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[Catholic Caucus] A “binding” German synod… What could possibly go wrong? he German Church continues its imitation of the Body of Christ’s theological and disciplinary Necrotizing fascitis, more commonly known as “flesh-eating disease”.From the Catholic Herald comes news about a synod which the Germans want to hold.What could possibly go wrong? German bishops announce ‘synodal process’ on celibacy, sexual moralityThe German bishops will discuss priestly celibacy and sexual morality, leading to an as yet undetermined ‘binding’ outcomeCardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising has announced that the Catholic Church in Germany is embarking on a “binding synodal process” to tackle...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Marx: Issues of Celibacy & “Sexual Orientation” Will Receive “Synodal” Clarification LIGEN, Germany, March 14, 2019—Issues of celibacy and “sexual orientation” will receive clarification within a “binding synodal path” in Germany, says Cardinal Reinhard Marx in remarks to katholisch.de after the conclusion of the spring conference of German Bishops, Thursday.Emphasizing the need for more “theological discoveries while integrating modern humanities”, he added that the intimate personal significance of sexuality in modern day culture had yet to be fully understood by the Church.“We feel how often we are unable to speak in questions about today’s sexual behavior,” he...

[Catholic Caucus] Six Long Years of Francis: Outlasting the Long Winter of This Pontificate Where I live in northern Colorado, we were in the midst of a nasty March storm yesterday, which began as freezing rain and escalated into blizzard conditions with wind gusts of around 50 mph.For some reason, the storm made me think of the rather ridiculous but humorous “holiday” celebrated here in America every February 2: Groundhog Day, the day on which the legendary Punxsutawney Phil (an actual groundhog) is “awakened from his burrow” (man-made, climate-controlled habitat) in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and is said to predict either the...

What Newman Can Tell Us About the Cardinal Pell Verdict The scene in the London courtroom in 1852 might have been out of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, with the defendant in simple clerical black standing in the dock before the bewigged representatives of ancient justice. But one of the judges, John Coleridge, a great-nephew of the poet, saw behind the stooped figure of John Henry Newman the shade of Armada and the ghosts of spies from Douai. So the trial of Newman was about more than the slander of which he was accused. As a scion of Oxford himself,...

Posted on March 13, 2019March 13, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope Why Does Jesus Call Us Wicked? In the Gospel for today’s Mass (Thursday of the First Week of Lent) Jesus says,If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? (Lk 11:13)I received an e-mail once, regarding this verse:“This line bugs me. I think I know the larger point that Jesus makes here, and/or perhaps it’s poorly translated, but it seems a bit harsh for Jesus...

Posted on March 12, 2019March 12, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope What is the Sign of Jonah? In the Gospel for Wednesday (Wednesday of the First Week of Lent) the Lord says, This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah (Lk 11:30). What is the sign of Jonah? Does it apply today?The Gospels of Matthew and Luke present two signs of Jonah, one of which particularly concerns us here.First Sign: In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus invokes Jonah in a twofold way: For as Jonah...

Posted on March 11, 2019March 11, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope Gratitude is More than an Attitude; It is a Discipline There is perhaps no greater benefit to mental health than gratitude. Grateful people are different. They are more joyful, for gratitude is a form of joy. They are more generous, kind, patient, forgiving, confident, and trusting.Gratitude is a discipline of the mind wherein we commit to counting our blessings every day and expressing thanks to God. Our blessings are countless and our burdens, though real, are far fewer and of a passing nature. Consider the following meditation from...

[Catholic Caucus] Malta Priest Supports Homosexuality on TV News: World News Fr. Kevin Schembri, at the behest of Abp. Scicluna, tells talk show that God makes people gay VALLETTA, Malta (ChurchMilitant.com) - A priest in Malta has spoken out in approval of homosexuality, with apparent approval from his bishop. On an episode of Maltese talk show Xarabank that aired March 8, a Catholic priest trumpeted the idea that gays are born that way. On the Friday night talk show, Fr. Kevin Schembri said about being gay, "It cannot be something bad, because He created it. God created it, and He created it in His plan." Xarabank...

Critics of the doctrine of the Trinity often claim that the theology of the Old Testament is inconsistent with orthodox Christian theology. However, a closer look at the Torah and the writings of the prophets shows that that there is a clear plurality within the nature of the God revealed in the Old Testament. Does a careful reading of pre-Christian scriptures contradict the Trinitarian theology of the New Testament? Anthony Rogers discusses the issue.

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis meets, poses for photos with pro-homosexual ‘Catholic’ group ROME, March 11, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis met with a pro-homosexual group which identifies itself as “Catholic” and posed with them for photos during the group’s visit to Rome last week.    The group, “LGBT+ Catholics Westminster”, promotes the normalization of homosexuality within the Catholic Church and seeks to “rid Church and society of systemic, institutional homophobia.” The pro-homosexual group was appointed by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, to provide pastoral care to Catholics who identify as homosexual. LGBT+ Catholics Westminster holds positions contrary to Catholic...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop under investigation for sexual misconduct is on spiritual retreat with Pope Francis Bishop Zanchetta joins the Pope and senior Vatican officials on the retreat despite being under investigation for sexual and financial wrongdoing The Catholic Herald has learned that a bishop currently under investigation for sexual misconduct and financial mismanagement, including claims he had naked selfies and gay pornography on his phone, is on retreat with Pope Francis and other senior members of the Roman Curia. The bishop is Gustavo Zanchetta, emeritus of Orán, Argentina, and currently Assessor to the Administration of the Patrimony of the...

Posted on March 10, 2019March 10, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope How Long, O Lord? A Meditation on Anger and Disappointment Among the struggles that many face in their spiritual lives is one in which we at times feel angry with God. While the sources of this anger can be varied, they tend to be focused in three areas: the existence of evil and injustice in the world (which God seems to permit), God’s seeming delay in answering our prayers, or some personal setback or trial in our life..The knowledge that God can prevent bad things often leads to...

Michigan Parish Donations Plummet Over Priest Sex Abuse CrisisWhile Gaylord Bp. Steven Raica refuses to communicate directly to Catholics in his northern Michigan diocese about complaints — going back years — of sexual improprieties at St. Francis Xavier Church, parishioners are sending him a clear message by withholding money from the Sunday collection basket. According to figures published in the parish's Sunday bulletin, donations have dropped significantly from a weekly average of about $16,000 at this time of year to as low as $10,000. "We definitely know many people are withholding money from the parish because there is no other way to...

[Catholic Caucus] Kansas Bishop Won’t Cave to LGBT Pressure Abp. Naumann holds firm to school policy denying admission to child of same-sex couple KANSAS CITY, Ks. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas is refusing to compromise Catholic doctrine — and his Catholic schools — by supporting one school's decision to refuse enrollment to the child of a same-sex couple. Naumann is facing backlash from critics who insist the archbishop should show greater "mercy." Saint Ann School in Prairie Village is the school at the center of the controversy. Its pastor, Fr. Craig Maxim, sent a letter to parishioners last month explaining the decision...

[Catholic Caucus] Dutch priest asks for a rainbow crossing outside basilica to ‘welcome’ everyone March 7, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Fr. Maikel Prasing, a parish priest in the southern region of Brabant in the Netherlands, has called on churchgoers to sign a petition crossing in front of the Catholic basilica of Oudenbosch of which he is the rector. He made the appeal during Sunday Mass, the so-called “Carnival-mass” celebrated in some parishes in Noord-Brabant and Zuid-Limburg, the historically Catholic provinces of the Netherlands on the Sunday before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Fr. Prasing explained during his homily that it...

Public Heresy, Private Non-Correction In his Joint Declaration with the “Grand Imam of Al-Azhar,” Ahmed el-Tayeb last month in Abu Dhabi, Pope Francis and the “Grand Imam” together declared: “The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This divine wisdom is the source from which the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to be different derives.”The meaning is beyond reasonable dispute: the diversity of religions, which God does not will but merely tolerates as an evil, is classed with differences of...

November 2018 Pope Francis and the Sacrilegious Use of the Rosary t has been integral to the vision which inspired the Rosary to the Interior: For the Purification of the Church (CO, Jan. 2018) that the entire Church is in need of purification, and that the most visible aspects of the current crisis of the Church are like cancerous excrescences on the surface of the body, which point to a much deeper malady within. We see this sickness as stemming from two primary sources: the surrender of the intellectual foundations of our Faith (theology and philosophy) to reductive science;...

[Catholic Caucus] Chilean Cardinal Sued for Cathedral Rape Cover-Up Cdl. Ricardo Ezzati under investigation for concealing homosexual assault SANTIAGO, Chile (ChurchMilitant.com) - Chile's top Catholic prelate is being sued for covering up homosexual rape inside his cathedral. Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati of Santiago, former head of the Chilean bishops' conference, has been slapped with a half-million dollar lawsuit for concealing an assault by gay priest Fr. Tito Rivera. The complaint alleges that in 2015, Rivera drugged and raped 40-year-old Daniel Rojas, who had come to the cathedral to ask for help with buying medicine for his daughter. According to Rojas' testimony, Fr....

Cardinals spar in responses to Vatican-China deal Beijing, China, Mar 8, 2019 / 03:40 pm (CNA).- After Cardinal Fernando Filoni and a Chinese-appointed bishop both spoke out this week separately in support of the Vatican-China deal for fostering unity, Cardinal Joseph Zen responded strongly.During a weeklong trip to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, Cardinal Filoni told Macau News Agency March 4 that the provisional agreement between Beijing and the Holy See signed Sept. 22, 2018 “will be a very good thing for the Church in the future, and also for China.”“One wonders: from which planet did our leaders in Rome...

Bishop Schneider: Why homosexually inclined men shouldn’t be in seminary Follow John-Henry March 8, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – During an exclusive interview with LifeSite, Kazakhstan Bishop Athanasius Schneider, proposed as one of the solutions to the sexual abuse crisis a new canonical norm in the Catholic Church which would mandate that men with homosexual inclinations “categorically not be accepted in seminaries.” Bishop Schneider, one of the leading voices for orthodoxy in the Church, suggested that if men with homosexual inclinations are in seminary “ they must be dismissed from the seminary and helped to be healed and to live as...