June10-11 2022.
“At your highest moment...that’s when the devil comes for you.”
How to Make Your Own Rosary
Ginsburg Supporters Plan to BURN Eucharist
2005:Football Ultras Abandon Match to Honour John Paul II
Full Text of Consecration of Russia
Pope Benedict XVI to 'Join' Consecration - Gänswein
Russia, Ukraine to be Consecrated Next Week in Vatican, Fatima
Mothers of Priests Walk Paris To Rome For Latin Mass
Irish Priest Throws Paint on Russian Embassy (AUDIO)
With Pope Francis leading the way on dignified and prayerful responses to the current crisis in Ukraine, some priests have chosen to take a different route.
On a day where the Russian Ambassador appeared on Russian state media Russia 24 to claim that Ireland was the most overtly anti Russian nation in the West, an Irish priest was appearing on his own country’s state media to broadcast himself throwing paint onto the gates of the building.
Father Fergal MacDonagh previously hit the headlines after allowing an Imam to pray to Allah, invoking the names of Moses, Jesus, Mohammad and all the prophets on the altar of a Catholic church.
Now, he appeared on Liveline with Joe Duffy, a popular talk show on Irish state media. The audio is below, where he douses the gates in red paint, sets off an alarm, discusses the building being destroyed by arson and finally gets approached by a Garda.
It is as surreal as it sounds.
The stunt coincided with the Russian Ambassador Yuriy Filatov appearing on Russian media and stating that the relationship between Ireland and Russia had deteriorated:
Naturally the general political situation is simply hostile towards Russia and everything Russia.
A very negative role, of course, is being played by mass media that shows an absolutely tendentious picture of the events happening in Ukraine at the political level, but Ireland is in the forefront in the European Union and wider with regards to various anti-Russian events.
In this regard, it is probably hardly possible to talk now about any relations between Russia and Ireland. We are mainly supporting a channel of communication with the Irish.
“There is probably a certain sense in this because even in these difficult periods there is need in them.”
As our minister, Sergey Lavrov, said in the interview maybe they will stop going crazy in the West and will understand where, what and how in reality, but for now we are dealing with what we have.
May the Eucharist Be a Light to You in Dark Places
EUCHARIST and EUCATASTROPHE
‘May the Eucharist be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.’
On Thursday, 24 February 2022, Vladimir Putin inflicted the ‘ancient Chinese curse’ of May you live in interesting times onto the world. The Russian army invaded Ukraine.
All rational people fear this could be a prelude to World War III. Many will have nightmares of being evaporated in a mushroom-cloud, at the flick of Putin’s little finger.
The Ancient Chinese Curse
The curse “May you live in interesting times” is neither ancient, or Chinese! This saying was probably penned by Neville Chamberlain’s father or brother.
Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of England who negotiated ‘peace’ with Adolph Hitler. Hitler is universally understood to be the most loathsome, malignant narcissist of all time. Chamberlain triumphantly returned to London, naïvely waving the Munich Agreement aloft, claiming “Peace For Our Time!”
Within a year, Hitler had invaded Poland and Britain declared war — World War II.
History is packed with malignant narcissists and psychopaths. The list spans Caligula to Genghis Khan, and includes Ivan the Terrible; Pol Pot; Stalin & Mao Zedong, to name just a few. The one Ireland knows more intimately is Oliver Cromwell. These monsters brutally killed millions, upon millions of innocent human beings.
Dictators hold their power over little people because they can easily kill one person, or a family: demolish a home or even a whole community. In olden days, a knight might cleave his way through the village. Nowadays, a remorseless invader can drive a tank over innocent people, or just bomb them from afar.
The exact circumstances of this video are unknown. Some reports say it was a Russian tank while one report suggests it was a Ukrainian Strela-10 Rocket Launcher stolen by Pro-Russian saboteurs. It is unclear if the driver just lost control of the machine or whether he deliberately ran over the non-combatant elderly man passing-by in his car.
What is more important is what happened after the car was run over. Despite the ongoing invasion, a group of people worked to extricate the old man from his badly crushed vehicle. Such selfless behaviour never makes it into the history books — but this is exactly what makes humans, truly human!
Gentle folk
“Even the smallest person, can change the course of the future.” [JRR Tolkien]
Many of the powerless people in the world are the kindest folk. Days gone-by, some would be serfs or indentured servants, toiling long and hard to provide for family and community. Often, such people do not seek power or vast wealth because they already have riches beyond compare. Each of us knows some of these “Hobbits” in our lives.
After 2 long years of the COVID pandemic, these people are still a ray of hope with their kind words. Some might be more surly and not say much, but always show up to help in times of need! Through the voice of Samwise Gamgee, Tolkien reminds us: “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”
“Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here”
In Dante’s epic poem, Inferno, this proverb is inscribed above the gates of Hell.
For a Christian, one of the most serious sins is to despair – to give up all Hope. (To clarify: I believe that our Loving Father has infinite forgiveness for this sort of despair arising out of a severe depression.)
The idea of Hope in such dire circumstances led Tolkien to coin a new word: “Eucatastrophe.” Tolkien defined Eucatastrophe as a “good catastrophe, the sudden joyous turn…” This notion obviously arose from Tolkien’s devout Catholicism and traumatic experiences during World War I.
Tolkien may have deliberately coined this word to have similarity between EUCatastrophe and the EUCharist. As Katie Marquette noted, “it is important to understand the felix culpa narrative, the fortunate fall, the reality that ‘All Things can be Made Right Again.’ There is nothing that will not be rectified, though much of earthly life is experienced as “the long defeat.” As a Roman Catholic, Tolkien understood the Eucatastrophe of the Cross - Humiliation, Suffering, Death - turned into the Triumph of the Resurrection.”
So, what can we do to help?
Two suggestions:
First: pray harder! This includes praying for peace; praying for the innocent victims; praying for the conversion of the perpetrator and especially praying that this conflict does not escalate to nuclear war.
A devotion which Catholics should consider is the Holy Rosary. Through the Rosary, we ask our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to intercede on our behalf with her Son, Jesus Christ.
For anyone who is a tad rusty on the Rosary, there are links below to Catholic Arena articles on how to learn the Rosary in English and Irish.
The link to the Rosary ‘as Gaeilge’!
Learn the Rosary in Irish — Catholic Arena
Secondly, we need to be very generous with humanitarian aid & financial support. There will be many refugees & injured / homeless people inside Ukraine. Please do not forget that Russian civilians are also going to suffer through the financial sanctions being placed on their motherland — thanks to Putin and his cronies.
Photo: Gregory Gresko, Lviv, Ukraine.
The Lord of the Rings is an allegory for how regular people cope with catastrophe. The phrase said by Galadriel was: “May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.” Tolkien was a devout Catholic so perhaps his true message was:
“May the Eucharist be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.”
Dr. Kevin Hay
Ukraine Bishops Call for Consecration of Russia
The following letter is from the Episcopate of Ukraine to the Holy Father
Holy Father!
In these hours of immeasurable pain and terrible trial for our people, we, the bishops of the Conference of the Episcopate of Ukraine, become spokesmen of the relentless and heartfelt plea supported by our priests and consecrated persons, which comes to us from the entire Christian people, so that Your Holiness will dedicate our Motherland and Russia to the Most Holy Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Responding to this plea, we humbly implore your Holiness to publicly carry out an act of dedication to the Most Holy Immaculate Heart of Mary of Ukraine and Russia, as requested by the Most Holy Virgin in Fatima.
May the Mother of God, Queen of Peace, accept our pleas: Regina pacis, ora pro nobis!
Colombia Celebrate Murders of Children
There were disgusting scenes on the streets of Colombia last night as the world’s largest producer of cocaine celebrated another way to sacrifice humans for pleasure, by legalising abortion up to 24 weeks.
While some media outlets tried to claim that ‘Catholic Colombia’ had taken the violent and gruesome decision to allow barbaric late term abortions, the country has grown increasingly Protestant in recent years. This is for a number of reasons, but one of them relates to locals abandoning experimental proto Synodal Catholicism which has been practised there for the past few decades, much of Liberation Theology being a creation of US Intelligence Agencies during the Cold War as they sought to keep Catholics from the clutches of Communists. For many, Evangelicalism has just been a stopgap on the road to conversion to Judaism, suggesting that the nation is experiencing a cultural identity crisis at large, not merely related to Catholicism.
In horrific scenes evocative of those in Ireland in 2018, Colombian pro aborts frothed at the mouth as they celebrated the news that they would now be allowed to murder their child up to the 24th week of pregnancy. After two years of being told to ‘follow the science’ and to save the most vulnerable, the face of evil has shown that it was never concerned about either of those.
Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez was delighted at the prospect of children being aborted and said:
After the right to suffrage, this is the most important historic achievement, for the life, autonomy and full and equal realization of women
The birth rate in Colombia has decline by almost 2% per year for the past 5 years, this puts them on the same timeline as Ireland, where birth rates completely collapsed within a decade, with the government dressing up abortion as a blessing to cover for the inability of the country to provide for families.
As in Ireland, only the most delusional could present an incompetent government killing one’s baby as a victory for human rights.
Colombia is a state that, like Ireland, is completely on the wrong track spiritually and materially.
As in Ireland, those who stand up for what is right number the few, but their example still stands. These Catholics prayed in public, only yards from where the anti baby shrieking celebrated killing the unborn.
Some Stay Catholic For The Money - Cardinal Muller
By Thomas Hegarty
Oxymoron (noun)
two words or phrases used together that have, or seem to have, opposite meanings
The term “liberal catholic” is an excellent example of an oxymoron and its used worldwide to describe people who believe they are practicing Catholics whilst supporting and promoting the liberal ideologies of aborting unborn children and various gay lifestyles.
Let’s not get into the whole judgement debate here, suffice to say that Catholic teaching which is laid down over many centuries is very clear on these ideologies.
But we can face facts.
It’s not uncommon in human nature to lie to ourselves.
Liberal catholicism is used by liberals as a way to live with their choices that go against their Catholic religion.
According to the European Conservative, German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, the body responsible for safeguarding the Church’s doctrine on faith and morals, has warned against the Church’s increasingly firm embrace of the Left’s secular progressivism and ‘wokism.’
The Cardinal explained that many high-ranking members of the clergy—as well as deacons, priests and bishops—who are pushing for liberal reforms within the Church, are “secularised people” themselves.
They (the liberal Catholic clergy) prefer to “keep the name ‘Catholic’
to stay in the institution and take the money” despite refusing to accept the “word of God.”
Cardinal Müller
“They relativize the Catholic faith, but remain with their titles: cardinals, bishops, theology professors—but in reality they don’t believe what the Church is saying”
said the Cardinal in response to a Synodal Assembly, which concluded with votes favouring draft texts calling for same-sex blessings and pro-LGBT redefinition of homosexuality in teaching materials.
Subscribe to the Friends of the Parish Substack
How Should Catholics Feel About Russia-Ukraine Situation?
On January 25th 2022, America Magazine ran with a headline to an article by John Davenport which read:
Just war theory and Ukraine: Why military action against Russia is justifiable
Davenport proposes six reasons as to why this is the case, citing Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, criticising Russia’s ‘invasion of Crimea and the eastern half of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk provinces’ and claiming that ‘wars of conquest are illegal’.
This is the same John Davenport who has called the United States of America’s illegal invasion of Iraq a ‘liberation’ and who has lamented the failures of the US Army to properly subdue Syria, Libya and other places that fell victim to the bloodthirst of Samantha Power and other neocons. A 2016 article by Davenport expounds his foreign policy, it is without doubt one of the most superficial and naive pieces on foreign policy that one could ever read. He accuses Putin of lying, of self interest, of having covert support for various military groups. Pot, kettle, black.
Regarding his six claims of justified military conflict by the Americans in Ukraine, firstly NATO is no normal ‘alliance’. It is also no guarantee of peace, rather it can be the opposite. Take for example the conflict in Armenia last year with Turkey. As the Turks desecrated the Hagia Sophia, they embarked on another Holy War against Christians in Armenia, brutally torturing and beheading Christian soldiers and desecrating churches, getting away with because they were in NATO. If you want to know how pervasive support for NATO is, even Donald Trump was supportive of the Turkish efforts to ethnically cleanse the region of Armenian Christians. Turkey, knowing that they had NATO backing, proceeded to attack their neighbour viciously and without mercy. It was left to Russia to back Christian Armenia and it has been Russia who have been recently trying to reach a peace agreement between the two countries.
Secondly, he states: ‘just war theory allows legitimate governments and their alliances to respond militarily if negotiation fails to reverse unjust aggressions, such as Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the eastern half of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk provinces’. Not to minimise the experiences of people in Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk, but the overwhelming majority of ethnicities across the three regions are Russians. The Colour Revolution of 2004 and crisis of 2014 had openly American influences on the ground. Why?
Thirdly, Davenport calls ‘wars of conquest’ illegal. What was his country doing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya? ‘Liberating’ people? Only someone who has endured conditioning like Sirhan Sirhan could believe Orwellian doublespeak such as this. Yet Davenport regards all of these as legitimate, even necessary, conflicts. As mentioned above, the ethnic makeup of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk casts doubt on the idea that this would be a ‘war of conquest, since these areas are already predominantly Russian.
Fourthly, ‘secession is legitimate only as a last resort to end oppression of the seceding region or minority group. Fomenting civil war without such a just cause, as Mr. Putin has done with separatists in eastern Ukraine, is another crime of aggression’. Again, it must be stated, that Mr. Davenport has a much lower threshold when it comes to American led wars. The Russians will argue that ethnic Russians in those three regions are in danger, whether one agrees or not, it is not as black and white as suggested.
Fifthly, ‘just war theory tells us that while the need to rescue people from atrocities such as ethnic cleansing can be just grounds for military intervention, the fact that a minority group in a given nation no longer controls the national government cannot be used by another nation as a pretext for “rescue.” That was Hitler’s pretext for seizing the majority-German Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, and Mr. Putin has employed it in his attempts to control parts of Georgia and eastern Ukraine’. Again, the United States simply cannot be trusted on this. From staging attacks allegedly by Assad in Syria to falsely claiming Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, the USA specialises in pretending that anyone that it does not like is a reincarnation of Hitler in 1939. To play down the seriousness of the possibility of ethnic cleansing seems to completely contradict Davenport’s other claims.
Sixth, ‘Russia’s repeated cyberattacks on Ukraine from 2014 through 2022, which have cost billions and caused collateral damage in other nations, count as military aggression. A proportionate response from NATO to such attacks need not be only cyber; it could include reprisals that destroy equipment and infrastructure’. This vague assertion of ‘proportionate response’ seems more reasonably on the surface, but it is highly unlikely that any NATO incursion would result simply in infrastructural damage rather than the deaths of individuals.
What is really occurring here is that the aptly named America Magazine is cloaking American jingoism in Catholic dressing.
Some of Davenport’s other comments in this article are simply American propaganda:
To let another Russian tyrant reoccupy any nation in eastern Europe would be a retreat and a betrayal.
Mr. Putin’s clear motive for wanting to invade Ukraine is that its people freed themselves from Russian domination and thus have encouraged other liberation movements. Since 2014, Mr. Putin and his foreign puppets have mounted attacks on democratic movements in Venezuela, Moldova, Syria, Belarus, Kazakhstan and of course within Russia itself. Sanctions cannot deter Mr. Putin because he believes his own regime is in danger if democracy spreads.
Trying to appease Mr. Putin any further would endanger more of eastern Europe and encourage him to escalate his assault on democracy.
Peace, as the aim of just wars, should not be the false peace of life under tyranny. After years of trying to placate Mr. Putin while he tries to rebuild a Russian empire, and watching him poison his enemies, lock up his political opponents and assassinate journalists, it is time to stand up to his aggressions.
This disingenous presupposition that Russia is poised to recreate an Empire implicitly suggests that suggests that Americans are simply liberators and not in fact trying to create and empire of their own. The ‘pro Democracy’ fighters that Davenport lauds in Syria include Islamic fundamentalists, those hostile to Christians. This is something that we saw in Iraq, where 81% of Christians were expelled or killed after what Davenport calls their ‘liberation’. Likewise, the domino effect that the USA uses to destablise regions in the name of democracy could lead to the violence spreading the nearby countries, such as Poland. Just because we are European and Christian does not mean that we are any less expendable to the American Empire, just ask the Armenians or the Iraqi and Syrian Christians.
In 2014, the Washington Post published an article which stated: ‘War may well be the worst way imaginable to create larger, more peaceful societies, but the depressing fact is that it is pretty much the only way’. This apocalyptic perspective is that of a nation which has never seen a major conflict on its own shores, hence their eagerness to take them to other people’s.
When pro Iraq War Joe Biden took office in January 2021, we published the following:
In recent months, there has been a barbaric rapidity once again. The extremist elements amongst the Globalists such as Samantha Power, have made foreboding noises that contained veiled threats about treating Poland and Hungary as they once did Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi.
If you want an insight into what could potentially be on the horizon, you simply need to observe the hyenas speaking about their fellow Americans in the same breath as they once spoke about the Iraqis, they are even now drawing parallels so as to justify the two of them.
The hysterical Russian phobia which surrounded criticisms of the Presidency of Donald Trump was actually eclipsed by that which surrounded the 2018 World Cup, with Russia’s relative pivot back towards Christianity being seen by many Western Liberals as a great tragedy. Russia was seen as homophobic, anti woman and excessively Christian by Westerners, a myth quickly shattered by those who travelled to the tournament in huge numbers and who were welcomed with open arms.
Much of the rhetoric about Russia is echoed by other sentiments aimed at their Eastern European neighbours, including Poland and Hungary. Both countries have been bombarded with Globalist propaganda, aimed at reducing their birth rates, increasing abortions and decreasing religiosity and nationalist sentiments. In Poland, the West has had some success, with German asto turf abortion groups helping to organise terror attacks on Catholic churches and large demonstrations in favour of abortion, but in Hungary this has not been the case, with birth rates rising, the recent success of the Eucharistic Congress and GDP continuing to increase.
In short, this is not as simple as America Magazine claims.
People will die, Christians will suffer, non combatant countries (such as Ireland) will have to deal with the after shocks of refugees and spiralling energy prices. Hollywood rhetoric clamouring for bloodshed is no solution to the urgency of this crisis.
This article seems like a serious misjudgement from America and a departure from previous editorial opposition to wars in Iraq and elsewhere.
For the record, lest there be any confusion, our criticism of America Magazine is not a defence of Russia. It is, however, a criticism of Catholic Americans who are carelessly wishing for violence in Europe, evidently putting NATO on the same pedestal that allowed it to watch Turkey destroy churches in Armenia recently (which Joe Biden actually criticised, though perhaps to get at Trump moreso than for the sake of Christians).
A more subtle approach has been taken by at least one Catholic priest, in an episode of The Brendan Option podcast where Fr. Brendan Kilcoyne discusses the lack of comprehensive coverage from Western Media outlets, who (like America Magazine) are merely echoes of the pro war elements of American foreign policy.
He stated:
I’m asking you to inform yourself…Catholics should revere knowledge, it is one of the many faces of God.
The discourse is naive and we’re being peddled a discourse that doesn’t tally. …deal with reputable non biased news agencies. This is too important to allow jingoism to rule the debate.
It is a reasonable video and a reminder to Catholics to avoid getting caught up in the world’s affairs too much, Pope John Paul II bravely reminded us of this with opposition to the USA’s illegal wars of the early 2000s.
Pope John Paul II wrote:
When terrorist organizations use their own followers as weapons to be launched against defenceless and unsuspecting people they show clearly the death-wish that feeds them. Terrorism springs from hatred, and it generates isolation, mistrust and closure. Violence is added to violence in a tragic sequence that exasperates successive generations, each one inheriting the hatred which divided those that went before. Terrorism is built on contempt for human life. For this reason, not only does it commit intolerable crimes, but because it resorts to terror as a political and military means it is itself a true crime against humanity.
Featured
BREAKING: Pope Francis's FSSP Meeting
The details of Pope Francis’s recent meeting with the FSSP have been revealed and they are good news for those devoted to the Latin Mass.
On Friday, February 4, 2022, two members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, Fr. Benoît Paul-Joseph, Superior of the District of France, and Fr. Vincent Ribeton, Rector of St. Peter’s Seminary in Wigratzbad, were received in private audience by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for nearly an hour.
During the very cordial meeting, they recalled the origins of the Fraternity in 1988, the Pope expressed that he was very impressed by the approach taken by its founders, their desire to remain faithful to the Roman Pontiff and their trust in the Church. He said that this gesture should be “preserved, protected and encouraged”.
In the course of the audience, the Pope made it clear that institutes such as the Fraternity of St. Peter are not affected by the general provisions of the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes, since the use of the ancient liturgical books was at the origin of their existence and is provided for in their constitutions.
The Holy Father subsequently sent a decree signed by him and dated February 11, the day the Fraternity was solemnly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, confirming for the members of the Fraternity the right to use the liturgical books in force in 1962, namely: the Missal, the Ritual, the Pontifical and the Roman Breviary.
Grateful to the Holy Father, the members of the Fraternity of St. Peter are in thanksgiving for this confirmation of their mission. They invite all the faithful who feel close to them as a spiritual family to attend or join them in prayer at the Mass tomorrow, on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, and to pray for the Supreme Pontiff.
**
The Holy Father Francis, grants to each and every member of the Society of Apostolic Life “Fraternity of Saint Peter”, founded on July 18, 1988 and declared of “Pontifical Right” by the Holy See, the faculty to celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass, and to carry out the sacraments and other sacred rites, as well as to fulfill the Divine Office, according to the typical editions of the liturgical books, namely the Missal, the Ritual, the Pontifical and the Roman Breviary, in force in the year 1962.
They may use this faculty in their own churches or oratories; otherwise it may only be used with the consent of the Ordinary of the place, except for the celebration of private Masses.
Without prejudice to what has been said above, the Holy Father suggests that, as far as possible, the provisions of the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes be taken into account as well.
Given in Rome, near St. Peter’s, on February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, in the year 2022, the ninth year of my Pontificate.
Francis
Can Human Rights Exist Without God?
During a recent discussion, I was embarrassed to discover that I could not prove that Human Rights are Inherent and Immutable. Worse: I couldn’t even show that we have Human Rights! An argument against Homo Sapiens having unique ‘Rights’ arises from the probability that we are not the only advanced species in the Universe.
There may be billions of sentient life forms— so, why would humanity have special Rights? (“There are up to 19,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars similar to ours with at least one planet similar to Earth.”) The good news is that ‘Faster Than Light’ travel is highly improbable, so alien rights are moot!
After mulling on the Human Rights conundrum without finding a satisfactory answer, I took to Netflix for distraction! Curiously, the final episode of “Afterlife,” gave glimmers of insight. Afterlife was written, produced, and directed by atheist and comedian, Ricky Gervais. He also plays the main character of Tony Johnson, who is suicidally depressed after the death of his wife from cancer. For most of the series Tony is consistently horrible to people and considers this to be his ‘super-power’!
[SPOILER ALERT!] In the final episode, after watching pre-recorded messages from his wife, Tony comes to the realisation that his ‘superpower’ is being kind to other people. He even manages to tell the odd white lie to protect the feelings of others, rather than lambasting them with his usual brutal honesty! The clip below is of Tony, a reporter for the local paper, interviewing children with cancer.
Gervais paints a beautiful image of life, love, death, and reconciliation. He gives us his view of an afterlife, a ‘supernatural state.’ Religions obviously focus on ‘God’ and supernatural states first. Only secondly, do Religions show us how to live a good life. Christ gave the simplest instructions of all: Love your God and Love your Neighbour.
Gervais may be light on the God bit, but he seems to be doing well on the “Love your neighbour” part.
The misnomer of ‘Human Rights’
Humans are happiest when caring for others: our families, then friends, community, and extended affiliations / humanity.
A weakness in atheism and secular societies is the abandonment of guides like the Holy Bible, the Torah, the Koran, etc. Humanity came precipitously close to self-destruction during WWII, so we developed an alternative moral roadmap: the UN Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. Some countries have similar documents, including the Magna Carta Liberatum (the Great Charter of Freedoms) in England, 1215 A.D.; the Declaration of Independence in the US, 1776; and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada, 1982.
These Declarations and Charters define ‘Human Rights,’ but they are much better perceived to be our Responsibilities to fellow human beings. Responsibilities show us how to start loving our neighbour.
This was poignantly said by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:
“We hear a constant clamor for rights, rights, always rights, but so very little about responsibility. And we have forgotten God. The need now is for selflessness, for a spirit of sacrifice, for a willingness to put aside personal gains for the salvation of the whole Western world.”
Are human responsibilities immutable?
Quick answer: Yes!
This answer is from a Moral Absolutist position, which brings us to certain definitions:
Moral Absolutism: “Moral Absolutism is the ethical belief that there are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged, and that certain actions are right or wrong, regardless of the context of the act.” (As in something is either “Right” or “Wrong.”)
Moral Relativism: “the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute.” (As in, this is ‘My’ Truth.)
Post-Modernism (abbreviated from Wikipedia): An intellectual stance defined by opposition to epistemic certainty and the stability of meaning. Post-Modernism dismisses objective facts as naive realism and is characterized by self-referentiality, epistemological, moral relativism, pluralism, irony, irreverence, and eclecticism; rejects the ‘‘universal validity’’ of binary oppositions, stable identity, hierarchy, andcategorization. (As in “Nothing is a fact.”)
The legal definitions we use for Human Rights and Responsibilities are limited by our capacity to conceptualize such intangibles, and our ability to explain them through language.
Relativists will claim that Rights and Responsibilities are not inherent or immutable, because they ‘are granted by others’ (e.g. by governments.) They claim that Rights and Responsibilities can vary according to the situation: indeed, they can be denied, but they cannot be nullified.
Our responsibilities to others do not vary particularly unless there is a major overriding reason, such as the need for self-defense when dealing with a violent person. Typically, what varies is our attentiveness to the task.
Moral Absolutism and Double Effect
Mainstream religions hold positions towards Moral Absolutism. Some have accused the Catholic Church of changing what it deems to be ‘moral’ at times.
This can arise when a situation is analyzed using the principles of Double Effect. There are four criteria and all four must be fulfilled for an action to be considered moral.
The aim of the action must be good, or at least morally neutral.
The good effect must come directly from the good action.
The evil effect must not be desired but only permitted (and so long there is no other reasonable choice.)
There must be a sufficiently grave reason for permitting the evil effect to occur.
This means that one may NOT act immorally even for a good outcome (e.g., one cannot intentionally kill an innocent person to save other lives.)
Applying Double Effect to Abortion, shows its immorality in every clause:
1. The aim of an abortion is the death of an innocent human being (so is not good, nor neutral.)
2. All ‘good effects’ arise from the deliberate killing of an innocent person, so they do not come from a ‘good action’.
3. There are reasonable alternatives (e.g., adoption) and the evil effect — the death of the child — is the desired outcome.
4. The mother’s circumstances cannot be so grave as to outweigh the killing of an innocent human being.
Pro-Aborts always bring up the issue of treating some serious illness in a pregnant woman. Using Double Effect, it appears to be moral to fully treat a seriously ill pregnant woman, even if the treatment might lead to the death of her child, so long as there is no otherreasonable treatment choice and that outcome is an indirect and unwanted consequence of the treatment.
The optimism of Christianity
Relativism seems more “user-friendly” than Moral Absolutism because its believers can rationalize most every situation to suit themselves! (“self-referentiality.”) This can lead to the complete abrogation of all personal responsibility — little wonder it is so popular.
Post-Modernism is an easy philosophy to ascribe to, but it seems pitifully negative. Imagine believing that nothing has innate value, consistency, or validity…ever. So depressing. It must be hard for an Atheist or Humanist to maintain a consistently moral stance through times of doubt. Religions support us through dark times and give us hope and a sense of continuity into an afterlife. Catholic ideas of redemption and forgiveness are wonderfully reassuring.
It is clear why dictators repress Religion. If Pol Pot and his followers had any sense of love of their neighbour, Cambodia might have avoided the Killing Fields. We do not have to look far to see worrisome examples today.
The Bible encapsulates all of this in just one sentence:
‘But the greatest of these is love…’
-
Bastille Day is a commemoration of the Genocide of French Catholics, such as the brave people of the Vendee https://t.co/TxxfgEsuwd -
The General Synod of the Church of England has voted against supporting Assisted Suicide, choosing instead to reaff… https://t.co/F5PbBm1dN3
-
Pope Francis has said that US President Joe Biden is 'incoherent' on abortion and should speak to his pastor. https://t.co/9RCIHO7ymx
-
'A group in the centre near the altar sang hymns during the Mass…The whole ceremony was intently watched by soldier… https://t.co/0C2VIzjneB
Benedict in Way of German Synodal Path - Gänswein
To observers of the church, there was something quite strange about the timing of the attack on Pope Benedict XVI’s character in January 2022.
The correction of a minor mistake in a mammoth 1,000 page report quickly escalated into apparent implication into the abuse contained within the report, with secular media outlets and liberal Catholics uniting in implying something about the story that simply did not exist.
Despite the damaging nature of these claims, not just to Pope Benedict XVI but to the whole church, very few voices had the integrity to join the pope as he defended himself from these false accusations.
Among the very few to speak up was Cardinal Dominik Duka, who wrote:
For me, this is one of the greatest disappointments I have experienced in our Roman Catholic Church. To denigrate a person, to denounce him unjustly and not even to give him the opportunity to evaluate this so-called blessing, which must have cost hundreds of thousands of euros, because it does not give the possibility of a legal reprieve? I ask: what is that?
I point out the following fact: that from the entire record, any priest who has studied church law, or even a layman who has graduated from a theological faculty and attended a course in church law, must understand that the then Archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger, had no jurisdiction and no possibility of resolving this case in any way - the priest X. in question was a priest of the diocese of Essen.
Therefore, I protest and indeed take the liberty of calling the Archbishop of Munich, his curia, and the President of the German Bishops' Conference to account for the defamation and tarnishing of the reputation of Pope Benedict XVI!
Those particular facts undermined virtually of the misleading propaganda being proposed by mainstream media and liberal Catholics.
These facts have been elaborated upon in a subsequent interview with Pope Benedict XVI’s secretary Georg Gänswein.
Gänswein told ETWN:
You know the history - there was a mistake after the munich report was published. But this was not a mistake on the part of Pope Benedict, as he himself indicated in his letter. The appendix explains how this happened. It was an accident that unfortunately happened. It should not have happened. But it happened.
I still remember, when we were going through a statement he sent to the law firm, how during the last block of "questions and answers" he said: "I don't remember that meeting - the famous one - on January 15, 1980. But if it says that I was not present, then that absence is proven — or was proved then — thanks to a document from that meeting." And that's where the mistake happened. "So if it says I was absent, I accept that. I said, "Holy Father, it's in the digital documents we just checked, so we can assume it's true." Again, it was not checked, not at all. It only reappeared when the report was presented and one of the experts said: Benedict was present, not absent. I was in shock and the others were in shock too. And then we checked it again. And indeed, there was a mistake. I told Pope Benedict and he said: "We must immediately say that this was a mistake on our part." It wasn't intentional, so it wasn't a lie — the lies are deliberate; it was a mistake. "We have to say it as soon as possible," he insisted. "Prepare a press release, discuss it with the Secretariat of State, and then move on."
As well as elaborating upon the 8,000 pages of files that Benedict was required to sift through, Ganswein echoed Cardinal Duka’s comments by stating:
The minutes of this meeting state: "Archbishop Cardinal Ratzinger present"; the then Vicar General was not present. He was absent. Responsible workers received a request from a German diocese to ask if a priest who would come to Munich for treatment for a certain period of time could stay in the Munich parish. That was the subject of the meeting. The diocese's request was granted. "We appoint a priest or a parish priest in whose rectory he can stay," it was said. It wasn't about content at all. That is, it was only a question of whether this request should be granted or not. And cardinal Ratzinger present, of course, agreed: Of course, if we can help, we will help. What happened later, the cooperation here, the cooperation there, was already beyond his consciousness. At that time, there was no talk of it at all. Also, the reason for the therapy that he could have been a pedophile priest was never mentioned. There is no mention of this in the protocol. The claim that he knew about it, that he protected and covered him is simply a lie. And I have to say quite frankly: It's slander. It's just not true. You have to know the facts as they are, and also accept the facts as they are. And then I can interpret them. But I can't put the chariot in front of the horse. I just can't. That is insinuation. And that ultimately takes away Pope Benedict's moral credibility, and then he can no longer defend himself.
But let me answer the question you asked me earlier – you are absolutely right. Benedict said in writing the letter: "It should be a very personal letter. And that's why there's this distinction between my letter and the appendix. So that people can see that it is my letter, a letter that I wrote, and an appendix that is the work of four co-workers whom I know and approve." But this letter is something he wrote, if you will, in God's presence. The last paragraph is perhaps the key to everything. He says, "Quite soon I will find myself before the last judge of my life," before the gracious judge.
In fact, this was not the first time he had apologized to victims of abuse. I remember very well, and this is also mentioned in the letter, that during his travels as Pope he often met people who had been sexually abused by priests. These meetings were very emotional, always in the chapel, without the presence of the press, always beginning in the chapel with a short prayer and then followed by a meeting. And then I could see the effects of those meetings. And this is a simple presentation of the facts. Many of the victims then testified, whether on radio or television, how this meeting benefited them and relieved them of all the pressure, the heaviness. Benedict always said: Every victim of abuse is too much, every case of abuse is too much, and as a result it cannot be corrected. The only thing that can help is a plea for forgiveness and also a kind of plea for these people to be entrusted to God's protection.
Most interestingly, he comments on the German Synodal Path by stating:
Certain goals that the Synodal Way is aiming at are something for which the person and the work of Benedict stand in the way. And there is this great, great danger that everything that has to do with pedophilia and abuse is now taken monocausally, so to speak, in order to open this Way first and then go down that road. Last week we saw what texts were passed, and where this is supposed to lead.
The Synodal Way is an event that, theologically or ecclesiastically speaking, does not correspond to a synod. It's an event that can be held, and they can also produce texts. But these texts are not binding in any way, and certainly not for the life of the Church. We will see to what extent the results of these texts can be fruitful — or not — for the process of the world Synod. I am convinced that they will not be fruitful. If I want a different Church that is no longer based on revelation, so to speak, if I want a different structure of the Church that is no longer sacramental but pseudo-democratic, then I must also see that this has nothing to do with Catholic understanding, with Catholic ecclesiology, with the Catholic understanding of the Church.
The collusion between media and liberal elements within the church appears to have brought about this coordinated attack on Pope Benedict XVI, using falsifications and the very real abuse of innocent people to achieve their goals.
It is shameful and a warning to the global church to be ready for subversive elements who are willing to exploit any issue and destroy any persons for their own benefit.
-
Bastille Day is a commemoration of the Genocide of French Catholics, such as the brave people of the Vendee https://t.co/TxxfgEsuwd
-
The General Synod of the Church of England has voted against supporting Assisted Suicide, choosing instead to reaff… https://t.co/F5PbBm1dN3
The Forgotten Martyrdom of Saint Valentine
By Thomas Hegarty
Back in the 3rd century, under the rule of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudius II, “Claudius the Cruel”, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families.
However, the Christian St Valentine of Terni, a holy priest, (some say Bishop) in Rome was said to have celebrated marriages between Christian couples in clandestine secrecy in Rome and advised married men not to go to war and to stay with their wives.
When the secret came to light, Roman Emperor Claudius ordered Valentine’s execution on 14th February 269. His martyrdom was brutally carried out by beheading.
Valentine was buried in Terni near the present Basilica, in a cemetery that already existed in pagan times, where several objects of the 4th and 5th centuries were found. A first basilica was built in the 4th century, outside the walls, on the martyr’s tomb. Destroyed by the Goths together with the city in the 6th century, it was rebuilt in the 7th.
In 1605 Bishop Giovanni Antonio Onorati, obtaining a permission from Pope Paul V, ordered to begin the search for the body of the saint. The body of St. Valentine was soon found in a leaden box containing a marble urn, rough outside but carved with reliefs inside. The head was separated from the torso which confirmed death by beheading. The urn was immediately taken to the cathedral. But the people and the Congregation of Rites wanted that the relics of the martyr continued to rest where they had been buried. So it was decided to build a new basilica on the site.
In 1630 the relics were deposited in an artistic ark consists inside a supine statue. The statue could be seen up to some years ago under the main altar rebuilt by Archduke Leopold. Valentino’s tomb was moved to the new altar in 2003. In the same year, the skull that had been stolen from the tomb in 1979 was returned to Terni.
The original religious celebration named after the Christian saint and martyr Saint Valentine of Terni was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496, to replace the previous pagan festival of Lupercalia. The festivity spread especially in France and England by means of the many monasteries of the Benedictines, who were in charge of the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni from the second half of the 7th century.
Dublin’s Valentine Shrine
The Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church (Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) in Dublin is unexpectedly one of the city’s most romantic spots. Many are drawn here because the church holds the relics of Saint Valentine, a gift from Pope Gregory XVI in 1836, a small vial of Saint Valentine’s blood. This shrine contains “some” sacred body parts of Saint Valentine the Martyr, together with a small vessel tinged with his blood. They were given to the church by Pope Gregory XVI. They’re kept in a casket on an altar to the right of the main altar. The Shrine to St. Valentine is found on the right hand side of the church as you enter. The casket sits beneath the marble altar in a niche which is protected by an ornate iron and glass gate. Above the altar stands the life-sized statue of the saint set into a marble mosaic alcove.
Today, the Shrine is visited throughout the year by couples who come to pray to Saint Valentine and to ask him to watch over them in their lives together.
Prayer to Saint Valentine
Dear Lord, who art high in the Heavens,
Giver of Love and Passion,
And He who strings the heart’s cords,
Lead the Lovers this day, February ten plus four.
The day during the month of two,
When the date is the perfect number of God
Greater two souls and two hearts.
Some Loves are fleeting ,
But that which is built on you will never fail.
So guide the Lovers to know what is to be.
Your truths the Lovers’ mouths should speak,
For Your truth is that which is honest to the heart.
Only this, then, should pass over the red lips of the Lovers.
Your art, the Lovers simply a medium.
It is only with True Hearts that You can create a Masterpiece,
So let the Lovers remember that their Soul’s Desire
Is the one for which You light their Fire.
And let it be You who creates the Art of the Lovers;
The art of two into one.
Amen.
Featured
Cardinal Duka Defends Pope Benedict XVI
While some Catholic commentators have thrown Pope Benedict XVI under the bus after media distortions of recent developments regarding abuse in German church, others have taken the time to study the case for themselves.
Liberal Catholic commentators have been all too quick to call Benedict XVI ‘tone deaf’ for merely defending himself, dismissing his explanation of events as a ‘non apology’. This is despite Benedict insisting that he had been given the support of Pope Francis in this matter:
To me it proved deeply hurtful that this oversight was used to cast doubt on my truthfulness, and even to label me a liar. At the same time, I have been greatly moved by the varied expressions of trust, the heartfelt testimonies and the moving letters of encouragement sent to me by so many persons. I am particularly grateful for the confidence, support and prayer that Pope Francis personally expressed to me.
One voice that has strongly stood up for the pope is Czech Cardinal Dominik Duka OP, who has released a powerful statement questioning the Archbishop of Munich for his role in assigning blame to Benedict, when the priest in question was not under his jurisdiction, but that of the Diocese of Essen.
Read Cardinal Duka’s remarks below:
''The publication of the Pope's letter is truly a glimpse into the soul of a priest, bishop and pope who is reflecting back on his life but no longer has the strength to comment on all its particulars.
What follows is an analysis by the experts mentioned above, who show us line by line how the so-called blessing is handled in the Archdiocese of Munich. For me, this is one of the greatest disappointments I have experienced in our Roman Catholic Church. To denigrate a person, to denounce him unjustly and not even to give him the opportunity to evaluate this so-called blessing, which must have cost hundreds of thousands of euros, because it does not give the possibility of a legal reprieve? I ask: what is that?
In my article, which will appear in the German magazine Die Tagespost, I point out the following fact: that from the entire record, any priest who has studied church law, or even a layman who has graduated from a theological faculty and attended a course in church law, must understand that the then Archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger, had no jurisdiction and no possibility of resolving this case in any way - the priest X. in question was a priest of the diocese of Essen.
Therefore, I protest and indeed take the liberty of calling the Archbishop of Munich, his curia, and the President of the German Bishops' Conference to account for the defamation and tarnishing of the reputation of Pope Benedict XVI!
Dominik Cardinal Duka, Archbishop of Prague