The Scandal
Though it is not the main mission of this site, it is time to say something about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, as the main purpose for this media campaign is not the protection of children, but the attempt to discredit the Church on moral issues, including especially life and family issues.
Unfortunately, many (most?) have left their reason behind and this has taken on the dimensions of a witch hunt, which I think is due to the implications of Romans 1. “Although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.” or as Mark Shea says, “sin makes you stupid.”
The media have driven people to the “frothing at the mouth” stage of the witch hunt by their continuous articles on matters which are 30+ years old, and many are all too happy to latch onto every (twisted, deceptive) word, as it discredits the Catholic Church, which tells them that their behavior is sinful.
This isn’t a huge surprise, as the Church is destined to walk the path of Jesus Christ…the Pharisees did not really care about the woman caught in adultery (much less the man). They only cared about tripping Jesus up and discrediting Him.
Similarly, the media does not really care about children (otherwise why don’t we see daily front page articles about sexual abuse in schools, or even abuse by Protestant ministers, which is much more widespread in the former case, and at least as widespread in the latter?), they only care about discrediting the Church.
Don’t misunderstand me! Any sexual abuse by a priest, and any cover-up (or worse, transferring the abuser to a location where he could abuse again) by a bishop is a horrible thing. Anyone who had anything to do with the abuse or with enabling abusers should be removed from their positions. The fact is, though, that sexual abuse (and even the enabling behavior) is not just a Catholic problem. It is a problem in EVERY sector in society. The Church is already ahead of most in cleaning itself up.
The campaign to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the mud is especially despicable. He has done more than anyone else to clean up the Catholic Church, and any impartial observer can see that, if they care enough to review the facts. The evidence against him is non-existent, and it’s a frightening fact that so many have easily absorbed the media’s lies (or at the very least, extreme twisting of the truth and deception).
There may be persecution ahead, folks, if people are this easily deceived. Pray, pray, pray!!
Mourning today; hope for tomorrow
Today is a day of mourning for all loving people across the United States of America. 37 years and over 50 million lives have been snuffed out in the womb, and that doesn’t even include contraception-induced early abortions.
Pray the Rosary today that God will end this scourge. National opinion on the abortion issue seems to be trending in the right direction, and even the Democrats, with full control of our government, has thus far been mostly thwarted in their attempts to expand access to abortion. I attribute this to the 130,000+ Rosaries that have been pledged here, and the many millions of Rosaries that have surely been said throughout our land for pro-life intentions in the last 15 months or so.
It is unclear how Roe v. Wade will be overturned at this point, but with God and with unceasing prayer, all things are possible. Please recruit others to join the Rosaries for Life cause, and watch for exciting news over the next few months about the expansion of our apostolate.
Prayer, our powerful weapon
My posts usually don’t include recommendations of other blogs, but there’s a relatively new one that I’ve found to be extremely inspiring and insightful called Conversion Diary. The author of the blog is Jennifer Fulwiler, who was a lifelong atheist up until a few years ago. She deserves to be read by a wide audience, not only for her own insights, but other inspiring articles that she passes on. Kudos, Jennifer, and please keep it up!
Here is something she recently wrote regarding prayer, which I suspect a lot of us can identify with. We don’t pray, or we pray halfheartedly, because we don’t really fully believe or understand the importance of our prayers, or we don’t believe that we are doing anything important enough to pray fervently for. Both ideas are so far off the mark.
I am convinced that the main reason our society and our world are going “down the drain” right now is a lack of prayer. Certainly, we don’t DO enough to evangelize, help the unborn, etc. but the graces to do these things and for them to bear fruit come through prayer. These foundational thoughts are the very bedrock of Rosaries For Life. A better world for us, our children, and our grandchildren will come about only through unceasing prayer.
In my next post, I will endeavor to explain why the Rosary, in particular, is such a mighty weapon of spiritual warfare.
Crunch Time to defeat Obamacare
Well, the latest is that the Senate version of Obamacare will be voted on this week or next by both the Senate and the House. If this is true, then the pro-life victory in the House which prohibited abortion coverage has been wiped out, and the version that will come to a final vote DOES contain coverage for abortion. Don’t be confused by claims that the bill is abortion-neutral or does not contain funding of abortion. The Senate bill, as currently stands, definitely DOES allow for abortions to be covered in the health care plan, and the most likely scenario is that the House will simply be voting on the Senate version without any chance to reinsert the pro-life Stupak amendment.
Public opinion is against this bill because of abortion, as well as other reasons. NOW is the time to make your voice heard to your Senators and Congressmen. For those of you that have Senators or Congressmen that will not be convinced by arguments about abortion (such as is the case with the Senators here in Minnesota), try using other reasons to make the case, such as the angle that the health care bill is a major expense at a time when our country can’t afford another money pit.
The best chance to defeat the bill is still in the House, so focus on your Congressmen, especially those of you who live in districts with more moderate Democrats who voted for the original Stupak amendment. Move your cursor over the Contact header on the main Rosaries for Life site to contact your Senators and Congressmen!
Don’t forget to fast and pray the Rosary for our nation in this critical time! If you have not already pledged your prayers, please do so!
Update: At US News and World Report, there is this informative report about the current abortion related issues in the health care bill.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and a great miracle
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, a great missionary saint to the U.S. whose presence graced many places in our country, including Seattle, New Orleans, New York, Chicago, and Denver. She was the first United States citizen to be canonized.
She crossed the Atlantic 25 times back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded many hospitals, and spent time in Central and South America as well. She cared deeply about immigrants and is now the Patron Saint of Immigrants.
She also performed a spectacular miracle after her death. A nurse/nun accidentally gave a newborn baby an incorrect dose of silver oxide in the eyes that burned the baby’s eyes out! The baby’s eyes and sight were miraculously recovered due to the intercession of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.
For more about this wonderful saint, go here, and for a detailed account of the miracle mentioned above (and others), I recommend the book, Nothing Short of A Miracle, by Patricia Treece.
Let’s ask this great saint to intercede strongly for our country, especially for moral and compassionate solutions to our immigration and health care issues!
Marian appearances at Akita
I haven’t posted for a while, because I didn’t want to detract from the importance of the health care post immediately below. PLEASE make sure to contact your representative to vote NO on the health care bill, especially if you live in the district of a moderate Democrat. Moderate Democrats will be the ones to determine the fate of the bill. The vote is scheduled to take place tomorrow.
Now on to the subject at hand… A little known apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was approved both by the local bishop and by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (then headed by Cardinal Ratzinger), took place in Akita, Japan in 1973. 1973, of course, was the year in which abortion was legalized in the United States, and also a time when abortion laws were liberalizing around the world.
A statue of Mary wept 101 times there, and Sister Agnes Sasagawa received some very serious messages. It is quite enlightening, as we consider the dangers of our times, that such frightening messages were approved by the Vatican. Please read this approved message (which occurred on October 13th, also the date of the last apparition at Fatima) and let it inspire you to greater prayer for our country, for the unborn and other lives at risk, and for the whole world:
If men do not repent and better themselves, the
Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will
be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never
seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great
part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither
priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so
desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will
remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son.
Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray
for the Pope, the bishops and priests.The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in
such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops
against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and
opposed by their confreres…churches and altars sacked; the
Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon
will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service
of the Lord.The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated
to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of
my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be
no longer pardon for them.Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still
to save you from the calamites which approach. Those who place
their confidence in me will be saved.
The Prayer to St. Michael
Most of us know the St. Michael prayer. If not, we really should. Our family makes a point to pray the prayer as part of our night prayers. Here is the prayer:
St. Michael the Archangel Defend us in the day of battle Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and Do Thou, oh prince of the Heavenly Host, by the Power of God Cast into Hell, Satan and all the evil spirits, Who prowl through the world, seeking the ruin of souls.
It is an important prayer of spiritual warfare, which is what we are all about at Rosaries For Life. Pope John Paul II recommended that the prayer be said by all Catholics, and the prayer was introduced by Leo XIII in the late 1800’s, who mandated that it be said after every Low Mass.
The origin of the prayer is said to have arisen from a vision Leo XIII had wherein he saw that the Devil told God he could destroy the Church if given 75 to 100 years of increased power. While this origin is uncertain and cannot be definitively verified, it is certain that from the time the prayer was instituted in 1886 until 1965 (when it was no longer said after Mass by all Catholics), evil was largely held in check within the Church and individual souls in general, though the evils of Naziism and Communism caused plenty of bloodshed and an unprecedented number of martyrs.
When this prayer ceased in 1965, literally all Hell broke loose across the world, and especially in the Church. A few short years after the Prayer to St. Michael ceased to be said, Pope Paul VI stated, “The smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God (the Church).” Instead of the actual words of Vatican II, we got the “spirit of Vatican II”. The moral level of Christians has plummeted, and the majority of Christians have lost any meaningful faith. For the last 40+ years, Catholics were hardly even taught their faith.
Let us pray the Prayer to St. Michael often, for the restoration of the Church and the “smoke of Satan” to clear.
A historic day
I had a post about the St. Michael prayer planned for today, but it will have to wait. A truly historic occurrence has taken place today, somewhat related to my previous post. Today Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican have set up a structure which will allow Anglicans desiring to come into unity with Rome to do so, while still maintaining important parts of their Anglican rites and traditions.
This very generous provision by Pope Benedict XVI is likely to serve as a model for further groups who are wishing to come into unity with Rome, including the Society of St. Pius X.
Today’s move will mean that hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions, of Anglicans will come across to Rome. There is a realistic possibility that the entire African branch of Anglicans, which comprises nearly half of the Anglican Church membership of 88 million, will convert.
This is the first step in what I predict will be a tide of Christians flowing into Rome over the next decades. As most Christian groups are tending to be more guided by the spirit of the age than the Holy Spirit, those who are still close to Christ and the historical beliefs of Christianity will, more and more, be drawn to the Catholic Church, the light shining on a hill that Jesus spoke of.
As they come in, these people will, in turn, renew the Church. Let us fervently pray that Christ’s words in John 17:20-21 will be fulfilled in our lifetimes.
Pray, Pray, Pray for Church Unity!
Relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches are better now than they have been at any time since the tragic split of 1054. Pope Benedict XVI and Orthodox leaders, especially Russian Orthodox leaders, are quite close. There is an important meeting taking place over the next week in Cyprus wherein 30 Catholic and 30 Orthodox theologians will meet to discuss issues that separate us.
As Pope John Paul II said “The Church needs to breathe with both lungs.” He was, of course, referring to East and West. Unity is still going to be difficult to achieve, and is by no means imminent, but for the first time, it appears to be possible.
Please pray hard for Church unity…as Christ said in his important prayer before the Last Supper,
I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17:20-21)
Reading that closely, one could infer that the world will not believe until all Christians are one again. Indeed, looking at the history of Christianity, the last millenium, at least from about 1300 on, has been a gradual move away from faith in Christ, as the Church became more divided and fragmented. While the Catholic Church sails on as Christ promised, we are not complete without our separated brothers and sisters.
One concrete way you can help is to remember to pray for the souls of all those separated brothers and sisters who are in Purgatory, especially those whose traditions do not believe in Purgatory. We can be assured, in a mystical way, that this aids the cause of Church unity.
Rosary/Divine Mercy fruits
I’d like to issue a call for folks to post fruits/answered prayers they’ve had through prayer, especially the Rosary and Divine Mercy. I think this would help us to be more faithful to prayer.
As the poet Tennyson said, ““More things are wrought through prayer than this world dreams of”.
Personally, we prayed the Fatima Life Novena along with many of you, and we added some personal intentions, some of which were answered beyond our belief. I also know that when Scott Hahn was on the road to Catholicism, he was quite skeptical of the Rosary, but decided to give it a try, and shot for the moon in asking for something he thought was impossible. Sure enough, his prayer was granted.
Our intentions may not always be granted according to our request (God, after all, knows better than we do), but it is certain that we will gain a measure of protection from evil for ourselves and those dear to us. When we ask according to God’s will (for example, for conversions and the end to abortion), we know that those prayers are heard and acted upon.
