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Posted on June 30, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Of Hunger and Hallucinations – How the Stages of Starvation Describe the Decaying West This is the third in a series of articles on the decline of the West. Given the exceptionally poor condition of whatever is left of Western Culture and Christendom, it may help us in this article to gain some perspective of what is going on from the stages of starvation.Physical hunger is a serious problem; We are obliged to assist the starving and malnourished. But even more prevalent these days is spiritual hunger, if not outright...

“Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.”Satchel Paige GOD INFORMS ABRAHAM GENESIS 18(NIV, emphases added) 1 The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. By JAMES TISSOT”Abraham and the Three Angels” (To view twenty images of the angels, please see this series' prior post #12, Abraham's Three Visitors #1.) 16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to...

[Barf Alert] Pope: Don’t Criticize Leaders 'No one complained about Herod’s evil' VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pope Francis, a relentless critic of populist leaders, has cautioned Catholics not to criticize secular and spiritual leaders as even during the apostolic period "no one complained about Herod's evil and his persecution." "No one abused Herod — and we are so accustomed to abuse those who are in charge," the pontiff preached in his Monday homily for the solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul — a feast marked as a secular holiday in Rome. 2017 posters in Rome criticizing Francis' heavy-headedness "It is pointless, even...

Italian prelate to Viganò: We would like to ‘accompany your sure steps along the path of truth’ 'We embrace you, Your Excellency, and as disciples we would like to be able to accompany your sure steps along the path of truth, beauty, and goodness.' June 30, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Today, Italian Archbishop Luigi Negri published on his website and on the website of Italian journalist Marco Tosatti a public letter to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, in which he gives him his full support for his “message which seems to me to have aptly expressed the living heart of our ecclesial...

GOD APPEARS TO ABRAHAM GENESIS 18 (NIV, emphases added) 1 The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby…… by JAMES TISSOT”Abraham and the Three Angels” by GUSTAV DORÉ “Three Angels Appear to Abraham and Inform Him of God’s Intentions” “Abraham’s Celestial Visitors” “Abraham’s Three Visitors” Icon for a large iconostasis, a screen separating the altar sanctuary from the nave in Orthodox churches at Monreale Cathedral? by REMBRANDT VAN RIJN”Abraham Serving the...

Pope Francis exhorts German Catholics to continue on ‘Synodal Path’ The bishops' pathway defends the use of contraception, the practice of masturbation, and an active homosexual lifestyle. VATICAN CITY, June 29, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis encouraged Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, to continue to pursue what is called the Synodal Path in Germany. “I feel strengthened by the intensive exchange with the Holy Father to continue on the path we have taken,” the bishop of Limburg said after his private audience last Saturday. During the process, which was officially launched late last year, preparatory...

Posts Posted on June 29, 2020June 29, 2020 How Civilizations Rise and Fall in Eight Stages In yesterday’s post we examined the danger of marginalizing God and how the Lord warns that such a thing is a civilization killer. In today’s post we ponder a more sociological examination of how cultures and civilizations go through cycles. Over time, many civilizations and cultures have risen and then fallen. We who live in painful times like these do well to recall these truths. Cultures and civilizations come and go; only the Church (though often in need of reform) and true biblical...

Rev. Robert Sirico: The Church’s ‘anemic response’ to COVID-19 hurts everyone The political response to COVID-19 has created an economic downturn unprecedented since the Great Depression. However, the Church’s “anemic response” has deprived the poor of spiritual solace and the Church of its vocation and vitality, said Acton Institute President and Co-founder Rev. Robert Sirico on a nationally syndicated radio interview.“If we sit back and look at the big message of the Church, it’s, ‘We’re closed. We’ll let you know when we open again.’ And I think that’s very dangerous,” Rev. Sirico said on the June 26 episode of The...

[Barf Alert] Pope Francis Urges Christians to Avoid Criticizing Their Leaders ROME — Pope Francis told the faithful Monday that Christians should avoid criticizing both civil and religious leaders because such complaints “change nothing” but instead create divisions in the community.In the early Christian community, “no one said: ‘If Peter had been more careful, we would not be in this situation.’ No one,” Francis declared in his homily for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. “Humanly speaking, there were reasons to criticize Peter, but no one criticized him.”“They did not complain about Peter; they prayed for him. They did...

Posts Posted on June 28, 2020 A Question and a Warning from the Lord. In the 4th Century, St. Augustine lamented the decline of Rome and Roman culture. Like any good citizen, he loved his country and culture. But things were falling to pieces, decadence was everywhere. He struggled to understand this and accept it. In his sorrow he wrote The City of God which contains his own observations and explanations of a time much like our own wherein a civilization was collapsing.There is something of a cycle that empires, nations, cultures and civilizations go through. They rise, sometimes...

Teleios evaluated measures that could affect wellbeing of children specifically using the top 50 countries from the Human Freedom Index compared to the 50 top countries persecuting Christianity from the Open Doors World Watch List. Children in free countries, which are historically Christian, demonstrate better wellbeing and associated with numerous legal, security, health and educational measures potentially associated with enhanced wellbeing for children. Christianity is beneficial for our children and society as a whole! Read more at https://teleiosresearch.com/effect-christian-persecution-childrens-wellbeing/

[Catholic Caucus] A Victory for the Liberty of the Church in the Courts -- But When You Need to Count on the Bishops, Don't Snatching Defeat From Victory [For background: Judge rules New York churches can reopen in line with businesses.] Chris Ferrara’s victory in the case he represented against the City and State of New York was the first really happy moment I have experienced in these three and one half months of medico-media mayhem. I could not wait to enjoy that victory with my fellow traditionalists at mass the Sunday after the judge’s decision. But once again...

Archbishop Viganò to Phil Lawler: Council Fathers “Were the Object of a Sensational Deception” In response to questions from Phil Lawler, book author and news director of CatholicCulture.org, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has issued yet another statement (see full text below) clarifying his position concerning the Second Vatican Council, some of whose teachings have recently been critically examined – especially in light of Pope Francis’ February 4, 2019 Abu Dhabi statement – by Bishop Athanasius Schneider.Archbishop Viganò, who says publicly he has been inspired by Bishop Schneider’s critique of certain aspects of the teachings of Vatican II (1962-1965), now describes...

SARAI GIVES HAGAR TO ABRAM GENESIS 16:1-4 (NIV, emphasis added) Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. Here is the Bing page “SARAI, HAGAR...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop ‘sidelines’ pro-life, pro-family priest Father Joseph Klee of the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, has been “sidelined” for an indefinite period of time by his bishop, Robert J. Brennan. I’ve featured the staunchly pro-life, pro-family priest-activist in four of my past columns: here, here, here and here. In 2017, Klee was hit by a car driven by an angry abortion supporter during a pro-life demonstration. Klee has also contributed articles to Homiletic and Pastoral Review. The following statement was released by the diocese on June 22, 2020: The Catholic Church proposes a beautiful, life-giving and liberating vision to...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-Gay Cardinal Tobin Approves Pride Mass Pro-Gay Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin, USA, allowed the third-annual so-called “LGBT Pride Mass” to occur again at Our Lady of Grace parish in Hoboken, New Jersey, on June 28.The parish is run by the gay activist Father Alexander Santora. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins.At his 2019 Gay Mass, Santora said that the Cardinal not only knew about the event but also blessed it.ChurchMilitant.com reports that a woman complained about the Gay Mass. Tobin responded to her hypocritically, “What can I do about it?”In 2017, Tobin welcomed a group of...

MAJOR VICTORY FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: The Merits of the Case With the decision in Soos v. Cuomo, federal district Judge Gary L. Sharpe has removed religious gatherings from the virtual ghetto in which Governor Cuomo, his Attorney General and New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio had placed them under Cuomo’s crazy-quilt scheme of executive orders by which he is enforcing his increasingly indefensible, and in many applications patently ridiculous, COVID-19 lockdown. Before this decision, religious gatherings alone were confined to 25% of building capacity while secular businesses, manufacturing facilities, nonprofits, office environments of all kinds and even restaurants with permitted...

Posted on June 27, 2020June 27, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope Four Disciplines of Worthy Disciples – A Homily for the 13th Sunday of the Year In the Gospel this Sunday, the Lord gives four important principles for a disciple. He also teaches on the concept of being worthy of Him. We tend think of being worthy as acting in a way that meets a certain standard, but the Greek word for “worthy” involves more than merely external behavior, important though that is. To be worthy of the Lord is to ascribe worth and give proper weight to who...

GENESIS 14:11-16, 18-20 (NIV--emphasis added) The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12 They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom. When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 He recovered all the goods...

JAG 5000 Writes: I wrote this piece to make ONLY one major point, namely that the Christian Church is now and will forever be HUGE-ENORMOUS in numbers. This makes me happy. Every word in this post will encourage Christians. Its all good news. Bright. Cheerful. Hopeful. Optimistic. Packed with Faith and Hope for the Furure. I am GLAD that the Church of the Lord Jesus is now HUGE in numbers and will grow EVEN LARGER as time goes on. I hope you are GLAD too. Why would you NOT be glad? Do you want the Christian Church to be small,...