Vatican returns Cincy priest to ministry

The news today (click on this post's title) says "the Vatican" -- actually, the Congregation for Clergy -- has told the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to reinstate Father James Kiffmeyer to active ministry. He has been on leave of absence for nearly five years after two accusations of sexual misconduct involving high school boys of at least 18 years of age were made against him in 1997 and 2002.

The Congregation for the Clergy said that under Church law, the statute of limitations for such accusations is five years after the alleged incidents, and the accusations were made too late, so the Archdiocese should not have penalized the priest in the way it did.

The Archdiocese's priest personnel board is studying how to reassign Father Kiffmeyer.

Here is the statement from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati on the situation:
http://www.catholiccincinnati.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=270

Here is a Cincinnati Enquirer story on the news:
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061229/NEWS01/312290020/1056/COL02

Meanwhile, here is another Cincinnati Enquirer story -- about the Archdiocese saying it has lost money for six straight years and could be out of money in three years. It does not take much connecting of dots to know that part of the deficit is due to scandal payouts.
Archdiocese needs cash
Financial struggles could trickle down to local parishes
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061231/NEWS01/612310366/1077/COL02

What does the future hold for the worse-beset Archdiocese of Los Angeles?

By the way, no one inside the Church or outside ever admits that the Church has declining revenues because for the last five decades AmChurch has let the Catholic population drop by telling Catholic parents by the millions they could decide whether to commit birth control.

The Holy Innocents and us

As we know, today, December 28, is the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

Why don't the officials of today's Archdiocese of Los Angeles hold pro-life public witness on this date? The Archdiocese always used to support the annual December 28 nighttime pro-life procession in Hollywood that Kenneth Fisher's Holy Innocents Reparation Committee held in the Seventies and Eighties.

In the meantime, though, we can do our own pro-life observances today, such as Mass and some pro-life effort. And Holy Mother Church backs us up on this. Here is the proof, in the following excerpt from an official document from the Vatican:

The Feast of the Holy Innocents

113. Since the sixth century, on 28 December, the Church has celebrated the memory of those children killed because of Herod's rage against Christ (cf. Mt 2, 16-17). Liturgical tradition refers to them as the "Holy Innocents" and regards them as martyrs. Throughout the centuries Christian art, poetry and popular piety have enfolded the memory of the "tender flock of lambs"(125) with sentiments of tenderness and sympathy. These sentiments are also accompanied by a note of indignation against the violence with which they were taken from their mothers' arms and killed.

In our own times, children suffer innumerable forms of violence which threaten their lives, dignity and right to education. On this day, it is appropriate to recall the vast host of children not yet born who have been killed under the cover of laws permitting abortion, which is an abominable crime. Mindful of these specific problems, popular piety in many places has inspired acts of worship as well as displays of charity which provide assistance to pregnant mothers, encourage adoption and the promotion of the education of children.

Source:
DIRECTORY ON POPULAR PIETY AND THE
LITURGY -- PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES
Congregation for Divine Worship and
the Discipline of the Sacraments
Vatican City, December 2001
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html

Pro-abort pols use pro-illegals stance to disarm bishops

This excerpt from an article in the June 13, 2006, issue of the National Catholic Reporter (click on this post's title) is revealing about pro-abortion Catholic politicians and the Catholic cardinals and bishops who share some or all of their trendy liberal ideology and therefore let them get away with enabling the killings of God's precious preborn babies by the tens of millions:

"Speaking at the International Congress on Churches in Mexico City in November 2005, San Antonio Archbishop Jose Gomez said, 'This debate stopped being an abstraction when in the last presidential election one of the candidates was a Catholic who calls himself devout and who has, however, defended the most radical positions in favor of abortion.'

"Continued Gomez, '[A] Catholic cannot say that he is Catholic, and at the same time disagree with the doctrine of the church in essential matters. In order to be a Catholic, we need to believe like a Catholic, to act like a Catholic and to speak like a Catholic.'

"No wonder [Rep. Charles] Gonzalez [D-Texas] was nervous when scheduled to meet with Gomez.

“'We have a new archbishop in San Antonio,' Gonzalez, referring to Gomez, told the May 10 panel on Catholic progressives. 'It took me about three months to get up the courage to sit there with him and discuss things because I knew that I was basically not on the "right side" of three major issues. The good news is that we spent very little time on one of those issues and then spent a lot of time on immigration, [where] obviously I’m right in line with the Catholic Church.'

"The debate over immigration legislation has provided an opening for Democrats anxious to align themselves with the church hierarchy when they can. Case in point, the April 28 visit of Cardinals Roger Mahony and Theodore McCarrick with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Catholic Sens. Edward Kennedy and Richard Durbin.

“'We need the church’s voice now as much as ever to urge Congress and the president to get the job done – and to do it in a way that upholds our best values and traditions as a nation of immigrants,' Kennedy told the press following that meeting. (Later that day, Cardinals Mahony and McCarrick, joined by Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, met with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and held a similar news conference.)"

Can you hear the cries of the 4,000 babies who are aborted every day in this country, and who will be for years to come thanks to the Catholic-voter-enabled recapture of Congress? The babies are saying, "Thanks a lot, Archbishop Gomez, Cardinal Mahony and Cardinal McCarrick. Why can't you do more, much, much more, to save our lives and help our moms?"

Nuns urged people to vote for pro-abort politicians

The New York Times ran an article by David D. Kirkpatrick the day after Christmas, "Consultant Helps Democrats Embrace Faith, and Some in the Party Are Not Pleased."

The article should have been entitled, "Consultant Helps the Faithful Embrace Democrats."

It is about Mara Vanderslice, 31, "an evangelical" and the founder of Common Good Strategies, a political consulting group. She has rebounded from being pro-abortion John Kerry's religion adviser in 2004.

Says the Times, she and her business partner Eric Sapp are being credited with helping some Democrat candidates "make deep inroads among white evangelical and churchgoing Roman Catholic voters in Kansas, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania."

They even helped, among others, the flaming pro-abortion Catholic governors Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.

All that Miz Vanderslice and Sapp are doing, of course, is giving voters flimsy excuses to call themselves Christian while betraying tens of millions of preborn babies and their right to life.

The most sickening news in the article is this:

"In Michigan and Ohio they enlisted nuns in phone banks to urge voters who were Catholic or opposed abortion rights [sic!] to support Democratic candidates, with some of the nuns saying they were making the case in religious terms."

Can anyone say now that the U.S. bishops' "seamy garment," the "consistent ethic of life," does not give millions of Catholics the handy "out" clause they need to vote pro-abortion? (As if we needed any more proof after 30 years of this disgraceful fraud. Sorry, liberals, but the Popes have said aborting babies is the issue above all others.)

"Open Christmas Day"

Did you see the comic strip "Crankshaft" on Christmas Day? You can click on this post's title to see it.

The cartoon's main characters were heading into church, and they were passing the church's outdoors billboard, which read, in capital letters, "Open Christmas Day."

A good reminder for everyone, no?

Which reminds me about a priest some years ago who with a gentle smile told his congregation at Mass on Christmas or Easter, I forget which, "You know, we do do this every Sunday."

Have you ever invited someone to Confession or Mass for Christmas? Did it turn out well?

The odor of sanctity

Last Saturday the San Francisco Chronicle carried an article (click on this post's title) about a Catholic physician, Dr. Fred Hass, 69, who makes a cologne in his kitchen that Pope Blessed Pius IX (1792-1878) might well have worn.

Dr. Hass, a general practitioner in Terra Linda who lives in San Rafael, says he found the recipe for the cologne in a cookbook published in 1963. The recipe is thought to have come from the family of Charles Charette, a French general who was in the papal guard.

The article says, "Hass requested that the exact recipe of the cologne and cookbook's title not be disclosed because he doesn't want competition, but said the main ingredients are orange blossom, lemon verbena, lavender, violet, clove and sweet orange."

Anyway, after hearing about this, someone near and dear to me immediately made a quip about "the odor of sanctity," so I thought I would pass along that bit of humor to you.

Pope Pius IX's last words, said the Cardinals who were with him, were, "Guard the Church I loved so well and sacredly." Pope Pius IX, please guard the Church and pray for us!

"The Central California Catholic Life" and pro-abortion zealot Nancy Pelosi

Commenter "Central Valley Catholic" has sent a tip that the Christmas 2006 issue of the Diocese of Fresno's Central California Catholic Life (click on this post's title) contains an article by Father James Rude, S.J., "Christians Have Ears and Hearts."

God bless Father Rude for being a priest and serving the likes of us. But he writes that the day after the election, he called pro-abortion zealot and Catholic politician Nancy Pelosi (he did not write the words "pro-abortion zealot," unfortunately) to congratulate her on becoming the first female Speaker of the House.

Father says he also wanted to warn Mrs. Pelosi to work to bring the two political parties together. He does not say he brought up God's precious unborn babies and their right to life in his phone call to the politically powerful Catholic abortion extremist.

Later in his article he mentions "the human dignity of every child of God," "the sacredness of life" and "'the Church's insistent teaching about the seamless garment of life,' its consistent pro-life ethic." But he brings them up right after mentioning the death penalty, and in any case he does not say he brought them up to the pro-abortion Mrs. Pelosi.

In the same issue, Steve Pehanich, executive director of Catholic Charities of California, has an article, "What Should We Ask of Our Elected Officials." He mentions "justice," but says nothing about preborn babies at all, or our duty to secure basic justice for them by saving their lives.

Two articles on page 9 of the issue are anti-abortion. One promotes the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco this coming January 20. The other is about good pro-life activities at St. Francis of Assisi School in Bakersfield.

Time for all of us to keep unborn babies on our horizon and in our prayers and good works -- and in any and every article we may write about politics, justice and so on.

New York Times today praises Cardinal Mahony

The long cover story by one David Rieff in today's Sunday New York Times Magazine (click on this post's title), entitled on the print edition's cover, "The Hispanicization of American Catholicism," and on the article's first page, "Nuevo Catholics," surveys socio-religious matters in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and spends a lot of time praising Cardinal Roger Mahony.

Articles do not just happen, so it is fair to wonder who engineered this one. Which politically and economically connected friends of the Cardinal helped get it written and published?

To give you an idea of the article's smarmy tone toward the Cardinal, at one point it calls him, "Tall, slender and economical of movement."

The article does contain some good information on some of the history and present state of Hispanics in the Archdiocese. But, as you might expect, it does not mention the many abortion businesses that prey on impoverished immigrant moms and kill their babies for money.

Nor does it mention the Cardinal's friendship with many Hispanic and other abortion-facilitating politicians, a friendship that directly harms the Hispanics whom the Cardinal is said to defend.

And the article does not mention Hispanics for Life, Los Angeles Pregancy Services (L.A.P.S.) and other pro-life groups who directly help Hispanic Catholics by saving their babies, helping poor families and promoting, explaining and defending everyone's God-given right to life.

The writer Rieff closes by asking whether "an increasingly conservative hierarchy, both in Rome and in" the USA, will let the U.S. Church stand "in solidarity with the poor."

That, Rieff says, would signal the U.S. Church's "rebirth, " instead of "a false dawn."

How can Rieff, and for that matter the Cardinal and all who do not make an all-out effort to fight abortion and pro-abortion politicians, claim they are "in solidarity with the poor" when they let abortionists attack poor people and when they encourage poor people to vote pro-abortion?

Archbishop Wuerl and Pro-Abortion Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi, the pro-abortion extremist from California who is slated to be Speaker of the House, plans to attend Mass on January 3 at Trinity College in Washington, D.C.

She is obviously doing this to advance her agenda, and that of all pro-abortion Catholic politicians, that you can be Catholic and receive Communion even if you enable and fund the dismembering-alive of tens of millions of God's precious babies.

Click on this post's title to see the press release of the American Life League about this looming scandal. If the U.S. bishops, specifically Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, let Mrs. Pelosi get away with this, they will be telling U.S. Catholics it is fine to vote pro-abortion in 2008.

They will also be demeaning the Eucharist, of course.

I asked once before whether Archbishop Wuerl and Cardinal Mahony were opposite-coast bookends; I should have specified at that time that I meant that largely about their treatment of pro-abortion Catholic politicians. Okay, if Archbishop Wuerl lets Mrs. Pelosi receive Communion on January 3, how will he not be an East Coast Roger Mahony in his treatment of pro-aborts?

"What say you, d'Artagnan?"

The Tridentine Mass

Good friend Kenneth Fisher reports that he hears the Holy Father's motu proprio of universal permission for the Tridentine Latin Mass, if it happens, will say no bishop may overrule it.

Let's hope this is so, and let's hope the indult does happen.

The illustration above is from the site of the Latin Mass Association (click on this post's title). For more information about the Tridentine Mass, you can visit: http://www.unavoce.org/

One practical problem with implementing the motu proprio would be how to train altar boys, and girl altar boys, in the new form and in the Latin. Do you have any ideas on how to achieve those goals. or do you know anyone who is already working on solutions?

"Venite, adoremus...venite ad Bethlehem."

$$ hemorrhage continues in Portland

A small item in the "National Briefing" section of today's New York Times says the Archdiocese of Portland will pay $75 million to settle "at least 170" claims of clergy sex abuse.

This is part of the Archdiocese's bankruptcy reorganization. Before the bankruptcy, says the item in the Times, the Archdiocese paid "more than $50 million to settle 130 claims."

It is worth recalling that Cardinal William Levada, now prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was Archbishop of Portland, 1986-1995. Let us hope and pray that he does better in his current office than the previous one.

Pro-life prayer pilgrimage, Pico-Union, this Sat., Dec. 23, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Make your Advent special! Please join our fellow pro-lifers in prayerful witness outside the abortion businesses in the Pico-Union area downtown this Saturday, Dec. 23, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. And please support wonderful, effective Los Angeles Pregnancy Services (LAPS).

In Commemoration of
The Feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ (Matt 1:18 -25)
The Feast of The Holy Innocents (Matt 2:13 -18)

Prayer Pilgrimage
Pico Union Circle of Death

SATURDAY
DECEMBER 23, 2006
10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Our PRAYER PILGRIMAGE will take us to a few of the
abortion clinics which surround
LOS ANGELES PREGNANCY SERVICES (LAPS),
the only pro-life crisis pregnancy center
near the impoverished Pico-Union area of Los Angeles.

We will pray for the spiritual and physical welfare of
the unborn, their parents, and all involved in the abortion industry.

PLEASE MEET AT LAPS AT 10am
(we plan to begin timely at 10:15am)

Los Angeles Pregnancy Services
2524 West 7th Street Los Angeles, CA 90057
Phone - (213) 382-5643
www.lapsforlife.org

Questions???
Please contact Olivia Carnegie
(323) 388-7944 or oliviacarnegie@yahoo.com

Is help really on the way for the Mass?

Have you seen the Catholic News Agency story of Dec. 15 (click on this post's title) that says "sources confirm" that a motu proprio to allow free celebration of the Tridentine Mass "will come soon?"

The story also says an apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist will come after January 15 and will:

affirm the celibate priesthood,
encourage Latin in the liturgy,
ask that seminarians learn Latin,
foster Gregorian chant and sacred polyphonic music.

But if these documents do not contain teeth, the chances that certain of our U.S. bishops will go along with them quickly and fully are, as Dizzy Dean, the old-time pitcher, would say, two: Slim and none.

Nevertheless, let us hope and pray that this news, which seems too good to be true, will come to pass. Amen!

Anti-Catholic Frisco funds public snake god sculpture

A front-page teaser heading in today's San Francisco Chronicle reads, "Aztec Snake God Lords It Over a Mission District Mini-Park."

What a typical headline for San Francisco.

The story itself (click on this post's title), in the newspaper's Home & Garden section, is headlined, "Garden Snake: A piece of the bigger picture." The 24th and York Street Mini-Park in San Francisco's Mission District now features a giant mosaic-covered concrete sculpture of the Aztec snake god Quetzalcoatl (a Nahuatl name meaning "quetzal bird-feathered serpent").

Quetzalcoatl was not one of the worst Aztec gods, but the trouble is, he was an Aztec god.

Photos show innocent little children climbing on the giant snake's 10-foot-long head.

This funding of a sculpture of a pagan deity in a city whose supervisors' track record includes the issuing of an extremely anti-Catholic diatribe-resolution (which federal district judge Marilyn Hall Patel just ruled constitutional) says a lot about the USA's descent into the demonic.

The Chronicle story says Frisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, escorted by mounted police, attended the dedication of the pagan sculpture "one Sunday last month."

Think Archbishop Niederauer, Cardinal Mahony and the rest of California's bishops will defend their flock by complaining about this blatant misuse of taxpayers' dollars? Or will they praise it as a manifestation of "diversity?"

"I Am the Lord, thy God; thou shalt not have false gods before Me."

Scripture and preborn babies

A commenter who perhaps likes to needle a bit claims that "abortion seems not to bother [Jesus] at all." The commenter also indicates that he does not think Catholics read the Bible.

For all of us, here is a link to a page with many links to articles about Scripture and abortion:
http://www.prolifeamerica.com/prolife-links/links.cfm?ID=7

Also for all of us, here is a link to an article by Father Frank Pavone, founder of the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life, and of Priests for Life, entitled, "The Bible's Teaching Against Abortion."
http://www.priestsforlife.org/brochures/thebible.html

By the way, the divinely inspired authors of the New Testament, and their translators, use the Greek word "brephos" and the Latin word "infans" for babies inside and outside the womb. They rightly see no difference between babies born and preborn.

We all ought to meditate on the Annunciation, and the wonderful interaction between preborn Baby Jesus and preborn Baby John the Baptist, and their mothers, Mary and Elizabeth.

Just the very fact that Jesus came to us as a preborn Baby ought to tell us something about what God thinks about the sanctity of life, the right to life and the evil of abortion.

What will it take for Tamberg to mention preborn babies?

The illustration above is from http://www.unbornjesus.com/index.htm

Another website about Baby Jesus is http://www.unbornwordalliance.com They have a great pro-life book with a great foreword by Dr. Ronda Chervin.

I'm supplying these pro-life urls because today's Los Angeles Times has an article (click on this post's title) about the phenomenon of patterns in objects of daily life that resemble holy images, and the Times spoke to Cardinal Mahony spokesman Tod Tamberg. This is the result, another typically smart-aleck, wiseguy attack on Catholics' piety:

"'The church encourages Christians to see the face of Christ in the homeless, the poor, the destitute and the immigrant — not in a plate of pasta,' said Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. 'Imagine showing up on your judgment day in front of God, and he says, "Where did you see me? Did you see me in the poor and the immigrant and the homeless?" And you say, "Well, no, but I did see you in a piece of chocolate once." Doesn't sound so good, does it?'"

Notice how Tamberg does not see Christ in anyone except those in his and the Cardinal's favorite political causes, and he does not mention, even in the middle of Advent, seeing Christ in all the abortion-targeted preborn babies whom his Archdiocese does little to save from death.

What will it take for Tamberg and the Cardinal and the clergy to truly champion God's precious preborn babies in a concentrated, effective way, one that makes a serious, life-saving difference, day in and day out, telling all Catholics they have to start acting anti-abortion?

One great thing they could do, if only they would, is invite the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life into the Archdiocese and order all clergy and all Catholic groups to cooperate fully with them. And no, I am not expecting any such action, just saying that is what should happen. It is not a complete impossibility, after all, or it should not be.

The real Nativity story

Guess we have all read about the movie, "The Nativity Story." I have not seen it, but what people say about it, that it misrepresents the Blessed Virgin Mary, sounds accurate and true.

Scripture makes it clear what God thought of Mary from all eternity. I will not cover all the bases here about that, but one or two points will do.

For one thing, no one else in Scripture does an angel, let alone an Archangel, address with such respect and such an exalted title. "Hail, Mary, full of grace!"

For another thing, others in Scripture who encounter an angel are terrified and awestruck, but we do not see that in Mary.

By the way, someone wrote that the movie does not have the Blessed Virgin Mary say the first part of the Magnificat. How on earth, and why on earth, could or would anyone leave that out, unless to try to diminish Mary's image in the minds of the viewers?

Also, it is clear from Catholic doctrine and tradition that Mary did not give birth to Jesus in pain, as the movie is said to portray.

What else do you think the movie got wrong?

What do you think the movie got right?

Have you heard a good homily about the Blessed Mother lately, and where?

Portland bankruptcy will spare parishes, schools

The Associated Press reported yesterday (click on this post's title) that U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan has announced that the Archdiocese of Portland will be able to settle all present and future sex abuse claims against it without needing to sell off churches and schools.

Hogan said insurance companies have agreed to pay more than $50 million.

This is all part of a bankruptcy plan that will see the Archdiocese reorganized to, among other things, have its parishes and schools distinct from the Archdiocese in the future.

Listen to this, from the AP article:

"'Most bishops are breathing a sigh of relief across the country,' said Chuck Zech, professor of economics at Villanova University, who has been following the case closely. 'If you had asked me this a month ago, I would have said there was probably no way to pull this off without selling some worship sites.'"

The article does not say what persuaded the insurance companies, or indeed anyone connected with the case, to go along with this form of settlement.

New charges ahead for Baker

Today's Los Angeles Times says L.A. prosecutors plan to file more molestation charges, in connection with a second victim, against former L.A. priest Michael S. Baker.

Baker was defrocked in 2000. He told Cardinal Mahony in 1986 about having molested, but the Cardinal only sent him away for "treatment," ordered him to have no contact with minors and then put him back in a succession of parishes, several of which had schools.

Baker case in the news again

The Los Angeles Times reports today (click on this post's title) that former priest Michael S. Baker was to be in court today for a hearing on a charge that he molested a boy.

Here are some quotes from the Times article:

"Mahony has acknowledged leaving 16 priests in the ministry after parishioners complained about inappropriate behavior with children. Baker is one of five who went on to molest.

"Baker's association with Mahony plus his return to court have fueled speculation about where the criminal investigation might be headed. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley accused the archdiocese of 'a pattern of obstruction' when his office and the church fought over whether the archdiocese officials had to turn over documents to prosecutors. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before Mahony, who maintained he could not turn over the priests' files to a county grand jury without their consent, lost his bid in April.

"The district attorney's office, which has had the files on Baker and another priest since then, declined to comment. Across the country, despite five years of investigations that have resulted in scores of priests being charged with molestation, no high church officials have been charged...

"The [C]hurch has formally and repeatedly admitted its errors in supervising Baker. The belief that Baker had reformed, and reliance on his word, was a 'terrible mistake,' according to the [C]hurch. The archdiocese acknowledged it was 'wrong' to transfer Baker without notifying his new parish of his past offenses."

I still do not see how anyone could think any admitted or convicted molester should ever continue in the priesthood.

Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Here is the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that the Queen of Heaven left for us on St. Juan Diego's tilma 475 years ago today, in 1531.

Click on this post's title to see an English translation of the Nican Mopohua ("Here it is told"), a contemporary account of Our Lady's visits, written in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs.

Surely Our Blessed Mother meant Her words to St. Juan Diego for us, too:

"Listen, place it in your heart, my littlest son, that what frightens you, afflicts you, disturbs your face, your heart, is nothing. Do not fear this illness, nor anything else which is painful or hurtful. Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and watch? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not in the fold of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you have need of anything else?" (Nican Mopohua, nn. 118-119)

Viva Nuestra Senora! Viva!

What Cardinal Arinze said about Latin and the Mass

Cardinal Francis Arinze addressed a liturgical conference in St. Louis last month (for a report, click on this post's title). Here is some of what he said about the Novus Ordo Mass in Latin:

"He called for parishes that have as many as 'five Masses' on weekends to offer one of them in Latin. Rural parishes should offer one Latin Mass a month, he added. He acknowledged that not everyone could be fluent in Latin but said people could learn some of the Mass prayers in Latin...

"Cardinal Arinze said Vatican II did not discourage the Church’s use of Latin in its liturgy. Pope John XXIII, who spearheaded that historic renewal of the Church, insisted on the continued use of Latin, and council members required through the document 'Sacrosanctum Concilium' that seminarians learn it.

"Current canon law (no. 928) states, 'The eucharistic celebration is to be carried out either in the Latin language or another language, provided the liturgical texts have been lawfully approved,' Cardinal Arinze noted."

We desperately need a universal indult from the Pope so every bishop and other superior will have to drop his opposition to the Tridentine Latin Mass. Every bishop, superior and pastor must stop suppressing the Mass of the Ages.

The liberals can say what they will, but you watch the Faith grow stronger, vocations increase, fallen-away Catholics return and the Church become Spirit-filled and on fire for personal holiness and the salvation of souls, once the Tridentine Latin Mass is back.

What do you think?

San Juan Diego, December 9

Click on this post's title to find a lot of up-to-date information on St. Juan Diego, whose feast day is today, December 9. It is in Espanol, but even if you do not read that language you can still get an idea of all the proofs there are for his existence, which are solid and plentiful.

St. Juan Diego, pray for us!

(Sorry that the holy card shown here gives Our Lady and Juan Diego a somewhat Europeanized appearance.)

Come to the Rosary at the Rose Bowl next May 19

Click on this post's title to read about the giant "Rosary Bowl" that Catholic Family Ministries and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will hold at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena next May 19.

50+ years ago, the Mary's Hours that Father Patrick Peyton's Family Rosary Crusade held at the Coliseum would draw 90-100,000 people. Maybe we can rekindle that great tradition.

But in the meantime, we should lobby the sponsoring groups and all our clergy and hierarchy to include Reparation in the themes for the event. Many liberals do not think in terms of reparation, but all of us should, naturally.

Save babies by going caroling!

Looking for a way to really give yourself to Christ this Advent?

One unforgettable way is to join with the local young pro-lifers (click on this post's title for information) who tomorrow, December 9, and also on December 19, are going to abortion mills to sing Christmas carols and to give women Christmas baskets filled with new baby items.

Every year, this event helps moms decide to keep their babies. One year, 11 moms did!

If you want to save the Holy Innocents from Herod's horsemen this Christmas, join these great pro-lifers or go caroling on your own outside your local abortion mill.

"Away in a manger, no crib for His bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head..."

Here is some information for tomorrow:

December 9th Meeting Time and Location

The Survivors will be meeting at 9:00 a.m. in the parking lot of the St.Vincent's Catholic Church at the corner of Figueroa and Adams in Los Angeles. From there, we will go to several clinics in the area.

Carpool from the Inland Empire

If you would like to carpool with Survivors, vans will be leaving from theCrestline/Lake Arrowhead area and Riverside. If you live in either area, and would like a ride, let Kortney know and plan to meet at one of the following locations:7:00 a.m. – departing from Goodwin's Market in Crestline (van will leavepromptly at 7) 7:30 a.m. – departing from the Survivors office in Riverside (contact Kortney for directions) -- blytheka05@montreatalum.org

Spanish Speakers needed!

Many of the women considering abortion in the Los Angeles area areSpanish-speaking, and we have a great need for carolers who can communicate with these women. This is our one opportunity every year to come face to face with women inside the abortion clinic, and we want tomake the most of it – by speaking in their language

Preborn babies don't seem to be on the Cardinal's mind

Only seconds after I noticed that Cardinal Mahony has an Advent reflection (click on this post's title) in this week's issue of The Tidings, for some reason the thought came to me, "He'll work illegal immigrants into this."

Sure enough, in the reflection, "How are we to see the Christ?," the Cardinal writes:

"...if we find a moment to pause and ponder, to 'be vigilant at all times,' we might hear that still inner voice that speaks of welcome; and see the face of another crying out in need. Can we be generous enough to leave our own 'comfort zone,' our safe place and attend to the God who lives in unexpected places, events and persons? In our own time and place it is here that Christ has come and is coming, waiting for our response in love. At this time in our history as a nation, in our here and now, Christ comes in the stranger, the alien, the immigrant."

If only the Cardinal would also say he sees Christ in all the preborn babies being led to death in the many abortion mills in his vast Archdiocese every day. Then he could ask of himself, and of us, what is our duty to leave our comfort zone and safe place and respond in love, as he has written -- but for the innocent babies and their often exploited moms.

The Immaculate Conception

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

Click on this post's title to see Pope Bl. Pius IX's apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus ("God Ineffable") of December 8, 1854, in which he declared infallibly:

"Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: 'We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.'

"Hence, if anyone shall dare—which God forbid!—to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law if he should dare to express in words or writing or by any other outward means the errors he thinks in his heart...

"Let all the children of the Catholic Church, who are so very dear to us, hear these words of ours. With a still more ardent zeal for piety, religion and love, let them continue to venerate, invoke and pray to the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, conceived without original sin. Let them fly with utter confidence to this most sweet Mother of mercy and grace in all dangers, difficulties, needs, doubts and fears

"Under her guidance, under her patronage, under her kindness and protection, nothing is to be feared; nothing is hopeless. Because, while bearing toward us a truly motherly affection and having in her care the work of our salvation, she is solicitous about the whole human race.

"And since she has been appointed by God to be the Queen of heaven and earth, and is exalted above all the choirs of angels and saints, and even stands at the right hand of her only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, she presents our petitions in a most efficacious manner. What she asks, she obtains. Her pleas can never be unheard.

Given at St. Peter's in Rome, the eighth day of December, 1854, in the eighth year of our pontificate."

Tidings columnist to address New Ways Ministry confab

As we know, Cardinal Roger Mahony's Archdiocesan newspaper The Tidings regularly runs the, um, not always edifying columns of Father Richard P. McBrien.

Guess what? Tidings columnist Father McBrien is to speak on "Ordination to the Priesthood and Gay Men" at "Outward Signs: Lesbian/Gay Catholics in a Sacramental Church," the Sixth National Symposium on Catholicism and Homosexuality, March 16-18, 2007, in Minneapolis.

You can click on this post's title to see the conference brochure in pdf.

Sponsoring this confab is the New Ways Ministry. The list of "endorsers" of the conference -- religious orders, groups and parishes -- is long.

The list of speakers includes many familiar names. Three members of the hierarchy, for starters: Archbishop Francis Hurley and Bishops Leroy Matthiesen and Joseph Sullivan.

Father McBrien, Sister Helen Prejean, Fran Ferder, Luke T. Johnson and Daniel Maguire are some of the other speakers.

So, the next time you see Father McBrien's column in Cardinal Mahony's Tidings, think of this conference and draw your own conclusions about the "validity" of Father McBrien's conclusions.

Vatican upholds CTA excommunications of 1996

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, has written Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, to say that his excommunication of Call to Action members in his diocese in March 1996 was "properly taken," reports CWNews.com

We might consider telling this news charitably to Call to Action members we know in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and to any clergy or laity who are sympathetic to them. We would do this charitably and for the good of their souls, not in an "I told you so" way, of course.

Another venerable Catholic Church sold to become mosque

In the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, in October, the 142-year-old St. Matthew Catholic Church in Indian Orchard was sold for $150,000 to the Turkish-American Islamic Society Inc., which plans "renovations" to turn the church into a mosque, reports the Catholic News Service.

The Diocese of Springfield closed St. Matthew Parish in 1998 and merged it with St. Aloysius Parish to form a new parish named St. Jude.

CNS quotes the pastor as saying, "The parish leadership is very thrilled that it will continue to be a house of worship....We at St. Jude's are going to take this opportunity to talk about the Islamic faith, to talk about Turkish culture and to use it as an example of our multicultural world. I think it's going to be very exciting."

I am not making any of this up, but I wish I was.

What are you doing next January 20?

Click on this post's title to visit the site of the Walk for Life West Coast -- maybe you've already visited there -- and find out how you can take part next January 20 in San Francisco.

Here is some news about the event:

"Join us for bus ride & fellowship to the San Francisco Walk For Life on January 20, 2007 to mark the anniversary of Roe vs Wade. A Luxury coach will depart from St. Bernardine in Woodland Hills Friday January 19 at 8:30 a.m. and be returning January 21st at 1:00 p.m. Cost for the bus is $85 per person. Hotel info avail. Space is extremely limited --we expect to fill up fast! Call Margot for details (818) 648-7740. "

Time to become a pro-life pilgrim and witness!

National Night of Prayer for Life, this Friday, Dec. 8

As we know, this Friday, December 8, is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and a holy day of obligation.

This Friday is also the 17th annual National Night of Prayer for Life. Various parishes in our Archdiocese and around the USA are taking part.

After the last Mass of the evening on December 8 and until early in the morning of December 9, which as you know is the Feast of San Juan Diego and the day of Our Lady of Guadalupe's first appearance to him, on the hill of Tepeyac, there is Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, as well as recitation of the Holy Rosary.

This event has a National Hour of Unity from 12 midnight to 1 a.m. ET, December 9.

The intentions of this prayer observance are atonement for all the babies aborted in this country and for an end to abortion.

Maybe you are already involved in your parish with planning this great pro-life prayer night. If not, you can phone your parish to see if they are taking part; and if they are not doing so, then you can phone your local pro-lifers to find a parish that is involved.

Bad fruit of the scandals

Today's Los Angeles Times has another story (click on this post's title) on the clergy sex abuse and hierarchy coverup scandals. Here is one paragraph:

"Lee Bashforth, who along with two brothers was abused by convicted priest Michael Edwin Wempe, said he believes the scandal has served another end: It has made people less trustful of institutions — especially the Catholic Church. 'If one thing has changed, it's that people don't believe what the [C]hurch tells them,' he said."

This is what the U.S. Church gets for not teaching authentic Catholic sexual morality, for foisting Kinsey-inspired sex miseducation on Catholic schools and for tolerating all the heretics in recent decades who deny or make light of that teaching. When will all this change, and how?

Cardinal to sell off Archdiocesan property?

Today's edition of the Los Angeles Times has an article (click on this post's title), "Scandal could force [C]hurch to sell property."

The article says, "A Times analysis has found that the archdiocese is the recorded owner of one of the biggest real estate portfolios in Southern California — at least 1,600 properties with an estimated value of about $4 billion. What the nation's most-populous Catholic jurisdiction might be willing to sell, however, is likely to feed an ongoing debate within the church over who controls parish property — the prelates governing the institution or the parishioners."

Some of the property is not churches and schools, fortunately. But what do you bet that, as in Boston and elsewhere, the Cardinal will close parishes, especially the ones with the most traditionally Catholic churches and the most traditonal parishioners?

The Times article also has an insightful quote from a valiant defender of the faithful:

"'The bishops say, "No, we don't own the parishes," when it comes to fending off a bankruptcy, but "Yes, we do own them," when they want to close them down,' said Charles Wilson, executive director of the St. Joseph Foundation, a conservative parishioners' rights group that has fought, largely unsuccessfully, 89 parish closures since the 1980s."

Presumably, many of the 1,600 Archdiocesan properties that the Times article mentions were willed or deeded to the Church by faithful Catholics who wanted the properties used to benefit their fellow Catholics in the years to come and to keep the Church in Los Angeles strong.

Those noble intentions do not exactly square with selling off the properties to make scandal payouts and, perhaps, to keep the Cardinal and his aides off the witness stand as well as free from facing the potential music, criminal and civil, over possible coverups and other derelictions.

Scandal payouts make news

The photo above of the Cathedral of St. Vibiana in 1880, from the USC libraries' archives, reminds us of the golden days of yesteryear in our Archdiocese.

In those days the Catholic priesthood instituted by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was unsullied by massive sex abuse and coverup scandals. All the hierarchy and clergy humbly and faithfully revered Holy Mother Church, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Church's Magisterium (teaching authority) and their Catholic flock, and never dreamed of mocking or casting doubt on the Holy Faith from the pulpit or in any big "education" sessions.

Not in those days did the hierarchy and clergy tell us of the "giftedness" of homosexuals and our "duty" to cater to them. Not in those days did the seminaries seek anyone other than straight men. Not in those days did Cardinals import "education" speakers who would publicly recommend homosexual books and "entertainment" to the faithful.

Not in those days, either, did the Archdiocese have to pay enormous sums to settle civil suits over sex abuse and coverup scandals.

The links below are to the stories on Cardinal Roger Mahony's announcement of $60 million in payouts over sex abuse and coverup civil suits that the Los Angeles Times has run today.

One of the stories quotes His Eminence as saying the Archdiocese might have to sell "some assets." We have to admit that in circumstances such as this in any other organization, the top man and his aides would resign or be forced out for obvious mismanagement.

Buy a copy of today's Times or go to these links:

"Church to settle with 45 accusers"
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-settlement2dec02,0,2025995.story?coll=la-home-headlines

"Settlement leaves largest questions unanswered"
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mahony2dec02,0,7680385.story?coll=la-home-headlines

"Hundreds of cases remain in litigation"
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-qa2dec02,0,2947774.story?coll=la-home-headlines

"She can't forgive Mahony's inaction"
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mary2dec02,0,139046.story?coll=la-home-headlines

P.S. By the way, it is true that not all of the cases in our Archdiocese involve homosexual perpetrators. But most of them do. Saying this is not by any means to diminish or neglect the suffering of any victims and their families, to whom our hearts go out, of course.

Cardinal Mahony to pay million$, cut "services and ministries"

If you want to know something of the sad, sad high spiritual and financial cost of letting homosexuals into seminaries and holy orders, brace yourself and listen to this.

Cardinal Roger Mahony, reports the Los Angeles Times (click on this post's title), said Friday morning, December 1, that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay $60 million to settle 45 of the 562 clergy sex abuse cases pending against it.

Here is the most salient part of the Times article:

"The settlement would be the first by the archdiocese and would represent 8% of the 562 cases brought by people who claimed the archdiocese failed to protect them from pedophile priests. The average award to each claimant — $1.3 million — would be among the highest of the major sex abuse settlements against the Catholic Church in the United States. Mahony said there will be 'more pain' as the rest of the claims are settled. 'We will be looking at some lessening of our services and ministries.'"

"More pain." "Lessening of our services and ministries." But the Church, in her calling of saving souls, is supposed to grow, not shrink!

$60 million for 8% of the claimants translates into $750 million for all of them -- $749,333,146, to be exact.

Soon we might be seeing bumper stickers around L.A. that say, "Honk if you've received a settlement from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles."

But, seriously: An indispensable way for Cardinal Mahony to begin "lessening services and ministries" is to sell the $200 million cathedral, and never to close and sell off ANY of our Archdiocese's beautiful traditional churches.