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Snippets at article's end: ...Institute of Franciscan friars destroyed in a similar way The destruction of the Little Sisters...follows a pattern similar to the Vatican-induced collapse of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (FFI), an order of Franciscans that followed a more traditional pattern of community life and that made free use of the traditional Latin Mass in accordance with the rites prevailing in 1962... Just as in the case of the Little Sisters, Braz de Aviz brought about the removal of the superiors of the FFI from their positions, and even the founder, Fr. Stefano Maria Manelli, was sent...

Why Did the Second Person of the Trinity, Rather Than the Father or the Holy Spirit, Become Incarnate? Msgr. Charles Pope • December 10, 2018 • Trinity Dome. Credit: J. Lippelmann, Catholic StandardAs we await the approaching Feast of Holy Christmas, we have been pondering some of St. Thomas Aquinas’ teachings on the Incarnation. Today we will consider why it was the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who became incarnate.Most people have never even thought of this question let alone sought to answer it. God could have chosen many different ways to save us; He chose...

The History of the Advent SeasonFr. William Saunders The liturgical season of Advent marks the time of spiritual preparation by the faithful before Christmas. Advent begins on the Sunday closest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30). It spans four Sundays and four weeks of preparation, although the last week of Advent is usually truncated because of when Christmas falls.The celebration of Advent has evolved in the spiritual life of the Church. The historical origins of Advent are hard to determine with great precision. In its earliest form, beginning in France, Advent was a period of preparation...

Why we shouldn't take our moral cues or understanding of Christianity from Gandhi.

Franciscan Media Image: Adolph Kolping | Den katolske kirke Blessed Adolph Kolping Saint of the Day for December 10 (December 8, 1813 – December 4, 1865)  Blessed Adolph Kolping’s Story The rise of the factory system in 19th-century Germany brought many single men into cities where they faced new challenges to their faith. Father Adolph Kolping began a ministry to them, hoping that they would not be lost to the Catholic faith, as was happening to workers elsewhere in industrialized Europe.Born in the village of Kerpen, Adolph became a shoemaker at an early age because of his family’s economic...

The Inconvenient Host Dec 10 Posted by Mundabor Francischurch truly is something.  An accidentally dropped Host is recovered and handled in the proper way, after which it appears that… it starts to bleed.  Miracle? We will never know.  A potentially bleeding host is an inconvenience for the Diocese of Buffalo, awakening the possibility, frightening to them, that there might be a God after all, and that He may have targeted Francisbishops like Bishop Malone and his auxiliary, Bishop Grosz.  The linked article states that the priest witnessing the potential miracle, Father Loeb, promptly informed both Malone and Grosz, and that both told...

"When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:3). Jesus Christ offered one sacrifice for all the sins of mankind, then sat down with the Father once He had accomplished it. The Bible makes it perfectly clear that the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Jesus Christ went to the cross, died the death we deserved, and consequently freed us from the penalty of sin by our faith in Him. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say that Christ "does not need daily, like those high...

“He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Instead of asserting His divine rights, Christ submitted Himself to the cross. Even though the people did not recognize the deity of Christ and treated Him as a criminal, He did not fight back. Instead, He “humbled Himself.” Consider His trial. He said not a word to defend Himself throughout unbelievable humiliation. They mocked Him, punched Him, pulled out His beard—yet He did not say a word. He was silent and accepted man’s abuse through each phase of His phony trial. He...

Four Reasons That the Incarnation was Fitting, According to St. Thomas Aquinas Msgr. Charles Pope • December 9, 2018 • Incarnation of Jesus, Piero di Cosimo (1505)As we approach the Christmas feasts, it is good for us to ponder aspects of the Incarnation. In this post, I would like to consider what St. Thomas Aquinas teaches about its fittingness. God was not radically “required” to do everything as He did. We do well to ponder why the manner of the Lord’s incarnation is “fitting,” why it makes sense.St. Thomas, referencing St. John Damascene, gives four reasons for the fittingness...

Battle of wills: Tiny order of French nuns takes on Vatican VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has an unusual dilemma on its hands after nearly all the nuns in a tiny French religious order threatened to renounce their vows rather than accept the Holy See’s decision to remove their superior.The sisters argue that the Vatican commissioners sent to replace their superior general, who is also the niece of the order’s founder, have no understanding of their way of life or spirituality. The Church’s conclusion - contained in a summary of its investigation provided this week to The Associated Press -...

Presbyterian pastor Ligon Duncan has listed out some of the biggest threats facing Christians seminaries in America, from unbelief to a lack of Biblical understanding in students. Duncan, who is the chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary in Mississippi, said in a video published on YouTube on Tuesday that one of the main threats facing theological education today is the undergraduate debt crisis. The scholar warned that the debt is “causing a lot of students to stay away from graduate theological education who would really benefit from it both personally and in their public ministry. Next, he said that there is...

Franciscan Media Image: Detail | Saint Juan Diego | photo by Lawrence OP | flickr Saint Juan Diego Saint of the Day for December 9 (1474 – May 30, 1548)  Saint Juan Diego’s Story Thousands of people gathered in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe July 31, 2002, for the canonization of Juan Diego, to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in the 16th century. Pope John Paul II celebrated the ceremony at which the poor Indian peasant became the Church’s first saint indigenous to the Americas.The Holy Father called the new saint “a simple, humble Indian” who accepted...

"[Christ] upholds all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1:3). Christ, by His almighty power, holds together all creation. We base our entire lives on the constancy of physical laws. When something like an earthquake disrupts the normal condition or operation of things even a little, the consequences are often disastrous. Can you imagine what would happen if Jesus Christ relinquished His sustaining power over the laws of the universe for it is He in whom "all things hold together" (Col. 1:17)? We would go out of existence, our atoms scattering throughout the galaxy. If He suspended the...

“. . . Being found in appearance as a man” (Philippians 2:8). Many people view Christ only as a man, but He is God. After winning a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Scottish runner Eric Liddell served as a missionary in China; he died in a prison camp during World War II. The camp’s prisoners loved Eric, for he served them so unselfishly. It was only at his funeral that they first learned he was an Olympic hero. They had had no idea of his full identity. Most people didn’t realize Christ’s full identity either, for He...

December 5, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A Catholic German ethics professor calls Cardinal Müller's recent remarks on homosexuality “unbearable” and claims that, just as the Church's teaching on the death penalty has changed, the teaching on homosexuality is also open to change. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), has been under constant sharp criticism since his 21 November interview with LifeSiteNews, in which he had drawn a link between homosexuality and clerical sex abuse. Several prominent Catholics – among them Father Klaus Mertes, Father Ansgar Wucherpfennig, General Vicar Klaus Pfeffer –...

THIS IS NOT A VERY ENCOURAGING PICTURE OF AMERICAN CATHOLICISIM The below Study has now been completed. The data was collected from April 1 through November 30, 2018. All told, there are samples from 15 states located all over the USA map. I have someone helping me from a statistical view to help break down the findings in a more analytically approved method. To the layman, the differences are quite striking. In 1960 about 80% of Catholics were going to weekly Mass and now it is 99% for the TLM and 22% for the Novus Ordo. Most of my numbers...

I Wanna Be Ready to Put on a Long White Robe – A Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent Msgr. Charles Pope • December 8, 2018 • Preaching of John the Baptist, Baciccio (1690)But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth? This is the cry that goes up from the final pages of the Old Testament (Mal 3:2). The Lord himself gives the answer:See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to...

Franciscan Media Image: The Immaculate Conception | Giovanni Battista Tiepolo The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Saint of the Day for December 8  The Story of the Immaculate Conception of Mary A feast called the Conception of Mary arose in the Eastern Church in the seventh century. It came to the West in the eighth century. In the 11th century it received its present name, the Immaculate Conception. In the 18th century it became a feast of the universal Church. It is now recognized as a solemnity.In 1854, Pius IX solemnly proclaimed: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary,...

Woe Unto Edom By Philip Cottraux When it comes to Bible prophecy, end-times study is the most popular subject among Christians. However, we miss out by not looking more at prophecy that’s already been fulfilled. If you want to see God’s fingerprints in history, it’s worth examining predictions from the Old Testament that were fulfilled within ancient times, in some cases even before the New Testament age. Daniel is the best example. This prophet lived during the reign of king Nebuchadnezzar all the way through the occupation of Babylon by the Medo-Persians, in the time span of 620-538 BC. But...

Fontgombault Sermon for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception: In the School of Mary Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault (Fontgombault, December 8, 2018) Ave Maria, gratia plena.Hail Mary, full of grace. Dear Brothers and Sisters, My dearly beloved Sons, IN THIS SATURDAY, a day traditionally dedicated to Mary, the Church celebrates a great mystery, the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Among all the mysteries of the faith, this one is assuredly one of the most unfathomable. How might we approach it? We shall be helped by the readings of the Mass....