So, did you hear that someone said that someone said that someone said that Pope Francis said that he thinks Cardinal Burke is to have his apartment and salary removed? The picture above is his apartment, up top, where he also has his offices, etc. I’ve been in many apartments of Cardinals. They’re all this size.
So, did you hear that someone said that someone said that someone said that Cardinal Burke said that he knows nothing about it? That’s still true as of this writing on November 30, 2023, as far as I know.
The Sacred Heart is everywhere. That’s the Cardinal’s chapel in Rome at least for some hours more.
The reaction of concern for any elderly cleric, faithful to Jesus, thrown out on the street is such that people immediately offer a garage in which to live, and some oatmeal to eat, and provide a table on which Holy Mass can be offered, all good, all sincere, for which one is supremely grateful when one is in need, but… ask yourself… what does this mean? What’s the big picture?
Is that cartoon above about the parents of Jorge Bergoglio decades ago in Argentina?
Here’s how it works: Inasmuch as it is true that there are no true atheists, it is just as true that the Church leads the world. The filthy elite get their marching orders for a persecution of the Church from wayward individuals in the Church. The world leaders watch these kind of (alleged) emotional tantrums of Church leaders, the brow beating, bullying, lack of due process, and then repeat the same, but this time with forced and violent taking of Church properties and the imprisonment of bishops and clergy alike, as has been happening right around the world, and much worse, say, in China.
Some leaders of the Church, right up to the top, say:
“Remove those believers who stop the fraternal progress of the world in which we make up the blah-blah-truth, in which we are gods!”
Some leaders of the world repeat all this verbatim, with some intensification:
“Kill those believers who stop the fraternal progress of the world in which we make up the dictatorial-truth, in which we are gods!”
For instance:
Pope Francis says that those who are pro-life (the “rabbits”), who love the Traditional Latin Mass, are enemies of the Church and the world and must be stopped at all costs as bad for the environment.
In these USA, the Department of Justice and the FBI have made it clear, all lockstep, that those who are pro-life, who love the Traditional Latin Mass, are domestic terrorists. And that, of course, gives the crazies all they need so as to go and shoot up parishioners in churches because, you know, the FBI said that they are enemy number one, terrorists, and are to be stopped like any terrorist is stopped, without due process, as soon as possible, at any cost, by any method.
By the way and just to say, I myself was in that apartment of Cardinal Burke. It has a nice view of the aqueduct used as an escape route from the Vatican to Castel Sant’Angelo. That aqueduct on that back street is lined with dumpsters all the way down. Not a nice view. Also, the apartment itself was furnished most simply, tasteful but spartan. He could move out with just a few hours notice.
Back to the big picture. This seemingly bitter, vindictive, tantrum of Pope Francis, in my opinion, is not a sign of degenerating emotional cognitive function. Rather, it seems to me to be just one more step of a calm calculation in a timeline that will bring a lifetime-desired-outcome of sundering the Church, destroying the Church, of making faithful Catholics seem to be apostate while the actual apostates remain in place. The idea is to make believers emotional about all of this, and then let the believers make for a general schism themselves. Manipulation. Don’t be manipulated. Pray for Pope Francis and his minions.
“They have the buildings, but we have the faith.” It seems the attribution and meaning of that exclamation are questioned. So I’ll just make it my own. Here’s what it means, you know, to me: “The apostates have the buildings, but we have the faith.”
Apostasy?
As soon as someone rejects that Sacred Revelation comes from God and opts instead for truth coming from an ongoing blah-blah synod, a Hegelian dialectic (which always descends into hellish violence), that is the very definition of apostasy, viz., standing entirely apart.
Listen up! It’s really easy NOT to by hypnotized by the brow-beating and bullying and the view of so many of one’s co-religionists falling into heresy, apostasy and schism. Staying with Jesus is as easy as letting Him, in His grace, draw us to Himself on Calvary, to the Cross, keeping us there in solidarity with Mary His Mother. It’s a matter not of being lucky or smart, but a matter of love, God’s love, God’s truth.
It’s all about being the littlest of children to enter the Kingdom of God.
“Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your Mother.”
Thank you, Thomas J. McKenna. This is triumph for the life of the Church. Blessings upon you. You time and talent and treasure… thank you.
Thank you, Raymond Cardinal Burke, for these your efforts to defend the Most Blessed Sacrament, back in the day when rebels were setting up the apostasy and mockery of Jesus we see rampant everywhere today.
Thank you, Julián Cardinal Herranz Casado, who way back in the day headed up the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.
Thank you, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who guided and protected Canon 915.
Just guessing at the timeline, but I think this is what happened back in the day:
A certain parish in Australia, a most filthy liberal rotten dark parish, most anti-Catholic, had perhaps the highest number of public unrepentant grave sinners receiving Holy Communion in the world. This maelstrom of evil sucked many into its vortex, utterly destroying deacons, priests, bishops and Cardinals who all had to have a hand in the ongoing evil. The higher ups surely tried to defend themselves in written blather vomited out to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Surely in response to “some authors” and similar situations, but very much those involved in whatever way with this particular parish, the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, CDF, ghost-wrote an interpretation of Canon 915 for the Pontifical Council of Legislative Texts.
On 24 June 2000, Cardinal Herranz signed and published what the CDF had written as an authentic interpretation of Canon 915, which is about denying Holy Communion to public, that is, notorious unrepentant grave sinners.
Who would’ve guessed, but not long afterwards yours truly was assigned to that parish. Canon 915 was put into effect and the shock waves of that nuclear explosion went around the world. 😎 The vindictive revenge against me was immediate and vicious, and threw me around the world into the depths of the caves of the library of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where, for the next years, the thesis defending the Immaculate Conception in Genesis 3:15 was penned. Jesus is so good. 😎
Not long after my removal from Down Under, the member Cardinals of the CDF congregated at the Feria quarta, that is, their regular Wednesday meeting, and were deciding on deleting Canon 915 from the Code of Canon Law. No surprise there. I’m sure there were unending phone calls from Australia that were frantic to make sure that our Lord would continue to be dishonored in the Most Blessed Sacrament. But there were two surprises: (1) The Cardinal members were reminded of that parish and what yours truly had done with Canon 915 and then of the subsequent revenge meted out to me. (2) They changed their minds and kept Canon 915 in the Code of Canon Law. 😎
I’m tempted to get a license plate for the Toyota which reads [CIC 915]. Is that bragging? Well, I suppose. That’s how weak I am. On the other hand, I do want to point out by way of experience to my fellow priests and bishops that our Lord does take care of those who are smacked down hard for His sake. Truly. Have no worries. Jesus is the Sovereign High Priest, the great King of the Heavens and the Earth.
And if there are those who, armed with this little volume penned by Cardinal Burke, deny Holy Communion to the powerful and public sinners of our day who seem to especially enjoy mocking our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, know that however much you are smacked down by your fellow priests and bishops, it is Jesus Christ who will support you. You honor Him. You protect Him. It is He who will introduce you to our Heavenly Father in Heaven, as His gift to our Heavenly Father.
For the sake of completeness, the authentic interpretation of Canon 915 is included here.
PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR LEGISLATIVE TEXTS – DECLARATION –
CONCERNING THE ADMISSION TO HOLY COMMUNION OF FAITHFUL WHO ARE DIVORCED AND REMARRIED
The Code of Canon Law establishes that “Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion” (can. 915). In recent years some authors have sustained, using a variety of arguments, that this canon would not be applicable to faithful who are divorced and remarried. It is acknowledged that paragraph 84 of the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris consortio, issued in 1981, had reiterated that prohibition in unequivocal terms and that it has been expressly reaffirmed many times, especially in paragraph 1650 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published in 1992, and in the Letter written in 1994 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Annus internationalis Familiae. That notwithstanding, the aforementioned authors offer various interpretations of the above-cited canon that exclude from its application the situation of those who are divorced and remarried. For example, since the text speaks of “grave sin”, it would be necessary to establish the presence of all the conditions required for the existence of mortal sin, including those which are subjective, necessitating a judgment of a type that a minister of Communion could not make ab externo; moreover, given that the text speaks of those who “obstinately” persist in that sin, it would be necessary to verify an attitude of defiance on the part of an individual who had received a legitimate warning from the Pastor. Given this alleged contrast between the discipline of the 1983 Code and the constant teachings of the Church in this area, this Pontifical Council, in agreement with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments declares the following:
The prohibition found in the cited canon, by its nature, is derived from divine law and transcends the domain of positive ecclesiastical laws: the latter cannot introduce legislative changes which would oppose the doctrine of the Church. The scriptural text on which the ecclesial tradition has always relied is that of St. Paul: “This means that whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins against the body and blood of the Lord. A man should examine himself first only then should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup. He who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks a judgment on himself.”
This text concerns in the first place the individual faithful and their moral conscience, a reality that is expressed as well by the Code in can. 916. But the unworthiness that comes from being in a state of sin also poses a serious juridical problem in the Church: indeed the canon of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches that is parallel to can. 915 CIC of the Latin Church makes reference to the term “unworthy”: “Those who are publicly unworthy are forbidden from receiving the Divine Eucharist” (can. 712). In effect, the reception of the Body of Christ when one is publicly unworthy constitutes an objective harm to the ecclesial communion: it is a behavior that affects the rights of the Church and of all the faithful to live in accord with the exigencies of that communion. In the concrete case of the admission to Holy Communion of faithful who are divorced and remarried, the scandal, understood as an action that prompts others towards wrongdoing, affects at the same time both the sacrament of the Eucharist and the indissolubility of marriage. That scandal exists even if such behavior, unfortunately, no longer arouses surprise: in fact it is precisely with respect to the deformation of the conscience that it becomes more necessary for Pastors to act, with as much patience as firmness, as a protection to the sanctity of the Sacraments and a defense of Christian morality, and for the correct formation of the faithful.
Any interpretation of can. 915 that would set itself against the canon’s substantial content, as declared uninterruptedly by the Magisterium and by the discipline of the Church throughout the centuries, is clearly misleading. One cannot confuse respect for the wording of the law (cfr. can. 17) with the improper use of the very same wording as an instrument for relativizing the precepts or emptying them of their substance.
The phrase “and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin” is clear and must be understood in a manner that does not distort its sense so as to render the norm inapplicable. The three required conditions are:
a) grave sin, understood objectively, being that the minister of Communion would not be able to judge from subjective imputability;
b) obstinate persistence, which means the existence of an objective situation of sin that endures in time and which the will of the individual member of the faithful does not bring to an end, no other requirements (attitude of defiance, prior warning, etc.) being necessary to establish the fundamental gravity of the situation in the Church.
c) the manifest character of the situation of grave habitual sin.
Those faithful who are divorced and remarried would not be considered to be within the situation of serious habitual sin who would not be able, for serious motives – such as, for example, the upbringing of the children – “to satisfy the obligation of separation, assuming the task of living in full continence, that is, abstaining from the acts proper to spouses” (Familiaris consortio, n. 84), and who on the basis of that intention have received the sacrament of Penance. Given that the fact that these faithful are not living more uxorio is per se occult, while their condition as persons who are divorced and remarried is per se manifest, they will be able to receive Eucharistic Communion only remoto scandalo.
Naturally, pastoral prudence would strongly suggest the avoidance of instances of public denial of Holy Communion. Pastors must strive to explain to the concerned faithful the true ecclesial sense of the norm, in such a way that they would be able to understand it or at least respect it. In those situations, however, in which these precautionary measures have not had their effect or in which they were not possible, the minister of Communion must refuse to distribute it to those who are publicly unworthy. They are to do this with extreme charity, and are to look for the opportune moment to explain the reasons that required the refusal. They must, however, do this with firmness, conscious of the value that such signs of strength have for the good of the Church and of souls.
The discernment of cases in which the faithful who find themselves in the described condition are to be excluded from Eucharistic Communion is the responsibility of the Priest who is responsible for the community. They are to give precise instructions to the deacon or to any extraordinary minister regarding the mode of acting in concrete situations.
Bearing in mind the nature of the above-cited norm (cfr. n. 1), no ecclesiastical authority may dispense the minister of Holy Communion from this obligation in any case, nor may he emanate directives that contradict it.
The Church reaffirms her maternal solicitude for the faithful who find themselves in this or other analogous situations that impede them from being admitted to the Eucharistic table. What is presented in this Declaration is not in contradiction with the great desire to encourage the participation of these children in the life of the Church, in the many forms compatible with their situation that are already possible for them. Moreover, the obligation of reiterating this impossibility of admission to the Eucharist is required for genuine pastoral care and for an authentic concern for the well-being of these faithful and of the whole Church, being that it indicates the conditions necessary for the fullness of that conversion to which all are always invited by the Lord, particularly during this Holy Year of the Great Jubilee.
Vatican City, June 24, 2000. Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Julián Herranz Titular Archbishop of Vertara President
Bruno Bertagna Titular Bishop of Drivasto Secretary
By the way, and just to say, since this little volume was sent out to every single priest and bishop in these USA…
My comment: I wrote to my superiors in the Holy See recently about the conditions of why I’m un-jabbed and whether because of that circumstance I would be refused entry into Vatican City for the upcoming meeting of the Missionaries of Mercy. The reply made it extremely clear that my entry would be nigh impossible and probably impossible and that I should use extreme prudence in deciding whether I should even try to attempt to make an attempt to go. Whatever. I’ll wait until next time, if there is such.
Kicking Cardinal Burke in the teeth was a bit more severe. After all, he’s a prince of the Church. I’m hardly a serf. By the time he showed up the other day at the entrance to the Congregation for Saints Italy had already dropped its most draconian restrictions, but the Vatican insisted on singling him out for especially terrible treatment. Meanwhile, un-jabbed and having had covid, he’s got the best anti-bodies in the world, a zillion times better than the jabbed. The jabbed get covid more easily and spread covid more easily. This isn’t about covid. This is about raw power cut off from justice for the sake of raw power. Non-compliance must be punished. Yep. “Stop being pro-life, Cardinal Burke! Stop keeping the commandments! Stop loving the Lord God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength!“
I’m so happy I am not on a plane right now to go the Missionaries of Mercy meeting taking place this Divine Mercy Weekend. I would have been turned away, not by Italy, but by the Vatican. There’s no justice nor mercy for the unborn or the born who protect the unborn.
Cardinal Burke was on his way to the Congregation for Saints. That’s interesting. If that involves the cause of someone for beatification or sainthood you gotta know that that person just became a super-patron-saint of the good Cardinal. I love that. :-)
But that’s just the Richmond diocesan newspaper running that cartoon. Meanwhile, Pope Francis just now condescendingly made fun of Cardinal Burke, who had a particularly bad bout with the CCP-Fauci virus. I also came down with Covid recently and a priest who gotten the vaccine numerous times poked fun of me, anti-vaxer that I am.
What this tells me is that vaxers hate themselves and everyone else.
Meanwhile, the vaxers have become super-spreaders and those who had Covid with no vaccine are now the most protected: they can’t get it any more and they can’t give it to others at all.
Only in America would some kid think that wearing a dog collar would be privilege.
For those keyboard warriors wanting to tell me that that was merely humor, well, what I responded with is humor on top of the humor! Lighten up!
On a more serious note, there are those who can treat clergy as the scum of the earth, expendable for the sake of protecting their own little protected worlds. It is impossible, they think, that anything bad happens, ever.
I guess they also think that Saint Paul is a fool:
“We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer gently. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. (1 Corinthians 4:12-13)
Paul waxes nostalgic about his time with the Lord Jesus…
“…in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers, in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief? (2 Corinthians 11:24-28)
Saint Paul calls himself not merely a fool, but a fool for Christ’s sake. I know plenty of priests who would think that Paul is a fool for not being a man of consensus, that he foolishly brought all that upon himself. The real fools never once think about witnessing for Christ’s sake, that risking all for Jesus is impossible, and that anyone who does that is a fool. I see it, actually, all the time, especially when there is danger from false brethren. NO! they shriek. You’re just a fool.
Let’s turn to a post of yore about coats of arms. In that post, Cardinal Burke’s article on the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI is cited at length, emphasizing the joys of being a total jackass.
Recall that Saint Corbinian’s bear on the coat of arms of Benedict XVI was actually a donkey, that is, fulfilling the role of the donkey after he killed the donkey. Benedict called himself that “donkey”. No, really. A Pope who is a jackass. Luther, with great malice, called the Pope of the time a jackass. Benedict is from Germany. Anyway, see the outrageously wonderful 2005 article of Archbishop Raymond Burke about the newly elected Pope Donkey, Benedict XVI. And then, to those of you who are fuming mad and flinging the rest of us into hell in all the mortal sin you suppose I and Ratzinger and Burke are in for speaking of the papacy being filled with the likes of a jackass, to you I say, lighten up. Have some Christian mirth. Some irony. Rejoice! The Lord is good and kind. Again, I will say it: Rejoice! My coat of arms, breaking all the rules of heraldry, as any donkey might do, so far:
This recalls the Discalced Carmelite coat of arms:
I think Tom Clancy wrote on the etiquette of sword ceremonial. What is the military symbolism of the sword held high as with Elijah or with Saint Michael atop Castel Sant’Angelo who is sheathing his sword? What of ceremonial stuff, like the the sword being held straight up or pointed upward or straight down or pointed downward? Anyone?
Benedict XVI was Pope. Cardinal Burke could well be Pope soon. I’ll never be, but I’m happy to have a donkey on my coat of arms anyway! Just in case that article by Cardinal Burke disappears, I include the bit towards the end commenting on Pope Benedict XVI as being a Jackass:
[…] In his memoirs published in 1997, then-Cardinal Ratzinger commented on his life as a bishop, reflecting upon the image of the bear of St. Corbinian, founding bishop of Freising, the ancient see which is now the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, to which Cardinal Ratzinger was called to serve as archbishop. He relates the story to a meditation of St. Augustine on the text of verses 22 and 23 of Psalm 73 (72). St. Corbinian’s bear:
As the story goes, St. Corbinian was on his way to Rome when a bear attacked and killed his pack animal, his donkey. St. Corbinian rebuked the bear and placed the load of the donkey upon his back to carry to Rome. The story of the bear of St. Corbinian reminded the cardinal of St. Augustine’s meditation on the verses of Psalm 73 which he translates thusly: “A draft animal am I before you, for you, and this is precisely how I abide with you” (Psalm 73:22-23; Joseph Ratzinger, Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, page 155). The cardinal, like St. Augustine, had chosen the life of a scholar, but God called him to take up the burdens of the episcopal office, eventually serving the Holy Father as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He comments on the frustrations which St. Augustine experienced in dealing with the many practical concerns of a pastor of souls, when he had in mind to carry out great intellectual and spiritual works. The text of the psalm reminded the saint and reminded Cardinal Ratzinger that God chose to keep them close to Him by having them serve as His “draft animals,” carrying out the humble tasks of the pastoral office, rather than the exalted service which they had in mind for themselves. Relating the meditation of St. Augustine to the story of St. Corbinian’s bear, Cardinal Ratzinger comments: “Just as the draft animal is closest to the farmer, doing his work for him, so is Augustine closest to God precisely through such humble service, completely within God’s hand, completely His instrument.He could not be closer to his Lord or be more important to Him. The laden bear that took the place of St. Corbinian’s horse, or rather donkey — the bear that became his donkey against its will: Is this not an image of what I should do and of what I am?”A beast of burden have I become for you, and this is just the way for me to remain wholly yours and always abide with you” (Milestones, pages 156-157). Tonight, we thank God for Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who has found his happiness in serving as Christ’s “donkey,” His “draft animal,” who has given his entire self to working humbly and steadfastly with Christ in the vineyard of the Father. When we see the image of the bear of St. Corbinian on his coat-of-arms, may we be reminded of how he has given and gives his life in service to Christ and His Church. Assisting our Holy Father with his burdens Conscious of the many and heavy burdens which our Holy Father carries, with Christ, for us, let us assist him, offering him the joy of our faithful prayers, loyal affection and unfailing obedience. Our Holy Father, in continuity with the teaching and direction of his much beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II, has already given us an indication of his desires for our growth in holiness of life.In his first address to the College of Cardinals on the day after his election, Pope Benedict XVI stated that the Holy Eucharist “cannot but be the permanent center and the source of the petrine service entrusted to [him]” (Benedict XVI, a pope of Christ, communion, collegiality, Vatican Information Service, April 20, 2005, page 2). Reflecting upon Divine Providence, which called him to the office of St. Peter during the Year of the Eucharist, he has asked that the Solemnity of Corpus Christi “be celebrated in a particularly special way.”He reminded us that the celebration of World Youth Day in Cologne in August will center on the Holy Eucharist, and that the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held this coming October, will devote itself to the theme: “The Eucharist, Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church.”He concluded with a solemn request addressed to us all: “I ask everyone to intensify in coming months love and devotion to the Eucharistic Jesus and to express in a courageous and clear way the real presence of the Lord, above all through the solemnity and the correctness of the celebrations” (Benedict XVI, a pope of Christ, communion, collegiality, Vatican Information Service, April 20, 2005, page 3). As we thank God tonight for the gift of Pope Benedict XVI, let us help him shoulder his heavy burdens by deepening and strengthening our knowledge and love of the Holy Eucharist, above all by the piety with which we participate in Holy Mass, and adore and worship the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass. As we are now united sacramentally to the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, let us lift up to His glorious and open Heart the intentions of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. Placing our Holy Father and his intentions into the all-merciful and all-loving Heart of Jesus, we trust that no grace will be lacking to our Holy Father as he pours out his life, with Christ, as Christ’s “donkey”for our salvation and the salvation of our world. We ask the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, and the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul to pray with us for our Holy Father: “The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies” (Enchiridion of Indulgences, June 29, 1968, no. 39). Conclusion I hope that the text of my homily has helped you in some way to understand the office of St. Peter and the deep trust in Divine Providence with which Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the office from our Lord.He is the humble worker in the vineyard, Christ’s “draft animal” who seeks only to do God’s will. Let us continue to assist our Holy Father by our daily prayers.I ask especially that you remember the intentions of our Holy Father when you pray the rosary. […]
And… and… if Chesterton still has anything to say about it, behold:
When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born;
With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour; One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears, And palms before my feet.
“obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
Cardinal Burke commented on ongoing past controversy about all this, recounting that:
“The discussion among the Bishops uncovered a fair amount of serious confusion regarding the discipline of can. 915. First of all, the denial of Holy Communion was repeatedly characterized as the imposition of a canonical penalty, when, in reality, it plainly articulates the responsibility of the minister of Holy Communion, ordinary or extraordinary, to deny Holy Communion to those who obstinately persevere in manifest grave sin.
Scenario: Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion is to flat out deny admission of Holy Communion right in front of God and the whole church even though he/she or his/her pastor has not had any ongoing dialogue with said Joey Biden.
The point is that Joey Biden’s sin is a sin, it is grave, is it manifest (public and unmistakable) and from which he has not publicly repented, and therefore he is to be flat out denied, turned away, even forthwith escorted from the church by security if he disrupts the religious service, a crime, I think, pretty much everywhere in these USA.
However, the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has the pretense of rejecting the universal law of the Church, which follows upon Divine Revelation, as we read in Saint Paul that those receiving the Eucharist without discerning the Body and Blood of Christ are eating and drinking their own condemnation. I should think that the Cardinal Prefect has better think again before he seemingly calls the Holy Spirit a damned fool.
The Cardinal Prefect “requires that dialogue occurs in two stages: first among the bishops themselves, and then between bishops and Catholic pro-choice politicians within their jurisdictions.” Meanwhile, I’m thinking about the priest or deacon or other who must deny Joey Biden on the spot, and not wait during Communion time for such two-stage dialogues to occur. Sigh.
The Cardinal Prefect wants the bishops to be unanimous. When’s the last time any bishops in the history of the church were unanimous about anything? The answer is never.
The Cardinal Prefect wants this to apply not only to politicians, but to everyone. Great idea! But then he adds all moral issues into the mix using the heretical “seamless garment” idiocy that holds abortion and moving violations as equivalent. In other words, no one receives Holy Communion ever, and we cannot tolerate that, so everyone all the time no matter what can receive Holy Communion.,
Since the Cardinal Prefect insists on unanimity, and since Cardinal Wilton Gregory has mandated that the unrepented Biden is to be given Holy Communion at churches in the archdiocese of Washington D.C., the “dialogue” is over, and everyone everywhere no matter what is to be given Holy Communion, you, Pachamama Satanists…. everyone!
No.
This is one priest who will simply follow Saint Paul and Canon 915. I would rather die than give unrepented Joey Biden Holy Communion. I won’t.
But don’t think I’m angry and cold hearted and unmerciful. I’m totally lighthearted in being able to deny Joey Biden Holy Communion. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing as a priest. I’m helping Joey Biden to repent and get to heaven. I’m taking his soul seriously. So is that priest in South Carolina who denied Joey Biden Communion. There are many. And the number is growing.
The Cardinal Prefect and his sycophant bishops literally don’t give a damn about Joey Biden’s soul, do they? They speak only of division in politics. The priests who deny Joey Biden Holy Communion want Joey Biden in heaven, you know, all things being right with his conversion and such.
And, yes. Denial will have political implications if Joey Biden is turned away. Rightly so. And it will have implications for the better among Catholics as believers as well.
Jesus said that He did not come to bring peace, but the sword of the Word, the Father’s Living Truth, in which we rejoice. Amen.
Recall that Saint Corbinian’s bear on the coat of arms of Benedict XVI was actually a donkey, that is, fulfilling the role of the donkey after he killed the donkey. Benedict called himself that “donkey”. No, really. A Pope who is a jackass. Luther, with great malice, called the Pope of the time a jackass. Benedict is from Germany. Anyway, see the outrageously wonderful 2005 article of Archbishop Raymond Burke about the newly elected Pope Donkey, Benedict XVI. And then, to those of you who are fuming mad and flinging the rest of us into hell in all the mortal sin you suppose I and Ratzinger and Burke are in for speaking of the papacy being filled with the likes of a jackass, to you I say, lighten up. Have some Christian mirth. Some irony. Rejoice! The Lord is good and kind. Again, I will say it: Rejoice! My coat of arms, breaking all the rules of heraldry, as any donkey might do, so far:
This recalls the Discalced Carmelite coat of arms:
I think Tom Clancy wrote on the etiquette of sword ceremonial. What is the military symbolism of the sword held high as with Elijah or with Saint Michael atop Castel Sant’Angelo who is sheathing his sword? What of ceremonial stuff, like the the sword being held straight up or pointed upward or straight down or pointed downward? Anyone?
Benedict XVI was Pope. Cardinal Burke could well be Pope soon. I’ll never be, but I’m happy to have a donkey on my coat of arms anyway! Just in case that article by Cardinal Burke disappears, I include the bit towards the end commenting on Pope Benedict XVI as being a Jackass:
[…] In his memoirs published in 1997, then-Cardinal Ratzinger commented on his life as a bishop, reflecting upon the image of the bear of St. Corbinian, founding bishop of Freising, the ancient see which is now the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, to which Cardinal Ratzinger was called to serve as archbishop. He relates the story to a meditation of St. Augustine on the text of verses 22 and 23 of Psalm 73 (72). St. Corbinian’s bear:
As the story goes, St. Corbinian was on his way to Rome when a bear attacked and killed his pack animal, his donkey. St. Corbinian rebuked the bear and placed the load of the donkey upon his back to carry to Rome. The story of the bear of St. Corbinian reminded the cardinal of St. Augustine’s meditation on the verses of Psalm 73 which he translates thusly: “A draft animal am I before you, for you, and this is precisely how I abide with you” (Psalm 73:22-23; Joseph Ratzinger, Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, page 155). The cardinal, like St. Augustine, had chosen the life of a scholar, but God called him to take up the burdens of the episcopal office, eventually serving the Holy Father as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He comments on the frustrations which St. Augustine experienced in dealing with the many practical concerns of a pastor of souls, when he had in mind to carry out great intellectual and spiritual works. The text of the psalm reminded the saint and reminded Cardinal Ratzinger that God chose to keep them close to Him by having them serve as His “draft animals,” carrying out the humble tasks of the pastoral office, rather than the exalted service which they had in mind for themselves. Relating the meditation of St. Augustine to the story of St. Corbinian’s bear, Cardinal Ratzinger comments: “Just as the draft animal is closest to the farmer, doing his work for him, so is Augustine closest to God precisely through such humble service, completely within God’s hand, completely His instrument.He could not be closer to his Lord or be more important to Him. The laden bear that took the place of St. Corbinian’s horse, or rather donkey — the bear that became his donkey against its will: Is this not an image of what I should do and of what I am?”A beast of burden have I become for you, and this is just the way for me to remain wholly yours and always abide with you” (Milestones, pages 156-157). Tonight, we thank God for Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who has found his happiness in serving as Christ’s “donkey,” His “draft animal,” who has given his entire self to working humbly and steadfastly with Christ in the vineyard of the Father. When we see the image of the bear of St. Corbinian on his coat-of-arms, may we be reminded of how he has given and gives his life in service to Christ and His Church. Assisting our Holy Father with his burdens Conscious of the many and heavy burdens which our Holy Father carries, with Christ, for us, let us assist him, offering him the joy of our faithful prayers, loyal affection and unfailing obedience. Our Holy Father, in continuity with the teaching and direction of his much beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II, has already given us an indication of his desires for our growth in holiness of life.In his first address to the College of Cardinals on the day after his election, Pope Benedict XVI stated that the Holy Eucharist “cannot but be the permanent center and the source of the petrine service entrusted to [him]” (Benedict XVI, a pope of Christ, communion, collegiality, Vatican Information Service, April 20, 2005, page 2). Reflecting upon Divine Providence, which called him to the office of St. Peter during the Year of the Eucharist, he has asked that the Solemnity of Corpus Christi “be celebrated in a particularly special way.”He reminded us that the celebration of World Youth Day in Cologne in August will center on the Holy Eucharist, and that the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held this coming October, will devote itself to the theme: “The Eucharist, Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church.”He concluded with a solemn request addressed to us all: “I ask everyone to intensify in coming months love and devotion to the Eucharistic Jesus and to express in a courageous and clear way the real presence of the Lord, above all through the solemnity and the correctness of the celebrations” (Benedict XVI, a pope of Christ, communion, collegiality, Vatican Information Service, April 20, 2005, page 3). As we thank God tonight for the gift of Pope Benedict XVI, let us help him shoulder his heavy burdens by deepening and strengthening our knowledge and love of the Holy Eucharist, above all by the piety with which we participate in Holy Mass, and adore and worship the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass. As we are now united sacramentally to the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, let us lift up to His glorious and open Heart the intentions of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. Placing our Holy Father and his intentions into the all-merciful and all-loving Heart of Jesus, we trust that no grace will be lacking to our Holy Father as he pours out his life, with Christ, as Christ’s “donkey”for our salvation and the salvation of our world. We ask the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, and the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul to pray with us for our Holy Father: “The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies” (Enchiridion of Indulgences, June 29, 1968, no. 39). Conclusion I hope that the text of my homily has helped you in some way to understand the office of St. Peter and the deep trust in Divine Providence with which Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the office from our Lord.He is the humble worker in the vineyard, Christ’s “draft animal” who seeks only to do God’s will. Let us continue to assist our Holy Father by our daily prayers.I ask especially that you remember the intentions of our Holy Father when you pray the rosary. […]
Sacrifice of the Mass I helped to set up as best I could for the soon to be Cardinal Burke when I was a “permanent” chaplain over in Lourdes, France, including being the Traditional Mass Chaplain (for which I suffered really a great deal, not to brag, but just saying how things were and still can be, but that it’s all worth it, of course).
My Internet Stalker guy, who berates me for being young (younger than him!) and having no memories of anything pre-Vatican II (so he thinks), apparently knows nothing about me, or, if he knew it, would hate me all the more for it I’m guessing. He should read these two posts which I published relatively long ago as far as social media goes. And yet I hope that I think he will be inspired by them. Perhaps he will remember good things of his own childhood days and not be so dismissive of Jesus, the Church and priests. Perhaps he will have some hope.
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 