Cardinal Burke: Confusion in the Church Indicates We May Have ‘Arrived at the End Times’

From LifeSite News

His Eminence Raymond, Cardinal Burke

November 30, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Confusion and error in the Catholic Church regarding its fundamental teaching on marriage and family are so serious that the End Times may have come upon us, Cardinal Raymond Burke said in a new interview.

When the foundation of the moral law is questioned within the Church, the cardinal said, “then the whole order of human life and the order of the Church itself are endangered.”

“So there is a feeling that in today’s world that is based on secularism with a completely anthropocentric approach,” Cardinal Burke continued, “by which we think we can create our own meaning of life and meaning of the family and so on, the Church itself seems to be confused.”

“In that sense, one may have the feeling that the Church gives the appearance of being unwilling to obey the mandates of Our Lord,” he stated. “Then perhaps we have arrived at the End Times.”

Cardinal Burke confirmed in an interview with Catholic Herald contributing editor Paolo Gambi published today that “very serious questions” remain regarding the dubia submitted to Pope Francis last year on his exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

But he persisted in that the specifics of how to proceed on a formal correction of the pope have yet to be determined.

Cardinal Burke has been long known for his defense of Church orthodoxy, and many regard his resoluteness to that end in the face of seemingly political demotions and derision as an example of courage and fidelity to the faith.

Burke further confirmed in the Catholic Herald interview that although he remains cardinal patron for the Order of Malta, he currently has no function within the Order and thus receives no communication from either the organization itself or from Pope Francis.

He reaffirmed in the interview as well that priests are free to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass since Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, saying that both the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form of the liturgy are considered normal in the Church. 

Gambi asked the cardinal to expound on recent comments he made about the present time being “realistically apocalyptic” due to “confusion, division and error” within the Church coming from “shepherds” even at the highest levels.

Cardinal Burke explained that allowing access to sacraments for individuals living in sinful unions is “a violation of the truth” for both the indissolubility of marriage and the sanctity of the Eucharist.

“In the present moment, there is confusion and error about the most fundamental teachings of the Church,” said Cardinal Burke, “for example with regard to marriage and the family. For instance, the idea that people who are living in an irregular union could receive the sacraments is a violation of the truth with regard both to the indissolubility of marriage and to the sanctity of the Eucharist.”

Citing St. Paul, he said “we eat our condemnation” if we receive the Eucharist in an unworthy way.

“Now the confusion in the Church is going even further than that,” Burke added, “because there is today confusion as to whether there are acts which are intrinsically evil and this, of course, is the foundation of the moral law,” imperiling the order of the Church and human life.

Asked his thoughts on Italian Episcopal Conference Secretary-general Bishop Nunzio Galantino’s recent claim that the Protestant Reformation was an “event of the Holy Spirit,” Cardinal Burke responded, “Well, I don’t see how you can say that the division of the Church was an act of the Holy Spirit. It simply does not make sense.”

He also dismissed talk of a common Eucharistic celebration with Lutherans as “not possible” because of the differences on the doctrine of transubstantiation.

“For Catholics to engage in some kind of ecumenical Eucharist would be abandoning the Catholic Faith,” stated Cardinal Burke. “This is a profoundly false ecumenism which would do grave harm to the Faith and to souls.”

His response to Gambi asking what his first act would be if elected pope was that “the first thing any pope should do is simply to make the profession of faith together with the whole Church, as Vicar of Christ on Earth.”

“Most popes did that,” Cardinal Burke added, offering Pope St Pius X’s encyclical E Supremi as example.

“Also Pope St John Paul II’s Redemptor Hominis is a sort of profession of faith,” the cardinal noted, “calling to mind again that the Church is the Body of Christ, the Church belongs to Christ and that we are all obedient in his service.”

Happy St Andrew's Day!

Today is the Feast of St Andrew, Patron Saint of Scotland. Despite the fact that the traitors in the ScotsNatzi Party have tried to appropriate it as 'their' flag, using it in their treasonous demonstrations, the Saltire of St Andrew is the National Colour of Scotland, and it belongs to all Scots!

Here it is, in all its glory!

And, never forget that it is incorporated in the Union Flag to show that the Union between Scotland and England, from 1 May 1707, is indissoluble! The white saltire, bordered by blue is the St Andrew's Flag superimposed on the Flag of St George, for England, and the red saltire superimposed on the white one, is Ireland's St Patrick's Cross.

From the article on Wikipedia on St Andrew and Scotland:

Several legends state that the relics of Andrew were brought by divine guidance from Constantinople to the place where the modern Scottish town of St Andrews stands today (Gaelic, Cill Rìmhinn). The oldest surviving manuscripts are two: one is among the manuscripts collected by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and willed to Louis XIV of France, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, the other is the Harleian Mss in the British Library, London. They state that the relics of Andrew were brought by one Regulus to the Pictish king Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761). The only historical Regulus (Riagail or Rule) whose name is preserved in the tower of St Rule was an Irish monk expelled from Ireland with Saint Columba; his dates, however, are c 573 – 600. There are good reasons for supposing that the relics were originally in the collection of Acca, bishop of Hexham, who took them into Pictish country when he was driven from Hexham (c. 732), and founded a see, not, according to tradition, in Galloway, but on the site of St Andrews.

Saint Andrew, carving c.1500 in the National Museum of Scotland

According to legend, in 832 AD, Óengus II led an army of Picts and Scots into battle against the Angles, led by Æthelstan, near modern-day Athelstaneford, East Lothian. The legend states that he was heavily outnumbered and hence whilst engaged in prayer on the eve of battle, Óengus vowed that if granted victory he would appoint Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. On the morning of battle white clouds forming an X shape in the sky were said to have appeared. Óengus and his combined force, emboldened by this apparent divine intervention, took to the field and despite being inferior in numbers were victorious. Having interpreted the cloud phenomenon as representing the crux decussata upon which Saint Andrew was crucified, Óengus honoured his pre-battle pledge and duly appointed Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. The white saltire set against a celestial blue background is said to have been adopted as the design of the flag of Scotland on the basis of this legend. However, there is evidence that Andrew was venerated in Scotland before this.

Traditional stone fireplace in northern England. The carved Saint Andrew's cross in the left hand wooden post was to prevent witches from flying down the chimney, Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole.

Andrew's connection with Scotland may have been reinforced following the Synod of Whitby, when the Celtic Church felt that Columba had been "outranked" by Peter and that Peter's brother would make a higher ranking patron. The 1320 Declaration of Arbroath cites Scotland's conversion to Christianity by Andrew, "the first to be an Apostle". Numerous parish churches in the Church of Scotland and congregations of other Christian churches in Scotland are named after Andrew. The national church of the Scottish people in Rome, Sant'Andrea degli Scozzesi is dedicated to Saint Andrew.

A local superstition uses the cross of Saint Andrew as a hex sign on the fireplaces in northern England and Scotland to prevent witches from flying down the chimney and entering the house to do mischief. By placing the Saint Andrew's cross on one of the fireplace posts or lintels, witches are prevented from entering through this opening. In this case, it is similar to the use of a witch ball, although the cross will actively prevent witches from entering, and the witch ball will passively delay or entice the witch, and perhaps entrap it.

May St Andrew, Apostle and Martyr, First Called with his Brother, St Peter, pray for his people of Scotland, to preserves them from treason, and may he plead before the High Seat of Heaven that GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

Matt Walsh: If you want to fight Nazism in America, fight the abortion industry

From The Blaze, with a tip o' the hat to Tea at Trianon, that brought it to my attention.

Eleonora_os / Getty Images

It was interesting timing. On Monday, CBS published an article touting Iceland’s miracle cure for Down syndrome. “Iceland is on pace to virtually eliminate Down syndrome through abortion,” the headline read. Of course, it leaves out an important word. Iceland is eliminatingDown syndrome people – not Down syndrome itself — by killing anyone who has the condition. Many countries, including our own, have discovered an identical treatment plan.

The next day, Oregon was the beneficiary of similarly sanitized headlines. The governor of Oregon signed legislation “expanding reproductive health access,” the media reported. But the reports are misleading. The law actually forces all residents in the state to pay for abortions for anyone who wants them, including illegal aliens. The bill has nothing at all to do with reproduction. Its goal is precisely to stopreproduction. Or at least to prevent the products of reproduction from ever seeing the light of day.

I said the reports of these atrocities are interestingly timed because they come amidst a national panic over neo-Nazism. We are right to be disgusted and horrified by the few dozen white supremacist losers who carried Tiki torches through Charlottesville on Saturday. And we are right to demand justice for the woman who was killed by a skinhead terrorist during that same rally. But we are ridiculous for acting as if these racist nerds represent some threat to our national existence. Until there is even a shred of proof to the contrary, I am going to remain confident that the vast, vast, vast majority of our citizens do not sympathize with Nazism outright. Even one neo-Nazi is too many. A whole parade of them is a travesty. But we ought not lose our grip on reality. A little perspective is all I’m suggesting.

(Read more...)

The Weather

#whattheforecast #wtforecast

Wise Words...

from a very wise man. I recommend all of his books, but here's one to get you started, free, online! 

Survivals and New Arrivals: The Old and New Enemies of the Catholic Church. The section on Islam is especially good. Very prophetic, since it was written in 1929.

Homage to Christ the King

Sort of a 'companion piece' to my post on The Feast of Christ the King, from One Peter Five.

Pope Pius XI, who reigned from 1922 to 1939, and who did much to develop the social thought of his predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, at the very beginning of his papacy in his first encyclical, Ubi Arcano, made an interesting statement which might set us thinking a little bit differently about Catholic social teaching. Too often the Church’s social doctrine is dissected and criticized by various pundits and columnists as if it were merely some kind of political commentary. Even worse are those Catholics who think that they can persuade the reigning pope to embrace their special brand of economic thinking or at least convince the rest of us that that has occurred. But Pope Pius, author of the extremely hard-hitting encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno (1931), which bitterly criticized free-market economics and its excesses, did not see the Church’s social teaching as an exercise in political punditry. Rather, he saw her social teaching as ultimately a part of the homage due to Jesus Christ, King of both men and nations. In that first encyclical, Pius, wrote the following:

(Read more...)

What Holiness Means to a Catholic, and to the World

An excellent article by Jonathan Cariveau from One Peter Five.

The host and the chalice are consecrated as holy to the Lord from the moment they are placed on the altar. 

I would argue with my friend, Jonathan, only on this point. The Paten and Chalice (I assume he means Paten by 'the host', since the host remains mere bread until the Words of Consecration, just as the wine remains wine until transubstantiated into the Precious Blood) are consecrated before use. Here is the Rite of Consecration of a Paten and Chalice from the Rituale Romanum, 1962, normally reserved to a Bishop. Scroll down to number 2 on the page.

CONSECRATION OF A PATEN AND A CHALICE

The article:  

Holiness is a topic about which ignorance abounds and concerning which not much Catholic ink is spilled. It’s also one of the most critical to understand if we’re to have a clear idea of what it means to be Christian.

Holiness is typically taken as a synonym for moral goodness. However, this is only one sense of the word.

Holiness may be understood in three sharply distinct senses: the ontological, the moral, and the ritual. The one definition that is critical to all three is this: holiness is the clear distinction of one from many. To be holy is to be unique, to be set apart from what is common, imperfect, or wicked.

(Read more...)

The End is at Hand!!!

No, not really, but having reached the age of 70, the age of man as described in the Psalter, 89:10,

The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years. But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow, 

I have decided that it behoves me to start thinking, at least, of the time when I shuffle off this mortal coil, and .face my Redeemer at the Judgement Seat of Heaven.

Especially since I have two terminal conditions, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and congestive heart failure (CHF), one of which, barring unforeseen accidents, is probably going to kill me, it seems an opportune time to put my affairs in order. To that end, I have been drawing my Last Will & Testament, my Spiritual Will, my Catholic Final Directive, and a statement of my final wishes that I want carried out after my demise.

I'm not being morbid in this. I am being realistic. My Faith teaches me to often meditate on  the Four Last Things, Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell. When I meditate on death, I realise that while it will be a stressful and, at least I hope, a sorrowful time for my family, out of my love for them, I want to make it as easy on them as I can.

So, whilst I have no plans, Deo volente, to check out anytime soon,  Scripture says in 

Ecclesiastes, 9:12,  Man knoweth not his own end: but as fishes are taken with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them,

I think that what I am doing is a good thing, and I encourage my readers, regardless of age, to consider doing the same thing.

Gregorian Chants Are a Hit at This Nebraska Seminary

A video from PBS on Gregorian Chant as performed by the seminarians at Our Lady Of Guadalupe Seminary (FSSP) in Denton, Nebraska. Denton is only about 25 miles up the road from me, but since I no longer drive, I haven't made it there yet. This video makes me want to redouble my efforts to get there for a visit!

The Weather

Well, after last night's 'low' of 50 F/10 C, it's supposed to get down to freezing tonight. I walked down to the corner store yesterday, and they had the door propped open to take advantage of the 70+ degrees! The kale in the garden is a bit wilted, but it's still struggling on. The extended forecast is for colder weather, so it looks like winter might finally be arriving. I actually deal with cold weather much, much better than I deal with the heat in the summer. Having lived in Alberta through several winters, I tease my friends here in the States that I don't know what they're complaining about, since it never gets cold down here! After you've done a walking paper route with the windchill well below minus 40, the slightly below zero Fahrenheit temperatures here in the winter seem like balmy spring days!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to colder weather. My Other Half, however, is not! When I mention how I like winter she just scowls and growls!

Prayers for a Friend

As I've mentioned, on Monday evenings I go to our community supper. I've made several friends there, including an older fellow who is a Korean War vet, so I'm assuming he's in his 80s. His name is Emil. He went into hospital about a week and a half ago for knee replacement surgery. Normally, in these days, it's pretty minor, but with the elderly, any surgery can be dangerous.

I heard this evening that his kidneys have shut down. We were hoping one of his children would show up so we could find out more, but none did, which is disconcerting.

Please, of your charity, offer your prayers for his well being, both physical and spiritual. If you're not the praying sort, please send warm, supportive thoughts his way.

Vox Cantoris: Ontario Court rules against parental rights - help...

Vox Cantoris: Ontario Court rules against parental rights - help...: Whatever Vox Cantoris readers can do to assist with funds would be greatly appreciated.

Donate!

Ontario Court of Appeal rules against parental rights.

http://everydayforlifecanada.blogspot.ca/2017/11/ontario-court-of-appeal-rules-against.html

Ontario Court of Appeal rules against parental rights. First a little background. Dr. Steve Tourloukis has been in a legal battle for over five years trying to defend parental rights in Ontario and Canada. Back in 2010, as the McGinty Liberal government tried to pass the radical sex-education curriculum, Tourloukis simply asked his children's school board to be notified of classes that contradicted his Greek-Orthodox faith. He could then choose to keep them at home when instruction was inappropriate. The lessons of concern included topics such as same-sex marriage, homosexuality, abortion and transgenderism. The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, HWDSB, refused his request for accommodation. So in 2012, given no other choice he took the school board to court.

(Read more...)

Strange and Curious Wills of the Georgian Era in the Canterbury Court

As I'm in the process of drawing up my own Last Will and Testament, I ran across this, shared on Tea at Trianon. It is quite funny, but, be assured, I will not be making any similar requests or bequests!

From 

Geri Walton

unique histories from the 18th and 19th centuries

Posted on November 15, 2017 by Geri Walton

Solon, the wise lawgiver of Athens. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

A will or testament is a legal document that allows a testator (the person who has written and executed a last will and testament) to express his or her wishes as to the distribution of their property. According to the Roman citizen, Greek biographer, and essayist Plutarch, the first written will was invented long ago by the Athenian statesman, poet, and wise law giver named Solon. Eventually, many types of wills were generated, and sometimes these wills contained strange or curious requests. This was the case in the Georgian Era when certain testators in the Canterbury Court left behind these following interesting requests:

GEORGE APPLEBEE – Rector of St. Bride’s, London – 7 August 1783
“My body after being dressed in a flannel waistcoat, instead of a shirt, an old surtout coat, and breeches without linings or pockets, an old pair of stockings, shoes I shall want none, (having done walking) and a worsted wig, if one can be got, I desire may be decently interred.”

JOHN DAVIS – Woollen Manufacturer of Clapham in Surrey – 24 January 1788
“I give and bequeath to Mary Davis, daughter of Peter Delaport, the sum of five shillings (which is sufficient to enable her to get drunk with, for the last time at my expense), and I give the like sum of five shillings to Charles Peter, (the son of the said Mary) who, I am reputed to be the father of, but which I never had, or ever shall have, any reason so to believe.”

JOHN GOSS – Mariner of Bristol – 19 May 1796
“My executrix to pay, out of the first monies collected, unto my beloved wife, Hester Gross, (if living) the sum of one shilling, which I give her (as a token of my love) that she may buy hazel-nuts, as I know she is better pleased with cracking them than she is with mending the holes in her stockings.”

JOSEPH DALBY – Doctor of Physic of the Parish of St. Marylebone in Middlesex – 27 July 1784
“I give to my daughter, Ann Spencer, a guinea for a ring, or any other bauble she may like better, I give to the lout her husband one penny to buy him a lark-whistle, I also give to her said husband of redoubtable memory, my f—t-hole for a covering to his lark-whistle, to prevent the abrasion of his lips, and this legacy I give him as mark of my approbation of his prowess and nice honour, in drawing his sword on me at my own table, naked and unarmed as I was, and he well fortified with custard.”

A 1790 caricature of Philip Thicknesse, covered in defamatory inscriptions and trampling on moral and religious duties. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

PHILIP THICKNESSE – Of London and then of Boulogne, France – 24 January 1793
“I leave my right hand, to be cut off after my death, to my son, Lord Audley, and I desire it may be sent to him, in hopes that a such a sight may remind him of his duty to God, after having so long abandoned the duty he owed to a father, who affectionately loved him.”

SAMUEL WRIGHT – Of Stoke Newington, in the County of Middlesex – 5 August 1736
“And whereas some or other base, wicked, and malicious tempered people may, after my decease, (I living and dying unmarried) raise, contrive, and publish, some vile, false story or other, I do under my hand (here the testator makes public protestation of his being unlike his father, in having never given the opportunity of earning the same title) nor was ever under any contract or agreement with any woman, directly, or indirectly, upon any account whatsoever.”

STEPHEN CHURCH – Lighterman of the Parish of St. Mary at Hill, London – 6 November 1793
“I give and demise to my son, Daniel Church, only one shilling, and that is for him to hire a porter, to carry away the next badge and frame he steals.”

STEPHEN SWAINE – Of St. Olive’s Southwark – 5 February 1770 
“I give and bequeath unto John Abbott, and Mary his wife, the sum of six-pence a-piece, to buy each of them halter, in case the Sheriffs should not be provided.”

THOMAS WRATTEN – Officer of Excise of the Parish of Kensington, Middlesex, – 3 September 1785
“I give to my brother, Stephen Wratten, one guinea, to be paid by him by my executor, when demanded, I give him this not for any dislike, but because he has enough, and too much already to give to his son, Stephen Wratten, that hypocritical, blasphemous Methodist. Secondly, I give one shilling, to be paid as above, to my brother John Wratten, which is enough for him, because he could not keep money when he had it. Thirdly, I give one shilling to be paid as above, to my nephew, Stephen Wratten, that hypocritical, blasphemous Methodist, because he loves religion better than money.”

WILLLIAM HALL – Sergeant at Law of the Parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, London – 9 September 1721
“I give to my cousin, Humphrey Hall, £300, and to that vile, wicked wretch Samuel Hall, his nephew, who I admitted of the Temple, many years since, but he sold his gown, and in seven years I could never get him to church but once, and twice he assaulted me, and the one time he had certainly killed me, if by God’s providence I had not by a maid servant been thrown beside a great fire, when he was just rushing me backwards into it, the sum of ten shilling the first day of every Term, during his life only, though starving is a death too moderate for that wicked, sinful life he hath lived, and I hope and humbly pray to my God to forgive him.”

WILLIAM SHACKELL, ESQ. – Governor of Plymouth – 12 October 1782
“I desire that my body may be kept as long as it may not be offensive, and that one of my toes or fingers may be cut off to secure a certainty of my being dead, I also make this further request to my dear wife, that as she has been troubled with one old fool, she will not think of marrying a second.”

WILLIAM WILLIAMS – Of the Island of Jamaica – 21 October 1705
“I give and bequeath unto that most abandoned, wicked, vile, detestable rogue and impostor, who has assumed, and now goes (or lately did go) by the name of Gorsham Williams, pretending to be a son of mine: one shilling only to buy him a halter, wherewith to hang himself, being what he hath for a long, very long while past deserved from the law, and hands of the hangman for his great and manifold villanies.”

WILLIAM WOODESON – of Harlington, Middlesex – 27 October 1786
“I commit my body to the earth, to be buried in a plain coffin, to be drawn, if not inconvenient, on my own one-horse chaise to the church, and then be carried on the shoulders of six poor men, without any pall or funeral pomp whatsoever, and I order that the said poor men be paid 2s. 6d. each for their trouble. … I desire my corpse to be dressed in my least new shirt, and muslin neckcloth, and night-cap, and my plaid night-gown, and my old rusty sword, which always lay be my bed-side, in my right hand, and my Latin Testament in my left hand, and my little pillow in the pillow-case, under my head.”

References:

The Mirror of Literature Amusement and Instruction, (London, J. Limbird 1824), p. .

Vox Cantoris: Is it Real or is it a Memory?

Vox Cantoris: Is it Real or is it a Memory?: In his latest "catechesis" on the liturgy at the Wednesday audience of papal adulation and positivism, the Bishop of Rome has stated that

"The Mass is the memorial of the Paschal Mystery of Christ. In order to comprehend the value of Mass we must first understand the biblical meaning of the “memorial.” It is not only the memory of past events, but it makes them in a certain way present and actual. That is exactly how Israel understands its release from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the events of the Exodus are brought to the memory of the believers in order to conform their lives to them.

This must explain why this priest and Bishop of Rome doesn't genuflect at Mass before the Blessed Sacrament and Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ after the elevations of what were once bread and wine - he doesn't believe it is necessary because he doesn't believe it is God! He believes that it is a "memorial."

If the "Paschal Mystery of Christ," is understood as his suffering, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, then this is not what is taking place at the Mass. The Mass is the re-presentation, not the representation, nor the memorial, but the re-presentation of the blood atonement of the Lamb of God at Calvary on the Cross brought forward in time to us for us to partake.

I recommend a visit to Louie Verrecchio's AKACatholic for a full and rich re-presentation of the actual truth, not the pathetic codswallop that we are getting from the Bishop of Rome who failed his 1st grade catechism class all those many years ago in Argentina.

I'm OLD!

OK, I think I've finally admitted, at 70, that I'm old. Awhile ago, I called and made a reservation to attend the monthly Senior Citizen's Dinner at our local 'old folks home' the Wilber Care Center (sic). Going to the regular Monday night community suppers is one thing. It's open to all comers, but this is reserved for old folks!

Congratulations to the Happy Couple

My heartiest congratulations to Captain Harry Wales, a/k/a His Royal Highness Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales and Miss Rachel Meghan Markle upon their engagement to be married. May God grant them many happy and fruitful years together!

Poland to phase out Sunday shopping by 2020

Poland, the Land of Our Lady of Częstochowa,  Queen and Protector of Poland, has once again stood up to Western consumerist society! May Poland's Queen pray for Her people that they may be confirmed in their Catholicism!

From the Catholic Herald

High street shops in Warsaw (Getty)

The government and trade unions want workers to spend more time with their families

Polish MPs have approved a bill that will phase out Sunday shopping by 2020.

Initially proposed by trade unions, the idea received the support of the ruling conservative Law and Justice Party, who want to allow workers to spend more time with their families.

The Sejm, the lower house of Poland’s parliament, passed the bill by 254 to 156 to restrict Sunday shopping to the first and last Sunday of the month until the end of 2018, only on the last Sunday in the month in 2019, and to ban it totally starting in 2020. It will still be permitted, however, on the Sundays before major holidays such as Christmas. Some bakeries and online shops will also be exempt.

The bill will now pass to the Senate, and then to President Andzrej Duda for approval.

In a statement, the Polish bishops’ conference said the bill did not go far enough, and that everyone should be free from work on Sundays.

Meanwhile, in the UK....

From 'Tea at Trianon':

Meanwhile, in the UK....

It is forbidden to "refer to female pupils as 'girls' or 'ladies' because it 'reminds them of their gender.'" What? From The Telegraph:

Natasha Devon told headteachers of the country’s leading girls’ schools that they should be using gender-neutral language when they address their students, and added that the same applied for boys. Speaking at the Girls’ School Association’s annual conference in Manchester, she said that she would “never walk into a room in an-all girls’ school and say girls or ladies” because it was “patronising”. (Read more...)

Fr Hunwicke's 'They have Uncrowned Him'

Fr John Hunwicke has written an excellent series of short articles on Christ the King, entitled 'They Have Uncrowned Him'. Rather than transcribing them all, I shall just post the links below. Fr Hunwicke deserves the traffic! If you haven't checked out his blog, do! There is a link in the sidebar to Fr Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment. I've also linked to my post of last month on the Feast of Christ the King, and it's displacement in time in the Novus Ordo calendar.

Part (1)

Part (2)

Part (3)

Part (4)

Part (5)

The Feast of Christ the King from 'Musings of an Old Curmugeon

On This Day in 1942

Casablanca premiers

The classic movie starring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart won 3 Oscars – Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay. The film, which is set during the Second World War, follows the life of Rick Blaine, a former freedom fighter and a club owner in Casablanca, Morocco, who has to choose between his love for a woman, Ilsa Lund, and saving her husband from the Nazis.

One of my favourite films! Even as counter-revolutionary and royalist as I am, the scene of 'la Marseillaise' always makes me want to stand to attention, even though I despise the lyrics being sung! 

Here it is, sung with much better lyrics, as used by the Breton Association in the Chouannerie

and by the Catholic and Royal Army in the Vendean Uprising. 

La Marseillaise des Blancs

Господе, помилуј!

From The Remnant, 30 November 2017.

A Good Motto

Walking

We took Maximus Barker for a run today out north of town. He had a great time running in the harvested corn fields and woods as we took a leisurely stroll up the gravelled road. It was about 65 F. and the sun was shining with no wind. For late November it was unseasonably warm!

We walked a little over a mile, half of it up a gentle incline. The air pollution was quite low today, and this Old Curmudgeon could really step out! Even the Other Half remarked at how fast I was able to walk without gasping for breath.

Probably the most frustrating thing about having COPD is that I love walking! When I was younger, I thought nothing of walking 15-20 miles in a day. I was a fast walker, about five miles per hour, with a standard 30 inch pace. On more than one occasion I walked the ca. 30 miles from Wichita, KS to my parents' home when they lived in Norwich, KS.

Now, because of my disease, my walking is limited, but on days like today, I can walk almost as if I was a young man again. However, when the pollution is high, I have serious problems. When I was younger, I would see older gentlemen shuffling along. I would look at them pityingly, and think, 'I'll never be like that'! A year or two ago, I was walking the two and a half blocks to my local pub. About half way there, I realised I had become one of those 'older gentlemen'! I posted the anecdote to Facebook and my cousin, a man of my age, pointed out that, at least, I was still walking to the pub!

So, I'll keep walking as long as the Good Lord gives me breath to do it!

This Priest Says Adoration Has Made Juarez a Safer City

We don't have 24 hour Adoration here, but it probably wouldn't work, anyway, in such a small Parish. However, St Wenceslaus is open all day (and maybe all night, but I'm no longer one to go out at night). In the past, I have lived near a 24 hour Adoration chapel, and it is a wonderful idea!

From Catholic News Agency

This priest says Adoration has made Juarez a safer city: Juarez, located in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico, was considered from 2008 to 2010 to be one of the the most dangerous cities in the world, due to drug trafficking violence and the constant struggles for power and territory between the cartels.

However, the city of 1.3 million inhabitants dropped off this list thanks to a significant decrease in the number of homicides: from 3,766 in 2010 to 256 in 2015.

Although this drop can be credited to an improvement in the work of local authorities, for Fr. Patrico Hileman – a priest responsible for establishing Perpetual Adoration chapels in Latin America – there is a much deeper reason: Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

“When a parish adores God day and night, the city is transformed,” Fr. Hileman said.

(Read more...)

A Monarchist Reading List

Whilst a couple of the graphics interfere with reading the quotes, at least to my old eyes, this video contains a wonderful short list of 'must reads' for any monarchist. As le Comte Joseph de Maistre said,

Know how to be royalists; formerly it was an instinct, today it is a science.

Quoted in, Kuhnelt-Leddihn, Erik von. Liberty or Equality: The Challenge of Our Time (Kindle Location 5785). Ludwig von Mises Institute. Kindle Edition. 

Adventures of the Bread Machine Continued.

This is a followup on my posts, The Adventure of the Bread Machine and More Adventures of the Bread Machine. After having had two disasters trying to make Swedish rye with caraway seeds, I succeeded in making a good looking, tasty loaf of wholemeal wheat bread, proving that a) the bread machine did not hate me, and b) that I was capable of reading a recipe.

So, today, with those assurances, I tried the Swedish rye again. It must have been the old flour that caused the original catastrophes, because today, with new flour, I ended up with bread, and it's actually quite good!

I forgot to take a picture until after I'd already cut a couple of slices!

The Battle of Covadonga

Almost every literate person in the West has at least heard of the Battle of Tours in AD 732, where the jihad was stopped dead in its tracks, ending its conquest of Western Europe. At least most Catholics are aware of the Battle of Lepanto, 7 October 1571, which broke the sea-power of the jihad in the Mediterranean, if only because the anniversary is the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, and because of Chesterton's poem, 'Lepanto'. Many, especially the historically minded, are familiar with the Siege of Vienna in 1683, where the Christian forces under Don Juan of Austria and King Jan Sobieski of Poland stopped the Turkish jihad in Eastern Europe, and King Jan said, 'I came, I saw, God conquered'!

But, how many people are aware of the Battle of Covadonga, where it all began? Ten years before Charles the Hammer defeated the jihadists in Francia, Don Pelayo defeated them in Hispania, beginning the roll-back of jihadist domination of Christian lands, which continued in Spain for 770 years until 1492 when Their Most Catholic Majesties Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the last Moorish descendants of the slaughterers of the Iberian Peninsula from Grenada in 1492.

It is unfortunate today that Spain, led by the sons of the Revolution and a Roi fainéant, is once again being invaded by jihadists. And now, the jihadists are teaching their children that because Spain was once al-Andalus, Muslim territory, it is their duty to once again conquer Spain, and bring it into Dar al-Islam, the portion of the world subject to their Satanic sharia law.

In 722, Pelagius of Asturias, known in Spanish as Don Pelayo, defeated the jihadist army at Covadonga. He was a Visigothic nobleman who founded the Kingdom of Asturias, ruling it from 718 until his death. Through his victory at the Battle of Covadonga, he is credited with beginning the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moorish jihadists. He established an independent Christian state in opposition to jihadist hegemony.

Monument in memory of Pelagius 

(Don Pelayo) at Covadonga, 

site of his famous victory.

To this day, the eldest son of the reigning King of Spain bears the title, 'Prince of Asturias' in honour of that little corner of Spain and its great contribution to  Western, Spanish, Catholic culture through their defeat of the jihadist hordes.

Below are two videos regarding the battle. 

This is from Real Crusades History, a channel that tells the truth about the Crusades, not through a lens of anti-Catholic, anti-Western prejudice like most sources discussing the Crusades.