House Passes Health Reform Legislation

The House has passed health reform legislation - Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) - by a vote of 220-215. One Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), voted for the bill and 39 Democrats voted against the legislation.

The House, before that, also passed the Stupak amendment with a vote of 240 -194-1. Republican Rep. John Shadegg was the one present vote. The House voted to restrict the use of federal funds for abortion, limiting access to the procedure for people who use an insurance-purchasing exchange that would be created in pending U.S. health-care legislation.

The deal Democratic leadership cut with their conservative members held. The amendment's adoption clears the way for a final vote on the bill.

National Right to Life sent a letter to Republicans tonight saying that the pro-life group will score a "present" vote on the Stupak amendment as a "no" vote. It is a direct shot at Republican members such as Rep. John Shadegg, who plans to vote present in an attempt to derail the bill.

Democrats crafted the the amendment, which prevents federal funding for abortions, to win conservative Democratic votes for the reform bill. But Shadegg said he will vote present on the amendment because the amendment's passage will help the bill, which he said is not a pro-life bill, pass.

- Politico and Bloomberg

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The House is expected to vote Saturday night on the Democrats’ health care bill, and nobody knows for sure how it will turn out.

How can that be?

The answer is that counting to 218, or 60, or even to zero is no simple feat when what you’re counting on are members of Congress.

The phrase “herding cats” may be a cliché, but it is also a pretty good description of what it takes to secure the votes needed to pass or oppose a difficult bill. Whips and staffers say members may hold out for many reasons, from principles to personality flaws. And even when the numbers look good, a small change in the bill itself, the political climate, or even in a member’s mood can upset the balance; a CBC member chokes on a bone thrown to a Blue Dog; a “leaning yes” turns out to be an “I didn’t have the heart to tell you no”; a freeze-out begins to thaw when the heat’s turned up back home; and suddenly it’s back to the game board.

The key to a good count on a tough bill, say insiders, is to know your members and their districts as well as or better than they do themselves. “It’s important that you try to put yourself in the shoes of your colleagues, and try to understand why they’re struggling,” says Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “It could be an upcoming election, it could be a colleague who’s voting the other way. It could be a position they’ve taken back home on a campaign,” he says.

Sometimes, however, getting into a colleague’s shoes can be like donning a teen’s Doc Marten’s, or even a toddler’s Robeez.

“Sulking is a huge problem — it really, really is,” says one former GOP leadership aide. “I’d say we had at least one member per whip check who would whip problematically because they were sulking or angry about something completely unrelated.”

And, as with children, getting to the real issue can take time and patience. Was it something the chairman said in markup? Something that happened the last time the question came up? “Sometimes a member will say,’ I’m not voting for that bill,’ and it’s because they’re angry about something parochial in their district that their staff may not even know they’re angry about,” says Amy Steinmann, former floor director for then-House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

- More at Politico

'Spare him, because he loved us!'

"When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I've often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God -- and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there'll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world -- and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, 'Spare him, because he loved us!'"

- Congressman Henry Hyde,
chief sponsor of the Hyde Ammendment, barring the use of federal funds to pay for abortion through funds allocated by the annual appropriations bill for Health and Human Services.

He took the photograph that has become one of the most recognized pictures in the pro-life community and he shared his story with attendees at the National Right to Life convention. He recounted how a childhood filled with agony and despair led to a life-long dedication to advancing the pro-life perspective.

The photographer is Michael Clancy and his picture is of Samuel Armas grabbing a doctor’s hand during the operation.

Clancy described how Samuel not only reached out of the womb during the surgery but flailed his arm about.

“Just as he lifted his hand in the motion I fired the first frame of a four frame sequence,” he said.

“At 21 weeks in utero the child is a human being that has the earliest interaction…. You can obviously see Samuel interact. Samuel stopped the action in the pictures,” Clancy explained.

“It’s not just my word against the doctors, it’s an amazing story that took a few seconds of time,” he said.

Clancy said one of the nurses involved in the operation said this was nothing unusual, making it clear to him he didn’t just imagine the picture he took.

“Oh, they do that all the time,” she responded.

Read the rest here

Rather cool :)

It's quite an interesting feeling to see your work on the library catalogue :D


Many thanks, once again to those who prayed/helped/encouraged :)

Thesis: some excerpts

Thesis: Thank God, I'm done! :)

Thesis: progress report # 9 -I'm in the clear!

I ask simply to be used.

By Cardinal Newman, from his Meditations on Christian Doctrine, Part III

God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all created to His glory—we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God's counsels, in God's world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name.

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his—if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.

Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about.

O Adonai, O Ruler of Israel, Thou that guidest Joseph like a flock, O Emmanuel, O Sapientia, I give myself to Thee. I trust Thee wholly. Thou art wiser than I—more loving to me than I myself. Deign to fulfil Thy high purposes in me whatever they be—work in and through me. I am born to serve Thee, to be Thine, to be Thy instrument. Let me be Thy blind instrument. I ask not to see—I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used.

"A Revolutionary of the Christian Type" |

Peter Seewald | The Preface to Benedict XVI: An Intimate Portrait

What is it like to sit opposite a man like Joseph Ratzinger for many hours, alone in a monastery, and discuss things with him, asking a thousand questions?

We were high up in our monastery, often in reality above the clouds, and there was always something that gave you the feeling there was a good spirit there. At any rate, I came to know Joseph Ratzinger as a great man for patience, as a spiritual master who can give answers. Here was someone who simply understood people, who had retained the liveliness of youth. Someone who did not burn out quickly but in some way remained whole--and most impressive in his attitude of humility, with which he makes small things seem great.

Joseph Ratzinger is a born teacher, but he did not want to become pope. Even after the conclave, on the loggia of Saint Peter's, his face showed the traces of an inner struggle. And he probably felt like crying, so disturbingly moved was he by the condescension of the great God who entrusted him, at the end of his path, with the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

The man from Bavaria--contrary to all the projections dumped onto his shoulders--is a revolutionary of the Christian type. Seeking out what was lost and saving it is the constant element in his life. An inconvenient man who can seize on the spirit of the times, who warns people against the aberrations of modern life. Anyone who really wants change, he cries out, needs a change in his consciousness and his personal behavior--anything else is insufficient. Now, as Benedict XVI, the most powerful German at the beginning of the new millennium may offer a new opportunity for Europe and, especially, for his homeland. And Peter's successor has given his own people an exciting motto for this: "We are not working to defend a position of power", he says. "In truth we are working so that the streets of the world may be open for Christ." That would mean, then, something like a "Benedictinizing" of the Catholic Church, a healthy revitalization of mercy, of the origin of the mystery.

This is an approach based, not on activism or considerations of feasibility, but on faith. And the pontifex in Rome could find himself helped not only by a reawakened longing for meaning and a new consciousness that truth is indispensable, but also by a new generation of young Christians, whose desire is to live out their faith in all its vitality and fullness once more, piously and without inhibitions. "The Church is certainly not old and immobile", declared the new pope enthusiastically; "no--she is young." And it was also untrue, he said, that youth is merely "materialistic and egotistic: young people want an end to be put to injustice. They want inequality to be overcome and for everyone to be given his share of the good things of the world. They want the oppressed to be given their freedom. They want greatness. They desire goodness. And that is why the young ... are once again wide open for Christ."

And then he added, just like a rebel of earlier times. "Anyone who has come to Christ seeking what is comfortable has indeed come to the wrong address." And, quite certainly, anyone who seeks that with Pope Benedict, too.

Abbey of Benedictbeuern
September 2005
Peter Seewald

I want to read Seewald's new book: Pope Benedict XVI: Servant of the Truth:

Do you know the real Pope Benedict?
Journalist Peter Seewald does. After writing an unfair attack on Cardinal Ratzinger, he was urged by Catholic readers to meet with the man he was maligning. He did so—and the result was two book-length interviews, Salt of the Earth and God and the World. Seewald also returned to his Catholic faith, saying that Ratzinger was the one who "taught me what it meant to swim against the stream." This book, written mainly by Seewald, describes the paths of Joseph Ratzinger’s life from his birthplace in Bavaria all the way to being the first German Pope in 482 years. It is illuminated with a stunning collection of some of the most personal, and most surprising, photographs. These show the Pope as he really is: "a humble servant in the vineyard of the Lord".
LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 150 PHOTOS

Also, read John Allen's latest article on Pope Benedict: Benedict's ongoing battle against secularism

In effect, Benedict's outreach to Lefebvrites and dissident Anglicans forms part of a trend I've described as "evangelical Catholicism." One cornerstone is to reassert markers of Catholic distinctiveness -- such as Mass in Latin, and traditional moral teaching -- as a means of ensuring that the church is not assimilated to secularism. At the policy-setting level of the church today, this defense of Catholic identity is job number one....

To over-simplify a bit, Benedict XVI is opening the door to the Lefebvrites and to traditionalist Anglicans in part because whatever else they may be, they are among the Christians least prone to end up, in the memorable phrase of Jacques Maritain, "kneeling before the world," meaning sold out to secularism....

At senior levels of the church, there's a growing conviction that a tipping point has been reached -- that Western secularization is crossing the line from neutrality to outright hostility, toward religion in general and Catholicism in particular. Cardinal Renato Martino, the former President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, put things this way: "It looks like a new Inquisition. It is a lay Inquisition, but it is so nasty. You can freely insult and attack Catholics, and nobody will say anything."

All of which brings us back to the stunner this week from the European Court of Human Rights.

The court, based in Strasbourg, issued its ruling in response to a petition from an Italian woman named Soile Lautsi, who lives near Padua and who claimed that having crucifixes in the public school classrooms attended by her two children violates the church/state separation provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court agreed, awarding Lautsi 5,000 euros (roughly $7,400) in damages....

In that cultural milieu, one in which Catholic identity is perceived to be under assault -- and, given Tuesday's decision, it's hard to fault church leaders for drawing that conclusion -- it's no surprise that defense of Catholic identity has become an idée fixe. That includes efforts to welcome groups into the church who are ferociously committed to important markers of identity, such as traditional forms of liturgy and devotion and traditional moral teachings.

One may, of course, dispute the wisdom of Benedict's open-door policy for the Lefebvrites or disgruntled Anglicans. Yet to pretend that such moves are inexplicable apart from the personal predilections of a conservative pope is to ignore the social reality of contemporary Europe.

It's not paranoia, in other words, if they really are out to get you.

"Beauty will save the world" (Dostoyevsky)

Via NLM

Some quotes from the comments section:

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty"---that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

-John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn.

"Awed by the beauty of your virginity and by the splendour of your purity, Gabriel cried aloud to you, O Mother of God, 'How can I praise you as I should? With what name shall I invoke you? I am troubled and amazed; therefore as I was commanded I cry to you: Hail, full of grace!"
Tone 3

Frank Duff: santo subito!

Today is the 29th death anniversary of Servant of God Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion of Mary. Let us pray that his heroic example would be recognized as a model for all Catholics and that he be raised to the altars of the Church.

God our Father, You inspired your servant Frank Duff with a profound insight into the mystery of your Church, the Body of Christ, and of the place of Mary the Mother of Jesus in this mystery. In his immense desire to share this insight with others and in filial dependence on Mary he formed her Legion to be a sign of her maternal love for the world and a means of enlisting all her children in the Church's evangelizing work.

We thank you, Father, for the graces conferred on him and for the benefits accruing to the Church from his courageous and shining faith. With confidence we beg you that through his intercession you grant the petition we lay before you .....

We ask too that if it be in accordance with your will, the holiness of his life may be acknowledged by the Church for the glory of Your Name, through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Why do we want Frank Duff beatified?

What is the reason for spending so much time and energy on the Cause when there are so many other forms of apostolic work that might seem more urgent and necessary? One reason is that the prayer and work involved in the process of beatification is itself a tremendous form of evangelization. We are not simply eulogizing Frank Duff but we wish to spread the message that he taught and lived.

What he stood for is what is important.

One pivotal purpose in the beatification of a man or woman is to make their message heard loudly throughout the Church. We might get some idea why it is good to promote the beatification of men and women from the words of Frank Duff himself.

He writes:

“We must read the lives of the saints. God’s purpose in bringing about the canonization of saints was to provide a headline which would draw us on to goodness and heroism. Saints are the doctrines and practices of holiness made visible. If we frequent their company, we will soon imitate their qualities.”

Evangelization is surely making the teaching of the Gospel and the Christian way of life visible and accessible to as many people as possible.

What are the main elements in his message and spirituality?

Let me stress just one or two points in his message. The first published work of Frank Duff was the pamphlet entitled “Can We Be Saints?” His answer was a resounding Yes.

Everyone, without exception, is made and called to be a saint and the means are readily accessible to all in the everyday living of the Catholic life.

That is their very first job – to try to be a saint. If we are not really trying to be saints then to that extent we are wasting the gift of our lives. It is no good, he used to say, to ask men and women to be good, you have to ask them to be heroic. He founded the Legion of Mary as a school of sanctity.

For nearly all his life, Frank lived in close, daily contact with the men and women who lived in the hostels he founded. He cared for their material needs and tried to ease the profound pain at the heart of their lives. But above all he wanted each one of them to go to Heaven and so he provided them with access to all the means that the Church offers them. Frank looked up to each individual because he saw Christ in them.

I knew Mother Teresa reasonably well during my ten years in India and met her often at various places on my travels. Frank Duff had the same regard and love of the poor that she possessed and above all wanted them to live and die in the state of sanctifying grace.

He wanted everyone, to be authentically holy. In short, he believed with all his mind and heart in what the Second Vatican Council referred to as the universal call to holiness.

For Frank the universal call to holiness necessarily includes the universal call to evangelization or mission. There is endless joy in being an instrument, with God’s grace, in bringing even one soul to Heaven. Frank sought to bring all souls to Heaven or at least as many as possible. I think it could be argued that his desire for the salvation of souls was the deepest thrust in his spirituality.

The salvation of souls dominates the life of every saint. Frank found it difficult to imagine how you could save your own soul without seeking to save the souls of others.

The desire to save souls defines also the reason why he founded the Legion of Mary. He adapted the prayer attributed to St. Francis Xavier for the Conversion of the Whole World as follows:

“O Lord all hearts are in Your hands. You can bend as it pleases You the most obdurate and soften the most hardened. Do that honor this day to the blood, merits, wounds, names and inflamed hearts of Your beloved Son and His most Holy Mother by granting the conversion of the whole world. Nothing less, my God, nothing less, because of Mary, their Mother; because of your might and Your mercy.”

Frank Duff was great in the small things, and heroic in doing the commonplace, and his purpose in al things great and small was his immense desire to love God and to be an instrument with and through Mary and the Holy Spirit in the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls.

Fr. Bede McGregor O.P.

His message is radically rooted in the Gospel and the Tradition of the Church. This is why it is so important.

"The articles by Bro. Frank Duff are, without the slightest doubt, together the mightiest written contribution ever made as a help to pastoral work, whether of priests or laity. They penetrate with a depth of insight, which can come only from a special charism of the Holy Spirit, to the very heart of the nature of the apostolate and its practical accomplishments. One can say of these splendid essays what one can say with truth of the documents of the Second Vatican Council that if they were to be fully implemented a new golden age would dawn for the Church all over the world."

V. Rev. Francis J. Ripley.

Cause for Beatification

The official petition to introduce the cause for the beatification of Mr. Duff was accepted and signed by his grace Archbishop Desmond Connell in July 1996.

Frank Duff is now known under the title Servant of God. One of the major stages in the process for a person to be declared a saint is the verification of heroic sanctity by means of a detailed investigation through the appropriate office in Rome formalized by the issue of a solemn decree. The person may then be said to be a Venerable – which means to be regarded with awe. E.g. Edel Quinn The next step requires an authentic and irrefutable miracle (or two) in order to declare the venerable as blessed. Finally, canonization itself is a declaration by the Pope that a deceased person is raised to the full honours of the altar, that is, a saint. Two miracles credited to the beatus are usually required before canonization to attest the heroic virtue of the saint. Where, beatification allows veneration of the blessed, canonization requires it. The canonization is usually celebrated at St. Peter’s.

So, when it comes to the life and work of Frank Duff we are at the stage of determining the truth of his life and virtue to prove that he is worthy of the title of Venerable. This is the first step in the process, which will judge if Mr Duff’s life was one of heroic sanctity. Favorable and unfavorable witnesses have to be interviewed and questioned under oath and his writings will have to be examined by theologians to check their fidelity to the faith and the moral teaching of the Church. This process will be a lengthy one since many persons who knew Frank have to be interviewed and his prolific writings have to be carefully examined.

Frank lived a long life – born on 7th June 1889 and died on 7th November 1980 – 91 years – that’s more years than most! He did not found the Legion of Mary until he was 32 years of age. In the following 59 years he wrote an estimated 200,000 letters – and not just small letters at that - (that works out at about 10 letters a day for his whole life). He has written 205 different articles compiled into several books, there are about 9 hours of video of a taped interview with him that is available (all of which are transcribed) and the Concilium wrote to me recently to tell me that they have around 140 audio tapes of interviews, about which 50% or so of which have been transcribed at this stage.

In other words, that amounts to a considerable amount of primary written material to be read and analyzed.

The Pope's Guardian Angel

Via Insight Scoop, an Wall Street Journal obituary about Camillo Cibin, who was a bodyguard for six popes, organized security during the Second Vatican Council, and saved the life of John Paul II:

For almost 60 years, Camillo Cibin was the silent shadow of six popes, a broad-shouldered but discreet presence as their chief bodyguard and the Vatican's head of security.

Mr. Cibin, who died Oct. 25 at the age of 83, came to wider attention, much to his dismay, only in 1981 when there was an attempt to assassinate John Paul II. On May 13, Mr. Cibin was at his usual post by the driver's side of the pope's open vehicle as the pontiff greeted crowds in St. Peter's Square. Among them was Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish militant, who fired six shots at the vehicle. The pope was hit four times, twice in the stomach. Two spectators also were wounded.

The director of the Italian police squad in the square leapt on top of John Paul, while Mr. Cibin vaulted the crowd barricades, and, with the help of bystanders, apprehended Mr. Agca. The gunman served 19 years in prison before being released, having been forgiven by the pope, and is now serving a sentence in Turkey for a previous political murder.

Once John Paul II recovered -- having lost three-quarters of his blood in the attack -- Mr. Cibin offered to resign. The pope rejected the offer.

Read the entire article. May God grant eternal peace to a man who quietly dedicated his life to protecting the lives of others

Am I killing? Yes I am.

A chilling video via CMR



Ordained minister,late term abortionist,admitted killer. But he's doing it for the children.

The Seal of Confession

Canon 21 of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), binding on the whole Church, lays down the obligation of secrecy in the following words:

"Let the priest absolutely beware that he does not by word or sign or by any manner whatever in any way betray the sinner: but if he should happen to need wiser counsel let him cautiously seek the same without any mention of person. For whoever shall dare to reveal a sin disclosed to him in the tribunal of penance we decree that he shall be not only deposed from the priestly office but that he shall also be sent into the confinement of a monastery to do perpetual penance"

- Catholic Encyclopedia

Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents' lives. This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the "sacramental seal," because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains "sealed" by the sacrament.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church , 1467

A confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; one who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the delict.

- Code of Canon Law, Can. 1388 §1

The standard of secrecy protecting a confession outweighs any form of professional confidentiality or secrecy. When a person unburdens his soul and confesses his sins to a priest in the Sacrament of Penance, a very sacred trust is formed. The priest must maintain absolute secrecy about anything that a person confesses. For this reason, confessionals were developed with screens to protect the anonymity of the penitent. This secrecy is called "the sacramental seal," "the seal of the confessional," or "the seal of confession."

The sacramental seal is inviolable. Quoting Canon 983.1 of the Code of Canon Law, the Catechism states, "...It is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any reason" (No. 2490). A priest, therefore, cannot break the seal to save his own life, to protect his good name, to refute a false accusation, to save the life of another, to aid the course of justice (like reporting a crime), or to avert a public calamity. He cannot be compelled by law to disclose a person's confession or be bound by any oath he takes, e.g. as a witness in a court trial. A priest cannot reveal the contents of a confession either directly, by repeating the substance of what has been said, or indirectly, by some sign, suggestion, or action. A Decree from the Holy Office (Nov. 18, 1682) mandated that confessors are forbidden, even where there would be no revelation direct or indirect, to make any use of the knowledge obtained in the confession that would "displease" the penitent or reveal his identity.

(Just as an aside, a great movie which deals with this very topic is Alfred Hitchcock's "I Confess," which deals with a priest who hears a murder confession and then is framed for the murder. As a priest, I was in agony during much of the movie.)

However, a priest may ask the penitent for a release from the sacramental seal to discuss the confession with the person himself or others. For instance, if the penitent wants to discuss the subject matter of a previous confession — a particular sin, fault, temptation, circumstance — in a counseling session or in a conversation with the same priest, that priest will need the permission of the penitent to do so. For instance, especially with the advent of "face-to-face confession," I have had individuals come up to me and say, "Father, remember that problem I spoke to you about in confession?" I have to say, "Please refresh my memory," or "Do you give me permission to discuss this with you now?"

- Fr. William Saunders, "Secrecy of Confession is Absolute"

The Church is wonderful; she takes care of her children's souls so well. The seal of confession exists to encourage sinners to seek God's pardon through the sacrament with the absolute assurance of confidentiality.

Priests have died upholding this seal of confession and we owe them our deepest gratitude.

Here's an article by Fr John Keenan, an Irish Columban based in Manila, I came across via Bangor to Bobbio:

On July 24th, Japanese soldiers arrived in a truck with a tall, unknown Caucasian—dressed in a white cassock—in custody. He was tied to a lamp post and made to endure the hot tropical sun throughout the day. No one knew who he was, or where he came from. He was, in fact, Fr Francis Vernon Douglas, parish priest of Pililla, some 20 miles away. Hours earlier he had been abducted from his convento and taken over the mountains to Paete. Frank, or Vernon (to his friends), was born in Johnsonville, Wellington, New Zealand, on May 22, 1910. In his youth he excelled at rugby and cricket, and later studied for the priesthood. He was ordained on October 29, 1934. After an enjoyable and successful year as a curate in New Plymouth, NZ, he felt that God wanted him to become a missionary. He joined the Society of St Columban and arrived in Manila in 1938. His first assignment was as parish priest of Pililla, where he struggled with Tagalog language and tried to remain neutral between the Kem-pei-tai, Japanese military police, and the Filipino-American guerrillas hiding in the hills around Pililla.

In Paete, the local chief of Police, Basilio Y. Agbay, told one of his captors that the man was a priest, but he replied, 'the man is a spy'. Exhausted after a day in the sun, he was taken inside the church, by now a torrid dungeon. He was first taken to the sacristy where the terrorized people could hear the moans as he was being tortured. Later, he was dragged to the baptistery where he was tied to the baptismal font, and again severely beaten until blood splashed on the font and surroundings. Stripped to the waist, clad only in white slacks with his torso and arms black and blue and oozing with blood, he was tied to the left post under the choir loft. All the torture and pain seemed concentrated on him while the 250 looked on.

His bleeding and battered body immediately reminded the religious Filipinos of the scourging of Jesus at the pillar. 'Yet ours were the sufferings he endured… He was harshly treated, but unresisting and silent, and he humbly submitted…' (Isaiah 53:4-7). For three days and three nights, he was forced to stand. One of the soldiers hit him on the forehead with the butt of his sword and immediately blood gushed out all over his face.

The others were allowed to lie down and sleep. Throughout all this, he uttered not a word. Instead, he kept his eyes on the altar and continued to recite the Rosary. A bowl of rice was placed at his feet, which he did not touch. His blood-stained cassock lay on the floor beside him. Finally, perhaps fearing that his end was near, he asked for the local parish priest to hear his confession. This was done in the presence of his torturers, lest they later force his confessor to break the seal of confession. Shortly afterwards, bloodied and bruised, he was bundled into a truck that sped away in the direction of Santa Cruz and Los Baños, where there were many prisoners of war, including priests and religious. He was never seen again.

Why was Vernon singled out for such horrible torture? Did he refuse to talk in order to preserve the seal of confession, or information held in confidence? As he was being interrogated in Pillila before being abducted, neighbors heard him remonstrate with the military police, 'You have no right to ask me that question, and I cannot, in conscience, answer it'. Whatever the reason, one thing is certain, here was a strong man who suffered in silence rather than betray his friends.

As an early report published in The Far East, December 1945 stated: 'What Father Douglas suffered in Paete made a deep impression on the people of that town. The Filipinos say that he seemed to be like our Lord Himself, as he stood there, tied to the post in the Church, constantly beaten and ill-treated, but always with unquestionable patience. They expressed the belief that he suffered made him a kind of savior to the town.

'From the time he was brought there, no Filipino received any ill treatment. On him were concentrated all the anger and hatred of the Japanese soldiers.'

More on Fr Douglas at the website of the St Columbans Mission Society.

Also, via the Curt Jester:

Valencia, Mar 29, 2007 (CNA).- The Holy See is moving ahead with the cause of beatification of Father Felipe Ciscar Puig, a Spanish priest who was martyred during the persecution of 1936 for protecting the seal of confession.

In statements to the AVAN news agency, the vice postulator of the cause, Father Benjamin Agullo, said Father Puig “is considered a martyr of the sacramental seal as he was shot for refusing to reveal the confession of a Franciscan priest who was himself executed.”

Francisco Father Andres Ivars asked to go to confession when he was in prison in August of 1936, suspecting that his execution was near. “At that moment Ciscar was brought to the same prison. After the confession, they tried to get him to reveal the contents and in response to his denial to do so, the militants threatened to kill him,” Father Agullo said.

Since he remained unmoved, his captors organized a mock trial and condemned him to death. Both Father Agullo and Father Ivars were driven by car to another location and were executed on September 8, 1936, the vice postulator of the cause explained.

Father Puig studied at the Seminary of Valencia and was ordained a priest in 1888. After serving as pastor in various parishes, he served as chaplain for the Augustinian Sisters of Denia.

Fathers Ciscar and Ivars are part the cause of canonization of the Servants of God Ricardo Pelufo Esteve and 43 companions, including 36 Franciscans.

Finally, St John of Nepomucene is considered the first martyr of the sacramental seal and the defender of the Holy Sacrament of Penance. This priest of Prague was chosen by Queen Joanna as her spiritual director. Her husband, King Wenceslaus IV, who had given himself up to vices, dared to insist to John the secrets told to him at confession by the Queen. The minister of God courageously resisted the king’s impious request, and neither bribes, nor tortures, nor imprisonment, could make him yield. Eventually on the king's orders John was thrown into the river Moldau, which flows through Prague; and thus obtained the glorious crown of martyrdom.

As John's corpse floated down the stream, flaming torches were seen following it on the surface of the water. The next morning, the Canons went and took the body from the sand on which it lay, and heedless of the king’s displeasure, had it carried with much solemnity to the metropolitan Church, and gave it burial. fter upwards of 300 years, a juridical examination was made of his body (which, during all this time, had lain under the ground), and his tongue was found to be incorrupt and like that of a living man. Six years later the tongue was shown to judges delegated by the Aposotlic See; when, by a fresh miracle, it immediately resumed the freshness of life, and, from being of a brownish color, became perfectly red. These and other miracles having been authentically proved, he was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII, on the 19th day of March, in the year of Our Lord 1729, as the defender of the seal of confession, and the first Martyr to shed his blood for the maintenance of its holy secrecy.

How great, O glorious Martyr, was the honor reserved for thee by the Son of God, when He chose thee to be the one who was to attest, by laying down his life, the sacredness of the secret which protects the Sacrament of Penance! Other priests, as well as thyself, have bravely suffered persecution for the sake of the secrecy of this Sacrament; but thou wast the one chosen by Heaven to give a solemn testimony of priestly discretion and fidelity.

Intercede for all who let themselves be carried on to the deep abyss by the tide of their sinful habits and who turn a deaf ear to the invitation to approach this tribunal of mercy. Pray also for those who go to Confession, but who have not the dispositions requisite for receiving the grace of the Sacrament; pray that they may see the danger they thus incur of profaning the Blood of Christ. Obtain for all who approach the holy tribunal an honest avowal of their sins, and true contrition of heart; that thus the life of our Risen Jesus may be imparted to them and that they may never again lose it. By thy powerful intercession, raise up zealous and faithful ministers of this great Sacrament of which thou wast the Martyr. Draw down the blessing of Heaven on their arduous labor; then will the number of the children of God be increased, and the grace of the Holy Ghost triumph in souls that have long been dead in sin.

Cast, too, an eye of compassion on thy fatherland of Bohemia, where once there were so many faithful hearts who loved and honored thee. The enemy came, not many years after thy glorious martyrdom, and sowed the baneful weeds of heresy in thy native land. The good seed claims thy protection; but take pity also on the cockle, for even it may be turned, by the true Faith, into wheat, and be garnered into the House of our Heavenly Father.

Amen.

Seal of Confession goes on trial in the US:

When Father Timothy Mockaitis heard inmate Conan Wayne Hale’s sacramental confession on April 22, 1996, he had no idea it was being recorded.

He also didn't know that the event would spur an unprecedented legal case that attempted to demonstrate that a violation of the seal of the confessional was an infringement on the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Father Mockaitis details these pivotal events in his new book, “The Seal: A Priest’s Story.” The pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church shared with ZENIT how this case involved not only canon law versus civil law, but also a threat to the long term viability of our Constitutional freedoms.

Priest breaks seal of confession over Bronx murder:

For ten years, Joseph Towle knew the truth about a fatal stabbing in 1987 of a young man in a Bronx park and yet he said nothing. He had information that the two men convicted in the case and sent to prison were innocent of the crime and that the real murderers had got away. Now, at last, he has told his story.

The secret was revealed in a federal appeals court on Monday. The witness is better known as Father Towle, a Jesuit priest. In giving his testimony and finally revealing the identity of the real killer, he was performing his civic duty. Some wondered, however, whether he has broken sacred laws of the Church in doing so.

The seeds of Father Towle's awful dilemma were planted one afternoon in 1989, when he was asked to visit a troubled young man in his Bronx parish. That man, Jesus Fornes, told him that he and another man had killed Jose Rivera in the park two years earlier. Fornes was owning up, he claimed, because two of his friends had been wrongly convicted of the murder and were about to receive sentence.

By coming forward now, Father Towle has made himself pivotal to an appeal hearing for one of the two men convicted of the murder, Jose Morales. He, and the other convicted man, Ruben Montalvo, were given sentences of 15 years to life in prison for the murder. After hearing the priest's belated testimony, the judge in the case indicated he would decide within two weeks whether to grant Morales a new trial.

Father Towle began to consider breaking his silence after Fornes was shot and killed in 1997. And yet he was fiercely attacked in court by prosecutors who argued that he was in breach of Catholic teaching by revealing the content of his original conversation with Mr Fornes, notwithstanding that the killer had since died.

One of the cornerstones of the Catholic faith is that nothing said in confession can ever be revealed. Confession, the Church instructs, is between the sinner and God, with the priest acting only as an intermediary. Father Towle told the court, however, that his conversation with Mr Fornes was not a formal confession, but a conversation only. He did concede, though, that after the conversation had ended, he gave Mr Fornes absolution, whereby the sins are forgiven by God.

"It was not a private confession," the priest said later, responding to questions from journalists. "He came to me with the deliberate purpose of making it not secret but of revealing it," he argued. "And then he did reveal it."

Indeed he did. Mr Fornes went to the courthouse on the day his two friends were sentenced and spilt everything to the lawyer of the defendants. His candour came too late for the court, however.

Father Towle, now a priest at St Ignatius Church in the Bronx, clearly spent years agonising over the implications of the case. "Naturally, it has taken a long time," he said. "There is nothing I am more careful about in my whole life than confession."

Among other people who had heard the same story as Father Towle was a legal aid lawyer, Stanley Cohen. When Fornes realised that he had come forward too late to avert the sentencing of his friends, he had gone to Mr Cohen for advice on how he could save them from a life in prison. Mr Cohen said he could not prevent it and that Fornes should stay silent unless he wanted to spend the rest of his days in prison himself.

Mr Cohen also testified at this week's appeal hearing. "I am here because I can't sleep, I can't eat and I can't live with myself," he told the court. He said it had always been "very clear that he [Fornes] had committed murder and these other men had not."

Father Towle eventually agreed to submit a written affidavit about what he knew two years ago. Before agreeing to testify, however, he felt he had to seek the advice of his church leaders. In the end, the New York Archdiocese told him that it would be appropriate to tell the truth.

"Father Towle, given the circumstances as we understand it, was not violating any church law by testifying," a spokesman for the archdiocese said. "It was not a sacramental confession, in which confidentiality would be absolute.

When political scientists take things personally

We discussed the works of Ashutosh Varshney and Paul Brass on ethnic riots at Comparative Politics class yesterday. Prof mentioned that the two didn't like each other personally, and that he had witnessed Brass storm out of a conference room because of this. He also mentioned that Brass was a rather difficult character to deal with.

Brass' book The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India did contain some jabs at Varshney, but wow, take a look at this.

Response to Ashutosh Varshney

By Paul R. Brass

Ashutosh Varshney has written a hostile and unprofessional review of my new book on The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India, originally published by University of Washington Press in February 2003 and issued by Oxford University Press-India in September-October of this year. The review, published in the10 November issue of India Today, is so inaccurate and dishonest that it is difficult for me to know where to begin to rebut it. Varshney does not even take the trouble to summarize the book, but merely picks out and misrepresents at random aspects of my arguments.

Varshney begins by insinuating that I have spent 40 years of my life studying one city, Aligarh, and suggests that I have produced nothing of value from my labors. While it would be unseemly of me to write about my own professional accomplishments in my work on India, I believe it is well enough known among scholars, journalists, and politically knowledgeable people in India that I have written widely on many aspects of the politics of India over these years, and some may know that I have published some 14 books on those subjects as well as rather numerous articles. My works have ranged from detailed studies at the local level to works that cover politics in all India, including my text on The Politics of India Since Independence, the second edition of which is still available. I have personally carried out field work, during approximately 25 visits to India, in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Assam. I have also interviewed many politicians from all other parts of India during my visits to Delhi.



It is true, however, that I have labored hard and long, including for a good part of the six years between 1997 and 2003 in Seattle, poring over my interviews, documents, and other data collected over four decades in Aligarh, to ensure that I minimize the possibility of mistake on so serious a matter as Hindu-Muslim violence. Nor, indeed, despite Varshney’s sneering remarks, has he been able to point to a single error.



Having found no inaccuracies, Varshney seeks to undermine my arguments in a personally insulting way. He claims that I have simply “recycled” my “old arguments” from two books of mine that are well-known in India and elsewhere, Theft of an Idol and Riots and Pogroms. Varshney himself wrote an extremely laudatory review of the latter book (for the Journal of Asian Studies, published in February, 1999), in which he expressed his “admiration for the superb contribution by Brass” and praised “the great merit and compelling brilliance of his reasoning” (p. 133). In the same review, he made laudatory comments on Theft of an Idol. Evidently, something has changed in Varshney’s attitudes, on which I will comment below, but it has nothing to do with the quality of my work or its arguments. It cannot be so since Varshney has also made considerable (mis)use in his own writings of my central argument that the best explanation for the persistence of riots in sites where they appear to be endemic—such as Aligarh, many other cities and towns in India, and many other places around the world at different times, including the twentieth century U.S. and nineteenth century Russia—is the existence of what I have labelled Institutionalized Riot Systems. Varshney has completely misread my description of such systems in his own work, as well as in the India Today review, imagining that all that is meant by the concept is that politicians and criminals protected by them, “especially the Hindu nationalists,” are involved in riots and “keep the communal pot boiling.” He again strikes a derisory note by calling his misunderstanding of my construct “a boiling-pot theory.” This is quite a travesty of my conception, which is that Institutionalized Riot Systems are composed of networks of specialists who play varied and multifarious roles in the instigation and perpetuation of communal animosities, in the enactment of riots, and in the interpretation of riots after they occur.



The metaphor I have used is, as far as I know, quite different from anything anyone else has used in the study of collective violence, namely, the conceptualization of riot production as comparable to that of a grisly theatrical drama, in which there are three phases: preparation/rehearsal, performance/enactment, and interpretation/explanation. This is not a trivial one-off comment on riots, a “boiling-pot theory,” but an elaborate analogy of a type that should be familiar to anthropologists and others who know the work of the great anthropologist, Victor Turner, particularly his Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors.



In his own work on peaceful cities and towns in India, Varshney copies my argument by inversion as it were, claiming that they have “institutionalized peace systems.” However, his use of both terms, mine and his inversion of it, lacks logic, precision, and a basis in worthwhile empirical data. But, not content to invert my argument, he has been reported in the India International Center Diary (Janauary-February 1999) to have presented, at a talk at the Centre, my original argument (incorrectly as usual) as if it were his own invention. Perhaps the Centre journal has misunderstood him, but no contradiction of his use of my concept as his own has yet appeared.

Read the rest here.

Halloween Costumes :D

From The Great Geek Manual



From The Sober Sophomore

Awesome

Blue Sun Bristling
Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman (Averted Imagination)

Explanation: Our Sun may look like all soft and fluffy, but it's not. Our Sun is an extremely large ball of bubbling hot gas, mostly hydrogen gas. The above picture of our Sun was taken last month in a specific red color of light emitted by hydrogen gas called Hydrogen-alpha and then color inverted to appear blue. In this light, details of the Sun's chromosphere are particularly visible, highlighting numerous thin tubes of magnetically-confined hot gas known as spicules rising from the Sun like bristles from a shag carpet. Our Sun glows because it is hot, but it is not on fire. Fire is the rapid acquisition of oxygen, and there is very little oxygen on the Sun. The energy source of our Sun is the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium deep within its core. No sunspots or large active regions were visible on the Sun this day, although some solar prominences are visible around the edges.

From APOD

Another encounter with imbecile anti-Catholicism

Among other accusations, this person condemned the Catholic Church because:

she makes her people believe in things like santa , and bunnies,,, all of which are not even mentioned in the bible

He's spewing stuff venomously:

the bottom here is that their is a institution here on earth know as the world empire of false religion,, babylon the great... and God himself has passed a judgement apon her..

Wow. This is part of a long rant. The guy really, fervently, believes that we're some huge ugly organization involved in prostitution with governments, militaries, in our drive for world domination.

Lord, that they may see!

The Canons Regular of the Mother of God

One more on the religious, this time from NLM.

The colours and sounds are breathtaking.






You can visit the Canons' website here

The Canons Regular are little known in France, but their form of community life - contemplative and apostolic at the same time - has attracted renewed interest nowadays, because it meets a real need. Split into several autonomous congregations and abbeys, they did not initially appear to be a single Order. Canons were numerous and extremely widespread but, after several centuries, they were dispersed by the Reform and then the French Revolution. In France, they almost completely disappeared.

The Canons Regular of the Mother of God are a young community founded in France only around 40 years ago but rich in the Augustinian tradition which dates back to St Augustine (who died in 430). The community reflects the movement to revive the spirit of Canons. The current community was established in 1997 as an abbey of pontifical right, answerable to the Holy See. For any apostolate outside its walls, it works in communion with the diocesan Church led by the local bishop.

The community was always in full communion with the Pope and always maintained cordial relations with the bishops of Gap. The former abbot of the community, Monsignor Wladimir, met Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in 1998. On several occasions, Mgr Wladimir had discussions with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict XVI. By the transfer of their abbey, solemnised on July 27, 2004, the Canons became established in the diocese of Carcassonne in southern France, in full communion with the local bishop.


The life of a canon is also well-suited to women, and it was thought for a long time that St Augustine had written his Rule for a female monastery. Like their brother canons, the sisters also follow the Church's mission to pray the Divine Praises in their liturgical Office. They are now based in the Sacred Heart monastery in Gap, in the French Alps, where they took the place of their brother Canons who moved to Lagrasse. They are supported by a priory of priests who remained in the diocese.

The Holy See has officially approved a "consociatio", which joins the two monasteries under the authority of the Abbot, while maintaining real autonomy for the female community, though in a close spiritual and doctrinal union - truly an inseparable "canonial family". This association allows the Canons and the Canonesses to help one another by prayer, by formation and by work, through the complementary abilities of each group.

Source: Traditional Vocations

Sleep Like a Cistercian

Just one example—and I suspect this has changed in the past seven or eight centuries—but I was very struck how there was even a proper way to lay down on your bed. Sit down and swing your legs into it, don’t just flop down like a kid. That can seem quaint and even silly at first glance, but you realize that it’s one less thing to think about, and more time to focus on bigger and better things. I am reminded of the scholastic definition of curiosity as the vice opposed to studiousness—mere inquiry is useless unless directed towards a point.

And the motion itself has a reason behind it—it is simple, dignified, neither sloppy nor showy, but getting the job done in the most logical and sensible way. It is the proper gesture for a human being, not an animal or a puffed-up king. It seems to me a perfect encapsulation of the entire Cistercian worldview.

We have liturgical rubrics for the same reason. First and foremost, they get the job done and save dithering that could be spent on prayer and reflection. They teach obedience, both to external authorities, and within yourself. And they have, laid on top of this from centuries of observation and thinking, a discrete symbolic component. This sensibility—this practical simplicity that leads to a sort of beauty—runs throughout the entire Cistercian monastic tradition; work becomes prayer, prayer becomes work

.

Read more at The Shrine of the Holy Whapping

Christie Gives GOP Stunning Win In N.J.

By Defeating Corzine, Former U.S. Attorney Deals Big Blow To President Obama, Who Carried The State Easily In 2008

NEW YORK (CBS) ― In the end, all the stumping in the world from the President of the United States wasn't going to stop regime change in New Jersey's highest office.

Republican Chris Christie ended Democrat Jon Corzine's four-year run in Trenton with a narrow victory on Tuesday, CBS News projected. Independent Chris Daggett, thought of by many as the wildcard who could upset the order of things by siphoning off votes from Christie, finished well back.

Read the rest here

CMR, who's been liveblogging today's elections (primary and general election returns for Virginia governor and attorney general, the New Jersey governor's race, the NY-23 election, gay marriage in Maine), says:

Obama starts distancing himself from the elections tonight. Politico reports that the White House says Obama is not watching the returns. So I wonder what he's watching. The Biggest Loser? Or watching "V" and taking notes?

More news:

It looks like it's going to be an early night and a big Republican victory in Virginia. Initial exit poll results confirm pre-election surveys showing strong trends toward the GOP in the Old Dominion.

In particular, independents are breaking heavily for the Republicans. Also, their gubernatorial candidate, Bob McDonnell, is winning big even in the southwest part of the state -- which is the home of Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds.

- Washington Post

In Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell beat Democrat R. Creigh Deeds to replace the term-limited Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine.

- AP

After losing high-profile gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, the Democratic Party salvaged the night by winning the New York 23rd District congressional race. In a battle that took on national prominence, Democrat Bill Owens narrowly defeated Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. Republican Dede Scozzafava, who dropped out of the race on Saturday, still captured about 6 percent of the vote.

- World Mag

The Maine vote looks very close.

More Fr Schall

From Ignatius Press;

When a culture is in the process of denying its own roots, it becomes most important to know what these roots are. We had best know what we reject before we reject it. If we are going to build a chair, the first thing we need to know, above all else, is what a chair is. Otherwise, we can do nothing. We are not a culture that never understood what a human being was in his nature and in his destiny.

Rather we are a culture that, having once known these things, has decided against living them or understanding them. Indeed, we have decided to reject most of them, almost as an act of defiance—as an act of pure humanism—as if what we are is not first given to us. We have let an empty future that we propose to make by our own standards become the ideal over and against a real past that revealed to us what man really was and is: namely, a being open to wonder who did not create himself or the world in which he dwells.

This little book by the German philosopher Josef Pieper is simply a gem. No book its size will teach us so many true things about everything we need to know to understand what and why we are or about how to live a life worth living. This book is one of the first I recommend for waking us up to what life is all about, to what is essential to and glorious about our lives. Pieper, through his writing, gives us the quiet assurance that he knows what is important. He has an uncanny command over the way to bring reality to our attention in a manner that makes it ours yet leaves it as it is.

Read the rest here



Ah by the way, two more of Fr Schall's books just arrived at CL :)


Super-long title :D

Week-old cotton candy.

If only the Catholic Church would cease to be Catholic, then there would finally be a wonderful and cuddly unity rooted in, um, what? Luke-warm sentiment? Week-old cotton candy? BOMFOG?

After blasting Benedict for a few paragraphs, Gross offers the blessings of a mythical Jesus: "And I think the Church of England has been brave and a modern Jesus would have been proud." Sure, right alongside spirited endorsements from the tooth fairy and Puff the Magic Dragon.

CMR on a silly rant by Dick Gross—an atheist who claims to possess "a strong affection for Anglicanism." Read the rest here

12 STEPS TO AVOID PURGATORY

from The Friends of the Poor Souls Blog

1. In every prayer you say, every Mass you hear, every Communion you receive, every good work you perform have the express intention of imploring God to grant you a holy and happy death and no Purgatory. Surely God will hear a prayer said with such confidence and perseverance.

2. Always wish to do God’s will. It is in every sense the best for you. When you do or seek anything that is not God’s will, you are sure to suffer. Say, therefore, fervently each time you recite the Our Father: Thy will be done.

3. Accept all the sufferings, sorrows, pains and disappointments of life, be they great or small, ill health, loss of goods, the death of your dear ones, heat or cold, rain or sunshine as coming from God. Bear them calmly and patiently for love of Him and in penance for your sins. Of course, one may use all his efforts to ward off trouble and pain, but when one cannot avoid it let him bear it patiently. Impatience and revolt make sufferings vastly greater and more difficult to bear.

4. The greatest act in Christ’s life was His Passion. As He had a Passion so each one of us has a Passion. Our Passion consists in the sufferings and labors of every day. Therefore, let us do our work, accept its disappointments and hardships and bear our pains in union with the Passion of Christ. We gain more merit by a little pain than by years of pleasure.

5. Forgive all injuries and offences for in proportion, as we forgive others, God forgives us. Go to confession. This sacrament does more than “just” rid us of our sins; it gives us a tremendous increase in sanctifying grace. It wins for us a higher place in Heaven, with increased union with God. Each time we go to confession, we are preserved from many dangers and misfortunes which might otherwise have befallen us. A devout confession helps us to hear the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and to hear and follow the advice of our guardian angels.

6. Avoid mortal sins, deliberate venial sins and break off bad habits. Then it will be relatively easy to satisfy God’s justice for sins of frailty. Above all avoid sins against charity and chastity in thought, word and deed for these sins are the reason why many souls are detained in Purgatory for a long time.

7. If afraid of doing too much work, do many little things, acts of kindness and charity, give the alms you can, don’t grumble or complain when things are not as you please, don’t complain of others, never refuse to do a favor for others when possible. These and such acts are a splendid penance.

8. Do all in your power for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Pray for them constantly, get others to do so, join the Friends of the Poor Souls and ask all those you know to do likewise. The Holy Souls will repay you most generously.

9. There is no more powerful way of obtaining from God a most holy and happy death than by weekly confession, daily Mass and daily communion. Masses may be arranged after or before someone’s death to expedite their time in Purgatory.

10. A daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament – if only for three or four minutes – is an easy way of obtaining the same grace. Kneel in the presence of Jesus with eyes fixed on the Tabernacle or Monstrance, sure that He is looking at you, then repeat little prayers like these: My Jesus, Mercy. My Jesus, have pity on me a sinner. My Jesus, I love you. My Jesus, give me a happy death.

11. Enroll in and wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. “Whosoever dies clothed in this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” This is the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Promise, made July 16, 1251 to St. Simon Stock. The Sabbatine Privilege is Mary’s promise to release from Purgatory soon after death all those who: 1) wear the brown scapular 2) observe chastity according to their state in life and 3) say the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary every day. To be eligible for this scapular promise, one must be enrolled in the Family of Carmel. This is a simple ceremony which takes only a moment and may be done by any Carmelite or duly authorized priest. Mary’s motherhood is not limited to Catholics. It is extended to all men. Many miracles of conversion have been wrought in favor of non-Catholics who have practiced the scapular devotion.

12. Use holy water. Holy water is a sacramental that remits venial sin. Because of the blessing attached to it, Holy Church strongly encourages its use upon her children especially when danger threatens such as fire, storms, sickness and other calamities. Every Catholic home should have a supply of holy water. Keep your soul beautifully pure in God’s sight by making the Sign of the Cross carefully while saying: “By this holy water and by Thy Precious Blood, wash away all my sins and the sins of the Poor Souls in Purgatory, O Lord”.

Via Robert Kumpel

Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus

Also known as
Gregory of Neo Caesarea
Gregory of Neocaesarea
Gregory of Pontus
Gregory the Wonder Worker
The Wonder Worker

Jean pointed me out to this saint.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa writes that the Wonder-Worker was the first person known to receive a vision of the Theotokus. The Virgin and Saint John the Baptist appeared to him in a vision, and gave him what became a statement of doctrine on the Trinity.

Two local pagans, hearing that Gregory was a soft touch, decided to con the bishop. One lay beside the road where Gregory was travelling, and pretended to be dead. The other stopped the bishop, pleaded poverty, and asked for money to bury his dead friend. Gregory had no money with him, so he took off his cloak and threw it over the "dead" man, telling the "live" one to sell the cloak and use the funds. When Gregory had moved on, the "live" con-man found that his friend had died.

Two brothers in Gregory's diocese had inherited a piece of land that contained a lake. Unable to decide how to divide the lake, the two settled on armed combat to settle the matter. On the night before the battle, Gregory prayed for a peaceful solution to the matter. The next morning the brothers found that the lake had dried up leaving easily dividable farm land

When returning from the wilderness, Gregory had to seek shelter from a sudden and violent storm. The only structure nearby was a pagan temple. Gregory made the sign of the cross to purify the place, then spent the night there in prayer, waiting out the storm. The next morning, the pagan priest arrived to receive his morning oracles. The demons who had been masquerading as pagan gods advised him that they could not stay in the purified temple or near the holy man. The priest threatened to summon the anti-Christian authorities to arrest Gregory. The bishop wrote out a note reading "Gregory to Satan: Enter". With this "permission slip" in hand, the pagan priest was able to summon his demons again.

No wonder he's called "wonder worker." And he has a sense of humour too :D

Patronage

• against earthquakes
• against floods
• desperate causes
• forgotten causes
• impossible causes
• lost causes

From the Patron Saints Index

All Souls Day

Pie Jesu, Qui tollis peccata mundi Dona eis requiem.	Kind Jesus, Who take away the sins of the world, Grant them rest.
Agnus Dei, Qui tollis peccata mundi, Dona eis requiem Sempiternam.	Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, Grant them rest Everlasting.

The expression "eternal life" gives a name to this insuppressible expectation: not a progression without end, but the immersion of oneself in the ocean of infinite love, where time, the beginning and end exist no more. A fullness of life and of joy: it's this for which we hope and await from our being with Christ.

Let us today renew our hope in eternal life, one really drawn in the death and resurrection of Christ. "I am risen and now I am always with you," the Lord tells us, and my hand sustains you. Wherever you might fall, you will fall in my hands and I will be present even at the gate of death. Where none can accompany you any longer and where you can bring nothing, there I await you to transform for you darkness into light.

Christian hope is never something merely individual, it's always a hope for others. Our lives are deeply linked, one to another, and the good and bad each one does always impacts the rest. So the prayer of a pilgrim soul in the world can help another soul that continues purifying itself after death.

And for this, today the church invites us to pray for our beloved dead and to spend time at their tombs in the cemeteries. Mary, star of hope, make stronger and more authentic our faith in eternal life and sustain our prayer of suffrage for our departed brothers.

- Pope Benedict XVI, All Souls Day 2008

Forgive, O Lord,
the souls of all the faithful departed
from all the chains of their sins
and may they deserve
to avoid the judgment of revenge by your fostering grace,
and enjoy the everlasting blessedness of light.

----

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,
free the souls of all the faithful departed
from infernal punishment and the deep pit.
Free them from the mouth of the lion;
do not let Tartarus swallow them,
nor let them fall into darkness;
but may the sign-bearer, Saint Michael,
lead them into the holy light
which you promised to Abraham and his seed.


O Lord, we offer you
sacrifices and prayers in praise;
accept them on behalf of the souls
whom we remember today.
Let them, O Lord, pass over from death to life,
as you promised to Abraham and his seed.

All Saints Day

We praise thee, O God :
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee :
the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud :
the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim :
continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy :
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :
of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world :
doth acknowledge thee;
The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.

- From the Te Deum

With great joy, we celebrate today the feast of All Saints. Visiting a nursery garden, one remains taken aback at the variety of plants and flowers, and spontaneously begins to think of the Creator's fantasy that made the earth a marvelous garden. These same sentiments come to us when we consider the spectacle of holiness: the world appears to us as a "garden," where the Spirit of God has sustained with remarkable wonder a multitude of saints, male and female, from every age and social condition, of every tongue, people and culture.

Each is different from the others, with the uniqueness of their own personality and their own spiritual charism. All, however, were marked by the "seal" of Jesus, the imprint of his love, witnessed upon the Cross. All now are at joy, in a feast without end as, like Jesus, they reached this goal across toil and trial, each one encountering their share of sacrifice to participate in the glory of the resurrection.

- Pope Benedict, All Saints Day 2008

A beautiful analogy! :)

For all the saints, who from their labors rest,

Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

For the Apostles’ glorious company,
Who bearing forth the Cross o’er land and sea,
Shook all the mighty world, we sing to Thee:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,
Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,
Is fair and fruitful, be Thy Name adored.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,
Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,
And seeing, grasped it, Thee we glorify.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

The origin of the festival of All Saints as celebrated in the West dates to May 13, 609 or 610, when Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs; the feast of the dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres has been celebrated at Rome ever since. The chosen day, May 13, was a pagan observation of great antiquity, the culmination of three days of the Feast of the Lemures, in which the malevolent and restless spirits of the dead were propitiated. Liturgiologists of the Middle Ages based the idea that this Lemuria festival was the origin of that of All Saints on their identical dates and on the similar theme of "all the dead".

The feast of All Saints, on its current date, is traced to the foundation by Pope Gregory III (731–741) of an oratory in St. Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world", with the day moved to November 1.

In the Catholic Church All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation meaning going to Mass on the date is required (unless one is ill or elderly). However, in the United States, All Saints Day is not considered a Holy Day of Obligation when it falls on Monday or Saturday, as well as having no obligation at all in Hawaii.

Via Fr Selvester

What a grace to belong to the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church

For nothing more glorious,

nothing nobler,

nothing surely more honourable can be imagined

than to belong to the
Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church,

in which we become members of One Body
as venerable as it is unique;

are guided by one supreme Head;

are filled with one Divine Spirit;

are nourished during our earthly exile
by one doctrine and one Angelic Bread,

until at last we enter into the one, unending blessedness of
heaven.

Pius XII

Mystici Corporis Christi

Via Rorate Caeli. Photos from Daylife.

Rome, sweet home.