothing at all. On the other hand...?

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

2004-10-05T10:11:00.000-04:00

WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE

and we survived it. In fact, we triumphed over it. So says an article sent in by a reader from The Washington Times: The following are excerpts of a sermon given recently by the Rev. Franklyn McAfee at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Great Falls, Va.

A certain depression has taken hold of Catholics today, caused by the clerical scandals of the past few years plus the overwhelming incompetency of so many bishops to deal with the problems or even to recognize a problem.

These things verify what Pope Paul VI said, that the smoke of Satan was in the church, and the church was undergoing a Good Friday. We worry about the church we love; we hear the media criticize her. We are confused.

He goes on to describe the condition of the church in the years leading up to 1,000 A.D. The litany sounds all too familiar. There really is nothing new under the sun. The sermon closes:

The church, beaten and scourged by scandal and betrayed by her own leaders, rose like the phoenix from her own ashes, more beautiful, more splendid, more strong, more fruitful than ever before. The church always buries her undertakers.

Looking back on this sorry, sordid time, historian Daniel Rops comments, "During two centuries of increasing night, there then appeared innumerable indications, however small, of a splendid dawn to come. New hordes of barbarians might overcome Christian lands, the children of light might compromise with the sons of darkness, even the very successors of St. Peter might prove themselves unequal to the crisis — but the soul of the church continues to declare herself so youthfully and so vigorously that she ultimately triumphs."

The Catholic Church continues to triumph, because the church is more than her members, she is more than her leaders; she is the very body of Christ.

Now that is a homily that needs to be delivered in every Roman Catholic church across America!

2004-10-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

IS THIS AN EXAMPLE OF DISHONOR AMONG THIEVES

or just naked greed in action?

Crux News has linked this story from the Telegraph:

The Da Vinci Code has sold more than 12 million copies and has been translated into 42 languages. But now two writers are suing its publishers, claiming that it was copied from their bestseller that first appeared more than 20 years ago.

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh claim that Dan Brown, the 39-year-old former English teacher from New Hampshire, has "lifted the whole architecture" of the research that they carried out for their non-fiction work The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which they co-wrote with Henry Lincoln.

They claim that the similarities between the two books are such that they have no choice but to sue Random House, whose imprint Doubleday is the publisher of Brown's novel.

Leigh told the Telegraph after issuing the writ: "It's not that Dan Brown has lifted certain ideas because a number of people have done that before. It's rather that he's lifted the whole architecture - the whole jigsaw puzzle - and hung it on to the peg of a fictional thriller."

So they want exclusive rights to their invention? It would be hard to see much of anything else in this lawsuit.

Baigent and Leigh claim that the novel's premise and chunks of factual research are plagiarised from their original historical hypothesis, which has sold more than two million copies despite being denounced by several Church commentators as "pseudo-history". Baigent said: "Whether our hypothesis is right or wrong is irrelevant. The fact is that this is work that we put together and spent years and years building up."

Suddenly Baigent, Lincoln, and Leigh's "historical research" has become "our hypothesis".

The name Leigh Teabing is an anagram of Leigh and Baigent, the authors point out, while his physical description - he walks with the aid of crutches - is allegedly based on the third author, Henry Lincoln, who walks with a limp.

2004-10-04T23:23:00.000-04:00

THE FOUNDATION FOR TRADITIONAL STUDIES

sells Ananda Coomaraswamy's video. The organization sells a number of books, some of which are written by the followers of Frithjof Schuon.

Here is a link to the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Traditional Studies where you will find Rama Coomaraswamy, Huston Smith, and Sayyed Hossein Nasr listed.

The Foundation also publishes "Sophia Journal." The Back issues of the journal are available online. Going through the issues is an interesting study in topics and authors. The first issue contains articles by Frithjof Schuon, Martin Lings, William Stoddart. Articles include "Norms and Paradoxes of Spiritual Alchemy," and "Rene Guenon."

Reading the second article, one discovers that Guenon was a Catholic, a member of the Paris occult revival who became disillusioned with occultism, and subsequently turned to the Sufi branch of Islam, an esoteric spirituality. Schuon is a follower of Guenon.

Volume 4, No. 2, Winter 1998 has a long list of authors which includes Rama Coomaraswamy and Sayyed Hossein Nasr.

Volume 8, Number 1 includes the article by Rama Coomaraswamy on the perennial philosophy, which I've linked in a blog earlier today.

There is an article on Sai Baba in Volume 10, No. 1 Articles by Huston Smith appear in several volumes.

======================================

Sophia Journal appears in another website as well, the website of the Rene Guenon Lodge. For an English translation of the website, click the appropriate link at the bottom of the webpage.

In clicking around this website, I came upon this webpage. It doesn't offer a translation. Perhaps there is someone out there who reads French?

This webpage also came up.

Does this homepage look familiar? This is the same lodge that supports the work of the Good Shepherd Sisters which I've linked below. It's a part of the Grande Loge Suisse Alpina.

The Loggia Rene Guenon. Look down at the very bottom of the website. There you will see "Grande Oriente d'Italia." This is Italian Grand Orient Freemasonry.

This has been a most interesting exercise in connecting the dots!

2004-10-04T15:02:00.000-04:00

FOCOLARE AND WCRP

Very curious involvement of this organization with the World Conference on Religion and Peace:

From a website Dialogue among believers of different faiths:

The Focolare Movement is a member of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP). Since 1994 Chiara Lubich is one of the honorary Presidents.

More than 30.000 followers of other religions are committed in he Focolare Movement: they collaborate in various activities and, in as much as they can, practise its spirituality.

=============================

On the International Governing Structure website of the WCRP, a listing of the International Governing Board includes the following:

Rabbi John Levi, Jewish, AUSTRALIA Regional Director, World Union for Progressive Judaism Ms. Chiara Lubich, Roman Catholic, ITALY Founder and President, Focolare Movement Haja Mariatu Madhi, Muslim, SIERRA LEONE Co-Moderator, Interreligious Council of Sierra Leone

=================================

From Zenit:

WCRP is a worldwide interreligious forum, which works to resolve situations and issues that endanger world peace and human dignity. Recognized by the United Nations as a nongovernmental organization, the conference is present in more than 60 countries. Its co-presidents include Cardinal William Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland; Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement; and the president of Indonesia.

====================================

The URI considers WCRP to be sympathetic to its goals if its listing on the URI website is any indication.

===============================

A History of Religions for Peace at the WCRP website indicates that the UUA is part of this history. In fact UUA was the first organization to attempt to unite the religions in 1893 at the Chicago Exposition, with the World Parliament for Religions and Peace.

At this time in history, UUA encompasses a variety of faiths including Paganism.

2004-10-04T11:32:00.000-04:00

RAMA COOMARASWAMY ON PEDOPHILIA

Dr. Coomaraswamy is coming from the ultra-right perspective. He is a proponent of the Tridentine and from the article appears to have doubts about the current pontificate. One might consider him to be a sedevacantist. One of his books is "The Problems with the New Mass." That will give you some idea of his perspective. With that in mind, his understanding of our current crisis is rather different than you will get from other commentators.

Coomaraswamy has several articles online. I decided to look at "I'm the Only One Ordained!" In this essay he spells out the real confusion within the Traditional movement, explaining why it is nearly impossible to determine who is validly consecrated as a bishop. Hence, of course, priestly ordinations become suspect. Near the end of the article he begins to sound so much like the Liberal Catholic Church statements on apostolic succession of their consecrations as to be almost indistinguishable. It is much closer to the occultists than to anything taught by the Roman Catholic Church prior to Vatican II. I'm sure the record of Apostolic Succession has always been kept somewhere, but we never had any doubt who was a bishop and who was not, and we had no reason to look up any documents. If Coomaraswamy's arguments--that there are few validly consecrated bishops--are to be accepted, we must conclude that Catholics have been abandoned by God.

Coomaraswamy's article on the Perennial Philosophy, a philosophy that fuels Masonic lodge ceremonies and occult activities, is explained in this passage from his article:

And so it is that it is possible for a Catholic to hold to the position usually described as “perennial or universal philosophy.” The only requirement is that he hold to it as a Catholic who accepts all the teachings of the Church as encompassed in the traditional Magisterium, and this for the simple reason that if one steps outside the Magisterium and entertains one’s own personal opinion as being “true,” one contradicts all that the sanatana dharma holds sacred.

He brings it back home with the passage that follows the one above:

All this has little to do with the false ecumenism that seems to pervade the atmosphere in our days, an ecumenism that would accept not only Protestantism, but every new age deviation imaginable on - as Vatican II puts it - “on an equal footing.” This ecumenical outreach often extends itself to Eastern religions where those responsible have little true knowledge and understanding. For example, many will speak of the Trinity in Hinduism as being represented by the exclamation of sat chit ananda - which is perhaps best translated as being, knowledge and bliss - names of God equivalent in Islam to qudrah, hikmah and rahmah.. The Hindu Trinity of Powers consists of the solar Father above, a fiery Son on earth (whence he ascends to heaven), and the Gale of their common spiration. St. Frances of Sales warned against those who speak of other religions without adequate knowledge, and indeed, even for those familiar with their own theological terminology (which is rare among current scholars), would have difficulty in understanding ways of expression foreign to their intellectual world.

And so it is that we as faithful Christians can, and indeed must accept the idea of a sophia perennis. Wisdom has always been there, it is Christ, the Word made flesh who opens the door and the Church which gives us access to it.

He goes on to cite more of the Perennial Philosophy in his exposition of the Tree of Jesse, citing the work of Ananda Coomaraswamy, who, I believe, was his father and a Hindu. He even goes so far as to indicate that this Tree first appeared in the 11th century. That is near the time when the Zohar made a debut. Gershom Scholem places the first circulation of the Zohar in 1280-1290s, by Moses de Leon. The Zohar is a central text of the Kabbalah.

He goes on to state:

...we have a single example of the many close parallels between mediaeval Christian and Oriental thought and symbolism which are best understood by an ultimate derivation of both from a common source (of which our earliest knowledge is, perhaps, Sumerian); diversities of formulation representing as it were the dialects of one spiritual tradition common to humanity[7]. From this point of views there is no difficulty in assimilating Isaiah XI, 1-3 to the Vedic texts cited in my Tree of Jesse and Indian Parallels or Sources” (Art Bulletin, Vol. XI)[8] without suggesting any derivation of one text from the other. In just the same way Exodus XIV corresponds to Rg. Veda III, 33 and VII, 18 ...

Albert Pike devotes the entire content of Morals and Dogma to this same concept that there is a single philosophy pervading all of the world's religions, and each religion is a different expression of it. Pike sees all religions as equal. Coomaraswamy argues that Christianity, and only Christianity, contains the fullness of truth.

He speaks of simultaneous development in a variety of religions of the same concepts which are found within Catholicism, and proposes that the reason is that God is working in all cultures to make His presence known:

In the present case it is not impossible that the transmission of a doctrine of the Tree of Jesse had taken place in Kabbalistic circles; the Zohar (e.g. Vo. V, pp. 203,221; in the Simon and Sperling version) is often most informative as to the Tree of Life or Tres of Life and Death, and that the former is above the latter may be compared with the Bazaklik representation, in which the lotus grounds of the mundane and heavenly levels of being are distinguished by position in the same sense.

Albert Pike speaks of the Tree of Life and Death on p. 844 of Morals and Dogma:

The Secret of the Occult Science is that of Nature itself, the Secret of the generation of the Angels and Worlds, that of the Omnipotence of God.

"Ye shall be like the Elohim, knowing good and evil," had the Serpent of Genesis said, and the Tree of Knowledge became the Tree of Death.

For six thousand years the Martyrs of Knowledge toil and die at the foot of this tree, that it may again become the Tree of Life.

The Absolute sought for unsuccessfully by the insensate and found by the Sages, is the Truth, the Reality, and the Reason of the universal equilibrium!

Equilibrium is the Harmony that results from the analogy of Contraries.

If we were to accept this theory of Coomaraswamy, we would have to reject the teaching of numerous Popes who opposed Freemasonry. Is that where we are headed, and if it is, why did the Masons and occultists get there before us?

2004-10-04T09:25:00.000-04:00

WHY IS A PROJECT OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD SISTERS BEING SUPPORETED BY TWO MASONIC LODGES ?

First, the project...

Village Weaver Handicrafts: A Self-Help Project, Nong Khai, Thailand

It appears to be a very good project apparently funded at least in part by Catholic Charities, giving poor villages a source of income, as the website explains:

This project was originally initiated in 1981 by the Good Shepherd Sisters, a Catholic charity that promotes whole-life development.

Here are the Good Shepherd Sisters. In the bottom center of the website is a link for "Trading Circle". If you click it, you will end up here. Click the link for "The Producers," which will take you to a list of the centers in the Good Shepherd Trading Circle, one of which is the Fatima Self-Help Centre, Bangkok, Thailand. Interesting name.

Next, the website of the Soutien, la fraternite aujourd'hui, known in English as Schoelcher Lodge. Notice the Masonic pavement, square and compass at the bottom left of the website. For those of you who read French, this is the original website. Near the bottom of the website, located between pictures, is the following:

Depuis1999, " Sawatdi " collabore également avec la Fondation " Village Weaver ", dirigée par les " Good Shepherd Sisters " et qui offre en permanence un apprentissage à environ 100 jeunes filles ainsi que du travail à domicile pour plus de 200 femmes, principalement mères célibataires avec des enfants en bas âge

A translation:

Depuis 1999, "Sawatdi" also collaborates with the Foundation "Weaver Village", directed by "Good Shepherd Sisters" and which permanently offers a training to approximately 100 girls as well as domestic industry for more than 200 women, mainly unmarried mothers with infants

Another page in the website also mentions the Good Shepherd Sisters and Bangkok.

Another lodge also mentions the Good Shepherd Sisters:

Créée en 1997, "Sawatdi" est une Association sans but lucratif, formée de sympathisants désireux de soutenir, dans un esprit d'entraide et d'encouragement, le développement de l'artisanat local dans quelques villages du Nord-Est de la Thaïlande, afin de permettre aux habitants de cette région défavorisée de retrouver leur dignité par le travail. Depuis 1999, "Sawatdi" collabore également avec la Fondation Village Weaver, dirigée par les Good Shepherd Sisters, du diocèse de Nogkaï ainsi qu'avec le Centre de Réhabilitation pour infirmes de Loeï.

Translation:

Created in 1997, "Sawatdi" an Association without lucrative goal, formed of getting along desirous to support, in a spirit of helps each other and of encouragement, the development of local craft industry in some towns of the Northeast of Thailand, in order to allow the inhabitants of this disadvantaged region to rediscover their dignity by the work. Since 1999, "Sawatdi" collaborates equally with Foundation Town Weaver, directed by the Good Shepherd Sisters, diocese of Nogkaï as well as with the Rehabilitation Center for infirm of Loeï.

Here is the home page for the lodge which is part of the Grande Loge Suisse Alpina obedience, the Grand Lodge of Switzerland. To get back to the webpage that mentions the Good Shepherd Sisters, click the link for "Solidaire" on the left.

2004-10-03T21:19:00.000-04:00

SR. CHRISTINE VLADIMIROFF SPEAKS AT NEWMAN CENTER IN LEXINGTON DIOCESE

Efrain Cortes reports on the event at Against All Heresies:

At the Newman Center Sr. Vladimiroff implied that the Catholic Church is a "monarchy," she compared the Roman Catholic Church to a "bleak and Baron mountain" in need of "change." The same type of "change" which is advocated by the above mentioned dissident groups! This is the same type of "change" that has left the diocese of Lexington with a self imposed shortage of priests, the same type of "change" that has left the Lexington diocese reeling with homosexual and heterosexual sex scandals, and this is the same type of "change" that has left the Lexington diocese with a shortage of funds. And yet, Sr. Vladimiroff has had the audacity, to simply stroll into the Lexington diocese, and shamelessly advocate more of that same type of "change!?" Exactly how bleak and baron does Sr. Vladimiroff want the church in Lexington to become fellow Catholics?

The Newman Center is out of control fellow Catholics! Do they not see the damage that has already been inflicted upon the Lexington diocese? Can they not see the hand of SATAN in all of this? Apparently not! On November 29, 2004 the Newman Foundation will be presenting Fr. James Bacik. Yet another "distinguished speaker" with ties to Call to Action!

Now before I go fellow Catholics, there is a question that remains to be asked in all of this. And that is, could the Newman Center have planned this any better? You see, Bishop Gainer just so happened to be out of the country on pilgrimage with Lexington parishioners on September 24. Considering that these pilgrimages are advertised months in advance, could the Newman Center have taken advantage of the fact that the good Bishop Gainer would be out of the country? Could they have been scheming this all along? "Naaah, not those guys?"

As Sr. Vladimiroff ended her speech, and I once again made my way towards those doors, There was once again something that caught my eyes. there by the entry doors, in plain view, were copies of Church Watch, and New Women New Church. These fellow Catholics, are newsletters/newspapers published by Call to Action and the Women's ordination Conference. Both angered and saddened, I glanced over at Jesus in the Tabernacle, uttered one final inward prayer, and exited the Lion's Den - the Newman Center!

2004-10-03T07:41:00.000-04:00

AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LIVINGSTONE

Dan Brown’s best seller, The Da Vinci Code, has blown through the Catholic Community like a hurricane, leaving many believers disoriented. Among the refutations of the book’s claims, David Livingstone offers a distinctly different slant in his online review.

In another online article titled “Lucifer and the Cult of Freedom,” Livingstone looks at Gnosticism and Satanism from the perspective of religious belief, and suggests that “...through the influence of Satanism, Hollywood is promoting exhibitionism as ‘body consciousness’.” He believes this has come about via the Masonic revolt against all restraint imposed by religion--that specifically Freemasonry’s stands for liberty, equality, and fraternity will ultimately devolve into Aleister Crowley’s “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

He further adds that “ ‘inalienable rights,’ first conceived and discussed in the meetings of the Illuminati, and which were designed to supplant the commandments of the Bible” were the result of a teaching that reason alone was sufficient for man to formulate laws to govern society, making religious belief unnecessary.

Livingstone is the author of the book The Dying God: The Hidden History of Western Civilization. His website offers the startling concept that “There is no such thing as ‘Western Civilization’.” He opposes “...the beligerence of Western nations, who impose their ideology on others, out of an arrogance justified by the corrupt view that Europeans have been the leading proponents of human history.” Clearly his worldview is not typical of the Western worldview.

His biography indicates that he was born in Montreal and educated at the Liberal Arts College of Concordia University.

Livingstone recently consented to an interview.

CT - How much of “The Da Vinci Code” do you believe is true?

DL - Not very much. First of all, Dan Brown begins his book by informing the reader of that which is fact in the novel. First, there is the existence of the Priory of Zion. But there is no way that could be stated as fact. It is basically regarded as a hoax, perpetuated by the enigmatic Pierre Plantard, and records of its existence date back to only 1956.

Basically, Brown is merely rehashing various myths and legends about the Holy Grail which have become popular in occult circles. This craze was originally inspired by the Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which claimed to expose a grand conspiracy, whereby the Church sought to suppress not only that Jesus was not crucified, but that he had children through Mary Magdalene.

His descendants supposedly intermarried with the Merovingians, a Frankish dynasty that ruled France beginning in the fifth century AD. Finally, the authors claim that it was about this bloodline that the Holy Grail was referring to, and that the purpose of the Priory of Zion was not only its protection throughout history, but ultimately its reestablishment.

While the Priory may not have existed, that is not to say that such a program did not either. Rather, such concerns were typical throughout the history of the Western occult tradition, but were largely unfounded.

CT - We wrestle with the questions of life from the perspective of our cosmology. Readers of my blog are familiar with the Judeo-Christian cosmology. I get the impression yours is somewhat different. Could you describe yours?

DL - Yes, I am a Muslim. I converted to Islam from Christianity about 12 years ago. It is this faith that gives me a particular perspective that has allowed me to perhaps discover certain points that others have not.

Essentially, I believe Christians are inhibited by their need to believe in the infallibility of the Bible. This has led them to accept ideas as Christian which are clearly foreign, and thereby also to fail to assess the nature of occult teachings.

I believe in Jesus as a prophet, as I believe also in the prophets before him, like Moses, David, and Solomon. But, I can accept what scholars have established about the Bible as a corrupted text, and still hold to the belief of its original teachings.

These teachings are made certain in the Koran, which also helps to elucidate many controversial areas of history. Most importantly, what the Koran explains about Jesus adheres more closely to what is attributed to the Early Church in Jerusalem.

But, their teachings also conflict with Gnosticism. Yet, precisely the claim that Brown and other occultists insist upon is that Jesus was a Gnostic. However, if we know that Judaism was a monotheistic tradition, then the evident paganism of Gnosticism would be in conflict with it.

But neither did the Catholic version of Christianity preserve a purer truth. Rather, Catholic doctrine was inspired by Paul, who also reflected a Gnostic interpretation, for which he was opposed by the Early Church.

As made evident in the Koran, Judaism was originally a monotheistic faith. And, through a study of history, we can arrive at a discovery that it was corrupted by the paganism of foreign nations. The two separate traditions are both evident in the Bible, but only if one is willilng to accept that it is a corrupted text.

Specifically, it was the gods of the Canaanites, Baal and Astarte, twin versions of the single androgynous dying-god, worshipped throughout the ancient Middle East, which the Jews had been forbidden from worshipping. Gnosticism merely attempts to assimilate these ancient teachings to the message of Jesus, and therefore cannot be representative of him.

CT - How do you view the concept of truth?

DL - Truth is fairly simple. We are human. We all share the same predicament. Therefore, we should behave towards others as we would want them to towards us.

While truth is that simple, the ramifications of it are immense. Because, we are then forced to acknowledge the great inequalities that pervade in this world.

Our task, obviously, is to rectify them. We must identify the source of the problem, and then address it. In the most simplest terms, it is globalization. we have to bring a stop to the stifling consequences of Western greed.

Basically, through the policies of Western corporations, the World Bank and IMF, the Third World has been kept back deliberately at dire levels of poverty, to ensure the supply of cheap labor and natural resources.

Then, brutal dictatorships are either installed or supported in order to suppress dissent against these same policies.

CT - Do you believe Freemasonry and occultism which blossomed in the latter part of the 19th century have been instrumental in preserving your cosmology and worldview?

DL - No, I believe they have been busy opposing it.

CT - Is there an esoteric branch of Islam?

DL - Although its contribution has been largely ignored, almost every fundamental aspect of Western civilization was appropriated by way of the Arabs.

But this transfer was not always good.

After the inception of the occult tradition in Babylon in the sixth century BC, it penetrated all subsequent leading civilizations, exercising powerful influences.

Among the Greeks were the philosophers. During Roman times, various “ancient mysteries” prevailed, until the advent of Christianity, which only reinterpreted these doctrines rather than actually displacing them.

And, usually referred to as a Dark Age, it was the Muslims who dominated the Middle Ages. While they made important advances in the arts and the sciences, simultaneously, they also absorbed aspects of the occult tradition.

This influence resulted in various deviations from the teachings of Islam among certain sects. Most importantly, it was the Ismailies who were supposedly responsible for introducing such ideas to the Templars, the first of a series of occult organizations that led to the Freemasons.

CT - What part do you envision Christians playing in the future of your world?

DL - To be tolerant is not to believe that truth is relative, and that everyone is right. To be tolerant is to accept others even though you don’t agree with them.

I believe when Jesus said love your neighbor, he meant all people. The point of the story of the “Good Samaritan” is to teach that all people, regardless of their race or creed, are your neighbors.

We all share a common predicament: the future establishment of a global tyranny by deceptive means. My concern is to alert any who are able to recognize this potential threat, and to work together with them for an end which is for the benefit of us all.

Needless to say, I share David's hope that we can both hold on to our own faith while working peacefully with those of other faiths to oppose those who would make religion unwelcome in the civilization of our world.

2004-10-02T21:12:00.000-04:00

E-MAIL FROM DR. BOND

Dear Friends,

Another nail has been driven deep into the coffin of the Society of St. John and its perverted leaders, Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity and Fr. Eric Ensey, both of whom have been sued by John Doe for sexually abusing him.

On March 23, 2004, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ordered Urrutigoity and Ensey to turn over their psychosexual evaluations for review by John Doe's attorney, James Bendell. In an effort to keep these undoubtedly damaging reports out of the courtroom, Urrutigoity and Ensey appealed this decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has now DENIED Urrutigoity's and Ensey's petition to appeal.

The SSJ's delaying tactics have continued, however. The SSJ has now filed a Petition for Hearing En Banc. An En Banc appeal means the SSJ is requesting that all of the judges of the Third Circuit hear the appeal to see if they will disagree with the decision of the original three-judge panel. Such an appeal is rarely granted.

Pax vobiscum,

Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond

2004-10-02T01:53:00.000-04:00

ECUMENISM

I have been an ecumenist for years. The time seems to have come, however, to look at the fruits of ecumenical activities and recognize they are walking us out of the faith.

In the days before Vatican II, we were taught by the nuns never to go into non-Catholic churches or take part in non-Catholic services. I remember that because I still recall how curious I was about what was behind the doors of my friend's Methodist church. I never did find out.

The source of that teaching was never mentioned. A few times I've looked for it in various places, particularly the catechisms; but have never found it. I tried to find it in Canon Law, but couldn't find it there either.

However, there is an article in the current issue of "Latin Mass" magazine that discusses ecumenism. In that article is a reference to the Encyclical of Pope Pius XI titled "Mortalium Animos." Point 10 in that encyclical makes it clear that what I was taught as a child reflected the mind of the Church:

10. So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it. During the lapse of centuries, the mystical Spouse of Christ has never been contaminated, nor can she ever in the future be contaminated, as Cyprian bears witness: "The Bride of Christ cannot be made false to her Spouse: she is incorrupt and modest.

Item 11 spells out what is expected:

... Let them therefore return to their common Father, who, forgetting the insults previously heaped on the Apostolic See, will receive them in the most loving fashion.

The article indicated that "This teaching was repeated emphatically in the 1949 admonition of Holy Office, which referred to "the Catholic truth" and "the teaching of the Encyclicals of the Roman Pontiff on the return of the dissidents to the Church."

That doesn't leave much room for Hindus on the altar. So how did we get from there to "Unitatis Redintegratio" or the Decree on Ecumenism from Vatican II, when Vatican II was considered a "Pastoral Council" that did not promulgate any new doctrine? This Decree on Ecumenism says:

All in the Church must preserve unity in essentials. But let all, according to the gifts they have received enjoy a proper freedom, in their various forms of spiritual life and discipline, in their different liturgical rites, and even in their theological elaborations of revealed truth. In all things let charity prevail. If they are true to this course of action, they will be giving ever better expression to the authentic catholicity and apostolicity of the Church.

On the other hand, Catholics must gladly acknowledge and esteem the truly Christian endowments from our common heritage which are to be found among our separated brethren. It is right and salutary to recognize the riches of Christ and virtuous works in the lives of others who are bearing witness to Christ, sometimes even to the shedding of their blood. For God is always wonderful in His works and worthy of all praise.

This is hardly a mentality of invite them to return. It is rather a mentality of fishing in other ponds to see if there is anything worth catching there.

If Encyclicals teach authoratatively, and one contradicts the other, there is no clear path for a Catholic to follow and feel they are serving God as He desires. In which case, it seems more prudent to err on the side of conservativism rather than liberalism. Particularly when we are told to judge the fruits, and the fruits I see appear to be either so green they are not edible, or so overripe as to be rotten. There is no center on this issue. And there is no adherence to the doctrine of Pope Pius XI.

What's more, we don't even seem to have a clear handle on what ecumenism really is or where it is going to take us. We seem to be walking blindly.

As the article puts it:

Perhaps the best evidence that no one knows exactly when ecumenism means, or exactly where it is leading us, is the Pope's own declaration to some Protestant ministers on October 5, 1991 during an "ecumenical prayer service" in front of St. Peter's tomb: "Ecumenism is a journey which is made together, but we are not able to chart its course or its duration beforehand." ...Before the Council, the course toward Christian unity was well marked out by repeated papal teachings: the dissidents must return to the one true Church. Catholics, on the other hand were not expected to make a "journey" anywhere, as they were already residing in the ark of salvation, which others had left or failed to enter.

We seem to be traveling an uncharted course--uncharted in the history of the Church, and uncharted in the plans of Her contemporary leaders.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

2004-10-01T21:48:00.000-04:00

FATIMA - MORE CONFUSION

From Front Page:

A newspaper report published this week states that the Vatican is one step away from assuming full control of Portugal’s holiest religious site. While no official measures have been taken, the Correio da Manhã (CM) newspaper on Wednesday alleges the Vatican’s disapproval of the Dalai Lama and a Hindu priest praying at the Fátima Sanctuary on two separate occasions to be at the centre of Rome’s reported intentions for Fátima. But Portuguese clergymen have been swift in their response to these reports, arguing either that they are false, or that the Vatican gave its blessing for the interfaith gatherings, or that financially-powerful international groups are responsible for these reports.

Go to the website for the rest of the story. The confusion I refer to will come at the end of the story.

Thanks to a reader for sending this in.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

2004-10-01T10:09:00.000-04:00

THE SCHWARZENEGGER ADMINISTRATION

seems to be headed toward legalizing sex with children with his so-called "Pedophile Protection Act" according to this WorldNetDaily article sent in by a reader:

Authored by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, the new law drastically reduces requirements for mandatory reporting of the known or suspected sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children.

Opponents, who are urging constituents to contact the governor, also say it creates a loophole for abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, to be exempted from reporting statutory rape, molestation and sexual abuse and gives molesters greater opportunity to be involved with the caregiving of children.

In addition, the new law changes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act's definition of "sexual assault" to exclude consensual oral copulation, sodomy and sexual penetration between two minors who are both 14 years or older.

2004-10-01T09:49:00.000-04:00

ANOTHER BANKRUPT DIOCESE

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Bishop William Franklin says the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport lacks the financial resources to compensate victims of alleged priest abuse and warned a settlement could force the church into bankruptcy.

Blogger credit to Spirit Daily

2004-10-01T09:42:00.000-04:00

EMMERICk'S BEATIFUCATION WILL INCITE ANTI-SEMITISM SOME BELIEVE

From Reuters:

Anne Catherine Emmerick, a sickly German mystic nun who lived from 1774 to 1824, has been called "Mel's Muse." It was her book, "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ," that gave Gibson some of the most grisly details.

Although Gibson said his hit film "The Passion of the Christ" was true to the Gospels, he clearly turned to the what the "Maid of Muenster" saw while gripped in visionary ecstasy.

The episode where Mary mops up her son's blood after his sadistic scourging is pure Emmerick. No Gospel mentions a hooded devil inciting Jews as they demanded Christ's crucifixion or following him as he carried his cross.

Jewish groups condemned the film, saying it would spur new forms of visceral anti-Semitism. They now fear that moving Emmerick closer to the glories of the altars, as sainthood is known, will only make matters worse.

"I think the timing of this is unfortunate and particularly damaging," said Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, director of inter-faith activities for the Anti-Defamation League.

"Had this happened 5 or 10 years ago, only those in the know would have noticed. But now, after Gibson's film, Emmerick's anti-Semitic writings have spread to a much wider audience," he told Reuters by telephone from New York.

Jewish leaders say the film and Emmerick's new popularity will resurrect deicide charges against Jews which, had been officially repudiated by the Second Vatican Council in 1965.

The article also addresses the controversy over beatification of Karl I:

His defenders stress how he tried to lessen the burden of the war for soldiers and civilians by recalling from the front fathers who had lost sons and banning bombing raids on cities.

Detractors counter that the Austrian army under his command, which fought alongside Germany, used poison gas in the war.

"He was not an especially bad character, but no model figure either," said Austrian political scientist Anton Pelinka, who called the event "a beatification bordering on the absurd."

After the 5 beatifications scheduled for this weekend, the pope will have beatified 1,340, more than all of his predecessors combined.

Blogger credit to Spirit Daily

2004-10-01T09:27:00.000-04:00

POPE EXPOUNDS ON FINDING GOD IN BEAUTY

From Zenit Reflections on Psalm 44:

The canticle in the Psalm is a song which "exalts the beauty and intensity of the gift of love between the spouses," the Pope said. He summarized it with an expression from the Song of Songs: "My lover belongs to me and I to him."

The Holy Father pointed out that the Psalm highlights in particular "the beauty of the bridegroom, sign of an inner splendor and of divine blessing," when it states: "you are the fairest of the children of men."

"Precisely on the basis of this verse, Christian tradition represented Christ in the form of a perfect and fascinating man," he added.

2004-09-30T22:54:00.000-04:00

THE AUSTRALIAN CHILD PORN ARRESTS

and their worldwide scope are explained in a bit more detail in this website. Again Russia and the Russian mafia are mentioned.

I have only one question--did this ring operate in Austria? So far only Australian arrests are being mentioned.

2004-09-30T21:15:00.000-04:00

REVIEW OF A BOOK ON FATIMA BY FRONT PAGE
(To get to the story click "search archives" and type "Fatima" in search window. When the screen comes up, scroll down to "A Catholic Bishop who rejected John Paul II". Sorry there isn't a better way in.)

The book, Fatima and the Abyss, by Arai Daniele, gives an account of the late Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer of Brazil, who rejected Vatican II, and continued to say the Tridentine Mass:

In ‘Fatima And The Abyss’ Daniele describes how in the 1980s de Castro Mayer worked tirelessly to convince Catholics that the new church created by the Second Vatican Council was the embodiment of the warnings given at Fátima. On many occasions when interviewed by Brazilian TV and national newspapers he stated: “The church of John Paul ll is not the church of Christ.”

Before his death in 1992 Bishop de Castro Mayer published several books on the subject. These included ‘The Church of Man’ and ‘The Schism of Vatican ll’ in which he challenged John Paul ll to demonstrate how the teachings of the council conformed to Catholic teaching. In Daniele’s assessment the bishop was convinced Fátima represented a missed opportunity whereby mankind has turned its back on the warnings of Almighty God and chosen instead to tread the path to perdition. It is expected that the English version of ‘Fátima and the Abyss’ will be on general release by May 2003.

2004-09-30T21:02:00.000-04:00

MALICIOUS CODE IN DOWNLOADED JPEGS

The JPEG flaw affects various versions of at least a dozen Microsoft software applications and operating systems, including Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Office XP, Office 2003, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, Project, Visio, Picture It and Digital Image Pro.

Looks like downloading pictures will be a no-no for the near future.

2004-09-30T20:49:00.000-04:00

ISRAELI BUSINESSMAN HOPES TO ACQUIRE 50% OF AL-JAZEERA TV

and already owns a significant portion of FOX.

2004-09-30T20:22:00.000-04:00

PASSENGERS REFUSE TO FLY WITH MIDDLE EASTERN WOMEN

Pravda reports:

On September 1, the day of the Beslan tragedy, passengers of a Moscow-bound flight from Sharm el Sheih (Egypt) refused to fly with two Muslim women in traditional clothes onboard. This time, another flight from Moscow to Khurgada has been delayed.

"Two Egyptian women were set to fly aboard a TU-154 airplane of "KrasAir" departing for Khurgada," stated RIA "Novosti"s" spokesman.

A group of five students from Dagestan were the last ones to board the aircraft. Among them were two Egyptian women dressed in black.

"Considering the recent events, security services searched them thoroughly. Their documents were fine; nothing was wrong with the luggage either. However, due to such time-consuming security check, they were the last ones to board the plane. This in turn caused major uproar among the passengers. People demanded them to be taken off the flight," added he.

2004-09-30T20:16:00.000-04:00

FIREBALLS RAM THE EARTH

Pravda reports:

A mysterious fire tornado that ripped through the jungles had torn out trees in some areas, while leaving the vegetation untouched. At night of 14 September 2004 many people got a chance to witness the fall of a fire object near the southern Argentinean town of Ushuaia. Further searches in the region yielded fascinating results: the area of approximately 150 sq meters had absolutely no trees. At first sight, it appeared as though the trees were chopped down; however, all the vegetation remained untouched. More so, according to the Argentinean media, scientists were unable to find any traces of the mysterious fire object that had "melted down" the woods. The next day, on September 15th, another fire object was spotted in that same region. Currently, researchers are trying to determine the nature of such mysterious phenomenon. It is likely that it has got something to do with the kind of research work many scientists from all over the world have been preoccupied with for ages. In particular, Sandia National Laboratories hosted a workshop in August of this year which was dedicated specifically to such kind of unexplained phenomena involving descending burning objects.

Messages from the approved Akita apparition spoke of fire falling from the sky.

2004-09-30T18:27:00.000-04:00

FATIMA

From Correio da Manha.

A reader sent in the link. It's about Fatima. It has something to do with homosexuality. I would sure like to see a translation of this one!

2004-09-30T16:51:00.000-04:00

JOSEPH D'HIPPOLITO'S LATEST ARTICLE

is online at the Orange County Register. Unfortunately it requires registration.

The article title is "The decline of political journalism Insular media won't take some claims seriously, rushes to judgment on others." It begins:

The controversy surrounding CBS and the now-discredited memos concerning President George W. Bush's service in the National Guard and the confrontation between Sen. John Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth reflect a dangerous trend.

Both dramatically illustrate the ongoing collapse of dispassionate, substantive political journalism.

The article contains this interesting comment:

"If you are in the press corps at a presidential televised news conference, by definition you are kind of a cool kid," Fallows told PBS' "Front- line" in 1998. "If you ask a substantive question - what are you going to do about paying for X or Y or Z in the future? - it just marks you with a big N for nerd on your forehead. And I think that is enough of a tribal custom to deter a lot of people fromdoing it."

Joe goes on from there to ask a series of questions, placing the "N" squarely in the middle of his thinking. Fortunately, political correctness is not yet epidemic.

2004-09-30T13:07:00.000-04:00

MAJOR CHILD PORN OPERATION DISCOVERED IN AUSTRALIA

with leads to the Russian mafia; and unfortunately it involves a Catholic school.

In Western Australia, a police officer and two teachers -- from private Catholic schools St Brigid's Primary School in Middle Swan and Iona Presentation College in Mosman Park -- were among the 24 men charged.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

2004-09-30T11:58:00.000-04:00

BISHOP KRENN RESIGNS UPI reports:

Bishop Kurt Krenn, 68, confirmed his resignation to the Der Standard newspaper, but said he was stepping down voluntarily and not under pressure from the Vatican.

2004-09-30T11:34:00.000-04:00

SEATTLE CATHOLIC HAS PICKED UP THE FATIMA STORY

A reader sent in the link. The website merely links the Portugese paper that I've linked below, and without comment from the editor.

2004-09-30T01:36:00.000-04:00

ANOTHER FATIMA REPORT

in the Sept. 30 edition of Correio da Manha.

2004-09-29T23:56:00.000-04:00

WHAT WE TAKE FOR GRANTED

A reader sent in the link to this New York Times Op-Ed piece. Reading through it, I realized how much we take for granted that is granted to us by the culture we live in, and that we could easily lose.

About the time we start to congratulate ourselves for our advanced civilization, we need to consider the words of some popular rap music that treats women no differently than this commentary describes.

2004-09-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

DEFENSE OF LIFE

Earl Appleby emailed me to ask that I post a link to his statement on behalf of Terri Shiavo. I trust he will not mind if I post the full statement here as well:

======================================

Thursday, September 23

Kangaroo Courts Are Killer Courts

Citizens United Resisting Euthanasia (CURE), America's oldest network devoted exclusively to combating euthanasia without compromise or exception, has issued the following statement in the wake of today's 7–0 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court striking down Terri's Law.

Kangaroo Courts Are Killer Courts

Berkeley Springs, WV (September 23)—Anyone familiar with America's long and shameful history of indifference and hostility to persons with disabilities will not be greatly surprised by the death sentence imposed on Terri Schindler Schiavo by the Florida Supreme Court.

Anyone with an ounce of decency, however, should be outraged. And anyone who cares in the least about his life or the lives of those he loves should be alarmed.

While those seeking to murder Terri have denied her the opportunity that she deserves for rehabilitation and while they have distorted Terri's condition in their Goebbels-style campaign to dehumanize her, this battle has never been about the medical facts.

Nor should it be! The life of a person living in coma deserves no less protection than the healthiest TAB (temporarily able-bodied person). In fact, it requires and deserves greater protection, and any civilization that has transcended the jungles of social Darwinism would provide it.

If the life of every innocent person does not enjoy the full protection of our laws and courts then no man's life is safe from the tyranny of unjust courts like those that have repeatedly provided legal cover for Terri's impending murder as they have once again done today.

Kangaroo courts are killer courts, and their ultimate victim is civilization itself. Defend life! Defend Terri! In doing so, you are defending the noblest ideals of our once great nation.

Posted by: Earl / 10:44 PM

===================================

He also asked for a permanent link to CURE's blog which I will try to do, but may not be able to accomplish. I've tried on several other occasions to add additional links over there on the side, but for some reason I can't seem to get the template to accept them.

2004-09-29T22:04:00.000-04:00

TEXAS BISHOPS

Patrick Madrid has blogged two statements by Texas Bishops upholding the position that pro-abort politicians are not eligible to receive communion.

2004-09-29T21:28:00.000-04:00

FATIMA

Mark Shea has the link to this story blogged.

Would it be premature to break out the Hosannas and Alleluias? God guide them in their choice for replacements!

UPDATE

A reader sent in this link to a story in Portugese ? about the changes in administration in Fatima. If anyone out there reads the language, can you confirm John Vennari's report from the above linked story?

2004-09-29T15:16:00.000-04:00

ARCHITECTURE AND TRADITION

Some time ago I was introduced to the architecture of Duncan Stroik and was immediately captivated by Holy Family Chapel which he designed. In the age of modernism and pop art, his concentration on the classics is so refreshing.

Dr. Stroik teaches at Notre Dame, as does Dino Marcantonio, a practicing architect who has an article in the current edition of Latin Mass magazine in which he lays out his philosophy which boils down to "tradition, tradition, tradition," for those of us who are not schooled in the varieties of architectural expression.

He compares the classics to modern architecture:

Modernist architecture is analogous to non-representational art in that it seeks to avoid recognizable forms (or types) as far as possible and to avoid substantive content in favor of emotional evocation. Take for example Le Corbusier's famous chapel at Ronchamps, Notre Dame du Haut. It specifically avoids the church type, that is, it avoids what we in the West are accustomed to seeing in our mind's eye when we think of a church. Le Corbusier suggested that the form...might remind one of praying hands, or a nun's wimple, or even a duck. But the form has no objective substantive content on its own. The subject, the viewer, is entirely responsible for bringing content to the form. The form's job is done if it has evoked a subjective response in the viewer. ... The believer is forced by the architecture to "look into his own heart" to know the reality of things. ...[a] problem arises...when there is no content, when the viewer is prodded into an emotional state and then left on his own to provide the content of his own choosing. ...Modernism militates against the construction of a coherent city.

(Marcantonio doesn't mention it, but Le Corbusier was a Theosophist.) He develops his theory more extensively in the article, of course, and compares this modernist perspective to the Christian perspective based on the Incarnation.

At the end of the article he gives his web address, so I stopped in for a visit. (Be patient, it loads slowly.)

His Chapel, New York is stunning. (Unfortunately the only way to view it is to click through his website. A separate link to the chapel doesn't work.) Is that a communion rail by any chance? Whether it is or not, some elements of Orthodox/Byzantine Christianity seem to be present. The rail acts as a type of iconostasis. The sanctuary is cordoned off from the main body of the chapel, giving the distinct impression that to enter the sanctuary is to enter a realm not wholly of this earth. The artwork above the altar symbolizes the heavenly city gathered around the altar. In the third picture of the chapel the tabernacle can be seen with an onion dome on the top, reflecting Byzantine symbolism. The picture following these three is one of a proposed Byzantine church, rectory, and community center.

If you have the time to view them, his renderings of a memorial for those who died at the Pentagon on 9/11 are in his website as well.

The website also contains a drawing which is included in the article. It "explains the fundamental way in which buildings relate to one another and convey meaning."

When Catholicism seems to be a mass of discouraging headlines and statistics, finding these architectural designs which speak of the splendor of the faith is a wonderful antidote to discouragement. We are not defeated yet, so long as one school of architecture can convey symbolically the grace that life in Christ has to offer.

2004-09-29T10:45:00.000-04:00

GET OUT THE PRO-LIFE VOTE CAMPAIGN

Jimmy Moore announces the Priests for Life get-out-the-vote campaign which will make prominent the issue of abortion as fundamental to all human rights:

A pro-life priest organization has launched a pre-election education campaign designed to inform church-goers about the various candidates running in the upcoming November elections.

National Pro-Life Religious Council President Father Frank Pavone, who is also the national director for a group called Priests For Life, announced this voter effort last week designed to be an "all-out campaign" to educate and inform voters who go to church about the candidates who support the right to life.

The campaign will focus not only on the Catholic vote but also on Protestant church goers, according to the article.

Boasting of 1 million visitors to the Priests For Life web site per month, Pavone said election materials are featured prominently on the front page as well as two spinoff web sites located at ChristianVoter.org and ProLifeVoter.org.

Although this campaign will cost over $1 million to implement, Pavone said it is worth getting the word out about the importance of voting pro-life.

"Catholics who regularly attend Mass have been shown to favor pro-life candidates when voting," Pavone concluded.

Mark Shea has blogged a statement from Fr. Pavone explaining why a pro-abortion position undermines all other claims for human rights. It's a good argument for a world so caught up in human rights.

Fr. Pavone also presents an argument at the EWTN website that equates abortion with terrorism and asks:

If a candidate who supported terrorism asked for your vote, would you say, "I disagree with you on terrorism, but where do you stand on other issues?" I doubt it.

In fact, if a terrorism sympathizer presented him/herself for your vote, you would immediately know that such a position disqualifies the candidate for public office -- no matter how good he or she may be on other issues. The horror of terrorism dwarfs whatever good might be found in the candidate's plan for housing, education, or health care. Regarding those plans, you wouldn't even ask.

So why do so many people say, "This candidate favors legal abortion. I disagree. But I'm voting for this person because she has good ideas about health care (or some other issue)."

His statement includes the words of the Pope:

Pope John Paul II put it this way: "Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination" (Christifideles Laici, 1988).

I came to a pro-life position kicking and screaming, so to speak, because I'd seen up close the difficulties of raising a Downs child. It wasn't until partial-birth abortion was described in detail in something I read, that I concluded it was murder pure and simple. Prior to learning about this barbarity, I saw life as beginning at birth when the baby drew a first breath, but how can one distinguish between a baby who first breathes and a baby who could breathe if it were outside of the womb? I had no answer for that question. There didn't seem to be any distinguishing characteristics between potential and reality apart from the arbitrary decision of the baby's mother.

A baby who could survive outside of the womb was alive in every sense of being alive that I could define. And so the point of no return for me became the point of viability. Then the question that arose was how does one distinguish between the day of earliest viability and the day before that? What makes one a real live human being and the other merely tissue that may be dispensed with? Once again there was no acceptable answer. It was at that point that I became pro-life.

Not long ago I had an occasion to test my defensive arguments in a discussion with a close friend who is pro-abortion. What I found so amazing is that she was giving me the argument that I once would have given her. There are some babies whose life is so miserable it would have been a mercy to them to abort them.

But how do you know that, I asked? How can you know that the unborn baby would choose death as preferable to a difficult life? How can you make such a decision about another human being's rights? And if you can make this decision, what other rights can you decide to take away from another human being? Is it acceptable to end the baby's miserable life after the baby is born and you can see that it will be difficult? How about the day before his first birthday, as some are now proposing? The slippery slope became obvious then. She had no answers.

There is an answer, but no one wants to give it. The answer is that the mother can play God. But any decision she makes is a selfish one based not on her child's desires about the worth of the life that will be lived, because she can't ask her child. Rather the mother must make her decision based upon her own determination of what life is worthy to continue and what life is unacceptable. If she does not want the baby, for whatever reason, it is an understatement to claim that she is biased in making the decision. Would we give anyone the power of life and death over us knowing when we did that they didn't want us around? Obviously the decision would be prejudiced.

If we believe our life belongs to God, if we believe we are here in service to others, there is no room for abortion. But if we believe that we are in total control, that we hold the power to alter our circumstances, that we create our own future, a baby that is inconvenient hasn't got a prayer.

2004-09-29T01:34:00.000-04:00

MARK IS BACK !

He's been having trouble with his blog, but he's gotten it up and running sans comments. For the moment.

Between fighting with Halo Scan sessions he's been trolling here, as well.

He's put my blog into good company, linking it with Amy's. I'm not sure at all that Amy will be pleased about that, though. She just might think that Mark is "Guilty, guilty, guilty!"

2004-09-29T01:12:00.000-04:00

LEE'S LIST OF LINKS IN AMY'S BLOG

giving the pros and cons of the new ecclesial communities can be read here. (Scroll down.)

Those are in your forthcoming book, huh? I think it's going to be an interesting book. It's primarily about the URI, right?

2004-09-28T23:36:00.000-04:00

A VERY WEIRD COLLECTION

This is the first time I've ever heard of a person creating a collection of objects possessed by ghosts and demons. What makes it even more strange is the fact the man is Roman Catholic. He even has some objects surrounded by religious medallions because he is afraid of them. Still he keeps his collection in the basement of the home he shares with his wife and three children.

Thanks to a reader for the link to this weird story...I think...

2004-09-28T23:14:00.000-04:00

FRENCH COURT ACCEPTS PARENTHOOD OF LESBIAN COUPLE

A reader sent in this link to a story from The Independent:

A gay couple have been formally recognised as parents by the French state, setting a precedent that could eventually apply to an estimated 200,000 children living in homosexual families in France.

Carla and Marie-Laure, and their daughters Giulietta, 10, Luana, seven, and Zelina, five, have been declared one family by the French courts - the first family with parents of the same sex to be officially endorsed.

The ruling could have far-reaching consequences for the survival of legal barriers against homosexual marriage, adoption and artificial insemination.

2004-09-28T23:12:00.000-04:00

SOMETIMES THE CHRISTIANS WIN

A reader sent in this link to a Washington Times story:

An English professor at the University of North Carolina illegally subjected a student to "intentional discrimination and harassment" because he was "a white, heterosexual Christian male" who expressed disapproval of homosexuality, the U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights has ruled.

Professor Elyse Crystall violated student Timothy R. Mertes' civil rights, the agency said, by improperly accusing him of "hate speech" in an e-mail sent to students after a class discussion in which Mr. Mertes said he was a Christian and felt "disgusted, not threatened" by homosexual behavior.

2004-09-28T22:54:00.000-04:00

OH SACRED TREE SURROUNDED... Sorry. I couldn't resist.

2004-09-28T21:58:00.000-04:00

PICTURES...THEY'VE GOT PICTURES

Over at Novus Ordo Watch a series of pictures of the Pope being entertained by a series of events and participating in inculturated Masses poses questions about modesty. I disagree with them in that he does seem to be practicing "custody of the eyes" where the bare-breasted natives take part in the Offertory procession. I notice that the priest (bishop? cardinal?) with him does not practice the same custody. When a tourist attends an audience with the Pope there are dress standards:

Vatican Dress Code

Be aware that Vatican dress code requires no shorts or tank tops. Women's shoulders must be covered.

eHow describes the dress required for a private audience this way: 2. Choose a dark suit for a private or semiprivate audience with the pope, if you're a man. 3. Select a dress that covers your shoulders and reaches near your knees, if you're a woman. Dress pants are acceptable these days, but were not in earlier times.

Here is another website that confirms this dress code. (That is one awful picture of the Pope!)

That is the code for the general audience where a visitor is just another member of the crowd. What is the purpose of a dress standard for tourists who will hardly be noticed individually, when the Pope entertains performers who dress in leotards, with a lot more bare than shoulders, who command his particular attention? Shouldn't the dress standards apply to more than tourists? This looks like just another mixed message being given to the world.

This is the Pope who is considered most holy. Yet he is the only modern Pope that I know of who has invited spectacles for his entertainment such as are pictured at Novus Ordo Watch. The dots are not connecting here.

2004-09-28T21:37:00.000-04:00

CHECK IT OUT

2004-09-28T21:24:00.000-04:00

WHAT COUNTRY IS IT ?

Diane Moczar is a writer and historian now teaching at Northern Virginia Community College. She studied at Columbia University, Catholic University, and the University of Paris.

In the current issue of "Latin Mass" magazine, she tells a story she read to her students when they finished the Hellenistic world in their history survey course. She asks them what country they think it is describing. Here is the description:

The country began to expand at the expense of its neighbors and to conquer native peoples. It developed cities and an urban culture, and began to use slave labor to an increasing degree. It became very wealthy, and as it came into contact with other cultures it took in ideas and influences from all over the world. People began to say it was losing its own identity. The early religion declined, and many people took up exotic cults from the East, while intellectuals tended to atheism. The old republican virtues broke down. There was a civil war. Birth control, abortion, infanticide, divorce, and homosexuality became common. There was a women's liberation movement. People stopped reading, except for digests and popular science, and the language became debased. There was a craze for spectator entertainment: sports of all kinds, but also other spectacles, which grew more obscene and violent as time went on and the jaded popular taste demanded new thrills.

Pollution was widespread and many people died of a mysterious new disease. Economic problems developed, including inflation and high unemployment. But what many citizens feared most of all was terrorism and war from ruthless barbarian powers to the East.

I expect historians out there to know the answer. Everyone else should be able to make a pretty good guess. The similarity to America is eerie.

2004-09-28T21:05:00.000-04:00

LIFESITE REPORT ON CAFOD AND CONDOMS

In the UK, the official aid agency associated with the Catholic bishops' conference, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), has come under scrutiny for its endorsement of the use of condoms, in contravention of Catholic moral teaching, for the prevention of AIDS.

In a long editorial article, an abridged version of a paper presented at an AIDS conference in Bangkok, and published in the liberal Catholic paper, The Tablet, on September 25th, CAFOD calls the Catholic teaching on sexuality 'over-simplistic solutions for an idealized world."

The article, which is posted on CAFOD's website on their policy page, goes on to propose "a third, middle-ground approach known as 'ABC'- 'abstain, be faithful, use a condom.'" The article claims that this 'third way' is supported by Catholic moral theology and makes an oblique reference to the principle of double effect. "Traditional moral theology allows for an approach in which individuals subscribe to clearly identified ideals but sometimes have to make choices that fall short of these."

However, none of this will be surprising to those who attended a Mass to celebrate "25 years of friendship and commitment to justice," for two prominent 'Catholic' homosexuals, Martin Pendergast, a former Carmelite priest and current head of the Roman Catholic Lesbian and Gay Caucus and Julian Filochowski, a director of CAFOD.

The article on the CAFOD website is a litany of sins that have lead to this "third way" policy. At this point it seems to be nearly impossible to sort out what is legitimate Catholic teaching in the circumstances and what is a perversion of Catholic faith. When life deteriorates to the level described here, high ideals are a fantasy. Society in these countries has evidentally completely disintegrated.

2004-09-28T19:14:00.000-04:00

I STOLE THIS COMMENT FROM AMY'S BLOG

where Lee posted it in response to a comment of Rod Dreher's, and I hope that both Amy and Lee will forgive me:

Lee wrote:

Now Rod, the Vatican is just using prudential judgment on deciding who should get these awards. Isn't it disrespectful to question this?

Watching Vatican diplomacy is like watching the making of cheap sausage.

The Pope gave a knighthood to Kurt Waldheim in 1994. To refresh everyone's memory on this:

From Jonathan Kwitny's bio of the Pope, "Man of the Century":

"Kurt Waldheim, the secretary-general who had first brought John Paul to the UN, was identified as a Nazi war criminal. Files from the UN War Crimes Commission showed that as an Austrian officer in Hitler's army, young Waldheim had sent Jews and war prisoners to their deaths." (p. 550)

"April 27, 1987, the US government had placed Kurt Waldheim, now president of Austria, on its no-admittance list because of his bloody Nazi collaboration as a young officer. Defending this decision, Secretary of State Shultz and Attorney General Edwin Meese said that even that year, Walsheim had lied to the United States about his record and defended Hitler's wartime murder of prisoners. All this was a powerful slap in Waldheim's face - which the pope then did what he couold to ease by welcoming Waldheim to the Vatican two months later and praising him for a lifetime's work for peace. The ceremony was boycotted by diplomatic envoys from the US, Italy, and many other countries. Why John Paul was so eager to help Waldheim that he would invite worldwide rebuke remains unclear. In 1994, he bestowed yet another honor on Waldheim, a knighthood." (pp. 568-569)

Lee

Am I tilting at windmills again, or are there parallels between knighthood and sainthood? Are both being used for political ends when they--or at least--canonization, are intended for other purposes? Can the propositions of faith be turned into political tools without consequences? Also, isn't doing so terribly cynical and utilitarian rather than a sign of holiness?

2004-09-28T16:06:00.000-04:00

ECUMENISM

We hear a lot about ecumenism, especially with the Orthodox. A reader sent in this link to an Inter-Orthodox Theological Conference website. I don't know any of the names, but the topics sound interesting.

It would be even more interesting to compare and contrast ecumenism as the Orthodox perceive it with ecumenism as the Roman Catholics perceive it. I'd be willing to bet the chocolate donuts that there is a significant divide running between them!

The subject on which Fr. John Reeves is speaking in Session 8 (first entry) gives me some idea of how our ecumenical approach sits with the Orthodox. And the topic immediately following his - Ecumenism and Universality - is a topic which Roman Catholic promoters of ecumenism need to address but don't.

2004-09-28T14:49:00.001-04:00

FRENCH PINK TV

PARIS — The transgender sportscaster wears a miniskirt, the porn is gay, lesbian and bisexual, and Wonder Woman will be on every night at seven.

France's first gay television channel, PinkTV, is an eye-opener. And that's the point. Pink's founders believe there's a ready audience for the channel, and not just among France's estimated 3.5 million gays.

Pink's "a giant leap for television, a small step in high heels," said presenter Eric Gueho in a promotional clip shown at the channel's unveiling Tuesday, which was feted with pink champagne.

"Gays are speaking to the French. But not all French speak to gays. But it will come."

Well, maybe. This at times surprisingly conservative and largely Roman Catholic country is still divided when it comes to homosexuality.

France has in recent years made big strides, legally recognizing gay couples and electing a gay mayor for Paris. Homophobic remarks will be punishable with prison and fines under a draft law expected to be debated in parliament before the year's end.

According to the article, the first French gay marriage was performed by on June 5 by a mayor who was subsequently suspended for the action. The marriage was annulled by a court, but the couple plan to appeal it to the European Court of Human Rights.

Pink is the first nationally broadcast gay channel of its kind according to its founder, Pascal Houzelot.

"Pink is coming at the right moment," he said. "There's an evident change in mentalities. We've seen society changed. We've seen the law change ... In France, we can clearly say that gays have gone from the era of tolerance to the era of legality, which simply means equality."

2004-09-28T14:49:00.000-04:00

NEW BEATIFICATION CAUSES UPROAR

Austrians are displeased with the Pope's decision to beatify Karl I of Austria.

VIENNA, Austria - Some think he's already a saint for seeking a peaceful end to World War I. Others think he's a scoundrel for commanding troops who used poison gas and for mounting two bloody comeback attempts.

On Sunday, Pope John Paul II is to beatify Karl I, but the Vatican's decision to put Austria's last reigning emperor on the road to sainthood has triggered a spirited political and religious debate at home.

Austria's government has come under fire for its plans to send a high-profile delegation to Rome. And the Roman Catholic Church has been ridiculed for the miracle it attributes to Karl: a Brazilian nun whose varicose veins were healed after she prayed to the monarch.

"As an active Catholic, I protest the beatification of Emperor Karl," said Rudolf Stanzel, among believers who think the Vatican is making a mistake. "The church is standing on the side of wealth and power."

2004-09-28T14:05:00.000-04:00

HUNTE

LifeSite has picked up coverage on Hunte's knighthood.

Crux News has linked LifeSite's coverage.

Carribean News offers some additional details:

A Vatican statement said Hunte, an Anglican, was selected for the knighthood, because during his presidency, “he upheld values espoused by the Holy See at the United Nations, especially as regards the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

The honor has, however, been greeted with opposition by anti-abortions in St. Lucia, who have called on the pope to rescind the decision in light of Hunte and his government’s support for legalizing abortion in cases of rape or incest and to protect the mother's health or life. – Hardbeatnews.com

Do the facts that he is Anglican and that he has voted for abortion in only the most desperate cases in any way exonerate the Vatican? Technically, they do not, of course, but in the public eye, I suspect that they would.