Bringing the Liturgy Back to the Real Vatican II

Cardinal Burke Comments on Sacra Liturgia Conference


Rome, July 25, 2013 (Zenit.org) Edward Pentin | 34554 hits


The abuses of the sacred liturgy that followed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council are “strictly correlated” with a great deal of moral corruption that exists in the world today, says Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke.



In an exclusive interview with ZENIT on the sidelines of Sacra Liturgia 2013, a major international conference on the liturgy held in Rome at the end of June, the Vatican’s most senior American says poor liturgies have also led to “a levity in catechesis” that has been “shocking” and left generations of Catholics ill prepared to deal with today’s challenges.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Cardinal Burke, who serves as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, also explains the importance of liturgical law, Pope Francis’ approach to the liturgy, and why the sacred liturgy is vital to the New Evangelization.

ZENIT: Your Eminence, what were your hopes for this conference?

Cardinal Burke: My hope for the conference was a return to the teaching of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council on the sacred liturgy. Indeed, [I was hoping for] a deepening and appreciation of the continuity of the teaching practised with regard to the sacred liturgy throughout the Church’s history, and which is also reflected in the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council – something that was obscured after the Council. I believe in large part that has been achieved.

ZENIT: Are we coming out of that period now?

Cardinal Burke: Yes, already Pope Paul VI after the Council in a very intense way, and then John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, laboured diligently to restore the true nature of the sacred liturgy as the gift of worship given to us by God and which we owe to God in the very way He teaches us how to worship. So it’s not man’s invention, it’s God’s gift to us.

ZENIT: How important is a sound understanding of the liturgy in today’s Church. How can it help evangelization?

Cardinal Burke: To me, it’s fundamental. It’s the most important area of catechesis: to understand the worship accorded to God. The first three commandments of the Ten Commandments are to do with this right relationship to God, especially with regards to worship. It’s only when we understand our relationship with God in offering worship that we also understand the right order of all the other relationships we have. As Pope Benedict XVI said in his wonderful magisterium on the sacred liturgy, and which he expressed so often, [it consists of] this connection between worship and right conduct, worship and law, worship and discipline.

ZENIT: Some argue the liturgy is mostly about aesthetics, and not as important as, say, good works done in faith. What is your view of this argument that one often hears?

Cardinal Burke: It’s a common misconception. First of all, the liturgy is about Christ. It’s Christ alive in his Church, the glorious Christ coming into our midst and acting on our behalf through sacramental signs to give us the gift of eternal life to save us. It is the source of any truly charitable works we do, any good works we do. So the person whose heart is filled with charity wants to do good works will, like Mother Teresa, give his first intention to the worship of God so that when he goes to offer charity to a poor person or someone in need, it would be at the level of God Himself, and not some human level.

ZENIT: Some also say that to be concerned with liturgical law is being unduly legalistic, that it’s a stifling of the spirit. How should one respond to that? Why should we be concerned about liturgical law?

Cardinal Burke: Liturgical law disciplines us so that we have the freedom to worship God, otherwise we’re captured – we’re the victims or slaves either of our own individual ideas, relative ideas of this or that, or of the community or whatever else. But the liturgical law safeguards the objectivity of sacred worship and opens up that space within us, that freedom to offer worship to God as He desires, so we can be sure we’re not worshipping ourselves or, at the same time, as Aquinas says, some kind of falsification of divine worship.

ZENIT: It offers a kind of template?

Cardinal Burke: Exactly, it’s what discipline does in every aspect of our lives. Unless we’re disciplined, then we’re not free.

ZENIT: As a diocesan bishop in the United States, how did you find the state of the liturgy in the parishes you’ve been in charge of? What, in your view, are the priorities for liturgical renewal in diocesan life today?

Cardinal Burke: I found, of course, many wonderful aspects - in both dioceses in which I’ve served - a strong sense of participation on the part of the faithful. What I also found were some of the shadows as Pope John Paul II called them, a loss of Eucharistic faith, a loss of Eucharistic devotion and certain liturgical abuses. And as a diocesan bishop I needed to address them and I tried as best I could. But in addressing them you always try to help both the priest and the faithful to understand the deep reasons for the Church’s discipline, the reasons why a certain abuse is not only unhelpful for sacred worship but is in fact blocking it or corrupting it.

ZENIT: It’s said love for the sacred liturgy and being pro-life go together, that those who worship correctly are more likely to want to bring children into the world. Could you explain why this is so?

Cardinal Burke: It’s in the sacred liturgy above all, and particularly in the Holy Eucharist, that we look upon the love which God has for every human life without exception, without boundary, beginning from the very first moment of conception, because Christ poured out his life as he said for all men. And remember he teaches us that whatever we do for the least of our brethren, we do directly for Him. In other words, he identifies himself in the Eucharistic sacrifice with every human life. So on the one hand, the Eucharist inspires a great reverence for human life, respect and care for human life, and at the same time it inspires a joy among those who are married to procreate, to cooperate with God in bringing new human life into this world.

ZENIT: Sacra Liturgia has been about liturgical celebration but also formation. What basis of liturgical formation do we need in our parishes, dioceses and particularly in our seminaries?

Cardinal Burke: The first important lesson that has to be taught is that the sacred liturgy is an expression of God’s right to receive from us the worship that is due to Him, and that flows from who we are. We are God’s creatures and so divine worship, in a very particular way, expresses at the same time the infinite majesty of God and also our dignity as the only earthly creature that can offer him worship, in other words that we can lift up our hearts and minds to him in praise and worship. So that would be the first lesson. Then to study carefully how the liturgical rites have developed down the centuries and not to see the history of the Church as somehow a corruption of those liturgical rites. In the true sense, the Church over time has come to an ever deeper understanding of the sacred liturgy and has expressed that in several ways, whether it be through sacred vestments, sacred vessels, through sacred architecture – even the care for sacred linens which are used in the Holy Mass. All of these are expressions of the liturgical reality and so those things have to be carefully studied, and of course then to study the relationship of liturgy with the other aspects of our lives.

ZENIT: You’re known for celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Why did Pope Benedict make this freely available and what role does it have to play in the Church of the 21st century?

Cardinal Burke: What Pope Benedict XVI saw and experienced, also through those who came to him, who were very attached what we now call the Extraordinary Form - the Traditional Mass - was that in the reforms as they were introduced after the Council, a fundamental misunderstanding took place. Namely, this was that the reforms were undertaken with the idea there had been a rupture, that the way in which the Mass had been celebrated up until the time of the Council was somehow radically defective and there had to be what was really violent change, a reduction of the liturgical rites and even the language used, in every respect. So in order to restore the continuity, the Holy Father gave wide possibility for the celebration of the sacred rites as they were celebrated up until 1962, and then expressed the hope that through these two forms of the same rite – it’s all the same Roman rite, it can’t be different, it’s the same Mass, same Sacrament of Penance and so forth –there would be a mutual enrichment. And that continuity would be more perfectly expressed in what some have called the “reform of the reform”.

ZENIT: Pope Francis is a different person to Benedict XVI in many ways, but it’s hard to believe there are substantial differences between them on the importance of the sacred liturgy. Are there any differences?

Cardinal Burke: I don’t see it at all. The Holy Father clearly hasn’t had the opportunity to teach in a kind of authoritative way about the sacred liturgy, but in the things he has said about the sacred liturgy I see a perfect continuity with Pope Benedict XVI. I see in the Holy Father, too, a great concern for respecting the magisterium of Pope Benedict XVI and his discipline, and that is what Pope Francis is doing.

ZENIT: This conference is reflecting on the 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and 50 years ago this December its constitution on the sacred liturgy was promulgated. You’ve already mentioned how liturgical renewal was not as the Council desired, but how do you see things progressing in the future? What do you envision, especially among young people?

Cardinal Burke: Young people are going back now and studying both the texts of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council with its serious texts on liturgical theology which remain valid also today. They’re studying the rites as they were celebrated, striving to understand the meaning and various elements of the rite and there’s a great enthusiasm for that and a great interest in it. All of it, I believe, is directed to a more intense experience of God’s presence with us through the sacred liturgy. That transcendent element was most sadly lost when the reform after the Council was, so to speak, side-tracked and manipulated for other purposes – that sense of transcendence of Christ’s action through the sacraments.

ZENIT: Does this mirror the loss of the sacred in society as a whole?

Cardinal Burke: It does indeed. There’s no question in my mind that the abuses in the sacred liturgy, reduction of the sacred liturgy to some kind of human activity, is strictly correlated with a lot of moral corruption and with a levity in catechesis that has been shocking and has left generations of Catholics ill prepared to deal with the challenges of our time by addressing the Catholic faith to those challenges. You can see it in the whole gamut of Church life.

ZENIT: Pope Benedict said once that the crises we see in society today can be linked to problems of the liturgy.

Cardinal Burke: Yes he was convinced of that and I would say, so am I. It was, of course, more important that he was convinced of it, but I believe that he was absolutely correct.

Is Richard Dawkins leading people to Jesus?

By Damian Thompson Religion Last updated: April 16th, 2014

2732 Comments Comment on this article

Winning souls for Christ!

My schoolfriend Michael – an atheist for decades – rang me the other night and told me he'd returned to the Catholic Church. "And you'll never guess who converted me," he said.

"Your wife?"

"No! It was Richard Dawkins!"

He explained that he was, and is, a huge admirer of Dawkins the biologist. (I'm with him there: I read The Blind Watchmaker when it first came out and was blown away.) "But then I read The God Delusion and it was… total crap. So bad that I started questioning my own atheism. Then he started tweeting."

Like a loony on top of the bus, no?

"Exactly!"

Funnily enough, this is the second time in a week that I've heard of Richard Dawkins leading someone to Christ. Let me refer you to an article in The Catholic Herald by Francis Phillips:

Judith Babarsky, an academic … having only a “surface level” understanding of Christianity as she admits, was recommended Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion to read. She writes that when she began, she thought she would read “a logical, sceptical, nay scientific critique of religion.” Instead, she was surprised to find “strings of pejorative adjectives pretending to be argument, bald assertion pretending to be evidence, an incredibly arrogant attitude and a stance of moral equivalence incapable of distinguishing between the possible strengths and weaknesses of different religions…”

Indeed, Babarsky found Dawkins’ arguments so unsatisfactory, coupled with his own atheistic and fundamentalist stance, that they prompted her to examine for the first time what Christianity was all about. Her examination was to lead to her conversion to Catholicism. “In reading to refute Dawkins as well as educate myself … I discovered the God-man Jesus Christ. Not only did the Catholic view resonate with me emotionally but … it was intellectually honest.”

Here is a link to Babarsky's original article, with its uncompromising title:

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I might conclude that Prof Dawkins secretly converted to Christianity decades ago, and then asked himself: "How can I best win souls? By straightforward argument, or by turning myself from a respected academic into a comic figure fulminating against religion like a fruitcake at Speakers' Corner, thereby discrediting atheism?"

Hmm. Let me throw this one open to the floor.

Betrayed By Their Brother Priests

APR 5

Posted by liturgy guy

Sister Jane Dominic Laurel and Charlotte Catholic High School have received a great deal of attention in recent weeks. Much has been written about Sister Jane’s talk (“Masculinity and Femininity: Difference and Gift”) which was given at an all-school assembly on March 21. The subsequent parents-only meeting resulted in over 900 attending, the vast majority there to express anger at the school.

From all accounts the nearly two and a half hour meeting consisted of parents loudly, and very often rudely, attacking the school’s chaplain, Father Matthew Kauth. Parent after parent stepped up to the microphone for their allotted three minutes. Parent after parent said they were outraged by the topic, the venue, the lack of notification in advance and correlative data presented by Sr. Jane regarding children’s environment and same sex attraction.

The verbal assault on Fr. Kauth during the meeting was described by some as “ugly” and “completely disrespectful” treatment of a priest. Some who attended said they left the meeting feeling “shell-shocked”, while others compared the atmosphere with that of the angry mob on Good Friday who called for the crucifixion of Our Lord.

The handful of parents who attempted to defend Fr. Kauth and to recognize the schools responsibility to teach the truth of human sexuality were interrupted or shouted down. In other words, the usual intolerance from the tolerance crowd.

As someone who lives in Charlotte, has friends whose children attend the school and who has been to many masses offered by Fr. Kauth over the years, this sad affair hits close to home for me. However, there is another aspect to this story that demands attention, one which sets the stage for this type of conflict to manifest.

Oases of Heterodoxy

Situations like Charlotte Catholic have been created in large measure by the poor catechesis and heterodoxy that permeates so many Catholic parishes today. In diocese after diocese (and sadly mine is not exempt), stridently disobedient laity can easily find a parish which will accommodate their cafeteria Catholicism.

What’s most troubling, however, is that everyone knows the breakdown. Often incorporating the language of contemporary political analysis, people speak of the “conservative” parishes and the “liberal” parishes.

While these terms are often used to describe how the liturgy is offered, they can also reference the overall orthodoxy of the parish. The identifiably more “liberal” communities attract many dissenting Catholics when orthodoxy is re-introduced at their parish. These same dissenters know they will avoid hearing about the challenging and unpopular truths of the faith by running off to these oases of heterodoxy. That there are priests who openly accept this recognition as a badge of honor is scandalous. It is also a betrayal of those priests who do not seek the easy way for themselves, but instead embrace the cross in defense of the truth.

We have seen for decades this widespread refusal on the part of many priests to tackle the tough subjects, such as contraception, abortion and same-sex attraction. No doubt many remain silent because of their own dissenting views. The tacit approval of contraception in private often manifests as a deafening silence from the ambo. It is that very silence that also betrays their brother priests.

The conflict many priests face when they become pastors or chaplains is made all the worse because of those priests who preceded them and who failed to protect the souls entrusted to them by God. “The road to Hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks,” as St. John Chrysostom tells us, “and the skulls of bishops are the lamp posts that light the path.”

As someone whose vocation is marriage and who has been blessed with children, I am reminded of the responsibility of fatherhood. Anyone who is a father knows that often he must teach his children the tough lesson, whether they want to hear it or not. This is no different for our priests, our spiritual fathers. And yet, so many have refused to teach the tough lesson; setting the stage for what happened at Charlotte Catholic High School, and other schools and parishes across the country.

True Mercy and the Salvation of Souls

The studies and opinion polls confirm what we already know from experience: a majority of self-professing Catholics reject the Church’s teachings on matters such as contraception and same-sex “marriage”. Many priests refuse to preach the Gospel of Life because they view avoidance as the more merciful or pastoral approach. Pope John Paul II called this a “false mercy, which is not concerned with the truth and therefore cannot serve charity, which has as its only goal the salvation of souls.”

For orthodox priests, such as Fr. Matthew Kauth, the salvation of souls is his only goal. As a high school chaplain, it is the freedom and beauty of the truth that Father seeks to share with his kids. As he told the parents during his opening statement at that explosive meeting:

“When I came here, I experienced to an increasing degree the suffering that comes to our children and the blackness they feel inside. They are taught by nearly every form of media that Christ’s teachings in His Church are restrictive bars, medieval torture chambers to keep them from happiness. When they have “broken free” I get to see their agony. I desire with a father’s heart to protect them from harm and the false notions of freedom to be able to live in the true freedom which chastity brings-free to love as we were made to love.”

These courageous priests do not shy away from the hard teachings or the unfashionable truths. Instead of selecting the wide road, these holy men choose the narrow gate. May their brother priests embrace the cross that is theirs through ordination and begin teaching these difficult but beautiful truths of our Catholic faith.

(Picture: The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio -1602).

Brampton Churches Burning

SATURDAY, 5 APRIL 2014

St Elias the Prophet Church destroyed - Three Brampton Churches burned

A raging inferno earlier today completely destroyed St. Elias the Prophet Church in Brampton, Ontario this morning, northwest of Toronto. Police say that arson is not suspected.

Really?

\

In October 2012, Archangel Michael and St. Tekla  Coptic Orthodox Church suffered over $100,000.00 damage when a molotov cocktail was thrown through a window.

 In May of 2012, St. Jerome's Catholic Church was hit by a pipe bomb.

Three churches in one city?

Coincidence?

A Catholic Band of Brothers

March 10, 2014

“You must put on the armor of God if you are to resist on the evil day”

 by Donna Sue Berry

Fr Richard Heilman and his Knights of Divine Mercy help young Catholic men ‘put on the armor of God’ for themselves and their families. In this exclusive interview, he tells Regina Magazine  about how a strip club invading a small Midwestern town made it all happen.

What prompted you to begin the Knights of Divine Mercy?
In 2005, I was assigned as pastor of two parishes, one of which was St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff, a Catholic parish in a small, unincorporated town near Madison, Wisconsin. The little town of Pine Bluff has one church, two bars, and a handful of homes. Fields and idyllic countryside surround it. It’s the kind of town where people dream of raising their kids.

Shortly after my arrival, one of the bar owners decided to rent out his cozy establishment to a strip club owner. Neighbors were appalled, and the little town was stunned. But there was not, it seemed, much that anyone could do.

Twelfth Station of the Cross in Pine Bluff’s parish cemetery, where protesters tied their white ribbons to the 100 year old kneeler.

That’s terrible! How did you get involved? 
Discerning God’s will, I organized a mile-long Stations of the Cross through the town. I invited everyone to pray along this “miracle mile,” in an effort to reclaim this surrendered ground and to consecrate the soil back to Our Lord.

The inaugural prayer walk was on Palm Sunday 2005. Over two hundred people spilled into the little town of Pine Bluff to participate in the miracle mile. We prepared for the prayer walk by placing two-foot-high crosses in the lawns stretching all the way down the main road and back, the length of the miracle mile. Participants carried their prayer sheets and a white ribbon (a symbol of purity and anti-pornography).

The twelfth station found them at the entrance to the beautiful parish cemetery on a bluff with a life-size crucifix of our Lord and a one-hundred-year-old stone kneeler in front. The participants tied their white ribbons to this kneeler as a prayer form, much like lighting a vigil candle.

What happened after that day?
After that first prayer walk, a container holding prayer sheets and ribbons was placed at the first station on the walk. All were invited to come, pick up a prayer sheet and white ribbon, and pray at anytime of the day or night, as they wished. Over the next six months, prayer warriors walked the path, prayed the Stations, and sang hymns nearly round the clock. It was estimated that 600-700 ribbons were tied onto the cemetery kneeler over that period of time.

“Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. Our battle is not against human forces but against the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world of darkness, the evil spirits in regions above.”

So were you successful?
The miracle mile was, indeed, miraculous. Even though many say that the porn industry is more protected (under First Amendment rights) than are the babies in their mothers’ wombs, within six months the strip club was chased out of town. Little Pine Bluff was overjoyed, and a victory was won for Our Lord.

How did this inspire you?
Seeing that the power of prayer moved a very significant mountain, a seed was planted and a lion was awakened. Recall that this year of 2005 was also the year our mercy pope, John Paul the Great, went to be with his merciful Savior, as he passed on the very eve of Divine Mercy Sunday. Pope John Paul II’s love for the Divine Mercy devotion and the inspiration of this faithful remnant in Pine Bluff, who believed and saw their prayers answered, led me to found the Knights of Divine Mercy, an organization calling Catholic men to heroic virtue, to be strong husbands and fathers, and to be powerful men of prayer.

Father Heilman says he was inspired by “this faithful remnant in Pine Bluff, who believed and saw their prayers answered” to found the Knights of Divine Mercy.

How did you begin?
Our first leadership meeting for the Knights of Divine Mercy was at a round table (Get it? Knights of the Roundtable?), and was held on the very spot the strippers danced in the “former” strip club. We began the meeting by breaking out Holy Water, Blessed Salt, and the prayers of the Church, as we blessed that place and, quite literally “reclaimed surrendered ground.”

What is the Knights of Divine Mercy?
The Knights of Divine Mercy apostolate seeks to awaken in men the eager desire for a knight’s true calling: The quest for heroic virtue, to be strong husbands and fathers, and to be powerful men of prayer. Men gather once a month for prayer, inspired teaching and a chance to become a “band of brothers” together pursuing virtue, holiness and chivalry.

A KNIGHT’S TRUE CALLING: The quest for heroic virtue, to be strong husbands and fathers, and to be powerful men of prayer.

Were you inspired by Scripture?
The scripture passage that stands as the very foundation of this apostolate is from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians: “Draw your strength from the Lord and His mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. Our battle is not against human forces but against the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world of darkness, the evil spirits in regions above. You must put on the armor of God if you are to resist on the evil day; do all that your duty requires, and hold your ground” (Eph 6:10-12).

What is the primary focus of the Knights of Divine Mercy?
We help men understand and embrace their call to “live supernaturally.” We are living in an intensely secular era. Spiritually speaking, the devil is doing all that he can to catch us isolated and unarmed on the battlefield — no spiritual armor, no spiritual weapons, and no comrades to fight alongside of us. In other words, the reason evil is promoted so effectively today is because we’re ignoring God’s offer of supernatural strength and power.

CARDINAL BURKE WITH THE KNIGHTS “We are living in an intensely secular era. Spiritually speaking, the devil is doing all that he can to catch us isolated and unarmed on the battlefield — no spiritual armor, no spiritual weapons, and no comrades to fight alongside of us.”

What are your Knights’ evenings like?
We immerse these men in sacred beauty and awe-inspiring reverence. We want our men to appreciate it as a moment when Heaven and Earth meet; when they are better able to make a Divine connection with their almighty God.

6:00 PM    (optional) Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacrament of Penance 
7:00 PM    Divine Mercy Chaplet, Inspirational Talk, Benediction
8:00 PM    Social (usually man food – pizza, beer and soda)

How are Knights’ wives and girlfriends reacting?

I’ve noticed that, with some other men’s organizations, some ladies will object to the men “getting a night out.” These organizations are, primarily, social and/or focus entirely on Corporal Works of Mercy, and not on “forming” men. For some ladies, this does not seem like enough to warrant the men taking time away from the family.

However, the response from the ladies in regards to the Knights of Divine Mercy has been altogether different. In fact, virtually all of the ladies arebegging their men to attend these evenings, since it focuses on forming these men to be strong Catholic men of faith and virtue, and good husbands and dads.

BISHOP MORLINO prays at the Knights’ dedication of Pine Bluffs’ Rosary Garden.

If a man wishes to approach his Parish Priest about beginning the Knights of Divine Mercy in their parish, what should he do?
The first thing I would recommend is to gather a group of men together and do some preliminary research into the feasibility of such an apostolate in their area. I’d like to stress that this apostolate is designed, generally, to be regional. In other words, its reach is usually beyond one parish. This helps marshal your efforts and makes it easier to find priests and speakers (usually priests). Of course, in more sparsely populated areas, this may not be possible.

Once you have a great group of highly motivated guys, you can approach the priest with the prospect of establishing an apostolate that looks to form Catholic men in heroic virtue and great husbands and dads. It’s hard to refuse that, right? You’ll want to have a nice presentation prepared before seeing him, so very few questions will remain unanswered. You’ll want to assure him that the men will assume the vast majority of the responsibilities, especially as so many priests are overwhelmed during this era of a priest shortage. The priest will, already, need to commit to this one evening a month as the presider of prayer.

Finally, we try to make ourselves very accessible to help these apostolates with any questions, suggestions, etc. as they look to this possibility for themselves. You may want to make contact with us before approaching the priest, just to be sure your ducks are in a row.

“These men have become incredibly motivated to explore their faith more deeply as they realize how crucial it is that they remain empowered by God in a state of grace. They are also celebrating all things Catholic, and are more and more drawn to reverence and a sense of the sacred.”

What would you like to say to the readers of Regina Magazine about the Knights of Divine Mercy?
I cannot begin to describe how fruitful the Knights of Divine Mercy has been. I have seen men choking back tears as they state, “Where has this been all my life?” They are inspired by God and by discovering what it really means to be a “Band of Brothers.”

These men have become incredibly motivated to explore their faith more deeply; as they realize how crucial it is that they remain empowered by God in a state of grace. They are also celebrating all things Catholic, and are more and more drawn to reverence and a sense of the sacred.

Together, we continue to discover amazing nuggets within the treasury of our Catholic faith. They are 100% faithful to the teachings of the Church. They are the ones who end up being on the front lines out in front of Planned Parenthood, and they are the first to sign up for hours of Adoration. I am hard-pressed to find one of these guys without a tie on Sunday, and their wives and children are among those most excited about the remarkable growth in virtue and holiness these men are experiencing. This apostolate for men’s faith formation is so very necessary for our times!

How has the Knights of Divine Mercy grown? 
There is only a handful, at this point, mostly because we have never ventured into any great marketing campaign to get the word out about Knights of Divine Mercy. It seems that, once people hear about it, they show great interest. There are some in Wisconsin, one in Wyoming, and one getting ready to be established in Rockford, Illinois. We’re hoping someone with marketing skills comes our way.

“I have seen men choking back tears as they state, “Where has this been all my life?” They are inspired by God and by discovering what it really means to be a ‘Band of Brothers.’”

Fr. Richard Heilman, pastor at St. Mary’s in Pine Bluff, WI,  discusses his wonderful initiatives (including the Knights of Divine Mercy and the Combat Rosary), the amazing fruits of reverent, ad orientem worship (which include, among other things, a nearly 50% boost in parish finances within the space of a year!), and his work towards helping to restore authentic masculinity among men today. 

New Religion Podcasts with Forward Boldly on BlogTalkRadio

German Catholic Church, Inc.

February 26, 2014

By Harry Stevens

“It is the glory of vain men never to yield to truth. Such vainglory is a deadly passion for those it dominates. It is a disease that, in spite of every effort, is never cured–not because the doctor is inept, but because the patient is incurable.”

‘City of God’ by Saint Augustine of Hippo


In Germany, Catholics are leaving the Church in droves, as an average of 140,000 formally abandon the Faith annually.* This is easy to track, because numbers are publicly reported in a system where Germans pay 8-9% of their income tax to receive the Sacraments. The church tax is administered by the State on behalf of the Church through a payroll deduction, for a lucrative 2-3% processing fee.

And there is no tax relief. This was clarified at the highest levels when a Catholic canonist asked for relief of his Church tax in 2007. In response, the German bishops’ conference issued a decree stating that those who have declared to a government registry office that they are no longer members of the Catholic Church will no longer be able to actively participate in Church life nor receive the Sacraments. Period.

Why are Germans abandoning the Faith? The proximate causes range from well-publicized sex abuse scandals (touched off at a prominent Jesuit boys’ high school in Berlin) to a simple lack of faith. Largely un-catechized and uninterested, German Catholics would rather save the money, it seems.

But that’s not all there is to the story. Closer inspection reveals a German Church which is extremely wealthy and completely unregulated. Digging a little deeper reveals some questionable activities, mostly having to do with profiting from pornography and abortion.


Follow the Euros

Money is pivotal to this discussion. In 2013, the German Catholic Church collected a whopping 5.2 billion euro in church tax, in addition to 100-200 million euros per year in State subsidies from a still-valid 1803 agreement. Other income was derived from multiple sources, including Church ownership of no less than ten banks, several breweries, a mineral water company, and multiple insurance companies.

Unlike the beleaguered German taxpayer, the Church does not pay tax on Church property. Nor does it pay corporate or capital gains taxes. Everything it does as a public corporation in Germany is considered charitable and tax-exempt and guaranteed by the German constitution.

Also, unlike other public corporations like universities, the Church is not subject to any state supervision of its finances.

As for German bishops, “Most Americans would be a bit shocked to learn that German bishops make between €8000 ($10,965) and €11,500 ($15,763) a month, depending upon their seniority. That comes to between $131,000 and $189,000 a year…. In short, the German clergy may have a real financial interest in keeping the flock happy so they continue to pay that tax and not drop out.”*****


Catholic Church, Inc.


This all means a tremendous amount of money in the German bishops’ hands. The Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church combined are the second largest employers in Germany, with the Catholic Church employing 650,000 people, plus another 600,000 volunteers. In 2011 (the latest date available) the Church spent 129 million Euro in its dioceses.

The Catholic Church provides many social services for the elderly, infirm, and youth through organizations such as Caritas (‘Catholic Charities’ in the USA). Through these channels, the bishops’ influence reaches far and wide within the German Catholic community of 24 million. (Though only a tiny fraction — 2.8 million — actually attend weekly Mass.)


The Publishing Business

While it might seem that the German Church has more than enough revenue, apparently this has not been the case. Weltbild was the second largest bookselling company in Germany in 2011, with annual sales of $2.1 billion. Until that year, it was 100% owned by the German bishops’ conference.

In addition to a lucrative pornographic book publishing company that carried some 2,500 titles, Weltbild also sold books promoting satanism, the occult, esotericism, and anti-Christian atheist propaganda.

After years of public complaints, articles in Der Spiegel and a rebuke from Pope Benedict,** the German bishops’ conference finally announced that they had sold the company. Many believed the bishops’ shares were liquidated in 2011.

As of November 2013, however, it was still being reported that the Diocese of Augsburg, and the Archdioceses of Munich and Freiberg still owned parts of Weltbild. On January 19, 2014, parts of the company filed for insolvency.***


Profiting from Abortion

After German reunification in 1989, new laws came into effect stating that abortion would be legal within the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, but only after the woman received counseling on her decision.

Naturally, counseling would be well-compensated, paid for by the German State. The Catholic Bishops promptly organized a counseling service, which for a decade received state moneys for issuing certificates which permitted women to have abortions.

On January 26, 1998 Pope John Paul II asked the German bishops to withdraw from this lucrative side business. Cardinal Ratzinger, as prefect of the Congregation for the Faith, was given the task of carrying out the Pope’s instructions.

More than a year later, the German bishops finally responded, unanimously rejecting the Pope’s demand. On November 20, 1999, JPII specifically instructed the German bishops in a letter that in the future pregnant women should no longer be issued any certificates by the counseling service of the German Bishops.

It wasn’t until March 8, 2002 – four years later — that the German bishops finally removed themselves from this counseling business in all dioceses. ****


The Root of All Evil

Reviewing these facts, it is easy to conclude that the Bible is correct; the love of money may well be the root of all evil. Bearing this in mind, perhaps there is a bit more to the steady exodus of German Catholics from the Church than what the German media reports.

For, in addition to the fact that Catholics are getting very little for their money, there are very serious ethical questions indeed about how it is being used by the German Church.


*All statistics from the official website of the German Bishops’ Conference, which has reported Catholics leaving as follows: 2010 (181,193); 2011 (126,48 ) and 2012 (118,3350). The website can be found here: in German (all years) in English (2010)

**http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/after-papal-rebuke-german-bishops-to-sell-book-company-caught-selling-eroti/

***http://eponymousflower.blogspot.de/2013/11/60-million-euro-church-tax-for-porno.html

****Article by Stephan Köhnlein at Cathcon: http://bit.ly/1poIiCQ


*****http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2014/germanys-pay-to-pray-regime.html

More sources:

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/is-schism-inevitable-in-germany

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/german-bishops-finally-denounce-abortion-counselling-service

http://www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/98-01-11germancounseling.html

OECTA and the further destruction of Catholic education

Published: Friday, March 14, 2014, 5:00 am | Author: Terry McDermott 

In a move that can only elicit shock and anger in faithful Catholics, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) has announced they will march in the WorldPride Parade in Toronto this year after a motion was passed at OECTA’s recent annual general meeting. A rationale attached to the motion reads: “Registering for, and marching in the WorldPride Parade is a visible symbol of solidarity with one of the most marginalized groups in the Catholic community.” Thank you to LifeSiteNews for bringing this scandal to our attention.

This move is a blatant assault on the Catholic Church from the very people who are supposed to be teaching our children about the Faith. In truth, no one should be surprised at this development because our Catholic schools are not really Catholic at all.

This latest development continues the meteoric destruction of publicly-funded Catholic schools in Ontario. The seed of this latest affront can be traced back to the introduction of the religious textbooks currently used in Catholic primary and secondary schools. The Born in the Spirit textbooks used in primary schools are woefully negligent in teaching the fundamentals of the Catholic Faith. The Fully Alive family life program, a euphemism for sex education class, does not teach modesty and chastity but contributes to the desensitization of our children in sexual matters. The textbooks used in high school are no better. In grade eleven, our children learn about world religions when they don’t even know about their own. In the primary and secondary grades, most teachers teach their personal interpretation of the Faith instead of faithfully teaching the Magisterial teachings of the Catholic Church.

Furthermore in 2013, Gay-Straight Alliance clubs were introduced by our Catholic school boards. The supposed reason for the GSAs is to stop bullying of homosexual students. While bullying of any student, including homosexual students, is sinful, GSAs by their very nature advocate the acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. That is unacceptable in a Catholic school.

It’s time for faithful Catholics to take back our Catholic schools. Publicly- funded Catholic schools are broken beyond repair. The rot has reached to the core. It’s time to establish parochial schools that are authentically Catholic.

Our bishops need to take a stronger position in the religious education of Ontario’s children. Concerned Catholics need to be able to look to the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario, lead by His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins (President), to ensure that our children are properly formed in Catholic teachings.

End the secularization of Catholic schools. End the widespread dissension that is destroying the faith of our children. We must speak up and defend the Faith. We must be a unified force for Truth and the future of Catholic education.

This development affects all Catholics, whether or not we have children in publicly-funded Catholic schools. We are all part of the same Catholic family and what happens to some of the family has major repercussions for all of us.

Make your voice heard. Write to OECTA, the bishops, and Cardinal Collins. Ask your parish priest to speak out against this latest assault on God’s natural laws.

Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario
10 St. Mary St., Suite 800
Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1P9
Phone: 416-923-1423
Fax: 416-923-1509

Contact the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario online here

Cardinal Thomas Collins, President
Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario
Phone: 416-934-0606, ext. 609
Fax: 416-934-3452
archbishop@archtoronto.org

Contact OECTA online here.

                        

James Ryan, President                            Kevin O'Dwyer, Past President

Friend claims James Dunleavy murdered mum in 'honour killing' because he felt she'd shamed family

20 Jan 2014 09:06


MOHAMMED Razaq believes Muslim convert Dunleavy misinterpreted the Koran and beheaded his mum in an honour killing after she split from his dad.

James Dunleavy


EVIL James Dunleavy beheaded his mother in an “honour killing” as he believed she had shamed the family, a former friend claims.

Irishman Dunleavy, 40 – a Muslim convert – was last week found guilty of killing 66-year-old Philomena, cutting up her body and burying her in a shallow grave.

He was ordered to be detained in the State Hospital at Carstairs before he returns to court for sentencing in April.

It has now emerged that Dunleavy may have misinterpreted the Koran and slaughtered his mother in an honour killing after she split from his dad.

Mohammed Razaq, who ran the shop below Dunleavy’s Edinburgh flat, befriended him after he moved to Scotland and helped him convert to Islam.

Razaq believes the killer felt his mother had betrayed the family by leaving his
dad and going to live with another man. He said: “It’s a tragic event, I feel
gutted.

“I wish it had never happened and I feel sorry for James for carrying out such a heinous crime.

“I think it was an honour killing, he was trying to protect his family’s honour.”

A source added: “James was pretty obsessed when it came to religion.

“He was brought up a Catholic but just decided one day he would convert to Islam.

“He was very, very serious about it and cared a lot about it. His faith was very
important to him and he prayed five times a day.

“I can’t say if he killed his mum because he converted, but he believed very strongly in the morals of the Koran and was furious about his mum leaving his dad for someone else.

“He saw it as adultery and they had a massive argument about it.”

Dunleavy had denied murdering his mum at his home between April 30 and May 7 last year.

Her dismembered remains were discovered by a cyclist on nearby Corstorphine Hill on June 6 last year.

A jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found Dunleavy guilty of the lesser charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility on Friday.