Congratulations

Don't worry, I've not jumped on the Wedding-craze bandwagon. I think we should leave them both ALONE. The two haven't had a second of peace and quiet since they announced their engagement. My prayers are with them on this day of their wedding, but today is not what is important to me. What I see out of this is that Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, is the future King of the United Kingdom and Canada, Australia and all the other Commonwealth realms.

PRAY FOR THE POPE!

Sooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeee

Sorry! I was around visiting family for Easter. I thought "I shan't be long"....yes, well I was. Oh, I watched election signs fly around. I flew a few Union Jacks, Vatican Flags and provincial flags. Went to Mass a lot!
I have a nice post for to-morrow!

Happy Easter

I would like to wish you a Blessed Easter, and I apologise that I hadn't posted yesterday, It was BUSY!

I am sharing with you my favourite Easter hymn, The Day of Resurrection! Sung by the ever so wonderful Gloucester Cathedral Choir!

Don't understand the Easter Triduum?

Let the Successor of St Peter himself tell you what it is!

He was nailed to a cross.....

Tories plan to defund Planned Parenthood

Ahh! Here is one good reason to support the Conservatives this election in May, read this from CBC news.

The decision on whether to fund the organization has not yet been announced. But Brad Trost, the incumbent candidate for Saskatoon-Humboldt, told the Saskatchewan ProLife Association's annual convention last Saturday that anti-abortion supporters who signed petitions played a big role.

In a recording of his speech, obtained by CBC News, Trost can be heard thanking those who had signed the petitions, saying his office was involved in spearheading the petition campaign along with other members of Parliament.

“Let me just tell you, I cannot tell you specifically how we used it, but those petitions were very, very useful and they were part of what we used to defund Planned Parenthood because it has been an absolute disgrace that that organization and several others like it have been receiving one penny of Canadian taxpayers' dollars,” Trost told the group to applause.

"And so there’s going to be a lot of vigilance and pressure and if you and your groups hear anything, please help us as members of Parliament because we’re going to be on the lookout as they try to get in there. I’ve got reports that they’re trying to get grants and again we will be pushing back from the other side."

The Conservatives responded in this way....

Asked repeatedly whether allowing access to abortion was part of the government's funding criteria, Soudas replied:

"No, it does not."

Read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/04/20/cv-election-planned-parenthood.html

IT WAS NOT HITLER'S BIRTHDAY!

Yeah, so, ya know da other day when I said it was Hitler's birthday.....I had the dates confused, obviously. Though, that's still reason enough to pray for the souls of the people he murdered.

Maundy Thursday.

Today is the day that Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist!
At Mass, today, you can go up to get your feet washed. I say this to the MEN only, WOMEN can NOT get their feet washed tonight. God Bless :)

Pray, not celebrate.

Today is Hitler's birthday. There is no reason to celebrate, but only to pray for those who were murdered by him.

Please don't think I am greedy........

As I'm still on da' go with 8[very holy great and awesome] followers, who I love dearly, could I ask you to follow me? I know I'm a terrible blogger, I've accepted that. But gimme a chance, come on? Pretty please with sugar and molasses on top?

I'll make a promise: Every follower I get, I'll kick a progressive and steal his liturgical dance rags.

The New Translation in Canada

The Vicar (Parish Priest) at my church has announced that the church in Canada will start to use the new translation of the Mass this Advent, along with the States. You've heard it here first!

Prayer with the Orthodox

Scotland to use new corrected translation!

The Scottish Church continues to impress me with their faithfulness and orthodoxy. When His Holiness visited the United Kingdom, he was greeted with parades and songs of praise. Now, they have decided to release the new, corrected translation of the Holy Sacrifice in September!!!!!!! Bringing you this story from the Catholic News Agency, please read it!

Glasgow, Scotland, Apr 12, 2011 / 07:19 pm (CNA).- Scotland’s bishops have become the latest to give their backing to the new English translation of the Roman Missal. The bishops said the new translation would gradually be introduced, beginning on Sept. 4.

“(W)e welcome the opportunity this affords to renew our faith in the Eucharist and in all aspects of its celebration,” Bishop Joseph Toal of Argyll & the Isles, head of the bishops’ liturgy commission, said in a statement to Scottish priests.

“Ours is a strong and very real faith in what happens at Mass and it is appropriate that the robust words used in Latin to express the human reality and our need for the Lord’s redeeming mercy are translated accordingly in English,” he added.

Bishop Toal said the new translation returns to “older, more traditional terminology.”

“This is particularly the case with regard to the words which encourage us never to lose sight of the unity between Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross and the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist, in which the Lord’s self-offering is made present for us in the sacrament of his Body and Blood,” he said.

The Scottish Church plans to deploy resources to priests, including DVDs and websites, to help them adapt to the changes.

The move comes as priests in some countries are threatening to boycott the new translation.

Father Sean McDonagh of the Association of Irish Priests told the New York Times April 12: “What we are asking of the bishops is to scrap this text. I know people are not going to use it. I wouldn’t use it, because everything I know in terms of theology and anthropology and linguistics, it breaches every one of those.”

Similar murmurings have arisen in the U.S. and Australia.

However, the man who chaired the international committee responsible for the new translation, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, says he’s confident that such threats of protest will amount to nothing.

“I know a number of the priests don’t think these texts will be pastorally advantageous. One priest said he thought there might be 10 priests around Australia who’ll refuse to use them,” Cardinal Pell said in a March 31 video interview with the Archdiocese of Sydney.

But the Sydney cardinal thought that those priests will “all come on board because as soon as their congregation hears the new prayers they’ll say, ‘What’s the fuss about? What on earth are we going to be splitting the Church about on this for?’”

The new translation will be introduced in its full form to U.S. parishes on Nov. 27. On the same day, parishes in the U.K. will begin using the full missal, after having only used the revised Order of the Mass, the prayers and responses between Sept. 4 and that day.

Material Girl goes

Well, it looks like Madonna got tired of the Kabbalah, and wants to come home.....I think.

FOR the past 15 years, she has been Kabbalah’s most high profile and dedicated follower.

But now Madonna has apparently ditched the controversial faith and taken up with Opus Dei – the secretive Catholic sect made famous in The Da Vinci Code.

The singer is said to be intrigued by the organisation and spent Friday with priests from the centre’s London HQ.

The move follows her alleged falling out with some Kabbalah leaders after reports that cash raised for her Malawi charity was squandered. Last night a source claimed: “She has invested so much into Kabbalah so she was devastated by these damning accusations.

“She has started exploring different religions. Madonna has always been intrigued by Opus Dei. As yet, she’s not a fully paid-up member – she’s just had informal chats.”

How interesting! Well, lets hope she really is serious about this. I know some people just like to go from religion to religion, church to church, just like they change clothes. I hope she realises what she's doing. If she joins she must actually wear clothes. Lets see how this goes. ALSO! I am very upset that they said the Opus Dei is "a secretive Catholic sect". If they had brains, which I know they don't, they would know that it's a PERSONAL PRELATURE! NOT A SECRETIVE SECT. People NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED to stop believing what that twit Dan Brown says. REALLY!

Libera: Song of Life.

No doubt this is pro-life! Only the best from Libera!

A blog tweet

Well, it's a beautiful day out. The wind is blowing, election signs are flying (the best part about that is the Liberal ones are disappearing!), and it's raining! That's good, because the snow is disappearing! YES YES YES!

Looking for icons...

I would like some new icons to add to my home altar (or shrine, if you prefer)....where, dear readers, do you fin yours when you need them?

Mass Intentions!

Hello dearest readers. Next week, I am going to have some Mass intentions put in. Of course, it's the TLM.

Do you have any intentions that you would like me to put in for you? If so feel free to comment, or email me! God Bless!

Tu Es Petrus!

I do love my German Shepherd!

Michael Voris on The Michael Coren Show

Heresy at Maynooth

For a long time now, I have read stories about that bloody Maynooth Seminary in dear ol' Ireland. I heard so many stories about the blatant heresy and outrageous defiance of the authority of the Successor of St Peter, the head of God's church, rejection of the presence of Our Lord and Saviour in the Blessed Sacrament! They have even gone so far as to deny the perpetual Virginity of our dear Blessed Mother, the Mother of God.....what I've heard coming out of Maynooth literally made me want to cry. I knew it was that bad, but I did NOT know it was THIS bad. The following was published in "The Catholic Voice", by seminarians from Maynooth.

(Image provided by Lux Occulta :lxcoa.wordpress.com:)

The following transcription comes from the wonderful Fr.Z's blog post.

A group of seminarians offer their reflections on the short comings in priestly formation at the National Seminary. There are currently around sixty seminarians studying for the priesthood in Maynooth although it is worth noting that a further thirty students have been forced to continue their studies outside of Ireland having been rejected by the Seminary Council in Maynooth. These priests could return to Ireland at some stage, just why they were rejected by Maynooth might best be explained in the following reflections.

REFLECTING BACK ON THE EXPERIENCE:

The very first week I entered St. Patrick’s we were told there was “no difference” whatsoever in the various modes of Presence of Christ in the world: the priest, the people, the Word and the Eucharist; all are equal and the same we were continually told, that Christ cannot make Himself more present in one mode than in another. We were also informed that we were not to kneel for the Consecration during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in St. Mary’s. The Holy Father’s authority was frequently challenged by both staff and seminarians, as indeed was the hierarchical structure of the Church and the lack of “female leadership” in the present structure. The role of our Blessed Mother in the Church and of private devotions was also frequently challenged and criticized. Almost daily in class one had to endure challenges to the Church’s moral teachings, particularly in relation to homosexuality, contraception, marriage, and on some occasions even abortion. The role of women in the Church was a frequent topic of discussion, and the need for equality in governing and leading the Church, and this was particularly pushed by a number of Sisters on the staff with a very clear feministic agenda.

SPIRITUAL FORMATION:

The quality of spiritual direction in St. Patrick’s is very poor. Spiritual direction usually took the form of a general chat, and there was no specific direction as such. 1 was not guided on the path towards holiness through spiritual direction in the Seminary. Many seminarians in St. Patrick’s ·receive spiritual direction in secret outside the Seminary because of the same reason: poor spiritual direction within the Seminary. We also had a number of in-house spiritual retreats, reflection groups and classes. These classes were taken by a number of sisters who had a very clear feminist agenda in running the classes. The role of women within the Church was frequently addressed and the fact that they have suffered neglect at the hands of a “male dominated Church” for so many years. In addressing these issues, the sisters hid behind the guise of ‘playing devil’s advocate.’ They continually used this ploy to assert their own views and opinions, safe in the knowledge that they could not be accused of being a feminist, anti-male, anti-Church Magisterium or pro-choice, because they were only “expressing the views of a large number of women out there, who feel hurt and neglected by the Church.”

QUESTIONING THE REAL PRESENCE:

It was very uncommon for any of the priests to attend Eucharistic Adoration. A request for daily adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament was submitted to the Seminary Council but was turned down because the Council “did not want to impinge on other forms of adoration.” During ‘in-house’ Liturgy classes we were told by Ms. [xxx] that “all modes of presence of Christ in the world are equal.” We were told that Jesus is equally present in the Word, the priest, the people, and the Holy Eucharist. That all these modes of presence of Christ are the same; that Jesus cannot make Himself more present under one form . On one occasion, both [xxx] and [xxx] were present when [xxx] stated this and neither [xxx] or [xxx] objected to this or corrected her in any way. When seminarians questioned this she reaffirmed what she had just said. We asked if this was the case then why did Jesus institute the Most Holy Eucharist as the Sacrament of His Body and Blood? If Christ’s Presence is equal and the same under all modes does this mean we should worship one another? Again, we were told that these Presences were simply different modes, but that Jesus was present equally and in the same manner in each mode of Presence. Fr. [xxx] (Professor of [xxx] stated on a number of occasions in our [xxx] class that the primary mode of presence of Christ in [the] world is the Word, and not the Holy Eucharist. [xxx] also frequently referred to us in class as “girls” and joked about “pillow talk,” the suggestion being, how we would speak to someone in bed as opposed to speaking in public. Some of the priests, while celebrating Holy Mass, actually changed the words of the Eucharistic Prayer in order to personalize the Prayer.

RETREATS:

Many of the retreats run within the seminary took the form of promoting a watered down version of the faith and much of the material used for these retreats was founded on non-Catholic theologians and philosophers, or Catholic theologians and philosophers who have been silenced by the Church or who have had their work suppressed.
In 2009 [xxx] a Kerry priest working in Leeds, led an in-house retreat. Throughout the retreat he frequently made reference to a need to move away from a dogmatic theology and he stated that it annoys him when the Church makes statements saying, “this can’t change or that can’t change, because how do we know they won’t change, things change all the time.” He, like many people who have led retreats in St. Patrick’s, tended to imply certain things, without crossing any lines, leaving it up to ourselves to piece it all together to figure out what they were implying. For instance, [xxx] questioned the Church’s position on the non-ordination of women to the priesthood, without openly saying he believed women should be ordained to the priesthood. In another retreat gjven by a Cork priest, [xxx] made a similar inference , telling us that if he had his choice of working with any minister of his choosing, he would choose two female protestant ministers he was on a Scripture course with in the U.S.A. He also compared priests and seminarians who stick rigidly to Church teaching to people looking out through narrow windows (such as in old Irish monastic towers) who can only see part of the picture and miss out on the greater picture due to their narrow view.

MORAL FORMATION:

In philosophy classes we personally witnessed seminarians defend abortion (in certain circumstances), homosexuality and contraception. We also witnessed seminarians attack the Church hierarchy and the teaching of the Church on matters relating to faith and morals, most notably the teaching of the Church surrounding homosexuality, priestly celibacy, the non-ordination of women to the priesthood, contraception, and sin. In addition to this some seminarians openly criticized the office of the Papacy and the hierarchical structure of the Church.
The building and grounds of Saint Patrick’s are open to the general public which meant we were subjected to all that that entails. Many groups booked into the Saint Patrick’s complex for hen parties in the town with the result that immorally dressed girls ended up wandering around the cloisters of Saint Patrick’s. Also, as supposedly part of a class on the elderly, the entire first year class had to watch a movie called “Iris” which contained explicit sexual material including a lesbian scene. Many felt this was highly inappropriate. However, our protestations were dismissed as being over-the-top.

PASTORAL FORMATION:

The pastoral reflection groups tended to focus continually on the feelings and emotions of each group member. [xxx], the group facilitator, [xxx], continually told us that there were no right or wrong emotions and emphasized that our actions must be directed by our emotions. The intellect and the will were not entertained in these discussions at all. During the course of our first group reflection [xxx] told us that the reason we go on pastoral placements is to learn about ourselves. [xxx] also frequently used the group as a platform to air her own views and opinions, many of which were criticisms directed against the Church’s hierarchy, particularly in relation to the role of women within the Church.

INTELLECTUAL FORMATION:

Most students studying philosophy in the Seminary do so in the N.U.I.M. along with all the lay students. For most part the philosophy in the N.U.I. is very secular and some of the modules are taught by Jewish and atheist philosophers. The philosophical anthropology module for example was taught by a Jewish philosopher, and it was very notable that he omitted Saint Thomas Aquinas from the course and focused instead on thinkers such as Kant, Hume and Descartes. There was a distinct shortage of Scholastic philosophy being taught, with a very noticeable deficiency in the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas being taught. There were one or two notable exceptions: the philosophy classes taken by Fr. Pat Gorevan, Fr. Donal Daly and Fr. Simon Nolan were excellent and very much centered on the philosophies of Aristotle, Plato, Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas.

HUMAN FORMATION:

There appears to be a very unbalanced significance placed on human formation, to the detriment of spiritual formation. There was a major emphasis placed on feelings and emotions and very little on the intellect and will. Holiness was replaced by worldliness; there was very little sense of the importance of growing in holiness, and an over-emphasis on psychological development and an infatuation with sexual history, whereby everything was viewed as being due to sexual repression. The formation program was very horizontal, with little reference to the vertical (or transcendent aspect), or the supernatural element of our vocation.

MISCELLEANEOUS:

In Saint Patrick’s very few priests wear clerical dress; this is often commented on by lay students and visitors to the college. With the exception of the President, Monsignor Connolly, Fr. Oliver Treanor and Fr. Tom Norris, none of the other priests dressed regularly in clerical dress. For a stranger it was impossible to distinguish between priests and laity. The practice of wearing the·soutane and surplice for leading the daily Office was discontinued, even though a large majority of students were in favor of maintaining this practice.

CONCLUSION:

In an era where the Church is encouraging openness and transparency, the Irish seminary formation system is punishing those who are open and honest in their faith, and rewarding those who continue to ‘play the game’ and who openly oppose the teaching of the Church. As a result of this, some young men are being ordained to the priesthood who have never developed an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ or our Blessed Mother. Some of these men end up leaving the priest priesthood after a short period because they cannot cope with the solitude and loneliness of priestly life. How can the priest be lonely when Jesus is present perpetually in the Most Blessed Sacrament, awaiting our visit, thirsting for our love, and above all thirsting to pour out His love and mercy upon us and all those whom we lead to Him? The Church needs to form more good and holy priests who can lead others to the great Gift of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, where they will ‘discover a joy and peace the world cannot give.

This is a truthful and accurate account of our experiences and observations in St. Patrick’s College. The treatment we received in St. Patrick’s almost broke us and took us away from our true calling, the calling God had in mind for from all eternity. At times over the past two to three years we began to doubt our faith and began to wonder if in fact there was something wrong with us: if the Seminary Council were so sure of this then maybe they were right and there was something wrong with us for being this way. However, thanks to the grace of God, and thanks to wonderful priests, we were given the grace and strength to persevere and remain faithful to Christ and His Holy Church.

ALL I CAN SAY IS W.O.W......

please pray for Ireland. God Bless

The Windows of Sagrada Familia

When I did my Cathedrals of the World segment on the Sagrada Familia, I harshly criticised the stained-glass windows. I must say, I take them back. At the time of writing, I did not know what the design plan of the Cathedral that Gaudì had planned, was. It apparently is supposed to reflect nature, where nothing is exactly symmetrical. The colours in the windows are supposed to represent the colours found in nature. I didn't know that! I apologise, to anyone's feelings I may have hurt! God Bless! Though, this is has not made me sympathetic to the monstrosities found in a lot of the new stained-glass windows found in most modern-churches which were built "in the Spirit of Vatican II"

A rant and roar

Have I ever told you how much that I HATE Blogger? I mean, I am very grateful that they let me host my blog here, but it's SO BLOODY CONFUSING! And do you know what I hate even more? That bloody excuse for a blog-host called WordPress. I tried to play around with it today, as I was thinking of hosting Loyal Views over there instead, but no mater what I tried, I couldn't get my header to go full size. It wanted me to crop it so only part of it would show. The header I have now is one of my very favourites! It took the least amount of time to work on, and is beautifully simple looking! It also shows two of my favourite Saints, though all the Saints are my favourite, really. Anyways, WordPress is OUT of the question. I think I've changed my mind. I love Blogger, but I absolutely HATE it. I love that it is very easy to post with Blogger, and that I can get my full-size header. But, I hate that there are always hiccups with the designs of the themes and all that stuff. Oh well, it is Lent after all, I suppose I've to do me penance somehow, hey?  So dear readers, no need to update your favourites (haha, not really. I know I'm a horrible blogger and unworhy of your favourites bar). That brings me to the fact that I am a horrible blogger. Yeah, I'm working on that, I think. My traffic is about 5 people per day, that's how bad I am. And the truth is, is that only probably 2 people are going to read this post! That's fine though, I'm working on it :) With the confidence in God, I believe that my traffic will get higher, as I get a better blogger. I need to blog more. I used to blog more! Now, I don't have as much time as I used to! Remember my "Mystics Week"? Yeah, bloody horrible failure! That's okay though, it is very hard for me to feel down, and I don't understand why :) I am extremely frustrated with all the liberal progressive stuff that goes on, as is everyone in the Catholic (and I mean TRULY Catholic) blogosphere. We must protect people from the horrible Gay agenda that the US and Canada are going about with, and we must lead people to Holy Mother Church! We must defend the unborn, because humans apparently don't have a right to live anymore, and the stupidity is just amazing. I just accidentally deleted everything I wrote: thank the Lord for ctrl+z. Anyhow, please bear with me. Those few readers who have stayed with me, God love you, you are in my prayers! So again, please bear with me. Check out the poll on the side, should I change the name of the blog?