Catholic Voice 5th November 2021 Issue 329

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Issue 329

St Martin of Tours (11th November) and the Beggar - Anthony van Dyck (1599 – 1641)

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2 PRAY THE ROSARY EVERY DAY

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

The Victory Of Peace By Praying The Rosary Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

Cardinal Burke His Eminence, Raymond Cardinal Burke, just sent a letter to all of us and has asked us to pray the rosary, remembering that, as Pope John Paul II once wrote, “The Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 40).

What a beautiful reminder and encouragement during these tumultuous and chaotic times we are now enduring. Let’s accept Cardinal Burke’s invitation to pray the rosary every day asking, primarily, for the reign of God’s peace.

Here is Cardinal Burke’s beautiful letter…

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, With heartfelt gratitude to all those who have prayed for my recovery, I write to inform you that, since my previous letter, physical therapy

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Editor: Anthony Murphy editor@catholicvoice.ie Telephone: 059 8627268 ROI 00353 59 8627268 Outside ROI Keep up to date with news and articles via The Lumen Fidei website www.lumenfidei.ie

has aided my rehabilitation so greatly that I am now able to offer daily the Holy Mass. Words cannot adequately express my joy at this gift of God’s grace in my life. As a priest, Bishop and Cardinal, the return to the daily offering of the Holy Mass, the principal daily work of every priest, unites me most fully to you in our spiritual bond as members of the Mystical Body of Christ (cf. Jn 15, 5-8; Eph 4, 4-13).

At the same time, my recovery continues to remain an intensive process. Divine Providence will determine the time of my return to my usual pastoral activities. In the meantime, please help me to prepare, as best as possible, for that time by your prayers.

This letter, however, is not principally intended to be an update on the condition of my health. It is, rather, an instrument of the pastoral charity which is the distinctive grace of the priesthood and episcopacy, offering sound direction and encouragement to the faithful. In specific, I write to encourage you to recite daily the powerful prayer of the Holy Rosary.

Although the Feast or Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated on October 7th, the entire month of October is dedicated to fostering this most highly prized devotion to Mary, which she herself has given to us. In writing to you about the daily praying of the Holy Rosary, I underline three important considerations.

First, the message of Our Lady of Fatima urges us to honour her by praying the Rosary every day.

Second, when Our Lady concluded her apparitions at Fatima on October 13, 1917, Our Lord granted a remarkable confirmation of the apparitions in the Miracle of the Sun. Third, in asking us to pray daily the Rosary, Our Lady indicated a specific intention: peace. Pope Saint John Paul II, echoing Our Lady’s messages to

us at Fatima, explained that “the Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 40).

The peace for which we pray, while reciting the prayer of the Rosary is not a peace given by this world (cf. Jn 14, 27), but rather the peace obtained for us by the blood of the Cross of Jesus Christ (cf. Col 1, 20).

Let us recall that Our Lady of the Rosary was first given the title of Our Lady of Victory by Pope Saint Pius V, to honour the victory of peace, which was won, through her intercession and especially through the praying of the Holy Rosary, at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. Changing the title of Our Lady of Victory to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Pope Gregory XIII underlined the powerful instrument for attaining the victory of peace, namely, the praying of the Holy Rosary.

The victory of peace is ultimately the victory over Satan who, since the sin of our First Parents, never ceases to tempt us to commit sin.

It is the victory worked by God the Father through the Redemptive Incarnation of His only-begotten Son. The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, is the privileged instrument through which God the Father sent God the Son into the world to win for us the victory. She is the woman whose Son crushes the head of the serpent, Satan, as God the Father promised after the sin of Adam and Eve (cf. Gen 3, 15).

She continues to be the channel by which the grace of Christ wins the victory over sin in our daily lives.

By praying the Rosary daily, we draw near to the Mother of Our Saviour, who teaches us, as she

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5th November 2021 Catholic Voice

PRAY THE ROSARY EVERY DAY 3

taught the wine stewards at the Wedding Feast of Cana: “Do whatever He [Jesus] tells you” (Jn 2, 5).

She, whom Our Saviour gave to us as our Mother – the Mother of Divine Grace – helps us to stand faithfully, with her, beneath the Cross of Our Lord, one in heart with her Immaculate Heart in the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus (cf. Jn 19, 25-27). With her, we share in the Triumph of the Cross.

The victory of peace, sought through the Immaculate Heart of Mary by praying the Holy Rosary and attained in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, overcomes the confusion, error and division, all the works of the Evil One, which so fiercely attack today the world and the Church. For that reason, I urge you today, if you are not already doing so, to pray the Holy Rosary, seeking the intercession of the Mother of God for the victory of peace, peace in your soul, peace in the world, peace in the Church. I leave you with words of Pope Saint John Paul II, whose papal ministry was so strongly marked by devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Let us pray the Rosary, if possible every day, either by ourself or in community.

The Rosary is a simple prayer, but profound and very effective, even to ask favors for families, communities and the world” (Regina Caeli, 28 April 2002).

“Continue praying the Rosary every day in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only She can help you” (Our Lady - Fatima, July 13th, 1917)

Imploring Our Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to bless you, your homes, your families, and all your labours, I remain Yours in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and in the Purest Heart of Saint Joseph, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

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4 PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL?

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

The Often-Disappointing Quality of the Prayer of the Faithful Msgr. Charles Pope One of the parts of the Ordinary Form of the Mass that was restored from antiquity is the Prayer of the Faithful. In my mind, however, there is an often disappointing quality to the intentions as they are used today. They are either overly particular and ideological or, at the other end of the spectrum, perfunctory and flat. Further, they often include prayers for the Pope, bishops, clergy, and also for the dead. But these sorts of prayers will be included in the Eucharistic prayer. Why “predundantly” include them here?

Some years ago, Peter Kwasniewski, in an article at New Liturgical Movement.org, summarised the problem very well: It is surely no exaggeration to say that throughout the world the quality of these intercessions has tended to be deplorable, ranging from trite and saccharine sentiments to political propaganda, from progressivist daydreams to downright heretical propositions to which no one could assent without offending God. Even when the content is doctrinally unobjectionable, all too often the literary style is dull, flaccid, rambling, or vague. …

[There is] problematic content, poor writing, and [a] monotonous manner of delivery.

Additional problems occur when there are people of many different nationalities present and it is felt necessary to have the petitions read in multiple languages. The impression is given that the intentions are directed more to the congregation than to God, who knows all languages and thoughts. I have been at Mass in the Basilica in Washington, D.C. when as many as nine different languages were used in the Prayer of the Faithful, despite the fact that the vast majority of those present spoke English and/or Spanish. I seriously doubt that there were more than five people in attendance who could speak only German, Mandarin, or one of the

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other languages used. It quickly gets very tedious as a line of people traipse back and forth to the microphone.

It is all so different in the Eastern Liturgies, in which the Great Litany is so artfully woven into the liturgical experience and beautifully sung as well. I have memorised the Great Litany from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

I would also like to add that St. Peter Canisius composed intercessions for use in his time. Saints are certainly reputable sources of such things!

The point is that much can be done to improve the quality of the Prayer of the Faithful, which has remained an amateur outing at best and an ideological hornet’s nest at worst.

Perhaps some benefit can be obtained from reviewing the norms and the history of this portion of the Mass.

The General Instruction in the Roman Missal (GIRM) has this to say about the Prayer of the Faithful: In the Prayer of the Faithful, the people respond in a certain way to the word of God which they have welcomed in faith and, exercising the office of their baptismal priesthood, offer prayers to God for the salvation of all. It is fitting that such a prayer be included, as a rule, in Masses celebrated with a congregation, so that petitions will be offered for the holy Church, for civil authorities, for those weighed down by various needs, for all men and women, and for the salvation of the whole world. As a rule, the series of intentions is to be 1. For the needs of the Church; 2. For public authorities and the salvation of the whole world; 3. For those burdened by any kind of difficulty; 4. For the local community.

Nevertheless, in a particular celebration, such as Confirmation, Marriage, or a Funeral, the series of intentions may reflect more closely the particular occasion.

It is for the priest celebrant to direct this prayer from the chair. He himself begins it with a brief introduction, by which he invites the faithful to pray, and likewise he concludes it with a prayer. The intentions announced should be sober, be composed freely but prudently, and be succinct, and they should express the prayer of the entire community (GIRM 69-71).

5th November 2021

Catholic Voice

PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL? 5

These intentions were very common in the early Church, occurring at about the same point in the Mass as today. They followed the Homily (note that in earlier days the Creed was typically not said). All of the Fathers of the Church make mention of them.

In the beginning, this prayer was recited antiphonally by the priest and the assembly. Over time, the deacon assumed a more prominent role; he announced all the intentions and then the faithful responded with Kyrie eleison or some other acclamation.

These intercessions endured until about the 9th century, well past the close of the patristic period. Their disappearance seems to coincide with their evolution into a Kyrie litany and their transfer to the beginning of the Mass. They eventually came to be regarded as an unnecessary appendage and were phased out. In the West they were used only on Good Friday, though they endured longer in certain particular areas. In the East they were never dropped. Today they have been restored to their original place in the Mass.

Further pastoral reflections – One reason that they are called “general intercessions” is that they extend beyond the needs and concerns of the local assembly.

Please note that they are not called the particular intercessions. What sometimes happens in more extemporaneous settings is that certain very specific needs are expressed; the list can become quite long.

It is not appropriate here to pray, “for my Aunt Sue’s friend, who is recovering from hip surgery and having a hard time due to her diabetes.” It is more appropriate to pray, “for all who are sick or struggling in at this time.” The point is to keep it general; this is not the time for a full medical update on everyone’s relatives or friends.

Calling it the “Prayer of the Faithful” has some historical merit because catechumens and others were dismissed before the proclaiming of the intentions.

Another reason it is also common to call them “general intercessions” is that the whole Mass is really the prayer of the faithful. Through his opening prayer, the priest may link the intercessions to the reading, and through his closing prayer he may summarise them.

This can help to place them in a clear context. Singing the intercessions is a beautiful option and is surely of ancient practice (cf Music in Catholic Worship # 74).

In the end, I think these intentions deserve better than we have given them. I realise that enthusiasts of the Traditional Latin Mass (of which I am one) may say, “Just get rid of them entirely,” but that is not realistic.

They are here to stay, at least in our lifetime. Maybe we can try to do better by making use of multiple sources: ancient, Eastern, and modern yet elegant.

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6 ABORTION & TRANSGENDER

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

Why Abortion And Transgenderism Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin John Horvat II The pro-life, pro-family debate is not about ‘healthcare,’ but the struggle between two irreconcilable world views, one that is true and another that is false.

Many liberals condemn the fight against abortion because they say it is a single issue that has dominated the political landscape. Other problems also need attention, they say, and are not addressed because of the raging debate over this highly polarising point.

In a certain sense, the liberals are right. However, they are also wrong. On the one hand, abortion is a single issue that has taken on huge importance. On the other, it is tied to other problems that take society down the slippery slope of self-destruction.

Such conclusions are not coming from rabid prolifers blowing things out of all proportion. No, liberals correctly admit that everything is linked. It is much better to take their word for it.

‘Trans rights’ are abortion ‘rights’ Indeed, New York Times opinion writer J. Boylan says it all with an article titled “Abortion Rights and Trans Rights Are Two Sides of the Same Coin.” Anyone having any doubt will find Boylan consistent with liberal dogmas. Anyone who does not know where the pro abortion position leads to has only to follow the article’s twisted logic.

The central thesis of this “transgendered” author is that the State does not have the right to limit what one can or cannot do with one’s body. Thus, abortion is linked to the “trans” movement and all sexual deviations and lifestyles. The State must provide the “healthcare” of abortion and “gender transition.” It is essentially the same thing.

It is no coincidence, the article’s author maintains, that Planned Parenthood is also “one of the top providers for trans people’s health care nationwide.” The author reports that “trans” activists are also increasingly involved in fighting for abortion.

The supreme law is the individual When “bodily autonomy” is considered absolute, any restriction is tyranny. If that liberal dogma is accepted, then public nudity and lewdness cannot be banned, for they would be hailed as expressions of personal freedom. The erroneous underlying principle would also justify public or private sexual activity with animals and inanimate things. Every life choice must be left to the individual, as in the case of assisted suicide. All these activities must be sanctioned, encouraged, and, if necessary, paid for by the State.

5th November 2021 Anyone who opposes this scorched moral offensive is accused of imposing personal religious beliefs and morality upon others. However, liberals happily force the ideology of “turning bodily autonomy into an absolute” on culture, education, and society.

Thus, for leftists, the supreme law becomes the individual seeking the false absolute freedom of doing whatever the person wants.

In addition, while this freedom is considered absolute and supreme, leftists hold that the freedom of other beings is not to be considered.

The unborn child is not another human being (who logically should be regarded as supreme as anyone else) but an obstacle to the mother’s absolute freedom that must be eliminated. All those crushed by the destructive choices of individuals seeking absolute freedom have no say in their own destruction.

The individual determines reality Under this false notion of freedom, the individual determines reality.

There is no such thing as human nature. Being human is whatever the person decides it to be—even if it is inhuman. Thus, persons must be free to self-identify as whatever the imagination proposes. In this postmodern world, fantasy rules and nothing is anchored in reality.

True freedom consists of living in accordance with human nature, which allows the person to develop maximum potential. This effort often involves self-discipline and restrictions that keep the person from being enslaved by disordered passions.

When individuals determine reality, there can be no objective norms of behaviour or morality that govern everyone according to a common human nature. There are no societal norms, tried and true over

ABORTION & TRANSGENDER 7

Catholic Voice

generations that guarantee society’s good order, proper functioning, and perpetuation. Above all, there can be no natural law written in the hearts of all that shows people how they must act in accordance with human nature. Moreover, there can be no supreme Lawmaker, Who, by this law, desires the happiness of those Whom He created.

Two irreconcilable world views None of these truths exist in this distorted negation of reality.

Only the individual driven by the unbridled passions exists in a separate imaginary world.

These disordered passions enslave

individuals depriving them of true freedom.

Indeed, all issues are linked.

The pro-life debate is not about “healthcare,” but the struggle between two irreconcilable world views, one that is true and another that is false.

The fantasy flight away from reality will end in tragedy. A person’s efforts to create a separate universe reveal a desire to be god. When reality intervenes, such fantasy universes always fall apart. And the individual, unable to be a god, plunges into nihilism.

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8 GO TO JOSEPH!

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

Looking To St. Joseph For Inspiration Fr. Shenan J. Boquet

I suppose it goes without saying, but St. Joseph is one of my favorite saints.

The foster-father of Christ simply has so much to teach me, a priest and prolife leader, about the nature of authentic fatherhood, service, and holiness. And he has so much to teach all of us about how to go about building a Culture of Life.

In particular, I would single out two characteristics of this great saint, the Patron of the Universal Church.

The Primacy of Contemplation Firstly, St. Joseph was a man of contemplation.

As Cardinal Sarah notes in The Power of Silence, “The most silent person in the Gospels is of course Saint Joseph; not a single word of his does the New Testament record for us.”

This silence, however, was not the silence of emptiness or of weakness.

As Cardinal Sarah writes, this is a mistake made by the modern world, which suggests that “keeping quiet has the appearance of being a weakness, a sort of ignorance or lack of will. In the modern system, the silent person becomes someone who does not know how to defend himself. He is subhuman. Conversely, the so-called strong man is a man of words. He crushes and drowns the other in the floods of his speeches.”

What a powerful indictment of the spiritual and intellectual pathologies of the modern world! Indeed, isn’t the good cardinal right that most people in our modern age who wish to “make a difference,” who wish to change the world, will quickly set about learning

the ropes of social media marketing, podcasting, lobbying, fundraising, and all the various tools used by so-called “influencers”? Then they unleash a deluge of words amidst a flurry of activity.

And yet, it sometimes seems as if the only consequence of all this talk and action is that nothing changes, or at least, not for the better. Indeed, quite the contrary: instead, the world just seems ever more frenetic and fractious, riven with dissension and confusion.

How little time in the midst all of this is there for deep, careful thought, prayer, and discernment! Instead, the activist’s days are filled with endless e-mails, meetings, presentations, strategy sessions, and fundraising pitches.

Of course, it is not that any of these things are inherently bad. Quite the contrary. As the president of a pro-life non-profit, I know well how important these things can be, and how important it is to do them well.

Pope St. John Paul II writes movingly in Redemptoris Custos that, “The same aura of silence that envelops everything else about Joseph also shrouds his work as a carpenter in the house of Nazareth. It is, however, a silence that reveals in a special way the inner portrait of the man. . . . Joseph was in daily contact with the mystery ‘hidden from ages past,’ and which ‘dwelt’ under his roof.’”

There is a wise old adage that says that “contemplation precedes action.”

And the reason for this is obvious: unless our action stems from the right motives, and is in tune with the right principles, it will quickly go astray.

Indeed, how easily our most wellintentioned actions become poisoned with ego, overzealousness, anxiety, fear, and imprudence!

In our efforts to build a Culture of Life we, too, must constantly remind ourselves to prioritise contemplation and silence, the way St. Joseph did. We must ensure that our hearts are tapped into the wellspring of all truth, as his was.

The Importance of Courageous, Bold Action Secondly, St. Joseph was a man of action.

This might seem to contradict what I have said up to this point. But it is not so. Indeed, St. Joseph’s life is as conspicuous for its action as it is for its silence. As St. John Paul II wrote, “The Gospels speak exclusively of what Joseph ‘did.’ Still, they allow us to discover in his ‘actions’ – shrouded in silence as they are – an aura of deep contemplation.”

In the Gospels we find St. Joseph taking bold action: taking Mary as his wife, despite the possibility of scandal and disapproval from others; taking the Christ child and fleeing into Egypt to preserve His life from the murderous desires of Herod.

And yet, as Pope St. John Paul II notes, even these bold actions reveal St. Joseph’s contemplative nature. After all, both of these actions were preceded by prophetic dreams, dreams that St. Joseph had the spiritual perspicuity to hear.

I wonder, indeed, would St. Joseph have heard the Lord speaking to Him in his dreams, if his mind was wrought by anxiety for purely temporal things, or if he, like us, was so wrapped up in the world of media and entertainment, or if he was consumed by the feverish search for greater pleasure and power?

Or would the quiet voice of the Lord have been drowned out?

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Nevertheless, even if his actions reveal his contemplative nature, those actions were crucial in salvation history.

Similarly, we too are called to decisive, courageous, bold action. When the troops of Herod come searching for the Holy Innocents in our midst, we must do what is in our power to protect them.

For some of us, it means answering the call of the Lord to start or to volunteer at pregnancy care centres; for others, to advocate for more humane laws; or to respond to the anti-life propaganda in the media and in our schools; or to write books that defend the sanctity of life; or to preach the sanctity of life from our pulpits; or to step forward and adopt a child that is threatened by abortion; to defend life amongst our family and friends.

Even if it is true that we must prioritise contemplation, that contemplative life must, from time to time (and for some of us, often), find expression in decisive, concrete action, through which we act as God’s instruments in the world.

In Redemptoris Custos, Pope St. John Paul II noted: [I]n Joseph, the apparent tension between the active and the contemplative life finds an ideal harmony that is only possible for those who possess the perfection of charity.

Following St. Augustine’s well-known distinction between the love of the truth (caritas veritatis) and the practical demands of love (necessitas caritatis), we can say that Joseph experienced both love of the truth – that pure contemplative love of the divine Truth which radiated from the humanity of Christ – and the demands of love – that equally pure and selfless love required for his vocation to safeguard and develop the humanity of Jesus, which was inseparably linked to his divinity.

Heed the Call At times, we may feel uncertain of our ability to answer the Lord’s call. But He invites us to faithfully respond, despite our own fears or weaknesses: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Cor 12:9).

That Scripture passage should be a favourite of anyone involved in the battle to build a Culture of Life.

How often we, who are moved with compassion for the innocent children who are dying or for the marginalised elderly and disabled who are increasingly pushed towards assisted suicide and euthanasia, feel utterly inadequate and powerless to turn the tide.

And yet, how wonderful it is to turn our thoughts to St. Joseph, finding one so simple and so unimportant in the eyes of the world, yet who played an integral part in the accomplishment of our salvation. We are, all of us, members of the mystical body of Christ, playing our part. Even if we are personally weak (and we all are!), nevertheless, Christ’s power is made perfect through weakness, if only we have the courage to respond to His call.

In conclusion, may we imitate St. Joseph’s faithful trust and courage as we work to uphold the dignity of every human life. St. Joseph, defender of life, pray for us!

The devotion to the Cord of St. Joseph took its rise in Belgium, in 1637, in consequence of a miraculous cure effected by the wearing of this precious girdle. During this year of Saint Joseph you may wish to wear the cord to avail of the GRACES ATTACHED TO THE WEARING OF THE CORD. Graces precious to the piety of St. Joseph’s servants are attached to the wearing of this cord. They are: 1. St. Joseph’s special protection 2. Purity of soul; 3. The grace of chastity; The Cord 4. Final perseverance; 5. Particular assistance at the hour of death.

Of Saint Joseph

The pack containing a St. Joseph’s Cord, a prayer card, St. Joseph’s medal and an information leaflet is available now for €/£10 (inc. p&p).

To order your cord/s please complete the form below.

Please send me ___ (insert number required) St Joseph’s cord/s Name: _________________________________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Telephone: _________________________________________________________________ Eircode ____________________ Credit/Debit Card No:__________________________________ Expiry Date:_________ C.V.V. ____________ Please send completed form with cheque or postal order made payable to Catholic Voice to; Catholic Voice, Castlemitchell South, Athy, County Kildare ***PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 21 DAYS FOR DELIVERY ***

10 THE DOGMA OF HELL

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

The Dogma of Hell is the Most Terrible Truth Conor Gallagher The TAN book entitled The Dogma of Hell: Illustrated

by Facts Taken From Profane and Sacred History, by Fr. F. X. Schouppe, SJ, begins crisply as any author could make it: “THE DOGMA OF HELL is the most terrible truth of our faith. There is a Hell. We are as sure of it as of the existence of God, the existence of the sun. Nothing, in fact, is more clearly revealed than the dogma of Hell, and Jesus Christ proclaims it as many as fifteen times in the Gospel.”

Wide is the gate, And broad is the road That leads to destruction.

To deny your child a keen awareness of this potential danger is the greatest child abuse possible. What would you think of a parent that does not teach their son about the dangers of wild dogs next door? Or a parent that never warns their teenage daughter about walking through dark alleys at night?

Of course, you do not want your little one fearing the world to the point of seclusion. But a healthy fear of the world’s dangers is always appropriate.

And what of the greatest threat to your child? What of eternal damnation? Surely it is tempting to belittle the notion because you are raising a law-abiding citizen. You are not raising a monster, an animal, a hostile enemy of the Lord. This, Dear Parent, may be the very thought that leads you to the sin of presumption.

Do not raise your child to think he can call upon God’s mercy at a moment’s notice and that God will immediately obey. No! Train your child to work with diligence to avoid hell. Tell your child to prove to God every day that he fears hell by avoiding sin at all costs; tell him to beg for God’s mercy to be admitted to heaven. This is not morbid. This is truth.

No one should grow up in a morbid and joyless home.

When parents focus too much on the darkness, they tend to smother the light. Finding the right level of emphasis is difficult. But one such method is to teach your child that hell is in accordance with God’s love! And this seemingly counterintuitive concept requires much effort and many years of instruction.

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God’s infinite love does not force your child to love Him, especially your child. His love provides free will. We choose hell.

There is a danger, however, of taking the notion to an extreme. Do not believe that a person must stand up as a Satanist and proclaim his desire for eternal torment. No! Hell comes much easier than that, as Christ’s warnings in those fifteen passages prove.

Consider reading those fifteen passages to your family, one by one. Discuss each one. Jesus must have thought it important to state the same truth with such creativity and frequency.

As your child grows older, consider giving him books on the many apparitions of hell. Help him to avoid a morbid interest but still appreciate the reality that God has granted us insights into the inferno because hell is real.

In the end, hell is a very disturbing truth, but also a sign of God’s justice and love, for what good father does not warn his children of danger beforehand? Many souls have been saved due to their fear of hell. And the same goes for your own child. A healthy fear of Satan and his dominion is, in fact, a grace from God. But ultimately, however, the greater fear should be the loss of heaven. Such a fear is more worthy of a holy man or woman. And it is now heaven to which we turn.

5th November 2021

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Catholic Voice

The Lumen Fidei Institute End Of Year Appeal There are three parts to this year’s ‘End of Year Appeal’. Firstly, we are looking for donations to help us to continue our work of promoting, defending and teaching the Catholic Faith. We have lived through some very strange times in the last two years. Our Catholic Churches were closed; restrictions were placed on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; many bishops blocked the faithful from receiving Holy Communion on the tongue whilst kneeling; the Holy Water fonts in most of our Catholic Churches remain emptied of this powerful sacramental.

In the secular field, restrictions were placed on peoples’ movements and on general social activities. This prevented us from hosting any meetings and some venues are required to insist that only those who have taken the abortion tainted vaccines can attend. Lately, we have seen the lifting of many restrictions and we are hopeful that, please God, we will be able to begin having meetings before

the end of the year. We would also like to begin planning for the return of the annual ‘Catholic Voice’ conference, perhaps with a date in May 2022.

The second and third part of our appeal have to do with helping the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and with making reparation for the grave sins of the Irish people. In Ireland, the homosexual lifestyle is being actively promoted to young children and legal recognition has been given to homosexual relationships. This legislation is contrary to Catholic Church teaching and is offensive to Almighty God. Abortion has also been legalised in our country and, in the first two years following this legislation, 13,243 innocent unborn childrens’ murders were sanctioned by the Irish government with the co-operation of medical professionals.

To help to counteract these grave evils in our society, The Lumen Fidei Institute has produced a little booklet on ‘The Way of the Cross’ with meditations from St Alphonsus Ligouri. We are

seeking to rekindle the holy practice of making the way of the cross for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and in reparation to Almighty God for the sins of the Irish People. We are praying particularly for the revoking of the Irish laws on abortion and marriage which are so offensive to Almighty God. We are asking for your help in promoting and distributing this booklet to as many people as possible.

Perhaps you could organise a group of people to begin regularly praying the Stations of the Cross for the relief of the Holy Souls in Purgatory and in reparation for the sins of the Irish people, begging God to restore the Kingship of Christ over Ireland.

You can use the donation form below to order copies of,‘The Way of the Cross’. Alternatively you can contact me by e-mail or by phone to order them.

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing generosity.

CV -

Please make cheques etc payable to The Lumen Fidei Institute

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5th November 2021

The De-Christianisation of Ireland A Fall From Grace - The Proliferation of Evil John Lacken

The Catholic Church in Ireland has recently embarked on a five year Synodal path. According to the Irish Bishop’s website, the guiding question facing the Irish Synodal Pathway over the next five years, is: “What does God want from the Church in Ireland at this time?”

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you Besides that which we have preached to you, Let him be anathema.

(St Paul - Galatians 1:8)

I have to admit that I sometimes get exasperated at these types of prolonged consultations. It seems obvious to me that what God wants from the Catholic Church in Ireland is exactly what He has always wanted from the Catholic Church in Ireland. Jesus Christ summed this up in His final words to the Apostles.

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20) When we see how quickly our bishops were to drop this commission from Christ during the last two years, with Catholic Churches closed, many of the sacraments ‘suspended’, and many faithful Catholics prevented from attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, one cannot but wonder at the thinking of our bishops.

The question above, which forms the base guidance of the Irish Synodal process, does not bode well for this project. There is an implication that perhaps God wants something different to what He has always desired, namely, the salvation of souls through the practice of the Catholic Faith.

I would be encouraged if I thought that the above question means that the Irish bishops have finally realised that they are doing many things wrong in their current approach to teaching the Catholic Faith, but there is little evidence of any admission that their approach is wrong.

Recently, it was reported that one Irish bishop “will send a report to the Vatican outlining the views of Catholics in his diocese who want the Church to change on socalled “hot button” issues such as the ordination of women and the inclusion of gay people.”

This bishop also said “it was felt during the process that if controversial subjects were off the table lay people would walk away from the process.” (The Irish Catholic, October 21) This bishop has a duty to teach the Catholic Faith and to correct the erroneous thinking of those who seek to change the Catholic Church so as to allow women priests and homosexual relationships. Those who support these erroneous teachings are emboldened by these

‘listening’ initiatives that have been going on in Irish dioceses for many years now.

It is possible that the Irish synodal process will follow the Catholic Church in Germany into promoting heresy and schism.

So let us pray earnestly for our bishops and ask Our Lady to enlighten them and to bring them back to the original purpose of the Catholic Church, to baptise, to teach, to save souls.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

That the Catholic bishops of Ireland require five years to answer the question, “What does God want from the Church in Ireland at this time?”, is just one more indication that they have lost their way. They do not, at this present time, seem to know what God requires of them!

I do not believe that this is a new phenomenon. This is something that has been going on for

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THE RETURN OF PAGAN IRELAND 13

many decades in Ireland. Once the Catholic hierarchy started questioning the Catholic certainties of the past, they became unsure of themselves and opened the door for fake teachings and ideologies to take root in Ireland.

The resurgence of paganism in Ireland is just one example of this.

In 2019, Fáilte Ireland launched the ‘Púca’ festival to celebrate halloween. Many people believe that this is just some harmless and fun ‘scary stuff’ and they are happy to bring their children along to the events. But there is a diabolic spiritual dimension to this festival.

Their website gives the following meaning of Púca.

“At ancient New Year when light turns to dark, the veil between realities draws thin, rules can be broken, and the spirits move between worlds. Púca comes alive, a shape-shifting spirit, roaming the night and changing the fortunes of those that cross her path. Púca immerses you in the true spirit of Halloween transforming the night into a playground.”

For the event in Slane Castle they tell us.

“The grounds of Slane Castle and Distillery are transformed into a Halloween playground as the spirits of Púca, Boann, The Morrigan and Fear Dearg roam the woodlands while spectacular illuminations and installations bring the landscape to life.”

Father Jeremy Davies, a Catholic priest and exorcist, warned of the dangers of trivialising evil. In a 2019 interview with the National Catholic Register, Father Davies warned of two grave dangers associated with Halloween.

“They [those who ‘celebrate’ Halloween] begin by playing My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee. I beg pardon of Thee for all those that do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee. Amen.

Angel to the Children of Fatima 1916

As Catholicism declines, paganism is making a comeback in Western society

games, but it can lead to people disbelieving in the devil and evil spirits, and this, in turn, can lead to a loss of the Christian faith.” He pointed out that “levity about such matters was fatal; playing with evil under the pretext of it being untrue is to allow evil to enter.” (National Catholic Register - October 30th, 2019) There is a growing pagan movement in Ireland which seeks to replace Catholicism with what is claimed to be an older, pagan, Celtic spirituality.

This is not just confined to Halloween. I was recently contacted by someone who was disturbed at a publication that is being sent to the elderly where she lives.

The booklet, which is supported

by Dublin City Council, is well presented and aims to help elderly people to mind their “physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing.”

I was sent the Spring edition of the booklet and, in the Introductory Note, it says, “We understand that this past year has been a difficult, strange, and dark time for many people. Bealtaine, the Celtic celebration of Spring, marks the end of the dark half of the year and the coming of the light half of the year.”

The booklet also has a section called ‘Traditional Irish Dates’.

Once again Bealtaine is mentioned

and we are told that “Christianity adapted many of their feast days to match the old Celtic traditions” Two traditional Catholic feast days are matched with their pagan counterparts; St Brigid with Imbolc, St Patrick with the Spring Equinox.

Six other pagan celebration dates are listed. My contact is a Catholic who noted that the booklet lists the celebration of the winter solstice but leaves out Christmas.

There are many who will not see anything wrong with this booklet, however, it is very subtly promoting the old pagan holidays.

Of four editions two were named after pagan feasts, Samhain and Bealtaine.

The original reason this person contacted me was on account of RTE promoting having St Brigid’s day as the new bank holiday. They don’t want to celebrate the Catholic Saint, they want to celebrate the pagan festival of Imbolc and the pagan goddess Brigit.

It is well known that sometimes, Catholic feast days were scheduled to replace older pagan ritualistic days in order to bring these pagan feasts to an end. The practice was quite successful. What we are now witnessing in Ireland is an attempt to reverse this process by once again celebrating the pagan deities of old.

14 THE RETURN OF PAGAN IRELAND

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5th November 2021

The booklet also promotes the mindfulness meditation techniques to these elderly people, many of whom are Catholic.

Another phenomenon that was brought to my attention recently is the growing number of statues of Buddha that one finds throughout Ireland, even in Catholic homes.

Buddhism is a false religion which promotes false meditation techniques.

In its 2003 document, ‘Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life’, the Pontifical Council For Inter-religious Dialogue noted the following.

“Many people are convinced that there is no harm in ‘borrowing’ from the wisdom of the East, but the example of Transcendental Meditation (TM) should make Christians cautious about the prospect of committing themselves unknowingly to another religion (in this case, Hinduism), despite what TM’s promoters claim about its religious neutrality.

There is no problem with learning how to meditate, but the object or content of the exercise clearly determines whether it relates to the God revealed by Jesus Christ, to some other revelation, or simply to the hidden depths of the self.”

This Vatican document is primarily about the growth of the New Age movement. On the question of why the New Age movement is growing so rapidly it says.

“Whatever questions and criticisms it may attract, New Age is an attempt by people who experience the world as harsh and heartless to bring warmth to that world. As a reaction to modernity, it operates more often than not on the level of feelings, instincts and emotions.

Anxiety about an apocalyptic future of economic instability, political uncertainty and climatic change plays a large part in causing people to look for an alternative, resolutely optimistic relationship to the cosmos. There is a search for

Some false meditation techniques can lead Catholics away from the Faith wholeness and happiness, often on an explicitly spiritual level.

But it is significant that New Age has enjoyed enormous success in an era which can be characterised by the almost universal exaltation of diversity. Western culture has taken a step beyond tolerance – in the sense of grudging acceptance or putting up with the idiosyncrasies of a person or a minority group – to a conscious erosion of respect for normality.

Normality is presented as a morally loaded concept, linked necessarily with absolute norms. For a growing number of people, absolute beliefs or norms indicate nothing but an inability to tolerate other people’s views and convictions. In this atmosphere alternative life-styles and theories have really taken off: it is not only acceptable but positively good to be diverse.”

In my own family situation, my five living siblings no longer practice the Catholic Faith that they were baptised into. They have not done so for more than thirty years. I remember times of heated and angry exchanges where there was a clear animosity towards the Catholic Faith which was directed at me, the only one who had returned to Catholicism. For many years now I

have noticed that the anger is gone and has been replaced by a chilling indifference.

I think this indifference has permeated our society. It signifies that for a large segment of our society, the Catholic Church is irrelevant. For those with an agenda to replace Catholicism, the Catholic Church is portrayed as an evil childabusing institution.

But the demise of the stature of the Catholic Church in Ireland and the decline in the practice of Catholicism has allowed terrible evils to infiltrate our society.

In just two years, 13,243 innocent unborn human beings were murdered in their mothers wombs under the abortion legislation that was enacted in 2019. The referendum that allowed this legislation to be put on our statute books was passed because of the catastrophic failure of Catholic schools in Ireland to teach the fundamentals of Catholic morality to the children in their care.

86% of the 18 - 24 age cohort voted to allow the murder of innocent human beings.

This is what happens when Catholics in authority fail to carry out the mission entrusted to them by Jesus

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Catholic Voice

Christ, to teach Catholics to obey everything that Christ commanded.

Christ did not found a Synodal Church. He founded a hierarchical Church where the shepherds are commanded to lead the sheep to safe pastures. He sent the Holy Spirit to make sure that the Apostles would not forget their duty.

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John14:26) There are no ‘hot button’ topics in the Catholic Church, instead there are the teachings of Jesus Christ which have been clarified over the years under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The desire to try to accommodate worldly views has led to Catholic Church teaching being compromised in many instances and many Catholics have been taught error as truth, and have also been taught that certain Catholic

THE RETURN OF PAGAN IRELAND 15

truths are erroneous.

There will be no reform for the better in the Catholic Church in Ireland until our bishops begin to deal with the glaringly obvious failure to teach the truths of the Catholic Faith in their entirety to the Catholic faithful of all levels and of all ages.

There will be no reform for the better in the Catholic Church in Ireland until those who have been ordained to priestly ministry and who publicly contradict Catholic Church teaching on various issues, are publicly rebuked and corrected by their bishops..

There will be no reform for the better in the Catholic Church in Ireland until ‘catholic’ politicians who support both abortion and same-sex relationships are publicly rebuked and corrected by their bishops.

The Irish Synodal path is to last for five years. In the meantime, Catholic schools will continue to teach error to Catholic students,

certain Catholic priests will continue to dissent from Church teaching and Catholic politicians will continue to pass legislation which is offensive to God. During this time, sincere Catholics must take it upon themselves to learn the Truths of the Catholic Faith and sincere Catholic parents must take it upon themselves to ensure that their children are taught the Catholic Faith correctly.

It is not an easy road, but then, being a Catholic was never supposed to be easy, and maybe that is another part of the problem here in Ireland.

For too long we have had little resistance to the faith and our Catholic senses became dull and led to complacency in the practice of the faith. The easy road proved very tempting indeed and many still travel thereon to destruction. But the road to eternal life remains arduous and the gate remains narrow, and there are still only a few who find the way. Let us pray to Our Lady that she will guide us through the narrow gate to life eternal.

There’s A Place For Us

Homosexuality in the Divine Plan of Redemption There’s A Place For Us: This testimony does not shirk away from difficult Catholic teachings but shows with piercing clarity why the Church teaches as she does in the area of human sexuality. In our lives we are called to a lot more than sexual satisfaction. Rather, we are granted the privilege of living life on the highest possible plane in responding to the call of the greatness of being the Sons and Daughters of God.

There’s a Place for Us Homosexuality in the Divine Plan of Redemption Jesus said to those who would stone her: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

John Cassidy - Bio Ex-homosexual and New Man John Cassidy has been serving the Catholic Church as a full-time Lay-Man since his conversion in 2014. John has founded the Association of Believing Catholics which is a lay initiative to promote and defend the fullness of Catholic truth.

Paperback €/£6.00 inc p&p in Ireland €/£9.40 inc p&p outside Ireland

Jesus said to the woman: “Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?

Who said: No man, Lord. And Jesus said: Neither will I condemn thee.”

“Go, And Now Sin No More.”

By John Cassidy

To Order please telephone 085 1208779 ROI 00353 851208779 Outside ROI Alternatively, Order Online @ www.lumenfidei.ie/shop

16 SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIPS

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

How Is Your Relationship With Jesus?

Brian McShane

“How is your relationship with Jesus?” Have you ever been asked that question or have you ever asked it of yourself? You may groan inwardly thinking, “Oh no, another one of those Jesus freaks!”

You may feel challenged or feel like your privacy has just been invaded.

You may dismiss it without giving it any real thought saying to yourself, “My relationship with Jesus is just fine. I go to Mass, I say my prayers, and I go to confession.” Does that answer really satisfy you or does it leave you with your feathers a bit ruffled? Do you feel slightly uncomfortable?

A Relationship With Jesus?

What is really involved in a relationship with Jesus?

A relationship often involves communication, listening and speaking, shared interests, and enjoyment from being with the other person. It is time well spent and we look forward to our next meeting and spending more time with each other.

A sense of love or personal growth often accompanies our shared time together.

Deepening our relationship with Jesus can also involve these things!

Sometimes we think that Jesus is too remote for us, mere mortals.

“I’m not so sure he is listening, anyway.” and “Why would the creator of the universe want to have anything to do with me? How can he be interested in me, one of the billions on this planet? I think he is kind of busy for me but if He does check-up, He’ll see I am being a good Catholic, I’m punching my ticket!”

Maybe we have a slightly empty feeling and begin to really think things over. Does this question irritate me because I really don’t have such a great relationship with

Jesus or practically none at all?

Am I putting enough time into growing closer to Jesus? I begin to realise that this is actually a serious dilemma. What can I do about this? I think it is an area that we may think of occasionally but just seem to get distracted from or are too busy doing other things. We’re human!

Be Thankful First, let’s be thankful that God created us and realise that He wants to be closer to us more than we want to be closer to Him! He has gifts He wants to give us more than we want to receive them. He loves us beyond words and cherishes everything about us. He made us just the way we are. Well, that’s a surprise, we may think. Yes, it is even said that if you were the only person in the world, Jesus would die on the cross for you, just you! Now that is real love. You just can’t get better than that!

Jesus actually wants to be part of everything we say, think and do.

He is truly on our side, our biggest cheerleader, even bigger than our Guardian Angel and that’s going some. He wants us to become more and more familiar with Him so that one day we may spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Just think, peace and true joy forever. No sickness, no death, no wars, no fears, no worries, no sin, and no poverty – the list goes on and on. We will have all we need and never be bored. We will have experienced the Beatific Vision; we will see Him as He really is.

Divine Love This type of love can be a call to action for us. How can I respond? What can I do to show my appreciation? Well, we can pray, of course, lifting our hearts

and minds to God. We can go to Mass and the Sacraments. We can attend devotions and many many other very good things. However, sometimes we may think that if we cram enough Rosaries, Masses, Novenas, and other practices into our day, we have done our part. But have we? Would it not be better to do these things slower and more meaningfully? Sometimes we think that sheer numbers will do the trick but perhaps fewer numbers with more experiential meaning may bring us closer to our goal. God’s ways are not our ways.

The Eucharist One very important way is to receive the Eucharistic worthily, in the State of Grace. Here we let God absorb us; it is a great moment of shared intimacy. If we can learn to slow down, do these things in a non-mechanical or perfunctory way and enjoy the moment of being one with God Himself, it will cause us to want to repeat this miracle every day! And we can! We will not be “punching our ticket” anymore, we will actually be experiencing God. We will be getting to know Him better and better. We will be getting closer to having a real relationship with Jesus.

Listen We can also spend time listening to God before the Blessed Sacrament.

Just be there and experience God – He is true being. Clear our minds and just listen, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening. And if you do not speak, I will continue to listen.” Sometimes the hardest part is clearing our mind from distractions.

Distractions may come but we gently push them away without being frustrated and reorient ourselves to listening to God, the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Sometimes we

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may finish our prayer time in this manner and think, “What was that?” Or “I don’t think I really got anything out of that.” However, very often, after our prayer time, we experience deep peace, we begin to understand things better, to see things differently. We look forward to our next prayer time, deepening our relationship with Jesus.

Read Scripture Soon, we may begin reading scripture – the Bible – the story of God’s love affair with man. We may pour over several chapters or just one verse that really resonates with us. It is quality and not quantity that Matthewers. We realise that this is the inspired word of God Himself, speaking directly to me in this time and place. I must take this to heart; I must live each word of this Word more deeply – every day!

I am going to live in the experience of knowing God and feeling the intensity of His loving presence in my heart, every day! I have to make a choice, a decision I thought I have had made a long time ago.

Am I going to put God first in my life? Am I going to fervently do His will and not mine? Am I going to realise that my life is not about me – it is about God? Am I going to keep saying yes to God, regardless of the question, trusting that His will is always the best way? Am I going to, with God’s help, become a saint?

Expressing Our Love For God When we get to this point, our great love for God and our desire to serve Him spills over to all areas of our life, as it should. I may be a little more patient, giving, nonjudgmental. My life will become more virtuous and my attitude towards others will become more generous. Didn’t Jesus die on the cross for them, too?

Maybe I will help by donating clothes or food for those in need.

Maybe I will give more generously to worthy causes, even if it is only a few dollars. Did you ever notice how many people are going to stamp out poverty and so many other evils on earth once they hit the lottery” Do what you can now.

If everybody did a little, great problems would be solved!

When was the last time I wrote to my local representative or called their office to explain that as a Catholic I am opposed to my tax money going to fund abortions?

There are scores of issues that are crying out for your voice to be heard. So many of us just sit back believing that “someone else will take care of it.” Meanwhile, we get steamrolled regarding issues that mean so much to us and we wonder how it ever happened.

These are only a few suggestions about deepening our relationship with Jesus.

There are many, many others, of course. It is up to each one of us to do what we can

according to our means and ability.

“And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”

(Matthew 10:42) To help put this in perspective and as an incentive to be Christ’s hands and heart in this world, realise that Catholics account for less than 18% of the world’s population.

Less than one-fifth! There are literally billions of people that are not Christian. Many may not even have heard about Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all men.

What can each of us do to fulfil Christ’s command to Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age (Matthew 28: 19-20).

“Offer up everything within your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended; and of supplication for the conversion of sinners. Thus invoke peace upon your country. I am her Guardian Angel; the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings that the Lord may send you.”

(The Angel of Portugal to Fatima children 1915)

18 WOKISTAN GLASGOW

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

Wokistan Gathers In Glasgow Christopher Monckton of Brenchley

Here we go again, again and again.

The umpty - twiddly - umpteenth United Nations climate-change gabfest is upon us yet again.

Amusingly, it is being held in Glasgow, where according to a recent report there has been no global warming at all in a quarter of a century.

It is a rare platform indeed on which Her Majesty The Queen and His Holiness The Pope were supposed to appear together. What, then, has so infected the world’s ruling elite that so many of its members feel the obligation to attend this latest pointless congeries? Or, rather, why should we pay them to strut and fret their photo-op upon the stage, when nothing they say or make us do will make any discernible difference to the world’s weather?

Wokistan is a nation without borders. It is a global – or, rather, globalist – entity. Its purpose is avowedly totalitarian. It requires the immediate, complete and abject assent of all its subjects – the mere people, the proletariat – to every pronunciamento handed down to the poor and the bad by the great and the good.

All dissent is verboten. Thou shalt not enjoy freedom to voice any disagreement. Only the Party Line is permitted, and that is compulsory. Whatever is not interdit is obligatoire.

One might be tempted to despair at this climate claptrap, were it not that despair is a grave sin against the Holy Spirit. However, just at the very moment when the international far Left imagines that it has at last triumphed over the forces of freedom, of truth and of religion, I see in its increasingly

frenetic posturings the seeds of the final victory against all forms of totalitarianism.

We defeated Hitler and Mussolini.

We defeated Soviet Communism.

The Church stood proud against both Fascism and Communism, recognizing that any system that silences all opposition to the Party Line is a danger to humanity.

The extraordinary lengths to which today’s totalitarians have gone to silence all opposition to the climate-Communist Party Line betray a growing – and justifiable – doubt in their minds about the system of nonsense to which they have foolishly devoted themselves heart and soul.

It is a great shame that the Communists in the Vatican, whispering into the ears of the Pope, have succeeded in convincing him that he should join the globalwarming bandwagon just as the wheels are falling off.

For the peoples of Europe, it is now becoming all too apparent

that the cost of shutting down our economies to please the climate Communists will make no difference to the climate but will needlessly impoverish us all.

The climate scam is based on three elementary mistakes: of statistics, of physics and of economics. A landmark paper published in 2019

by Dr Pat Frank of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory in the United States formally demonstrates that the huge and costly computer models of climate are entirely incapable of making accurate predictions of global warming.

Climate scientists do not know enough elementary statistics to understand that uncertainties in the data that inform the models propagate through each timestep in the predicted evolution of the climate. The effect of these uncertainties is to render all the models’ predictions no better than guesswork. Dr Frank’s paper has remained entirely unrefuted for three years. Yet the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which

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Catholic Voice

is required to acknowledge and investigate all errors reported to it, has not even acknowledged receipt of Dr Frank’s error report after six months.

The error of physics is even more serious. Climatologists had forgotten that the Sun is shining and is, therefore, responsible not only for nearly all the direct warming of the climate system but also for nearly all of the additional warming known as feedback response.

Therefore, they thought that any direct warming by greenhouse gases before accounting for feedback response would cause four times as much final warming after feedback response. In reality, feedback response makes practically no difference at all. Therefore, climate scientists have predicted about three or four times as much warming as is realistic.

And they are not even able to tell us what is the ideal global mean surface temperature. Without knowing that, we do cannot even know whether the small warming that is all we can legitimately expect is harmful at all. Certainly, deaths attributable to extreme weather have plummeted throughout the past century – directly contrary to the official narrative of doom and gloom, which ascribes every passing fire, storm, gale, flood or drought to our sins of emission and mendaciously calls it “unprecedented”.

The error of economics is perhaps the easiest for the layman to understand. In the past 30 years, our sins of emission have added 1 Watt per square metre of radiative forcing to the system. That increase has been in a near-perfectly straight line, for all the bilious rhetoric has made no difference to emissions at all. On business as usual, then, we might expect to cause another 1 Watt per square meter of radiative forcing over the coming 30 years to 2050.

If we were to head in a straight line from where we are now to 2050, the warming forestalled would thus be half a Watt per square metre. IPCC’s latest report says 4 Watts per square meter of forcing from doubled CO2 in the air will cause about 3 degrees’ warming. Therefore, half a Watt per square metre forestalled between now and 2050 will prevent about three-eighths of a degree of warming, but only if the whole world succeeds in getting to netzero by then.

But it won’t, because China and India, which account for well over half of all emission between them,

WOKISTAN GLASGOW 19 are rightly not playing. The West, the target of the climate Communists, accounts for only 20% of global emissions. Therefore, shutting down the West by 2050 would abate not 3/8 C° but just 1/13 C°. The UK alone represents just 1.2% of global emissions. The national grid has estimated that achieving netzero emissions by 2050 in Britain would cost $4.2 trillion. And that enormous expenditure would abate just 1/220 C° global warming. But don’t expect any of our leaders to say any of this.

You will only get the truth here.

20 SACRAMENTS & INDULGENCES

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

Sacramental Inversion And Its Consequences Mary Kearns

Sacramental inversion is a new term and something we never thought we would encounter. The words might at first sight be hard to understand but we will recognise the reality when we see it. Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Blessing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony: seven channels of grace; seven ways of encountering the Holy Trinity. What has happened to them? In some peculiar sense they have become inverted – turned upside down.

The most obvious inversion is perhaps what we witness when boys and girls reach the day of their First Holy Communion. Where is the emphasis laid? Most parents, relatives and friends talk about “the big day.” A great deal of money is spent in bringing the young child to a level of spectacle, often featuring Communion decorations; banners, balloons, partywear, invitations, rosettes etc. etc. A bouncing castle is obligatory as is a party, either in the child’s home or in a hotel or restaurant. Needless to say, the child receives a large amount of cash, leading to the standard question “how much did you make?”

With regard to Confirmation, this sacrament is popularly experienced as a rite of passage from childhood into adolescence – from primary to secondary school and is ironically known as the “last sacrament,” meaning the unlikelihood of the young person continuing to attend Mass or any Church activities now that he is a teenager. A great deal more can be said about the sacrament of Penance and the Blessing of the Sick which in the past meant the anointing of the dying, known as Extreme Unction.

All the sacraments have now a largely secular element, the most important aspect being that little attention is given to the salvation of the immortal soul.

There is nothing new to say about the non-religious celebration of Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick’s Day and all other Catholic festivals.

However when it comes to the perversion of Christianity, probably the worst example is what we have just endured in the name of “Happy Halloween.” How many Irish people even remember what this season actually means?

For those in primary and secondary education, All Saints Day and All Souls Day are now “midterm break.” This is a very loose association as in most schools, the origin of these feasts is not acknowledged and the holiday dates actually end before the 1st November.

The consequence is that All Saints Day and All Souls are not marked.

We hope that there are some

teachers who will draw attention to the holy days, but if children are attending school will they have the opportunity of going to Mass?

Most Catholics are aware of the importance of praying for the souls in Purgatory on All Souls Day and gaining a plenary indulgence which can be applied to the holy souls. It is less likely however that the eight days at the start of November are remembered as an occasion to gain a plenary indulgence by visiting a graveyard and praying for the souls in Purgatory.

Unless a priest makes it his business to announce the conditions for obtaining a plenary indulgence, most people will remain rather confused. Older Catholics remember how this time was observed in the past when All Souls Day was marked by constant prayers for the souls of the faithful departed. The Church teaching was that a plenary indulgence could be obtained by visiting any church and reciting the Our Father, Hail Mary and Gloria for the intentions of the Pope. This

5th November 2021 indulgence could be gained every time a church was visited. For this reason, on this day many devout Catholics spent hours making separate visits.

It was normal to see men and women on All Souls Day, walking around outside the church in between each session so that a new indulgence could be gained each time they went inside and prayed the required prayers. After the Second Vatican Council there was a change in this practice limiting plenary indulgences to one per day.

Unfortunately it is not generally known that it is now actually easier to gain a plenary indulgence. In fact under the usual conditions, this is possible every day of the year.

The most important requirement is that the person intending to gain the indulgence is in the state of grace and has a sincere detachment to all sin. It is necessary to have made sacramental Confession within twenty days and to receive Holy Communion on the day of the indulgence, offering at least two prayers for the Pope’s intentions.

Those are the conditions.

There are many actions each of which can gain a plenary indulgence to be applied either to oneself or to the souls in Purgatory. There are even more in this year of St. Joseph.

However for simplicity’s sake and for most Catholics who are daily Mass-goers, one of the following actions would fulfil the requirement: recitation of the Rosary in a prayer group or with others in the Church; the Stations of the Cross where they are erected (not following the stations in a book); thirty minutes Eucharistic Adoration or thirty minutes reading Sacred Scripture.

During the special time from noon on 1st November until midnight on the 2nd November all who have confessed, received Holy Communion and prayed for the

Catholic Voice

SACRAMENTS & INDULGENCES 21

Pope’s intentions can gain one plenary indulgence by visiting a church or oratory, and there reciting one Our Father and the Apostles Creed. In these days the indulgence is applicable only to the souls of the departed. Confession may be made at any time within the week preceding or the week following 1st November. Holy Communion may be received on any day from 1st to the 8th November. During the days of 1st to 8th November the plenary indulgence may be gained every day under these special conditions and applied to the holy souls.

The conditions are not difficult when one considers that a plenary indulgence applied to a soul in Purgatory has the power to release that soul into heaven. This is not just a devout practice but one that has the full authority of the Church.

“Indulgences are the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.

The faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains the indulgence under prescribed conditions for either himself or the departed.

Indulgences are granted through the ministry of the Church, which as the dispenser of the grace of

redemption distributes the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints.” Catechism of the Catholic Church 1471-9.

Although the primary focus here has been on plenary indulgences this should not detract from the partial indulgences which are gained through the recitation of all authorised prayers. These carry much more weight than various devotional prayers which although also of value, may not be part of the Church’s official doctrine on suffrage for the souls in Purgatory.

The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy states that the means of assisting the holy souls into heaven consist “primarily in the celebration of the holy sacrifice of the Eucharist...and the application of indulgences to the souls of the faithful departed.”

Indulgences are not sacraments of course and although we have noted the lamentable “inversion of the sacraments,” when it comes to indulgences, the problem is not that they have been inverted so much as they have been forgotten For catechesis and liturgical formation: marykeenankearns@gmail.com 087 7794687

22 EXCOMMUNICATION

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

The Merciful Act of Excommunication Regis Nicoll Whether cohabiting couples, out and proud gays, serial monogamists, or persons engaged in any one of the number of socially acceptable sins, they are members in churches— maybe yours—who have gone unchallenged for behaviours and lifestyles that are incongruent with Scripture and Church teaching; and many are in leadership roles.

Most egregious are Catholic and other Christian public officials who, in open defiance of plain and unambiguous Church teaching, not only support abortion but vow to use the full force of their office to undermine and remove any protections to the unborn. If the unapologetic promoters and enablers of the wholesale taking of innocent human life are not excommunicable, no one is.

Those who claim otherwise, suggesting that to deny communion to unrepentant pro-choice politicians is to act like a politician rather than a pastor, have it exactly backward.

It is the pastor who continues to administer them the Sacrament that allows his pastoral care to be influenced by politics, both outside and inside the Church.

According to a recent Pew Center poll, about one-half of self-identified Christians, including 55 percent of Catholics, say that abortion should be legal in “all/most cases.” What’s more, over one-half of the nearly one million abortions per year are performed on self-identified Christians, and 24 percent on Catholics. Thus, the pastor who considers bringing a prominent public figure under Church discipline knows that he risks offending and alienating a large swath of his parish.

The possibility that such actions could lead to further haemorrhaging in a Church that has already experienced a 20 percent decline in membership since 2000 is certainly not lost on Pope Francis. Rather than speak with moral clarity on the issue, the pope, in characteristic ambiguity, has suggested that those who would excommunicate the unrepentant

Reinhardhauke CC3 wikimedia

are acting Pharisaical by placing adherence to Church doctrine over the law of mercy.

But discipline and mercy are not at cross purposes as the pope and others seem to think. To the contrary, the law of mercy demands Church discipline up to and including excommunication for the wilful and unrepentant offender of Church doctrine. It is a principle rooted in Genesis.

After Adam and Eve sinned, God could have executed them immediately in accordance with his justice. Instead, he granted them a stay on their execution by removing them from his Presence and the Tree of Life with the hope of redemption and re-fellowship, thereby exercising justice mercifully.

He acted similarly with the Israelites.

Rather than obliterate them eternally for their disobedience and unbelief, God, as the apostle Paul explains, broke off their “branch” from the “vine” so that their envy over His blessings on the Church will bring about the repentance and re-grafting prophesied by Isaiah.

In the Church age, Jesus told His disciples that even a fruitful branch needs to be pruned of its dead and dying members to remain healthy and fruit-bearing. Thus, he charged

them to “rebuke a brother that sins” and gave them the authority to “bind and loose”—that is, the divine sanction to receive forgiven sinners into the Body of Christ as well as remove those who by their beliefs and behaviours have put themselves out of communion with God and His Church.

The vicar who neglects his duty to “loose” is not faithfully representing Him who said, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.” Someone who didn’t neglect it was Paul, who had some sharp words for a congregation that did.

It had come to Paul’s attention that the church in Corinth was ignoring an occasion of grave sin in its midst.

Scolding the assembly for its moral complacence, Paul ordered the expulsion of the offender, warning, “Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?”

Paul’s concern was for the community.

Sin, like a virus, infects its host to replicate and propagate out to an ever-increasing circle of victims. By failing to discipline the offender and address his sin, the church had put the whole congregation at risk of sin’s

5th November 2021 corruptive influence. To halt the viral spread, the extreme measure of dismembership had become necessary.

But Paul’s concern was also for the offender. While Paul’s instruction to turn him “over to Satan” seems to contravene that supposition, his explanation, “so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord,” indicates his hope that excommunication would bring the man to his moral senses and, like the wastrel son in Jesus’ parable, lead to repentance and restoration.

On another occasion, Paul told his spiritual son, Timothy, who was pastoring a church being corrupted by false teachings and immorality, how he had delivered two men “up to Satan” who had “shipwrecked their faith.” This was done, he said, that they “be taught not to blaspheme.”

Again, Paul’s utmost hope was that expulsion would lead to restoration.

As he instructed the Galatian believers, “if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.”

Catholic Voice Paul also warned the church in Thessalonica not to associate with anyone that refuses to obey his teachings—not so they would feel condemned, but that they would feel ashamed. Paul went on to say that the church should treat such people as brothers—that is, like estranged family members with whom one hopes to be reconciled.

As taught by Jesus and practiced by the early Church, Church discipline, including excommunication, is essential for the spiritual welfare of the Body and its members—especially, the “unhealthy” ones. When acted out of devotion to the highest good of others, it is the essence of love, the heart of all faithful pastoral care.

The unrepentant sinner who presents himself for Communion does so, in the teaching of Paul, in an unworthy manner. The pastor who administers him Communion in full knowledge of his spiritual condition is not only guilty of complacence, cowardice— or worse, indifference—but shares in the guilt of “sinning against the body

EXCOMMUNICATION 23 and blood of our Lord,” bringing divine judgment on both of them.

When the beliefs and behaviours in pews are no longer concerns of the pulpit, the Church has become just one more organisation in the marketplace of social services vying for a share in the “spiritualbut-not-religious” set. The church that shrinks back from the mercy of excommunication makes itself indistinguishable from any other dogood group that has neither calling nor concern for the moral welfare of its members.

Given the sustained rise of the “nones” over the last decade or so, the percentage of churches that might fit that profile is sobering. I am reminded of what churchman Joseph Milner had to say about the moral slide of Great Britain in the 18th century: “It is an affecting consideration to reflect what a number of clergymen there are…[without] any concern for their own salvation or that of the flocks committed to their charge.”

24 ST MARTIN OF TOURS

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

St Martin Of Tours - Bishop And Confessor Dom Prosper Gueranger Three thousand six hundred and sixty churches dedicated to St. Martin in France alone, and well nigh as many in the rest of the world, bear witness to the immense popularity of the great thaumaturgus. In the country, on the mountains, and in the depth of forests; trees, rocks, and fountains, objects of superstitious worship to our pagan ancestors, received, and in many places still retain, the name of him who snatched them from the dominion of the powers of darkness to restore them to the true God. For the vanquished idols, Roman, Celtic, or German, Christ substituted their conqueror, the humble soldier, in the grateful memory of the people.

Martin’s mission was to complete the destruction of paganism, which had been driven from the towns by the martyrs but remained up to his time master of the vast territories removed from the influence of the cities.

While on the one hand he was honoured with God’s favours, on the other he was pursued by hell with implacable hatred. At the very

The tomb of St. Martin, located in the Basilica Crypt in Tours, France

outset he had to encounter Satan, who said to him: ‘I will beset thy path at every turn’, and he kept his word. He has kept it to this very day: century after century, he has been working ruin around the glorious tomb which once attracted the whole world to Tours: in the sixteenth, he delivered it to the flames, by the hands of the Huguenots, the venerable remains of the protector of France; by the nineteenth, he had brought men to such a height of folly, as themselves to destroy, in time of peace, the splendid basilica which was the pride and the riches of their city.

The gratitude of Christ and the rage of Satan, made known by such signs reveal sufficiently the incomparable labours of the apostle, and monk, St. Martin.

A monk indeed he was, both in desire and in reality, to the last day of his life. From earliest infancy he sighed after the service of God. He became a catechumen at the age of ten, and at twelve he wished to retire to the desert; all his thoughts were engaged on monasteries and churches. A soldier at fifteen years

of age, he so lived as even then to be taken for a monk. After a first trial of religious life in Italy, he was brought by St. Hilary to this solitude of Liguge, which, thanks to him, became the cradle of monastic life in Gaul. To say the truth, Martin, during the whole course of his life, felt like a stranger everywhere else except at Liguge.

A monk by attraction, he had been forced to be a soldier, and it needed violence to make him a bishop: and even then he never relinquished his monastic habits. He responded to the dignity of a bishop, says his historian, without declining from the rule and life of a monk. At first he constructed for himself a cell near his church of Tours; and soon afterwards built, at a little distance from the town, a second Liguge, under the name of Marmoutier, or the great monastery.’

The holy liturgy refers to St. Hilary the honour of the wonderful virtues displayed by Martin.’ What were the holy bishop’s reasons for leading his heaven-sent disciple by ways then so little known in the West he has left us to learn from the

5th November 2021 most legitimate heir of his doctrine as well as of his eloquence. It has ever been,’ says Cardinal Pie, ‘the ruling idea of all the saints that, side by side with the ordinary ministry of the pastors, obliged by their functions to live in the midst of the world, the Church has need of a militia, separated from the world and enrolled under the standard of evangelical perfection, living in self-renunciation and obedience, and carrying on day and night the noble and incomparable function of public prayer. The most illustrious pontiffs and the greatest doctors have thought that the secular clergy themselves could never be better fitted for spreading and making popular the pure doctrines of the Gospel, than if they could be prepared for their pastoral office by living either a monastic life, or one as nearly as possible resembling it.

Read the lives of the greatest bishops both in East and West, in the times immediately preceding or following the peace of the Church, as well as in the Middle Ages: they have all, either themselves at some time professed the monastic life, or lived in continual contact with those who professed it. Hilary, the great Hilary, had, with his experienced and unerring glance, perceived the need; he had seen the place that should be occupied by the monastic Order in Christendom, and by the regular clergy in the Church. In the midst of his struggles, his combats, his exile, when he witnessed with his own eyes the importance of the monasteries in the East, he earnestly desired the time when, returning to Gaul, he might at length lay the foundations of the religious life at home. Providence was not long in sending him what was needful for such an enterprise: a disciple worthy of the master, a monk worthy of the bishop.’

On another occasion, comparing St. Martin, his predecessors, and St. Hilary himself, in their common apostolate of Gaul, the illustrious Cardinal says: ‘Far be it from me to undervalue all the vitality and

Catholic Voice power already possessed by the religion of Jesus Christ in our divers provinces, thanks to the preaching of the first apostles, martyrs, and bishops, who may be counted back in a long line almost to the day of Calvary. Still I fear not to say it: the popular apostle of Gaul, who converted the country parts, until then almost entirely pagan, the founder of national Christianity, was principally St. Martin. And how is it that he, above so many other great bishops and servants of God, holds such pre-eminence in the apostolate? Are we to place Martin above his master Hilary? With regard to doctrine, certainly not; and as to zeal, courage, holiness, it is not for me to say which was greater, the master’s or the disciple’s. But what I can say is, that Hilary was chiefly a teacher, and Martin was chiefly a thaumaturgus. Now, for the conversion of the people the thaumaturgus is more powerful than the teacher; and consequently, in the memory and worship of the people, the teacher is eclipsed and effaced by the thaumaturgus .

‘Nowadays there is much talk about the necessity of reasoning in order to persuade men as to the reality of divine things: but that is forgetting Scripture and history; nay, more, it is degenerating. God has not deemed it consistent with His majesty to reason with us. He has spoken; He has said what is and what is not; and as He exacts faith in His word, He has sanctioned His word. But how has He sanctioned it? After the manner of God, not of man; by works, not by reasons: not by the arguments of a humanly persuasive philosophy: but by displaying a power altogether divine. And wherefore? For this profound reason: that faith may not rest upon the wisdom of man, but upon the power of God.’ But now men will not have it so: they tell us that in Jesus Christ the theurgist wrongs the moralist; that miracles are a blemish in so sublime an ideal. But they cannot reverse this order; they cannot abolish the

ST MARTIN OF TOURS 25 Gospel, nor history. Begging the pardon of the learned men of our age and their obsequious followers: not only did Christ work miracles, but He established the Faith upon the foundation of miracles.

And the same Christ — not to confirm His own miracles, which are the support of all others; but out of compassion for us, who are so prone to forgetfulness, and who are more impressed by what we see than by what we hear — the same Jesus Christ has placed in His Church, and that for all time, the power of working miracles. Our age has seen some, and will see yet more. The fourth century witnessed in particular those of St. Martin.

‘The working of wonders seemed mere play to him; all nature obeyed him; the animals were subject to him. “Alas!” cried the saint one day: “the very serpents listen to me, and men refuse to hear me.”

Men, however, often did hear him. The whole of Gaul heard him; not only Aquitaine, but also Celtic and Belgic Gaul. Who could resist words enforced by so many prodigies? In all· these provinces he overthrew the idols one after another, reduced the statues to powder, burnt or demolished all the temples, destroyed the sacred groves and all the haunts of idolatry.

Was it lawful? you may ask. If I study the legislation of Constantine and Constantius, perhaps it was.

But this I know: Martin, eaten up with zeal for the house of the Lord, was obeying none but the Spirit of God. And I must add that against the fury of the pagan population Martin’s only arms were the miracles he wrought, the visible assistance of angels sometimes granted him, and, above all, the prayers and tears he poured out before God, when the hard-heartedness of the people resisted the power of his words and of his wonders. With these means Martin changed the face of the country.

26 MORTAL DANGER

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

Cdl. Müller: Covid-19 Is ‘Dangerous’ But ‘Mortal Sin Is More Dangerous’ Maike Hickson

The former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith also said bishops should not ‘devote themselves to environmental and nature issues by substituting themselves for politicians’ but ‘commit themselves to the ‘religious climate.’’

In a yet unpublished manuscript given to the website LifeSiteNews, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, insists that the Catholic Church not lose sight of her supernatural mission, pointing to the “uniqueness and salvific universality of Jesus and the Church.” He also discusses the coronavirus and its dangers, saying it is indeed “dangerous,” but that “mortal sin is much more dangerous.”

The coronavirus, he explains in the manuscript, “is not the only challenge to mankind,“ and here he points to the dangers not to the body but to the soul and its eternal salvation. After pointing out the dangers of mortal sin, this German cardinal adds that “the forgiveness of our sins in the Sacrament of Penance is a divine vaccine with 100% guaranteed efficacy, forgiveness and the reward of eternal life.”

With these words, the former professor of dogmatic theology points to the need to think in supernatural terms rather than political or natural ones. Cardinal Müller has recently received the “Great International Golden Lion of Venice” award for peace. He O Jesus, it is for the love of Thee, in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and for the conversion of poor sinners [that I do this]. Amen.

Our Lady of Fatima - June 13th, 1917.

is involved in the newly founded Dominus Iesus Foundation, which aims at exactly that: the promotion of Jesus and His Church as the arc of salvation.

He writes, “The DOMIINUS IESUS Foundation is non-profit and pursues religious purposes aimed at spreading the culture and doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church in the world.” “In particular,” he continues, “it promotes the uniqueness and salvific universality of Jesus and the Church according to the principle by which the Lord Jesus, before ascending to heaven, entrusted His disciples with the mandate to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world and to baptise all nations.”

Here, the cardinal quotes the Gospel: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.

Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:15-16); “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to

observe all that I have commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world” (Mt 28:18-20; cf. also Lk 24:46-48; Jn 17:18; 20:21; Acts 1:8).

Cardinal Müller hopes “with God’s help that we can reach as many people as possible by working on various projects.”

Moreover, the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) speaks about the priorities of the Church in this historical moment. “In spite of the technical-digital progress and globalisation, the Church must explain what is the meaning of human existence,” Cardinal Müller goes on to say, quoting the Second Vatican Council: “Behold, the Church believes that Christ, who died and rose again for all, gives man light and strength through His Spirit, so that he may respond to his supreme vocation; nor is there any other name on earth given to men by which they may be saved” (Gaudium et spes 10).

The German prelate also dwells on the important role of the bishops of the Catholic Church who should not “devote themselves to

5th November 2021 environmental and nature issues by substituting themselves for politicians,” but instead, they should “commit themselves to the ‘religious climate.’”

The Pope himself, he adds, has the mission of “gathering all Christians in the confession of faith: saying to the Lord, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” (Mt 16:16). “The Church needs the Pope as the Vicar of Christ,” he adds. This role is “1,000 times more important” even than being “an interlocutor of ambitious politicians and pseudo-philosophers or of some journalists who just want to sell their interviews better by putting their name in plain sight,” Müller insists.

Returning to the topic of the mission of the bishops, Cardinal Müller wishes that they are not “courtiers who flatter the prince.”

In addition, they are “constituted by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28)” and are “not employees of the Holy

MORTAL DANGER 27

Catholic Voice See.” “They have a responsibility to Christ as His representatives and not as delegates of the Pope.”

“True Catholic bishops,” the prelate continues, “do not submit themselves to public opinion but give testimony to the ‘sound doctrine’ of the Gospel of Christ, strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit.” By quoting the Letter of Timothy, Cardinal Müller reminds us that the bishops are to “avoid profane fables,” and that they have to put their hope “in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, but especially of those who believe.”

Further resisting the ongoing secularisation of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Müller tells us that the Church “is not and cannot become a NGO, a religious-social organisation towards an earthly paradise, which must fail, but rather a living organism, the Body of Christ, of which He is the Head and Universal Saviour.”

LIBERALISM IS A SIN

Don Félix Sardà y Salvany: – was

Here, the German theologian touches upon the Synod on Synodality that just has been started

by Pope Francis, when he states that “men cannot reform the Church or build a new one according to their own pleasure, but it is God Who reforms us, renews us, so that we are good Christians, living members of His body (ecclesial through the sacraments).” “Christ is the Head,” and all of the Church’s bishops (to include the “bishop of Rome”) are merely “His servants.”

“No one can lay a foundation other than what is already there, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3:11), Cardinal Müller insists. “This divine word should be the maxim of the next synod on synodality.”

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God With thy whole heart, And with thy whole soul, And with thy whole mind.

This is the greatest And the first commandment.

CATECHISM ON MODERNISM

Holiness Pope Pius X, issued the Encyclical ‘Pascendi Dominici Gregis’ which translates as “Feeding the Lord’s Flock”. Pope Pius X was aware that the Catholic Church had been infiltrated by modernists who were seeking to undermine her doctrines from within.

born on May 21, 1844 in Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain. He was a Catholic priest and writer who wrote against Liberalism which he considered a grave sin. He was the editor of the weekly Spanish Catholic magazine

Father J. B. Lemius, produced this ‘Catechism on years. He died on January 2, 1916 at Modernism’ in the familiar the age of 71. This book, Liberalism question and answer format is a Sin, is particularly relevant to of the time, in order to make the teachings of the the times we live in today where Liberalism permeates every Encyclical more accessible to ordinary Catholics and aspect of our society and has deeply infiltrated the thinking of by way of explaining in a clear and concise manner the many of the Catholic hierarchy. reasons why the Encyclical was published.

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28 TAKE UP YOUR CROSS...

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

The Value Of Life Is Found In The Cross Of Christ Emily C. Hurt

In the struggle for life, talking about God is indispensable. Only in this way does the value of the weak, the disabled, the non-productive, the incurably ill become apparent; only in this way can we relearn and rediscover, too, the value of suffering: the greatest lesson on human dignity always remains the cross of Christ, our salvation has its origins not in what the Son of God did but in [H]is suffering, and whoever does not know how to suffer does not know how to live”– Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, “The Problem of Threats to Human Life.”

The whole “pro-life question”– contraception, abortion, euthanasia — is, at its roots, an aspect of the problem of suffering. Openness to life means embracing suffering.

If teenagers are going to say “No” to premarital sex, they need to have learned as children to say “No” to smaller things, to accept their daily crosses — they are going to need to learn the value of suffering. Denying that basic urge to lust is a form of suffering; they are voluntarily imposing suffering upon themselves. They

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are denying themselves something. And that denial is going to cause them to suffer.

If a married couple is going to resist the temptation to contracept, they are going to have to embrace suffering.

Again, they will be mortifying one of their most basic urges. Instead of saying “Yes” to contraception, they are saying “Yes” to life.

If a woman is going to remain open to life, open to bringing a child into the world instead of aborting it, she is going to have to embrace suffering. Even if prenatal diagnosis has told her that her child will have a life shortened or made miserable by disease, a life that in the eyes of society is “not worth living,” that child has a value. And the only way to see that value is to look to the Cross of Christ and to remember that He did His most valuable work at a time when He appeared the weakest and most vulnerable–during the last 3 hours of His Life, which He spent dying on the Cross (Ven. Fulton J. Sheen).

Her life has a value. Even if it seems that this child is coming into her life at the most “inconvenient” time, is “disrupting” her life, is requiring her to make all sorts of “lifestyle modifications,” if she embraces the life of that child, and the changes in her life that that child will bring, she will see her value, and the value of her child. In embracing that child and those changes, she is embracing the Cross of Christ, and not only that, she is embracing Christ. And only in His wounds will she see her intrinsic value.

If an adult child is going to remain open to the life of a parent who has dementia, or has a stroke and needs constant care, he is going to have to embrace suffering.

Even if his parent cannot dress or feed himself; if his parent’s mind wanders and his father doesn’t know who he is, his parent still has intrinsic value. Even if he is not conscious of it, the parent is embracing the Cross of Christ and is carrying his own Cross; the parent needs his child to carry the Cross with him, not to view his life as a burden and try to “get rid of” that burden.

Ultimately, the value of life is found in the Cross of Christ. The dignity of the unborn, the dignity of family life, the dignity of chastity, the dignity of the elderly, is rooted in the suffering Christ. Only in His wounds will we find strength to carry our crosses and to see our intrinsic value.

“We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee: because

by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.”

5th November 2021

Catholic Voice

TAKE UP YOUR CROSS... 29

“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be made void. For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world, by wisdom, knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of our preaching, to save them that believe.

For both the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness: But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For see your vocation, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble: But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:17-27) But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

Please Help Us To Promote The Five First Saturdays of Reparation Order Some of Our New Five First Saturday Devotions Cards These cards are designed to help people to complete The Five First Saturdays Devotion of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Contact John Lacken 085-1208779 secretary@lumenfidei.ie

St Julia - Martyr - Gabriel von Max (1840 – 1915)

Fatima Prayer

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He Himself is offended, and through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners. Amen.

“To forestall this [the second world war], I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.

“If they heed My requests, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she shall spread her errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecutions of the Church; the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated; in the end, My Immaculate Heart shall triumph.

(Our Lady - Fatima July 13th 1917)

30 BOOKS

Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

STRENGTHEN YOUR FAITH DURING THIS CRISIS BUY CATHOLIC BOOKS! DON’T GO TO HELL Catholic Church Teaching on Hell

THE CHURCH IN OUR TIMES

This book contains three essays, one in question & answer format, from a time when pastors were more direct and ‘plain speaking’ in presenting the Truth of Catholic doctrine to their flocks.

They were primarily concerned with the salvation of the souls entrusted to their care rather than being overly concerned about whether or not their flocks would find these Truths offensive or difficult.

They sought the Praise and Glory of God, and not the praise of men.

is a series of reflections on topical issues concerning the Catholic Church and the practice of the faith ranging from ‘Faith and Culture’, to ‘GLBT – New thinking’, to ‘Purgatory and Remembrance’. Fr Hahesy’s style is conversational and he weaves through the various topics all the while pointing to the soul’s need for God. “The daily prayers at the end of this book, will ensure the salvation of our soul and a happier life here. Please believe me. It does not seem much to ask for such a great reward. To know and love God is the ultimate good whether people know this or not, accept it or not.”

€/£7 inc p&p Ireland €/£8.50 inc p&p outside Ireland

€/£10 inc p&p Ireland €/£12 inc p&p outside Ireland

Purgatory - How to Avoid it

One rarely hears sermons preached on the four last things; death, judgement, Heaven & Hell, and this has led to a decline in belief concerning these matters.

CRISIS OF FAITH Bishop Athanasius Schneider This DVD presentation offers two 50-minute talks by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, delivered during a visit to Ramsgate, Kent, in February 2016.

Talks include, ‘The Immutability of the Catholic Faith’, ‘The Crisis of Faith in Our Days’ and ‘Blessed John Henry Newman and the Sacredness of the Liturgy’.

Also included are highlights from the Holy Hour and Benediction, with bishop Schneider reading meditations by St Peter Julian Eymard. €/£6 inc p&p Ireland €/£8.50 inc p&p outside Ireland

SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

This really is a fantastic book which presents Catholic teaching on sin in a simple, clear and precise way. You will learn about the nature of sin, about the different kinds of sin, mortal and venial, formal and material sins.

Reflections on the Abortion Issue in Ireland.

Those of us here on earth can help to shorten the time that Holy Souls must spend in Purgatory. This book teaches us how best to help the Holy Souls in purgatory

The book also teaches us about sins of omission. After discussing sin, the book then speaks of the great graces offered to us in the sacrament of confession, it teaches us about temptations, about Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, and then it finishes with a very hope filled chapter on the joys of the resurrection.

Many countries, including Ireland, have removed the right to life from the Constitution and given the legislature the power to legalise abortion, which by definition is the intentional killing of the unborn child.

The assumption is that unborn babies have no human rights. The essays in this monograph expose the fallacy that unborn babies do not have the right to life and may be ‘terminated’ if that is the ‘choice’ of the mother. In the New Ireland, human killing is now legal. It is estimated that 800 – 900 unwanted unborn babies are ‘terminated’ every month. Abortion has become the murder machine of our time.”

€/£7 inc p&p Ireland €/£8.50 inc p&p outside Ireland

€/£10 inc p&p Ireland €/£12 inc p&p outside Ireland

€/£13.50 inc p&p Ireland €/£15 inc p&p outside Ireland

The souls of most of those who die in a state of grace, will spend some time in Purgatory to be purified before they can enter the all holy realm of Heaven.

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5th November 2021 Catholic Voice

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Welcome To Our New Lourdes Website saintbernadette.info Included are the following: The life and times of St Bernadette: The Importance of the Holy Rosary for our times: The Lourdes Apparitions: The Song of Bernadette Movie: Prayer cards on request and much much more. Contact via email morgansharpesenior@gmail.com

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(LISTED BY DIOCESE) DAILY & WEEKLY Meath: Silverstream Priory (Benedictine monks) Armagh: New Mellifont Abbey, Collon, Co. Louth Stamullen: Sunday 10.00 preceded by Terce, other days 11.00.

Every Sunday 3pm.

Meath: Church of the Nativity, Johnstown, Navan, Co. Meath Cork & Ross: Ss Peter’s & Paul’s, Cork: Sundays 12.00 noon, Sundays 1pm; First Fridays 11am; Holydays as announced.

Mon - Sat 10.00.

Ossory: St. Patrick’s, College Rd, Kilkenny; Sun 17.00.

Cork & Ross: St Mary’s, Pope’s Quay, Cork. Sundays 8:00am Raphoe: St. Patrick’s, Drumkeen, Donegal Sun 11.00. in the Dominican Rite; Down & Connor: Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Waterford: (FSSP) St. John’s Church, Parnell Street, Waterford Sunday: 8 and 11am, Mon-Fri (ex Thurs), 19:00. Thurs: 8am, City – Every Sunday 1:30pm, Mon 1:00pm, Tues – Friday Sat: 8am, 11am.

Dromore: St.Mary’s, Newry: Sundays and Holydays 9.00am.

Dublin: St. Kevin’s, Harrington Street: Sundays & non working Holy Days: 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00; (Vespers Sun 3:30pm.) Mon - Fri 08.00; Sat 09.00.

Working Holidays & 1st Fridays; 08.00 and 19.00.

Dublin: St. Joseph’s, Newtownmountkennedy Co Wicklow Sat 11:00 Elphin: Church of the Sacred Heart and St Barry, Whitehall, Tarmonbarry, Co Roscommon. Every Sunday 5pm Ferns: (FSSP) St. Alphonsus, Barntown, Co Wexford: Every Sunday 17.00 (Sung Mass 1st and 3rd Sundays), Holy days as announced.

Galway: Chapel of St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s Road (ICKSP) Sun 15:00 Limerick: Sacred Heart, The Crescent (ICKSP) Sun 8am, 10.30am, 6pm; Mon-Weds 08.00 and 18.00; Thurs 8:00, Friday 18.00; Saturday 08.00 & 10:30 (followed by 1st Saturday devotions)

19:30 (19:00 1st Fridays) Sat 11:00am, Holydays as announced.

TWICE MONTHLY Derry: St. Columba’s , Longtower: First and Third Sunday 14:00 MONTHLY Armagh: St. Patrick’s, Dungannon, Co Tyrone: First Saturday 14.00.

Cork & Ross: St. Francis, Liberty St. Cork : First Saturday 13.00.

Derry: St. Marys, Aughabrack, Co Tyrone: Fourth Sunday 12.45 Elphin: St. John’s, Carraoe, Co Sligo ; Last Sunday Killaloe: St. Joseph ‘s, Ennis, Co Clare: First Sunday 17:30 Tuam: St. John the Baptist, (Old Parish Knock, Co Mayo; Second Sunday 17.30.

Every effort has been made to ensure this list is up to date.

Please contact The Latin Mass Society of Ireland in the event of any changes or errors.

Email: adminmass@latinmassireland.com

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Catholic Voice

5th November 2021

Notwithstanding the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by His Holiness Pope Francis and his brother priests, be it ‘ad orientem’ or ‘versus populum’, “Jesus Christ, yesterday, and to day; and the same forever” abides as the unique ‘Mysterium Fidei’expression, in both rites, as Christ’s actual Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity and as corroborated, respectively, by the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano in Italy in 750 AD and the Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires in Argentina in 1996: www.miracolieucaristici.org “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.”

Published by: Catholic Voice Newspapers, St Michael’s House, Castlemitchell South, Athy, County Kildare. Tel 059-8627268 ROI / 00353 - 59 8627268 Publisher: Anthony Murphy.

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