America's Father James Martin SJ calls for Penance

The heretical editor of America Magazine is calling for penance. No, really, he advocates centering prayer. Isn't his interest in revivifying penance a lot like a cat burglar calling for stiffer penalties for breaking and entering? If we had stricter penance, we'd also have stricter disciplinary norms for dissident Jesuits as well. But this isn't something Pope Benedict just started talking about last week, it's part of an extensive consideration that the man has had throughout his Career as a Cardinal and as Pope.

If Jesuits hadn't collectively been working against the notion of penance, and sin as a real and pervasive evil whose author is a real angelic person i.e., the Devil, perhaps it wouldn't have to be as much of a point of discussion. The Irish Bishops were prepared to make a penitential act this Lent.

If real penance is called for, perhaps it should start with the Jesuits willingly offering a joint resignation in the dissolution of their Order, or at least make an admission that you and your bretheren were a big part of the problem.

One of the many deeply disturbing aspects of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has been the lack of discussion about penance. While public apologies from bishops who protected abusive priests are becoming more common, doing penance to atone for individual sins is still too rare.[No thanks to Jesuits like yourself who deny scriptural inerrancy and infallibility] This is even more confounding given that when confronting sin, the church has as an obvious model as a resource: the sacrament of reconciliation -- known by most people as "confession."

Every Catholic knows that forgiveness in the confessional demands penance. Reconciliation in the church requires the same thing.

This is why Pope Benedict XVI's remarks last week might be an important starting point. "[W]e Christians, even in recent times," he said, "have often avoided the word 'penance,' which seemed too harsh to us. Now [...] we see that being able to do penance is a grace and we see how it is necessary to do penance, that is, to recognize what is mistaken in our life, to open oneself to forgiveness, to prepare oneself for forgiveness, to allow oneself to be transformed. The pain of penance, that is to say of purification and of transformation, this pain is grace, because it is renewal, and it is the work of Divine Mercy."

Link to original...

German Bishop Performs Penance

Like Father Z, we've been suggesting penance for the Bishops for a long time too. We just belatedly stumble across his post in another forum. Even Cardinal Meisner has been urging greater Penance on the part of priests.  Remember when the Irish Bishops were supposed to make some sort of Lenten Penance for this issue of abuse.  It would be nice to see them do penance for their other crimes, like Archbishop Diarmuid Martin showboating, making ambiguous statements about homosexuals and pretending to be a problem solver?  Anyhow, we digress, thanks to Father Z for posting this.  We might also point out that the idea of Penance is sorely lacking amongst the laity as well.  Indeed, we didn't call Penance the "Sacrament of Reconciliation" back in the day, we called it "going to penance" for which you received penances from the Priest, however small, however great.


Haven't seen the transcript, but the reporter talks about the "structural sin".  There is no such thing.  Sins are always personal in nature.  Institutions may be capable of creating Hell on earth, but they don't go to Hell, people do.  Here's Bishop Bode performing penance:



Just as a small point, the commentators of the ancient and true Douay-Rheims version of the Bible, refer to the protestant mistranslation of metanoia as "repent".  As the English Fathers point out, it's supposed to be "do penance". 

It's a clever way of making us forget that we ought to make use of the priestly office and do penance this advent for our sins for which we deserve death?

Fasting During Lent!

What are the current rules for fasting and abstinence? How do I observe the traditional rules?  Both the current legislation and the traditional practices are given below:

Why do we make Penance?

“Unless you do penance, you shall likewise perish.” (Lk. 13:5)

Because we are sinners, justice requires each of us to make recompense to God for the honor we have denied Him by our sins. Because we have misused our goods, our souls and bodies—as well as those of others—the natural law requires us to strive to restore the order we have disturbed by our sins. Thus, the natural law and the Divine Law bind us in a general way to perform acts of penance. In order to help us fulfill this requirement, Holy Mother Church, knowing our weakness and laziness, binds us under ecclesiastical laws to perform works of penance at certain times.

Penance is also useful to obtain better control over our wounded nature. One may refrain himself from a legitimate satisfaction (food, sleep, entertainment, etc.) in order to oblige the body and the passions to obey the direction of the soul. Doing penance, making sacrifices are part of a needed ascetical practice to reform of our inner disorder, the heritage of the original sin. Practiced with the grace of God and prudence (conferring with one’s confessor), it becomes a great means of salvation.

Penance can also be a prayer, a sacrifice of a legitimate good, given to God as a way to recognize His power, to beg for a grace or to manifest one’s love by imitating and being united to Our Lord’s Passion.

https://sspx.org/en/fast-abstinence-rules

AMDG

Cardinal Pell Joins the Chorus of Apologizers: Do Penance!

When saying you're sorry just isn't enough, you get the impression that there hasn't been a tangible amends or reparation. That's why for centuries, Holy Mother the Church has employed Penance. The Irish Bishops said they were going to engage in some serious penance during Lent this year. Haven't heard anything about that.

Penance should be painful, especially for Bishops who've fallen down in their responsibilities as Cardinal Pell has. Check out the scene of the King of England being whipped in public as penance for his wickedness @2:60. Bishops should consider something like this both for themselves and their subordinates, because many people simply don't believe the apologies for past Crusades and all that:

[The Syndey Morning Herald] AUSTRALIA'S leading Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has decided to throw his weight behind the historic apology to victims of sexual abuse issued at the weekend by Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne.

In a statement yesterday Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, said he ''wholeheartedly endorsed'' Archbishop Hart's letter of apology which went to 219 parishes in Victoria, saying the letter ''speaks for me, too''.

In the letter Archbishop Hart spoke of a ''crisis of faith'' and acknowledged that victims of clergy abuse had been betrayed, while the church had not always responded properly.

Link here...

Pope's General Audience: "Lack of Consciousness of Sin is Based in a Lack of Consciousness of God"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

the new life in Christ, which we receive through the sacraments of Christian initiation can be weakened by the frailty of human nature, even be lost  by sin. Therefore, Christ has the Church, which continues His work of salvation, has given the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and Anointing of the Sick. In the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation we receive the forgiveness of sins. This is not the fruit of our toil, but gift of the Holy Spirit, who immerses us in  mercy and grace which flows from the open heart of the crucified and risen Christ. This takes place in the community of believers, the Church where the Holy Spirit is present. Therefore, it is not sufficient merely to ask the Lord quietly in the heart for forgiveness. It is necessary to confess one's sins to the servant of the Church. The priest represents not only God, but the community of the Church, which gives the penitent reconciliation and accompanies him on the path of conversion. Too often we forget this sacrament or push it aside - for convenience, out of shame or because of a lack of consciousness of sin, that is based in a lack of consciousness of God. We make ourselves the measure of things, close ourselves to God and to others, and our conscience ultimately dies from it. Let us use  the treasure which the Lord has entrusted to His Church in the Sacrament of Penance.

A warm welcome I say to the pilgrims from German-speaking countries. In the sacrament of penance and reconciliation we experience God's merciful love, which gives us strength for penance and new life. Let us confidently go to confession so that we may renew the divine love and reconcile  with God, with ourselves and with others. I cordially bless you all.

Link to Katholisches...

NB: this is a translation from the German, which differs significantly from the English translation at the Vatican website, which doesn't even look Catholic.

Fake NewPenance Ceremony by French Bishops to Do Penance for Sex Abuse

 Edit: we’ve been calling for some penitence from the Bishops for years, but these kinds of attenuated penance services are more for cameras and the agendas of anti-Catholic organizations and professional victims than to beg for mercy from an angry God.

Another reason they don’t have a ring of truth is that, like a reformed Roman Liturgy, they don’t convey clarity. What exactly are they sorry for, and if they’re sorry, does kneeling for a few minutes in a staged “penance” event pass the test?

Saint Thomas Becket walked twenty miles in bare feet on his way to London from port. 

I want to see blood.

And if there’s penance to be done, why allow the agenda be controlled by an anti-Catholic group that aims ultimately to destroy Catholic belief?

[CathNews] Senior members of France’s Catholic hierarchy knelt in a show of penance at the shrine of Lourdes on Saturday, a day after bishops accepted the Church’s responsibility for decades of child abuse. Source: SBS News.

But some of the survivors of the abuse – and lay members supporting them – said they were still waiting for details of compensation and of a comprehensive reform of the Church.

In Lourdes, some 120 archbishops, bishops and laymen gathered at the unveiling of a photo showing a sculpture representing the head of a weeping child.

AMDG 

The Crimes of Modernism Healed by Penance: The Real Import of Benedict's Letter

Christ said to the adulterous woman, "do penance and sin no more". Despite this message of redemption and the elevation of womankind which the Church has promulgated, defended and taught the world for centuries, the villainous media expects a pound of flesh from the Church, a Church which has always preached penance for sins. It remains unclear what punishments those behind the media blitzkrieg have in store for the Church, its adherants and ministers. Perhaps it will be content to preserve the deceptive mercenaries who are its own chaplains within Its bosom? But the Church is surely being persectuted elsewhere as it is from Iraq to California. Like the Bishops' Conferences throughout the world, those who hate the Church and have power, no doubt must have in the back of their collective mind some sort of legislation. At last; Herod in the West would feel bold enough to murder grown men, and not be satisfied with helpless babes as he is now.

Benedict XVI made promises to clean up the filth in the beginning of his pontificate. He's been doing that. Homosexual priests who are caught are dismissed and increasingly, Bishops and pastors hostile to Orthodoxy are being sent out to pasture, early, to be replaced by Bishops and priests who are Catholic, who don't give fawning interviews to the international press telling people how they struggle with what Rome expects of them.

The following article by Sandro Magister deals with the issue of the sexual revolution which came (like nouveau theologie) out of the post-war years with new musical styles and ways of living facilitated by personal transportation and mechanization.

Along with the plastic and radiation of the post-war years, there came cultural novelties dealing with psychology and sexuality. Like bad parents, many Bishops and priests succumbed to the spirit of the age and introduced these novelties with the conspicuous and damnable results we're experiencing today.

There are many now pointing an accusing finger at the Church for the failure of some of its ministers in sexual morality, who would not like the penitential antidote fitting for bad parents of all kinds, the kinds of penitential practices suggested by our current Pope have long been suppressed in deed if not by law in many Diocese throughout the world.

If good can come out of evil, it is that many, to include the laity, are called this year to beg God's forgiveness and make reparations for the crimes committed because we omitted to do what was demanded by justice as parents and leaders, or because we broke God's law and thought we could escape His wrath.

The Genesis of a Crime

Genesis of a Crime. The Revolution of the 1960's. The scandal of pedophilia has always been there, but it was magnified by the cultural revolution of half a century ago. Benedict XVI makes the claim in his letter to the Catholics of Ireland. Two cardinals and a sociologist comment

by Sandro Magister

ROME, March 25, 2010 – Law and grace. Where earthly justice does not reach, the hand of God can. With his letter dated March 19, Benedict XVI has given the Catholics of Ireland an order never before given by a pope of the modern era to an entire national Church.

He told them not only to bring the guilty before the canonical and civil courts, but to put themselves collectively in a state of penance and purification. And not in the privacy of their consciences, but in a public form, before the eyes of all, even of their most implacable and mocking adversaries. Fasting, prayer, reading the Bible, and works of charity on all the Fridays from now until Easter of next year. Frequent sacramental confession. Continual adoration of Jesus – " himself a victim of injustice and sin" – present in the sacred host, exposed on the altars of the churches. And for all the bishops, priests, and religious, without exception, a special period of "mission," a long and strict course of spiritual exercises for a radical review of life.

Link to Chiesa...

Cardinal Dolan Questioned Before Conclave

Edit: in fine agitprop fashion, the media enters the usual slurs. If the occurrence of a crime, which happens in every other aspect of society at a greater rate than it happens within the Catholic Church, has happened on the watch of this Cardinal or that one, taints his career, perhaps that should go for the media as well?

The enemy is powerful and isn’t interested in anything less than complete subjugation of the Catholic Church to the world. It doesn’t matter that Cardinal Dolan has made conciliatory, if cowardly, gestures at St. Francis Xavier Parish in New York, the enemy only regards concessions as weakness. It doesn’t matter whether or not Cardinal Dolan has many positions which are inconsistent with a census Catholicus, or that he has given aid and comfort to the enemy’s political aims during political elections, he still represents the Catholic Faith, however humanly.

Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, has become the latest cardinal to be questioned over his handling of sex abuse by priests and victims in Ireland, US and Belgium.

Of the 116 cardinals who will gather beneath Michelangelo’s frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, several are embroiled in controversies connected to the Church’s systemic failure to tackle sex abuse against children by paedophile priests.

The question marks over the cardinals’ management of sex abuse cases are an embarrassment for the Holy See, just as Benedict prepares to resign the papacy next Thursday.

Link to Telegraph...

Someone else who really needs no introduction is Cardinal Mahony, who, despite his own moral challenges and failures in presenting the Catholic Faith throughout the years, is drawing support from his fellow Old Liberal Bishops, in this case, Cardinal Levada.

Levada Thinks Mahony should Vote for Pope

The former archbishop of San Francisco said Monday that Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has a rightful place among Vatican officials who will choose the next pope, even though Mahony has been battered in recent days by disclosures about his role in covering up clergy sex abuse.

The comments by Cardinal William Levada, a high-ranking Vatican official until recently, came in the wake of a grass-roots campaign to shame Mahony into refraining from participating because of his role protecting sexually abusive priests.

Mahony left for Rome over the weekend after recently released church documents showed he had covered up for other priests who raped and molested children.

Link to ABC News…. With breathtaking shamelessness, Cardinal Mahony writes on his personal blog, as the anti-Catholic ABC writes:

On Monday, Mahony took to social media and his own personal blog to write about persecution and forgiving one's enemies. He said he has a special prayer group for people who "cannot forgive me for my past hurts and offenses," including members of the media, attorneys, protesters and those who "hate and despise me.”

In order for forgiveness to be given, doesn’t there have to be penance as well as contrition?

St. Thomas Aquinas writes in the Summa:

I answer that, As stated above (Objection 2; 84, 10, ad 4), to repent is to deplore something one has done. Now it has been stated above (84, 9) that sorrow or sadness is twofold. First, it denotes a passion of the sensitive appetite, and in this sense penance is not a virtue, but a passion. Secondly, it denotes an act of the will, and in this way it implies choice, and if this be right, it must, of necessity, be an act of virtue. For it is stated in Ethic. ii, 6 that virtue is a habit of choosing according to right reason. Now it belongs to right reason than one should grieve for a proper object of grief as one ought to grieve, and for an end for which one ought to grieve. And this is observed in the penance of which we are speaking now; since the penitent assumes a moderated grief for his past sins, with the intention of removing them. Hence it is evident that the penance of which we are speaking now, is either a virtue or the act of a virtue.

Meanwhile, the German Bishops continue their assault on the Catholic Church in their anti-Roman trajectory by “sparking a debate” about the use of an abortifacient against rape.

Is Francis Turning Offenders into Victims and Priests Into Social Workers?

(Vatican) Does the Pope say "wounds" and mean sins? He confuses   sinners with the "wounded"? Or he says priest and confessor, however, he believes they are social workers and Caritas employees? In 6 March, Pope Francis gave a long speech to  the priests of his diocese of Rome a long speech at the beginning of Lent in the Paul VI Hall, whom he  had called together. The theme of the address was the question of how a priest had to be to be a "good shepherd". Here are some tentative considerations and more questions from a simple Catholic woman.

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The Sinner as Wounded?

Essay on an unfinished Commentary 

by Martha Weinzl

The speech was as is typical of Pope Francis, divided into three points. "In the whole Church it is the time of mercy." "What is mercy for the priest," And: "Mercy is neither arms too widely opened or  rigidity"

27 Times Mercy, Never Guilt

First, the test of an empirical text analysis. The text uses Pope Francis uses the word mercy 27 times,  twelve times the word heart, ten times the word wounds, six times the word flesh, two of five times he speaks of the sacrament of reconciliation and the confessor, three times he used the words compassion, confess, and penance, only once the words sin, sinners, reconciled and absolve. The words guilt, confession and confessional do not occur, nor salvation, savior, savior, savior, salvation, salvation or absolution.

What tells us this list? Pope Francis  was to talk about  confession and the role of the priest as confessor.  The subject for the talk, one would assume, is the  sin and the sinner who has committed the sin. We are all sinners, but we should beware of sin. The Church presents us with the precious aids available for the lifelong struggle against sin. First, the instruction that contributes significantly to the formation of conscience. Then, however, especially the sacramental means of grace, especially the Sacrament of Penance instituted by Jesus Christ. After all, it is about  eternal salvation, whether we can stand before God's justice and mercy.

Sin and sinners appear as terms in the papal address but each only appears once. Sin is indirectly mentioned in connection with criticism of lax priests who "minimize"  sin, thus  downplaying it. An important statement. 

The Sinner, to be exact, "sinners" are in only one instance mentioned, without further explanation, together with the "sick", "about which nobody cares." Sinners and the sick are referred to by the Pope in the same sentence as "excluded".  For them"Especially,"  the priest needs "tenderness".

Dimension of the Sin and the Sinner's Status Remain Unnoticed

The papal considerations can be far more reasonably followed when missing parts simply included. Nevertheless, it is remarkable how underexposed the dimension of sin and the status of the sinner remains, although they really should be the focus in the face of the subject.

The sinner becomes sick, but not in the sense of a spiritual disease. This can give rise to suspicion, the Pope coul view the priest - just to exaggerate - not as confessor, but as a nurse or Caritas staff member.

No perpetrators (sinner), only victims?

In fact, the Pope speaks not of sins and sinners, but of wounds and the sick. But wounds are not sins, but a change of perspective. The Pope says without a doubt wounded, people who are injured. Sin is a wound. The sinner is but the cause of the wound through sin and not merely the victim of a wound. That the sinner can be an injurer and the wounded a sinner, is another question, to which the Pope, however, did not respond.

Pope Francis sets the priests in the role of the minister in his speech, only to those wounded in the heart. The confessor has only to take care of the sinner. He has to condemn the sin, an issue the Pope doesn't even touch, and to move the sinner to repentance. The penitent who repents, he has - in Pope Francis is in his definition only agree - to go on his way to be reconciled as he is accompanied by God, but so that he no longer falls,this also includes the accompanying penance.  These aspects are not mentioned.

According to Pope Francis, the sinner is not the offender, but obviously a synonym for the wounded. This is in need of explanation, if not to be assumed that the understanding is turned upside down.  Offender and the victim as interchangeable sizes? The sinner is a doer, he wounded a victim. The priest who, according to Pope Francis is to take care of the wounded, so to victims, but in reality - one follows the papal versions - they are perpetrators, because why else would require a confessor.  The sinner is thus in a new dialectic from the perpetrator to the wounded victims. For victims of their own sin? For victims of evil? For victims of the devil, the eternal tempter and seducer? But that is not explained by the Pope.

Sin? "Material problems, scandals, illusions of the world"

He speaks of the Church as a "field hospital" and gives the impression as if there were in a very special way in this day and age a "need to heal the wounds, many wounds! Many wounds!" But that would mean that priests would have had to take care especially to those who have been wounded by sin.  It's just not clear from the further description, however. But why should our time need more to heal "wounds" than previous times, so that the Church is given a new role as "field hospital"?

In fact, the Pope is expected to be right. There were never as many people as today, which is why the number of sins should ipso facto be greater in number than ever before. Since the Pope does not name sin and never really speaks of sinners, his statement is vague and raises a number of questions that remain unanswered. Because the causes of the wounds that need confessors, so to sin, Pope Francis merely says: "Many people are wounded by material problems, scandals, even in the Church ... people who are wounded by the illusions of the world ..." .

You can rub your eyes in disbelief: "physical problems", "scandals", "in the Church", "illusions of the world"? What's this? Is this the dimension of sin, from which we have to guard ourselves? Wounds by social injustice?  Perhaps the Marxists might be right that the only reason offenders sit in our prisons because they are victims of structural social injustices in the end, right? Sociological and psychological considerations? This requires the confessor, confession, the sacrament of reconciliation? This is something completely different: The reinterpretation of the confessor to life consultant? To psychotherapist? To a friend? The confusion of sin with worries and problems of the people? The question would then be justified, whether other professions due to their professional training are not yet suitable to solve such problems, as the "appointed" priests. If God actually is a kind of generic guidance counselor for social work?

The priest as Caritas staff?

Can the Pope's message to the priests of his diocese, and thus to all the priests, be summarized as follows: Go out, and do not fear for you to get dirty to help the people in their lives, everyday worries and troubles. One calling among several for every Christian. Also a perfect job description for a Caritas staff. But is this a definition for the priesthood? Especially in connection with the Sacrament of Penance? Questions, questions.

Picture: Avvenire

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD

Irish Bishops to Do Severe Public Penance for their Negligence

We suggested this, being especially inspired by the scene where Henry II was whipped by Benedictine Monks after he had St. Thomas Becket murdered, that the Bishops would do well to make public acts of penance, but you don't have to be a genius to see that was where Holy Father was going. St. Thomas Becket himself walked 20 miles to his Cathedral after he was consecrated, in his bare feet. Nothing inspires so much as when you set the example, especially if it costs something to do it, as Holy Father says, "we must follow Christ into the desert."

@2:30

The Irish bishops will perform an act of penance during Lent, equivalent to putting on 'sackcloth and ashes' to demonstrate their humility and their empathy with victims of clerical child sexual abuse, Cardinal Brady has said.

Speaking after the 24 Irish bishops' meeting with the Pope and flanked by four bishops, Cardinal Seán Brady told the world's media that a victim told him that he wanted the see the bishops humiliated and this is what is happening.

He said that the bishops had discussed penitential acts, such as climbing Croagh Patrick or going to Lough Derg but that whatever they do, it will be the equivalent of ''sackcloth and ashes''.

Link to original...

h/t: LA Catholic....

Pope Francis Critique To Priests Out of Touch With Reality: Don't Turn the Confessional Into a "Torture Chamber"

(Vatican) The times have changed. Previously, the progressives have accused the Popes of "being out of touch with reality". Pope Francis is viewed by the faithful Catholic of being out of touch with reality. How so? We continue the study of the Apostolic Letter Gospel Gaudium continued by Pope Francis. So far, this appeared Gospel Gaudium - Clear Words to Live Right (John Paul II) and Francis the Pope, who Abolishes the Papacy - The Revolution The Cardinals Wanted . [Coming up]

The word "sin" is mentioned many times. However, the context in which it is mentioned, is complex and would require a separate in-depth analysis. Thus, there are in addition to the personal sin there is  "social" sin that emerges in different places. How, then, can one  overcome sin and obtain salvation, is not mentioned. The words "repent" and "repentance" are missing completely. The word "conversion" occurs only once as a quotation from an instruction of the CDF. The word "repentance" on the other hand is repeated often. How this reversal is to be completed, however, remains open. The word "confession"  [or Penance] is not found in the papal document. Thus, the decisive act of reconciliation  with God through conversion, repentance, confession and penance remains unexpressed. It seems to play no role in the "joyful" evangelization.

But not only is there no mention of confession: The only indirect mention of  confession in Evangelii Gaudium occurs negatively in the form of criticism. The Pope mentioned  the "confessional" once in 44. In this context, he tells the priest, "that confession can not be a torture chamber." In reading this point, the only indirect mention of  confession, the question arises: "Yes, where does this pope live?" The statement is characterized by being out of touch with reality. The reality is the exact opposite, that the introduction to the catechesis in confession and instruction of the faithful for decades, hardly plays any role that the children are guided without confession to First Communion in the Western world in many places that the confessionals are torn out of many churches were that many priests do not hear confessions any  more that  "Confession and Consultation" is offered in some parishes in the "confessional" but  there is a  pastoral assistant sitting. The list about the decline of the Sacrament of Penance could be continued for long. The confession seems to fit so little into a "happy" Christianity that its last mention  must be placed under a negative sign.

The out of touch character of that statement by Pope Francis is reminiscent of yet other, equally unrealistic remarks of the Pope at  the end of September. At that time Pope Francis held as his "main concern" whether priests had already had the children of unmarried mothers baptized.

It was the same Pope, last Holy Thursday, two weeks after his election, who is said to have said in a private conversation with priests of the diocese of Rome: "I insist: Let the doors of the churches open, and people will come, and turn on the light in the confessionals, to show that you are there and you will see that a queue forms in front of it. "One of the many contradictions of this pontificate. Where the statement of Holy Thursday still does not officially occupy   part of the Magisterium, while Evangelii Gaudium does.

44. Moreover, pastors and the lay faithful who accompany their brothers and sisters in faith or on a journey of openness to God must always remember what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches quite clearly: “Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors”.[49] Consequently, without detracting from the evangelical ideal, they need to accompany with mercy and patience the eventual stages of personal growth as these progressively occur.[50] I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy which spurs us on to do our best. A small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties. Everyone needs to be touched by the comfort and attraction of God’s saving love, which is mysteriously at work in each person, above and beyond their faults and failings.

Link to Encyclical...

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Formiche
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotamail.com
Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Pope Benedict: The Church must learn again to Show Penance

Some people are saying that he is the Pope of "unity" and that's pretty good, but Pope of Penitance sound a lot better.

Benedict XVI on his address to the Italian Bishops: The Church must learn again to show penance and to accept purification. Not only forgiveness is necessary, rather also righteousness.

Vatican City (kath.net/KNA) Pope Benedict XVI. had invited the Italian Bishops to an open discussion about the Abuse Scandal. "the will to a new age of Evangelization does not preclude wounds, from which the Church suffers on the part of its weakness and sins of some of its members," he said on Thursday before the Italian Bishop's Conference in the Vatican. This "pious and painful understanding" may not be forgotten because there is the example of countless faithful and priests.

Benedict XVI said, the Church must learn again, to show penance and accept purification. Forgiveness is not only necessary, rather also righteousness, said the head of the Church. the Italian Bishops Conference held from Monday to Friday their early year gathering in the Vatican.

At the same time the Pope encouraged the renewed efforts of the Italian Bishops in Education and Formation. Even in Italy, there are signs of a "cultural crisis". As an example he named the uncertainties about moral values as well as the difficulties of many adults, their duties in raising the next generation.

This cultural crisis is "even as serious as the economic"

Benedict XVI. said it is "illusory" to believe, that only the economic crisis should be challenged, while the cultural is ignored. Facing the danger, that the great Traditions would become dead letter, must strengthen the Church's efforts in Christian education and upbringing. The family plays an indispensable role.

Link to original...

Archbishop Viganò Calls On Evil Archbishop to Do Penance

Edit: still alive and hiding in an undisclosed location, the Archbishop calls upon his brother bishop to do penance and reveal what he knows.

Part of doing Penance demands contrition. The once invulnerable McCarrick has not given any indication he is sorry for his sins.

Link to Motley Monk...

https://www.scribd.com/document/397429750/vigano

Ht: Canon212

AMDG

Cardinal Schönborn Honors Dissident Group in Stepansdom

Despite his own criticism of 'We are Church' and that of his brother Bishops and the Spanish Bishops Conference, even, Cardinal Schönborn will host this group which by most estimates is nothing more than a different confession, certainly outside the Church. Kathnet won't come out and criticize Cardinal Schönborn for this, but perhaps even the people at Regnum Christi are starting to wonder about just who or what this Cardinal is about.

Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schönborn is invited with the controversial organization "We are Church" to a Penance Service in the Vienna Stepensdom.

Wien (kath.net) The Vienese Cardinal Schönborn will hold a meeting next week on Wednesday, the 31st of March, together with the controversial group "We are Church" (WSK) in the Stepensdom a complaint and penance service under the motto "I am angry, God". There will be victims of sexual violence by priests who will have the opportunity, to formulate their pain in the presence of the Cardinal. Hans Peter Hurka, the director of the Austrian Group, informed the "Presse" of this event on Sunday.

"We are Church" is not an officially recognized group of the Church and has in the past years increasingly made initiatives against the Church, which have been clearly rejected by Rome. The Diocese Regensburg reported "We are Church" in November 2006 as a "problematic splinter group". The Salzburg Archbishop Alois Kothgasserr has prohibited in 2005 the organization "We are Church" in the Cathedral Book Store from presenting a so-called "Pastoral Letter". Kothgasser then said, orally: "Who follows Christ, must also follow Peter, and whoever remains by Peter, there is also the Church." [Wow]

Even the Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schönborn had criticized the group on a number of occasions in the past. Among them, in 2003 he criticized the group at a press conference, that the Platform of an Initiative supported, belonged to a network of Freemasons, of the "European Humanity Federation", which seeks the omission of article 51 from the EU-Constitution. Article 51 is concerned with the status of the Church and cultural societies. It will have been stated that they respected and did not vitiate, that the Union will grant "according the legal status, to Church and religious Unities or Communities in the member states." Otherwise it is certain, that the Union led a "open, transparent and fair Dialog" with the Church. "This Dialog Clause was put into question by "We are Church", said Schönborn: "One wonders." It needs a "more specific and thorough explanation."

A number of other Bishops, like Archbishop Ludwig Schick who said that "Weisner and his confederates need to do penance and go to confession. 'We are Church' could tell everyone, that through the triple bonds of Faith, the Sacraments and the pious and obedient unity with Pope and Bishops, builds a church community. From this Communion, Weisner and his followers appear to have separated themselves."

Augsburg Bishop Walter Mixa said in 2003 clearly, "'We are Church' is not in the soil of the Catholic Church."

The famous Catholic journalist Guido Horst said in a commentary: "The church-whiners, who in the last years trusted themselves to the "spirit of the Council", were unfruitful. "We are Church" consists of a post-office box and an E-mail server, Church-People-Demanders, who found their organ in the public forum, are remaining today, grey and (spiritually) childless.

I am angry, God...Kath.net...

Paderborn Priest Circle Opposes Bishop’s Heretical Proposal for Protestant Communion

“It is part of the nature of Protestantism not to have the full Catholic faith in the Eucharist" - "In a real emergency, the Protestant would first have to be led to the sacrament of penance"

Paderborn (kath.net) Paderborn's "Priests Circle Communio Veritatis" comments critically on the decision of the Archbishop of Paderborn, Hans-Josef Becker, to "familiarize himself intensively with the controversial DBK orientation guide and act responsibly in accordance with pastoral care." Becker had allowed that Protestant Christians in confessional marriages receive permission to receive the Catholic Eucharist under certain conditions,  kath.net has reported.

kath.net documents the statement of the "Priests Circle Communio Veritatis" in full length:

The Priests Circle Communio Veritatis has intensively dealt with an affront by Archbishop Becker, who wants to make possible the  reception of Communion for Protestant partners in a non-confessional marriages in so-called individual cases.

We note unanimously that this directive is unacceptable.

Our association explains the following:

1. Basically, "To receive Holy Communion, one must be fully integrated into the Catholic Church and be in the state of grace" (CCC 291).

2. In the encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia by St. John Paul II we read:  "The rejection of one or more of the truths of the faith about these sacraments [...] means that the petitioner is not disposed for its rightful reception" (Ed. 46). It is part of the nature of Protestantism not to have the full Catholic faith in the Eucharist.

3. With regard to Canon 844 § 4 CIC, no diocesan bishop can declare the situation in a mixed-confessional marriage a serious emergency in order to facilitate inter-communion. (Cardinal Brandmüller, referring to the seriousness of the plight, said that "the canon relates to extreme situations such as war, persecution, deportation and natural disasters" (kath.net, 25.6.2018).

4. Canon 844 § 4 of the Catholic Canon Law provides for the reception of Communion by a non-Catholic Christian, among other things, the necessary condition that a dispenser of their own community can not be present.

5. The right disposition described in Number 1401 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church necessarily implies the absence of grave sin. From this it follows that the Protestant in a real emergency would first have to be led to the sacrament of penance.

6. Regarding eternal salvation, there are, in very rare exceptional cases, the possibility of allowing individual non-Catholic Christians to the sacrament of penance, the Anointing of the sick, and the Eucharist. This presupposes, however, that certain exceptional situations characterized by exact conditions (see above 2 to 5) - whereby all points must apply - are given. It is the duty of everyone to be faithful to them (see Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 56).

The Priestly Circle Communio Veritatis remains determined to serve Jesus Christ faithfully in all things and the continuing Magisterium of the Catholic Church for the salvation of souls.

Paderborn Cathedral - View of the impressive Romanesque westwork

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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Bishop Fellay Says Talks Will Continue With Rome and Requests 50,000,000 Acts of Penance

(Zaitzkofen) The Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X confirmed last Saturday that the talks with Rome are to continue, and announced a new Rosary crusade. It should serve the spiritual preparation for the centennial commemoration of the apparitions of Fatima in 1917, which will take place in the coming year.

The Rosary Crusade was announced at the ordinations in Zaitzkofen. It will be held until August 22, 2017 from 15 August 2016th

The prayer of the Rosary should be connected to acts of penance. Bishop Fellay spoke of "50 million acts of penance". More details will soon be announced.

Zaitzkofen, in the Regensburg Diocese, is the seminary of the SSPX for the German-speaking  and adjacent areas. On July 2, Bishop Fellay ordained there three new priests.

In his homily, the Superior General confirmed that the talks between the SSPX and the Vatican will continue. Bishop Fellay explained that the salvation of souls is the ultimate goal of the Catholic Church and thus also of the Fraternity. That objective is "higher" than a canonical recognition of the Fraternity.

But nothing is more important than the Catholic faith and the unconditional acceptance of this belief for the salvation of souls. "Without [Catholic] faith no one can be saved," Bishop Fellay said, as he made serious allegations against the ecclesiastical authorities: "Since the council, the defense and the propagation of the faith became something of secondary importance."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: fsspx.de (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
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Cardinal Kasper Answers Critics of His Lecture: SSPX German District

[PIus.info]  There has been global criticism among faithful, conservative and traditional Catholics about the pastoral lecture of  divorced and "remarried" by Walter Cardinal Kasper, the Cardinal replied yesterday with a half-page letter to the editor in the "Tagespost" on some of these criticisms.

The crucial passage from the letter to the editor refers to his proposal to allow "remarried" divorced to the sacrament of penance, the Cardinal writes in the letter.

"The decisive statement in this presentation is: 'Penance and the Sacrament of Penance are the way to connect both aspects. Commitment to the word of the Lord, and the never-ending mercy of God' (p. 65) It turns to the question  which has not been answered by the critics: Are you allowed to refuse absolution in such a situation in which the penitent has repented and testified honestly and in good will with their best efforts to live by faith? Is it not possible with God that someone could fall into a hole from which there is no way out? If that is impossible with God, then why not in the Church ...? "

Cardinal's sentences clearly demonstrated an awareness of precisely the crucial point of the whole discussion. Of course, the Church has never denied absolution to a man who has "repented honestly and testified in good will with their best efforts to live by faith." Yet the question here is, what it means, that the penitent has repented honestly? For sincere repentance it means  that he separates himself from sin and possesses  a firm resolve  never to repeat the sin, which without the help and grace of God is not possible of course.

However, this means with respect to the divorced and "remarried" that the partners decide to separate or if this is for important reasons (e.g. due to the children) is not possible, to refrain from the conjugal act in the future and to live together as brothers and sister. This is exactly what the Church has recommended for centuries for people living in such a situation. Cardinal Kasper, however, would like to eliminate this clear and visible sign of remorse and repentance, and it is based in substantial part of the criticism of his lecture, which he never responded to in his letter to the editors at any point.

Link to Pius.info... 

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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Papal Purge: Bishop Coadjutor Assigned to Traditional Diocese of Albenga-Imperia

Bishop Oliveri Celebrates the Old Rite

(Rome) Pope Francis has found a coadjutor for the Bishop of Albenga-Imperia, Msgr. Mario Oliveri with right of succession to the side. As Bishop Oliveri enjoys good health, the papal decision appears as a disempowerment  without disavowing the ruling bishop entirely through impeachment. It is the indirect, more elegant form of impeachment. The direct form was felt by Bishop Rogelio Livieres of Ciudad del Este. A dismissal with no ifs or buts.

A coadjutor, sometimes with right of succession, is an auxiliary device, such as when an incumbent bishop is no longer in a position to fully exercise his office fully for health reasons.  This form is also utilized to correct undesirable developments in a diocese or to  reconcile  a successor fluidly without drastically making  visible a public break.

Heavy State of Tradition in the World and Especially in the Church

No this is occuring in the diocese of Albenga-Imperia Riviera.  The traditional alignment of Bishop Oliveri is undesirable. A minority of the diocesan clergy made fierce resistance to the renewal of the diocese in the Catholic faith, which Bishop Oliveri, by replacing   folk altars in churches with appropriate high altars,  promoting the sacrament of penance, the traditional Rite, establishing old ritual communities, and the unabbreviated preaching the doctrine. Majorities play no role in the church, but it should be noted that the majority of the clergy followed this bishop. The diocese has far and wide the highest number of seminarians who are trained in both forms of the Roman Rite.

But then, Pope Francis took the Chair of Peter and quickly found someone in Liguria to afford the opportunity to get rid of the bishop. They quickly sought the anti-clerical media. The liberal daily, Secolo XIX took over the role of the battering ram. Because of their attitude which is critical of the Church they have already offered skirmish in the past few years  with the bishop. That it was seriously meant, with the intention  to drive Bishop Oliveri from office, became clear  a few days ago even as the German media jumped straight into slander mode.

Standardized Strategy of Slander Against Faithful Church Representatives

The ingredients have long been standardized in the case of orthodox bishops. The spreading of rumors, outraged mention of unproven allegations. There are always enough people who accept any slander willingly.

 Secolo XIX has been well informed about from Church circles by the end of October 2014, announced the appointment of a Coadjutor for Albenga-Imperia. A provisional administration of the diocese and disempowerment of the officiating bishop, which was welcomed by the newspaper. Rome was silent. Startled devout Catholics were mocked as seeing "ghosts" and having, attempting to raise and lift  a "blind" antipathy against the reigning pope.

But the rumor was not a rumor. On January 10, Pope Francis, the previous bishop of Pitigliano-Sovana-Orbetello, Msgr. Guglielmo Borghetti has been sent to the diocese of Albenga-Imperia as Coadjutor with right of succession.

Why the Fear of Tradition?

Two things would appear from the new "purging": Pope Francis applies "tolerance and compassion shown demonstratively"  to everyone, but not for traditional Catholics, so says Secretum meum mihi . Against them he cherishes a "deep-seated inner aversion".  Second, it seems the pope can not bear that bishops have full seminaries and numerous priestly vocations, as soon as they turn to the tradition. Tradition was tolerated only within the separate, manageable and controllable enclosure of "Ecclesia Dei".   But where  tradition leaves this enclosure and radiates into the new ritual Church, they will fight relentlessly as the treatment of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, Bishop Livieres and now Bishop Oliveri show.

"Why are even high church officials, including the Pope, so afraid of  tradition? Why don't they exercise their proverbial cherished tolerance? Is it because it holds up the mirror to them and thus call into question their own life's work and understanding of the Church? On closer examination, even brings them to falter?" asks Secretum meum mihi.  Perhaps because the crisis of vocations and all related implications surrounding the priesthood, Holy  Orders, Sacrament of Penance and the Eucharist, including the considerations and plans for the approval of viri probati (priests who left and are now married), the abolition of celibacy, the admission of women to the diaconate and priesthood could collapse within itself?

On December 22, Pope Francis listed 15 "diseases"  in his Christmas message to the Roman Curia, on which  they suffer. "The action against the small Ligurian diocese has confirmed at least ten  of the fifteen pathologies mentioned by Pope Francis," said Traditio Catholica . But in this case it is the Pope, who seems to have a short memory.

Unlike Bishop Livieres of Paraguay, Bishop Oliveri is taking the papal humiliation in silence, as is common in Europe. Bishop Livieres had been ordered to Rome, but he had learned from the media of his deposition. In vain he had asked the Pope for an audience. But the Pope granted him neither an audience yet another opportunity to defend himself against the complaints. Then the bishop had informed the media that he had "naturally accepted the decision" of the Pope, but that the Pope would be "responsible" before God for his decision. Bishop Livieres has been also active since then in evangelization, but without a diocese.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: diocese of Albenga-Imperia

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches....

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Cardinal Meisner urges More Penance on the Part of Priests

As part of the closing events of the Year for Priests, Cardinal Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, gave a talk entitled “Conversion and Mission" at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls where priests were able to venerate the apostle St. Paul. The subject of the lecture rounded on Penance, where Cardinal Meisner said that a priest has to spend more time receiving the Sacrament, spending more time on the other side of the confessionn screen.

Link to illigitimi non carbarundum...

Anti-Kasper Front: From Brandmüller and Caffara Come De Paolis and Bassetti

(Vatican)  Kasper has been slowly forming resistance behind the lines.  This is according to Archbishop Carlo Cardinal Caffarra of Bologna in the newspaper Il Foglio and Cardinal Walter Brandmüller in the daily newspaper The Daily Mail, a third wearer of the Purple  has publicly and thoroughly taken a position on the issue of remarried divorcees. And he opposes himself against the theses of Cardinal Walter Kasper, who was the only speaker at the recent Cardinal consistory of February 20 and 21 at the request of the Pope. Kasper was therefore able to give his opinion from a privileged position.

A position that secured him a considerable advantage in the public debate.  Or would have had at least, if the historian Roberto de Mattei had not immediately countered him with a profound contradiction. Not coincidentally, it was the German Cardinal Brandmüller who publicly disagreed with the German Cardinal Kasper first among the purple hats. Everyone knows this and is disillusioned.

De Paolis' Detailed Polemic Against Walter Kasper

Now Cardinal Velasio De Paolis has taken up a feather to cross blades  with Kasper in the dispute. The well-known canon is Prefect Emeritus of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and was from the beginning, an apostolic delegate of the Legionaries of Christ.  The cardinal has expressed on several occasions his appreciation for Pope Francis.

De Paolis took advantage of this past March 27, the opening of the new judicial year at the church court of Umbria, to  challenge  Cardinal Kasper in the ring. The title of his speech was: "The Remarried Divorcees and the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Penance" .

De Paolis counter reply is more extensive than   Kasper's paper  before the Cardinals. 40 pages  have been published in full by the church court on the Internet, the intention of the Cardinal of the Order of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (CS)  also called the Calabrians,  is trying to set his brother back on track.

Support for De Paolis of Neocardinal Bassetti

"Moderator" of the church law of Umbria  is Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia, whom Pope Francis has made ​​Deputy President of the Italian Bishops' Conference and a cardinal.  Archbishop Bassetti was not only the only resident Italian who has been created cardinal by Pope Francis. As Archbishop of Perugia he stands in front of a diocese whose bishop's throne is not connected in accordance with the Concordat, to  the dignity of Cardinal, like Venice and Turin, whose occupants,  however, have come up empty-handed.

It was Neocardinal Bassetti, whom De Paolis invited to give the opening speech. It was also Bassetti, in the ceremony gave the floor on March 27, De Paolis in advance and said that  De Paolis'  introductions, "are valuable, and very current  as well as very enriching for us."

"What is to be Said on the Question of Cardinal Kasper?"

Cardinal De Paolis  combined these theses of Kasper together to refute them: "What's to say about the question posed by Cardinal Kasper on February 21, 2014 in the Consistory?" According to Kasper the way of the Church is to balance between rigor and laxity, a way of repentance, which flows first in the sacrament of penance, and then in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Kasper had wondered if this way is feasible also for remarried divorcees and described conditions under which in his opinion it was possible. Kasper listed five conditions and formed them into questions  on whether the remarried divorcees communion even then could be refused if they fulfill these conditions. Whereat Kasper had clearly allowed to keep the admission to communion possible and desired.

Kasper posed his "opening",  as an exception that should not be a general rule. One limitation, however, seems to serve more for the enforcement of its goal to open to remarried divorcees access to communion. As an argument  the German Cardinal also claimed, again in the form of a question, whether the worst case could be averted, such as the loss of an entire generation, namely, the children of remarried divorcees. "Life is not just black and white, but many shades," said Kasper with a less original, but trendy commonplace.

"No Positive Response Possible"

Then Cardinal De Paolis rebutted: "Apart from  good intentions, it does not seem to be possible to answer positively  to this question. Apart from the various situations in which there are  remarried divorcees, all these situations, but the same problem is common: the inadmissibility of cohabitation, "more uxorio" between two people who are not connected to each other by a real marriage bond. The civil marriage is no marriage bond in reality. According to church doctrine, it has not even the semblance of a marriage, which is why the Church speaks of an attack against marriage. Given such a situation it is not clear how one divorced  could receive sacramental absolution to get access to the Eucharist. In order to justify access to the Eucharist for remarried divorcees, reasons are often cited, which have more the appearance of good nature and legitimacy."

Kasper's "Aberration" - "Misunderstood" Pastoral and Mercy

Among these "justifications"  Cardinal De Paolis described "pastoral" and "mercy." Against the   "misunderstandings"  associated with this, the cardinal takes his position ending with a pointed reference with the infamous comment by  Pope Francis, "who am I to judge".

"Often and with justification it is said  that we are not called to condemn the people. The judgement is in fact God's.  It's another thing though, to order to evaluate a completely different situation morally, to distinguish what is good and what is evil; to check whether or not something corresponds to the plan of God for man. This review is imperative. Given the different life situations, such as that of remarried divorcees, can and must say that we do not condemn, but to help. However, we can not confine ourselves not to condemn. We are called to assess the situation in the light of faith and the divine plan, the well-being of the family, the persons concerned and especially the law of God and His love. Otherwise, we run the risk of no longer being able to appreciate the law of God. What's more, almost to consider it an evil, since we put the blame for all evil in a law. Due to a certain representation of things it just seems as if it would make us feel better, if it were not for the law of the indissolubility of marriage. An aberration  that we can recognize in the mistakes in the way we think and argue."  This goes an excerpt from Cardinal De Paolis' rejection of Kasper's theses.

It is generally expected in Italy so that Pope Francis is going to appoint Cardinal Bassetti  soon as the new President of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Even his appointment as deputy chairman was seen as the disempowerment of the Chairman in Office of Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco.

 The Vatican expert Sandro Magister is not presently of this opinion.  He assumes that Cardinal Bagnasco remains in office until the end of the regular term of office in 2017. Magister, says it is also that Bassetti  is aligned  in the group  resisting  Cardinal Kasper, because he called Cardinal De Paolis to Perugia and who already knew in advance his unambiguous rejection of Kasper-theses and approved of them, as is clear from his words in greeting and announcement of De Paolis.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Picture: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches....

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