It's where the Catholic Action is—a special spot for the those who are grateful to live in the Catholic City, wherever they may abide. Here you'll find articles on the Faith, Fatima, Secrets of the Catholic City, Catholic family life and homeschooling—all with what Hilaire Belloc called "the Catholic conscience of history."
Looks like a new trend is arising amongst priests who
threaten lawsuits against any Catholic lady or gent of the laity who call them on their error(s). If this keeps up, the trend may well be called "The Rosica Factor" (see a bit of the Fr. Rosica story-background here).
The Rosica controversy reached such a height that "American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who formerly served as the head of the
Vatican’s high court until Pope Francis appointed him patron of the
Order of Malta, joined the discussion to defend the blogger," according to the article linked above. This time, however, the one being threatened by a Catholic priest is a Catholic wife and mother of three children. My initial thought was to wonder at the coincidence (or is it one?) that this story came out on the Feast of the Virgin-Martyr, St. Joan of Arc. Anyone familiar with the life of St. Joan should recognize the implicit reference to the abuse she suffered under the hand of Church prelates. It went so far that she was martyred---while in the custody of Catholic bishops who abused their authority. It was they who martyred the saint. History has proven who was on the side of God---the great Saint Joan---and who was on the side of politics and religious respect----the bishops of England. And lest we forget, the imprisonment, maltreatment, and martyrdom of St. Joan (at the hands of the Catholic clergy who proved themselves guilty of human respect) occurred before the Protestant Revolt. To return to the incident with the Catholic blogger (who also happens to be a wife and mother), she includes screenshots as proof: Catholic Priest Threatens Mum of 3 with legal action, because she told him off for saying that the Holy Spirit is female, and then he lies on Twitter about her!
An excerpt from my book, "Fatima: The Signs and Secrets" (available through Amazon in both paperback and Kindle readers). +++++++++++++++++++++++
“To you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God,” [985] revealed Our Lord to His Apostles, but how much more do His words apply to Our Lady, whose singular office surpasses that of the disciples. Theologians are accustomed to point out that when God calls a human being to any office, He gives that person all the graces needed to fulfill its obligations.[986] Naturally, that teaching applies to Our Lady and never was it truer than on the first Holy Saturday, when the grieving Blessed Mother alone remained constant in faith.[987] It is for this reason that Saturday, especially Holy Saturday, is considered by the Church as Our Lady’s Day.
When the Jewish Sabbath began at sunset on Good Friday and all through Saturday, Our Lady and Jesus’ disciples, including the Holy Women, were prostrate with sorrow. Amongst all of them, only the Virgin Mary fully understood Her Son’s promise of His Resurrection, keeping its unwavering hope in her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.
Think of all that must have transpired in the Heart and Soul of the Virgin Mother as She remembered those most dreadful hours of Her Son’s Passion. The mere thought of a beloved child, enduring such suffering and abuse, would bring to the heart of any other human mother deep pangs of grief. Imagine the sorrow of the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God! How much Our Lady endured – for us! Throughout the Sabbath, the Blessed Mother recalled the betrayal, saw again the most grievous Passion, and once more heard the mocking words that insulted and blasphemed Our Lord. Tortured and mocked from all sides, Jesus was never given a moment’s peace from the moment His Passion began. God is not mocked[988],but He allowed Himself to be mocked as a prophet who said that He could raise the destroyed temple in three days, mocked in His quality of Son of God, mocked as a miracle-worker who healed others but could not help Himself, mocked for His sanctity and confidence in God, mocked as the Messiah and mocked as the King of the Jews.[989]
Loving and grieving witnesses of the Passion, Our Lady and the few who had been with Her at the Foot of the Cross must have later told the other apostles Our Lord’s last words:
To God the Father:“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[990] To the Good Thief:“Amen, I say to thee: This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”[991] To His Virgin Mother and St. John:“Woman, behold thy son… son, behold thy Mother.”[992] To Heaven:“Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? That is, My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?”[993] Through parched lips:“I thirst.”[994] For all to hear:“It is consummated.”[995] To His Father once more:“Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this, he gave up the ghost.”[996]
As if Jesus’ cruel sufferings and Death were not enough to remember, they saw again Our Lord’s side not only pierced but opened wide by a lance, His Sacred Heart laid bare and gushing forth blood and water. For Our Lady, witnessing this last and vicious sacrilege of Her beloved Son’s Body, Simeon’s prophecy came to pass: And thy own soul a sword shall pierce that, out of many hearts, thoughts shall be revealed. [997]
For the convenience of those who don’t have the
Internet bandwith to watch videos, I’ve transcribed the text of the video
(embedded at the bottom of this post). If you’d like to share my transcription on your own blog,
website, FB page (etc.), kindly link
back to this post. My transcription now follows:
[OPENING]
“Hi, I'm Doug Barry, founder and director of Radix and
Battle Ready.
“March 7, 2015 is the 440th anniversary of the
formation of the Holy League, called for by Pope St. Pius V. This movement of
prayer and solidarity united Catholics throughout Europe in defense of
Christendom. On this anniversary, we announce to you the launching of a new
Holy League.
“And now, a very important message from the spiritual head of the Holy
League, His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.”
[CARDINAL BURKE
NEXT SPEAKS]
“I want to commend to you in a very particular way a
spiritual activity of the Holy League. It draws its name from the historic Holy
League which was an activity of intense activity and prayer during the time of
the threat and the overtaking of Europe by Islam, and through prayer and
especially through Eucharistic adoration and through the praying of the Holy
Rosary, a great victory was won at the Battle of Lepanto, a victory that we
recall every year on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.
“The Holy League is a very simple and tremendously
powerful movement in the Church, founded in 2014—last year—and it is basically
one thrust, and that is that WE AS MEN to be in the state of grace, being the
state of friendship with God, through the confessions of our sins and the even
greater welcoming of those graces which God gave to us by our Baptism and
Confirmation, and the actual graces that He gives us every day to live
faithfully as Christians, and, out of the Holy League, propose to help us to be
in the state of grace and to remain in the state of grace so we can be a source
of strength for the Church in these very troubled times. It is by way of the
Holy Hour, a monthly Holy Hour, during which the Sacrament of Confession is
available, a Holy Hour concentrating on our relationship with Our Lord, Jesus
Christ, growing in our closeness to Him so that He can help us to be strong and
holy men for our time.
“And so I want, in my message today, to say how
important you are to the Church and to the world in our time. The Church and
our world has always depended upon strong Catholic men.
“I want to encourage you in all that you are doing to
be strong Catholic men of our time, for the transformation of our culture, for
the building up of the Body of Christ, to be that leaven in the world which transforms
it and prepares the world for Our Lord’s final coming—for that Final
Consummation of His saving work.
“So please be of good courage. I ask you in a very
particular way to consider becoming a part of the Holy League-giving your time once
a month to the Holy Hour and time also for a very sincere and humble
celebration of the Sacrament of Confession and a time to be reinforced in your
daily prayers and devotions.
“May God bless you all and, in blessing you, may He
make you a blessing for the Church today and for our work."
[MR. DOUGLAS BARRY
speaks again, below]
“What more needs to be said? Every Catholic man can be
a part of this work. There is a great need in our world today for unity and
support of this movement.
“The goal of the Holy League is nothing short of
establishing a network of monthly Holy Hours for men with Confession and
fraternity in every parish throughout the world.
“This is building on the call of Pope St. John Paul II
to establish Eucharistic Adoration in every parish, as well as the call of Pope
Francis who called for 24 hours of Eucharistic Adoration with Confession for
March 13-14.
“This is a call to all men, to all Catholic
apostolates, to every man involved in Catholic ministry of any kind, to join
this alliance, this Holy League.”
The young and old may not be bound by the fast, but they are
bound by the spirit, each according to his capacity. If we feel that it is
unnatural to ask penances of children while they are still very young—penances within their reach—we forget
that self-denial must be learned very young, that it is the forming of
character, that the very grace of their Baptism flows from the Cross.
The end (that is, the ultimate reason) of the penitential seasons imposed by the Church is
not mere performance. The Church is a wise mother, who knows that the cutting
away of self-will frees our souls for a more radiant love affair with Christ.
If we think of the penance without pondering the effect, we misunderstand it.
It is not over and done with the doing, but will bear fruit, if it is done with
the right spirit; not alone by the piling up of “treasure in Heaven” but by an
increase in our taste for God; a change in the habits of our souls. Our Lord tells us how to behave during Lent when He speaks
to us in the Ash Wednesday Gospel (Matt: 6:16-21):
“When you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they
disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to
thee, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy
head and wash thy face, that thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who
is in secret; and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee. Lay not up to
yourselves treasures on earth; where the rust and moth consume, and where
thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven;
where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break
through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.”
So let us remember, when we choose something to give up: no
moaning and groaning! Hypocrites (Our Lord was talking about the Pharisees)
make much of their performances because they want attention. That being their
motives, He says, they already have their reward: attention. There will be
opportunities, before Lent is over, for us to attract attention, but so long as
this is not our motive, we can accept and use whatever God permits to come to
us.
A father will be asked by business associates why he, too,
doesn’t order steak for lunch. One mother will be asked by fellow club-members
why she doesn’t eat sandwiches and cake after their evening business meeting. Some children will be asked why they
say “No, thank you,” to proffered candies at school, to decline and invitation
to a Lenten movie, to not join with others to watch a television show. These
are the opportunities, with many more, to give reasons “for the faith that is
in you.” (1)
The Main Tips: We know that, if pressed or if asked why we refuse certain activities
or foods, we need not say, “Because I’m fasting” or “Because I gave that up for
Lent.” If, however, someone continues to urge us, we can say (with a smile!), “Thank you for offering, but at the moment I don’t care for
any” or something to that effect, so that we don't (1) shame the person who is urging us and (2) give the impression of being a bit of a braggart, a "holier-than-thou." Otherwise, we have found another way to draw attention to ourselves.
“Anoint thy head; wash thy face…” Show your happiest face, because Lent is a time of making grateful reparation to God for our sins and that of others. Do not groan
or moan or find a way to complain. Be careful not to inadvertently brag. Our Lord teaches us to hide our sacrifices,
and to keep them secret—with God.
