CANON LAW, CHURCH HISTORY

SAINT VINCENT FERRER, PATRON FOR THOSE SEEKING THE TRUE POPE

JANUARY 31, 2020FROM ROME EDITOR1 COMMENT

by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

The present Crisis in the Church, of having two popes, is not new in the Church. There have been more than a dozen such instances in Church history.

While nearly all of them included rivals which were supported by diverse factions of notable size (perhaps that of Benedict IX was not the case in 1046), yet they gave occasion for God to show us the way out of such crises by the example given to us by His Saints during those crises of ages past.

One such saint is Saint Vincent Ferrer. I have to admit, that of all the Saints of the Order of Preachers, he is my favorite, because he is such a stunning example of holiness and was so determined in the teaching of what it means to be holy.

Most Catholics, however, have no idea who he was. So let me tell you something about his life, and then show you how his example should be imitated by all Catholics right now.

So remarkable, many have thought he was a legend

Saint Vincent was born 670 years ago, on January 23, in the height of the Black Death.

The Catholic world was shaken to its core: millions were dying each month. It is estimated that more 100 million died in the entire world, and perhaps as much as 30 million in Europe alone, from the onset of the Plague in 1347 to 1351. It was a virulent strain of the Bubonic plague, which had spread from infected rats in the Gobi Desert to Caravans carrying rare goods to the Genoese trading port on the Black Sea, Kaffa, and thence by Genoese ships to Sicily and Western Europe.

The demographic, sociologic, psychological and economic effects were profound. So many bodies were piling up that people fled their villages, local priests fled their parishes in fear of dying. People took refuge in the wilderness and avoided contact with anyone with a cough. The strain was so virulent that those exposed in the morning were dead before midnight. It was spread by flees on rats but then became pneumonic, that is spread through the air by coughing. It is called the Black Death, because the lymph glands of the body would swell and then turn black, with death ensuing rapidly.

Catholics universally thought it was the end of the world, a fulfillment of the Apocalypse, which spoke of the fallen star Wormwood turning the waters of a third of the world poison. As there was no medical art which could precisely understand the causes, panic spread everywhere. The pope of the time survived only by sequestering himself in his palace at Avignon and having a huge fire set in his private chamber’s fireplace which was kept burning without stop for many months.

Into this horror, was born a Saint through which God would call most of Western Europe back from despair and apostasy, Saint Vincent Ferrer. At an early age he dedicated himself to Jesus Christ, and became a son of Saint Dominic.

Saint Vincent, being an devote practitioner of the ascetical life, quickly passed every spiritual test and was endowed by the Lord with extraordinary gifts of prophesy, foreknowledge, conversion, and miracle working.

On one occasion, being in a port which was suffering famine and starvation, he preached to the people to remain calm and that the Lord would send them ships filled with grain the next day. Sure enough, the next day a fleet loaded with food arrived.

But his fame began with a deadly fever which he contracted at Avignon, while the service of the anti Pope. You see, St. Vincent was a follower of Cardinal Pedro de Luna, who was one of the Cardinals who pledged obedience to the pope at Avignon, even though the Cardinal knew that he was an antipope and lied to Saint Vincent. But I will get to that, later.

It was at Avignon, while the forces of the Charles VI besieged the City to capture the antipope — the King of France was intelligent enough to investigate the controversy between the rival claimants to the papacy, and switch his allegiance back to the Pope at Rome — that Saint Vincent nearly died. But in the midst of his mortal fever, Our Lord appeared to him, along with Saints Dominic and Francis of Assisi, and commissioned him to be the 4th Angel of the Apocalypse: to preach penance everywhere, telling men that if they did not repent God would come and destroy the world. This was in September of 1398 A.D.. A year later, convinced of his divine mission, the Antipope appointed the Saint Missionary a lateri Christi, that is, sent from Christ Himself. The Saint spent the next 20 years in a most extraordinary apostolate which single-handedly saved Christianity in Europe.

He preached from Northern France to Italy and back to Spain. Upon seeing Bernardine of Siena in Italy, he prophesied that Bernardine would convert Italy back to the faith. The crowds came to hear Saint Vincent were so great he could not preach in Churches, but had to use Piazzas and open fields. And his mission was signed by extraordinary miracles the likes of which have never again been seen in Christendom.

When he preached, his voice has a miraculous power to be heard at great distances. Those who could not enter the towns where he preached, would climb bell towers in near by villages and hear his voice distinctly at the distance of two to three miles!

One day he led the crowds listening to him to storm a Synagogue and immediately began preaching in Hebrew to the Jews. He was so convincing in their own tongue and from their own version of scripture, that he converted the entire congregation to the Catholic Faith and they immediately consecrated the place a Catholic Church!

On another occasion, he led the crowds from the Piazza in which he was preaching, to the Castle above the town, saying that great sin must be stopped. He broke through the gates of the Castle and found the noblemen in the most evil debauchery. He cursed them for their sin and everyone of them turned to stone!  A thing witnessed by all the officials of the town to the amazement and terror of everyone. Upon hearing the pleas of the relatives, he commanded that the afflicted return to life, heard their confessions and after giving them his blessing they all dropped dead, but this time, went to eternal life.

His preaching of penance was so persuasive that huge crowds of penitents followed him everywhere, beating themselves with chains and hooks and nails to blood. The sight of these flagellants arriving was the signal that St. Vincent was on his way and this news would empty the fields and villages of the area, for all wanted to hear him preach. In whatever language they could understand, his voice was miraculously heard, even though he always spoke in his own dialect or in Latin.

He is known to have raised from the dead at least 7 persons. On one occasion, in a most extraordinary way. To a fellow Dominican who did not believe his claims to be sent by Christ to preach, he said: Do you doubt that I am one the Angels of the Apocalypse? Bring a dead man here, one who has been dead 4 days and whose body is rotting, and I will prove that I am telling the truth. Whereupon, he commanded the decaying corpse to arise and give testimony. And the man came back to life and his body was instantly restored to perfect health!

I could go on and on about the wonders and virtues of Saint Vincent. But I recommend you find a biography about him and read it. It will change your life and want you to abandon all and become a devout religious.

The Great Schism

Despite all the graces and gifts which Saint Vincent had, and despite the great wisdom and learning he possessed from years of studying — for example he memorized the entire Latin version of the Bible and spoke 5 languages: Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French and langdóc  — CHRIST WITHHELD from the Saint graces to see who was and who was not the true pope. Our Lord did this, in my opinion, to give us as lesson for our own time.

The Saint was a close friend to Cardinal Pedro de Luna, who was a supporter of the Antipope.  The Schism began in 1378, when the previous pope, having been persuaded by Saint Catherine of Sienna to return to Rome, died. And the new Pope Urban VI was elected at Rome. The French Cardinals did not accept the election and immediately elected Clement VI. Cardinal Pedro knew his election was uncanonical, but concealed the facts from Saint Vincent for 38 years! In 1394, Cardinal Pedro was elected to succeed the antipope, and took the name Benedict XIII.

Saint Vincent was so deceived by Cardinal Pedro that he preached to convince the people of the Kingdom of Aragon to give allegiance to the Antipope of Avignon and to break from Rome! So troublesome was this schism to the soul of Saint Vincent that he said to others that it frequently made him ill.

The Great Western Schism had begun on a dispute where the wrong side was making claims on the basis of their allegations of being forced to vote. This kind of claim was really impossible to prove, it rested solely on the testimony of the alleged victims. No one disputed that the antipope was elected second. No one disputed the laws which govern the election.

But though he was a convinced supporter of the antipope of Avignon, Saint Vincent, nevertheless, loved the Church more than his personal friend, the Cardinal, and thus he urged Councils to end the Schism. And here is where his virtue is a lesson for us.

Because in Council of Perpignan in January 6, 1416, when the evidence was presented to Saint Vincent by the King of Aragon that Benedict XIII’s claim was not well founded, Benedict’s supporters could give no response and defend his claim against the charges. Saint Vincent had come to the Council a supporter of Benedict. He even preached in his defense. But when no evidence could be brought to defend the claim of the man whom he thought was the pope, St. Vincent immediately switched allegiance, for he recognized, being a master of Logic — a text book on which he had written — that when one side refuses to answer or has no argument, it means that they have no valid claim at all for their position.

The “Renunciation” of Pope Benedict

The Great Western Schism began when the Cardinals elected Pope Urban VI and immediately upon his enthronement, seeing that he would curb their power, left the city, declared that they had been forced to vote for him, and elected instead Robert of Savoy as Clement VII.

We are in an analogous situation today. The Cardinals, not wanting to endure Pope Benedict XVI any longer, claimed on Feb. 11, 2013 that he had renounced the papacy. But in truth he had only announced his retirement from active ministry. They published false news to the world and through their personal contacts have suborned the entire Episcopate and Catholic Media to believe this lie. That is why they remain silent. They are the criminals of this Great Modern Schism.

Pope Benedict XVI for his part has been ignored and effectively locked up at the Vatican. But the truth of what he did on Feb. 11, 2013 has become known and now all Christendom can do what Saint Vincent did: ask the side which thinks Bergoglio is the pope for their explanation. Ann Barnhardt and hundreds of other Catholics have been doing this: she for four years, nearly, and others longer or less. But still there is no canonical explanation from the other side.

I think you can see how easy the choice is, who the real pope is. Do what Vincent did!

In November, I asked Cardinal Burke through Canon Lenhart for an audience to discuss the Renunciation. In December, I returned and asked again and was promised one in January. January has come and is now ended. Still no audience or response to my Scholastic Question, containing 39 arguments which conclude that Pope Benedict XVI is the true Pope.

In November, I shared that same Question with 700 members of the Clergy of the Diocese of Rome. But I got no canonical argument in response to refute it. In December I distributed 500 copies of the same to the students of theology and canon law in the City, at Pontifical Universities. I got no response in reply.

I say this to give you a personal testimony. I think you should now understand what it means. St. Vincent shows us the way.

POSTSCRIPT: Saint Vincent died at Vannes, France on April 5, 1419. He was canonized by Pope Calixtus III in 1455. He is buried in the Cathedral of Vannes, but you can find relics of his right arm at his Church in New York City, or in the parish Church at Castle Umberto, in the province of Messina, Sicily, where I stop by every time I am in town, to venerate them.

__________

CREDITS: The Featured Image and Image of Saint Vincent is by Giovanni Bellini and is conserved at Venice. It is in the public domain as a work of art older than 200 years.

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Hybrid academy provides “a Benedict-like option” faithful to Church teachings

An interview with Kari Beckman, executive director of the Regina Caeli Academy (RCA), which now has 16 centers in 11 states serving nearly 1,800 students.

January 29, 2020 Jim Graves Features, Interview 

THE CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT

Kari Beckman is executive director of the Regina Caeli Academy (RCA), a hybrid homeschool model in the Catholic tradition which blends three days of homeschool education with two days of classroom instruction by experts in different academic subjects.  She is a Catholic convert (read the story of her conversion in Donna Steichen’s book Chosen: How Christ Sent Twenty-three Surprised Converts to Replant His Vineyard) and a mother of eight who previously worked with the Department of Education in Georgia and Arizona.

She founded RCA in 2003, which has since grown from a single entity to 16 centers in 11 states serving nearly 1,800 students. In 2019, the RCA opened its first international affiliate, located in Bedfordshire, England, with talks underway to open up a second such center in the United Kingdom.

She lives in Canton, Georgia, with Rich, her husband of 28 years, who is also a convert.  She is also active in the pro-life movement, and recently joined with 175 RCA participants from across the country for the March for Life in Washington, D.C.

With 20 years of homeschooling experience, she is a champion of the home education method and considers it her passion to share the good news of homeschooling. She has been regularly featured in both secular and Catholic media outlets.

On the occasion of National Catholic Schools Week, January 26-February 1, 2020, she shared about the work of the Academy.

CWR: Why did you start Regina Caeli Academy?

Kari Beckman: When Rich and I discovered, through the Magisterial teachings of the Church, that our life was to be ordered to the education of our eight children, we re-evaluated the choices and goals we had set for them.  In light of this discovery, we began seeking God’s will and assistance through prayer and discernment, which led to the creation of Regina Caeli Academy as an answer to the great responsibility given to Catholic parents.

Regina Caeli has become a Benedict-like option for couples who are living out their vows fully and completely according to the law of Christ.  We exist to support parents as they take on the responsibility to direct and execute the education of their children.  These heroic men and women, in response to God’s call, have ordered their married lives, careers, and personal desires to bringing up the next generation of faithful Catholics.

CWR: What were some of your concerns about the Catholic parochial schools available to you?

Beckman: Many of the teachers in the Catholic schools available to us were not Catholic.  I wanted my children to be mentored by like-minded Catholics.  The curriculum used by these schools was not a Catholic curriculum.  And, as our culture is becoming increasingly secular, I was concerned that my children would be going to school with children of families who were not like-minded.  I was worried about what Sally sitting to the left of my child, and Johnny sitting to the right were going to impart on my children.

Additionally, the Church calls us to be open to the amount of children with which God wants to bless the family.  However, many Catholic schools charge a significant amount of money for an individual education, and I had to provide for eight children in my case.

CWR: Have the bishops and dioceses been supportive of the Academy?

Beckman: Some have been.  John Francis Donoghue (1928-2011), my former archbishop in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, was very supportive.  He saw us as filling a need for larger families.

CWR: How does RCA work?

Beckman: We are a hybrid academy.  Prospective families must discern if they wish to home-educate their children.  We provide a two-day a week, brick and mortar center where children are mentored in the challenging aspects of the curriculum so that a parent doesn’t have to teach a high level math or science curriculum.  We make the center a beautiful Catholic environment, with a beautiful prayer life, in which Christ is the center.  And, the curriculum we provide has Catholicism woven throughout.

The remaining three days a week, the child learns with the parent at home.

CWR: In order for one’s child to be enrolled in RCA, you must live near an RCA center.  What if you don’t?

Beckman: The way it works is that a local person, a volunteer that we call a city coordinator, contacts us and we provide them with materials about RCA.  They raise the funds necessary to bring me and another representative to the area where we make a presentation to interested families.  We come when there are at least 25 confirmed families who have an interest.  While we start with 25, we hope to grow to at least 40.

The second phase involves RCA looking into the costs of leasing space and other issues related to operating within that state.  Once we have this information, we discuss the idea with the board, and if it is approved, RCA takes on the risk and opens and manages the center.  We hire and train staff.  We assess students and put them in proper level classes.  The new center becomes part of our network.

Visit our website to see a list of potential cities into which we may expand and upcoming information sessions.  For additional information, contact Janet Pogasic at (678) 878-2500 or jpogasic@rcahybrid.org.

CWR: Are all of the families Catholic?

Beckman: We do have a few non-Catholic families.  However, the RCA model is specifically centered on the Catholic Church and the teachings of the Magisterium.  During the admissions process, families are interviewed and are made aware of this model and asked to fully participate.

All of our instructors are Catholic, and must sign an oath of fidelity to the Catholic Church, and profess and live according to the tenets of the Catholic faith.

CWR: Who would be a good fit for your program?

Beckman: Those who want to educate their children in a Christ-centered environment.  Those who want their children to have a solid classical education, surrounded by a community that is supportive of living the mission of the Church in the culture.

CWR: Do students graduate from RCA with a high school degree?

Beckman: Yes, students who graduate RCA received an accredited high school diploma.

CWR: Why do you think RCA is growing so quickly?

Beckman: Catholic families have a great need for what we offer at RCA.  They are excited to form a community around common values and feel supported as they educate their children in the Catholic tradition.  We receive 10 to 15 inquires per month from families who want RCA in their cities and towns and expect to continue growing at a quick pace in order to serve more families. And, our average family enrollment growth per year is an astounding 38%.

CWR: Does RCA have their own sports and academic teams that compete against other schools?

Beckman: We do not.  However, we do offer the St. Edith Stein Honor Society for our students.  Like its secular counterparts, the St. Edith Stein Honor Society exists to promote excellence in scholarship and service; unlike its secular counterparts, the St. Edith Stein Honor Society encourages students in Christian leadership and the practice of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  Membership in the honor society is available to high school students at centers where there is an active adviser.  Members participate in one group service project per academic year; this project involves at least one corporal and one spiritual work of mercy.  Each member will also complete six service hours in service projects of their own design or choosing.  In those six hours, the students will practice at least three additional works of mercy.

CWR: What is the tuition for RCA?

Beckman: The cost is:

• $2,884.00 per year per student Kindergarten – half day
• $3,347.50 per year per student K – 6^th grade – full day
• $3,862.50 per year per student 7^th-8^th grades
• $4,120.00 per year per student 9^th-12^th grades

Parents are also asked to fundraise an additional $680 per year per family and purchase tickets to the annual Priest Talent Show gala at a reduced rate.

CWR: How are parents encouraged to be involved in the school community?

Beckman: They are asked to volunteer hours each year at the school and fundraise for their local RCA to help offset costs. They naturally form a tight-knit community with other parents because they are all homeschooling their children and have opted to participate together in the Catholic homeschool hybrid program we have.  They often have a lot in common and form close friendships.

CWR: Why is the number of children being homeschooled on the rise?

Beckman: Because parents want more control over what their children are being taught in schools and have put a higher priority on that decision.  More and more, families in the United States are recognizing the benefits of homeschooling.  Once an obscure and fringe decision, the choice to homeschool has become mainstream for a variety of reasons.  During the late 1970s, there were only about 13,000 students who homeschooled.  By 1999, the number had risen to 850,000 (1.7% of the population).  Since then, the number has more than doubled to 1.8 million and 3.4% of the population in 2012.  Moreover, the available data from the last few years indicates that the growth in homeschooling is not slowing down but speeding up.  Further, the positive results are telling: homeschooled students tend to score high on standardized tests, they tend to be well-rounded and capable learners, and they tend to uphold the highest values of their parents (the ones who should steer their children’s course with the most authority) most strongly in practice.

We recognize the utmost importance of the impact that parents have on their children and support homeschooling for the good of children, families and the broader culture.

CWR: Explain RCA’s modesty policy and media policy.

Beckman: Two hallmark policies set us apart from other educational institutions. First, our modesty policy mandates that all students and faculty wear uniforms.  Moreover, shoulders to knees and everything in between must be covered when visiting the center and attending an RCA event.  The modesty policy frees us to respect each other as human beings, in the image and likeness of God, with a common purpose and inherent dignity.

Our media policy has two components.  All electronic devices, including cell phones and computers, are prohibited while on campus.  Additionally, no discussion of secular media, including video games and television shows, is allowed at the center.  The media policy encourages Socratic discussions to remain focused on the educational content and keeps the focus on the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.

CWR: What successes have you seen with RCA?

Beckman: There have been many.  Our students contemplate using their unique gifts for the greater good in the world, serving Christ and His Church.  They begin to ask the question, “How can I bring Christ into the world?”

CWR: What are your future plans for RCA?

Beckman: I’m asked this question a lot, and the simple answer is, “I don’t know.”  I would not have foreseen years ago where we are today.  I would not have dreamed, for example, that we’d be international, with a center in the UK.

I see Jesus Christ as the true founder of RCA, and He is my CEO.  He is extremely successful and driven, but lives outside of space and time.  All I can do is follow where He leads, and hang on for the ride.  The sky’s the limit.

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About Jim Graves 176 ArticlesJim Graves is a Catholic writer living in Newport Beach, California.

The American TFP > Catholic Perspective > Pope Francis: “Show Me Your Friends, and I’ll Tell You Who You Are”

Pope Francis: “Show Me Your Friends, and I’ll Tell You Who You Are”

January 30, 2020 | Luiz Sérgio Solimeo 

Pope Francis: “Show Me Your Friends, and I’ll Tell You Who You Are”

This adage¹ came to mind when reading Pope Francis’s latest interview with Eugenio Scalfari. It is sadly true that the pope has chosen Scalfari—an old socialist atheist, apostate from the Catholic Church,² and co-founder of the Italian leftist newspaper La Repubblica—as a friend and confidant. Indeed, Pope Francis has made Scalfari the unofficial spokesman for his innermost thoughts.

“We’re Friends—Just Call Me Francis”

In his account of their latest conversation, which took place on January 14, 2020, Scalfari shows how close he and the Pope really are: “Our readers have known for some time that I have a very intense relationship with His Holiness…. [The last time we met, w]e shook hands and embraced each other, also in Santa Marta’s room in the Vatican…. ‘Holiness’ [I said, addressing him; he answered:] … ‘Do not always call me that.³ I prefer Pope Francis or just Francis. We’re friends,  aren’t we?”⁴

Having Worshipped Pachamama, Pope Francis Now Disparages Mary’s Co-Redeeming Role

“There Is No Hell; There Is No Catholic God”

Scalfari freely publishes his conversations with Pope Francis, often attributing absurd or heretical statements to the pope, for example, “There is no Catholic God;”⁵ “Proselytism is solemn nonsense;”⁶ and “There is no hell. There is the disappearance of sinful souls.”⁷

Pope Francis never denies these attributions. He restricts himself to allowing a Vatican spokesman to give confusing explanations that convince no one. More tellingly, he does not end his friendship with the old atheist. They continue talking by phone and in person. And Scalfari carries on with his heretical attributions.

“Jesus of Nazareth Was Not Entirely God”

Last October, Scalfari wrote that talking to the pope about the words of Our Lord on the Cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46) Pope Francis supposedly commented: “They are the ultimate proof that once he became man and albeit one of exceptional virtue, Jesus of Nazareth was not entirely God.”⁸

A Confidant Says Pope Francis Denies Jesus’s Divinity: Where Is His Indignant Refutation?

Given its gravity, clergy and faithful strongly reacted to this statement so shockingly contrary to the dogma defined in the Council of Chalcedon and which the Church has always affirmed. Once more, a Vatican spokesman attributed the heretical phrase to Scalfari, not to the pope. The sovereign pontiff himself though said nothing on the matter.⁹

In a September 8, 1951 encyclical commemorating the Council of Chalcedon (held in the year 451), Pope Pius XII presents the Catholic dogma defined at Chalcedon as follows:

“Following, therefore, in the traditions of the holy Fathers we teach that all with one voice confess that the Son [of God] and our Lord Jesus Christ are one and the same, and that he is perfect in his divinity, perfect in his humanity, true God and true man, made of a rational soul and a body, consubstantial with the Father in his divinity, and the same also in his humanity received from the Virgin Mary in recent times for our sake and for our salvation, one and the same Christ, the Son, the Lord, the Only Begotten, having two natures without confusion, change, division or separation; the distinction between the natures was not removed by the union, but the properties of each remain inviolate and are joined together in one person. He is not sundered or divided into two persons, but is one and the same Son and only Begotten God the Word, the Lord, Jesus Christ.”¹⁰

Learn All About the Prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success About Our Times

Speaking of the errors opposed to this dogma, Pius XII adds:

“There is another enemy of the faith of Chalcedon, widely diffused outside the fold of the Catholic religion. This is an opinion for which a rashly and falsely understood sentence of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians (ii, 7), supplies a basis and a shape. This is called the kenotic doctrine, and according to it, they imagine that the divinity was taken away from the Word in Christ. It is a wicked invention, equally to be condemned with the Docetism opposed to it. It reduces the whole mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption to empty the bloodless imaginations.”¹¹

The words Scalfari attributes to the Pope, “Jesus of Nazareth was not entirely God,” seem to match the kenotic heresy Pius XII condemns.

“We’re Friends, Aren’t We?”

The Vatican spokesman’s denial that Pope Francis had sustained this kenotic heresy would certainly have merit if the pope’s own actions corroborated it. It behooved the pope to sever his Scalfari friendship immediately, with just outrage over being misrepresented as denying Christ’s divinity.

Sadly, however, Pope Francis’s actions conveyed the opposite message. As stated, not only did the pope not break with Scalfari, but he received the atheist warmly once more at the Santa Marta residence on January 14, 2020. The pope embraced him and went on to give him a new interview, during which the friendship between them was highlighted: “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

But, if Scalfari had indeed lied in so grave a matter—claiming falsely that the pope denied the divinity of Our Lord—it is incomprehensible that Pope Francis still maintains his friendship with the old atheist.

Eternal and Natural Law: The Foundation of Morals and Law

A Statement That Corroborates the Abu Dhabi Heretical Document

Now, this kenotic denial of Christ’s divinity is consistent with the document that Pope Francis co-signed with a Muslim imam in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019.¹²

That declaration heretically maintains that “[t]he pluralism and the diversity of religions … are willed by God in His wisdom.” Now only Christianity accepts Christ’s divinity. If God also desires the religions that deny Christ’s divinity, then that denial too is willed by God, which makes Him a contradictory being. That is impossible.¹³

Adapting the Church to the World

At their latest conversation, on January 14, 2020, Pope Francis is reported to have told his friend Eugenio Scalfari: “I am driven, as you know, because we have spoken about it several times, from the desire for the active survival of our church to adapt our collective spirit to modern civil society. Religions, and not just Catholic-Christian ones, must know modern society very well and in its cultural, spiritual, and active depth.”¹⁴

Wanting to adapt the Church to our modern, atheistic, amoral, and agnostic world seems quite consistent with a kenotic denial of Christ’s divinity.

You may also like

• Having Worshipped Pachamama, Pope Francis Now Disparages Mary’s Co-Redeeming Role
• A Confidant Says Pope Francis Denies Jesus’s Divinity: Where Is His Indignant Refutation?
• Theological and Canonical Implications of the Declaration Signed by Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi
• Commenting on the Assertion That Trying to Convert Others Is ‘Nonsense’
• This maxim seems to be informed by Proverbs 13:20: “He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise: a friend of fools shall become like to them.”
• “I was raised by a mother who was a strict Catholic. At the age of 12 I won a catechism contest held by all the parishes in Rome and I was given a prize by the Vicariate. I took communion on the first Friday of every month, in other words, I was a practicing Catholic and a true believer.” Eugenio Scalfari, “The Pope: how the Church will change,” La Repubblica, Oct. 1, 2013, https://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2013/10/01/news/pope_s_conversation_with_scalfari_english-67643118/.
• “Non mi chiami sempre così.” Eugenio Scalfari, “Celibato dei preti, papa Francesco: con Ratzinger il caso è chiuso,” La Repubblica, Jan. 15, 2020, https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/intervista/2020/01/15/news/papa_francesco_con_ratzinger_il_caso_e_chiuso-245890070/#success=true. (Our translation.)
• “Preferisco papa Francesco o addirittura semplicemente Francesco. Siamo amici, no?” Ibid.
• Scalfari, “The Pope: how the Church will change.”
• Ibid.
• Eugenio Scalfari, “Il Papa: ‘È un onore essere chiamato rivoluzionario,’” La Repubblica, Mar. 28, 2018, https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/intervista/2018/03/28/news/il_papa_e_un_onore_essere_chiamato_rivoluzionario_-192473492/?ref=twhr.
• “Sono la prova provata que Gesù di Nazareth una volta diventato uomo, sia pure un uomo di eccesionale virtù, non era affato un dio.” Gelsomino Del Guercio, “Eugenio Scalfari ci ricade: smentito il virgolettato attribuito al Papa,” Oct. 9, 2019, https://it.aleteia.org/2019/10/09/eugenio-scalfari-papa-francesco-divinita-gesu/.
• See Luiz Sérgio Solimeo, “A Confidant Says Pope Francis Denies Jesus’s Divinity: Where Is His Indignant Refutation?” Oct. 22, 2019, https://www.tfp.org/a-confidant-says-pope-francis-denies-jesuss-divinity-where-is-his-indignant-refutation/.
• Pius XII, Encyclical Sempiternus Rex Christus, (On the Council of Chalcedon), Sept. 8, 1951, no. 23, http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_08091951_sempiternus-rex-christus.html.
• Ibid., no. 29. (Our emphasis.)
• “A Document On Human Fraternity For World Peace And Living Together,” Vatican.va, Feb. 4, 2019, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/travels/2019/outside/documents/papa-francesco_20190204_documento-fratellanza-umana.html.
• See Luiz Sérgio Solimeo, “Theological and Canonical Implications of the Declaration Signed by Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi,” Feb. 27, 2019, https://www.tfp.org/theological-and-canonical-implications-of-the-declaration-signed-by-pope-francis-in-abu-dhabi/.
• “Io sono mosso, come lei già sa perché ne abbiamo parlato più volte, dal desiderio di una sopravvivenza attiva della nostra Chiesa, di aggiornare il nostro spirito collettivo alla società civile e moderna. Le religioni, e non soltanto quella cattolico-cristiana, debbono conoscere molto bene e nella sua profondità culturale, spirituale, attiva, la società moderna.” Scalfari, “Celibato dei preti.” (Our translation and emphasis.)

              The Arian Heresy and Its Relation to Our Present Age

By Joseph Tamayo

PART 1

     Today with most people the word “Heresy” translates to bygone and forgotten quarrels or an old prejudice against rational examination.  Heresy is therefore thought to be of no contemporary interest.  Interest in it is dead because it deals with matter no one now takes seriously.  If a man speaks of heresy and that it has a great effect on history, and still does, he will be hardly understood.  Despite the common attitude of indifference heresy in general is of the highest importance to the individual and to society and heresy in its particular meaning ( which is that of Christian Doctrine) is of special interest if one wishes to understand Europe, the story of Europe and the history of the Church.

     What is a Heresy?  According to Webster’s Dictionary a Heresy is a.)  adherence to a religious opinion contrary to Church Dogma b.)  denial of a “Revealed Truth” by a member of the Roman Catholic Church(1).  Heresy can also be defined as the dislocation of some complete and self supporting scheme by a novel denial of some essential part of the belief system (2).  The word “Heresy” comes from the Greek word (Haireo) which is first meant to mean “I grasp or seize” then came to mean “I take away”(3).   

     There are two types of heresy these are Material Heresy and Formal Heresy.  In Catholic Theology a Material Heresy refers to an opinion objectively contradictory to the teaching of the Church which as such is heretical but is uttered by a person without knowledge of it being so.  In Formal Heresy the person believing or teaching the falsehood which is contrary to Catholic Doctrine with full knowledge and for thought.

     Arianism was the first of the great Christological heresies to seriously threaten the Church.   Arianism proposed the position that Jesus, as the Son of God, was created by God.  It was proposed early in the 4^th Century by the Alexandrian priest named Arius.  Arianism is often considered a form of Unitarian theology that stresses a belief in God the Father as the expense of the Trinity, the doctrine of three distinct persons in one Godhead.  The Bible says in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son”(4).  The problem with Arius and the other heretic Bishops was they misinterpreted “begotten”.  In the original Greek translation “begotten” means “Unique relationship” but in English it changes to “gives his nature” almost like a human being but Arius and the other heretic bishops made the mistake of imposing “Time” on God, forgetting that God lives outside of time.  They believed like humans that the Father existed before the Son. 

     Arius was a Greek speaking African cleric.  He was originally a student at the Exegetical School in Antioch.  The school in Antioch was a school of Sophists who were known for studying Greek philosophy.  St. Cardinal John Henry Newman said the educational system at Antioch was the birthplace of Heresy (5).  Arius studied under Lucian the Martyr.  Early in the 4^th Century Arius began to teach his heresy.  He was excommunicated in 311AD by the bishop of Alexandria but his successor Achilles readmitted him to Christian communion in 313AD.  He was made a priest of the Baucah’s district in Alexandria.  Arius became famous as a religious force some years before the Roman Emperor Constantine’s victories which freed the Christians from persecution.  Arius was a man of great eloquence and driving power.  Like all heresiarchs there was a great deal of ambition, rationalism and arrogance.  Arius went over from Egypt to Ceasarea in Palestine spreading his rationalizing and Unitarian ideologies with zeal.   

     Arianism was named after him because he was the agent of it and it would be a difficult warping of our Catholic faith if left unchecked.  Arianism declared that Our Lord was as much of the Divine Essence as was possible for a creature but that he was none the less a creature.  It sprang from the desire to visualize clearly and simply something which is beyond the grasp of human vision and comprehension namely three Divine persons , all uncreated in one Godhead, the Triune God(6).  It inevitably would have led in the long run into mere Unitarianism and the treating of Our Lord at last as a prophet but none the less a prophet(7).  According to Arianism’s opponents, especially St. Athanasius, Arius’s teachings reduced the Son to a demigod, reintroduced polytheism (since worship of the Son was not abandoned), and undermined the Christian concept of redemption, since only he who was truly God could be deemed to have reconciled humanity to the Godhead (8)  This also would eventually make room for allowing him to have a sinful nature or leaving room for the possibility of sin in his life.  We are seeing examples of this today.  The denial of Christ’s divinity.  We have leaders in regions of our Church declaring homosexuality normalized, cohabitation justified, divorced and remarried allowed to receive Communion.  We have examples of Syncretism where all religions are treated as inspired by God. These heresies must be rejected by the faithful as our Early Church Fathers and their predecessors have done.  

PART 2    The Council of Nicaea

     Arius was propagating his ideas in earnest and began to canvass for support among the clergy and lay people on Alexandria and beyond.  In 321AD a local Synod council of Bishops in Egypt and Libya deposed Arius and his allies but this didn’t stop him.  In 325AD the Emperor Constantine convened the 1^st Ecumenical Council at Nicaea to deal with this severe crisis.  The council excommunicated Arius, banished him and condemned his teachings.  The council created The Nicaean Creed which states that the Son (Jesus) is “homousion to Patri” Greek translated to “of one substance with the Father”.  The Greek word “homousion” is important because it perfectly means “of the same substance; same essence, same in every respect; not different in one IOTA!!

     During this time another great figure appeared, St. Athanasius of Alexandria.  St. Athanasius was born in 296AD.  He was learned in philosophy and neoplatanism but his special interest was for the Holy Scriptures.  He was courageous and unflinching in the face of danger or adversity.  St. Gregory the theologian called him the “the pillar of the Church”.  In 325AD St. Athanasius served as the secretary to the Bishop of Alexandria at the Council of Nicaea.  St. Athanasius wrote many letters and documents under the Bishop condemning the Arians.  Another great figure at this time was St. Hosius of Alexandria and he helped propose the idea for “homousion” for the Creed.  He also wrote letters to the Emperor Constantine to help put his opinion in favor of the Orthodox bishops.  

     Under Constantine the Council of Nicaea founded the Creed the phrase “begotten Not made, Consubstantial with the Father” became a Dogma of the Church.  Some time after the Council St. Athanasius succeeded St. Alexander and became bishop of Alexandria.  In 327 Constantine died, those Church leaders who had supported Arius, as well as Arius himself, attempted to return to their churches and Sees and to banish their enemies.  They were very successful.  The Empire was divided under 2 rulers at this time.  The Anti Arian Emperor Constans ruled in the west and the west remained mostly Orthodox while Pro Arian Constantius II ruled in the east.  At a Church Council at Antioch in 341AD affirmation of the faith that OMITTED the “homoousion” clause was issued.  Under Constantius in the east the Arians gained power and influence.  In 325 AD a synod council of 60 bishops (Arian) accused St. Athanasius of rebellion, sedition, murder, sacrilege and had him exiled.  St. Athanasius suffered 5 exiles and several excommunications totaling some seventeen years out of his 46 years as Bishop of Alexandria.  St. Athanasius gained notoriety all over Egypt & Libya his Orthodoxy.  His courage and earned him the loyalty of his clergy and monastics and the undying respect of the lay people.  This same ill treatment of Athanasius was experienced by many of his loyal bishops. 

     While under the Arian Constantius the extreme Arians declared that the Son was “Anomoios”(Greek meaning “Unlike” the Father).  The writing and rewriting of the Creed went back and forth.  The Moderate Arians or Semi Arians presented the term “homoiousious” which means “of SIMILAR substance”.   During this time it estimated that %75 of the Eastern bishops were Arian or Semi Arian but St. John Newman said there is reason to suspect up to %90 were under heresy.  The Semi Arian term “homiousios” was approved at Constantinople in 361AD.  After Constantius II died in 361AD the Orthodox majority in the West consolidated their position under Valentius.  The persecution of the Orthodox Christians by the Pro Arian Emperor Valens (364 -378AD) in the East and the success of the teaching of St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Gregory of Nazianius led the Semi Arian Majority in the east to a fundamental agreement with the Orthodox Party.  When Emperor Gratian and Theododius ^1st  took up the defense of the Orthodox Nicaean Party, after Valens death, Arianism was crushed.  In 381 the 2^nd Ecumenical Council approved the Nicaean Creed declaring Christ “homosoosion” or “Consubstantial” once and for all time.

PART 3   The Political and Theological Connection, THE ARMY. (9)

     After the Edict of Milan in 313AD the left over pagan upper class, many who filled the ranks of the military, loved their dominance over society.  Many of the left over governing (Political Class) body clung to their pagan traditions from the older world, traditions not religious but intellectual, social, moral, literary, etc.  A great number of old noble families were reluctant to accept the social revolution implied by the triumph of the Christian Church.  They naturally sided with a movement which they instinctively felt to be spiritually opposed to the life and survival of that Church and which carried with it an atmosphere of “social superiority” over the populace.  Many intellectuals felt the same. They maybe didn’t have pride of social wealth and position but they had pride of culture and remembered with regret the former prestige of the Pagan Philosophers.  They all felt this great revolution from Paganism to Catholicism would destroy the old cultural traditions and their own cultural positions. 

     Arianism had yet another ally, a very subtle ally.  It had for an ally the tendency of government in an absolute monarchy to be half afraid of the emotions present in the minds of the people, and especially the poorer people (Laymen), emotions which if they spread and became enthusiastic and captured the masses might become too strong to be ruled and would have to be bowed to (surrendered to).  

     The other ally Arianism had was the Army.  It is necessary to discuss the military political power of the Army because much of the Arian heresy revolved around it.  The Army was the binding force, support and material self of the Roman Empire.  The Roman Empire was a military state not a civilian state.  The Army’s commander in chief (the Emperor) was the absolute monarch of the whole state.  The Army went solidly Arian.  The Army went Arian because if felt Arianism to be the destructive thing which made it superior to the civilian masses.  The soldiers were sympathetic with Arianism for the same reason the old upper class pagans and intellectuals did.  There arose a feud between the Army chiefs on one hand and the Catholic bishops on the other.  Certainly there was a division between Catholics in the towns, the Catholic peasantry in the country and the almost universally Arian soldiers.

     Bishops and Clerics at this time found it beneficial to “their careers” to go along with the “Powers that be”.  It appears the same political and theological connection is occurring today.  Many governments are accepting the IGBT culture and supporting them in their laws.  Divorce and Cohabitation are also common place as well as the rejecting Judeo Christian values as the basis to their legal structure.  The theological left and political left are forming a bond and looking to force it’s heterodoxy on the Catholic faithful and the world.

     PART 4    The Unsung Heroes, The Catholic Lay People

     The episcopate (Bishops) whose action was so prompt and concordant at Nicaea on the rise of Arianism did not, as a class or group of men, play a good part in the troubles consequent upon the Council; and the Laity did.  The Catholic people, in length and breadth of Christendom, were the obstinate champions of Catholic truth, and the bishops were not!   Of course there were great illustrious exceptions; First St. Athanasius, St. Hillary, St. Eusebius the Latin(Not Eusebius of Nicodemia), St. Phobadius, after that St. Basil the Great, the two Gregories and St. Ambrose.  A few others Bishops Eustathius, Paulus, Dionysius and the Egyptian bishops, whose number in proportion was small to the great powers controlling the Eastern Church.  On the other hand I must say there were exceptions to the Christian heroism of the Lay People, especially in some of the great cities.  Again in speaking of the Laity, I speak inclusively of the parish priests, at least in most places but on the whole speaking historically, we are obliged to say that the governing body of the Church came short and the governed (Lay People) wer pre-eminent in faith, zeal, courage and constancy.(10)

      In the city of Alexandria one of the most infamous of Arian bishops, George, made his appearance and took control.  He arrived during the Great Feast with a large group of soldiers.  He immediately attacked the people and attempted to force the Orthodox Christians to take an oath of Arianism.  After his scourging and torture of the people some of them died.  He also later renewed the violent persecutions.  He unleashed the military on many Orthodox Christians who were worshipping in cemetery chapels instead of the churches that commemorated him.  Many were killed and others banished.

     This similar situations happened in other areas of Alexandria and the other cities under Emperor Constantius^2nd  in the East.  At a church in Quininis the bishop there, backed by soldiers, attacked herdsmen and young people in an effort to get them to submit.(12)  The Orthodox bishops Paulines and St. Hillary were banished.  During this time the Pro Orthodox Emperor Constans died and the Pro Arian Emperor Constantius became emperor of both east and west.  He managed with extreme pressure from Arian bishops to manipulate Pope Liberius to sign the heretical Arian Creed denying Christ’s divinity.(13) Constantius later banished him.  When Liberius returned after banishment rescinding the Arian Creed he was shunned by fellow clergy and the people because he was looked upon as weak.  By the way when St. John Henry Newman recorded this incident in his 19^th century article he was black listed by the Vatican as a possible heretic.  As writer Michael Kearney notes: apparently Newman’s assertion that the Arian heresy was extinguished by a few God fearing Bishops and Pious Lay People not by the “infallible pronouncements” of the Roman Pope did not fit the model of 19^th century Roman Catholic ecclesiology.(14)

     With the death of Constantius^2nd  the Empire in the West fell to Valentine^1st  who protected the Orthodox but his brother Pro Arian Valens ruled in the East and subjected Athanasius and the Orthodox lay people to a severe persecution.  At the Portan Basilica, City of Edessa, St. Ambrose was teaching the people the Creed but the Emperor’s wife intended to take control of in the Arians.  The people hearing this gathered at the church and blocked its’ entrances and seized the Arian bishop.  The Roman commander dispatched soldiers and arrested many people who were fined and thrown into prison(15).  There was a great hermit named St. Anthony of Alexandria, a lay person and considered founder of the eastern monastic system, who was highly respected by the people and a good friend of St. Athanasius.  The Arian bishops tried to use St. Anthony in their favor but he left the solitude of the desert and went about the city of Alexandria condemning the Arians and their heresy and telling the people that the doctrines of the apostles were preached only by St. Athanasius.(16,17)  St. Athanasius and his fellow Orthodox bishops were hunted down and exiled.  St. Athanasius was constantly being moved to protect him mostly being protected by the faithful lay people.   Christendom as a whole followed St. Athanasius but the persecutions continued.  St. Basil says “about the year 372 the lay people are sound in faith and avoid places of worship which they consider schools of impiety; the people have left their houses of prayer and assemble in the deserts, pitiable sight women and children and old men amid rain, storms and winds.(18)  When the Pro Arian emperor Valens was killed in 379AD Pro Orthodox emperor Theodosius took over in the east and Pro Orthodox emperor Gratian in the west.  The Arians were crushed and the 2^nd Ecumenical Council of Constantinople approved our current Nicaean Creed.  St. John Newman said “The 4^th Century is an age of Doctors illustrated by Saints Athanasius, Hillary, the two Gregories, Basil, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, etc, nevertheless less in that very day the Divine Tradition committed to the infallible Church was proclaimed and maintained far more by the people than by the Episcopate(Clergy)”.(19)   Again Newman says “but I mean still that in that time of confusion the Divine Dogma of Our Lord’s divinity was proclaimed, enforced, maintained, and (humanly speaking) preserved in their duty to their baptismal vows far more by the Ecclesia Docta(the unlearned, simple lay people) than by the Ecclesia Docens (Clergy, the Learned, the Teachers).(20)  Again he says “While on the other hand it was the Christian people, who, under providence were the Ecclesiastical Strength of Athanasius, Hillary, Eusibius of Vercellae, and the other great solitary confessors who would have simply Failed without them…….”.(21)

CONCLUSION

      What do we promise through our God parents in baptism?  We promise though our God parents to denounce the devil, sin and live according to the teachings of Christ and of his Church.(22)  Our Lord said “I am the way THE TRUTH and the Life”.(23)  Again Our Lord said “I came into this world to give witness to the TRUTH, all who love the TRUTH listen to me”.(24)  Our fidelity at baptism is made to Christ which is the Deposit of the Faith and the Perennial Teachings of the Church.  Our Catholic lay brothers and sisters understood this in the 4^th Century and driven by the Holy Spirit rose up to their baptismal vows and saved the Church.  What did Venerable Fulton Sheen say in 1972 echoing the words of St. John Henry Newman some 140 years later?  He said “who is going to save the Church?  Not our bishops, not our priests and religious!  It is up to you, THE LAY PEOPLE!  You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church!  Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious!”(24)   Father Bill Casey said at his talk, Called to Battle, “Maybe we can’t change this culture but we can go down on record at least trying”, then he quotes St. Mother Theresa “God doesn’t ask us to be successful just faithful”!

     St. Athanasius, the other Saints and the faithful Catholic Laity put everything on the line to protect the Deposit of the Faith!  Are we willing to do the Same?

REFERENCES:

1. Webster’s Dictionary
2. The Great Heresies by Hillaire Belloc
3. IBID
4. Catholic Duey Rhaims Bible: John 3:16
5. Arians of the 4^th Century by St. John Henry Newman
6. The Great Heresies by Hillaire Belloc
7. IBID
8. Article; “Arianism” Webster’s Encyclopedia Britannica published July 25, 2019
9. The Great Heresies by Hillaire Belloc
10. The Arians of the 4^th Century p. 358 by St. John Henry Newman
11. IBID p. 445
12. IBID
13. IBID
14. St. Athanasius and the Arian Controversy by Metropolitan Ephraim of Boston 1996 conference
15. Arians of the 4^th Century by St. John Henry Newman
16. St. Athanasius and the Arian Controversy by Metropolitan Ephraim of Boston 1996 conference
17. Arians of the 4^th Century 
18. IBID
19. IBID
20. IBID
21. IBID
22. Baltimore Catechism article 326
23. Catholic Bible John 14:6
24. Catholic Bible John 18:37
25. Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen address to the Convention of the Knights of Columbus in June, 1972

Miscellaneous References

Catholic Answers, Wikipedia, Catholic Encyclopedia, 

Thomas More Society > News/Press Releases > Louisiana Case in United States Supreme Court Could Sync Abortion Laws with Science

Louisiana Case in United States Supreme Court Could Sync Abortion Laws with Science

“Louisiana law explicitly acknowledges that each human’s life begins at conception, and this position is backed up by science,” said Thomas Olp, Thomas More Society Vice President and Senior Counsel.

Roe v. Wade is “obsolete” according to an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief filed with the United States Supreme Court by the Thomas More Society on behalf of Illinois Right to Life on January 8, 2020. As the high court prepares to review a challenge to Louisiana’s abortion regulations, the Illinois not-for-profit education and advocacy organization is interceding on behalf of the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. 

Dr. Steve Jacobs, Program Director of Illinois Right to Life, explained why the life advocacy and education organization is stepping into the Louisiana abortion case. 

“Roe v. Wade is out of touch with the realities of today,” stated Jacobs. “Contemporary science renders its assumptions obsolete. An overwhelming majority of Americans do not want unrestricted abortion on demand. Unregulated abortion puts women at risk, and we believe that a disregard for women’s lives and safety contradicts all the progress that women have made in modern society, essentially devaluing the female sex.”

The brief highlights how, 47 years after Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision is out of step with modern science, noting that Roe’s“viability” standard was based on a lack of scientific consensus as to when human life begins. Almost a half century later:

• Scientific, legal, and social developments have robbed Roe’s “viability” standard of its original justification.
• A consensus of biologists (96%) now acknowledges that a human life begins at fertilization and a human fetus is, biologically speaking, a human being.
• Even abortion doctors and proponents of abortion rights commonly admit that fetuses are human beings.
• Views opposing the position that the biological view recognizes that a human’s life starts at fertilization are typically unscientific and ideological.

Thomas Olp, Thomas More Society Vice President and Senior Counsel, remarked that once you bring Roe in line with science, the law must follow.

“Louisiana law explicitly acknowledges that each human’s life begins at conception, and this position is backed up by science,” Olp asserted. “Because a human fetus is a human being, it warrants reasonable protection as a person under the Fourteenth Amendment. The U.S. Constitution guarantees Louisiana, and all states, the right to protect its citizens regardless of their stage of development.”

The brief also notes that the enactment of fetal homicide laws by 38 states demonstrates that outside of the abortion context, a human fetus is widely and unquestioningly recognized as a human being, and that these states increasingly propose and enact protective laws even when abortion access is curtailed as a result.

The Louisiana law requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The requirement was upheld last year by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court granted a temporary stay in the case, blocking the law from taking effect. In October 2019, the high court announced that it would hear the case.

Read the Thomas More Society’s filing on behalf of Illinois Right to Life, Brief of Amicus Curiae Illinois Right to Life Supporting Respondent-Cross-Petitioner, filed January 8, 2020, with the United States Supreme Court in June Medical Services L.L.C., et al. v. Rebekah Gee, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, here.

Preview YouTube video Ukraine Prosecutor Files Criminal Complaint on Joe Biden, 2928Ukraine Prosecutor Files Criminal Complaint on Joe Biden, 2928

Catholic Monitor

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Why are Cdl. Burke & the Faithful Catholic Media like the Leashed Dog in the Foghorn Leghorn Cartoon? 

In the old Warner Brothers cartoon the rooster Foghorn Leghorn’s archenemy George P. Dog was on a leash which meant he could only go as far as the length of the rope leash and had to stop.

Foghorn even painted a line on the ground with a sign reading “Rope Limit” which George P. Dog could never go beyond.

Why are Cardinal Raymond Burke and the faithful Catholic media such the Remnant’s Michael Matt as well as other Catholic media like Leghorn’s archenemy George P. Dog not allowed to go passed the line with the sign that reads “Rope Limit”?

Why is the once talked about Formal Correction of Francis by Burke and the faithful Catholic media now beyond the “Rope Limit”?

Why is even discussing the possibility of a imperfect council and/or a cardinal and bishop investigation into the Francis conclave and Pope Benedict XVI resignation beyond the “Rope Limit”?

Who and/or what has made Cardinal Burke and the faithful Catholic media into George P. Dog with a rope leash and a “Rope Limit.”

Who or what controls them?

Why are they forbidden to even give reasoned arguments, instead of straw man agruments that don’t counter our stated dissertations or name calling, against Bishop Rene Gracida and canon law expert Br. Alexis Bugnolo who put forward serious reasoned dissertations from canon law and Pope John Paul II’s conclave constitution?

If they really think we who follow Bishop Gracida and Br. Bugnolo are wrong and headed to hell for being in schism from Francis then out of simple charity for our souls they should counter our dissertations and arguments.

If they really believe we are wrong and headed to hell and refuse to seriously give us real arguments then they apparently have lost the supernatural virtue of charity.

If they really believe what they say then for charity’s sake they should attempt to save us from hell for being in schism from Francis:

But, all we hear are straw man agruments that don’t counter our stated dissertations, name calling propaganda, silence or the noise of them running away as fast as they can from serious reasoned back and forth argumentation.

Just to give fair warning:

We are not going away.

We are growing.

Soon we will be to be too big to ignore.

As even Church Militant’s Michael Voris reported we are becoming the majority of faithful Catholics in Rome. The same thing is happening in the United States and if you can’t stop us now we will probably grow to be the majority of faithful Catholics in America.

Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church as well as for the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart of the Jesus and the Immaculate of Mary.

Posted by Fred Martinez at 9:06 PM Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

kraine Prosecutor Files Criminal Complaint on Joe Biden, 2928″ 

In Search of a Silver Bullet

Stephen P. White

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020

I recently lamented that few Catholics listen to what their bishops have to say about politics, and that those who do listen are often more interested in arming themselves with rhetorical weapons against political adversaries than in allowing their own consciences to be formed by the Church. This is most evident on the question of abortion, where Catholics of various stripes continue to search for that one argument, that one point of doctrine, which might finally break the stranglehold that abortion has on our political life – and heal some of the deepest divisions within our own Church.

This past November, you may recall, the general assembly of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops considered a draft letter, which was to accompany the bishops’ document on faithful citizenship. The letter included this phrase: “The threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority.”

Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego took exception, arguing that such language was, “at least discordant with the pope’s teaching, if not inconsistent.” McElroy insisted, “It is not Catholic teaching that abortion is the preeminent issue that we face as a world in Catholic Social Teaching. It is not.” The body of bishops thought the statement was acceptable, and the letter was issued with the “preeminent” language intact.

Just this month, American bishops in Rome asked Pope Francis what he thought about calling abortion a “preeminent priority.” According to Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who was in the room, the Pope’s response was, “Of course, it is.”

This tussle over a single word – “preeminent” – was not a disagreement about whether abortion is right or wrong, nor whether abortion ought to be legal. The pope and bishops, including McElroy, are in agreement about those matters. And, of course, as Bishop McElroy rightly pointed out, abortion is not the only issue with a serious claim on the consciences of Catholics. I don’t know of any of his brother bishops who would disagree; Pope Francis certainly doesn’t.

But if abortion is the preeminent threat, then the prioritization of abortion has unmistakably political implications. And in political circumstances like ours – where one party is, at least at the national level, wholly devoted to the abortion license and one is not – those implications take on an unavoidably partisan cast.

And here’s where things get complicated for the bishops: Speak too forcefully against abortion and you are portrayed as a partisan. Speak too little about abortion – or even too much about anything else – and you are portrayed as a partisan. One half of American Catholics seem to think the bishops are a bunch of closet Democrats and the other half think the bishops are in the tank for Republicans.

So what is a bishop to do? Remain silent to avoid controversy? Twist or truncate the truth to avoid the charge of partisanship from one or both sides? No. Bishops need to speak the whole truth. And so they have:

The threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed. At the same time, we cannot dismiss or ignore other serious threats to human life and dignity such as racism, the environmental crisis, poverty, and the death penalty.

This is the full statement to which Bishop McElroy objected. His objection was that the passage could be twisted to suggest that only abortion matters, not those “other issues.” Plenty of Catholics share his concerns. To some Catholics, the prominent inclusion of “other issues” muddies the waters, even inviting the sort of moral equivalence that often masquerades as a consistent ethic of life.

In short, the bishops’ statement will leave many Catholics unsatisfied precisely because it does not answer the question American Catholics really want to know: Who are Catholics supposed to vote for?

American Catholics want a political silver bullet; what the bishops have given them is frustratingly, maddeningly – and rightly – something else.

The bishops are charged with forming the consciences of the faithful so they can carry out their responsibilities as citizens in service to justice and the common good. This requires an understanding of what the Church teaches, but it also requires both bishops and the faithful to understand the complex circumstances in which citizens must exercise their moral judgment.

Knowing the relevant moral principles is not enough. Those principles must be applied to particular, and often contentious, circumstances. To do this well requires the virtue of prudence. Notice, prudence is a virtue – a habit – it’s not just another name for judgment. Not all judgments are prudent!

The Church insists that a politician who supports abortion, like a voter who casts a ballot with the intention of supporting abortion, formally cooperates with great evil. But the Church doesn’t teach that we should vote for whichever candidate is most strongly opposed to abortion – because that’s not always true. And the Church doesn’t say we can never vote for someone who supports an intrinsic evil – because that’s not true, either. And the Church doesn’t say that all threats to life and dignity are morally equivalent – because they’re not.

Abortion is not the preeminent threat because it’s intrinsically evil, though it is. There are places in our world today where it is not the preeminent threat. There was a time when abortion was not the preeminent threat here. But in this country, in this time and place, nothing is less consistent with the defense of human life – nothing rends the “seamless garment” more – than abortion. Abortion tears apart families, poisons our politics (and our Church) and destroys innocent life on an industrial scale.

So abortion is not the only threat to human life and dignity in this country, but it is the preeminent threat. The bishops haven’t provided a silver bullet. They haven’t told us who to vote for. But they have given us what we need.

Voting remains our responsibility; for it, we will each have to answer. Pray, hard, for prudence.

*Image: Mural in Argentina depicting St. Oscar Romero and Pope Francis [photo by Sarah Pabst/Financial Times]

© 2020 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.orgThe Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

• POLITICS

This Senate Witness Game Is Lose-Lose For Republicans, But One Path Leads To Ruin

JANUARY 30, 2020 By Christopher Bedford

The first month of 2020 is coming to a close, the days are growing longer and impeachment longer still.

It’s been more than three years since elected Democrats first floatedimpeaching then-President-Elect Donald Trump, and four months since Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi officially launched her impeachment inquiry. In Republican corners, whispers about summoning witnesses quickly followed because that’s how it goes.

As in the tragic and sordid case of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, inconsequential media stories billed as “bombshells” are lobbed against weak-kneed Republican senators side by side with reporters’ demands they drag the process out further. Even right-leaning commentators obsess over the Senate’s role as deliberative body of statesmen carefully considering all facts, forgetting the farcical journey this has been from the very beginning.

In impeachment much more than with Kavanaugh, the stakes appear high for Democrats as well. Despite Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s insistence that only witnesses who assists his case can be responsibly called forth, the reality is the GOP controls the upper chamber and if they call witnesses, their majority can call anyone they please. An appearance by John Bolton, a funny Democratic darling, is sure to be followed by Hunter Biden and a slew of other fact-witnesses central to the case. So why would the Democrats risk winning this high-stakes game of chicken?

The answer depends on the path Republicans choose to take, but it appears Democrats see this national disaster as a win-win.

If McConnell is able to hold Republican members to the line and there is no vote to allow further witnesses, Democrats will cry foul. The trial, they’ll say, is illegitimate and cannot count as a true vindication of the president. Of course, they said this when the president won the election and when their long-awaited Robert Mueller report was released, but that won’t stop them from saying it again.

The only result they’ll call legitimate is the result that destroys Donald Trump, and while previous Democratic disappointments showed the American people are deplorable or that Mueller wasn’t up to the job, they will say this result proves the Senate is a corrupted body. There truly is no limit to the American systems they are willing to tear down to stop this president, and they will take it all back to the voters in November.

If McConnell is unable to hold Republicans and the witness line is crossed, Democrats might take a beating but the impeachment trial will be dragged still further on, hobbling McConnell’s agenda on major issues. Judicial nominations? Maybe even a nomination to the Supreme Court? All will fall by wayside next to the Senate’s constitutional duty. And don’t be fooled by high-minded pontificating about this duty or that — muddied paralysis at the hands of a media-cheered sham is not the noble business of statesmen.

Republicans are bound to take hits in this process, no matter the path they take. But make no mistake: One path leads to partisan attacks; the other could lead to the end of a conservative judicial agenda. So stiff upper lip, senators, and think the pain your finest hour.Christopher Bedford is a senior editor at The Federalist, the vice chairman of Young Americans for Freedom, a board member at the National Journalism Center, and the author of The Art of the Donald. Follow him on Twitter.Photo Gage SkidmoreProgress