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Yesterday, the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) revealed that Catholic composer and music director David Haas has been the subject of many credible accounts of “sexually predatory and abusive behavior.” According to SNAP, the Into Account network, which provides support to victims of abuse in Christian contexts, issued an open letter detailing some of the accusations against Haas: “The allegations we’ve received also contain a disturbing component of spiritual manipulation. Haas reportedly focuses attention on women with past histories of abuse, then uses the vulnerabilities created by trauma to create intimacy. Multiple women have reported to us...

June 13, 2020 Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church Reading 1 1 Kgs 19:19-21 Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat, as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen; he was following the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him. Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and I will follow you.” Elijah answered, “Go back! Have I done anything to you?” Elisha left him and, taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them;...

* FSU’s former student senate president, Jack Denton, was removed from office over objections to his Catholic beliefs from left-wing students and organizations.* His removal was spurred by a campaign against religious statements that were labeled as ‘transphobic’ and ‘anti-abortion.’Students at Florida State University are piling on a supposedly “racist” Catholic student body president for acknowledging the "explicity anti-Catholic" viewpoints of the national Black Lives Matter organization. Leftist students at FSU pushed a petition to oust Student Senate President Jack Denton over comments in private group chats they deemed offensive. He was removed from office by a vote on Friday....

An English Cardinal and the Archbishop of Canterbury have expressed their joint opposition to the potential annexation of West Bank territory. A statement released June 12 by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury said that Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Justin Welby had written letters objecting “to any move by the Government of Israel to annex West Bank territory” after July 1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last Sunday that he intends to annex all West Bank settlements July 1, the earliest date allowed under a deal agreed by...

June 12, 2020 Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-16 At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the LORD came to him, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD— but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake— but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there...

June 11, 2020 Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle Reading 1 Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3 In those days a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. And a large number of people was added to the Lord. Then he went to Tarsus...

Posts Posted on June 9, 2020 What is an Annulment and How Does it Differ From Divorce? There are some today who speak of annulment as “just another name for a Catholic divorce.” However, this is not correct. An annulment (more technically described as a “Declaration of Nullity”) is a recognition by the Church, based on evidence, that what may in fact have seemed to be a marriage, was not due to some intrinsic flaw at the time the vows we exchanged. A marriage may have been a civil marriage entered into in good faith by one or both...

June 10, 2020 Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Kgs 18:20-39 Ahab sent to all the children of Israel and had the prophets assemble on Mount Carmel.Elijah appealed to all the people and said, “How long will you straddle the issue? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.” The people, however, did not answer him. So Elijah said to the people, “I am the only surviving prophet of the LORD, and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. Give us two young bulls. Let them choose one, cut...

June 9 2020 Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 KGS 17:7-16 The brook near where Elijah was hiding ran dry, because no rain had fallen in the land. So the LORD said to Elijah: “Move on to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have designated a widow there to provide for you.” He left and went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her, “Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.” She left to get it,...

Posts Posted on June 7, 2020 Another Glimpse of Extreme Secularism Last week on the blog we discussed the rise of vocal, extreme secularism, as exemplified by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (here). Extreme secularism is not merely a worldly attitude devoid of God, it is a position that actively denies that faith, prayer, and/or religious expression play a role worthy of recognition. Militant secularists go further, seeking to remove any religious practice or mention of God from the public square.This past week we saw another example of this extreme secularism in remarks made by Bill de Blasio, Mayor...

June 8, 2020 Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Kgs 17:1-6 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab: “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word.” The LORD then said to Elijah: “Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.” So he left and did as the LORD had commanded. He went and...

Fr. Altman gives a 23 minute homily chastising the riot groups and also Archbishop Gregory.

Posted on June 7, 2020June 7, 2020 by Msgr. Charles Pope One and One and One are One. A Homily for Trinity Sunday There is an old spiritual that says, “My God is so high you can’t get over Him. He’s so low you can’t get under Him. He’s so wide you can’t get around Him. You must come in, by and through the Lamb.”It’s not a bad way of saying that God is “other.” He is beyond what human words can describe, beyond what human thoughts can conjure. On the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity we do...

Cupich's reopening plan involves surveillanceCHICAGO (ChurchMilitant.com) - Cardinal Blase J. Cupich's litigious multi-phase "reopening" plan for Illinois Churches is raising alarm among many faithful who see it as a political power grab and not a move to satisfy their hunger for the sacraments. Referred to simply as "the Plan," it requires, among other things, that individual churchgoers be contact traced for COVID-19 and that individual parishes undergo a multi-step certification before being able to proceed with the overall reopening process. All Illinois bishops approved the Plan, which was unveiled on May 13 in English, Spanish and Polish on the Chicago...

June 7, 2020 The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Reading 1 EX 34:4b-6, 8-9 Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets.Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses there and proclaimed his name, "LORD." Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, "The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity." Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O...

June 6, 2020 Saturday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 TM 4:1-8 Beloved: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to...

Timothy Gordon, who worked as a Catholic school teacher, was fired from his job for telling the truth about the “Black Lives Matter” supremacist movement that is laying waste to cities across the nation. Gordon was fired from the Garces Catholic High School in Bakersfield, Calif. for calling out looters and rioters and standing for the property owners who have been under attack by these coordinated forces of evil. Shortly after a petition was made against him by radical leftists, the cowardly administrators at the school caved and terminated him.

June 5, 2020 Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr Reading 1 2 Tm 3:10-17 You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, persecutions that I endured. Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me. In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you...

Hutton Gibson, a Roman Catholic traditionalist and outspoken critic of the modern church who gained wide notoriety as the father of the actor Mel Gibson and for his anti-Semitic views, died on May 11 in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was 101. His death, at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center, was not publicized at the time. It was confirmed by a search of a California records database. Requests for information from several family members, including his son Mel, were not answered. Hutton Gibson belonged to a splinter group of Catholics who reject the reforms of the Second Vatican Council of...

June 4, 2020 Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Tm 2:8-15 Beloved: Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David: such is my Gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory. This saying is trustworthy:If we have died with him we shall also live with him;...