Wednesday, January 25, 2017

An Inspirational Video to Watch

Beautiful Parish Bulletins

This his how to do it.

Very nice to see such a beautiful bulletin! 

Man thanks to the Vice-Rector of Holy Rosary Cathedral, Fr. Pablo.  

Made with a free download known as GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program). 

White House Press Sect. Spicer will 'turn to God everyday' to do job

Rome Quotes

"The word 'annulment' is not to be found in the Code of Canon Law.  This is why the more accurate jurists today have abandoned the use of this term, as it confuses people and does not correctly reflect the mind of the Church.  Indeed, in handing down a judicial sentence regarding a marriage case, what the Church declares is whether the marriage in question is valid or invalid."

-Msgr. Pedro Lopez-Gallo

Rome Quotes

"So much "winning" in America; so much "losing" in aedibus Vaticanis.
Divine Irony."

-Jonathan Arrington 


Monday, January 23, 2017

Traditional Catholic Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: Deadline for Registration is February 1st!

The tour is almost full.  There are just a few openings left.  

For more details, contact us asap HERE.

Trump ends funding of abortion oversees: Press Sec. Sean Spicer

New Website for Vatican Museums

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html

Octave for Christian Unity

Day 6 of the Octave for Christian Unity:

That lapsed Catholics will return to the Sacraments of the Church.

A DEVOUT EXERCISE FOR THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH

Ant. That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.

V. I say to thee, that thou art Peter.

R. And upon this rock I will build My Church.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus Christ, who didst say to Thine Apostles: 'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you,' look not upon my sins but upon the faith of Thy Church; and vouchsafe unto her that peace and unity which is agreeable to Thy will: Who livest and reignest, God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Beauty of Sacred Music

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Rome Quotes

"Abortion is the Antichrist's demonic parody of the Eucharist. That is why it uses the same holy words, 'This is my body,' with the blasphemously opposite meaning."

- Dr. Peter Kreeft, PhD

Eugène Cardinal Tisserant's Secretary Celebrates 65 Years of Priesthood!





Meet Monsignor Peter Lopez-Gallo.  One of my most favorite people on the planet.  An eminent canonist, his writings on marriage in the light of Canon Law are of extreme importance. 

Monsignor was ordained priest in Mexico in 1951.  He comes from a prominent family in Guadalajara.  He was sent to seminary in Spain in the 1930s.  After ordination in 1951 he was sent to Rome.      

In 1960 he became personal secretary to His Eminence Cardinal Tisserant.

When the Cardinal passed away at Albano Laziale (age 87) in 1972, Monsignor Lopez-Gallo felt the call to new chapter and so he moved to Canada to work as a parish pastor and canonist in the Vancouver chancery. 

Tanti auguri, caro monsignore!  

Subscribe to The Latin Mass Magazine (The Journal of Catholic Culture and Tradition)!

Excellent articles on Catholic culture, devotions, homeschooling, music, liturgy, history, etc.

They have a superb mission statement:

Make known the treasures of Catholicism within the context of a Western culture that is in the process of rejecting the Faith responsible for its greatness.

Offer an antidote to the universal phenomenon of an accelerating secularism that is hostile to the One True Church and the salvific charge given to it by our Lord.

Disseminate through a variety of disciplines the fullness of Catholic culture and fight against the corrupting influence of the compartmentalization of knowledge.

 http://www.latinmassmagazine.com/


Friday, January 13, 2017

John Paul Sonnen: Legatus Speaker

Yours truly is more than happy to visit your Legatus chapter to speak on subjects ranging from religious tourism to the Crusades, Freemasonry, the Spanish Inquisition, Christian culture and more.

I have been to enough rubber chicken dinners in my life to really appreciate the fine meal, devout prayer time, lively Christian fellowship and great talk on Catholic themes. 

Spokesman for Order of Malta: The chancellor was suspended because trust...

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Incorrupted Saints

A Word About the Supression of the Jesuits

Many orders need to be suppressed.  You know an order is in its terminal stage when the members sit around the dining room table talking about how great gay marriage is.  Or when they sulk at breakfast because the order's investments did not fare so well the day before on the NYSE.  Or when TV rules the house.  We still await a true renewal of religious life.    

Rome Quotes

"Can. 871 Aborted foetuses, if they are alive, are to be baptised, in so far as this is possible."

-Code of Canon Law

Canon 870 - Baptism of Abandoned Babies

Can. 870 "An abandoned infant or a foundling is to be baptised."

 http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/infant-safe-after-being-found-abandoned-at-minnesota-cathedral.cfm

We Support the Cardinal Patron and the Prince and Grand Master

The Order of Malta has finally realized that it has a voice. If they had recognized the legitimacy of the meddling by the Vatican Secretary of State, the integrity and sovereignty of the SMOM would have been eroded and they would have been rendered a useless remnant of a bygone heritage. This statement is a firm long overdue Declaration of Independence for the world's smallest sovereign entity. Bravo Prince & Grand Master. It takes an Englishman to put his big foot down and say enough and stand for justice and right. The issue here has nothing to do with condoms. It is all about sovereignty and the authority of the Grand Master and Sovereign Council. This is Malta's finest hour since the resistance to the French invasion of the Island of Malta by Napoleon.

 http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/01/11/knights-of-malta-refuse-to-assist-irrelevant-papal-probe/?utm_content=bufferfe103&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

How to Lay Out Vestments and Brilliant Ways to Lay Out the Amice

http://www.mariansisters.com/blog/amice-art-a-simple-manifestation-of-beauty

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

American in Cuba

Yours truly with the glorious Cathedral of Havana, located just a brisk walk from the port.

What can I say?  Visiting here is magical.  It is hands down one of the most satisfying and interesting places I have ever visited anywhere in the world.  To each his own; this place is a home for me.

With great emotion does one pray here for the liberty of a persecuted Catholic people.  An island paradise, rich with history, culture, potential, tourism and everything else.  One can see why the devil targeted it.

Castro left this beautiful land in a maximum state of abject poverty.  Everything is totally falling apart.  He blamed the blockade, but of course everyone knows his family never went hungry.

At least Castro is gone and the nation can heal and move on.  Meanwhile, America slides closer to socialism with every Bernie Sanders supporter.   I would love to see some dynamic new missioners evangelize the entire island from this church.   The potential for evangelization is overwhelming.   

#letlibertyring 

Havana Cathedral Altar

Sadly, when the sanctuary was wreckovated in recent years, the baldachin that was formerly here was placed in a side chapel. 

Havana Cathedral Tiara Keyhole


Havana Cathedral Confessional


Plaza de La Catedral in Havana Cuba


One of my most favorite places in the world.  The square in front of the Cathedral.  A splendid old colonial neighborhood.

Latin Inscription in Havana Cathedral


Havana Cathedral Latin Inscription


Tomb of Bishop Inside Havana Cathedral with Inscription in Latin





Jesuit Statue in Havana Cathedral


Statue of St. John Paul II in Havana Cathedral

They have great devotion to him.  He never forgot them.  He kept his promise and came in AD 1998.

Havana Cuba Cathedral Chair



Bishop's Throne in Havana Cathedral Sacristy


Outdoor Manger Scene in Historic Downtown Havana, Cuba

Seen in the lower right of the photo, in front of the glorious Cathedral of Havana.  One of my most favorite places in the world to visit and pray. 

Arms of Venerable Pius XII in Havana., Cuba, Cathedral



Some work was done in the sanctuary during the reign of Pius XII.  His arms shine down upon the liturgies. 

Outdoor Manger Scene in Downtown Havana, Cuba


Located in front of the Cathedral. 

Nice to see this, even in a Communist country. 

This would never be allowed in many places in the U.S. today. 

How Communist have we become?

Un Rimedio al Logorio della Vita Moderna

Know your history and liturgical culture and pass this on to your kids!

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Communion Rail Destroyed at St. Thomas More Parish (Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis)





Ugh.  Sobering to see this stuff is still happening.   

Here we have a parish that was handed over to the Jesuits by the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis in the hopes the parish would revive.  Not sure how successful that has been.  It would be interesting to see the parish books.     

The name of the parish was changed from the church of St. Luke to St. Thomas More Catholic Community, a peace offering by the Archdiocese, in the hopes of appeasement during a touchy parish merger.

How many times have we witnessed this kind of waste?

An aesthetically becoming and original historical period piece, torn out of a Catholic church and marked for the dumpster.  Or maybe a scavenger will sell it to an antique shop.

Part of the problem is that we have allowed the aesthetic aspect of the liturgy to be assessed by those outside the church.  It's a throw away culture surrounding us.  Wal-Mart and Ikea and Sam's Club.   

Vatican II of course says nothing about communion rails or taking them out.  What it does say is that sacred art is to be "worthy, decorous and beautiful" (SC, vere dignae, decorae ac pulchrae).

Obviously, this work of art seems to fit the bill as sacred art, according to the criteria of the Council.      

Liturgy distinguishes itself in this, that it safeguards the integration of beauty with truth, of goodness and holiness, but at the same time it recognizes the rules proper to art and its interdependence. 

The blessing of a church, and even more so the blessing of an altar, teems with references to the Old Testament, and in these blessings statements are enunciated concerning the nature of architecture and art.  The continuance of these things is held in common by Judaism and Christianity.

The liturgy brings art to its loftiest essential possibility.  In the arduous work of getting ready for the task of decorating a new church, the artist has the supreme Artificer, God himself, as his exemplar.  He creates for eternity. 

In the Postcommunion of the Mass for the Dedication of a Church, God is represented as preparing a home for His majesty through all eternity.  Art by its very nature is a radiation.  Leave it alone.  Descending into this chapel actually reminds me of the worthy dwelling place in the womb of Mary. 

Bewildered people ask: "Will the destruction end?  Who to blame?"  The dilettante pastor?  Or parish council?  Or an ex-nun?  Decadence of the liturgical spirit among our leadership can be understood in the sixties, but today??

Just imagine the sheer volume of art that has ended up in dumpsters, all in the name of modernity.

Art is the possession of a parochial community.  This includes tomorrow's parishioners, who may have a greater degree of appreciation for the original structure and design of the church or ethos of the liturgy.

The liturgy is a community act, distinguished by degree and order.  And art.  When art like this is destroyed, it creates a stylistic incongruity with the genius of the original design plan.

The peoples of Western culture possess an art heritage nurtured by Christianity.  This is not a witness to a vanished past, but is rather a living power that motivates and teaches the present. 

Regrettably, this was probably done in the name of Vatican II.  Vatican II speaks of renewal (SC), but also of conservation.  We are the responsible successors of interpreting the Council.  In the very interests of renewal itself, we have a duty of preserving what has gone before us.

I would offer this chapel for persecuted Christians from Iraq and Syria in the Twin Cities to have as their worship space.   The Lexington Ave. exit off the Interstate 94 makes it an ideal central location.  Some of them live in the Midway, University-Lexington area.