St. Anastasia and the Sign of the Cross
p/c St. Anastasia, by America Needs Fatima. In the early 2000s, when I was in Rome, I went looking for a chapel of perpetual-adoration in which I could pray at night. The only one I found was the Basilica of St. Anastasia, located between the Circus Maximus and the Palatine Hill. Unlike the museumesque secularism that pervades most Roman Churches during the day, this quiet adoration chapel of St. Anastasia was always filled at night with faith-filled Romans, few as they might have been in that quiet chapel with a monstrance lit up flickering candles. The Basilica is still open. However, that perpetual-adoration chapel of St. Anastasia was closed down [...]
Where Do Suicides Go According to the Catholic Church?
Then when Judas, His betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.—Mt 27:3-5. There are two things that kill the soul: despair and false-hope.—St. Augustine, Sermon 87 Let me say at the outset of this article that I have had friends commit suicide. So, I don't like writing this. But a major corrective needed to be [...]
Annulment Correction Post
p/c New Liturgical Movement. A Correction on the Proper Interpretation of Matthew 19:9 The explosion of annulments and accompanying civil divorces (with second “marriages”) among Catholics, especially in the United States since Vatican II, is an underreported yet monstrous crisis that is destroying the fabric of American Catholic families and jeopardizing eternal souls. This is why I take this topic seriously, as should you. I previously wrote an article entitled “Is There a Scriptural Basis for Annulments?” In that article, I noted that modernists in the Catholic Church, who tend to promote the issuance of Decrees of Nullity (annulments), wrongfully rely on the “exception clause” contained in Matthew 19:9 to [...]
A Resurrection Unto Death.
Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.—St. John 5:28-29 In the above passage, Our Lord Jesus Christ describes an important part of the Creed, namely, that on the Day of Judgment (the last day of humans on earth before "the new heavens and the new earth") Christ will return and we will all begin the resurrection of the body. What will happen to everyone? Everyone in Purgatory [...]
Non-Compromise Always Has One End
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.—2 Tim 3:12-13. The word for "all" above in Greek is πάντες or pantes in the Latin alphabet. Just like the English above, all obviously means everyone. That is, every single person who desires to live a pious life in Christ will be persecuted, even if they are not looking for it. When seen from the point of view of heaven, this is more of a promise than a threat! Notice also that imposters will go from "bad to worse." [...]
Threats Against the Seal of Confession
Recently, LifeSite News published disturbing news: "The Washington state Senate passed legislation to throw priests in jail for almost a full year for maintaining the Seal of Confession. Senator Noel Frame, a Democrat, is on her third attempt to force priests to divulge what they hear during Confession if it concerns abuse." Notice the last four words above: if it concerns abuse... Keep in mind we in the traditional Catholic world have been fighting clergy-abuse of children. That means those of us who defend the seal of confession are not looking for a "work-around" in hiding child-abuse when the predator is lay or clergy. In fact, in past articles, I [...]
Detachment from Vice Is Attachment to God
When you see "a Theology of Attachment" as the title of this article, you probably think I'm going to tell you what to give up for Lent. It's too late for that. Rather, I'm simply going to compare that which Satan clung to and that which Mary clung to. (And yes, I know I just ended a sentence in a preposition, but remember what GK Chesterton wrote: "A preposition, I may remark in passing, is about the best thing in the world to end a sentence with.") Satan's Attachments: St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: "But [satan] desired resemblance with God in this respect---by desiring, as his last end of beatitude, something [...]
The “New Evangelization” Has Officially Failed.
Mr. Eric Sammons of Crisis Magazine tweeted the above graph and commented: "From a high of 172,581 new converts in 1999, we only had 72,212 in 2022—a 58% decline." In other words, the Catholic Church in the United States boasted 173k converts in 1999 but that number dropped to 72k in 2022. Obviously, a drop in 58% of converts-per-year is a catastrophic loss for a Church that claims to be missionary. Furthermore, the Pew Study center released the above graph on the Catholic Church. It reveals that for every convert welcomed into the front door of an American Catholic parish, over eight Catholics leave through the back door. How strange, [...]
Duress or Necessity in Civil Law
Even some pro-lifers do not understand why we with Red Rose Rescue do counseling to abortion-minded couples not only outside the abortion center (where I go every month) but also occasionally inside the abortion center (which I have only done twice in my life—both times resulting in arrest, even though our actions on the inside of the killing center were always peaceful and respectful.) Because I have never blocked entrance to an abortion mill (something my friends who are more courageous than me have indeed done) I have only been charged in the past with trespassing. However, some pro-lifers believe this is imprudent and even increases buffer zones for the [...]
Respect of Egos Part 2: Discernment and Obedience
Part One: Respect of Egos was about St. Thomas Aquinas' warnings against "respect of persons" which I consider to be an avoidance of "Respect of Egos." This leads into today's article on having fortitude of character. Many of you are probably familiar with the Milgram experiment in 1961 where normal Americans involved in a psychological experiment were pressured into delivering lethal doses of electricity to other Americans involved in that experiment. At least, they believed these were lethal doses of electricity... but they were not. The experiment (linked above) was rather a test on the would-be electrocuters to determine how many people would deliver a lethal dose of 250 volts [...]