Prophecy of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: Heretics of Every Kind came into the City (of Rome)...

Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 28 April 2016 - 19:41:36 | by admin

A Change of Climate in Rome: Leftist US Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders and Bolivia's Marxist President Evo Morales. It will be remembered that Morales is the man who gave the infamous Hammer-and-Sickle mockery of a crucifix to the eager Pope Francis in July 2015. 

A Changing Climate in Rome...

Last July, we described how Pope Francis had met with 50 leftist mayors from all around the world to discuss ''climate change'' at a conference in Rome. Eyebrows were raised when he described those gathered mayors in glowingly hyperbolic terms as the ''conscience of humanity''.

At the time, we had mentioned that this hyperbole was made even more remarkable - scandalous would be a more honest description - by the fact that so many of the leftist mayors in attendance were supporters and enablers of abortion and homosexual ''marriage'' in their home countries. The leftist bias of that conference's invitation-list was so pronounced that even non-Catholic commentators began to notice and speak out about it. 

A key initiator and organizer of that summer conference of mayors was the Argentinian Archbishop Sanchez Sorondo.

His Grace had already upset sincere Catholics, and countless other people of good will, by casually brushing aside their genuine concerns relating to the UN, population-control, abortion, contraception, sterilization, explicit sex-education and the emergence of a global order having no reference to God or traditional morality. In one flippant exchange Archbishop Sorondo suggested such people were merely right-wing extremists, by remarking: ''To see the Devil in the United Nations, which some on the right tend to do, is not the position of the Holy See'' (my italics).

Noticing a Pattern

Last summer, we highlighted seven randomly-picked examples from among those leftist mayors to demonstrate just why so many orthodox Catholics were feeling so concerned.

Just to give two examples of the agendas of those we drew attention to which, when also compared to the research of the renowned international childrens' rights lawyer Elizabeth Yore, turned out to be fairly typical, we wrote articles on Mayor George Ferguson of Bristol and Gustavo Petro of Bogota.

Bearing a large rainbow emblem, Mayor Ferguson has literally led thousands of people on Bristol's annual ''gay pride'' march. In May 2014, he also donned a long rainbow scarf to appear in an LGBT-Rainbow group publicity photograph in front of Bristol's city hall. When the US Supreme Court voted for homosexual ideology last summer, Mayor Ferguson gleefully retweeted the image of the White House illuminated in rainbow colours and bearing the misleading moniker, ''Love Wins''. He also publicly described the fact that parents in North Carolina were campaigning against the reading of the homosexualist book King and King to their 8-9 year-old children as, ''utterly depressing''.

Turning to Bogota's Mayor Gustavo Petro, it is worth knowing that he is a former member of the armed revolutionary M-19 group. His extreme leftist agenda is perhaps best evidenced by his claim that developed countries are not places where the poor have cars, but where the rich use public transportation... In common with many other of the leftist majors who were invited to Rome, Petro has long been an advocate of homosexualist ideology. He has even started an LGBT Advisory Council to implement ''anti-discriminatory policies'' and ''make bold policy'' in the field of education.

A common theme in Elizabeth Yore's own coverage of the leftist mayors was the evidence of their strong support for both abortion and homosexualist ideology.

Indeed, she even drew attention to New York Mayor De Blasio's long-term support for the Marxist Sandanista government in Nicaragua. Such issues will be more than familiar to readers who have read either of our two series of articles entitled, Red Dawn - Parts 1 to 4 or And Russia Will Spread Her Errors - Parts 1 to 3.

In the conclusion to our articles on the leftist mayors last summer, we noted that it was interesting, to say the least, that the organizers in Rome had access to a list of mayors who were all working so hard to implement such similar leftist and pro-homosexual/pro-abortion goals in such a wide variety of cultural situations. This caused us to wonder whether there were not plans to involve Rome in the advancement of a new model of global governance. Such thoughts were also encouraged by the frequent attendance of pro-abortion/population control globalists for conferences at the Vatican last year. 

More of the Same

The photograph at the top of this article shows the leftist US Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders attending the recent Pontificial Academy of Social Sciences (PASS) conference in Rome.

As can be seen, in common with Pope Francis last year in Latin America, Bernie Sanders sat right next to President Evo Morales during the recent Rome PASS conference. It will be remembered that Morales is the Marxist President of Bolivia, who presented Pope Francis with the infamously blasphemous - and strangely portentous? - Hammer-and-Sickle ''crucifix'' last July.

It's That Man Again!

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the secular Jewish atheist, and pro-abortion leftist, Bernie Sanders had been invited to address the PASS event by none other than Archbishop Sanchez Sorondo.

Or that Sanders met Pope Francis, even if only for a brief few minutes out of ''good manners''... That is the same Pope Francis who appeared to interfere in American politics by suggesting, during a flight in which he sent a message of support to the leftist pro-abortion US President Barack Obama, that Donald Trump may not be a Christian for wanting to protect America's national sovereignty.

Reds Under the Bed

In an article entitled Marxists in the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Lepanto Institute's Michael Hichborn has drawn attention to the fact that Margaret Archer, appointed as president of PASS by Pope Francis in April 2014, has been using her key position to invite population control advocates like Ban Ki Moon and Jeffrey Sachs to speak at conferences in Rome.

Hichborn explains and demonstrates how Archer has been strongly influenced by Karl Marx. He also draws attention to the presence of other Marxist-influenced members of the PASS team and their relationship to population control ideology.

In relation to this, it is worth understanding that Bernie Sanders has just made some very incendiary remarks about the issue of abortion.

With video evidence, Western Journalism reported just two days ago that Sanders had said the following, during a Democrat Town Hall meeting: ''I have a 100% lifetime pro-choice voting record. I believe that not only do I oppose Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, I think we should expand funding for Planned Parenthood. And it is no secret, that in states all over this country, in a dozen different ways, there are governors and legislatures who are trying to make it impossible for a woman to control her own body. I will use the Department of Justice to go after those states, in every way that I legally can.''

And Pope Francis thinks it ''good manners'' to meet and greet with a murderous character like this, without so much as calling him to repentance?

Carrying this theme forward, the pro-abortion ''Catholic'' Vice-President Joe Biden will also attend the Vatican tomorrow to give a presentation before the Pontifical Council for Culture.

After this he too will meet with Pope Francis for a cordial exchange; thus pulling the rug right out from beneath the feet of pro-life faculty members and students who upheld the Catholic Faith by protesting when Notre Dame University awarded Biden the prestigious Laetare medal earlier this year.

Stranger than Fiction

A few evenings ago, we watched videos of the 1995 version of Little Lord Fauntleroy, for a bit of light relief.

There is a sequence when a usurper pretending to be the real Lady Fauntleroy arrives at Dorincourt Castle and arrogantly starts to swagger about the place, insulting the family, oppressing the servants and selfishly running things according to her own destructive ideas.

As their ideals and very lives are rapidly turned upside down by this imposter, the real Dorincourt family and their faithful servants become divided and deeply unhappy. Due to the hierarchical structure and traditions of their society, there is very little that anyone can do to amend things. In a sense they are hindered by the very structures and values that once strengthened them. Any servants who complain about the new order are swiftly put in their place by superiors who, though naturally sympathizing with them, can in no way tolerate rebellion of any kind against the overarching order.

It is only when the true nature of this false Lady Fauntleroy is brought to light that the structures can function healthily again; dealing with her errors and allowing the real Lord and Lady Fauntleroy to joyfully come home. With their social recognition and return, authentic order and joy soon return to the house of Dorincourt.

Although this was in a sense only a sub-plot to the bigger story, I remarked to Angie just how reminiscent it all was to the present state prevailing in the Church.

We have a situation where Pope Benedict, though happy enough to appear in public for birthday concerts and the like, is kept shuttered away in a private apartment, while the very eternal doctrines that he defended are twisted and, at least in practical terms, over-turned. 

In the days of Pope Francis orthodox Catholic doctrine, and orthodox Catholic believers, are mocked, sidelined and oppressed; arrogant modernist prelates swagger about the place; and heretics of every kind waltz around the Vatican promoting ideologies dramatically at odds with the Catholic Faith - though right at home with the architects and architecture of globalist socialism.

Any faithful Catholics who try to complain soon feel the rapid correction of superiors and fellows who, hiding their sympathy, cannot countenance any rebellion of any kind - except for that most dangerous rebellion which is raining down from those above them. And aside from those promoting all manner of confusion, division and heresy, everyone becomes increasingly divided and unhappy...

Conclusion

Look, if all these guys were heading to Rome to learn more about Our Blessed Lord and His Holy Church, then we'd be as delighted as everyone else. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case.

Although some people think I have now ''lost the plot'' by speaking of ''Red Dawns'' and the Marxist infiltration of the Church, I suggest that one would have to be blind, wilfully ignorant or just plain stupid not to see what is going on all around us now. To see it and say nothing is something else altogether...

On the other hand, we also suggest that, whilst it is very important to stand up in relation to Amoris Laetitia, and things like Tina Beattie's diabolical promotion of abortion, it is also essential to recognise these things within the wider context described here.

We encourage readers not to lose faith, hope and charity. The fact that so many faithful Catholics feel and think the way they do shows how much grace Our Blessed Lord has already given them. We must remember that, if He had not done this, we would all be just as unaware/uninterested/unmoved as most others so obviously are today.

Further to that, Our Lord would not have revealed all of these things to the faithful if He were not also going to sustain them, come what may.

In conclusion, we encourage all our readers to carry out a discerning study of the prophecies of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich; with particular focus on her injunction for all to pray for the ''church of darkness'' to leave Rome...

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Our 14th Wedding Anniversary - Deo Gratias!

Torch of The Faith News on Wednesday 27 April 2016 - 10:53:04 | by admin

We give thanks to God for the fact that 14 years ago today we were joined before the Altar of God in Holy Matrimony. Please join with us today in giving thanks to God for this blessing and praying for the defence of true marriage in the Church and society.

Joy in the Truth

Bishop Athanasius Schneider has written in ''Amoris Laetitia'': A Need for Clarification in Order to Avoid a General Confusion: ''There is no true supernatural and eternal life without keeping the Commandments of God: ''I command you to observe His Commandments. I have set before you life and death. Choose life!'' (Deuteronomy 30, 16.19). There is therefore no real life and no real, genuine joy of love without truth. ''Love consists in living according to His Commandments'' (2 John:6). The joy of love is the joy of the truth. The authentically Christian life consists in the life and in the joy of truth: ''Learning that my children live in the truth, there is nothing that brings me greater joy'' (3 John:4)...

... St. Augustine explains the intimate connection between joy and truth. ''I ask them all whether they do not prefer the joy of truth to that obtained by lies. And they do not hesistate over this question any more than over the question of happiness. For the happy life is the joy of the truth, we all want the joy of the truth'' (Confessions, X, 23).''

The Church's Teachings are No Mere Ideal

We want to testify today to the great beauty and graces of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

The Church's true teachings on Holy Matrimony - received from Christ, handed on by His Apostles, and expressed with such pristine clarity in the Sacred Scriptures and a whole line of authorative documents like Arcanum Divinae, Casti Connubii, Humanae Vitae, Familiaris Consortio, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church - bring the joy and truth of New Life in Christ.

These truths cannot be reduced to a mere ideal. In truth they are the very essence of authentic marriage. They are the foundational bedrock of authentic living for spouses, the wellbeing of children, the strength of the Church and the health of society.

Again, Bishop Schneider expresses it so well, when he writes: ''Our Lord has taught us clearly what constitutes true love and the true joy of love: ''He that has My Commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me'' (John 14:21). When He gave man the 6th Commandment and ordered him to observe the indissolubility of marriage, God gave it to all men without exception, not just to an elite. Already in the Old Testament, God said: ''This Commandment which I have given you today is certainly not beyond your strength and reach'' (Deuteronomy 30:11) and ''if you want to, you shall keep the Commandments to remain faithful to His Will (Ecclesiasticus 15:15). And Jesus said to all, ''If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments.'' Which Commandments? And Jesus answered, thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery'' (Mt 19:17-18). From the teaching of the Apostles, we have received the same doctrine: ''For to love God is to keep His Commandments. And His Commandments do not weigh heavily upon us'' (1 John 5:4).''

Christ's Truth has Rescued Us and Given Us Life

By God's grace, it has been our experience as a married couple that rooting our lives in the revealed truths of the Catholic Faith has enabled us to become increasingly converted and to receive the graces and blessings necessary to grow through the many hopes, joys, disappointments and sufferings of this passing world. Without Christ and His grace, we had only darkness and sin; with Him, we have life and light.

As with all of the Sacraments which were instituted by Christ, the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is an efficacious sign that makes actual the thing it signifies. This is why is makes no sense whatsoever to attempt to sunder Catholic doctrine from pastoral practice.

Rooted in the sublime teachings of St. Paul in Ephesians Chapter 5, the Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches: ''For as marriage, as a natural union, was instituted from the beginning for the propagation of the human race, so was it subsequently invested with the dignity of a sacrament, for the procreation and education of a people in the religion and worship of the true God, and of Christ our Saviour. For when Christ the Lord would give some sign of that very close union which subsists between Him and His Church, and of His boundless love towards us, He made known the dignity of so great a mystery principally by this holy union of man and wife; and the extreme aptitude of the illustration may be understood from this, that of all of human relations no one is more binding among men than the tie of marriage, and by it a man and woman are united in the closest bonds of affection and love. Hence it is that the Sacred Scriptures frequently place before our eyes, under the similitude of marriage, this divine union of Christ and His Church'' (Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part II, Chapter VIII, Question XV).

In light of these beautiful truths regarding the very essence - rather than the mere ideal - of marriage, it becomes even more clear why things like cohabitation, sexual activity outside of marriage, contraception, IVF, divorce/'re-marriage'' and homosexual pairings offend against natural and divine law; whilst in some sense also obscuring, or even wounding, the efficacious sign that Holy Matrimony imparts to the world.

Chastity is both a gift of grace and a challenge to be engaged

In light of the fallen nature of mankind, chastity is both difficult and demanding. It is no less beautiful for all of that.

We must never forget that, whilst it requires great effort and self mastery, chastity is always primarily a work of God's grace.

Our Lord Jesus Christ requires that His followers be chaste. He also gives them the means to accomplish this chastity. Our part as Catholics is to co-operate with His gift of grace through prayer, fasting, charitable acts and receving the Sacraments worthily and with love. St. Philip Neri used to teach that chastity was not possible without Confession and the Holy Eucharist. We need to first receive divine love if we are to love ourselves and others with the love of Christ.

Who among us can claim to have been truly chaste? Before the purity of Our Blessed Lord, most of us are, in varying degrees, just like the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. And yet, Jesus has not condemned us. But He has told us to sin no more. Knowing that we are made of clay, He has given us His sacraments, teachings and the other helps of Holy Church to help us to overcome our sins, receive healing and enter into a new life in Christ.

This is why the heretical notion of ''gradualism'' is so cruel and evil. Like most heresies, it locks us in on our own strengths - or rather weaknesses - and self-sufficiencies. It falsely suggests that we are OK as we are, that God demands no more of us and even that He will not help us.

Gradualism is a lie from the Devil that comes straight from Hell. Have no part in it; for it is a denial of both our nature as fallen human beings, with all of our concupiscent tendencies to sin and selfishness, as well as a denial of God's prevenient, accompanying and sacramental grace.

Many of us who grew to adulthood from and after the 1960's - 70's were indoctrinated with the ideals - or rather the lack thereof - of the sexual revolution. Even with the best intentions of parents and good priests, many of us imbibed these things from our teachers, the school curricula, the TV, the pop-industry and the enormous peer-pressure which surrounded us.

Truly we grew to adulthood in a veritable cess-pool of vice and sin. We were being formed in a bitter winter of immorality. We just did not know it at the time. And of course, it is much worse today. That Catholic parents, bishops, priests, schools and teachers have allowed themselves to be frozen into complacency in such a winter is lamentable. It is also a revealing sign of the true nature of the times through which we are now living.

In contrast to all of this, the teachings which Christ gave to His Church, both to safeguard and hand on, are the perennial spring time of true love. Like a lifeline, they rescue human personhood, dignity and the sexual faculty from this winter, with its degrading swamp of sin and selfishness, to set them as warming lights on the mountain-top of self-sacrifical love; a love which seeks the good of the other, even to the point of their eternal wellbeing.

All of this is Christ's gift to the Church and through Her to those who love Him. No wonder Satan and his minions want to destroy all of this in society and even in the Church.

Choose Life!

May we each make the choice for chastity today and resist all heresies against love, grace, goodness, beauty and truth. Let us ask Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Holy Mother and St. Joseph to help us to receive the graces necessary to live with a pure heart; and to love God, our neighbour and our selves with charity and patience.

If any of us have fallen away from chastity in our beliefs, thoughts or actions, may we sincerely repent of this and begin again today to pursue holiness through Confession and Holy Communion in the state of grace. The words of Matthew 5:8 could be taken as a motto to keep us all on the right track: ''Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.''

Thanks be to God for the Harmony Between the True Teachings and the Authentic Pastoral Practices of the Catholic Church

We give thanks again for our 14th Wedding Anniversary and for all that we have received from Our Blessed Lord through His Holy Catholic Church. We thank the Most Holy Trinity, Our Lady, St. Joseph, our parents and each other for the beautiful gift of life and for the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony that we have been blessed to share during these 14 years.

Please pray that God will continue to draw us into deeper conversion to His Love, that He will continue to protect and strengthen our marriage and that He will enable us to bear effective witness in the defence of True Marriage.

May the Holy Family - Pray for us! 

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Prof Tina Beattie Must be Corrected by the Bishops for the Good of Her Soul and to Avoid Further Scandal

Torch of The Faith News on Tuesday 26 April 2016 - 17:50:28 | by admin

On 3rd December 2015, we lamented the fact that Professor Tina Beattie was one of several dissenting speakers who had taken part, one month earlier at Ushaw College, in the Tablet - 175th Anniversary Conference: The Spirit of Catholic Renewal: Signs, Sources and Calling.

At the time, we noted that Professor Beattie would be familiar to English readers, due to her notorious dissent from the Magisterium over the issue of same-sex ''marriage''.

Worse than that, she has publicly spoken of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in sacrilegious and offensive terms as a metaphysical consummation of homosexual love.

This is sheer blasphemy.

Beattie is also notorious in the UK for her public dissent from the Magisterium over contraception.

When the Catholic Truth Society (CTS) issued a booklet defending traditional Catholic teaching on contraception and divorce, Beattie harshly described it as, ''a perverted publication, written by and for people with a perverted understanding of the meaning and reality of sexual love in all of its joys, struggles and ambiguities.''

In Vol 4, No 1, of the International Journal of Public Theology in 2010, Prof Beattie even went so far as to call for a ''more nuanced approach'' to the issue of early abortion.

Beattie has also spoken out in support of that other theological impossibility - women priests.

Although Prof Beattie was publicly censured by the CDF in 2012 for supporting homosexual ''marriage'' in a letter to the Times, and has thus been prevented from speaking at some Catholic venues, she remarkably remains to this day as a member of Cafod's Theological Reference Group. In 2013, she was included in a list of speakers for the Year of Faith at a parish in Westminster Diocese. Most disgracefully, Prof Beattie is also employed by the Catholic Church in this country to teach seminarians! 

Prof Beattie's views are frequently expressed through her columns in the leftist Guardian and in the modernistic Tablet; a dissenting ''Catholic'' publication which, in spite of the frequent complaints of many of the Catholic faithful, sadly remains on sale in the porches of far too many cathedrals and churches across the UK.

Prof Beattie is also the Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton in London and Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Religion, Society and Human Flourishing.

The Catholic Herald has reported that Prof Beattie has now added to her public enormities by appending her signature to a letter to the Polish Bishops opposing their efforts to ban abortion. Indeed, this letter supports the fallacy of ''early, safe and legal'' abortion.

For the good of her immortal soul, and of all who observe this ongoing grave public scandal to the Catholic Faith and to the faithful, Prof Beattie should be forbidden by the Hierarchy from receiving Holy Communion, and prevented from teaching in any Catholic establishment, until she has publicly repented of her dissent and her shocking promotion of the prenatal murder of babies.

That is not our personal opinion - it is Catholic Truth.

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The Best Homily on Marriage that We Have Ever Heard!

Torch of The Faith News on Monday 25 April 2016 - 20:10:45 | by admin

Positive Developments Abroad...

You have probably heard by now about two courageous reflections which have emerged over the weekend in relation to Amoris Laetitia.

The first is a thoughtful article by the respected American canonist Fr. Gerald Murray at The Catholic Thing.

The other is of course the splendid 6,000-word statement given by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary-Bishop of Astana in Kazakhstan, to Corrispondenza Romana; and translated into English today by Veri Catholici.

Both of these truly Catholic responses are well worth your time to read and reflect upon. Indeed, the release of His Lordship's statement makes him the first bishop in the whole wide world to speak out publicly regarding some of the problematic components of Amoris Laetitia. May God bless him for that.

... And Closer to Home

We also had a very happy experience in relation to the Church's teachings on marriage over the weekend.

As we have noted here before, in over 23 years, we have only ever heard about 6 homilies relating to the Church's authentic teachings on chastity, contraception and marriage. Of these: 2 took place during pro-life retreats; 1 was heard in Steubenville; and 1 was during a Latin Mass Society celebration. This means that we have only ever heard 2 homilies on the matter in ordinary parish situations during that very lengthy period of time. That equates to approximately 1 such parish homily every decade!

We are happy to say that last evening we heard our 7th sermon - and easily the very best to date - on this vital issue.

We had travelled over for the 6pm Low Mass at the developing FSSP Shrine of St. Mary's in the town centre of Warrington.

During this Holy Mass, Fr. de Malleray FSSP preached a marvellous homily about the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. I cannot recall it word for word, but I do remember the key points expressed below.

Fr. de Malleray spoke about the fact that God the Father eternally begets the Son. In turn the Son eternally gives Himself to the Father in love. The eternal love between them is the Holy Spirit.

Turning to the created order, Father recalled that animals can bring forth new life. However, their offspring are limited and do not have immortal souls with the powers of memory, intellect and will.

On the other hand, whilst Angels are immortal beings, and although they have memory, intellect and will, they do not bring forth new life, as far as we are aware.

God has bestowed on us uniquely as human creatures the power to bring forth new lives that have immortal souls with these powers of memory, intellect and will. Through the gift of procreation and education of our children, we are called to populate Heaven with such immortal persons.

This gift is, in a certain sense, wrapped in the mystery of sexual pleasure.

Sad to relate, and especially in our present cultural situation, this gift has too often been discarded and only that outer wrapping of sexual pleasure retained. It has thus been removed from its proper context.

Whereas doctors used to ask if a person was still breathing, and priests used to ask if a person still prayed, society is now only really interested in sexual activity. This represents a very real reduction of persons.

Here we arrive at the issue of contraception.

Contraception represents a rejection of God's plan for the populating of Heaven with immortal souls. This is because contraception discards the great gift and retains only the wrapping which God gave as an outer cover to the gift in the first place.

It is through openness to God and procreation that married couples can enter into the deepest possible union with one another.

A Great Encouragement

As the Torch of The Faith catechetical presentations, which we used to give to engaged couples, students and RCIA groups in parishes around England and Wales, frequently included this very theme, it was a great encouragement for us to hear this homily during Holy Mass last night. 

The authentic teachings of the Catholic Church on chastity and holy matrimony are beautiful. They are just not often heard! It was therefore very encouraging for us to hear this very articulate explanation being given at St. Mary's last night.

Not only that: this was the very best homily that we have ever heard on this subject. Period.

From the parish newsletter, it looks as though there are many other good things happening at St. Mary's shrine with daily Confessions, Traditional Latin Mass and Rosary; weekly Eucharistic Adoration and lectures on the Sacred Liturgy; an upcoming public Corpus Christi procession; a family picnic; and a new group for young adults springing up.

The FSSP is attracting a growing number of young English men to train for the priesthood in the seminaries of their confraternity. Looking at the quality of their formation and apostolic mission, it is not surprising. Long may they flourish!

Santa Maria - Ora pro nobis!

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Fr. Gary Dickson - A Marvellous and Much Loved Parish Priest - Announces His Retirement

Torch of The Faith News on Monday 25 April 2016 - 18:06:03 | by admin

Please join us in saying a prayer for Fr. Gary Dickson, who has announced his retirement from parish ministry due to health grounds.

Many readers will recall that Fr. Gary had to have 4 stents fitted to help the blood flow to his heart last August. He was also diagnosed with Silent Ischaemia.

At the time, we noted that he and Andrew McDowell were among the most courageous and prophetic witnesses to Christ's truth in these difficult times. We also recalled that they had a rare gift for expressing hard-hitting truths in a charitable and well-balanced manner at their splendid Catholic Collar and Tie blog.

Their articles have provided challenge, food for thought, encouragement and fresh hope to readers all over the world.

Just a few weeks after his time in hospital, Fr. Gary kindly posted up a most supportive article about us when we were going through a stressful time, after we had stood up over issues relating to the late Cilla Black's funeral in early September. The kind words of Fr. Gary and several of his readers were a great encouragement to us during a worrying time. We were especially grateful, knowing that Father had been so unwell, but also worried that he was taking time to stand up for us at a time of such ill health. That's the kind of guy he is!

In the months following the death of my own dear Dad in October 2012, we first came across the Catholic Collar and Tie blog. It was a source of great consolation for us to find such a charitable and well written promotion of the True Faith. As such, we eventually became daily readers. I will always be grateful to Fr. Gary for offering the Traditional Latin Mass here on our home-altar for Dad on his second anniversary, with Andrew serving, and for all the kindness that he has shown to Mum and to Angie and I.

Fr. Gary's latest post at Catholic Collar and Tie explains in greater detail the more recent health complications which have forced him to now take early retirement from parish ministry.

In addition to the heart-related issues, these complications include frequent infective exacerbation of his COPD, clubbing of the fingers and evidence of Bronchiectasis.

Father has written movingly: ''Leaving parish ministry has been a very hard decision to make; not being in direct parish ministry is not an easy thing with which to live. I became a priest to support the people of God in their crisis moments; provide them with a liturgy that was God-centred, and teaching that was faithful to the Magisterium. To have left this work for the people of God behind is a real bereavement for me. I struggled with the idea of a younger priest retiring from parish work as I have the belief that we should 'die with our boots on', but when one is carrying in one's respiratory system more than one bug which can be passed to the housebound and vulnerable, one becomes a threat to the health and welfare of those one is attempting to support, so my own desire to struggle on took second place.

While my bishop is probably pleased to be relieved of a priest who became a maverick simply by holding to the red of the Missal and the letter of the Catechism, I have to say that he has been most supportive, and I have no doubt about his genuine desire to seek the good of his priests and the people of the Diocese. I continue to say Mass privately where my cough bothers no one but me and any server, so Masses to which I have committed myself are still being offered; what I cannot do is say on which days I will be offering Holy Mass, since some days the breathlessness is worse than on other days.''

Please say a prayer for Fr. Gary and for the people of his parish at Sacred Heart in Thornley, near Durham. It will be a hard loss for him and for them to bear.

Hopefully, the global ministry of Catholic Collar and Tie will be able to continue in some degree! 

Sacred Heart of Jesus - Have mercy on us!

Immaculate Heart of Mary - Pray for us!

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St. Walburge's Day - Festivities!

Torch of The Faith News on Monday 25 April 2016 - 16:42:21 | by admin

The ICKSP Shrine of St. Walburge in Preston ranks as one of the most beautiful and grandest of churches in the whole of the north west of England.

The growing community there are preparing to celebrate their patronal feast day and invite everyone to join them for the St. Walburge's Festival on Sunday 1st May.

The celebrations will include Traditional High Mass and sermon in honour of St. Walburge at 10:30 am.

The music for Holy Mass will be provided by the splendid St. Philip Neri Singers from Manchester. The music programme includes:-

Franz Joseph Haydn - Little Organ Mass

Cesar Franck - Dextera Domini

Tomas Luis de Victoria - Beati Immaculati

Gregor Aichinger - Regina Caeli

After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there will be a reception with food and drink. Weather permitting, this will be held in the parish garden.

The address is:-

St. Walburge's Catholic Church, Weston Street, Preston, PR2 2QE.

All are welcome!

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A Question of Integrity

Torch of The Faith News on Saturday 23 April 2016 - 12:49:26 | by admin

Which is it? The famous illusion picture; in which some see a beautiful, young woman and others see an ugly old hag! 

Wheeler Dealers...

When we had first arrived over in America, we quite quickly found ourselves befriended by a chap who said that he would be happy to help us to find our feet. As we were needing a set of wheels to get around with, we were delighted a few days later when he also informed us that he had a friend who was looking to sell a quality Japanese car at that time.

A few evenings later, this friend-of-a-friend turned up at our digs with a beautiful-looking Japanese car. As we don't want any lawsuits, I'll not mention the brand name! I will say that the car was finished in a nice metallic gold and, in spite of being almost 10 years old, it still looked and drove like a brand new vehicle.

As I had never driven a left-hand-drive before, much less driven on the right hand side of the road, I was glad when this gentleman trusted me enough to take a few slow runs around the block. It was weird driving a left-hooker for the first time: one had to quickly learn a new width-perception off to the right in order to avoid polishing off the sides from half the parked cars in the neighbourhood! Where I was so used to having a car door at my right elbow, there was, instead, a whole half-width of car to keep in line!

Still, I quite quickly noticed that the power-assisted steering was exquisite, the ride and handling were well-balanced and the plush interior was loaded with kit. Although the mileage was a little on the high side, I was not unduly concerned, because of the reputation Japanese cars have for both longevity and reliability. 

In the event, I actually bought a different kind of Japanese car: a silky-smooth and powerful Toyota Camry, on 6-spoke alloys, with over 125,000 miles on the clock; when my US visa expired 2 years later, I was able to sell this one on for the same price that I had paid for it!

Being that this Camry was bigger than most vehicles on British roads, I was tickled when the vendor described it to me as ''a cute little car''. It was certainly dwarfed by many of the Buicks, Cadillacs and wide-bodied Dodge ''dually'' pick-up trucks which we saw each day! (UK readers might like to ''Google'' that last one for some idea of my meaning...).

The ''cute little'' Camry - Powerful, Smooth and Totally Reliable.

Anyway, getting back to the gold car and warming to our theme...

When I got back to the apartment and started doing the whole tyre-kicking (tire in America!) routine, I opened the passenger door to discover an almighty rust hole in the door-sill. This was such a serious hole in terms of its width, depth and length, that I seriously began to doubt the car's structural integrity. Almost laughably, the hole had been tightly packed with a load of shiny tin-foil. The owner told me not to worry about the hole or the foil, as he had driven right across the American continent in that car. I politely said to him that I would now be very worried about my wife's safety in this car. If it were to be involved in a ''T-bone'' accident at one of the many cross-junctions in the area, I would be concerned that it might just fold up around her. Tin-foil and steel might look similar, but they simply are not!

That was not the only integrity that I began to doubt that evening...

As the owner departed, I noticed the man who was ''helping us to find our feet'' giving the car's owner a very knowing kind of wink, when he thought that I was not looking. It was the kind of gesture that said: ''Don't worry, I'll get this daft limey to buy this thing off you.'' Needless to say, that gold car was not the only thing that we politely walked away from...

In the end, it was all a question of integrity.

Are we giving up on integrity?

Converting to Catholicism is very much a journey towards integrity and truth. At times this can be a very painful experience, due to spiritual warfare, personal sin, the sins of others and the demands of conforming one's actions, thoughts, lifestyle and very will to Christ's Truth.

Becoming open to grace can be both a beautiful and a challenging process. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: ''Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield, man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God's grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity'' (CCC 409).

A key part of my journey into the Faith has been the encounter with the integrity of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Truth. This encounter has frequently been facilitated by having my intellect engaged, and my will challenged, through reading the clear and precise teachings of the Popes.

Quas Primas, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Casti Connubii, Humanae Vitae, Fides et Ratio, Veritatis Splendor, Evangelium Vitae, Familiaris Consortio, Catechesi Tradendae and Redemptoris Mater: these are just some of the key papal teachings which, rooted in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, have helped to shape the way that I see, think, pray and act.

With each and all of these teachings, one glimpses the fact that, though we might be messed up as fallen sinners, Christ's Truth is ordered, beautiful, good and true. It is upon His clear foundations that one may, with the help and encouragement of grace, build one's life and begin to engage in the battle for ongoing conversion and sanctity.

A Priest with Integrity Speaks

Fr. Gerald Murray with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN's - The World Over Live: Since the advent of Amoris Laetitia, Angie keeps finding me about the place wearing just that expression of Fr. Murray's...

In his latest Fatima Perspective, Christopher Ferrara has summarized Raymond Arroyo, Fr. Gerald Murray and Robert Royal's World Over Live critique of Amoris Laetitia as ''honest and unsparing''. In describing this summary, Mr. Ferrara draws attention to the team's use of terms like: dangerous; very disturbing; very problematic; not the language of the Gospel; a direct contradiction of John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio; not in accord with what the Church has said until now; an attempt to paper over what really is a change of doctrine... but denying that you're changing doctrine.

Indeed, Mr. Ferrara includes the following direct quote from the widely respected, and obviously deeply concerned, Fr. Murray: ''I don't want to criticize the Pope... but what I will say is when you do something in public that contradicts what your predecessor did, there has to be an accounting for it and a responsibility to upholding the Gospel...''

Where are we seeing this accounting and upholding of the Gospel?

We are carefully and gradually reading through Mr. Ferrara's own studious critique of Amoris Laetitia at The Remnant. It must be said that what we have read of his analysis so far reveals it to be as meticulous as it seems accurate. It is difficult for an honest person to disagree with his thesis that Amoris Laetitia is not so much revolutionary as subversive.

We suggested in our recent ''Dazzle Ship'' article, that there does seem to be a sophisticated use of obscurantism in the document which has allowed for multiple interpretations to develop throughout the world.

And so, during the past week, we have seen: Cardinal Reinhard Marx and two other modernistic German prelates suggesting that Amoris Laetitia allows them to give Holy Communion to divorced and ''re-married'' people; the Archdiocese of Milan claiming that it has been inundated with requests from such people wanting to receive Holy Communion since the document's release; Bishop Mark Davies affirming that Church teaching remains unchanged; and Bishop Philip Egan stating that the document nowhere allows for the divorced and ''remarried'' to receive Holy Communion.

Is it not far too late for Romanitas?

Since the late 1990's, I have been becoming increasingly frustrated by the employment of ''Romanitas'' when orthodox prelates and priests want to say something in code to affirm the Faith for those with ears to understand, whilst at the same time protecting themselves from attack and sending a subtle shot across the bows of the so-called ''progressives'' in the Church.

To my mind, the time for this rhetorical technique to be appropriate ceased when the danger to souls passed from the proportions of a crisis to that of a looming shipwreck. The game of Romanitas now looks like the arranging of deckchairs on a stricken vessel.

One example of this type of thing appeared to be Pope Benedict XVI's use of Pope Leo XIII's stole for his visit to the Anglicans at Westminster. This allowed liberals to claim a victory because the Pontiff stood next to a fully garbed woman minister in the cathedral. On the other hand, it allowed the orthodox to also claim a victory, because Pope Leo XIII was the Pope who had officially declared Anglican orders completely null and utterly void. Everyone could read into the thing whatever they wanted.

I have two local examples of this.

When one of my friends was placed for his seminary placement with an out and out extreme modernist priest, he wrote a message of thanks at the conclusion of the placement. It included a phrase suggesting that being with that priest had convinced him that he must become a priest.

Another time, a tradition-leaning parish-priest, not wanting to read out the liberal vagaries of the local bishop's pastoral letter, had it printed up and left in the porch with the words: ''Bishop's Pastoral letter for your convenience.'' A little deep thought might reveal the wit and deeper meaning in that phrase (overseas readers might appreciate knowing that ''convenience'' can also be a polite word for the loo!). Ah, Romanitas...

Perhaps we look too hard when we wonder if this is not the dynamic at work in the words of the English Bishops Mark Davies and Philip Egan.

The former says of Amoris Laetitia: ''The Pope shows us how a truly pastoral response must always indicate clearly the path leading to life by unambiguously offering the truth about marriage and the family that has been entrusted to the Church.''

And the latter speaks of Amoris Laetitia as a ''magnificent document'' that is ''truly breathtaking in scope.''

Whether this is subtle Romanitas or not, it does clearly reveal one thing: We have, as yet, no prelate able or willing to put their head above the parapet and openly say that there are a number of serious concerns relating to the ambiguities and thrust of Amoris Laetitia.

And so for now, the ambiguities allow for Modernists to promote sacrilege without being challenged; and the more orthodox - or less liberal? - prelates to affirm the Tradition via another extension of the hermeneutic of continuity.

Truth, Honesty and Integrity

A couple of days ago, I read a very moving and heartfelt reflection by Laurence England of ''The Bones'' fame. In the comments, I noticed the words of ''Jane Old Convert'' who wrote: ''The voice of Pope Francis in AL sounds like that of a stranger, it does not sound like the voice of Christ speaking through Peter. We cannot pray enough for this Pope.'' And yet, we find bishops and priests that we formally thought to be orthodox towing the party line without expressing so much as a flicker of clear concern. There are even some priests going so far as to herald Pope Francis for his wisdom and so forth. At the very least, this reveals a disconnect between the public expressions of the clergy and those of increasing numbers of distressed laity.

As we turned in for the night last evening, I remarked to Angeline that part of my conversion included the discovery of deep intellectual truth and honesty in the Catholic Church.

As St. John Paul II so wonderfully demonstrated in Fides et Ratio, faith and reason really do remain in harmony together, or else they perish together.

The Rover Metro - I had one of these little cars for 10.5 years. Over a 20-year period, my Mum owned 4 of them. The brand was finally killed off when it was discovered to have rather a lack of structural integrity...

The Catholic Faith is logically consistent in each and all of its doctrines and associated practices. Part of its beauty is that following Christ and His Vicar has always been about going deeper with authentic freedom into truth and logically consistent principles; rather than having to smile inanely at whatever be the latest pronouncement, however self-contradictory, of a Kim Jong-un style of leader.

If one notices that Pope Francis ''appears'' to take Gaudium et Spes, Familiaris Consortio or the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and twist them to fit a programme that ''appears'' to contradict the original intention and thrust of those earlier sources, then one should not only feel free to do so, but one has a duty to do so.

Using natural logic alone, one is left with the thought that either all the popes and Pope Francis have been wrong; or that they were all right and he has some things wrong, or at least has them poorly expressed. As the first is impossible from a Catholic conception, then the latter option must logically follow.

The Catholic response, primarily that of cardinals and bishops, should be to point that reality out with genuine charitable concern for the Pontiff's immortal soul and, indeed, for all of our souls. Emboldend by their feeble response up to now, the Modernists everywhere are gearing up for mass-public-sacrilege. Mark that this will not be the end, but only the beginning of an ever-deepening problem. 

It seems that orthodox Catholics are gradually being required to leave behind their Catholic beliefs, and even the use of their reason and logic, in order to smile at the ''new clothes'' of a naked emperor and rejoice with everyone else.

In such a situation, faith and reason give way to mere party spirit. Truth falls to mere will to power.

If such a conception of the Church were ever to prevail, then we would be left with something distinctly other to Catholicism. It really would become a religion of man, rather than of the God-man.

And, if we were to simply go along with the new order, without pointing any of these things out, especially after having searched for the Truth in the first place, converts like us would also lose our integrity.

Conclusion

It appears to me that, as with that golden car all those years ago, a gaping chasm has now been opened up. Those like Cardinals Kasper and Marx remind me of that fella who was winking to let his buddy know that he would be able to sell us that pile of junk as something good, reliable and safe.

On the other hand, and however well-intentioned they may be, those telling us that there really is no problem to speak of, remind me of the vendor who had packed his rotting door-sill with shiny tin foil in the first place. It might have looked nice and shiny, but it had no structural integrity.

I wouldn't let my wife drive that car then; and I'm loath to let her, myself or any of my loved ones be put in spiritual danger by any prelate or priest; no matter how orthodox their reputation has been up to now.

It stikes me that what we need from our cardinals, bishops and priests is not more Romanitas, not more shiny foil, but some rather serious welding. And that soon.

Because, when all is said and done, it is a question of integrity... 

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Feast of St. Anselm (and my 44th Birthday!)

Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 21 April 2016 - 10:02:36 | by admin

All the 4's - 44!

Today is my 44th Birthday. I thank God and my parents for the inestimable gifts of life, baptism and faith. Birthdays present us with an important opportunity to seriously ask ourselves: Am I closer or further from God than I was this time last year? And being that I am now another year nearer to meeting Him, what am I going to do about it?

St. Anselm

As he is one of my heroes in the Faith, I always consider it a great blessing that my birthday is celebrated on the feast of St. Anselm of Canterbury.

St. Anselm was born in Italy in 1033 and became a monk at the abbey of Bec in Normandy. A gifted leader, philosopher and theologian, he eventually became abbot there. In 1093, he was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury. In that role he defended the rights of the Church from the attempted infringements of King William Rufus. St. Anselm died on this day, the 21st of April, in the year 1109.

He is an important figure in the historical shaping of both our English nation and Western civilization in general. St. Anselm drew upon important sources like St. Augustine of Hippo, Dionysius the Areopagite and Aristotle. His own work would later challenge and inspire thinkers as great as St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus. Works like his Proslogion continue to invite conversion, debate and deep thought to this day.  

St. Anselm's engagement with the key questions of human existence - and much of the body of answers which he articulated - remains extremely relevant today: Does God exist? Can we know anything about God's nature? What is truth? Can human beings have freedom of choice? What is the nature and purpose of such freedom in a world created and sustained by God?

Continued Relevance

Post-Moderns suggest that it is only those who do not believe that can be free to create and impose their own ''realities'' on existence. As this is not based in objective truth, reason, or authentic receptivity to Being, it causes many people today to unknowingly have the parameters of their ''reality'' constructed for them by those behind contemporary trends in education, mass-media and the overwhelming peer-pressure to conform to the demands of the new atheism. There is a certain irony, indeed a certain punishment, contained in all of this; for freedom without God is the worst form of slavery.

We see examples of the post-modern imposition of ''my reality'' all around us in the widespread acceptance of selfishness, sexual promiscuity, abortion, contraception, euthanasia, extreme tattooing, body-modification and gender ideology. The battle now breaking out around the globe over ''gender-neutral'' toilet facilities represents the latest stage in the unreality of post-modern deconstructionism. It is interesting to notice how every attempt to replace the natural law eventually requires the harsh enforcement of the ''new morality''. One might think here of G.K. Chesterton's prescient dictum: ''Once abolish God and the government becomes the god.''

We even see this in the Church today with the present attempt to overthrow Tradition by imposing new conceptions of the Church, the Sacraments - at least Confession, the Eucharist and Holy Matrimony - and Morality. It is interesting to note too, how the attempt to deconstruct the Church and superimpose post-modern novelties has also been preceded and accompanied by widespread persecution of orthodox Catholics...

Faith Seeking Understanding

Canterbury Cathedral - An important element in our religious, national and civilization history. 

Needless to say, St. Anselm of Canterbury saw things rather differently.

His faith, charity, intellectual rigour, clarity of thought, lucidity of expression and, above all, openness to grace, enabled him to recognize that it is only through believing that we can truly understand and thus arrive at authentic liberty: that is to say, the freedom of the children of God.

Ultimately, it is the New Life in Christ which constitutes the basis of St. Anselm's timeless motto: fides quaerens intellectum - faith seeking understanding. The post-modern mantra, ''If you believe, you will not understand'' is overturned by St. Anselm with his, ''Unless you believe, you will not understand.''

Rene Descartes' Cogito ergo sum - ''I think therefore I am'' - would thus rather be rendered, ''I am a creature, made by God, therefore I think the way I do.''

In terms of the Church, St. Anselm's maxim remains a powerful corrective to those who, much in the manner of the Immanentists of an earlier century, would try to reduce Catholicism to a religion of mere feelings, subjective emotionalism, personal experience and will to power. He is very much the thinking man's Catholic. In the wider context of our contemporary society, Western civilization needs to urgently recover St. Anselm's maxims, if it is not to completely unravel and find itself submerged between the twin threats of radical relativism and radical Islam.

Key Quotes for Ongoing Reflection

St. Anselm's writings still have tremendous relevance and power to transform the minds and hearts of those who find them in our own days.

As I did last year, I'm heading off now with Angie and Mum to enjoy my birthday pizza, cake and Peroni! I'll conclude with a few classic quotes from St. Anselm of Canterbury:-

For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe this: unless I believe I will not understand.

Therefore Lord, not only are You that than which a greater cannot be thought, but You are also something greater than can be thought.

Let no worldy prosperity divert you, nor any worldy adversity restrain you from His praise.

Remove grace, and you have nothing whereby to be saved. Remove free will, and you have nothing that could be saved.

God hath promised pardon to him that repenteth, but He hath not promised repentance to him that sinneth.

It is impossible to save one's soul without devotion to Mary and without her protection.

St. Anselm of Canterbury - Pray for us!

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More on the Eucharistic Miracle in Poland

Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 21 April 2016 - 01:10:54 | by admin

On Sunday 17th April, Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski, of Legnica in Poland, made an official announcement about the Eucharistic Miracle in St. Jacek parish to a packed church.

During the ceremony, His Lordship recalled the final announcement of the Department of Forensic Medicine, which had carried out tests on the Eucharistic Miracle. The announcement read: In the histopathological image, the fragments of tissue have been found containing the fragmented parts of the cross striated muscle... The whole... is most similar to the heart muscle with alterations that often appear during the agony. The genetic researches indicate the human origin of the tissue.

In his concluding remarks to the announcement, Bishop Kiernikowski added: ''I hope that this will serve to deepen the cult of the Eucharist and will have deep impact on the lives of people facing the Relic. We see the mysterious sign as an extraordinary act of love and goodness of God, who comes to humans in ultimate humiliation... I cordially ask for your prayer and I bless you.''

This is a truly beautiful gift of Our Blessed Lord to the Church in these times. Let us give thanks to Him for this gift which testifies to the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

May the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus be known and loved everywhere!  

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Turbulence

Torch of The Faith News on Wednesday 20 April 2016 - 20:21:22 | by admin

Non-Verbal Communication: Pope Francis explains to Wall Street Journal correspondent Francis X Rocca how reading Cardinal Schonborn's 3,000-word analysis of the 260-page Amoris Laetitia will help Rocca to answer his own straightforward question for himself.

Updated

Please Note: Our website programme will not allow us to do umlauts, so we have to render Cardinal Schonborn's name without one. As he eschews rigorism, we are sure he will forgive us...

Round and Round We Go!

In 1994, about a year after converting to the Faith, I picked up a red booklet about St. Paul of the Cross and the congregation of the Passionists. Near to the back page was a dotted-line coupon for interested readers to cut out and send away for more information about Passionist vocations.

Duly inspired, I carefully cut out and posted off my coupon in the next post and awaited a response with all the bright-eyed keeness of the newly converted.

A couple of weeks later, a brown envelope arrived in the post. I eagerly tore it open, only to find that it contained another copy of the same red booklet, complete with another cut-out coupon near to the back page...

Realizing that this could be the start of a postage-consuming loop, I decided to look elsewhere in my vocational discernment. 

Hey, maybe that's one of the reasons why there is a convent-closing vocations shortage today?!!!

The Never-Ending Story...

I was reminded of this potentially never-ending convolution when viewing a video of Pope Francis' in-flight answer to Francis X. Rocca, over at the 1 Peter 5 blog.

Before considering that, it is worth mentioning something else, for reasons of overall context, which first struck me during the initial Amoris Laetitia press conference from Rome on 8th April, 2016.

Towards the end of that conference, a journalist asked Cardinal Christoph Schonborn a straightforward question about Holy Communion in relation to the divorced and ''re-married'' and the ambiguous Footnote 351 (there must surely be some witty caption linking that to Ray Bradbury's dystopian Fahrenheit 451, but I'm finding myself to be not so much apostolically exhorted right now as apostolically exhausted...).

Anyway, in a deft move, the Austrian prelate suggested that the best way to answer these kind of questions was to take time to carefully read through the whole document.

I remarked to Angie that this rhetorical device reminded me of those decoy flares which military aircraft fire out as counter-measures to heat-seeking missiles.

It certainly seemed a sure-fire way to silence any awkward questions and keep everyone running on the wild goose chase which began in earnest during Kasper's Pope Francis-sponsored presentation in February 2014...

Oh, for sure, this has all been a real ''linguistic event''...

Now, so ambiguous is the content of the actual exhortation document that a variety of interpretations, and many fissures of disunity, have subsequently broken out, or at least deepened, throughout the Church and wider society.

Here we come to Francis X Rocca's straightforward question during Pope Francis' return flight from the isle of Lesbos on Saturday.

Regarding the massive issue of Holy Communion and the divorced/''re-married'' - an impermissable matter which Cardinal Kasper, with Pope Francis' hearty backing, let loose on the Church a couple of years ago - Rocca asked: ''For a Catholic who wants to know: are there new, concrete possibilities that didn't exist before the publication of the exhortation or not?''

Had he wanted to do so, here was another perfect opportunity for Pope Francis, as Vicar of Christ, to publicly affirm the 2,000 year Tradition of the Church - which is anyway rooted in the clear teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles - once and for all.

In the event, this is what he said: ''I can say yes. Period. But that would be too small an answer.'' Adding greatly to the ambiguity, confusion and further disunity, Pope Francis then recommended, to Rocca and all the other journalists present, to go and read Schonborn's press-release presentation from 8th April, 2016. He concluded: ''In that presentation, your question will have the answer.''

So, to summarize: During his presentation, Cardinal Schonborn tells journalists to go away and read Pope Francis' exhortation for an answer. When they do, and subsequently ask Pope Francis for clarification over the ongoing ambiguity, he tells them to go away and read Cardinal Schonborn's similarly ambiguous presentation...

As the old song has it: ''England swings like a pendulum do''! 

Body-Language

We have watched the video at 1 Peter 5 several times and the above image is a freeze-frame from Pope Francis' answer in that exchange with Rocca.

Aside from Pope Francis' expression, I want to mention just one other thing in the realm of non-verbal communication.

At the very moment when Pope Francis tells Rocca et al to consult Schonborn's presentation, he animatedly raises his hand and slices it down in front of his face between the journalist and himself.

This gives off a dual impression: together with the look on his face, it makes it very clear that he is closing the in-flight discussion of this matter; and it appears to reveal something deeper about the use of that presentation.

Let me explain: When a person with nothing to hide tries to convince someone else to consult something which clearly and openly supports a given position, it is most natural for them to have a peaceful countenance and very open body-language.

Such an attitude is frequently and most normally conveyed with an unobstructed face, friendly and relaxed eyes, a genuine smile, open arms and, perhaps, even open hands.

In the video sequence shown at 1 Peter 5, Pope Francis seems to be agitated.

With the audio playing on the video, his description of Cardinal Schonborn as a ''great theologian'' sounds to have a slightly condescending tone.

At this point, he performs the hand-slice gesture which rapidly pulls down an imaginary guillotine on the whole discussion.

At the point when Pope Francis says the words In that presentation, his hand rises up and crashes down dramatically between his face and that of the questioner. This instinctive obstruction of his face seems to convey something opposite to his words: If Schonborn's presentation contains a clear answer, then why does Pope Francis' body language seem not to support that?

Indeed, why must we consult Schonborn at all, considering that Pope Francis signed Amoris Laetitia? Does the answer to these questions have anything to do with his other remarkable answer, when he stated that he did not remember the content of Footnote 351?!!!

Just to be clear, we are not judging the interior disposition of Pope Francis here. However, at every moment of every day, all people make subliminal interpretations - even judgments - of other people's non-verbal communication. It is just part of human interaction. All we have done here is tried to make sense of the fact that Pope Francis has still not openly affirmed 2,000 years of Catholic Truth, but has rather sent us all off on a further disunifying search for answers, in another ambiguous and lengthy ''linguistic event''.

Conclusion

If those leading the Church desisted from ambiguous rhetoric which makes them sound like Neo-Gnostics, then the faithful could more easily rely on what they clearly said, without resorting to analysis of their non-verbal communication.

A clear restatement of the Church's perennial teaching is needed as a matter of profound urgency for the unity of the Church and the salvation of souls.

 

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