At War With the Pope?

I continually must remind myself that I am a Catholic first, and an American second, something difficult to do for my boomer generation, raised as we were in the school of American exceptionalism by the greatest generation. So it is with great interest that I now observe a gentleman by the name of Damon Linker taking on the Holy Father here in matters he has pronounced on recently. The article may be summarized thus: (If you check out the links in the Damon article, his evidence for the war is sparse)He begins with a piece from Ross Douthat about internal Church issues regarding divorce and Communion. Next he cites four more pieces, two of which were actually defending the pope and only one of which went beyond subject-specific criticism in personally criticizing the Holy Father himself. This entry created such an uproar that Reno felt it necessary to publish his own criticism just bring peace to the dialogue.

It appears the progressive ideologues envision a standoff between American conservatives and the Pope, especially as a soon-to-appear encyclical on the environment is predicted to “deepen conservatives’ mistrust” of the Pope. The political Right’s perception seems to be that Francis’ public policy pronouncements on economics and the environment are a “complete disaster,” indicating he has “allied himself with the far left and has embraced an ideology that would make people poorer and less free.”

First, recall the Pope’s “Who Am I to Judge?” remark. Then recall too that Evangelii Gaudium on first read contains harsh words for capitalism and trickle-down economics. With his pronouncement on the environment, are American Catholics in the position of having to choose between Francis and the Republican Party? If so, as a faithful Catholic who is pro-life, and opposed to people who desire sex with people of the same sex being allowed to wed, where does that leave me?

With the release of an encyclical that will challenge the climate-change deniers, American political conservatives seem to have reached a moment of decision: Should they side with the party or the pontiff?

Robert George is committed to the strategy of explaining away the difficulties — of telling Catholic Republicans that there’s no need to choose, because GOP principles and Catholic social teaching still coincide. The only obstacle here is that, "increasingly, they don’t — as more and more Catholic Republicans are coming to understand,: The battle has commenced- whose side will you be on?

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Are You Headed to Heaven or Hell?

While I think I would need some Purgation if I died today, here is an important question as boomers get up there in age: How can spiritual direction help you on the road to heaven? To answer this question, be sure to register for our webinar “ Understanding Spiritual Direction: Finding a Director and Thriving in the Relationship ,” scheduled for September 14, 2015. Read more: http://www.spiritualdirection.com/2015/09/07/are-you-headed-to-heaven-or-hell#ixzz3l3ujESca Spiritualdirection.com | Catholic Spiritual Direction | Are You Headed to Heaven or Hell? - SpiritualDirection.com Catholic Spiritual Direction : 'via Blog this'

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Nuns' Story, or Call the Sisters

(Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham / Fr James Bradley) I have been watching the PBS series, Call the Midwives , which f ollows the nurses, midwives and nuns from Nonnatus House, who visit the expectant mothers of Poplar, providing the poorest women with the best possible care. As I observe the way these Anglican nuns are portrayed, it strikes me that they are more like Catholic nuns than many Catholic nuns after Vatican II (see chapter 5 of my book). Thus, the story featured in this post does not surprise me, especially after Pope Benedict's launching of the United States’ ordinariate for disaffected Anglicans seeking communion with the Catholic Church. From the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus , given in Rome, at St. Peter’s, on Nov. 4, 2009: “In recent times the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately.”

George Weigel has just published a proposed blueprint for the “New Evangelization,” entitled Evangelical Catholicism which, to the extent that it is read will greatly amplify the New Evangelization, i.e., t he Church’s duty everywhere and at all times to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was Pope Paul VI who in Evangelii Nuntiandi observed that the work of evangelization was so necessary because of the de- Christianization of the twilight year of the 20 th century. Pope Montini noted the multitudes of baptized Catholics living lives that did not distinguish them all that much from those ignorant of the Gospel; also those who, while ignorant of the full gospel, nevertheless had faith and lived according to the natural moral law, and Catholics who desired a more heartfelt relationship with Jesus Christ not given emphasis in the catechesis they received as children. His successor Pope John Paul II said that his predecessor’s use of “New Evangelization” in Evangelii Nu

Et Lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt

What Is the Source of This Darkness of Our Times? |Blogs | NCRegister.com : What prompted me to write a book about the current spiritual war ongoing in the world in which we live? Stumbling upon this quote by the Pope of the council, Pope Paul VI : We have the impression that through some cracks in the wall the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God: it is doubt, uncertainty, questioning, dissatisfaction, confrontation. And how did this come about? We will confide to you the thought that may be, we ourselves admit in free discussion, that may be unfounded, and that is that there has been a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the devil. We thought that after the Council a day of sunshine would have dawned for the history of the Church. What dawned instead was a day of clouds and storms, of darkness, of searching and uncertainties . I am an avid reader of Msgr. Charles Pope, who has written recently on this our adversary in the NCR link above.

Dancing with Mr. D: Gender Ideology

In a private conversation with Bishop Andreas Laun on January 30 as part of the Austrian bishops’ ad limina visit , Pope Francis strongly condemned “gender ideology.” In so doing he follows the example of Pope Benedict, who is on record as saying that gender ideology is “a negative trend for humankind,” and a “profound falsehood,” which “it is the duty of pastors of the Church” to put the faithful “on guard against.” Bishop Laun The Austrian bishop stated, “In response to my questioning, Pope Francis said, ‘Gender ideology is demonic!’” As I have chronicled on these pages, the Holy Father often refers to the work of the devil. Of gender ideology, Bishop Laun explained that “the core thesis of this sick product of reason is the end result of a radical feminism which the homosexual lobby has made its own.” “It asserts that there are not only Man and Woman, but also other ‘genders’. And furthermore: every person canchoose his or her gender,” he added. “Today,” he said, “it

Novus Motus Liturgicus

From The Smoke of Satan in the Temple of God: In 1959, Pope John XXIII saw a true need for liturgical renewal within the Roman Rite in accordance with the metaphorical principle of organic development, the aim of the Liturgical Movement endorsed by Pope St. Pius X. In authentic organic development, the Church listens to what liturgical scholars deem necessary for the gradual improvement of liturgical tradition, and evaluate the need for such development, always with a careful eye on the preservation of the received liturgical tradition handed down from century to century. In this way, continuity of belief and liturgical practice is ensured. As Cardinal Ratzinger wrote at the time, the principle of organic development ensures that in the Mass, “only respect for the Liturgy’s fundamental unspontaneity and pre-existing identity can give us what we hope for: the feast in which the great reality comes to us that we ourselves do not manufacture , but receive as a gift. Organic develo

Dancing With Mr. D: Grooming the Little Children

A former pro-transgender activist said she regretted her previous work in pro-transgender activism, adding she felt she was "indoctrinated" on gender ideology in an interview with Fox News Digital. "I started to realize that what I had been doing at my job at the LGBT Center, it was grooming," Kay Yang, a former employee of a location in New York, said. Grooming in this context means "to get into readiness for a specific objective." Kay works as a 'deprogrammer' to help parents and children who have been 'indoctrinated' by the 'cult-like' transgender agenda. Yang herself previously went by they/them and worked as a 'trans educator' in schools for years. Listen to her testimony.

About the Author III

I graduated from St. Eugene’s in 1966, when the liturgical changes after the close of the council promulgated in Sacrosanctum Concilium to the best of my memory had not yet been thoroughly implemented. I journeyed off to Detroit Cathedral High School downtown, where my experience of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist began to fade, as I no longer was required (sadly, in retrospect) to attend daily Mass, and cannot to save my life remember one thing taught to me in high school religion class by my teacher, who was also the Business Ed. and Typing teacher and track coach. A rumination of the yearbooks for these years reveals photo captions such as “DC Sodality Men Reach Out,” and “Fr. Trainor Celebrates Mass Facing the Seniors as he Closes the Senior Retreat.” To be sure, in my adolescent years I hadn’t the foggiest idea of what was happening in the Church in the United States after the Council, and, after seeing a pretty, red-headed Sophomore on the bus on her way to Immaculat

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