"It May Well be that Liturgical Changes, Scheduled and Unscheduled, Have Drained the Mass of its Awe and Reverence."

One reads that large numbers of Catholics do not understand or accept the teaching of the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Can it be that the pews are filled with people who don't know what they are doing? I have heard homilies on the real presence so tentative it is unlikely they would enlighten or strengthen the faith. But copies of the Catechism are available in bookshops everywhere, even in greeting card shops. Maybe tongue-tied pastors ought to buy a copy for every parishioner. What will turn things around is the growing practice of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. At Notre Dame, a group of undergraduates has established this practice in one of the hall chapels, supplementing the Friday afternoon Eucharistic adoration in Sacred Heart Basilica.

It may well be that liturgical changes, scheduled and unscheduled, have drained the Mass of its awe and reverence. My wife, never easy prey to nostalgia, recently attended a Tridentine Mass and was reminded what it felt like to pray in church. Romper room music and bushels of bonhomie don't prepare one to receive Jesus in the sacrament, delivered with a mindless smile by an extraordinary eucharistic minister who might as well be offering cheese samples at the supermarket. With so little sense of the real presence being exhibited during the sanctuary mob scene that precedes communion, it is perhaps less surprising that belief has seeped away. - Ralph McInerny

please click here for the full article.

InsideCatholic.com | My High Holy Day

All the decorations are up, folks are frantically shopping and preparing, and the anticipation is almost killing me as I await the brightest, best moment of the whole liturgical year: Halloween, of course.

As far back as I can remember, this feast far outclassed Christmas on my personal calendar. No matter that Santa brought piles of gifts like the board game version of The Six Million Dollar Man, the Shrunken Head Machine, or yet one more encyclopedia set which I had begged for. None of this could compare with the fistfuls of crunchy loot that strangers dropped into our sacks, as we trooped up and down the stairwells of our tenements. What made those gobs of candy glow with a sinister excitement was the threat that some might be -- must be! -- laced with deadly poison, our apples stuffed with razor blades, by evil old crones who were eager to kill off the children. Or so my mother insisted, and made me swear not to pop a single kernel of black candy corn into my mouth that she had not personally inspected.

Conversely, given the kind of neighborhood mine was, the threat implied in "Trick or Treat!" was not to be taken lightly. I remember pondering with military thoroughness proportionate punishments for "mean" old ladies or puzzled aliens who offered us nothing -- or worse yet, bizarre and improvised foreign items like figs or chunks of feta. The worst thing I ever did was to cover, in its entirety, some miser's apartment door with dad's shaving cream. I didn't get the belt for doing that -- I got the buckle. But no regrets; to me, a night of treats with no real threat of tricks seemed like miserable, liberal theology: a guaranteed Heaven floating pink and full of fairies over a desolate, empty Hell.

Of course, this holiday was born to commemorate the many nameless saints and prepare for the feast of holy souls in Purgatory -- that scary, fascinating middle place that only we Catholics really believe in. That makes All Souls' Day (November 2) the most distinctively Roman Catholic holiday in the calendar. The Orthodox pray for the dead, but if you accuse them of agreeing with Catholic teaching on this subject -- as on any other --they will vigorously deny it. Likewise, their liturgy and traditions affirm truths suspiciously similar to the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, which they only began to deny once Rome declared them infallible. Had I the pope's ear, I'd beg him to teach, ex cathedra, that Jesus really existed -- if only to hear the monks of Mt. Athos find ways to deny it.

click here for more.

All the Evil in the World is Due to Lukewarm Catholics

The evil that has been allowed to spread in the Church is the problem. That is why that insane baby killer is sitting in the White House. Because the Church did not speak up like it should have. This is why there is a Congress running wild, destroying your futures and your children's futures, and your children's children's future and saddling this country with a ridiculous debt...and all doing it in the name of God...Justice...Peace?! This is happening because the Church did not do what it is supposed to be doing. All the evil in the world is due to lukewarm Catholics. - Michael Voris

The Great Global Warming Myth: Bad Science and Evil Intentions

I ran across this Catholic Facebook page today which is seeking to reduce the Catholic carbon foot print (ughh...typing that made me queezy). That would be commendable, if there were a cause for concern. Man induced Global Warming is a fabricated concept generated by elitist environmentalists whose main goal is to reduce the population (for some, the goal is to gain power, but let's just say: regardless of their evil motives, they work together nicely). Thousands of scientists reject the theory of global warming. Why don't you hear about it in the media, you ask? Because you rely on the wrong media. Still don't believe me? Watch the documentary: "Global Warming Unmasked: The Hidden Agenda" by Michael Voris here (just create a free account and search 'global warming'). See a mini-explanation from Michael Voris here. Voris is not some Republican operative, he is a concerned Catholic citizen fighting against and exposing the evils of today's society. His claims are not empty or baseless. They are backed up by overwhelming evidence. He is not the only one calling B.S. on this global warming swindle. I know that you are probably skeptical because companies who try to stay green, public school teachers, and democratic politicians weep over global warming so much that you'd think they'd be willing to kill themselves in order to reduce their carbon foot print. The sad truth is that America was duped by the global warming propagandists. Their evil agenda is even being promoted within the Church.

take a look at this eye opening excerpt from an article I found which exposes some of the evil:

These radical environmentalists actually believe that there will be unprecedented global disasters if radical population control measures are not enforced across the globe immediately.

Of course by now most people who will read this article know that this bizarre population control agenda is even represented in the White House. Barack Obama's "science czar", John P. Holdren, once co-authored a textbook entitled "Ecoscience" in which he advocated population control measures that are so wild and so bizarre that it is difficult to believe that a sane individual actually authored them.

What follows are actual quotes from Holdren's textbook...

Pages 787 and 788:

“Adding a sterilant to drinking water or staple foods is a suggestion that seems to horrify people more than most proposals for involuntary fertility control. Indeed, this would pose some very difficult political, legal, and social questions, to say nothing of the technical problems. No such sterilant exists today, nor does one appear to be under development. To be acceptable, such a substance would haveto meet some rather stiff requirements: it must be uniformly effective, despite widely varying doses received by individuals, and despite varying degrees of fertility and sensitivity among individuals; it must be free of dangerous or unpleasant side effects; and it must have no effect on members of the opposite sex, children, old people, pets, or livestock.”

Pages 786 and 787:

“A program of sterilizing women after their second or third child, despite the relatively greater difficulty of the operation than vasectomy, might be easier to implement than trying to sterilize men.

The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births.”

Page 838:

“In today’s world, however, the number of children in a family is a matter of profound public concern. The law regulates other highly personal matters. For example, no one may lawfully have more than one spouse at a time. Why should the law not be able to prevent a person from having more than two children?”

Keep in mind that Holdren is now Barack Obama's top science advisor.

But even some of the richest people in the world are absolutely obsessed with population control. Back on May 5th, Bill Gates, David Rockefeller, Warren Buffett, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Ted Turner, Oprah Winfrey and a number of other of the wealthiest people in the world gathered for a clandestine meeting in Manhattan. The meeting was supposed to be so secret that many of the billionaires’ aides were only told that they were at "security briefings".

So what was so important that so many of the wealthiest people in the world had to gather for a secret meeting?

Population control.

According to one major U.K. newspaper, one person who attended this secret meeting confessed that "a consensus emerged that they would back a strategy in which population growth would be tackled as a potentially disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat."

This is what the richest people in the world are so upset about?

The article goes on to quote one attendee of the meeting as saying the following about the "overpopulation problem"

"This is something so nightmarish that everyone in this group agreed it needs big-brain answers."

Apparently they do not intend to include the rest of us as they come up with their "big-brain answers".

It would be a mistake to underestimate how obsessed the global elite are with population issues.

The truth is that they are absolutely committed to trying to solve the "population problem" in this generation.

So what will their "solutions" look like?

We can only guess.

But what we do know is that in the name of fighting "climate change", the United Nations and the global elite plan to pursue a radical population control agenda. According to their own documents, the number one problem the world is facing is "climate change" and the number one cause of "climate change" is overpopulation.

Knowing that many nations on earth will never willingly submit to open population control measures, the global elite will likely implement their population reduction methods by subtle means. Let us just hope that they are not successful in their attempts to eliminate as many people as possible.

I am Pretty Sure Christ Never Once Said Give All Your Money to the Government and Follow Me.

I stumbled upon this atrocious article today that literally left my head aching. It tried to make the claim that the Tea Party movement is not in line with Catholic teaching. There may be many people confused by this, even a lot of Catholics. This is largely because we Catholics generally have a positive view of the world (sometimes too positive). We trust our politicians and don't doubt their integrity. We would all like to believe that we are not being lied to. However, we cannot buy into the lie that democratic 'social justice' policies like Health Care Reform, tax hikes, and other welfare initiatives are designed to help the little guy. We cannot underestimate the power and the evil of the liberal agenda. The democratic volunteers waving signs for their favorite candidates may be passionate about the poor or gay rights but the radical left strategists are not concerned with the little guy. They are more concerned with government power, money in their pockets, population control, and the shredding of any remaining moral fiber in our society.

This article goes as far as to say that 'there really is a pretty sharp tension between some of the basic teachings of the Church in regards to politics, the role of government and what we owe to the poor, and what these tea party advocates are promoting.' And what exactly is the Church teaching that is in tension with freedom? What exactly is the Church teaching demanding big government? Oh that's right, there is none. Popes have been standing on the front lines, battling against the evil of socialism. They encourage individual charity and Church based charity.

The only tension here is between liberal Catholic dissidents and Catholic Tea Party patriots. Beware: Just like the Tea Party is doing with the GOP (exposing phonies and RINOs), we will do with you. You cannot use the beautiful Catholic tradition and teachings of charity that Christ gave the Church in order to defend the evil liberal social agenda. Really, you should be ashamed of yourself.

This Schneck guy even has the nerve to stretch the truth this far: '[m]uch as we might like otherwise, the Catholic argument is that government and citizen are equally expected to be our brother’s keeper.' WOAH WOAH WOAH there, buddy...since when did any Catholic teaching demand that the government perform our acts of charity for us? ERRR WRONG AGAIN.

Let's get one thing clear, the Catholic Church has fought against the evils of socialism and communism since they reared their ugly heads. Don't let this guy fool you into believing that government has the right to spread your wealth around. Of course, we are all obligated to be charitable and help the poor as much as we can. This, however, does not mean voting for out of touch democrats who want to use your hard earned money to fund their so-called 'social justice' projects. You should have the freedom to donate to private charities of your choice. Hey, maybe if they'd quit taxing us we could start our own charities with the money we save. Don't you get it!? It is not about the poor, it is about power.

I could continue but this person who commented on the article says it all:

Sigh...When will we take responsibility for our own actions? It has been shown over and over again throughout history that government can not support the poor. Only with true Christ like compassion can we help the less fortunate in this world. The government takes my money and squanders it leaving me with barely enough to be charitable outside of my community. It takes the government $7 to get $1 to the poor. While good Christ centered charities give 90% of there contributions directly to the poor. I say give me my 7 bucks let me give 5 to the poor the get 4 and a half bucks instead of 1 and I have 3 more to give to other causes and maybe take my wife out to dinner. Health care provided by the government is a failure everywhere it has been tried. What really happens is that the poor will receive sub-par health care and the rich will receive superior as they will go to private doctors. Christ never asked us to make government equal and forgive me but I have no clue where that dogma came from. If that where the case we would have no need for a Church as the government would be dogmatic, just like it is in China. Government wants to suppress Christ because satan know we hold the way, the truth and the light. I am no tea party supporter but to say they are not in sync with social teaching is unfair. Whose social teachings? Most liberal social teachers in the Church do not even know what the Church truly teaches as they put their own agenda in place on issues of life, contraception, poverty and the like. They think they know better, sounds kind of like Luther to me. Look at the “Faithful Citizenship Document” I know many Catholics who justified their voting for a Pro Abortion candidate because of this wishy washy document that does not speak to the truth of what Christ teaches. I am pretty sure Christ never once said give all your money to the government and follow me.