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UN Warns Russia's Attack on Ukraine Could Spike Global Food Prices by 22% |
Posted by: Stone - 03-13-2022, 09:05 AM - Forum: Global News
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UN Warns Russia's Attack on Ukraine Could Spike Global Food Prices by 22%
"The global number of undernourished people could increase by eight to 13 million people in 2022 and 2023," says a new report by FAO, the global food agency.
CommonDreams.org | March 11, 2022
With dozens of countries around the world relying heavily on both Ukraine and Russia for food supplies, the United Nations warned Friday, the ongoing war is likely to significantly drive up global food prices and worsen malnourishment in the Global South.
"The war in Ukraine not only has a dramatic impact on the lives of civilians but also has global repercussions."
With both Ukraine and Russia's ability to produce and export food uncertain, a global supply gap "could push up international food and feed prices by 8% to 22% above their already elevated levels," said the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Two weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has killed more than 560 civilians and forced more than 2.5 million people to flee the country, FAO said up to 30% of Ukrainian wheat fields will not be harvested in the 2022 to 2023 season due to the violence.
"Cereal crops will be ready for harvest in June," said FAO Director General Qu Dongyu. "Whether farmers in Ukraine would be able to harvest them and deliver to the market is unclear. Massive population displacement has reduced the number of agricultural laborers and workers."
Ukraine is the world's fifth largest exporter of wheat products, while Russia is the largest.
Combined, the two countries export more than a third of the world's grain products, including 19% of barley supplies, 14% of wheat, and 4% of maize.
Russia also is the top exporter of fertilizer products, with many countries in Europe and Central Asia relying on Russia for more than half of their fertilizer supplies.
"The likely disruptions to agricultural activities of these two major exporters of staple commodities could seriously escalate food insecurity globally, when international food and input prices are already high and volatile," said Qu. "The conflict could also constrain agricultural production and purchasing power in Ukraine, leading to increased food insecurity locally."
At least 50 countries rely on Ukraine or Russia for 30% or more of their wheat supplies, particularly in the Global South. In 2021, Eritrea's wheat imports came entirely from the two countries. According to the U.N. Development Program, before the war 66% of the Eritrean population was already unable to obtain adequate food.
Lebanon, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, and Pakistan also source roughly half of their wheat supplies from either Ukraine or Russia.
Qu said it was uncertain whether wealthy countries in the Global North would fill the gap caused by the war, with wheat supplies "already running low in Canada" and the U.S., Argentina, and other countries likely to limit exports in order to shore up domestic supplies.
"The likely disruptions to agricultural activities of these two major exporters of staple commodities could seriously escalate food insecurity globally."
"The global number of undernourished people could increase by eight to 13 million people in 2022 and 2023, with the most pronounced increases taking place in Asia-Pacific, followed by sub-Saharan Africa, and the Near East and North Africa," reported FAO.
Food prices reached an all-time high in February "due to high demand, input and transportation costs, and port disruptions," said Qu.
Wheat and barley prices rose 31% in 2021 while rapeseed oil and sunflower oil became 60% more expensive over the course of the year.
FAO offered several policy recommendations in its report Friday, including a call for countries to avoid imposing export restrictions on their own food supplies, as several countries are reportedly considering.
Such restrictions will "exacerbate price volatility, limit the buffer capacity of the global market, and have negative impacts over the medium term."
Policymakers were also advised to:
- Keep the global food and fertilizer trade open;
- Find new and more diverse food suppliers to absorb the shock, rely on existing food stocks, and diversity their domestic production;
- Support vulnerable groups, including internally displaced people; and
- Strengthen market transparency and dialogue to help governments and investors make informed decisions while agricultural commodity markets are volatile.
"The war in Ukraine not only has a dramatic impact on the lives of civilians but also has global repercussions," said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres this week. "Developing countries already in dire situations can simply not afford skyrocketing prices of food, fuel, and other essential goods."
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World Economic Forum global digital ID for travelers lists Canada, Netherlands as partners |
Posted by: Stone - 03-11-2022, 08:38 AM - Forum: Great Reset
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World Economic Forum global digital ID for travelers lists Canada, Netherlands as partners
'[the digital ID system] enables consortium partners to access verifiable claims of a traveler’s identity data so they can assess their credibility,
optimize passenger processing and reduce risk,' explains the World Economic Forum.
Thu Mar 10, 2022
(LifeSiteNews) – The Canadian and Dutch governments are listed as “pilot partners” for the World Economic Forum’s “Known Traveller Digital Identity” system.
As more Canadians become aware of the World Economic Forum’s influence in Canadian politics, yet another globalist project, the WEF’s “Known Traveller Digital Identity,” lists both the government of Canada and the government of the Netherlands, along with various airports, as the testing grounds for an international digital ID system with “advancements in biometrics.”
The project’s website, initially launched in 2018, explains that “The Known Traveller Digital Identity, or KTDI, is a World Economic Forum initiative that brings together a global consortium of individuals, governments, authorities and the travel industry to enhance security in world travel.”
“The first global collaboration of its kind, KTDI enables more secure and more seamless travel that benefits both travelers and the travel industry,” says the site, adding that “KlTDI enables consortium partners to access verifiable claims of a traveler’s identity data so they can assess their credibility, optimize passenger processing and reduce risk.”
The “pilot partners” of the program, in addition to the Dutch and Canadian governments, include the airlines Air Canada and Royal Dutch Airlines, as well as the Netherlands Schiphol airport and Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport.
According to the program, “the KTDI is based on decentralized digital identity which uses cryptography, distributed ledger technology and emerging international standards to enable an individual to self-manage trusted and verified identity attributes,” explaining that the “attestations” of such attributes are “added to the traveler’s KTDI profile each time a trusted entity verifies a claim pertaining to the individual.”
The “goal of the KTDI pilot,” which launched in 2019 according to the site, “is to test a means for travelers to maintain and share trusted, verifiable, globally interoperable digital identity attributes issued by one or more public- or private-sector entities,” adding that for the program to “become scalable and widely adopted,” the KDTI “concept requires international standardization and accepted interoperability across geographies, policy environments, and industries.”
As extensively reported by LifeSiteNews, the WEF is the globalist organization behind the “Great Reset” agenda, a socialist plan designed by global elites that “seeks to ‘push the reset button’ on the global economy” and establish a New World Order that seems to closely emulate many aspects of the Chinese Social Credit System.
The group’s agenda has become known for their slogan, “You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy.”
The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA), which recently froze the bank accounts of Freedom Convoy protesters without court orders, also released information in 2018 citing that they too, under the influence of the WEF, are seeking to have Canada lead the world in adopting digital IDs.
After the invocation of the never-before-used Emergencies Act by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in response to the three-week anti-COVID mandate “Freedom Convoy” protest in Ottawa last month, which led Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to announce that the government would be directing the CBA to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, Freeland’s membership in the WEF became a hot-button issue in Canadian political discourse.
In an op-ed written in the National Post, economic and international affairs expert Rupa Subramanya posited that Freeland’s ties to the WEF are “endangering Canadian democracy” and her connections are a prime example of how “global elites” attempt to “subvert local democracy.”
While the Freedom Convoy protest against COVID restrictions has been followed by axing mandates in nearly every province, the plan to move forward with digital IDs has remained.
Notably, Canada’s most populous province of Ontario still features the coming Digital ID system on their website, while explaining that it is part of the larger goal of “Building a Digital Ontario.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made our province’s ability to harness technology more urgent than ever,” the government explains on the “Building a Digital Ontario” website.
“With the people of Ontario increasingly using online services, for example to renew driver’s licences and health cards, strong digital security and robust data management must be crucial priorities — for individuals, communities, businesses, and government.”
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AA-1025: The Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle [Excerpts and Commentary] |
Posted by: Stone - 03-11-2022, 08:30 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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AA-1025: The Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle
The Masonic Plan to Destroy the Church
[Full text here. Excerpts and subsequent commentary taken from here.]
Part I- Plan for the destruction of the general constitution of the Church.
PART II - Plan for the auto-destruction of the Catholic Church, specifically as they relate to the destruction of the Mass and Sacraments.
PART I: Plan for the destruction of the general constitution of the Church.
The destruction of the Church, that is, the destruction of the New Order Church, is proceeding according to a plan conceived decades ago. Of course, there are many factors that contribute to the destruction, but it is not possible to deny that a significant part of that destruction has been based on deliberate subversion, developed over the better part of the last century.
I had heard of the book entitled AA-1025: The Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle, but I had not taken the time to read it until now. I have now had that opportunity and am now about halfway through the book, which has already provoked many reflections.
Background. In the 1960s, a French Catholic nurse, Marie Carré attended an auto-crash victim who was brought into her hospital. The man lingered there near death for a few hours and then died. He had no identification on him, but he had a briefcase in which there was a set of quasi-biographical notes. She kept these notes and read them, and because of their extraordinary content, decided to publish them.
The book was originally published in May 1972 in French under the title ES-1025, ES standing for Élève Seminariste, or Seminary Student. In 1973 it was published in English as AA-1025, AA standing for Anti-Apostle.
It is a succinct (125 pages or so) account of an atheistic Communist mole, who in 1940 was purposely sent by his superiors to infiltrate the Catholic priesthood, along with 1024 others at that time, charged with the mission to subvert and destroy the Church from within by helping effect its auto-destruction, a odd term specifically used by Paul VI years later in his December 7, 1968, Address to the Lombard Seminary at Rome. The Anti-Apostle and his 1024 colleagues were triumphantly successful, as far as the New Order Church goes.
Although the author never identifies the man, the narrative makes it clear that he attended a seminary in United States or Canada. It is certain that at least one of these 1025 men became a bishop. Curiously, although the author could not have known it at the time, the Anti-Apostle hailed from the same country as the man who was six years later to become pope: Poland.
The author prefaces her narrative by observing:
No, the very virtue of obedience is today the extremely powerful weapon that our enemies, who pretend to be our friends, make use of against what we were, to put up in its stead what they have decided to have us become.
The Anti-Apostle makes clear the basis of his plan to effect the auto-destruction of the Church. His seminary career started well before Vatican II, so the elements of his plan now bear chilling fulfillment in our time. Here are some extensive excerpts from the Communist/Liberalist/Modernist plan for the auto-destruction of the Catholic Church, specifically as they relate to the general constitution of the Church, together with our commentary on how they have come true in less than fifty years. A later Part II of this topic will treat of the destruction of the Mass and Sacraments.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "You must drive into the head of men, and particularly the head of Churchmen, to search for, at any price, a universal religion into which all churches would be melded together. So that this idea could take form and life, we must inculcate in pious people, especially Roman Catholics, a feeling of guilt concerning the unique truth in which they pretend to live.... [This Universal Church] could not be otherwise but simple. So that all men could enter it, it could retain a vague idea of a God, more or less Creator, according to the times.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Catholics are now told they cannot say that their Church is the one true Church, but that the Church of Christ only "subsists in" the Catholic Church (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, November 21, 1964, paragraph 8)
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "I know that this will not be easy, that we will have to work hard at it, during twenty or even fifty years, but we should succeed in the end."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. It has now been about forty years since Vatican II.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "We should succeed in the end ... by numerous and subtle means. I look at the Catholic Church as if it were a sphere. To destroy it, you must attack it in numerous small points until it loses all resemblance to what it was before. We will have to be very patient. I have many ideas that might seem at first sight to be petty and childish, but I maintain that the entirety of those petty childishnesses will become an invisible weapon of great efficacy."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The vast number of individual changes making up the whole of the New Order Church is staggering: vulgar tongues instead of sacred Latin used at services, new "eucharistic prayers," a new form of non-apostolic "consecration," communion in the hand, altar servettes, elimination of crucifixes, elimination of tabernacles, elimination of statues, "general confession" replacing sacramental confession, elimination of kneelers, introduction of vulgar music at services, "white" funerals, elimination of any concept of sin/Hell/Purgatory, eulogies at Catholic funerals for thrice-divorced men and homosexual panderers, and on and on the list goes.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "To stress that Catholics are responsible for the division among Christians, because, by their refusal to compromise, they caused schisms and heresies. To come to a point that every Catholic will feel so guilty that he will wish to atone at any price. To suggest to him that he must himself endeavor to find all the means capable of bringing Catholics closer to Protestants (and also to others) without harming the Credo. To keep only the Credo. And again ... attention: The Credo must undergo a very slight modification. The Catholics say, 'I believe in the Catholic Church.' The Protestants say, 'I believe in the Universal Church.' It is the same thing. The word Catholic means 'universal.'"
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The pope apologies to the heretic Martin Luther, he apologizes to the schismatic Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury. He bows to kiss the pagan Koran. Those in other sects are told not to bother to convert to Catholicism; it's not necessary. The Jews are told not to worry about becoming Christians, that Christ is not their Messias.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "Always drive minds toward a greater charity, a larger fraternity. Never talk about God, but about the greatness of man. Bit by bit transform the language and the attitude of mind. Man must occupy the first place. Cultivate confidence in man, who will prove his own greatness by founding the Universal Church in which all good wills shall melt together. To bring it out that the good will of man, his sincerity, his dignity, are worth more than an always invisible God."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The Novus Ordo service becomes a communal meal, rather than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The crucifix, the tabernacle, and the statues of God's Saints are eliminated, while man effusively praises himself. Secular politics become the focus of bishops' attention, not the worship of God and the keeping of His Commandments. Churches are closed. Traditional worship is replaced by self-serving hootenannies, such as those at World Youth Conference, sponsored by the pope.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "To excite an iconoclastic zeal. Youngsters must destroy all these hodgepodge: statues, pictures, reliquaries, priestly ornaments, organs, candles, and votive lamps, stained glass, and cathedrals, etc., etc."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Statues have been virtually eliminated, priests' vestments have been simplified to the point of the ridiculous, pipe organs are replaced by electronic pianos, traditional churches are submitted to the wrecking ball.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "In Rome, I had very interesting conversations with a professor who would be mine when I would have received the priesthood. He was a member of our network. He was very optimistic. He had specialized in Holy Scripture and was working at a new translation of the Bible in English. The most astounding thing was that he had chosen a Lutheran pastor as his only collaborator. The said pastor, besides, was no longer in agreement with his own church, which seemed old-fashioned to him. This collaboration, of course, remained secret. The aim of these two men was to rid humanity of all the systems which it had given itself through the Bible, and especially the New Testament. Thus, the virginity of Mary, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and His Resurrection, according to them, were to be set aside, in order to end up with a complete suppression."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. A profusion of "translations" of the Bible into vulgar tongues is published every year, and these purported "translations" become less and less literal, introducing the translators' own modernistic notions under the guise of "dynamic translation." One of the Novus Ordo's leading biblical scholars, Fr. Raymond Brown, teaches in a west-coast seminary that Mary's perpetual virginity, the Real Presence, and the Resurrection are all "myths."
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "There was enough reason to have them [the Saints] erased from the calendar, which was also one of our objectives. But both of us knew that it would take more time to kill all the Saints than it would to kill God."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The New Order has done everything it can to suppress true Saints and replace them with politically-correct modern doppelgangers. St. Christopher, whom seventeen centuries of Catholics venerated was expunged from the New Order. St. Philomena, whom five popes and a Saint publicly venerated and encouraged others to venerate, was expunged. St. Barbara, one of Fourteen Auxiliary Saints from the apostolic Church was expunged.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "The order was also very simple: It was absolutely forbidden for Protestants to convert to Catholicism. And I had this point very much at heart, because conversions had attained an accelerated pace."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Just before Vatican II, conversions to Catholicism from Protestantism and even Judaism were plentiful. Even noted figures publicly converted. After Vatican II, when heretical Indifferentism became the de-facto theology ("we all pray to the same God"; "all religions are equal"), conversions slowed to a trickle. When a schismatic Eastern Orthodox Patriarch approached the Vatican to convert, the Vatican told him to stay as he was. Jews are told that Christ is not their Messias."
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "I suggested that the zeal to give us, in all languages, new Biblical translations in modern style must not be slowed down."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The Catholic Church had always been cautious about translations of the Bible into the vulgar tongues, fearing corruptions of Sacred Scripture and its interpretation. Wisely was the Church cautious. After Vatican II the proliferation of "translations" of the Bible was vast. The translations were no longer even a literal translation of the inerrant Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome, but "dynamic translations," which allowed any translating committee to change doctrine surreptitiously by merely "retranslating" it. Scripture was now "vernacularized," so that anyone could interpret it in any way he liked. Martin Luther won again: heretical private interpretation of Scripture had invaded the Novus Ordo Church.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "I also proposed inter-confessional Biblical meetings. This was my real aim, and moreover it could even go further, by adding a benevolent examination of the Koran and of some other oriental books."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Catholics had always been prohibited from attending inter-denominational Bible meetings and studies because of the corruption of the true Faith that they involved. Now one sees, even on "Catholic" television (like Mother Angelica's EWTN), supposedly "former" Protestants taking the lead in teaching Catholics about the meaning of Scripture. The pope himself scandalized the whole Roman Catholic Church by bowing down to kiss the abominable Koran of the Mohammedans, which contains vicious slurs against Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "It is altogether reasonable to hope that the cure will be at hand for the year 2000 [remember, this was planned in 1940!]. A certain number of words must be banished completely from the human vocabulary, and the best method is to be sure that children never hear these words. That is why it is much better to compose a new catechism than to hope for a simple suppression of all religious teaching."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The new Vatican II Catechism, which went through several editions before the changes in doctrine could be gotten just right, was written by a group of ecclesiastical hacks who were so incompetent that they could not read the original sources in Latin and Greek. Compare this committee with those who authored the Roman Catechism after the Council of Trent: St. Charles Borromeo, St. Robert Bellarmine, and the like. Much Catholic doctrine was "nuanced away," like the common teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church about the justice of capital punishment, or simply omitted, like the common teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church about limbo. Words like Hell, Purgatory, sin and the like were used as little as possible. I know a teacher who was called into question when he mentioned to his Novus Ordo middle-school class the Church's dogma about Hell.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "The word charity must absolutely be banished and be replaced by the world love, which allows you to keep your feet on the ground and even to play all kinds of ambiguous games without seeming to do so."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The word love has proliferated like no other word in the post-conciliar Church, and its meaning in English and other modern tongues is certainly ambiguous. The Latin and Greek Bibles had separate words for various types of love: love of family, love of friends, love of God, sexual love. English and other modern languages entirely blur these important distinctions. How does Christ define love? "If you love Me, obey My commandments." That meaning isn't even included in New Order "love"! No, we must "love" homosexuality, we must "love" divorce, we must "love" apostasy from the Faith.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "We have found the astuteness -- which consists in hiding behind the "Spirit of the Council" -- to launch all kinds of thrilling innovations. This expression, "Spirit of the Council," has become for me a master-trump.... But it will be only at Vatican III that I will be able to present myself with hammer and nails, not to nail God on His Cross, but rather to nail Him in His coffin."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. How often have we heard the expression "Spirit of the Council" used to justify every blasphemous, and sacrilegious, and scandalous element of the New Order? Already one hears more and more talk about a Vatican III to seal the destruction of the Church, as the Anti-Apostle and his allies planned already, back in 1940.
If you are a member of the New Order, if you attend a Novus Ordo service, if you defend "obedience" to the Church of the New Order, know that you are simply carrying out the plan hatched as early as 1940 by Modernists and are playing right into their hands.
If you are a traditional Catholic, if you attend exclusively the Traditional Latin Mass, if you will not obey evil, no matter from what color of authority it comes, know that you are standing with Christ against the Modernist forces which would defeat Him, but which in the end will themselves be defeated.
PART II: Plan for the auto-destruction of the Catholic Church, specifically as they relate to the destruction of the Mass and Sacraments.
The Anti-Apostle makes clear the basis of his plan to effect the auto-destruction of the Church. His seminary career started before well before Vatican II, so the elements of his plan now bear chilling fulfillment in our time. Here are some extensive excerpts from the Communist/Liberalist/Modernist plan for the auto-destruction of the Catholic Church, specifically as they relate to the destruction of the Mass and Sacraments, together with our commentary on how they have come true in less than fifty years.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "The professor also taught me a reasonable way to say Mass, since in six years I would be obliged to say it. While waiting for a profound modification of the whole ceremony [how did he know about this in 1940?], he never pronounced the words of the Consecration. But so as not to be suspected, he pronounced words almost similar, at least according to the ending of the words. He advised me to do the same. All that made this ceremony look like a sacrifice should, little by little, he suppressed. The whole ceremony should represent only a common meal, as among Protestants."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. The "profound modification of the whole ceremony," as predicted, became the Novus Ordo service, which defines itself as a "common meal," not a Sacrifice."
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "He even assured me that it should never have been otherwise. He also worked at the elaboration of a new Ordinary of the Mass and advised me also to do the same, because it appeared to him to be altogether desirable to present to people a large number of diversified Masses. There must be some, very short, for families and small groups, some longer ones, for Feast Days, although, according to him, the real feast for the working classes is a walk in Nature. He thought that he could easily arrive at a point of considering Sunday as a day consecrated to Nature."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. There are many variations of the New Order service. One traditional apostolic Canon became three man-made "eucharistic prayers," which have now proliferated well beyond that number. There are so many options for the form of the New Order service that most Novus Ordo churches don't use an official missal, but a pastiche of xeroxed pages contained in a three-ring binder at the altar, so that the service can be changed on a moment's notice, or be improvised "as the spirit moves." Moreover, Nature has become the modern-day Earth Goddess, Gaia, the green pagan goddess of the environmental movement, in which it is more morally reprehensible to kill a dog than to murder a child.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "Afterwards come the Seven Sacraments, which are all to be revised."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Not a single one of the seven Sacraments has been left untouched in the Novus Ordo.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "As for the Sacrament called Penance, it would be replaced by a community ceremony, which will only be an examination of conscience directed by a well-trained priest, all of which would be followed by a general absolution, as in some Protestant Churches. God will not be mentioned in this ceremony, which will not be called a Sacrament anymore (because this word must also disappear from the vocabulary)."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Already this pseudo-sacrament has replaced the Sacrament of Penance in most churches.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "As for the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, we will have to find another word for it.... We will have to see to it that the notion of eternal life, judgment, Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell be replaced by the sole desire to be cured..... I would willingly choose the expression "Sacrament of the sick."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Just as the Anti-Apostle planned in 1940, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, so powerful to reconcile to eternity the soul in its last hour, has been obliterated and in its place a mere "blessing of the sick" substituted with the very name that the Anti-Apostle suggested, the "sacrament of the sick." I have been called in at the last minute to attend a soul when it realizes that Church of the New Order has not the power to absolve it or to prepare it for eternity. Believe me, the vapid Church of the New Order looks quite different to a soul when faced with the seriousness of eternity!
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "It is of prime necessity completely to reform the words of the Mass, and it will be well even to suppress the word itself and to replace it by "The Lord's Supper" or by "Eucharist" (for example). The Renovation of the Mass must minimize the importance of what they call "Consecration" and must give to the Communion a much more trivial appearance."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. You might call it a "mass," but that is not what they call it. Just as the Anti-Apostle planned in 1940, the terms Lord's Supper or Eucharist have become much more common. The "consecration" of the Novus Ordo service has in fact been minimized: not even the Catholic and Apostolic words, confirmed as dogma by the Council of Trent, have been left untampered.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "We will suggest the possibility of abandoning the high altar and of replacing it by a small table, completely bare, where the priest will stand facing the people."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. First the "turned-around" T.V. table was optional; then it was recommended. Now, according to the 2000 third edition of the Novus Ordo missal, it is required.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "Each text forming the Ordinary of the Mass will be carefully compared with the texts used by the Anglicans and Lutherans, in order to promote a single text of varying texts apt to be accepted by these three religions."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. It is well known that the Masonic Grand Architect of the Novus Ordo service used six Protestants to help him write the new service, with the full approval of Paul VI, who gladly posed for an historic photograph with the six, which was published by the Vatican Press Office. The six publicly attested to the fact that the Novus Ordo service had been so changed in comparison to the Traditional Latin Mass that they had no problem whatsoever using it as their own Protestant worship service from then on.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "To weaken further the notion of 'Real Presence' of Christ, all decorum will have to be set aside. No more costly embroidered vestments, no more sacred music, especially no more Gregorian chant, but a music in jazz style."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. In fact, the traditional vestments of the Church have been replaced by an all-purpose slip-over alb. What passes for "music" in the Novus Ordo service is a cacophony of electronic pianos, drums, and rock-based rhythms and tunes. The pipe organ, the Church's only authentic instruments, has been relegated to oblivion -- or sold to nearby Protestant churches. The Church whose music was once the envy of the world and all its cultures now panders the "junk culture" to the world, with the pope personally attending rock concerts and expressing his preference for them over anything religious.
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "Moreover, the faithful will have to break themselves of the habit of kneeling, and this will be absolutely forbidden when receiving Communion."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. This plank from the 1940 plan has been fulfilled before our very eyes! Just this month the U.S. bishops have banned kneeling for "communion" at Novus Ordo services. Many dioceses already prevent kneeling during the most sacred part of the service, the Canon. And because many Novus Ordinarians still insist on kneeling, many churches have removed the kneelers!
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THE MODERNIST PLAN OF 1940. "In order to destroy all sacredness in the worship, the priest will be invited to say the whole Mass in the vernacular."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BY THE VATICAN II NEW ORDER. Although the use of vernacular in the Mass was condemned with the censure of excommunication by the dogmatic Council of Trent, and even though Vatican II confirmed this dogma, the reality of the Church of the Novus Ordo is quite different. A virtual babble (Babel) of vulgar tongues has intruded into what is supposed to be the Sacred Liturgy. It is interesting that the word vernacular comes from the Latin word for slave, vernaculus, and indeed the Church of the New Order has enslaved its congregations to a phony "mass" and a a phony "communion," which, far from being able to impart any graces, has admitted, in the words of Pope Paul VI, "Satan around the altar."
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So, do we traditional Catholics sink into despair and hopelessness, even into distrust of God, knowing that the New Order has been executed exactly according to the plan of atheistic Modernists as early as 1940? No! I end this commentary by quoting from the truly Catholic woman whom the Anti-Apostle met -- sent by God to save him if that were possible, who knows? God gives even atheistic Modernists a chance at grace, if they will but accept it and convert.
Many souls, my Dear, will yield to the temptation of joining a completely human Church, which will mix up all beliefs so as to render them unrecognizable, but the [true] Catholic Church will continue to stand. If you persecute it, it will go into hiding, but its soul will always remain standing. For the mark of this Church is the submission to a Revelation which comes from Heaven....
You might win a certain number of souls to your perverse doctrines, maybe even a part of the Clergy (although I do not believe it), but you will never win all the souls; on the contrary, you will fortify the Saints. Yes, my poor dear friend, by attacking the Church of God you are but a toy in the hands of the All-Powerful. You believe yourself to be strong, but you are only strong insofar as God permits. Fear the day when the Lord will say: "It is enough, I have heard the prayers of those who suffer, and I have decided to comfort them by destroying My enemies."
And that, my fellow traditional Catholics, is the explanation of what is going on in the Church today. It is a great test of our souls and of our sanctity. The magnitude of the forces against true Catholicism, even if it be within the Church, even if it be to the papacy itself, is but nothing against the All-Powerful.
It is up to us merely to keep the traditional Faith, to keep praying for the restoration of the Church, and one day the enemies of the Church will be destroyed as Marie Carré says -- maybe sooner, maybe latter, but the Faith teaches us that the question is not if, but when.
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Bayside 'Apparitions' Exposed |
Posted by: Stone - 03-10-2022, 02:55 PM - Forum: General Commentary
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Re-posted here from the old Catacombs...
Prophecy of Marie Julie Jahenny, Briton Stigmatist (1891):
Quote:"During the time of the approach of the punishments announced at La Salette, an unlimited amount of false revelations will arise from Hell like a swarm of flies; a last attempt of Satan to choke and destroy the belief in the true revelations by false ones."
Marie-Julie Jahenny is an approved mystic of the Church.
Veronica Lueken is not.
Dear friends, I do not include the below article against the 'visions' of Bayside blithely or casually. In fact, I have family members that embraced it back in the 1980's and because they have accepted these 'visions' they have made life-long decisions to "stay in their (Conciliar) Churches" as the 'visions of Our Lady' said. They have never accepted Tradition because they first and exclusively accepted what they heard from Bayside. And those family members are good souls who simply believe what they were told and 'obediently' did it.
There was some good about the visits to Bayside though, it brought some in my family into contact with people who directed them to the SSPX (of the 1980's - the good days!) and thankfully, several souls in my family found Tradition at that time, of which I personally reaped the benefit of as well. We all know God can use anything to bring about some good. In my family's case, those that abandoned Bayside and found Tradition, much good came of it. For those that continued to embrace Bayside's 'messages' - they remained loyally in the Conciliar pews all their lives. By their fruits...
The purpose of including this article is the same as was previously done here about Medjugorje. It is to help see these 'apparitions' in the light of the Faith. I wish I could find a good article written by a good priest about Bayside but so far I have not. So I am using the article below, written by a layman, but one who has done much research in collecting and categorizing the most troublesome 'messages' from the Bayside 'seer' Veronica Lueken.
I am leaving out the beginning paragraph or so of the article below as the author expresses the great disgust he experienced in researching the 'messages' of Bayside. These are his private opinions and not necessary to point out the obvious errors found throughout the 'messages'. I personally don't like the sarcasm the author employs throughout the article nor am I advocating the author himself or his all of his commentary.
For your consideration...
Quote:Problems with the Bayside Apparitions
[Adapted]
A word about the messages: the messages of Bayside delivered by Veronica Lueken are divided up by month and year. Some months have one or two messages; others have over a dozen. Some messages were short, others very, very long and rambling. They begin in 1968 and go up to June, 1994, when Veronica died. The text of the messages are taken from a website called These Last Days Ministries, commonly known as TLDM.org, which is the largest internet repository of the messages of Veronica. Now, there is some sort of schism among Baysiders regarding this website; some purists claim that the webmaster of TLDM has incorrectly transcribed some of the messages - these folks suggest the only "authentic" version of them are found in some books. However, this opinion is not universal, and even if TLDM has not transcribed the messages with 100% accuracy, they are not that different from what is found in the books, which I also had access to and compared some of the more saucier passages to.
I have here simply categorized all the problems I see with the messages. Not everything is "heresy"; I am not making that accusation. Some of it is, but some of it is incorrect history, failed prophecies, weirdness or just plain stupidity. These all constitute "red flags" that should give pause to anyone evaluating the credibility of this apparition. According to my own personal standards of credibility, even one of these problems would be sufficient to cast doubt on the whole thing, but I understand others' standards may be different.
I have tried to create categories to make it easier to read. Within each category, the actual messages of Bayside (or descriptions of what the messages describe) appear in bold with the exact date appearing afterward for reference. My commentary follows each selection. I have researched many private apparitions over the years, true and false, notable and obscure - Medjugorje, Garabandal, Fatima, Pinckney, Emmitsburg, the "Army of Mary" - Bayside takes the cake as the absolute stupidest, most unbelievable and ridiculously ludicrous of them all.
I have created a table of contents for ease of browsing. For what its worth, enjoy.
1. Distracted, Absentminded Mary and Veronica
2. Bizarre Angelology
3. False/Failed Prophecies
4. Bad Grammar/Jesus and Our Lady Messing Up Their Words
5. Bayside Necessary for our Salvation?
6. Bad Theology
7. Frivolous Subject Matter
8. Simply Ridiculous
9. Television [omitted since the author quotes Vatican II in its defense]
10. Contradictions
11. Absurd Alleged Statistics about Satanism
12. Conclusion
Distracted, Absentminded Mary and Veronica
Mary frequently gets distracted during her apparitions. This is not unlike the absurd situation at Medjugorje where one of the visionaries, supposedly in an ecstasy, tried to explain her embarrassing flinching by saying that Mary looked as if she were going to drop the baby Jesus! Other times, the apparitions are described as being responsive to local temperature and conditions (Jesus wearing a cape because "it's very windy"). Here are some examples of Mary distracted at Bayside, or Veronica getting distracted during an alleged apparition:
Mary looks up and gets distracted by an airplane (June 18th, 1994)
You'd think Mary would not get distracted by shiny things in the sky.
"He [Jesus] has a beautiful golden - tinged robe about Him now. It’s pulled very tight, I don’t know if it’s because of the wind or what, but He’s pulling the gown about Him to prevent it from flying up, I guess. It looks very windy there." (June 18, 1994)
"And He has on a cape, an ecru, almost white-colored cape over His gown. It’s quite, it’s quite a bit chilly over here. That is why I would assume that Jesus is wearing His cape." (June 18, 1994)
Here, God the Son and His Mother depend upon Veronica to obtain a very trite piece of information for their records:
"Now you will continue, My child; look forward and find the other wheelchair, My child. It seems to be hidden. It is very necessary that you find that invalid, because we must have their name and address." (June 18, 1988)
Jesus and Mary need to get somebody's name and address!?
Mary tells Veronica to pray the Rosary. Veronica forgets Mary is coming back:
"I'm sorry, Our Lady. I had almost forgotten that You were coming back. I was so engrossed with the people in the infirm circle." (June 18, 1992)
You "forgot" that the Blessed Virgin Mother of God was returning to you?
Bizarre Angelology
Bayside has prompted devotions to questionable spiritual entities with no history in the Catholic Tradition. Ever heard of Tomdarius and Tusazeri? According to Veronica, St. Theresa encourages the faithful to interact with these strange beings, whatever they are:
Saint Theresa - "You know, my sister, many of the names. Will you give some this evening to others?"
Veronica - Yes. There's Tomdarius, Tusazeri…. He is my guardian angel, but he's quite a clown. He likes to circle around. And right now he’s turning and spinning again. He always does that when he sees me; he turns and spins. And now also, there's Razene and Nadina and many others.(Oct 1, 1988)
It has been a perennial discipline in the Catholic Church that spiritual beings are not to be summoned, communicated with, or invoked by name other than those whose names are specifically revealed in Scripture (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael). You simply don't know to whom you are speaking when you invoke Tusazeri. Tusazeri, explains Veronica, his not only her guardian angel, but one of the archangels:
"I ... have asked Our Lady if I could have permission to tell who Tusazeri is. Our Lady says I may. Tusazeri is one of the high archangels of Heaven who Jesus sent to be with me when Theresa started the Mission for Heaven in 1968. He was sent by Jesus to protect me in this work against satan. Many times I have forgotten to call upon him when there are difficulties" (Feb 1, 1973).
This would mean that Veronica, alone in all of Christian tradition, has an archangel - a "high archangel" - as her personal guardian angel, presumably of the same rank with Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, the only other "archangels" known to Tradition. What hubris.
In another place, Mary tells the faithful that they need no longer concern themselves with the work of evangelization in the world because this task has been entrusted exclusively to the angels!
“My child, you must not use the little strength you have to try to convert all upon earth. You will have to give this to the angels to do most of this work of conversion. (May 26, 1979).
The angels have many jobs in Scripture and Tradition, but evangelizing has always been the job of humans. As we shall see later, this withdrawal from active evangelization is part of the cultic exclusivity of Bayside, which encourages believers to simply withdraw among themselves and shun those who do not believe in the apparitions. And yet, on June 9, 1979, Jesus says through Veronica, "You cannot and must not break away and form your own groups."
After relating an angelic vision of St. Michael and the Archangels, Veronica is given this number to combat the forces of Satan:
Jesus: “All you will repeat, My child, are the numbers ‘77 3,’ ‘77 3,’ ‘77 3.’ Remember, My child, as Lucifer goes forward with his plan against the papacy watch for ‘77 3’!” (Sept. 28, 1979)
Repeat 77 3? Is this sound Catholic spirituality?
Veronica herself states that the initial apparitions were accompanied by bizarre supernatural phenomenon:
"On August 4, 1968, at about 5:30 a.m., Veronica was in the living room making preparations for the early morning Mass. Suddenly this same framed letter went floating across the living room, as though propelled by an unseen, unknown force, and crashed with a loud noise at Veronica's feet. This turned out to be a little much." ("Occulations from Heaven", pg. 5).
Is this how our Lord or the Holy Angels manifest themselves? Veronica's son Raymond, who was twelve years old in 1970, testified on tape on July 27, 1970 that the Lueken house was widely believed to be haunted by the neighbors due to some of these bizarre occurrences.
False/Failed Prophecies
There are many false prophecies as well. Now, Baysiders will inevitably say that the letter of these prophecies may not have been violated, but it is indisputable that these prophecies give the impression of certain things coming to pass that certainly did not pan out. For example:
"There will be one more most devastating plague upon you. That will come within the next six months, My children. You ask, My child, why is this allowed? My child, you have forgotten the real reason for all this: man will benefit from it in the end. (June 18, 1983).
Obviously there was no massive plague in late 1983, let alone a "devastating" plague that "that your scientists will not be able to explain nor stop", as Veronica says in the same message.
The Act of Contrition "will be cast from the books this coming year." (Oct. 6, 1988)
The Act of Contrition was never ejected from any official Catholic books, let alone in 1989.
"A Ball that is fast hurtling towards earth! It will be here within this century, if not sooner.’ For even the scientists have failed to recognize the speed of this Ball." (June 18, 1988)
Woops. That century ended on December 31st, 1999.
The next war will embroil many nations and be a war "to the finish" (June 18, 1994)
The "next war", at least from an American perspective, were the wars in Bosnia (1995) and Kosovo (1999), hardly a war "to the finish." Even if one ignored these conflicts and went on to the Afghan and Iraqi wars, these wars were nearly unilateral (not embroiling "many nations") and were certainly not "to the finish."
"Within two years or less, there will be a great crash of the market. The whole world's monetary systems will be paralyzed" (June 18, 1988).
Although there was an economic recession in the United States from 1990-1992, it was largely confined to the United States. The rest of the world was not effected, let alone paralyzed.
"Boris Yeltsin is the "man of sin"; no different from Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev." (June 18, 1992)
Boris Yeltsin is identified as the man of sin but no mention is made of Putin, who is extremely more dangerous and sinister. Veronica clearly did not see Putin coming.
"The Ball of Redemption hovers now in your atmosphere" (June 18, 1994)
Remember, the Ball of Redemption is supposed to be large enough to destroy 1/3 of the African continent. It is no small object. Apparently it has been hovering in our atmosphere since 1994. Undetected. These messages are very common. She was saying the same thing almost ten years earlier, though in a much more alarmist manner:
"The Eternal Father has the Ball poised in His hand; your end can come by day. It will come upon you quickly, and how many shall be prepared? Do you have your candles? Do you have your water, your canned food, and your blankets?" (Nov 5, 1985)
More false prophecy...
"Veronica, my child, announce to the world that the end approaches for your most illustrious President of the United States, and also, your Pope, John Paul II." (Nov. 1, 1985)
"The end approaches" for Reagan? Too bad he lived for twenty more years.
God is "getting ready" for the chastisement; John Paul II will be "exterminated" and replaced by the "despot", who is the Antichrist (Oct. 6, 1992)
Wait...the antichrist is the man of sin (2 Thess. 2:1-12), which Veronica above identified as Yeltsin. So JPII was supposed to be exterminated and replaced by...Yeltsin? Or is the man of sin now different from the antichrist? At any rate it doesn't matter, because John Paul II was certainly not "exterminated", nor replaced by a despot, unless the despot is the meek Joseph Ratzinger who was so despotic that he voluntarily resigned the papacy in 2013.
Veronica (er, I mean, the Virgin Mary) prophesied danger to John Paul II back in 1979, speaking of an attempt on his life and warning him not to travel abroad:
“You will send this message to John Paul II. He is in grave danger. I have asked him in the past to not make many trips away from his homeland—which is now the Seat of Peter in Rome (June 2, 1979).
John Paul was of course the victim of an assassination attempt in May, 1981. Too bad it happened right in St. Peter's Square, not "away from his homeland" as Bayside suggests. It is also amusing how Mary warns John Paul not to travel "away from his homeland", but immediately realizing that this would mean Poland, and that as Pope in Rome he is perpetually "away from his homeland", she has to qualify the statement by saying that John Paul II's "homeland" is actually the See of Rome.
Prophecies of the impending assassination of John Paul II were very common. Here is an example from 1983, Veronica narrating:
"I see a man. He's dressed as a cleric, the clergy. He has in his left hand a knife. It's a long knife - no, it's like a saber... I don't know ... he's pulling it out of his pants. It seems to be in his pant leg near his belt. And it's very long. And he's pulling it out with his left hand and starting to raise it, and with his right hand he has a revolver, a small gun - not a shotgun, a small gun. And he's screaming, and everything has become silent about him with the screams, "Death to the Pope! Death to the Pope!" (March 18, 1983)
Obviously this did not happen. Three years later, the warnings continue:
"You must pray for your Holy Father, the Pope. There will be another attempt upon his life. Yes, My child, though he means well, it would be best if he discards his habit of going to and fro. For it is upon one of these journeys that he will be destroyed." (May 17, 1986)
Whatever one thinks about John Paul II's international travels, he certainly was not "destroyed" on one. But as we shall see, predictions of John Paul's assassination were very common. Only five months later, Mary is predicting that he will be killed, not on one of his travels, but in Assisi during the interfaith prayer gatherings, and by communists:
"Tell the world, My child, in great haste that the Red Bear is planning to kill Our Holy Father, your Vicar on earth, John Paul II, when he meets with the nations in common prayer. You will not fully understand what I say to you, My child, but I repeat it again: Shout! Shout from the rooftops, until your words, the words from Heaven, reach the Holy Father in Rome. The Red Bear is planning to kill your Vicar, your Holy Father upon earth, John Paul II, when he meets with the nations in common prayer." (Sept 27, 1986)
These predictions of impending assassination were still being proclaimed in 1991, after communism had fallen.
"An attempt upon the life of your Vicar is planned: not in this year, but the next." (Nov, 26th, 1991)
Okay, they can always say that just because no assassination on John Paul II was attempted in 1992 does not mean one was not planned, but as we have seen, there is a constant reference to an impending destruction of John Paul II that leads one to believe in an imminent assassination. Of course, John Paul would reign in peace for another thirteen years. Another example of an implied assassination attempt that never materialized:
"there will be very soon another attempt upon his life. Only you can save him now, because, My children, in all factuality, We tell you: Without your prayers you will lose him within the next year" (Mar 18, 1989)
Back in 1984, we were apparently only days away from World War III:
"My child and My children, you do not understand how close you are on the brink to the Third World War, which could break out any day now." (June 18, 1984)
This seemed to be a common theme in 1984. For example:
"I warn you all now; You are approaching a terrible crisis, a crisis that will involve death. Blood shall flow from the streets of New York soon." (June 30, 1984)
"It has not started, My child, but there will be great confusion, and war shall break out in the western part of Germany." (June 30, 1984)
Apparently, the United States was secretly surrounded by a great army ready to invade:
"Your country, the United States of America, is in great danger for invasion. Already the plan is in motion. I warn you again: The United States of America is in great danger of invasion. You are surrounded now by the enemy." (June 30, 1984)
Notice that it says the U.S. was "surrounded." That's right - our country was surrounded. For this to be true, in June, 1984 we would have had to have hostile armies stationed along the Mexican border and stretched out all along the Canadian border, as well as at least some hostile naval forces on both our Pacific and Atlantic shorelines. Only then could we in any meaningful sense be "surrounded." Clearly this was not the case. But into 1986, Veronica is still suggesting that the United States is not only surrounded but also already invaded - covertly - by Russian spies!
"Russia, My children, is not entering where you can see them. They are infiltrating now into every side of your nation: north, south, east, and west - on the outer fringes and the inner fringes." (May 17, 1986)
Given the amount of people necessary to fully surrounded and infiltrate the United States, this must have been a massive number of people. Where were all these Russian spies?
In June 1986, we are only "hours" away from the next major war:
"The hourglass now is almost empty; days can be counted by hours." (June 18, 1986)
But by fall of that year, it was still "several months" off":
We can no longer protect them from what is to come about within the next several months. Yes, My child, there will be blood flowing in the streets of the United States. There will be carnage such as has never been seen before in the United States and Canada." (Sept 27, 1986)
But later in the same message, we are back to "days", similar to the language Veronica was using in 1984:
"You will watch as the days go by - I say not years, because this will all happen in days, My child and My children - you will watch as the days go by, the unfolding of the messages, dating from 1970." (Sept 27, 1986)
These messages of imminent war continued into the 1990s:
"Disseminate this message to the world as soon as possible! I your Mother, and Protectress of the world's children, do beg you now to repent of your sins against the teachings of the Eternal Father - sins of the flesh and the intellect. A great war will erupt suddenly, such as has not been seen from the beginning of creation. Countries shall disappear in moments from the face of the earth." (Oct 2nd, 1990)
Another imminent disastrous war prophesied on December 13, 1990.
Sometimes the imminent destruction is a natural disaster. In 1988 it was an earthquake in the U.S.:
"For the United States, a measure of punishment: there will be a great earthquake. This earthquake will be in a most unusual place, My child; but when it happens they will know that they are facing now an angry God... time is growing short." (Oct 1, 1988)
I suppose in all these cases the Baysiders can always say that these dire calamities would have happened had it not been for the prayers of the faithful Bayside devotees. It is very difficult to argue that something did not happen because of prayer; but it does demonstrate that the Bayside prophecies of future calamity did not come true despite being put forward as imminent; it also shows the non-verifiable nature of the Bayside messages.
Another false prophecy is that attack on the Empire State Building:
Jesus - "In those bags they are carrying all the implements of destruction."
Veronica - Oh! I can see now; they're pointing across the street, and I recognize the Empire State Building. Oh, no!
Jesus - My child, they will choose the Empire State Building to bring more notoriety to the world. (Oct 1, 1988)
Whoops. Too bad the actual terrorist attack came at the World Trade Center, not the Empire State Building. And the attack Veronica prophecies was by men setting bombs, not by airplanes. She says:
"Veronica - Well, I see two men. I don't know if they're Moslems. They have a different - colored skin, but they're not exactly black. Now they are walking through a building, and they're carrying with them, now, bags; but the bags are extra large, which makes it most suspicious. (Oct. 1, 1988).
There simply was never an attack on the Empire State Building such as she described.
How about missiles being smuggled into the United States from Nicaragua?
"My child, let the world know that Nicaragua is a center point for the capitulation of the United States of America and Canada. Already there are plans afoot, and in the making, with missiles and all dire instruments of destruction. These plans are being formulated from Nicaragua, to go into Mexico, and thereupon into the United States." (June 18, 1987)
No doubt this message, dated from 1987, was influenced by the unfolding Iran-Contra scandal. It is a prime example of how Bayside messages constantly play to the contemporary headlines but have little objective value. There was not, nor has there ever been, evidence of any missiles being moved into America from Nicaragua. Furthermore, the contention that Nicaragua is the "center point" for the capitulation is laughable.
In an example of a prophecy gone bad, Veronica prophesies in 1987 that communism is gradually swallowing all the nations of the earth:
"Pray that the world does not descend upon you in the form of the Bear. For he is roaming throughout the world, and gradually the nations are falling." (June 18, 1987)
Too bad the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the fall of communism began only twenty-two months after this message was delivered. If the nations were supposed to gradually fall to communism, why didn't our Lady mention that communism itself was about to fall in less than two years? It can always be posited that the prayers of the Baysiders staved off the communist take-over; but note, the prophecy does not say that prayers will stop the nations from falling to the communist bear; it says that the nations are falling, and we are to pray that we do not fall with them. The fall of the nations to communism is taken as a given.
Here the death of Sister Lucia of Fatima is pronounced as imminent:
"Lucy still remains upon earth. She will be here but for a short while longer." (Oct 2, 1987)
This message was given in 1987. Lucy in fact lived for eighteen more years. [Even supposing there was a fake Sr. Lucy, which I tend to think was the case, that could have/should have been clarified here if these messages are authentic. - The Catacombs]
In the following message, the Antichrist is said to be alive and operating in the United States in 1971:
“The man of perdition is in your country. He is now gathering many disciples within your country." (Aug. 5, 1971)
He is not just alive in 1971, but already powerful enough to be gathering disciples. This means the Antichrist must have at least been an adult in 1971. If we were to say thirty years old at least, that would make him 73 years old today. If the conquest of the world about to be undertaken by a 73 year old man?
Bad Grammar/Jesus and Our Lady Messing Up Their Words
Many times, the grammar of Jesus and Mary is just horrible. They say words that don't exist, use words in improper contexts, and sometimes, when Veronica messes up and says a wrong word, she goes back and tries to fabricate an explanation in order to preserve the farce.
"I could repeat over and over the Message from Heaven of the past years. But I say to you: murders abound, immorality abounds... all the immunisms of humanism, lesbianism...homosexuals roaming. " (Apr. 14, 1984).
All the immunisms? What?
"Do not feel, parents, that you are doing unjustment to your children (June 18, 1994)
What kind of word is "unjustment"?
"Do not misunderstand, and do not discalculate the power of satan." (Sept 27, 1986)
Discalculate!? That word doesn't even exist.
"Modernism! That's what stymies mankind, modernism!" (Nov 1, 1985)
While I appreciate her condemnation of Modernism, I question where our Lord would use the verb "stymies." Maybe. But, that is not as bizarre as:
Jesus again: "The Eternal Father knew that once satan came into the world and was released from hell with all his demons, he expected many to fall to his cajolery's" (Oct 5, 1985)
Cajoler's!? Cajolery's!? For real? I am sorry; I cannot believe that Jesus Christ would use the word "cajolery." I may be wrong here, but our Lord seems to be using a vocabulary that is extraordinarily colloquial - I mean, to an absurd degree.
We see Jesus also is bad at math, as well. In a warning delivered to Veronica, Jesus slips up and has to qualify His math:
"Therefore, I warn you now as your God: You will stop your intricacies within My Church. You will stop experimenting. I gave you the rules to follow many years ago, two thousand years approximately" (June 18th 1986).
Aside from the weird grammar of "stop your intricacies" (intricacies is a plural noun and usually when you say 'Stop your x" the word in question is a verb), we see Jesus having to qualify His math. "Two thousand years...approximately"!? What happened was when Veronica said 2,000 years in 1986, she quickly realized that this would bring us back to 14 BC, clearly too soon for Jesus to have given any rules at all, so she adds the word "approximately" to the end of her statement to correct the embarrassing error.
Another example of an "oops" moment is when St. Therese is speaking with Veronica and calls her "my child." Now, there is nothing wrong with a saint calling a person "my child", but Veronica seems to notice after speaking that Therese calling her "child" might be confusing because St. Therese is younger than Veronica, so she puts the following correction into the mouth of St. Therese in which Therese has to explain that she is actually older in "earth-years" than she appears:
“Veronica, my child—I call you ‘my child’ because Our Lady calls you ‘My child.’ I am many earth-years older than you now, but I always will be even a child to the Eternal Father. (Oct. 2, 1979)
This is another demonstration of how Veronica uses feels compelled to have Jesus, Mary and the saints "correct" themselves when she makes embarrassing errors or, as in this case, statements that are just confusing.
"My child and My children, I shall not give a long, dissentive discord with you this evening" (Nov 1, 1985)
And what is a "dissentive discord"? "Dissentive" means "disagreeing" or "inconsistent." "Discord" means disharmony or strife. Clearly, Veronica meant to say "discourse" instead of "discord", and I don't know what instead of "dissentive" - maybe "descriptive" or "deductive"? Who knows. It reminds me of the old Oswald Bates' skits from In Living Color with the guy using all sorts of big words incorrectly. Clearly not the voice of an inerrant God speaking here.
"And My good children, you do not pray for your priests. You do not pay - I say the word 'pay', for them - in other words, ransom them from purgatory. Ransom them even from hell." (June 18, 1982)
Clearly, Veronica meant to have Our Lady say "pray"; this is obvious from the context of the preceding statement. But she accidentally said "pay", which prompts a clumsy explanation about how we need to "pay." And how do you ransom a priest from hell? Maybe she means ransom them from being on the path to hell? This is just weird. Here is another example of a mess up:
"There are many armors worn by My children that will protect them from these satanists. I know that those who are satirists—I call them satirists, My child" (Nov 1, 1985)
Satirists? Clearly Veronica misspoke. But Jesus cannot misspeak. Therefore she needs to find a quick explanation for her mess up. One more example:
Jesus: "My child and My children, do not become as Lot's wife, who had to look back and be turned to a pillar of stone—salt it was, My child, not stone; it was salt." (Nov 1, 1985)
Pillar of stone? Woops. No way out of this one.
"And if a priest or a minister even has the dare to blaspheme himself and tell you that don't worry about sinning, because one day you will even be a god" (June 18, 1982).
"Even has the dare"? Does anybody use the word dare in that way?
"I have asked you for the salvation of all souls. For mankind there will be no peace without prayer and penance and atonement. A great catastrophe is approaching your country, North America" (Oct. 6, 1980).
"Your country, North America"? Jesus needs to go back to third grade to learn the difference between a continent and a country.
“My child and My children of the world—and I call you My children of the world because I have repeated numerous times in the past that the messages from Heaven are for all mankind. (Aug 4, 1979).
Upon realizing that "children of the world" is a biblical phrase not for believers but for unbelievers (Luke 16:8, 24:20) Mary has to quickly correct herself to explain why she addresses the faithful with a title the Bible uses for the unbeliever.
"[Y]ou have been allowed to proceed in error because of your vain satisfaction, seeking of body pleasures, and because you have replaced your God with idols—humanism, idolism, destruction! (Aug. 15, 1971).
Idolism? I presume she means "idolatry."
"I see a great explosive, forceful sight, and I hear a voice cry out: “CATACLISIUM! CATACLYSM! CATACLIST!” Then I see great bodies of land sinking; the water just seems to swallow them up." (July 1, 1971)
...no comment...
In the following excerpt, we see that Mary is speaking, but Veronica slips and has Mary refer to the Church as "My Church", which causes Veronica to interject and state that it was actually Jesus, not Mary, who was speaking the last sentence:
Mary: “There will be much suffering for those who stand to defend My Son’s House. This can never be destroyed, for the foundation is solid. The foundation is My Son, but many now dishonor Him in His House. Blind man of self-gratification, blind man who pursues after his own heart his lust—you call the hand of the Father heavily upon you! “This condition did not arrive overnight, or this year, or two years. This has been well planned.”
Jesus – “Confusion, delusion! O mournful heresy! Whatever will We do with you? Satan is now banding his disciples within My Church.”
Veronica – This is Jesus. (June 17, 1971)
If we look beyond the names of who is supposed to be talking and realize how this actually sounded when it was being delivered, it is easy to see that Veronica slipped up and forgot who was speaking. By having the speaker say "My Church", Veronica had to quickly clarify that it was now Jesus who was speaking. This is another example of how sometimes Veronica cannot keep track of who is supposed to be talking and has to offer retroactive clarifications when embarrassing or inaccurate statements are made. Mary called the Church "My Church", at which point she had to go back and clarify that it was actually Jesus speaking, which was then entered into the transcript of this locution.
Bayside Necessary for Salvation?
At Medjugorje, Mary once stated that adherence to the Medjugorje messages was necessary for one to the "approved" by God. Similarly, Veronica states through Mary that it is necessary for salvation to read all of the Bayside messages:
"That is why I say, and I say again: you must read all of the messages given from Heaven through the past years, or you will not be saved. Much is being overlooked due to the quantity of messages" (Oct 6, 1988)
Did you hear that? You will not be saved if you do not read all the Bayside messages. This is nonsense and heresy. But beside this, Veronica also insinuates to her followers that they must shun their closest friends, become recluses, and only open their house and home to fellow Baysiders and shrine workers:
"I ask you to be retired from the world, for they will come as angels of light and try to approach you, also. Bar your doors to all but your immediate family and your closest Shrine workers...You must bar your doors to all but your immediate family and closest associates, for the souls of whom come to knock upon your doors are most likely evil. (June 19, 1987)
"O My children, listen to Me now: your children, protect them. Bar your doors to all but your immediate family and your closest workers within the circle of light. I tell you again this for reason" (June 18, 1981).
"You will have now, My child and My children, additional torment and irritation from the followers of 666 and the church of satan. There are many who come as angels of light among you. I have asked all of the immediate workers within the confines of the circle of light to confine themselves to their homes, allowing only the entrance of their immediate families and the close workers within the circle for reason! For the souls of whom knock upon your door will be evil. Do not test My words, My children" (Oct. 6, 1980).
"I have asked you, also, to bar your doors to all but your immediate family and the close workers of the circle. Allow no one within your home for reason. You are now on a list for extinction. (Oct. 6, 1980).
This is cultic in its exclusivity, a far cry from the universality of the true Faith. Not only are we to not let anybody in our house, but we are not to go out onto the streets. Here, Mary forbids followers of Bayside from going out and promises the aid of the angel "Tusazeri" and St. Theresa:
"Be careful, My child, that you do not leave your home for any reason alone; that you do not allow entrance to your home on ground level. And I will send forth from Heaven an army of angels. Tusazeri shall guide you, and I shall have, with the permission of the Eternal Father, Theresa to assist you in the Mission" (Oct. 6, 1980).
Bad Theology
Many of Bayside's messages are rife with theological error, especially in the earlier messages. The whole apparitions exist within the context of an errant cosmology. In this lengthy quote from 1970, we see Veronic Lueken's faulty and naive cosmology contains several errors concerning the Trinity, the nature of Original Sin and the nature of the body-soul relationship:
"In the distant heavens, there lived a most loving Spirit. First there was God, a God of love. Knowing love must be shared to be the fullest joy, He sort of subdivided Himself into a Family. For once even a spirit must share life eternal to reach the fullest degree of peace and joy. For love is in giving. He gave Himself to beget a Son and Holy Spirit. Even friendship exists between spirits, for our Father placed the angels to be a heavenly world, the light of love reflected from the Father, giving them all light sublime. Being so sensitive, He wanted this love to be given freely, not under obligation, so His angels and heavenly spirits were given a free will. Our Father's love outshone the darkness of disobedience. But the darkness soon reached the light, for Luciel, the most beloved of the angels, chose to forget this love of his Father and seek to covet the crown of authority. Our Father cried, the Trinity cried, and Michael fought for those who loved and shooed the fallen angels out to wander, the most despised of beings, living in the fires enkindled with [their?] evil desires. Heart-saddened over His loss, our Father sought to ease the pain of this loss by creating more family and calling him man. Placed in another land called earth, the loving heart of our Father knew the loss of loneliness and gave His earthly child a companion, Eve. All was paradise, a joy to our heavenly Father. But unknown to Him and His trusting heart was a snake in the grass starting to wreck His Heaven on earth. A devious plan took form. It was the battle of majesty between good and evil. All-trusting Blessed Father has ... [words unclear] to trusting Lucifer, who was that snake in the grass, that His new children would forever be faithful and true, not prey to the blandishments to a fallen angel. Lucifer whispered to Eve to eat of the tree of life [knowledge?] placed in the garden by the Blessed Father. This tree was a monument to the very weaknesses that got Lucifer kicked out of Heaven, a warning for watchfulness: avoid the fruits of this tree that would be so appealing to the body, but would sicken and kill the soul. Lucifer was really puffed up with his own importance and figured that here were candidates for establishing his own kingdom. Not Heaven on earth, but hell on earth! So many things beautiful to the eye have been man's downfall, and forbidden fruit the most tempting. The serpent's ... [words unclear] whispered on Eve proved the adage "out of sight, out of mind." Finding the deed more joyful than the awaited punishment that might lie ahead, since the wrath of our Father had not as yet descended, Adam would just have to share this newfound delight. With Lucifer's glib tongue, the delight grew sweeter by the moment. Using the oldest of feminine wiles, plus a few new tricks thrown in by the most obliging Lucifer, Adam was a cooked, literally, pigeon. No longer could our Father spare the children the sorrows of the tree of life, for they were now with a free will that could only be strengthened by love and asking forgiveness of the Father. So life began in earnest. Man would have to earn his way back to Heaven, or join Lucifer in his kingdom--the choice is his to make. On the left would stand Lucifer, and on the right all Heaven. By now the devilish creature has many helpers, but Heaven has the best of fortifications, the power of God. Lucifer pampers the body, Heaven will nourish the soul. Leaving the shackle of this body behind, we will fly off to eternity with joy, or find an eternity of misery burning forever in the very desires that brought us to this miserable end with Lucifer. Jesus tells us to keep out of that darkness and always in Heaven's light" (Tape Transcript, August, 1970, p. 5-6).
A few things here: Veronica specifically says that in the beginning was only God the Father, which she calls the "Spirit." Then, at some later point, "He sort of subdivided Himself into a family." This is a very fundamental Trinitarian heresy, as God has always been Trinity from eternity past; there was never a time when He decided to "subdivide Himself." Furthermore, Veronica says that God "gave Himself to beget a Son and Holy Spirit; of course, only the Son is begotten by the Father, not the Holy Spirit. Original sin is repeatedly said to consist in eating from the Tree of Life - a major error, as it is actually the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that our first parents eat from. Finally, in a statement reminiscent of Neo-Platonist Manicheaism, she states that "eternity with joy" consists in "leaving the shackle of the body behind", as if we would not be reunited forever with our bodies in the Resurrection. Are these sorts of blatant errors compatible with an authentic revelation of God?
Here's another example from 1969, which states that death does not exist:
"The word "death" should be removed from the dictionary, for there is no such state as death, only the exit from our body shell, for the real "you" is housed in the temporary housing for the soul or spirit, the human body casing, which we shed, so to say, on our trip to the Kingdom, in the company of the Heavenly guardians, the angels or the saints or another inhabitant of Heaven whom our Father chooses to send us to escort us home. (1969)
"Remember, My children, in the days ahead, your great comfort is the knowledge that there is no death" (June 18, 1980).
This is Manichean dualism. The "real you" is the soul or spirit, the body is simply a "shell" or a "casing." This is also a great example of how far out some of Veronica's earliest messages were.
Here is a further example of Manichaean dualism, in which the world is said to be "satan" which is contrasted with God's world, which is Paradise:
"Remember, do not become a worshiper of the creature, but of the Creator; for the creature is the world, and the world is satan. The Creator is your God, and His world is the Kingdom of Paradise" (June 18, 1980).
On the contrary, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Ps. 24:1). There is a sense in which the world is said to be under the power of Satan (cf. 1 John 5:19, Luke 4:6); Veronica even uses this language further on in the same message. But it is extremely theologically inaccurate to say "the world is satan", especially in contrast to a spiritual Paradise.
One of the most serious theological errors comes from a message of August 14, 1979 concerning the salvation of those in other religions:
“Do not judge your brothers and sisters who have not been converted. For My Father’s House, My Son has repeated over and over: remember always that My Father’s House—there are many rooms in the Mansion, signifying faiths and creeds. However, the Eternal Father, the beatific vision, is reserved for the Roman Catholic following. This it has been deemed by the Eternal Father since the beginning of time" (Aug 14. 1979).
This is very problematic. The "many mansions" verse that the Blessed Virgin cites here (John 14:2) has always been understood by Tradition to refer to heaven; heaven is, after all, "my Father's House" and where Jesus "goes" after His Ascension. And yet the rooms of heaven are said here by the Virgin to refer to "faiths and creeds"? Yet she goes on to say that the beatific vision is reserved for Catholics alone - "Roman Catholics" as she incorrectly states, referring to Catholics of the Roman Rite. Essentially, Bayside seems to be teaching that there is a distinction between heaven and the beatific vision, as if persons of many faiths and creeds can go to heaven, but within heaven, only Catholics experience the beatific vision. This is a grave theological error; the beatific vision is what heaven consists of. One cannot go to heaven but not experience the beatific vision.
In the next passage, we read that babies born of surrogate mothers do not have souls, a gross error, since every human being who comes into existence has a soul, regardless of the manner of his coming into the world. But let's see what Veronica says:
"We will not have test tube babies, for they are not born with a soul. They can only, then, be called a ’thing,’ a 'creature' unknown. Is this what you want, My children? Is this what you want of these children you bear for another? To give them as though you were machines, manufacturing them for another?" (June 6, 1987)
In a vision of Hell, Veronica records:
"Now I hear the voices pleading for mercy, but a loud voice booms back: "Too late, too late. You had your chance!" (June 18, 1993)
Those in Hell whose wills are fixed on evil are incapable of pleading for mercy, since to sincerely plead for mercy requires God's grace and a desire for the good. This is why the wicked in Revelation did not repent even when confronted with God's frightening judgments: "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood...Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts" (cf. Rev. 9:20-21). Souls in Hell can neither repent nor ask for mercy.
"There will be tribulations set upon the world before My Son returns to gather His own. Yes, in time many will be removed from the earth. However, there will be a tribulation before that moment." (Oct. 6, 1992)
Apparently, Veronica is not aware that the Rapture is not a Catholic doctrine.
Here, we see Veronica, in a moment of sloppiness, assert that Purgatory is eternal:
"There is no way other than straight through to Heaven, hell, or purgatory. There isn't a soul upon earth that can say, `I will be here forever.' For the only place that exists, My children, forever, is Heaven, hell, or purgatory." (Oct. 2, 1989)
Even Veronica's followers caught the falsity in this message and confronted her about it. The Blessed Virgin Mary subsequently had to offer a "clarification" of this message a week later. On October 8, 1989, Mary asked Veronica to write a clarification, which stated:
"When Our Lady spoke about Heaven, hell, and purgatory in the message, She was especially addressing the clergy, as some have lost the reality of the existence of hell. But they have especially lost the reality of the existence of purgatory. Thus She chose to use the word "forever," as this is earth's time, meaning till the end of time, or till the day of the final judgment. The intention being to impress upon the clergy the fact that purgatory does exist, and there are souls who will be in purgatory till the end of time. Naturally, at the end of the world there will no longer be a need for purgatory, and it will cease to exist. "Heaven and hell are forever" in the sense of the eternal, so naturally, they shall exist without end."
Good clarification. Too bad purgatory was said to be "forever" in the same sense that heaven and hell are forever. The distinction "Mary" tries to make to cover this embarrassing error is completely arbitrary. We are used to clarifications from the Vatican Press Office, but from the Blessed Virgin?
"every single soul that is upon the earth today alive and those who have also been aborted, were brought into the world through the intercession of the Holy Spirit (Oct 1, 1988)
Intercession of the Holy Spirit? Nowhere in Catholic tradition is the creation of human life said to be a product of the "intercession" of any of the three Persons of the Trinity, let alone the Spirit. This is not heretical so much as weird. But, even more weird is the kingdom of the spirit people:
"The distant Kingdom is inhabited by people, live people, in spirit form. Awaken all people of the earth to the reality of Heaven, for to know them is to love them." (Dec. 11, 1969)
Not sure what to make of that one.
In this one we see Veronica makes the Virgin Mary and not Jesus to be the Judge of mankind. I think she forgot who was supposed to be speaking:
Mary: “Life is eternal. Your body will die, but your living entity will continue over beyond the veil. My children, I repeat: there is no death; you live on. Once you leave your body, with full knowledge you live on, and come to Us for judgment. (Oct. 6, 1979)
Here we see the Blessed Virgin Mary conferring a priestly blessing, despite the fact that she has authority to give such a blessing because she is not a priest:
"Now Our Lady is turning to Her left, our right, as She's moving slowly across the sky now. Now She's bending over and making the sign of the cross: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Our Lady - "I bless you all, My children, as the Eternal Father blesses you in the Son and the Holy Ghost. Remember, My children, the Trinity. Always try to understand the power of God in the Trinity." (Nov. 1, 1985)
This occurs again in another apparition the following year:
"And Jesus has mentioned something to Her about blessing - that I heard ... it was blessing. And oh, Our Lady is now raising the crucifix on Her Rosary and making the sign of the cross: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (June 18, 1986)
This is also done in the apparition of June 18, 1984.
Furthermore, we see an exaltation of the role of sacramentals far beyond their real importance:
Sacramentals must never be removed; "at no cost you must remove from your bodies your crucifix, the St. Benedict medal, and your Scapulars" (Oct 6, 1992).
This passage has led Baysiders to deduce that they must wear a crucifix, a scapular and a St. Benedict medal simultaneously at all times or else risk immediate attack by the devil. They are attributed an almost magical efficacy. While we do not deny the importance of sacramentals as signs of faith and as true means of grace, this is extremely excessive. This is mandated as absolutely essential to every human being on earth:
"Make it known to the world, that they must all, every single individual on earth, must at this time, wear a sacramental: the St. Benedict medal, the brown Scapular; a crucifix, blessed by a holy priest."(June 6, 1987)
"Jesus: All who pray the Rosary and wear My Scapular shall be saved. All who place the crucifix upon their front doors shall be saved like the passing of the lamb." (June 18, 1984).
"all who wear their scapulars and the Rosary will be saved. But all those who cast them aside as superstition shall be lost." (June 30, 1984) [Dear friends, we know that even in false apparations truth must be mixed with error or no Catholic would be tempted to believe in them. Hence we see here and too in Medjugorje, for example, the promotion of the Rosary, fasting, Confession, receiving Holy Communion, and other devotions. - The Catacombs]
Sacramentals such as scapulars and Benedict medals are signs of special devotion or consecration; they are not spiritual bullet-proof vests that are mandated to be worn by every Catholic even, let alone "every single individual on earth", let alone in such a way that they can be compared to the blood of the Passover Lamb (or, "the passing of the lamb", as Jesus incorrectly says here). In the next passage, the importance of the Scapular and the Rosary are emphasized, but Mary adds the Bayside "Our Lady of the Roses" emblem and suggests that it is indispensible:
"My children, you must always wear a medal, your armor about your neck. And the best armor of all is the Scapular, the Rosary, the St. Benedict medal; and, also your newest armor: Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers. My child and My children, I tell you this because you cannot do without any of them." (May 17, 1986)
The Bayside emblem is put on par with the Rosary and the Scapular! And the believer is told "you cannot do without any of them." Is this not extraordinarily presumptuous? Not even the Brown Scapular or the Miraculous Medal are said to be absolutely indispensable.
Now let's watch Jesus change His mind:
"He is going across the sky now. He changed his mind about something; He had stopped short and was looking down this way, and then He just turned over to the left, and said: "Follow Me!" (June 18, 1988).
Yes, she said our Lord "changed His mind" about something. This is pitifully bad theology. Here we see more bad theology as Veronica states that angels have genders, as well as ages, and that there is such a thing as "baby angels":
"the lights now are coming out - I know they're angels. They're all different ages and different sizes, but I do believe it registers their age. These are all, I know, guardian angels. They are dressed in the most beautiful pastel shades of blue and pink and white.And I feel that the blue stands for the masculine angel, if there is such a thing; and the pink also for the feminine angels; and the whites are for babies. They are - there are hundreds of them all about the trees. Oh, I'm sure you must see them. They are so clear, they're almost human - like in appearance, except for the translucency of their faces. They are so beautiful. " (Oct 1, 1988)
Let us remember Catholic Tradition that gender is related to one's physical body; it is a way of being human. Angels by definition cannot have a gender because they do not have physical bodies. This is why angels in art are often displayed as androgynous. And to speak of the "age" of angels or whether there can be "baby" angels is even more ludicrous.
"Now, My children, I want you all to make a firm Act of Contrition, for those who die now in the outer world about you. An Act of Contrition for all those who are unable to say it, for themselves" (June 18, 1987)
While we can certainly do penance on behalf of other people, we cannot be contrite on behalf of others; contrition is a personal act expression sorrow for particular sins. We can do penance for others, but not repent for them. This is bad theology.
The angels, too, are subject to this bad theology. St. Michael is described as having "anxiety" and expresses impatience with the Virgin:
"Michael is standing there. He looks like quite stern. I don't know just what is passing between them, but he is waiting for Our Lady's signal. Our Lady said to Michael - I heard Her say, "In one moment. Your anxiety, Michael, I can well understand." (May 17, 1986)
Here is an interesting statement by Mary. She promises that one day, she will appear at Bayside and compel the bishop to belief:
"One day, My child, the waters will come up at Bayside, and I will appear over the old church building. Your Bishop then cannot deny My Appearances" (May 17, 1986).
If this is true, it is an affirmation of the fact that the bishop does, in fact, deny the Bayside apparitions - otherwise, how could Mary say that one day he would "no longer" deny them? And if he does in fact deny them, then the faithful are to regard them as condemned, for the bishop has final say in matters of private revelation within his own diocese.
Here, in a shocking departure from tradition and Catholic theology, Jesus refers to the Bible as the cornerstone of the Church. This takes place in the context of an apparition of the Four Evangelists:
"[The Evangelists are] holding up what looks like pens. They're very strange - looking pens; they look like a feather with just a point on the end. And they're writing - each one of them has a book, and they're writing in the books. Now Jesus is nodding."You have taken that correctly, My child. That is the manner in which the Book of life and love was written for you. I say for you, because it was to be established as the cornerstone of My Church - let us say that, My child, the cornerstone of My Church is the Book of life and love, that you call the Bible." (May 17, 1986)
The cornerstone of the Church is the Bible? That sounds awfully Protestant. And unbiblical, since the Bible says of the Church that "the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself" (Eph. 2:22). Speaking of Protestantism, Veronica seems to buy into the Protestant narrative about the United States as the godly City on a Hill. Look at this comment of the Blessed Virgin:
“O My children, how happy were the days when I could look down from Heaven upon you and find that America was so beautiful—a Christian nation, devout, pious, and following the road as given by the Eternal Father, through My Son and the Holy Spirit of light. And now the light has been darkened. (Dec. 24, 1979)
Because America has never been a Catholic nation - certainly not at the time of its founding or in the "happy" old days. How could a country founded on Protestant Deism be referred to as "devout, pious, and following the road as given by the Eternal Father"? This could only be true if one presumes the truth of the Protestant narrative about the founding of this country, which Veronica apparently does.
Those in heaven are said to possess the theological virtue of faith, including Jesus Christ Himself:
Jesus: "But I assure you, My children, We, in Heaven, have great faith that you, Our children, who hear Our words, will act upon them and help to recover as many of your brothers and sisters as you can throughout the world." (June 18, 1986)
Now this is actual heresy. Faith is a theological virtue proper to viators, those of us here on earth on our pilgrimage of faith, those who "see through a glass darkly" (1 Cor. 13:12). Faith exists because our knowledge is partial due to our creatureliness. But when we attain heaven and the beatific vision, faith will pass away as it terminates in knowledge. Nobody in heaven has faith, especially God, who is pure act and possesses supreme knowledge. To assert that those in heaven have "faith", even Jesus Christ, is a shocking ignorance of Catholic theology, offensive to pious ears, and heretical.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is also apparently unaware of the definition of a martyr. In a message from 1983, Mary asserts that Pope John Paul I was poisoned and that his death constituted a "martyrdom":
"...remember well what had happened in Rome to John, Pope John, whose reign lasted 33 days. O My child, it is history now, but it is placed in the book that lists the disasters in mankind. He received the horror and martyrdom by drinking from a glass. It was a champagne glass given to him by a now deceased member of the clergy" (May 21, 1983).
I'm not sure that someone who is poisoned and doesn't even know they are being assassinated can be a martyr. Part of being a martyr is willingly laying down one's life for the faith. If you are just sipping a glass of champagne and don't realize it is poison, where is the will to die for Christ that is essential to martyrdom?
In the following message of June, 1983, Jesus has been talking for awhile about a coming chastisement. Veronica apparently forgets that Jesus is supposed to be the one talking and our Lord starts talking in the third person about Himself, which prompts Veronica to immediately put an awkward correction in the mouth of Christ to clarify His relation within the Trinity:
"My child and My children, I beg of you, through the Trinity - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and I am in God, I was in God, and I always will be in God" (June 18, 1983).
Look at this one:
"Communion in the hand has not been, and will not be, accepted by Heaven. This is a sacrilege in the eyes of the Eternal Father, and must not be continued, for you only add to your punishment when you continue on in the ways that have been found to be unpleasing to the Eternal Father. (June 30, 1984)
I don't approve of communion in the hand, but to say it has "never" been accepted by heaven cannot be true, since it was practiced widely in the Early Church. Sure, one could say it was not practiced in the same way in the Early Church as it is today, but Bayside does not make that distinction.
"You must now assume a great responsibility for the salvation of your children’s souls. Do not expect this to come from Rome, for Rome now is under great attack. 666, satan—Lucifer and his hordes of demons now are in control of Rome" (May 23, 1979).
If Lucifer and his demons "are in control of Rome" and we must not expect any spiritual direction to come from Rome, has not the promise to Peter become null and void? We must be careful here; it is one thing to say that Satan has infiltrated the Church, that there are those in the hierarchy under his control, but to say that Satan is "in control" of Rome stretches what most orthodox Catholics are comfortable with regarding the Traditional understanding of the Roman Pontiff.
In a message from 1979, Veronica Lueken exhibits her shocking ignorance of the sacrament of Holy Orders with this diatribe against the permanent diaconate:
"Why are you now planning to take married men, making them what you call deacons, to give the sanctity and holiness, the grace in marriage to My sheep? What right have you to change the rules and the direction? Understand well: when I appointed the Apostles there were no names given as cardinals or bishops; but Peter was the first Pope, the leader, and would you say not that the Apostles were the first bishops? And after that they chose from out of multitudes, seven whom you call deacons and listed as deacons, but they were truly priests at that time. But you do not need the procedure now. If you are willing to ask the Eternal Father, and if you do not give yourselves over to doctrines of demons, you will have priests sufficient to carry out the ministry. But what do you do now? You will seek to make instant priests, against the will of the Eternal Father! You will delude others to think that your deacons can take the Sacraments and give them as in the priesthood! A priest, My children, is a chosen man of God. A true legally-ordained priest is far superior than any man, as he represents Me in the Godhead" (May 23, 1979).
Veronica appears ignorant that deacons were married in the Early Church. She also errantly presumes that deacons were "truly priests"; whether she means they were priests before they were deacons or that the deacons carried out the function of priests I do not know, but either way she is theologically and historically incorrect. It is true that deacons can administer certain sacraments, and this has always been the case. Her ignorance of history and sacramental theology is blatantly obvious here.
As further evidence of her confusion over sacramental theology, look at this statement from Jesus:
“All baptized Roman Catholics must die as baptized Roman Catholics, or they shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (June 9, 1979)
Baptism confers an indelible mark that can never be effaced. It is impossible for a baptized Catholic to die as anything but a baptized Catholic. What is the purpose of this warning? It is impossible to become "unbaptized." It is also questionable the manner in which she uses the term "Roman Catholics" since it in its technical definition it applies to those Catholics of the Roman Rite only. Jesus is apparently thinking of "the Church" only in terms of the Roman Rite.
"Disobedience to your Vicar [the Pope] will not be tolerated by the Eternal Father in matters of faith and morals." (Sept. 28, 1979)
But disobedience in things other than faith and morals is not problematic? What about the pope's ordinary jurisdiction? Speaking of the pope:
“You will stand with the Holy Father and render him no more sorrow. You who have been his disobedient children, you will stop plunging the knife into his heart! He is Our Vicar. He is Our father and yours on earth, to guide you" (June 17, 1971)
Would Mary really refer to the pope as "Our Father"? This is weird, since all popes have referred to Mary as their Mother. And why would Mary call him "Our Vicar"? He is the Vicar of Christ, not the Vicar of Mary.
"Our lawfully ordained, blessed priests will always have the power to bring My Son in physical Body to you. The trappings, as such, My child, placed on the procedure by man are as nothing, for you will live in the spirit, not in the aspect of worldliness and decoration. All that has been destroyed and removed in My Son’s House are but symbols" (Oct 6, 1971).
In this passage, Mary attempts to console the faithful about the liturgical destruction of the early 1970's by stating that the trappings of the liturgy and the altar are "as nothing" and just "worldliness and decoration." It is as if she is saying, "Don't worry about the ceremonies of the liturgy; what matters is that the Mass is valid. Everything else is simple decoration." This is contrary to what the Church has taught at the Council of Trent in Session XXII:
"And whereas such is the nature of man, that, without external helps, he cannot easily be raised to the meditation of divine things; therefore has holy Mother Church instituted certain rites, to wit that certain things be pronounced in the mass in a low, and others in a louder, tone. She has likewise employed ceremonies, such as mystic benedictions, lights, incense, vestments, and many other things of this kind, derived from an apostolical discipline and tradition, whereby both the majesty of so great a sacrifice might be recommended, and the minds of the faithful be excited, by those visible signs of religion and piety, to the contemplation of those most sublime things which are hidden in this sacrifice."
Look also how St. Francis of Assisi refers to the mere "decorations" of the Mass:
"I beg you more than if it were a question of myself that, when it is becoming and you will deem it convenient, you humbly beseech the clerics to venerate above all the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Name and written words which sanctify the body. They ought to hold the chalices, corporals, ornaments of the altar, and all that pertain to the Sacrifice as precious. And if the most holy Body of the Lord is left very poorly in any place, let It be moved by them to a precious place, according to the command of the Church and let It be carried with great veneration" (St. Francis of Assisi, Epistola ad Custodes).
Is this heresy? Perhaps not. But it is a form of liturgical minimalism that has proven to be extremely destructive to Catholic faith and worship and can hardly have come from Heaven.
"Gather your brothers and sisters—do not lose one—and build a strong link to Us. Yes, ransom these souls whom Lucifer has bought." (Sept. 21, 1971).
In no way has Catholic theology - even among the various schools of thought on how Christ redeems man - ever suggested that Lucifer "bought" mankind. It is Christ who "bought" us at a great price (1 Cor. 6:20), who "purchased" us with His blood (Col. 1:14) and who pays; Christ is the one who buys mankind; Lucifer has never "bought" mankind.
"You will teach the children that We are truly living peoples, that We live in the heavens, just a short distance from the farthest star" (July 1, 1971).
Veronica Lueken's heaven is located entirely within this universe, just a short distance from the farthest star, and not far from Never-Neverland. Hopefully a discussion on the fact that heaven cannot be located within this physical universe is not necessary. Heaven cannot be a place with a physical location within Creation.
God the Father: "Many Rosaries must be said to lighten My heart." (Apr. 7, 1971)
In Catholic Tradition, we sometimes speak by way of analogy about "comforting" the Sacred Heart of Jesus by our company during our Holy Hours, drawing a parallel between the Apostles who left Him in the Garden of Gethsemane and our own time spent with Him in adoration. Of course, this is analogical language; Jesus is not "lonely" and He does not "need" our comfort. Speaking, however, about God the Father as needing our rosaries to "lighten" His heart is extremely bizarre. Even if it is only meant by an analogy, it is an analogy that find no place in the Church's traditional spirituality.
In this next passage, Veronica has our Lady specifically teach that the indelible mark of baptism can be lost:
“Each man on earth who has been baptized and set himself up as a follower of My Son in infancy has received the mark of the cross upon him. He can in his lifetime cast this away and be branded with the mark of the beast" (Dec. 31, 1972).
Of course, baptized people can lose their salvation. But she does not say this. She says that the "mark" impressed at baptism can be cast away. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
"Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation" (CCC 1272).
Frivolous Subject Matter
According to Catholic Tradition, eternal salvation is the primary purpose that God sends private revelations to individuals. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that a revelation is suspect if the visionary seems to be answering idle speculations or settling disputed questions in matters of history, theology or astronomy. Yet we see just this in Bayside, where the content of the messages contains some extreme banalities.
Flying saucers are "transports from hell." There is no life on other planets. (June 18, 1992)
Is this really the sort of information we could expect God or His Mother to wish to communicate to us? The nature of flying saucers? I hope there is one coming up about what Sasquatch sightings really are.
"I want the people to know that when I was crucified the nails were placed through My palms, but I was also tied by skin - like rope about My wrists to the cross. And as I walked to My death, I carried not the full cross but only a cross - beam across My shoulders, and I found at the edge of town on a high hill the other part of what was to be My crucifixion plank." (June 17, 1989)
That was very nice of Jesus to come from Heaven to explain to us the vicinity from which He obtained the boards He was crucified on. I had always wondered about that.
"Now Jesus is looking down. He has on His burgundy - colored cape, with the tie, a golden tie, on it. But He has on the slippers. I'm trying to look at them. They're made of an animal - type of skin. Yes, that's what they are. Jesus nodded His head. They're made like leather, a leather." (June 18, 1988)
Why this obsession with the nature of Jesus' shoes? This is actually stressed again and again in many of the messages. For example:
"And it's a little windy up there this evening, because I can see Jesus's feet now. He does have on sandals. They're made of a brown leather-like quality. I can't explain it. It looks almost like a thong, just one piece of strapping down through His toes, and one across His instep. And His feet are bare. He has no socks on, or anything; His feet are really bare. But...He is smiling. He thinks this is funny." (June 18, 1987) "
And...
"And I can see Jesus' feet now as He's coming down closer. He has on sandals. They're made of some kind of animal skin. They're a brown color, but they just have two straps; one across near the toes, and one across the ankle area - two straps. I don't know how they stay on." (June 18, 1986)
Stop!
The manner of our Lord's shoes are not the only thing Veronica finds worthy of reporting. Here we see her describing the sort of weaving his clothes are made of:
"And there coming through the light is Jesus. Oh He's just beautiful! He has on the most magnificent robe. It's cut quite differently than He wore the last apparition time. But it is a beautiful robe, all of a classic type of weave. It's - it almost looks like it comes from the foreign country, the robe." (Oct 1, 1988)
Again, a bizarre obsession with the clothes of Jesus. It's nice to know that our Lord wears a "classic weave." In another message, Jesus is strangely insistent that Veronica correct certain false notions about the appearance of the crown of thorns and states that it was more of a basket:
"He's tapping His forehead. Oh, He wants me to tell you, as He told me this afternoon, that I must tell the world that when He was crucified ... they have a false notion about His crown of thorns. The crown of thorns were placed in a basket - weave cap and then placed on His head, and He was pummeled and hammered with sticks and a sledge hammer to get it down on His head; and that drove the terrible spikes of the thorns into His head. It seems that His murderers could not find gloves at the time to handle the thorns. So they thought to take their implements and place these terrible thorn weeds inside of the basket - weave hat. And that is what Jesus wore when He was crucified." (Sept 27, 1986)
Jesus wants us to know that the thorns were inside a basket and that it was actually a basket of thorns that was forced on his head? What possible purpose if there for including this detail which is of no practical significance? Is this not a prime example of the seer's preoccupation with externals or frivolities of the apparition. Why is it of such importance that our traditional "false notion about His crown of thorns" be corrected by a private apparition?
Here we see that Jesus thinks we need to know about UFOs and demons, which prompts the obvious question of why spiritual beings need to ride in machines to get from here to there:
"While We speak of agents of hell, My child, I also wish that you make it known that there are no vehicles coming from other planets—extraterrestrial vehicles. No, My child and My children; they are agents of hell in transport. Now you may ask, why must they be transported if they are spirits? Ah, My child, this you may not understand. These are not ordinary spirits; these are the demons from hell: satan's cohorts, and satan himself. He is also on one of the transports.There is a reason they must use the transports. I will not go into it at this time, for I am sure it would befog the mind of any scientist should I give this knowledge to them before they are ready for it." (Nov 1, 1985)
Satan himself is on one of the transports!? Satan personally is riding around in a UFO? Is this really relevant to our salvation?
Simply Ridiculous
Occasionally we run into stories that are simply ridiculous. Consider this tale of Veronica learning some sort of "lesson" about not taking off holy medals by gagging on dog biscuits:
"I noticed that my dog had been eating a lot of bones and things and left little slivers on the floor. But they were only tiny little slivers. I say this for a reason. But my dog liked these milk bones. They were a sort of a pinkish brown color, if you know your dog . He's a poodle and he loved milk bones. So he gets those. However, I was sweeping up the floor, with some popcorn that Arthur had dropped, when all of a sudden I said, "Gee, what in the world am I eating? What am I eating?" But in the beginning, I had a feeling I was going to choke, so I opened my mouth. There - what was in my mouth, what was in my mouth but two large chunks of dog biscuit! Now, I'm not eating dog biscuits. So I said, "Ah-hah! He's still after me." And I said, "And I know what it is." Because you see, Our Lady let me go through this so I'd learn a stern lesson. And She wants everyone to know about this. And anyone that doubts this, I'll prove it to them. Because my husband came running in, and I said, " They're trying to choke me or something". "So what is it?" says Arthur. I said, "Dog biscuits in my mouth, big pieces!" "How did they get there?" "I don't know", I said, "but then I think I know. So I ran right in, got my St. Benedict medal out of my purse that I had forgotten to put on in all the excitement, and also the Scapular. And I assure you I don't care if they have to tack it to my nose the next time! I'm not taking off my Scapular and my St. Benedict medal for anyone, including your crucifix, also" (Oct, 6, 1992)
This foolish story goes back to the excessive importance attached to sacramentals. In the following passage, we see our Lady stating that she has been "through purgatory and through hell":
"I want you to stress, My child, the existence of hell and purgatory. It has been forgotten by many. Even the priests in My Son's churches have overlooked this essential knowledge. In fact, some now mock it as being untrue. My child and my children of the world, please believe Me. I have been through purgatory. I have been through hell. And I tell you all: please, do penance for your brothers and sisters who do not have the way." (June 18, 1990)
Perhaps this is a metaphorical way of saying "I have suffered", but since our Lady and our Lord have perfect knowledge, they would never use such sloppy language. Our Lady could have never had a purgative experience since she had no sin, let alone an experience of suffering punitive punishment in some kind of hell-like experience. This is why theologians teach that not even Christ, for all his suffering, experienced the pains of the damned - unless you are a Balthasarian heretic.
How about this passage where our Lord Jesus warns of a Communist coup in the United States and talks about "ruffians" and people who will be "mowed down" with "submachine guns":
Veronica - "I see a road. It looks like a normal country road, but it leads to a city, a great city. I would say from the buildings that the city looks like New York. But I see there are very sinister - looking characters walking down the road nonchalantly but carrying bags. Within those bags there are submachine guns."
- "Yes, My child! I see murder ahead now, My child, in your city of New York. Many shall be mowed down. It is an attack by a communist nation. No, My child, you do not need to know at this time the name of this nation, for it will soon be known when the captors are picked up. The Federal Bureau of Investigation will hear of this, My child, and they will try to stop them. These interlopers upon the serenity of the United States have dark skins. They are not from this nation, but they come from a presently warring nation. It is their object to destroy all and cause chaos in the city of New York. With their plans there will be bombs placed in strategic places and many shall die at the hands of these ruffians." (Oct 1, 1988)
Now, one might say that this has been fulfilled in the September 11th attacks or the 1993 World Trade Center attacks, which involved bombs and attackers with "dark skins." But our Lord specifically says that these attackers come from "a Communist nation" and that "submachine guns' are involved. This is just absurd. I don't know what else to say.
Here is an absurd message warning about AIDS in the blood supply:
"My children, that you guard yourselves well against this plague. If you must have a form of operation requiring transfusions, I would suggest that you have a member of your family donate this blood; for the other has been grossly - I say grossly - contaminated and will cause many deaths" (Oct 6, 1988).
Blood has been screened for HIV in the United States since 1985. Contamination from blood transfusions world wide account for only 5-10% of infections. This is simply a falsehood, and further more, not at all relevant to the message of eternal salvation, which all legitimate private revelations concern themselves with.
Another absurdity unique to Bayside is the belief that Pope Paul VI was kidnapped or murdered and replaced with a look-alike "impostor" pope. This is said to have happened sometime around 1973:
"Some ecclesiastics in the highest positions of the hierarchy, being infiltrators or having fallen from grace, drugged the good Pope, censored his mail, forged his documents, and finally staged an impostor to complete their sinister plan." (Oct 3rd, 1991)
About Jesus borrowing citations from American presidents:
"I do not understand their fear of Russia. There is nothing to fear but fear itself" (Oct 2, 1987)
I'm not positive, but I am pretty sure that when Jesus speaks through a seer, He does not quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1933 inaugural address.
And...
Did you know that the Virgin Mary has a charming little nickname for St. Michael the Archangel? According to two separate locutions by Veronica, she calls him "golden boy" because of his blond hair:
"Michael is very difficult to describe. He is so huge! A real warrior of Heaven. But I cannot see his features; there's something about Michael that his features are unexplainable, like the spirit. But he does look gorgeous. His hair I do see. His hair is a golden color. That is why Our Lady names him, `Golden Boy'." (May 17, 1986) "
His hair is a golden color. I know for many years, Our Lady has referred to him as "Our Golden Boy." (Nov 1, 1985)
Did you also know that Jesus refers to time on earth as "earth-years"? Look at these three passages:
"My heart is so lightened with joy at the numbers of wonderful souls who have come here this evening to honor the Eternal Father when He sent Me sixteen earth - years ago, down upon earth, to try to stop the crisis in the Church, and the chaos that is going throughout all the countries of the world" (June 18, 1986)
...later, in the same apparition, Jesus says:
"To this day, to your earth - year of 1986, you have not been given, My children, the full secrets as given to the children at Fatima" (June 18, 1986)
Mary speaks this way as well: "You cannot count your earth-years as being long any longer." (Sept 27, 1986)
I know that with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day, but seriously, is there any precedent anywhere in the entire Catholic Tradition of our Lord referring to our 365 day year as an "earth-year"? It makes Him sound like an extra-terrestrial. This is not proof that Bayside is wrong; it is evidence that it is just bizarre, and very common, especially in the first decade of messages.
In many of the messages, Mary directs Veronica to take a series of photographs. The photographs would then be examined for various signs or evidences of supernatural messages, including dates and clues to interpreting the messages. For example:
"Now, My child, for reasons that you are not to give out, I wish at this time that you take three photographs. They are very, very important, My child. They will contain a date for the next catastrophe." (June 18, 1986)
This practice in many of the messages is called "reading the photographs" (May 26, 1979). It is very common and appears at the end of more than half of the Bayside messages. If Mary and Jesus come from heaven to deliver messages to mankind, why this recourse to asking Veronica to take photographs and then interpret them for additional revelations? Seems kind of esoteric, and definitely unprecedented. A particular photograph from 1979 is given special prominence, as it allegedly predicts the exact hour of the Great Chastisement:
“I ask that the photograph given from Heaven, Jacinta 1972 be propagated, made known worldwide; for within this photograph lies the date, the month, the hour, the year of the coming Chastisement. Search it well, My children; for those who are given the grace will find the answer to the puzzle: ‘Jacinta of Fatima—Jacinta 1972.’ (Oct. 6, 1979)
I don't even know what to do with this one:
“You must understand that the forces of evil are cunning in their trickery. They will not expose themselves to you in their true light. They work behind a screen. My child and My children, I will explain this to you more simply. Do not be deceived by the mushrooming centers that house diabolical agents from hell that are now encased in a human body" (June 14, 1979).
Mushrooming centers that house diabolical agents from hell encased in human bodies!? What!?
Here we see a 1979 vision of a terrorist attack that is laughably stereotypical:
"And now coming out of the sky, I see a very comical-looking figure. I think he’s comical; then again he’s kind of frightening. His face is extremely fat, and his teeth are huge. But he looks like an Oriental of some kind. He’s smiling in a very strange way. I notice he has—he’s short and has like a stubby type of body. But he’s grinning in a very evil-looking way. As he stands with his hands behind him, he’s looking about now and it looks as though he’s waiting for something. Oh, my goodness! Now he’s bringing out from behind his back what appears to be a long tapered candle. And he’s reaching up now. The candle has a light on it; it looks like he’s about to touch the wick on the bomb. It looks like a bomb, but it looks like the world with a wick sticking out of it. Oh, my goodness! He’s a very—I don’t know who he is; I don’t recognize him. But he’s an Oriental and has very large teeth; and the grin, even, the way he’s grinning makes his teeth very—kind of prominent. But he has—I must say he gives you a feeling of fright because his smile is very evil. Now I can’t see him. It’s as though a veil is being placed over the scene" (July 25, 1979).
A fat oriental with a big grin and big teeth? You mean like, this stereotypical grinning, buck-toothed Asian? Complete with the Yosemite-Sam bomb and smoking wick. This is laughable.
Here we are warned against mind control technology being developed by the governments of the world which will take over the minds of children:
“Do not allow your children to be taken from you in spirit. The forces of evil, of darkness, are increasing in their intensity. You will find now that there has been developed in your scientific world a manner of mind control through scientific machinery and human mind-manipulation. In this manner will the governing bodies of many nations seek to control your children, and in that manner control the parent." (Dec. 24, 1979)
Here is a fairly unorthodox description of the Blessed Mother. Look at how she refers to herself and her activity in the world:
“I have roamed the nations, and I am still walking your earth, My children. I will never stop until My Son returns with Me." (Dec. 25, 1971)
“I have roamed, My child, the nations of the world. My tears have fallen in every land. I have come to rest here in hope." (Nov. 1, 1971)
Where is Mary, or any saint, described as "roaming the nations" or "walking the earth?" This is very unorthodox language; saints, especially the Blessed Virgin, are always referred to as residing in heaven and interceding from heaven. There is one who is described in Scripture as "roaming about" the world and "walking to and fro" upon it, but it is not Mary or any saint (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8, Job 1:7). See also the message of May 30, 1971 for our Lady "wandering" the world.
“I have arrived much earlier, My child, than expected, for I am busy in all parts of the world. There is much turmoil." (May 30, 1971).
Mary had to change her plans and arrive early because world events messed up her schedule!
Contradictions
Veronica was allegedly told by Mary that all other apparitions happening concurrently were false and should be avoided:
"My child and My children, I want to tell you also at this time: You are not to concern yourself with other words and writings of apparitions in various places. I can tell you, My children, unfortunately there are those are caught up in the excitement of the times and My appearance at your site. However, you cannot become involved, My child or My children, with any of these apparitions; it is best to ignore them." (Mar 18, 1989).
Yet, in 1986 Mary told Veronica:
"Yes, My child, I am going about the world appearing in various places, and I have reason for all" (May 17, 1986)
Regarding the setting of dates for eschatological events, Jesus tells Veronica:
"Do not speculate on the dates, but be prepared. My Mother has spent countless years among you, preparing you. If you are not ready now, then you will never be ready!" (June 18, 1980)
A few sentences later in the same message, Jesus says:
"My children, you will read and re read the messages from Heaven given through My Mother to you. Read them well, for much has been over looked in the past. You will receive great knowledge, and you will be able then to know the day, the hour of the tribulation."
It is difficult to understand in what sense we are to "not speculate on dates" when we are subsequently told that if we reread the messages we will find "great knowledge" to figure out the day and even the hour of tribulation. If we can know the day and the hour, how are we to not speculate on dates? This has led to the absurd practice of Baysiders examining the messages and photographs of Bayside for cryptic messages about the time of the Tribulation and Great Warning. For example, see here.
Absurd Statistics about Alleged Satanism
An interesting aspect of Bayside is the continual claims of a vast Satanic conspiracy throughout the United States. While we certainly do not deny a network of evil operating behind the scenes, the vast numbers and outrageous claims made by Veronica regarding organized Satanic cult activity is simply beyond belief. For example:
"There are over 10,000, now, cults in the United States and Canada alone. Many children have been slain by them in sacrifice to satan." (June 17, 1989).
"Already, there are five thousand or more now in the United States and Canada, and people ask: 'Where have my children disappeared to?'" (June 18, 1988)
"My child and My children, at this time in the United States of America and Canada, there can be counted, at least, nine thousand satanic cults." (June 18, 1987)
"Jesus: "My child and My children, need I repeat to you all of the abominations being committed upon the earth now? I can also repeat to you that in some of these horrible, excruciatingly painful cults that are growing up fast in your country and other countries about the world, they have even gone so far as to dab now in cannibalism, the eating of human flesh as a sacrifice to satan. That is why, My children, so many cannot be found who are missing—mostly, My children, young children. Mothers have cried, their hearts torn with anguish when their children disappear from the streets. Your police do not investigate fully. Sending out photographs of the missing children, this is of little help when they fall into the clutches of the satanists, for they do not remain about long. Their bodies are often cremated on pyres to satan." (Nov 1, 1985)
While it is undeniable that Satanism exists, is it realistic to posit that most children who are missing are taken by Satanists and sacrificed? Is 10,000 Satanic cults a realistic number? Veronica's teachings here reflect the Satanic panic of the 70s and 80s more than empirical evidence. A famous 1988 study by America sociologist David Finklehor found only 36 cases of Satanic ritual abuse in the whole country (these numbers were even questioned because his criterion were so broad). Two famous Satanic murder trials - the McMartin preschool trial and the Adolfo Constanzo murders - failed to produce any evidence of Satanic inspiration. A 1996 study of 12,000 reported cases of Satanic abuse revealed that not a single one was corroborated or even consider sufficiently factual. In fact, no evidence has ever been brought forward corroborating a single act of Satanic murder, despite extensive investigation. The simple fact is that the "10,000 cults" of Veronica with their extensive murders do not exist.
By late 1987, her statements about Satanism had grown more exotic, claiming that a Satanic cult was running "rampant" in America, greater than all the other cults in the whole world:
"There is another force rampant in your country, the United States of America: it is a satanic cult that has taken precedence over all cults in the world" (Oct 2, 1987)
Again, the Satanic ritual abuse scare was in its heyday around the late 1980s. Veronica is pulling fears and anxieties from the contemporary press in order to make her messages relevant. Without denying the existence of Satanism, it is a known fact that the fears of the late 80's and 90's about massive underground Satanic cults were fictitious and more based in fantasy. Here we see Veronica describing a Satanic ritual in lurid detail. The description is absurd and almost cartoonish; the high priest of Satan even has a three pronged pitch fork:
"I see a lot of people gathered there. Now I would say about fifteen, or maybe seventeen, I'm count... no, thirteen, there are thirteen people. Now they're all standing in a circle. And in the middle of that circle is a man. He's dressed with horns on his head, like satan, and he has a black cape which is red inside. And he's turning about and he's holding a spear in his hand. It has three prongs on it. And he's dipping these prongs now into a boiling big kettle. I believe it's water boiling... he's heating up. And now he's placing - after putting water, he dips his fork, this big fork, into the water, and then places it on top of the hot coals and they sizzle. (Veronica gasps.) And now he's going over... and there's a man tied, just like Jesus was, to a post (Veronica gasps again)... and he's taking this horrible, horrible thing in his hand and he's burning the skin of the man... I can hear his screams, the man is screaming... he's burning the prongs of the pitchfork on the man's back.
Now Our Lady knows that I am getting dreadfully ill. It's a horrible sight. Now - ohh! Now one of the - there's a woman there, she - her eyes are glassy, like she's drugged or something - now she's going over to the man and she's taking a - it's a long knife, like a hunting knife, and cutting him in his back. And then - oh my... oh no! Then there's another woman - they're all dressed in black canes with red on the interior - there's another woman, she's going over... and - oh no! They - she has - oh, she has a chalice in her hands and she's placing it underneath the drops of blood that are coming out of the gash she's made in the man's back. And they're all laughing, like they're hysterically insane. They're all laughing." (March 18, 1983).
All that's missing from this description is the red tights.
Conclusion
If you somehow read through this entire thing and still have absolutely no doubts about Bayside whatsoever, I don't know what to tell you. At that point I would probably suggest you take a step back and examine the very definition and concept of "credibility."
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The Queen of the Seven Swords by G.K. Chesterton |
Posted by: Stone - 03-10-2022, 08:58 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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The Queen of the Seven Swords
by G.K. Chesterton
A collection of poems by G.K. Chesterton, centered around the Blessed Virgin Mary. The title is in reference to the seven sorrows of Mary.
“And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34)
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Familiar Explanation of Christian Doctrine by Rev. Michael Müller, C.SS.R. |
Posted by: Stone - 03-10-2022, 08:23 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
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Adapted for the Family and More Advanced Students in Catholic Schools and Colleges.
with the Approbation of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith
No. III. Benziger Brothers: New York, 1876
Printers to the Holy Apostolic See
Nihil Obstat: Joseph Helmpraecht, C.SS.R.
Baltimore, MD., 24 Sept., 1874
Imprimatur: J. Roosevelt Bayley
Archiep. Baltimorensis
Baltimore, 24 Sept., 1874
CONTENTS
Testimonials
Preface
Introduction—Why We Are in the World
Part I
I. God our Teacher
II. God our Teacher by His Church
III. St. Peter the Head of Christ’s Church
IV. Infallibility of the Pope
V. Propagation of Christ’s Religion
VI. Marks of the Church
VII. The Roman Catholic Church cannot be destroyed
VIII. What cannot and what can be Reformed in the Church
IX. The Faith of the Roman Catholic
X. Qualities of Faith
XI. Holy Scripture and Tradition
XII. No Salvation outside of the Roman Catholic Church
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Testimonials.
Church of St. Charles Borromeo,
Sydney Place,
Brooklyn, August28, 1874.
Rev. dear Father Müller:
I have carefully read and examined your excellent manuscript, entitled “Familiar Explanations,” etc. As far as I can judge, it is a clear, sound, orthodox explanation of Catholic doctrine, in a form of question and answer, which cannot fail to be extremely useful for the right understanding of the truths, commandments, and sacraments of our holy religion. Particularly useful seem to be the parts which explain the True Faith, the True Church, the Infallibility of the Pope, and, well, I should have to mention every chapter, from the beginning to the end. It is another great Godsend for these days of unbelief and corruption.
I am your humble servant in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Francis J. Freel, D.D.
Rev. and dear Father Müller:
I have most carefully read and examined your excellent manuscript, “Familiar Explanation of Christian Doctrine.” I took the liberty to make a few alterations. I do not hesitate for a moment to pronounce this work of yours one of the most useful for our time and country. It is written in the true spirit of St. Alphonsus. Its theology is sound and solid, its spirit most devout, and its language simple and popular. I was particularly pleased with those chapters which treat on the Church, Papal Infallibility, Indifference to Religion, Prayer, and Grace. Your book cannot but prove most useful to those who are learning and to those who teach the Christine Doctrine. Its diligent and frequent perusal cannot fail to confirm converts in their faith, and supply Catholics with quite popular and solid arguments to refute the fallacious objections of non-Catholics. I feel confident that both the clergy and laity will hail with delight the publication of a book so well calculated to remedy the two great evils of our time and country—want of faith and true piety.
Congratulating you on having so successfully accomplished one of the most difficult works,
I am your devoted confrere,
A. Konings, C.S.S.R
PREFACE
About five months ago, a zealous priest, after speaking of the books that I have published, wrote in his letter as follows:
“Permit me to suggest to you what, in my humble opinion, is badly wanted in our barren religious literature and heretical language: A series of correct and concise Catechisms. I know of nothing more needed, and better calculated to do good. Three numbers would abundantly suffice.
“No. 1. For little children in spelling classes—for adults lamentably uninstructed in what is necessary to know and to believe, in order to save their souls, and who, at the same time, are so slow of intellect that only the simplest and most necessary elements of the Catholic faith and practice can be imparted to them—for colored people, and others that cannot read, and especially for that legion of stray sheep in humbler walks of life, who are picked up and brought to the priest for instruction, confession and communion on occasions of missions or in Paschal time, and who have neither time, inclination, nor sufficient instruction to read bulky mission books or dry catechisms filled with long technical answers, or learn much by heart.
“What is necessary for these classes, is not so much that they may be able to explain, as they should know what they must believe and do in order to save their souls. Therefore, in first catechisms, meant for the uninstructed, not to say stupid, the questions should be longer, and the answers shorter, in order that the child may be instructed in, and, as it were, introduced to, the proper answer, by the very wording of the question, that the feeble memory may not be burdened by a load of words, which it is unable to carry with ease or profit. The true idea of a catechism for the classes of people just mentioned is, that by frequent questions on each point, it wakens the intellects of the uninstructed or the torpid to the matter it is wished to communicate. Hence, not only great care must be taken in framing the questions correctly, but these questions must be multiplied for the entirely uninstructed, especially so as to ask attention to each point that it is desired to teach. To illustrate: It would be a very faulty infants’ catechism that would have under one question and answer—‘Q. How many Gods are there? A. There is but one God in three persons, each equal to the other Persons, whom we call the Holy Trinity.’
“No. 2. For the use of Parochial Schools, and of catechumens who have more opportunity or more capacity.
“No. 3. For colleges, academies, high schools, for persons of cultivation, old as well as young, for professional men, etc. This number should especially be plain, popular, comprehensive, and interesting, not so dry and clumsy, nor so full of unsatisfactory, as most books of this class are. Objections, however stupid and threadbare, should be noticed and briefly refuted.
“The object of such a series of catechisms is, clearly and deeply to impress the truths of religion upon the minds of the young. A clear knowledge of these truths will, with the grace of God, gradually gain the affections of youth for the Divine Teacher of our religion, Jesus Christ, our Blessed Lord and Redeemer. In order, however, to reach this great object, it is necessary that in each number should be found, as much as possible, the same order and the same questions and answers for the chief truths of religion, so that these truths, by the additional questions and answers in another number, may be but more clearly explained and more solidly established. This rule, I think, ought to be followed in a series of catechisms, as otherwise confusion might be created in many a child’s mind and memory. On the contrary, truths clearly proposed and explained and often repeated in the same words, and in the same order, cannot fail to remain deeply impressed upon mind and memory.
“As we live in a heretical country, the best and most natural order to be followed in preparing a series of catechisms seems to me to be this: God has been the teacher of mankind from the beginning of the world, and by means of His Church, He will, to the end of time, continue to teach men,
“I. What they must believe.
“II. What they must do.
“III. The means of grace which they must use in order to be saved.
“The explanation of the commandments should be a safe guide of conscience or popular moral theology. In this explanation, therefore, should be stated not only the duties of each commandment, but also the sins which are mortal and which are venial.
“In my humble opinion there are two great truths of our religion to the explanation of which there should be devoted almost as much time and space as to all the rest. These truths are the Divine Mission of the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Eucharist. Today, more than ever, these truths should be made plain and impressed upon the minds and hearts of the young—the Divine Mission of the Church, because she is the divinely appointed teacher of mankind—the Holy Eucharist, because it is the center of our religion, its life, strength, and support.
“The objection that the explanation of these truths at length would make the catechism rather diffuse is scarcely worthy of consideration. What is objectionable in a catechism is not so much diffuseness as obscurity in meaning, or deficiency in clearly explaining the doctrines of our religion. It is true, nothing new can be taught in a catechism, since the truths of our holy religion are always the same. But the manner of proposing and explaining those truths may be new. It certainly admits of improvement in our English literature. Whenever a doctrine is clearly proposed and explained it is easily understood and remembered, and makes a lasting impression. But whenever a doctrine is proposed and explained in a dry and obscure manner, it is apt to create disgust, and leave both heart and mind empty. In rendering not only clear, but distinct, every proposition that should be admitted in a catechism, lies the highest art of its composer, as his science is tried by his including in a given catechism all that ought to be put into it in view of the persons for whom and objects for which it is prepared, and of excluding all else.
“There are some who think and say that our religion may be taught in a few lessons. Be it so. But, generally speaking, a few lessons in religion will not make practical Catholics, or else we should not see so many of the young fall away from the faith. Had they learned better what the Church and the Holy Eucharist are, many of them, instead of having become bitter enemies of the Church, would have become her most strenuous defenders by word and example. A clear, satisfactory explanation of these two great truths in a catechism is alone sufficient to recommend it both to the clergy and laity.
“Each number should contain an appendix with a brief summary of the chief duties which every Christian must know and observe, on Sundays and weekdays, in and out of church, in order to be saved, and with short prayers for morning, night, during the day, at church, for confession, Holy Communion, etc. Thus they would serve for convenient prayer-books in the absence of others. Of course, these books must be small in size, and large of print, so as to serve for pocket use, and not injure the eyes.
“I have been sighing for years for such a series of Catechisms, and cannot conceive how you, in your laudable zeal to profit souls, and to assist your brethren of the clergy, school-brothers, and school-sisters, Sunday-school teachers, and parents, could have overlooked them, or not have felt their necessity yourself.
“What I suggest to you is, undoubtedly, one of the most difficult undertakings. It is a work which, no doubt, will be criticized either in a friendly or in a captious spirit. No attention should be paid to the criticisms of those who are not able or willing to supply an admitted want, but who, from unholy motives, labor to search out trifling faults in excellent and necessary works of this kind, without suggesting anything better and more practical. But by the suggestions of many of those competent, that which is already good becomes perfect. Thus at last a series of Catechisms may be given us, which we can put, pure and simple, into the hands of children and their instructors, as teaching the doctrines Catholic faith, without need of supplementary explanations.
“Now, should you—as I scarcely dare anticipate—think seriously on my humble proposals, and furnish us with the above mentioned series of Catechisms, you would thereby certainly earn the undying thanks of thousands, especially of priests, parents, school-brothers, school-sisters, and Sunday-school teachers, more worthy and deserving of consideration than your humble but admiring servant in Christ.”
I am not quite certain whether or not the good and zealous priest would object to the publication of his letter. So I suppress his name, deservedly held in veneration, and by no one in higher veneration than by myself. In compliance with his request I have prepared this series of Catechisms, and in preparing it, have been guided by his views, as they perfectly agree with mine on the subject. I am impressed more strongly than ever with a sense of the great difficulty of the task. It has always been a matter of considerable difficulty even to the most learned theologians to write a plain, practical Catechism. I should have wished that some one more competent, and more experienced in writing, had engaged in the difficult undertaking. Hence I am ready to charge myself with presumption for venturing on so difficult a task, which has occupied the pens of the ablest theologians.
I can find for myself no excuse but in the sincerity with which I have sought principally to benefit that portion of the flock of Jesus Christ which is dearest to His sacred heart—little children.
What has greatly encouraged me to place these Catechisms before the public, is the favorable reports made by those who read them in manuscript, and were competent to judge their theological accuracy, their earnestness and simplicity of language.
As to the defects of my undertaking—which unquestionably are many—I hope the sincerity of a good will, and the earnest desire of benefiting Catholic youth, will be sufficient to plead my cause with my indulgent and considerate brethren of the clergy and laity. And thus, imperfect as the new production may be, I present it to my brethren of the clergy and laity, hoping that it may meet with sound criticisms, communicated to me either publicly or privately.
I have now only to add that I submit this, and whatever else I have written, to the better judgment of our Bishops, but especially to the Holy See, anxiously desirous to think nothing, to say nothing, to teach nothing but what is approved of by those to whom the sacred deposit of Faith has been committed—those who watch over us and are to render an account to God for our souls.
Now, should the Prelates of the Church deem this series of Catechisms well calculated to promote the great cause for which it has been prepared, the writer will believe himself amply rewarded for his labor, and will feel extremely grateful if they encourage their introduction by recommending them to the clergy and laity of their dioceses.
New York: Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1874.
St. Alphonsus’ Church, 234 South 5th Ave.
Introduction—Why We Are in this World
Question: Who created you?
ANSWER: God created me.
Q. Out of what did God make you?
A. God made me out of nothing. 2 Mach. vii. 28.
Q. Of what are you composed?
A. Of two parts—a soul and a body.
Q. To whose likeness did God create you?
A. "God created me to his own image and likeness." Gen. 1. 26.
Q. Is this likeness in your body or in your soul?
A. It is principally in my soul.
Q. Is your soul then a spirit like to God?
A. It is.
Q. Is your soul one like God?
A. It is.
Q. Will your soul live forever like God?
A. It will.
Q. In what else is your soul like to God?
A. In its love for God.
Q. How does this love make the soul like to God?
A. Because in loving God it loves what is infinitely good and perfect, and so loving, tries to make itself good and perfect like to God.
Q. Does God then love Himself?
A. Yes; because being all wise, He knows Himself, who is all wisdom; and being in Himself infinite perfection must love Himself always, and all His creatures in proportion as they resemble Him.
Q. In the one God there are three distinct persons. Is there anything in the soul like to this?
A. Yes; in the soul there are three distinct powers.
Q. What are these powers?
A. The understanding, will, and memory.
Q. Of what use are these three powers to man?
A. By means of them he can learn languages, build churches, palaces, great cities, steamboats, and railroads, write and print books, count days, dates, distances, money, and above all, know and love God.
Q. Can animals do this?
A. No.
Q. Why can they not?
A. Because they have not rational souls.
Q. What lesson are we to learn from this?
A. That man is not a mere animal, made simply for this world, but that he has a soul made to know, love, and serve God, its Creator, whose image and likeness it is.
Q. What is the plain answer to be made to men who say they have no soul?
A. If they say they have no soul they must consider themselves simply animals, and since they are pleased to be animals they had better go and live with the class of beings to which they belong.
Q. Why did God make us to His own image and likeness?
A. That He might bestow upon us His own happiness in heaven. "I am thy reward exceeding great." Gen. XV. 1.
Q. On what condition will He bestow upon us His own happiness?
On condition that we always serve Him on earth. "The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve." Matt. iv. 10
Q. How must we serve God?
A. By doing God's will. "Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. vii. 21.
Q. Were all men made to be forever happy with God in heaven?
A. Yes, all without exception. "God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of truth." 1 Tim., ii. 4.
Q. Why are many not saved?
A. Because instead of serving God they seek only the riches and pleasures of this world.
Q. May we not seek and use the goods of this world?
A. We may, so far as they help us to serve God.
Q. How must we regard those goods and pleasures which keep us from serving God?
A. We must neither seek nor use them.
Q. Why?
A. Because God has said: "What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul." Matt. xvi. 26
Q. How can the goods and pleasures of this world cause us to lose our souls?
A. By drawing us away from God.
Q. Cannot the riches and pleasures of this world make us happy?
A. No.
Q. Why not?
A. Because the soul was not created for and by them, but by God for Himself. It was not created for time, but for eternity. the riches and pleasures of this world end with this world; and if we set our happiness on them, it must end with them.
Q. But cannot we love those pleasures and God at the same time?
A. We cannot love both, above all things, at the same time. If we make the riches and pleasures of this world the sole object of our lives, we must forget God, our Creator.
Q. Where then are we to seek true happiness?
A. In God alone.
Q. How are we to seek for true happiness only in God?
A. By serving God according to His will.
Q. What do we say of the man who serves God as God wishes to be served?
A. That he is united with God, or that he is a follower of the only true religion.
Q. Who then is a follower of the true religion?
A. He alone who serves God according to God's will.
Q. What will happen to us after death if we have not served God?
A. God will cast us into the everlasting torments of hell. As we have cast Him off, so will He cast us off, and have nothing to do with us.
Q. What then must always be our greatest care?
A. To do the holy will of God.
PART I.
Lesson I.—God , Our Teacher
Question. Who can teach us how to serve God according to His will?
Answer. Either God Himself, or he to whom God has made His will known.
Q. Has God ever spoken to men, and made His will known to them?
A. Yes; very often.
Q. To whom did he speak?
A. To the patriarchs and the prophets.
Q. What do you mean by "patriarchs?"
A. All those holy men who lived before Moses.
Q. Name some of them.
A. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.
Q. What did God say to them?
A. He told them who He was, why He had made them, in what manner they must worship Him, and what they must believe and do to be happy with Him in heaven, and escape the everlasting pains of hell.
Q. What else did God say to those holy men?
A. He commanded them to tell their fellow-men what he had spoken to them.
Q. What do you mean by "prophets?"
A. Men filled with the Spirit of God.
Q. What Spirit was this?
A. The Holy Ghost, the Lord and Life-giver.
Q. Name some of the prophets.
A. Moses, Elias, Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, Daniel, Malachias, etc.
Q. Why are they called prophets?
A. Because they foretold things to come.
Q. How could they know things to come?
A. Because God made them known to them.
Q. What did they foretell?
A. They foretold especially the time of the coming of the Redeemer, the circumstances of His birth, of His life, passion, and death.
Q. What else did the prophets foretell of the Redeemer?
A. His resurrection and Ascension, and the sending down of the Holy Ghost, the destruction of Jerusalem, the rejection of the Jews, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the founding, spreading, and duration of His Church.
Q. Why was all this foretold by the prophets?
A. That all men might prepare for the coming of the Redeemer, know Him by the prophecies, and believe and do all that He would command them.
Q. How were men to know for certain that God had spoken to the patriarchs and prophets?
A. Because God Himself bore witness to the truth of their words by miracles.
Q. What do you mean by a miracle?
A. Miracles are most extraordinary works which cannot be done by mere natural powers, but by the power of God alone; such as the raising of the dead to life, giving sight to the blind, and the like.
Q. If holy men work miracles in confirmation of the truth of their words, must we, then, believe that God has spoken through them?
A. Yes; because God cannot permit a miracle except in confirmation of the truth, and therefore, when God speaks, whether it be through man, or in His own divine person, we must listen and obey, simply because it is the voice of God.
Q. Why cannot God permit a miracle in confirmation of error?
A. Because He cannot deceive us.
Q. When did God begin to speak to men?
A. When He first created man.
Q. How long did God continue to speak to men through the patriarchs and prophets?
A. For about four thousand years.
Q. Did God, after that time, speak no more?
A. At the end of that time, He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to teach men.
Q. Who is Jesus Christ?
A. Jesus Christ is the son of God, true God and true man in one divine person.
Q. In what condition was mankind when the Redeemer came?
A. The grossest darkness of the understanding, and the most lamentable depravity of the will prevailed almost over the entire world.
Q. What was the consequence of this darkness and depravity?
A. All mankind, with the exception of the Jews, having lost the knowledge of God, worshiped creatures, even the very demons, as gods, and the most shameful vices were praised as virtues.
Q. Why did not the Jews also worship false gods?
A. Because the Jews or Israelites were a people chosen by God from the corrupt mass of mankind, and watched over with special care.
Q. Why did God choose the Jews for his people, and watch over them with special care?
A. Because, notwithstanding their sins, God took pity on men, and wished that through the Jews all those laws and truths which He had made known to mankind should be preserved, and that through them salvation might come to the whole world.
Q. For what other reason did God choose the Jews for his people?
A. God also wished that from them at last should be born one holy enough to be the mother of the Redeemer.
Q. What remedy did Jesus Christ apply to heal those universal evils of the understanding?
A. He enlightened men by His divine doctrine and example
Q. What remedy did our blessed Redeemer apply to heal the great evils of the will?
A. He gave us the sacraments and prayer as means to obtain those graces which He merited for us by His life and death, whereby we would be enabled to believe and practise what he had taught us.
Lesson II.—God, Our Teacher by his Church
Q. What did Jesus Christ do in order that all men, even to the end of the world, might learn His holy Doctrine, and have the means of grace by which alone they could be saved?
A. He established a well-organized society of those who believed in Him and professed His whole Doctrine.
Q. What did Jesus Christ call this society?
A. He called it His Church.
Q. Who were the first members of that society?
A. The Immaculate Virgin Mary, the twelve Apostles, the seventy-two disciples, and some other followers of Jesus Christ.
Q. How did Jesus Christ organize His society?
A. From among His followers He chose twelve men to be the witnesses and teachers of His Doctrine and works.
Q. What were these twelve men called?
A. Apostles.
Q. Where were the Apostles to be the witnesses of Christ's doctrine and works?
A. "In Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth." Acts i. 8.
Q. What did Jesus Christ give the Apostles to understand when He said to them that they would be witnesses unto Him all over the world?
A. That He had chosen them in order that, after His ascension into heaven, they should preach to all nations what they had seen and heard from Him.
Q. How did He prepare the Apostles for so difficult and important an office?
A. He first instructed them publicly and privately, for three years and a half, and during fourty days after His resurrection, in all the doctrines which they should make known to all nations, and then sent to them the Holy Ghost to enlighten and strengthen them in their office.
Q. What else did He do?
A. He gave His Apostles those very powers which He Himself exercised on earth.
Q. What were those powers?
A. His power as Teacher, as Priest, and as Ruler or King of an everlasting kingdom.
Q. When did Jesus Christ bestow His powers upon His Apostles?
A. When He said to them: "All power is given to me in heaven and on earth." Matt. xxviii. 18. "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you." John xx. 21.
Q. What were the Apostles' powers as Teachers?
A. Power to spread abroad, explain, and preserve uncorrupted the holy doctrines of Jesus Christ, and to condemn all false teaching.
Q. In what words did Jesus Christ bestow this power upon the Apostles?
A. In these words: "Go and teach all nations, preach the Gospel to every creature." Matt. xxviii. 18.
Q. What were the Apostles' powers as Priests?
A. Power to offer sacrifice, and administer the sacraments of Christ.
Q. In what words did He bestow this power upon them?
A. In these words: "Do this that I have done," that is, sacrifice this, "in remembrance of me." Luke xxii.19. "Go, baptize mankind in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matt. xxviii. 19. "Whosesoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven them." John xx. 21.
Q. What were the Apostles' powers as Rulers?
A. Power to govern the Church, make laws for the people, and enforce those laws.
Q. In what words did He bestow this power upon them?
A. In these words: "Teach mankind to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Matt. xxviii. 18. "I give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matt. xvi. 19
Q. Were these powers of Teacher, Priest, and Ruler given to all men alike, who believed in Jesus Christ?
A. No; to the Apostles only and their successors.
Q. When, then, our Lord bestowed on His Apostles His own powers of teaching, administering the sacraments, and governing the Church, did He at the same time command all men to hear and obey them?
A. He did, in these words: "Whosoever will not believe, shall be condemned;" and, "He who heareth you heareth me;" and, "He who will not hear the Church, let him be as the heathen and publican." Matt. xviii. 17.
Q. What do we learn from all this?
A. That the Church of Jesus Christ was made up of two classes of men: of teachers and hearers; of priests and people; of rulers and subjects; so that we are bound to believe what the Church teaches, receive her sacraments, and obey her laws.
Lesson III.—St. Peter the Head of Christ's Church
Q. Were the Apostles to exercise their powers as they pleased?
A. They were only to exercise their powers under the supreme authority of St. Peter.
Q. Why?
A. Because Jesus Christ appointed St. Peter to be His Representative on earth, and the visible Head of His whole Church.
Q. But is not Christ Himself the Head of the Church?
A. Christ is the invisible Head, but Peter is the visible Head of the Church.
Q. Was it necessary that the Church of Christ should have a Visible Head as well as the Invisible One?
A. Yes; because the entire community of pastors and the faithful are the visible body of the Church of Christ, and a visible body or society must also have a visible head.
Q. Why?
A. Because the principle of supreme authority is a fundamental principle of reason and experience.
Q. What do you mean by this?
A. I mean that reason and experience teach us that there can be no order, no law, no civilization without supreme authority; in other words, supreme authority is the foundation of order and law.
Q. Can we see the necessity of such authority whithersoever we turn?
A. We can.
Q. Give some examples?
A. Every ship or steamboat must have its captain. Every railroad engine must have its engineer. In every society we find a president. In every government there must be a president or a monarch.
Q. Do we find the principle of authority in practice even amongst the savages?
A. Yes; and even amongst brute beasts, even among the tiny insects. We find, for instance, that the ants and the bees have their queen or supreme ruler.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That the same God who observes such wonderful order in the most simple works of nature; the same God who planted in our reason the principle of order and authority, must necessarily observe this order in the greatest of His works—in the establishment of His Church.
Q. How do we know that Christ has established this principle of supreme authority in His Church?
A. We know it from the fact that He gave greater powers to St. Peter than to the rest of the Apostles.
Q. How do we know this?
A. From the words of Christ Himself, who said to Peter: "I say to thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matt. xvi. 18.
Q. What did our Lord understand by this "rock?"
A. St. Peter himself.
Q. Why so?
A. Because Christ called him Cephas, which is a Syriac word, and means a rock.
Q. What else did our Lord say to St. Peter on this occasion?
A. "I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth it shall be loosed also in heaven." V.19
Q. But did not Jesus Christ say the same to the rest of the Apostles?
A. He addressed these words to all the Apostles in common, but He addressed them to St. Peter in particular, saying: "I say to THEE, thou art Peter," etc.
Q. Why did He say so?
A. To show clearly that He wished to bestow on St. Peter some especial power.
Q. Did our Lord make this more clear on some other occasion?
A. Yes; when He said to St. Peter: "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep." John xxi. 15-17.
Q. What did He mean by lambs?
A. The faithful.
Q. What did He mean by sheep?
A. The pastors.
Q. Why did Jesus Christ speak thus?
A. To show that just as sheep feed the lambs, so also pastors feed the souls of the faithful.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That Christ intrusted to Peter both the pastors and the faithful.
Q. Did the Apostles themselves recognize Peter's supremacy?
A. They did.
Q. Who called together the disciples, and presided over the council which they held in Jerusalem to elect a new Apostle in the place of Judas?
A. St. Peter.
Q. Might this new Apostle have been chosen by St. Peter himself?
A. Yes; undoubtedly.
Q. Who says so?
A. St. John Chrysostom, who lived in the fifth century.
Q. Who first preached Jesus crucified, and converted by his sermon three thousand persons?
A. St. Peter.
Q. Who first declared that the Gentiles were to be admitted to Baptism, according to a divine revelation which he had received on that subject?
A. St. Peter.
Q. Who first decided in an assembly of the Apostles at Jerusalem that Christians were no longer to be subjected to the Jewish law of circumcision?
A. St. Peter.
Q. What are we to learn from this?
A. That St. Peter was the Head of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Q. Why?
A. Because he exercised the office of supreme Head of the Church on all those occasions.
Q. When the evangelists give the names of the Apostles whom do they always name first?
A. St. Peter.
Q. What are the words of St. Matthew, x.2?
A. "The names of the twelve apostles: The first Simon, who is called Peter."
Q. Might it not be said that St. Peter was always named the first either because he was the eldest or because he had been called to the apostleship before the rest?
A. No; because St. Andrew was both older than Peter and had become a disciple of Christ before him.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That the rest of the Apostles acknowledged Peter as the head of the Church.
Q. What Father of the Church writes: "It was not St. Andrew that was appointed head; it was St. Peter"?
A. St. Ambrose, who lived in the fourth century. C. 12, in 2 Corinth.
Q. What Father used this expression: "Behold the Apostle St. Peter, in whom power shines with so much brightness"?
A. St. Augustine, who lived in the fourth century. 2 Lib. de Bapt.
Q. And who writes: "St. Peter was made the chief of the Apostles in order that unity should be preserved in the Church"?
A. St. Optatus, who lived in the fourth century. 2 Lib. adv. Parmen.
Q. And who again wrote as follows: "It is known in all ages that Peter was the Prince and Head of the Apostles, the foundation-stone of the Catholic Church. This is a fact which no one doubts"?
A. The Fathers of the General Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431.
Q. What doctrine do we learn from the writings of those Fathers of the Church?
A. That they and the faithful of all ages acknowledged Peter as the Head of the Church of Christ.
Q. Was it Christ's will that this office of head should be continued from St. Peter to his successors to the end of the world?
A. It was.
Q. Why?
A. Because Christ founded His Church to last to the end of time.
Q. Who has always been acknowledged as the visible Head of the Church of Christ after the death of St. Peter?
A. The Pope or Bishop of Rome.
Q. Why do you say that the Popes or Bishops of Rome are the successors of St. Peter?
A. Because St. Peter established his See at Rome, and died there.
Q. How do you answer those who say that St. Peter never went to Rome?
A. I would ask them three questions:
1. If St. Peter did not suffer martyrdom at Rome, under the Emperor Nero, where did he die?
2. If St. Peter did not die at Rome, from what place, and at what time were his remains carried thither?
3. Did not the Fathers of the Church who lived in the first ages of Christendom, know better who was the first Bishop of Rome than the Protestants of our day can know?
Q. What does St. Augustine say about Peter being at Rome?
A. "After Peter came Linus, and Clement followed after Linus." Epist. ad Generos.
Q. What other Father writes: "St. Peter was the first who occupied the See of Rome, after him came Linus, and after Linus came Clement"?
A. St. Optatus. 2 Lib. adv. Parmen.
Q. And who tells us that "Rome has become the capital of Christendom because it was there that St. Peter established his See"?
A. St. Leo the Great. Serm. I. in Nat. Apost.
Q. What clearly follows from the writings of those Fathers of the Church?
A. That the Popes or Bishops of Rome were always held to be the successors of St. Peter.
Q. Was the office of teacher, of priest, and of ruler in the persons of the other apostles also to continue throughout all time?
A. It was.
Q. How do we know this?
A. From the fact that Jesus Christ gave power to the Apostles to choose others, and ordain them as Bishops, and appoint them as rulers of His Church.
Q. In what words did He give this power?
A. In these: "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you."
Q. What is the meaning of those words?
A. The meaning is unmistakably this: As My Heavenly Father has empowered me to choose you to take My place on earth, so I empower you to choose others to take your place.
Q. From what other words of our Lord do we know that the threefold office of the Apostles was to continue to the end of the world?
A. From these words of our Lord: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the end of the world" (Matt. xxviii. 20); that is, I am with you in your successors to the end of the world.
Q. When Jesus Christ chose the Apostles to preach His holy doctrine, and establish His Church all over the world, was it necessary for them to remember the whole doctrine of Christ, understand it perfectly, and preach it in that sense in which Jesus Christ had preached it and wished it to be understood by the whole world?
A. Yes; this was absolutely necessary.
Q. Did Jesus Christ assure the Apostles that He would bestow upon them the grace to remember His whole doctrine, and understand it well?
A. He did.
Q. On what occasion did He give them this assurance?
A. When He said: "The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you." John xiv. 26.
Q. What effect, then, did the Holy Ghost work in the Apostles when He came down upon them on Whitsunday?
A. He reminded them of all that they had seen and heard from Jesus Christ, and He enlightened them so as to understand His doctrine, and preach it in that sense in which Jesus Christ wished it to be understood and practised.
Q. What is this grace, which the Holy Ghost bestowed upon the Apostles, called?
A. The grace or gift of infallibility in teaching.
Lesson IV.—Infallibility of the Pope
Q. Did our Blessed Saviour foresee that certain men would corrupt or misinterpret His holy Doctrine?
A. He did.
Q. When certain men either corrupted or misinterpreted Christ's holy Doctrine, what was necessary to remove all doubts about its true meaning, and preserve it always pure and uncorrupted?
A. That there should be one particularly priviledged by God to set forth and state plainly with divine certainty the true meaning of Christ's doctrine in all questions where His doctrine was concerned.
Q. What do we call such a priviledged person?
A. The supreme judge in all points of divine law, from whose sentences there is no appeal.
Q. Why is such a judge necessary?
A. To put an end to all disputes about points of divine law.
Q. How so?
A. If every man in the country were to take the laws of the State, and to explain them as he pleased, there would be nothing but confusion and disorder in society. In like manner, if every man were to take the sacred, eternal law of God, the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and to interpret it as he pleased, there would be nothing but confusion in religion.
Q. What safeguard has human wisdom adopted to prevent confusion and disorder in society?
A. It has found it necessary to appoint a supreme judge to decide ultimately in all disputed points of civil law.
Q. What is the plain inference from this?
A. That if even human wisdom sees the necessity of appointing a supreme judge to decide ultimately in all points of civil law, it cannot be supposed that God, who is InfiniteWisdom, should neglect to appoint a supreme judge to decide ultimately in all points of divine law, in order thus to prevent all confusion in religion.
Q. What safeguard has human wisdom adopted to prevent confusion and disorder in society?
A. It has found it necessary to appoint a supreme judge to decide ultimately in all disputed points of civil law.
Q. What is the plain inference from this?
A. That if even human wisdom sees the necessity of appointing a supreme judge to decide ultimately in all points of civil law, it cannot be supposed that God, who is Infinite Wisdom, should neglect to appoint a supreme judge to decide ultimately in all points of divine law, in order thus to prevent all confusion in religion.
Q. Was there ever a time when men were left to themselves, to fashion their own religion, to invent their own creed, their own form of worship, and to decide in matters of religion?
A. No; there always existed on earth a visible teaching authority, to which it was a bounden duty of every man to submit.
Q. Whom did God appoint to be this visible teaching authority before the coming of the Redeemer?
A. During the four thousand years that elapsed before the coming of the Redeemer, the doctrines that were to be believed, the feasts that were to be observed, the sacrifices, the ceremonies of worship, everything was regulated by the living, authoritative voice of the patriarchs, the priests, and the prophets.
Q. How do we know that God in the Old Law appointed a tribunal, presided over by the High-Priest, to judge in all controversies, both of doctrine and morals, and from whose decision there was no appeal?
A. The Jewish historian, Josephus, who was well aquainted with the laws and religion of his own nation, says: "The High-Priest offers sacrifice to God before the other priests; he guards the laws, judges controversies, punishes the guilty, and whoever disobeys him is punished as one that is impious towards God." Lib. 2, Contra Appium.
Q. Is there still a greater authority than Josephus bearing witness to the fact?
A. Yes; the Word of God itself bears witness to the fact. "If thou perceive," says holy Scripture, "that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, and thou seest that the words of the judges within the gates do vary, arise and go up to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt come to the priests, and to the judge that shall be at that time, and thou shalt ask them, and they shall show thee the truth of the judgment. And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, and thou shalt follow their sentence. Neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand. Nut he that will be proud and refuse to obey the commandments of the priest, who ministereth at the time to the Lord thy God, and to the decree of the judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel." Deut. xvii. 8-12.
Q. What do we see from this?
A. Here we see clearly a tribunal appointed by Almighty God Himself to decide in the last resort; a tribunal from whose sentence there is no appeal. There is no exception, the rule is for all, the terrible sentence is pronounced against every transgressor. Whosoever shall refuse to abide by the decision of the High-Priest shall die the death.
Q. How long did this tribunal remain intact?
A. Until the coming of the Saviour.
Q. Who assures us of this?
A. Our Blessed Redeemer Himself, in these words: "The Scribes and Pharisees have sat in the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do." Matt. xxiii. 2.
Q. Now, did our Lord Jesus Christ establish a supreme tribunal; did He give to the world and infallible judge and teacher, to decide ultimately in all controversies, both of faith and morals, whose decision is final, and without appeal?
A. Our Blessed Saviour came not to destroy the Law, but to make it perfect. He therefore established in the New Law that which the Old Law was most necessary for the preservation of faith and morals. He gave to the whole world an infallible judge and teacher, to decide ultimately in all points of faith and morals.
Q. Whom did Jesus Christ appoint as the infallible judge and teacher in all points of faith and morals?
A. St. Peter, the Head of His Church.
Q. Were not all the successors of the Apostles to possess the gift of infallibility?
A. No; the successor of St. Peter, the Pope of Rome, only.
Q. How do we know that the successors of the other Apostles, the Catholic Bishops, were not endowed with the gift of infallibility?
A. Because Jesus Christ never promised it to them.
Q. How do we know that Jesus Christ never promised it to them?
A. Because no such promise is recorded either in Holy Scripture or tradition.
Q. Why did Christ not promise to the Bishops the gift of infallibility?
A. Because He does not multiply and dispense His gifts without necessity.
Q. Was not the gift of infallibility necessary to the Bishops?
A. By no means.
Q. Why not?
A. Because after the Apostles had preached the full doctrine of Christ, their successors had only to guard this doctrine, and deliver it uncorrupted to the faithful.
Q. What does the Apostle St. Paul write to the Bishop St. Timothy on this subject?
A. "Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called." (1 Tim. vi. 20, and 2 Tim. i. 14.) "But evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse, erring and driving into error. But continue thou in those things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee." 2 Tim. iii. 13.
Q. But did not Christ promise the Apostles and their successors: "The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, shall be in you, and abide with you forever"? John xiv. 16.
A. He did so promise.
Q. If, then, according to this promise, the Spirit of Truth shall abide forever with the successors of the Apostles, are they not personally infallible?
A. By no means.
Q. Why not?
A. The Spirit of Truth may abide in a person, and yet that person may not be infallible. The Spirit of Truth may abide in a multitude, and yet not each individual of the multitude may possess it in its entirety.
Q. Give an example.
A. A million men may not know the road to a certain city to which they must go. A single guide suffices to set this million on the right road. Once on it, they have only to follow their guide and they cannot go astray. Once the way is pointed out, all know it to be right, but only one could point out the right road to be followed.
Q. Do you mean that Christ wished that in this same manner the Spirit of Truth should abide with the Catholic Bishops?
A. Precisely so; for Christ gave them and all the faithful, in the person of the Head of His Church, an infallible teacher of all the truths which He and His Apostles taught. By invariably following this teacher the Spirit of Truth will always abide with them.
Q. How do we know that the Pope as successor to St. Peter possesses the gift of infallibility?
A. Christ Himself assured St. Peter and his successors of this.
Q. On what occasion?
A. When He told St. Peter that by His prayer to His heavenly Father He had obtained this gift of infallibility for him and all his successors. "I have prayed for thee (Peter) that thy faith fail not, and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren." Luke xxii. 31, 32.
Q. Why did Christ pray to His Father that St. Peter and his successors should be endowed with the gift of infallibility?
A. Because Christ wished that the never-failing faith of St. Peter and his successors should be forever the foundation-stone of His Church.
Q. On what occasion did Christ assure us of this?
A. When He asked the Apostles: "Whom do you say that I am?" Matt. xvi. 15.
Q.Which of the Apostles made answer to this question?
A. St. Peter.
Q. What was his answer?
A. "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God."
Q. What answer did Christ make to this reply of St. Peter?
A. He said: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church."
Q. What is the meaning of these words of our Lord?
A. Jesus Christ means to say that, as it is My Father who has made known to you, Peter, that I am His Son, I also make known to the whole world, that you and your successors will always know and understand who I am, and what I have taught.
Q. When did Christ build His Church upon Peter, that is, intrust him with the whole flock?
A. When He said to him: "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep." John xxi. 16.
Q. What is the meaning of this?
A. Christ says that His whole flock, teachers and hearers, priests and people, rulers and subjects, must believe and teach as Peter and his successors believe and teach.
Q. Why?
A. Because his faith, according to Christ's solemn words, shall not fail, since no power shall prevail against Peter or any of his successors so as to cause them to teach anything else than what Christ has taught. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church," built upon Peter's faith. Matt. xvi. 18.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That where Peter, that is, the Pope, is, there is the Church of Christ, or in other words, that all those who believe and teach as the Pope does, form the true Church of Christ. St. Ambrose.
Q. Who, by his own motion, often condemned heresies, both before and after the first general council?
A. The Pope.
Q. To whom did the Catholic Bishops always have recourse in all controversies both of faith and morals?
A. To the Pope.
Q. If the obstinacy of the party condemned by the Pope made it advisable to have recourse to general councils, were these councils, then, after the most mature deliberation, ever found to do anything else than to confirm the sentence already passed by the Pope?
A. They were not. (See Q. and A. in Additional Questions and Answers)
Q. Did any Pope ever issue any decree concerning the truths of the faith or sound morality, which was not afterwards received by the great body of the Bishops, as containing the most solid and wholesome doctrine?
A. Such a thing never happened.
Q. Could the greatest enemies of the Catholic faith ever prove that any Pope taught any doctrine contrary to the sacred truths taught by Jesus Christ and His Apostles?
A. Never. (See Q. and A. in Additional Questions and Answers)
Q. What are we to understand from all this?
A. That it has always been the belief of the Catholic Church that the Pope, in his solemn decisions in matters of faith and morals, is infallible.
Q. If this be true, how then could it happen that some years ago a few Bishops and Priests were said not to have held this to be a doctrine of Catholic faith?
A. Because the divine tradition of this doctrine had not been as yet explicitly defined by the Holy Father.
Q. Did those Bishops, assembled in the Council of the Vatican, continue to oppose the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope, after it was defined?
A. No. All, without exception, freely and joyfully subscribed their names to the decrees of the council, and professed their faith in the infallibility of the Pope.
Q. If, then, in a general council, or assembly of all the Catholic Bishops, the meaning of a certain doctrine of Christ was to be set forth in precise language, and the majority of Bishops would explain it in one sense, and the minority in another, on which side would be the truth?
A. On that side, though it be the minority of Bishops, which agrees with the Pope.
Q. Why?
A. Simply because Christ bound Himself solemnly only to Peter and his successors that their faith should never fail; that is, that every one of them would always be so enlightened by the Holy Ghost as to understand the true meaning of His doctrine, and state and teach it plainly with divine certainty. "Where Peter is, there is the Church."
Q. Must we, then, believe that such decisions of the Pope in matters of faith and morals are infallibly true?
A. Yes; because this is an article of faith, which we must believe, as firmly as we believe that there is a God.
Q. If anyone should say, or even think otherwise, what would he be before God?
A. An apostate from the faith.
Q. Does the Pope then teach anything new, when in such misinterpretations of Christ's doctrine he declares what is to be believed?
A. No; he plainly states the truth in the sense in which Jesus Christ and the Apostles preached it.
Q. Can you now tell me whose office it is to guard the doctrine of Christ, as preached by the Apostles, and proclaim and apply it always and everywhere, one and the same, and to defend the rights of God on earth against every enemy, at all times, and in all places?
A. This is the Pope's office.
Q. Who is appointed by God Himself to declare and apply the invariable doctrine of Jesus Christ, and to govern all men and nations, kings and peoples, according to this invariable doctrine?
A. The Pope.
Q. Must the Pope as guardian and judge of the law of God, resist with all his might every passion or tendency of every age, nation, community, or individual, whenever it leaves the law of God?
A. He is bound in conscience to do so.
Q. When does the Pope speak "ex Cathedra," or infallibly?
A. He speaks infallibly whenever in the discharge of his office of pastor and teacher of all Christians, he defines (that is, finally determines), according to his supreme apostolic authority, a doctrine concerning faith or morals, to be held by the Universal Church, or anything else that is conducive to the preservation of faith and morals.
Q.When the Pope, in accordance with the duty of his apostolic ministry and his supreme apostolic authority, proceeds, in briefs, encyclical letters, consistorial allocutions, and other apostolic letters, to declare certain truths, to reprobate perverse doctrines, and condemn certain errors, must such declarations of truth, and condemnations of error, be considered as infallible, and as binding in conscience, and requiring our firm interior assent, although they do not express an anathema on those who disagree?
A. Such declarations of truth and condemnations of error are infallible, or ex cathedra acts of the Pope, and, therefore are binding in conscience, and requiring our firm interior assent; to refuse which would be for us a mortal sin, since such a refusal would be a virtual denial of the dogma of infallibility, and we should be heretics were we conscious of such a denial. St. Alphonsus Liguori. Theol. Mor., Lib I., 104.
Q. Are not such doctrinal utterances of the Pontiff of imperfect and incomplete authority until they are confirmed and accepted by the Bishops of the Church?
A. Nothing is ever farther from the thoughts of the bishops than that the papal declarations of truth, and condemnations of error, should need the confirmation and acceptance of the pastors of the Church to be true utterances of the Holy Ghost, and binding in conscience, because their confirmation and acceptance does not add certainty to that which is already infallible.
Q. What does the Vatican Council teach on this subject?
A. It teaches that "the definitions of the Roman Pontiff, concerning faith and morals, are irreformable of themselves, and not by force of the consent of the Church thereto." Sess. iv., c. iv.
Q. What have the Fathers of the Church styled the Pope?
A.
The mouth of the Church, ever living and open to teach the whole world;
The centre of Christian faith and unity, and the light of truth for the universe;
The Father of souls, the guide of consciences, and the sovereign judge of the religious interests of mankind;
The Prince of priests—a greater Patriarch than Abraham—greater than Melchisedech in priesthood—than Moses in authority—than Samuel in jurisdiction; a Peter in power, Christ by unction, pastor of pastors, guide of guides, the cardinal joint of all churches, the impregnable citadel of the communion of the children of God, the immovable corner-stone upon which the Church of God reposes.
Q. Why have the Fathers given these titles to the Pope?
A. Because the Pope is the infallible teacher of the Church of Christ.
Q. What sentiments, then, should every Catholic express concerning the Pope?
A. I acknowledge in the Pope an authority before which my soul bows, and yet suffers no humiliation.
Lesson V.—Propagation of Christ's Religion
Q. What did the Apostles do after they had received the Holy Ghost on Whitsunday?
A. They went forth into the whole world to instruct all nations, according to the orders given them by Jesus Christ.
Q. What did they do with those who believed their doctrine?
A. They gathered them into congregations.
Q. What came from these congregations of believers?
A. There arose, in many places, communities of Christians, whose rulers were the Apostles.
Q. What did the Apostles do when those communities of Christians became very numerous?
A. They chose from amongst them men whom they ordained Bishops, appointing them everywhere as the spiritual rulers of the new Christian communities, with the commission likewise to ordain and appoint others to like offices.
Q. Were all these communities united with one another?
A. Yes; because they all professed the same faith, partook of the same sacraments, and formed all together one great Christian community, under one common head, St. Peter.
Q. What did they call this great community of Christians under one common head?
A. The Catholic, that is, the universal Church, or, simply, the Church.
Q. What, then, is the Church at the present time?
A. The entire body of pastors and people, bound together by the same divine truths, laws, and means of grace, under one head, the Pope of Rome.
Q. Who are the true successors of the Apostles?
A. Only the Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.
Q. Why?
A. Because they alone are rightly consecrated and in communion with the Pope, the Head of the Church.
Q. Did Christ appoint the Pope alone to govern His Church?
A. The Bishops, too, aid in governing the Church, but only with and under their head, the Pope. "Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you Bishops, to rule the Church of God." Acts xx. 28.
Q. On what condition did Christ grant any power to His Apostles and their successors?
A. On condition that they would always believe and teach, as the visible Head of His Church believed and taught, and remain obedient to him.
Q. What does St. Irenæus say on the subject?
A. "The Apostles certainly delivered the truth and all the mysteries of our faith to their successors, the pastors. To these, therefore, we ought to have recourse to learn them, especially to the greatest church, the most ancient and known to all, founded at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, which retains the tradition which it received from them, and which is derived through a succession of Bishops down to us. To this Church of Rome, on account of its chiefer principality, it is necessary that every church, that is, the faithful everywhere, address themselves, in which Church the tradition from the Apostles is everywhere preserved." Lib. iii. c. 3.
Q. What does St. Cyprian say?
A. "There is but one God and one Christ; there is but one Church and one See, founded upon Peter by our Lord Himself." Lib. i. ep. 8.
Q. What did St. Jerome write to Pope Damasus?
A. "I am attached to your Chair, which is the Chair of St. Peter. I know that the Church is built upon this rock. Whosoever does not eat the Lamb in this house is profane, and whoever does not enter into this Ark, will perish in the waters of the deluge. I do not know Vitalis, I am unacquainted with Meletius, and Paulinus is unknown to me—whoever is not with you is against Jesus Christ, and whoever gathereth not with you, scattereth."
Q. What conclusion are we forced to draw from this constant tradition of the Fathers?
A. That all Christians are bound to be in full communion with the Church of Rome.
Q. Why is the Catholic Church called the Roman Church?
A. Because St. Peter established the See of his primacy in Rome, and because he handed down the same to be the See of all his successors.
Q. How do the Bishops rule the Church?
A. Each Bishop governs the diocese or bishopric assigned to him by the Pope, and according to the regulations of the Pope. They occasionally meet in council to give their opinion about the best way of advancing the welfare of the Church, and to make decrees and regulations, to be approved of by the Pope.
Q. Through whom do the Bishops exercise their office in the particular congregations (parishes) of their dioceses?
A. Through the priests or pastors whom they appoint.
Q. When may a priest discharge the duties of the priesthood?
A. When he has been expressly sent, or authorized, for that purpose, by his lawful Bishop.
Q. By what means are unity and good order maintained in the Church?
A. By the laity being always obedient to the priests, the priests to the Bishops, and the Bishops to the Pope. "Obey your prelates and be subject to them. For they watch as being to render an account of your souls." Heb. xiii. 17.
Lesson VI.—Marks of the Church
Q. How many churches did Christ establish?
A. He established only one Church.
Q. How do we know this?
A. Because He said to St. Peter: "Upon thee I will build My Church."
Q. Was it a visible or an invisible Church that Christ established?
A. Christ established a visible Church.
Q. How do we know this?
A. Because Christ has commanded us "to lay our complaints before the Church, that is, before her pastors, and abide by her decision" (Matt. xviii. 17); and because an invisible Church could neither teach the law of God nor administer the sacraments.
Q. How does it follow from this that Christ's Church is visible?
A. Because our Lord cannot command us to lay our complaints before invisible pastors.
Q. How, then, is the Church of Christ visible?
A. She is visible because all her pastors and members are visible, and have always suffered persecution because they were members of the Church of Christ.
Q. For how many years was this visible Church of Christ to last?
A. It was to last to the end of the world.
Q. How do we know this?
A. Because Jesus Christ said that His Church should last to the end of the world.
Q. What are his words?
A. "Behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world" (Matt. xxviii. 20); and, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against my church." Matt. xvi. 18.
Q. What would happen, then, if the Church were not to last to the end of the world?
A. Jesus Christ would have told an untruth; to say which would be blasphemous.
Q. How old is the Church to-day?
A. Over eighteen hundred years since our Saviour ascended into heaven.
Q. In which of the religious societies do we find these marks of the Church of Christ?
A. Only in the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Q. Can the Roman Catholic Church be traced as far back as eighteen hundred years?
A. It can; because we can trace an uninterrupted succession of Popes and Bishops from Pius IX. to St. Peter, and it is impossible to show that it was established at any later period.
Q. Did the Roman Catholic Church ever cease to exist?
A. Never; for she has always existed, and it would be impossible for one to name a period when she did not exist since the time of her establishment.
Q. Do all admit that the Catholic Church was the first Church, that it is the oldest Church, and, consequently the Church established by Jesus Christ?
A. All must admit this; for it is a fact clearly proven by Scripture and by history.
Q. Who bear witness to this fact?
A. The Jews and the Gentiles bear witness to it, and even Protestants themselves acknowledge it.
Q. How do Protestants acknowledge it?
A. If asked why they call themselves Protestants, they answer: "Because we protest against the Catholic Church."
Q. What follows from this answer?
A. That the Catholic Church is older than Protestantism, otherwise they could not have protested against her.
Q. If we go still farther back, and ask the Greeks how they came to existence, what will be their answer?
A. They must answer: "We began by separating from the Catholic Church in the ninth century.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That the Catholic Church existed for eight hundred years before the Greek Church began, and, consequently, it is older than the Greek Church.
Q. If we thus go back to the very days of the Apostles, what do we find everywhere?
A. That every sect separated from the Catholic Church, and, consequently that the Catholic Church existed before any of them.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That the Catholic Church is the oldest Church, the first Church, and, consequently, the Church established by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Q. Can anything like this be said of any of the non-Catholic religious sects now existing?
A. By no means; since the oldest of them was established only about three hundred years ago.
Q. Do you mean to say that the Protestant doctrine was not known before it was preached by Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII., and John Knox?
A. I do, for it is impossible to show from history what society held this doctrine before Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII., and John Knox.
Q. If the Protestant religion was established fifteen hundred years later than the true Church of Christ, what follows from this?
A. It clearly follows that the Protestant religion is not the true Church of Jesus Christ.
Q. But were, then, a Protestant to say to you that his doctrine is the same as that held by the Apostles and the Church during the first four centuries, what would you answer him?
A. I would simply ask him whether or not he was foolish enough to believe that our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles were all Protestants.
Q. Are there still some other marks by which the true Church of Christ may be easily known?
A. Yes, by these four: She is one; she is holy; she is Catholic; she is apostolic.
Q. How many societies are there in this world, in which unity has always existed, and has never been broken?
A. There is only one such society, and this society is the Catholic Church.
Q. In what do her members differ from one another?
A. They differ in their character, their education, their modes of thought; they differ in their language, their habits of life, their sympathies, prejudices; in one word, they differ from one another in everything that distinguishes man from man.
Q. Is there one thing in which they do differ from one another?
A. There is; they do not differ, and never have differed, from one another in their religion, in which alone they are all of one mind and one heart.
Q. How so?
A. Because they believe all the same sacred truths contained in the Apostles' Creed, they are all bound by the same commandments of God and the Church, they have all recourse to the same means of grace, the seven sacraments and prayer, and they unite all in the same divine worship—in the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
Q. Can this union in religion ever be broken in the Catholic Church?
A. Never; because the entirety of her faith will, according to Christ's promise, never fail in her Head—the Pope—from whom it will always flow in all its purity upon all her pastors, and through them upon the rest of the faithful; and the pastors, as well as their flocks, are, by the express command of Christ, all bound under pain of mortal sin to teach and to believe as the Pope teaches and believes, and to be perfectly submissive to him.
Q. How is the Roman Catholic Church holy?
A. Because her founder, Jesus Christ, is holy, and she teaches His holy doctrine, offers to all the means of holiness, and is distinguished by the holiness of so many thousands of her children.
Q. What means the word Catholic?
A. It means "universal."
Q. How is the Roman Church Catholic or universal?
A. Because she exists in all ages, teaches all nations, and maintains all revealed truths, and, therefore, she always went by the name of Catholic, even among her bitterest enemies. "Your faith is spoken of in the whole world." Romans i. 8.
Q. How is the Roman Catholic Church apostolic?
A. Because she has come down directly from the Apostles through the uninterrupted succession of her bishops; and because she received from the Apostles of Christ, who alone could give them, her doctrine, her orders, and her mission.
Q. Is any non-Catholic religious society one?
A. No.
Q. Why can no non-Catholic religious society be one?
A. Because to be one a religious society composed of various members must obey one infallible head only, submit absolutely to be governed by that common head, and obey the infallible teachings of that head. No non-Catholic religious society has or pretends to have such a head and such an infallible teacher.
Q. Give another reason why none of the Protestant sects can be one?
A. Every one of their members assumes to himself more power than Christ gave even to Peter and his successors.
Q. How so?
A. The founders of the Protestant sects and their successors after them, invariably taught their followers that every one has the right to interpret Holy Scripture as he pleases, and to believe as he pleases.
Q. What is the consequence of this freedom of interpretation and belief, as it is called?
A. That no two of them believe alike; that. according to them, Christ's doctrine contradicts itself, and that many of them have already become unbelievers.
Q. Is any non-Catholic religious society holy?
A. No.
Q. Why not?
A. Because their founders and their doctrine are unholy.
Q. Why are their founders not holy?
A. Because the founders of Protestantism were bad Catholics, who fell away from the faith. "And of your ownselves shall arise men speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." Acts xx. 28.
Q. Why is their doctrine not holy?
A. Because it makes our divine Lord Jesus Christ a liar; rejects and derides the means of holiness instituted by Him; and instead of leading men to holiness, leads them to unbelief and idolatry, by leaving every one free to believe whatever he chooses.
Q. Why cannot non-Catholic religious societies be called Catholic?
A. Because they sprang up only in later years, and have not ceased to split again into countless sects, none of which is universally spread, or continually spreading in the manner ordained by Christ.
Q. What are the Calvinists, Arminians, Antinomians, Independents, Kilhamites, Glassites, Haldanites, Bereans, Swedenborgians, New-Jerusalemites, Orthodox Quakers, Hicksites, Shakers, Panters, Seekers, Jumpers, Reformed Methodists, German Methodists, Albright Methodists, Episcopal Methodists, Wesleyan Methodists, Methodists North, Methodists South, Protestant Methodists, Episcopalians, High Church Episcopalians, Low Church Episcopalians, Ritualists, Puseyites, Dutch Reformed, Dutch non-Reformed, Christian, Israelites, Baptists, Particular Baptists, Seventh-Day Baptists, Hardshell Baptists, Softshell Baptists, Forty Gallon Baptists, Sixty Gallon Baptists, African Baptists, Free-will Baptists, Church of God Baptists, Regular Baptists, Anti-Mission Baptists, Six Principle Baptists, River Brethren, Winebremarians, Menonites, Second Adventists, Millerites, Christian Baptists, Universalists, Orthodox Congregationalists, Campbellites, Presbyterians, Old School and New School Presbyterians, Cumberland Presbyterians, United Presbyterians, The Only True Church of Christ, 573 Bowery, N.Y,. up stairs, 5th story, Latter-Day Saints, Restorationists, Schwentfelders, Spiritualists, Mormons, Christian Perfectionists, etc., etc., etc.?
A. They are all so many sects that sprang up from Protestantism.
Q. Was any of the non-Catholic religious societies ever universally called Catholic?
A. None of them was or can, by right, be called by that name.
Q. Why not?
A. Because the name Catholic belongs to the true Church only; for they who remained and remain always united with the ancient body of the faithful have retained their ancient name; but they, on the contrary, who have separated from that body, received a new name, as a mark of their new departure.
Q. Why can none of the non-Catholic religious societies be called apostolic?
A. Because none of them sprang up until fifteen hundred years after the times of the Apostles. They cannot, therefore, trace their descent directly to the Apostles who were commissioned by Christ to teach, and of whom they have no lawful successors. Therefore their teachers, not being empowered by the Apostles or their lawful successors, are not sent by Christ, and are not to be believed and obeyed by Christians.
Q. If, then, none but the Roman Catholic Church has the marks of the one Church of Christ, what follows from this?
A. That the Roman Catholic Church alone is the true Church of Jesus Christ.
Q. Give a few proofs to show that the Roman Catholic Church alone is the true Church of Jesus Christ.
A. 1. The antiquity of the Roman Catholic Church.
2. Her establishment by poor fisherman all over the earth.
3. Her invariable duration from that time.
4. The miracles which are wrought in her.
5. The purity and holiness of her doctrines and precepts.
6. The holiness of all those who live according to her laws.
7. The deep science of her doctors.
8. The almost infinite number of her martyrs.
9. The peace of mind and happiness of soul experienced by those who have entered her bosom.
10. The fact that all Protestants admit that a faithful Catholic will be saved in his religion.
11. The frightful punishments inflicted by God upon all the persecutors of the Catholic Church.
12. The melancholy death of all the authors of heresies.
13. The constant fulfilment of the words of our Lord, that His Church would always be persecuted—all tend to convince every reasonable mind that the Roman Catholic Church alone is the true Church of Jesus Christ.
Lesson VII.—The Roman Catholic Church Cannot Be Destroyed
Q. What is the world in which we live?
A. It is the temple of God.
Q. What forms the carpeted floor of this temple?
A. The earth, with all its thousands of flowers.
Q. What forms the vaulted dome?
A. The blue sky above, with its millions of twinkling stars.
Q. For whom did God create this temple?
A. For man, that man might worship Him therein.
Q. What, then, is the world?
A. It is only the temple of religion, reared by God to His own honor and glory, and to the benefit of His servant, man.
Q. Does God watch over the world—the temple of His religion.
A. He watches over it with unceasing care, so that not even a grain of sand, not one atom of matter, has as yet been lost ever since the first morning of creation.
Q. Is it not of far greater importance for God to watch over the preservation of His religion?
A. It is.
Q. Why?
A. Because the preservation of the true religion, or of the true worship and service of God, is of greater importance than the preservation of the world—the material temple in which He is worshipped.
Q. How do we know this?
A. Because, to create the world God used no effort. He simply said: "Be it done," and it was done. But to create and establish His Church, the SOn of God sacrificed wealth, honors, pleasure, and everything that man holds dear. He suffered poverty, contempt, persecution. He labored during His whole life, and at last died on a gibbet, and poured out every drop of His sacred blood.
Q. If God, then, preserves with such care the universe—the earthly, material temple, which cost Him nothing—will He not preserve with greater care His heavenly temple, His holy Church, which cost Him His blood and life?
A. He will, indeed, because the temple of this world without religion would be a sad mockery, a worthless encumbrance. It would have failed in the object for which God created it.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That before God allows His religion to be destroyed He must, of necessity, first destroy the world, which is the temple of religion; in other words, sooner shall the sun refuse its light, sooner shall the precious Blood of Jesus Christ lose its atoning power; sooner shall God cease to be God, than the Church of Jesus Christ cease to be the true Church.
Q. But let us suppose the Church of Jesus Christ had ceased to exist, who would be able to restore her to life?
A. God alone.
Q. Why?
A. Because to raise a dead person or the Church to life, is a far greater work than to preserve that person or Church in life; it is equal to the work of creation. Even the Apostles themselves could not give life to the Church; they could, with the assistance of God, only preserve that life which Jesus Christ had given her.
Q. How great, then, must be he who could restore that dead Church to life?
A. He must be greater than the Apostles; he must, at least, be equal to Jesus Christ Himself.
Q. But are there not men who tell us that they have raised the dead Church to life and restored her?
A. Yes; very many.
Q. Name some of these wonderful men.
A. Martin Luther, Henry VIII., Calvin.
Q. What did Martin Luther do?
A. He claimed to restore the Church to life; to reestablish and reform her.
Q. How did our Lord Jesus Christ establish His Church?
A. By leading a life of poverty and pain. "He had not where to lay His head." By renouncing all that the world holds dear. By practising through His whole life the three great virtues of poverty, chastity, and entire obedience—obedience even to the death of the Cross.
Q. How did Luther establish his Church?
A. By doing the exact opposite of all this. By breaking his vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Q. Can the church of Luther, then, be the Church of Christ?
A. No; unless the Son of God were to change His nature, which is impossible.
Q. Is not the Catholic Church the Kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth, which He has acquired with so much toil and labor and suffering?
A. Yes; it is the kingdom which He has purchased with His own blood, and which He has loved more than His own life.
Q. Will any power be able to tear this kingdom from Jesus Christ?
A. It would be blasphemous to think so.
Q. Is not the Catholic Church the sheepfold of which Jesus Christ is the Shepherd?
A. She is.
Q. Will the hellish wolf ever be able to take entire possession of the sheepfold in spite of her Divine Shepherd?
A. Sooner will the heavens and the earth pass away than that this will happen.
Q. Is not the Catholic Church the household of which Jesus Christ is the Master?
A. She is.
Q. Will Satan be able to take possession of this household in spite of its Divine Master?
A. No one can say so without blasphemy.
Q. Is not the Catholic Church the Body of Jesus Christ?
A. The Church, says St. Paul, is the Body of Christ.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That Christ is inseparably united with His Church.
Q. What, then, would it be for one to say that the Church could be destroyed?
A. It would be to say that Christ or God can be overcome, which would be the height of madness and blasphemy.
Q. How long will Christ protect and defend His own Body—the Catholic Church?
A. To the end of the world.
Q. In what words has He given us this assurance?
A. In these words: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the end of the world" (Matt. xxviii. 20); and, therefore, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church."
Q. Is there any other reason why the Catholic Church cannot be destroyed?
A. Yes; the true life of the Catholic Church is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, who, according to the promise of Jesus Christ, will abide with His Church for ever.
Q. What is meant by this promise?
A. That the Holy Ghost will enlighten the pastors of the Catholic Church to preserve and deliver her holy doctrine to the end of the world uncorrupted, and encourage them and the faithful to live up to it, and even to lay down their lives for it. St. John xiv. 16, and Gal. iv. 6.
Q. What follows from this?
A. It follows that, although the hands of blind or wicked men may rob the Church, may pluck the crown from the Pontiff's brow, may drive her prelates into exile or death, may destroy and defile her sanctuaries, may persecute her children and massacre them by thousands, yet her faith, planted by the Son of God on earth, will gloriously shine and endure to the end of the world.
Lesson VIII.—What Cannot And What Can Be Reformed In The Church
Q. What follows from the fact that the holy Roman Catholic Church can never be destroyed by any created power?
A. That it would be the sin of heresy for any one to say that a reform of the doctrine or the constitution of the Roman Catholic Church could ever become necessary.
Q. Can anyone change the doctrine of Jesus Christ, or the articles of faith, the commandments, or the sacraments?
A. To think so and to attempt to do so would be as foolish as it would be for one to attempt to reform the visible world and the laws which God has established to preserve and maintain it.
Q. Could some new doctrine, new commandment, or new sacrament be added; or could some of the articles of faith, some of the commandments, or some of the sacraments be left out?
A. By no means.
Q. Why not?
A. Because not even the Apostles themselves had power from Christ to add to, or leave out, any portion of Christ's doctrine.
Q. How do we know this?
A. Because Jesus Christ said to the Apostles: "Go and teach all nations, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.
Q. In what other words has our Blessed Saviour assured us that His holy doctrine will never suffer any change?
A. In these words: "Amen, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. v. 18. "Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass." Matt. xxiv. 35.
Q. What does St. Paul say to assure us that nothing whatsoever can be added to, or left out of the doctrine of Jesus Christ?
A. He says: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we said before so now I say again: if any one preach to you a gospel besides that which you have received, let him be accursed." Gal. i. 8, 9.
Q. Is there nothing in the Catholic Church that may be reformed?
A. Nothing in the doctrine which was delivered to her from the beginning to teach, but the manners of such of her pastors and children as fail to live up to her teachings, may and ought to be reformed.
Q. May Priests and even Bishops, nay, even a Pope, fail to live up to Christ's holy doctrine?
A. They may, indeed; and certain periods of the lives of some of them have been very disedifying.
Q. How can we easily account for this?
A. Because one can know and teach the true doctrine of Christ without practising it.
Q. What, then, is the answer to those who object to our religion because the lives of certain pastors of the Church have been disedifying?
A. The lives of the scribes and the Pharisees were very disedifying. Nevertheless our blessed Saviour told the multitudes and His disciples that "they have sitten on the chair of Moses. All things, therefore, whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not: for they say and do not." Matt. xxiii. 2.
Q. Does the Lord make use of apostate Catholics, such as Martin Luther, Calvin, John Knox, Henry VIII., King of England, to reform the manners of the people?
A. The thought is absurd. The lives of those men were evil, and it is only the devil that makes use of them to pervert the people still more. The Lord makes use of His saints, such as a St. Francis of Assisium, a St. Dominick, a St. Ignatius, a St. Alphonsus, to convert the people and reform their evil manners by explaining to them the truths of faith, the commandments, and the necessity of receiving the sacraments with proper dispositions, and by setting them in their own lives the loftiest example of faith, purity, and all Christian virtues.
Q. Is it possible to reform men in any other way?
A. Since the coming of the Redeemer it has never been heard that men were reformed and made virtuous by any other means than those which Jesus Christ left to His Church.
Lesson IX.—The Faith of the Roman Catholic.
Q. What do the words "I believe" mean?
A. They mean that I hold to be true that which another tells me.
Q. What must we know of a person to believe firmly all his words?
A. That he is truthful and knows well the things which he tells us.
Q. Is God truthful?
A. "He is Truth itself." Rom. iii. 4.
Q. Does God know all things well?
A. "He knows all things as they are." 1 John iii. 20.
Q. Why, then, must we firmly believe all that God has made known?
A. Because He can neither deceive nor be deceived. "God is not as a man, that he should lie." Numb. xxiii. 19.
Q. What is to believe God?
A. It is to believe, without doubting, that whatever God has said is infallibly true.
Q. Can we of ourselves have this firm faith?
A. No; it is a particular gift and light of God. "By grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God." Eph. ii. 8.
Q. What does this gift bring about in the soul?
A. It enlightens the understanding, and moves the will of man to believe without doubting all that God has made known. "Faith is the evidence of things that appear not." Heb. xi. 1.
Q. To whom did God make known all that we must believe and do?
A. Only to the Roman Catholic Church.
Q. From whom, then, must all men learn that they must believe and do?
A. From the Roman Catholic Church, because she alone was appointed by God to teach the truths of salvation to all nations.
Q. Is to believe what the Roman Catholic Church teaches not the same as to believe God Himself?
A. It is, indeed.
Q. Why?
A. Because Jesus Christ has said to the pastors of the Church: "He who heareth you heareth me, and he who despiseth you despiseth me."
Q. What, then, is the faith of the Roman Catholic?
A. It is a grace and light of the Holy Ghost, which enables him to believe most firmly all that God teaches him by His Church.
Q. Is this faith of the Roman Catholic a divine or human faith?
A. It is divine faith.
Q. Why is it divine?
A. Because, by the light of grace, the Catholic knows for certain that the pastors of the Church are commissioned by God Himself to teach all men, in His name, authoritatively and infallibly, all the sacred and immutable truths of salvation, and, therefore, he feels himself bound in conscience to believe them without hesitation.
Q. Is this divine faith absolutely necessary for salvation?
A. Yes; because it is only by divine faith that we can please God.
Q. Who assures us of this?
A. Jesus Christ Himself.
Q. What are His words?
A. "Go and teach all nations.—He that believeth not shall be condemned." Mark xvi.
Q. What does St. Paul say of those who do not believe God, when He speaks to them through those whom He appointed to teach men?
A. That "it is impossible to please God without faith." Heb. xi.
Q. What, then, is the rule of faith which Jesus Christ gave to all men?
A. To listen to His living voice, speaking through the pastors of His Church, and to believe them.
Q. Can men possibly have divine faith out of the Catholic Church?
A. Out of the Catholic Church there can be none but human faith.
Q. What do you mean by human faith?
A. To believe a man on his own authority.
Q. Do those who are out of the Church, and teach and preach to the people, teach and preach on their own authority?
A. They do; because they are not sent by God, nor have they received any mission from His Church.
Q.What follows from this?
A. That those who believe them do not believe God, but man, and, therefore, their faith is only human, which availeth them nothing unto salvation.
Lesson X.—Qualities of Faith.
Q. When is our faith quite pleasing to God?
A. When it is strong, lively, entire, and sound.
Q. When is our faith strong?
A. When we believe without the least doubt, and choose to lose all, even our life, rather than fall away from it.
Q. When is our faith lively?
A. When we practise what our faith teaches.
Q. When is our faith entire?
A. When we believe all the truths which the Catholic Church teaches, as contained in the Holy Scripture or tradition.
Q. When is our faith sound?
A. When we avoid not only open heresy, but also diligently shun, and in our hearts dissent from, those errors which approach it more of less closely, and religiously observe those constitutions and decrees whereby such evil opinions, either directly or indirectly, have been proscribed and prohibited by the Holy See.
Lesson XI.—Holy Scripture and Tradition
Q. What do you mean by Holy Scripture?
A. A collection of books which were written by holy men, inspired by the Holy Ghost, and acknowledged by the Catholic Church to be the written Word of God.
Q. How is Holy Scripture divided?
A. Into the books of the Old and the New Testament; or, of the Old and the New Law.
Q. What are we told in the books of the Old Testament?
A. In the books of the Old Testament we are told those truths which God made known before the coming of Christ.
Q. What are we told in the books of the New Testament?
A. Some of the truths which God made known through Jesus Christ and His Apostles.
Q. Is it easy for everyone to understand the Holy Scripture?
A. There is nothing more difficult than to understand the true meaning of every passage of the Scripture.
Q. How do we know this?
A. From Holy Scripture itself, which says that "there are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction." 2 Peter iii. 16.
Q. May not everyone explain the Bible in his own private manner?
A. "No prophecy of the Scripture," says St. Peter, "is made by private interpretation." 2 Peter i. 20.
Q. To whom belongs the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures?
A. To the Catholic Church alone.
Q. Why?
A. "Because the Apostles carefully entrusted the Scriptures to their successors; and to whom the Scriptures were entrusted, to them also was committed the interpretation of Scripture." St. Irenaeus.
Q. How does the Church make known the meaning of any passage of Scripture?
A. She makes it known either directly by a solemn definition, or by the universal consent of the Church dispersed throughout the world; and she makes it known indirectly when she tells us that we are to interpret Scripture in such a way that our interpretation shall be in harmony with her teaching upon all other points of Christian doctrine.
Q. Have any great evils followed from the unrestricted private interpretation of the Bible?
A. Yes; numberless heresies and impieties.
Q. What have the chief pastors of the Church done to guard the faithful against corrupted Bibles, and against erroneous interpretations of the Bible?
A. They have decreed—1. That, with regard to reading the Bible in the vernacular, we should have the learning and piety requisite for it. 2. That the translation should be approved by the Holy See, or accompanied with explanations by a Bishop.
Q. Why did you say that in the New Testament we are told some of the truths, and not all the truths which God made known through Jesus Christ and the Apostles?
A. Because all the truths preached by Jesus Christ and the Apostles are not recorded in the Bible.
Q. How do we know this?
A. From the Bible itself, which says: "Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of His disciples, which are not written in this book." John xx. 30.
Q. Why did the Apostles not write down all that Jesus had taught?
A. Because Jesus Christ had not commanded them to write, but to preach His doctrine. "Go ye into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature." Mark xvi.15.
Q. What is the unwritten doctrine of Jesus Christ and the Apostles called?
A. Tradition.
Q. How did the unwritten doctrine of Jesus Christ come down to us?
A. The Apostles took great care to instruct their disciples thoroughly, and make them capable of so instructing others. Thus their pure doctrine was delivered to the first Bishops and priests of the Roman Catholic Church. By these, it was in like manner handed down to their successors; and so on, unimpaired, to those who, at the present time, teach in the Catholic Church.
Q. How do we know this?
A. We know it from what St. Paul writes in his Second Epistle to the Bishop Timothy (chap. 11.2), and from the early Fathers of the Church.
Q. What does St. Paul write?
A. "And the things which thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also."
Q. Which of the early Fathers of the Church writes, when speaking of the ninety-first heresy: "All things are not found in the Holy Scripture, for the Apostles have taught us some by tradition, some by writing"?
A. St. Epiphanius.
Q. Who is it that writes: "Of the many truths of faith held by the Church, some have been received from the inspired writings, others from tradition; both sources are equally pure and certain"?
A. St. Basil, in his treatise on the Holy Ghost. Chap. xxvii.
Q. Is that which was taught by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, but which is not written, less true than that which is written?
A. The one is just as true as the other.
Q. Why?
A. Because the Apostles taught the true doctrine of Jesus Christ not less by their preaching, than by their writings, and the Holy Ghost expressed His will, as well by their tongues as by their pens.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That we must believe the unwritten Word of God as firmly as the written.
Q. Who assures us most emphatically of this?
A. St. Paul, in these words: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our Epistle." 2 Thess. 11. 14.
Q. Was this also the belief of the Fathers of the Church?
A. It was; for St. John Chrysostom writes, in his 4th homily on the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians: "Therefore it is evident that the Apostles taught many things without writing, which we must believe as firmly as those which are written."
Q. Name some of those truths of which the Bible does not speak, but which we believe from tradition?
A. We know only from tradition—
1. That little children are to be baptized.
2. That we must keep holy the Sunday instead of the Saturday.
3. We know only from tradition those books which are divine, and contain the written word of God.
Q. But was it not possible that those truths which were taught by the Apostles, but were not written, might easily be corrupted, or forgotten altogether, because not recorded in Holy Scripture?
A. No; because God himself took care that what He had taught should not be forgotten, but be handed down to us uncorrupted.
Q. Was there any written Word of God for two thousand years, from Adam down to Moses?
A. There was not.
Q. How then did all that God spoke to Adam, Noah, etc., come down uncorrupted to Moses, who was the first to write down the Word of God?
A. By tradition; that is, God took care that the Patriarchs, His faithful servants, should hand down by word of mouth His doctrine uncorrupted from generation to generation.
Q. Could not, and did not God do the same from the time of the Apostles down to us?
A. He could, and did, by means of the faithful pastors of His Church.
Q. How did the pastors of His Church hand down to us the unwritten doctrine of the Apostles?
A. Partly by word of mouth and partly by their writings, in which they explain the doctrine of the Apostles, written and unwritten.
Q. What do we understand from this?
A. That, for example, the faith of the Catholic Church in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament would have been at all times precisely what it is, had it pleased God that the passages in Holy Scripture, relating to it, had never been written; and so with all the rest of the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Q. Are the doctrines of the Catholic Church then entirely independent of Scripture?
A. They are; because she taught her doctrines, and they were believed by the early Christians before the New Testament was written—centuries, indeed, before the Bible was collected into its present form; and she would have done so, in precisely the same manner, had they never been written.
Q. What, then, do we mean when we say: "I believe the Holy Catholic Church"?
A. We mean that we firmly believe in the fact that Jesus Christ has established a visible church, endless in her duration, and infallible in her doctrine, which we must believe and obey without reserve, if we would obtain eternal salvation; and that this Church is no other than the Roman Catholic Church.
Q. How do people come to lose this faith?
A.
1. By want of instruction.
2. By neglect of prayer and other religious duties.
3. By worldliness and a wicked life.
4. By reading bad books.
5. By intercourse with scoffers at religion.
6. By mixed marriages.
7. By becoming members of secret societies.
8. By pride and subtle reasoning on the mysteries of our religion.
9. By want of submission to the Church.
10. By godless education.
Lesson XII.—No Salvation Outside of the Roman Catholic Church.
Q. Since the Roman Catholic Church alone is the true Church of Jesus Christ, can any one who dies outside of the Church be saved?
A. He cannot.
Q. Why not?
A. Because one who does not do the will of God cannot be saved.
Q. Is it, then, the will of God that all men should be Catholics?
A. Yes; because it is only in the Roman Catholic Church that they can learn the will of God; that is, the full doctrine of Jesus Christ, which alone can save them.
Q. Did Jesus Christ Himself assure us most solemnly, and in plain words, that no one can be saved out of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. He did, when He said to His Apostles: "Go and teach all nations, and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. He that believeth not all these things shall be condemned."
Q. Did Jesus Christ assure us in other words of the damnation of those who die out of His Church?
A. He did in these words: "He who will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican." Matt. xviii. 17.
Q. Can you give some further proofs to show that no one can be saved out of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. From these words of Jesus Christ: "Other sheep I have who are not of this fold. them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall be one fold and one shepherd." John x. 16
Q. How can you show from these words of our Lord that all who wish to be saved must be Roman Catholics?
A. Because in this passage He plainly declares that all those of His sheep who are not of His fold (that is, of His Church) must, as a necessary condition of their salvation, be brought to that fold.
Q. What do the Fathers of the Church say about the salvation of those who die out of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. They all, without exception, pronounce them infallibly lost forever.
Q. What did St. Augustine and the other Bishops of Africa, at the Council of Zirta, A.D. 412, say about them?
A. "Whosoever," they said, "is separated from the Catholic Church, however commendable in his own opinion his life may be, he shall, for the very reason that he is separated from the Union of Christ, not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." John iii. 36.
Q. What does St. Cyprian tell us about the salvation of those who die out of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. He says that, "He who has not the Church for his mother cannot have God for his Father;" and with him the Fathers in general say, that "as all who were not in the ark of Noah perished in the waters of the deluge, so shall all perish who are out of the true Church."
Q. Who are out of the pale of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. All unbaptized persons, unbelievers, apostates, excommunicated persons, and all heretics.
Q. How do we know that unbaptized persons are not saved?
A. Because Jesus Christ has said: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John iii. 5.
Q. How do we know that unbelievers are not saved?
A. Because it is said of them that they do not please God. "Without faith it is impossible to please God."
Q. How do we know that apostates are not saved?
A. Because to fall away from the faith is a great sin, which makes one lose the kingdom of heaven.
Q. How do we know that persons justly excommunicated, who are unwilling to do what is required of them before they are absolved, are not saved?
A. Because the sin of great scandal, for which they were as dead members expelled from the communion of the Church, excludes them from the kingdom of heaven.
Q. What is the meaning of the word heretic?
A. Heretic is a Greek word, and means simply a chooser.
Q. Who, then, is a heretic?
A. A baptized person who chooses among the doctrines proposed to him by the Roman Catholic Church, to accept such doctrines as they please him, and to reject the rest.
Q. How do we know that heretics are not saved?
A. Because St. Paul the Apostle assures us that such a chooser or heretic is condemned. "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid; knowing that he who is such an one is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment." Tit. iii. 10, 11.
Q. Are there any other reasons to show that heretics, or Protestants who die out of the Roman Catholic Church, are not saved?
A. There are several. They cannot be saved because
1. They have no divine faith.
2. They make a liar of Jesus Christ, of the holy Ghost, and of the Apostles.
3. They have no faith in Christ.
4. They fell away from the true Church of Christ.
5. They are too proud to submit to the Pope, the Vicar of Christ.
6. They cannot perform any good works whereby they can attain heaven.
7. They do not receive the Body and Blood of Christ.
8. They die in their sins.
9. They ridicule and blaspheme the Mother of God and His Saints.
10. They slander the spouse of Jesus Christ—the Catholic Church.
Q. Why is it that Protestants have no divine faith?
A. Because they do not believe God in those whom He has appointed to teach.
Q. Who is the teacher among Protestants?
A. Every one is his own teacher, his own law-giver and judge in matters of religion.
Q. Was there ever a time when God left men to themselves, to fashion their own religion, to invent their own creed, and their own form of worship?
A. No; from the beginning of the world God established on earth a visible teaching authority, to which it was the bounden duty of every man to submit.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That Protestants, by refusing to submit to that divine teaching authority, cannot have divine faith.
Q. What is the act of faith of a Protestant?
A. O my God, I believe nothing except what my own private judgment tells me to believe; therefore I believe that I can interpret Thy written word—the Holy Scriptures—as I choose. I believe that the Pope is anti-Christ; that any man can be saved, provided he is an honest man; I believe that faith alone is sufficient for salvation; that good works, and works of penance, and the confession of sins are not necessary, etc.
Q. Is this an act of divine faith?
A. It is rather a great blasphemy against God; it is the language of Luther, who, according to his own avowal, learned it from the devil.
Q. But if a Protestant should say—"I have nothing to do with Luther, or Calvin, or Henry VIII., or John Knox; I go by the Bible" what would you answer him?
A. In that case you adopt and go by the principles and spirit of these men, and you change the written Word of God into the word of man.
Q. How so?
A. Because every Protestant interprets Holy Scripture in his own private manner, giving it that meaning which he chooses to give it, and thus, instead of believing the Word of God, he believes rather his own private interpretation of it, which is but the word of man.
Q. Now, what is man without divine faith?
A. Such a man is profane, and devoid of all religion; and for refusing all obedience to his Sovereign Lord, he will never enjoy His presence, or see clearly what he is not willing to believe humbly.
Q. How do Protestants make a liar of Jesus Christ?
A. Jesus Christ says: “Hear the Church." "No;" say Luther and all Protestants, "do not hear the Church, protest against her with all your might!”
Jesus Christ says: "If any one will not hear the Church, look upon him as a heathen and a publican." “No,” says Protestantism, “if any one does not hear the Church, look upon him as an apostle, as an ambassador of God."
Jesus Christ says: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church." "No," says Protestantism, “’Tis false; the gates of hell have prevailed against the Church for a thousand years and more."
Jesus Christ has declared St. Peter, and every successor to St. Peter—the Pope—to be his Vicar on earth. "No," says Protestantism, "the Pope is Anti-Christ."
Jesus Christ says: "My yoke is sweet, and my burden light." Matt. xi. 30. "No," said Luther and Calvin "it is impossible to keep the commandments."
Jesus Christ says: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. xix. 17. "No," said Luther and Calvin, "faith alone, without good works, is sufficient to enter into life everlasting."
Jesus Christ says: " Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish." Luke, iii. 3. "No," said Luther and Calvin, "fasting, and other works of penance are not necessary in satisfaction for sin.”
Jesus Christ says: "This is my body." "No," said Calvin, "this is only the figure of Christ's Body, it will become his body as soon as you receive it."
Jesus Christ says: "I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery." Matt. xix. 9. "No," say Luther and all Protestants, to a married man, “you may put away your wife, get a divorce, and marry another."
Jesus Christ says to every man: “Thou shalt not steal." “No," said Luther to secular princes, “I give you the right to appropriate to yourselves the property of the Roman Catholic Church."
Q. How do Protestants make a liar of the Holy Ghost?
A. The Holy Ghost says in Holy Scripture: "Man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred" (Eccles. ix. 1); "Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin"? (Prov. xx. 9); and "Work your salvation with fear and trembling" (Philip. 11. 12). "No," said Luther and Calvin, "but whosoever believes in Jesus Christ, is in the state of grace."
Q. How do Protestants make liars of the Apostles?
A. St. Paul says: "If I should have faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." 1 Cor. xiii. 2. "No," said Luther and Calvin, "faith alone is sufficient to save us."
St. Peter says that in the Epistles of St. Paul there are many things "hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as also the other Scriptures, to their own perdition." 2 Eph. iii. 16. "No," said Luther and Calvin, "the Scriptures are very plain, and easy to be understood."
St. James says: "Is any sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord." Ch. v. 14. "No," said Luther and Calvin, "that is a vain and useless ceremony."
Q. Now, do you think God the Father will admit into heaven those who thus make liars of His Son Jesus Christ, of the Holy Ghost, and the Apostles?
A. No; He will let them have their portion with Lucifer in hell, who first rebelled against Christ, and who is the father of liars.
Q. Have Protestants any faith in Christ?
A. They never had.
Q. Why not?
A. Because there never lived such a Christ as they imagine and believe in.
Q. In what kind of Christ do they believe?
A. In such a one of whom they can make a liar, with impunity, whose doctrine they can interpret as they please, and who does not care about what a man believes, provided he be an honest man before the public.
Q. Will such a faith in such a Christ save Protestants?
A. No sensible man will assert such an absurdity.
Q. What will Christ say to them on the day of judgment?
A. I know you not, because you never knew Me.
Q. Can a man be saved who has left the true Church of Christ—the Holy Catholic Church?
A. No; because the Church of Christ is the kingdom of God on earth, and he who leaves that kingdom shuts himself out from the kingdom of Christ in heaven.
Q. Have Protestants left the true Church of Christ?
A. They have, in their founders, who left the Catholic Church either through pride or through the passion of lust and covetousness.
Q. Who were the first Protestants?
A.
1. Martin Luther, a bad German priest, who left his convent, broke the solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which he had made to God, married a nun, and became the founder of the Lutherans.
2. Henry VIII., a bad Catholic king of England, who murdered his wives, and founded the Episcopalian or Anglican Church.
3. John Calvin, a wicked French Catholic, who was the founder of the Calvinists.
4. John Knox, a bad Scottish priest, who was the founder of the Presbyterians or Puritans.
Q. What great crime did these wicked men commit?
A. They rebelled against the Church of Jesus Christ, and caused a great number of their Catholic countrymen to follow their bad example.
Q. What will be the punishment of those who wilfully rebel against the Holy Catholic Church?
A. Like Lucifer, and the other rebellious angels, they will be cast into the everlasting flames of hell.
Q. Who has assured us of this?
A. Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God.
Q. What are His words?
A. "He who will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican." MAtt. xviii. 17.
Q. What does Jesus Christ tell us in these words?
A. He tells us plainly that he who is out of His Church, and does not obey her, is before Him as the heathen and publican.
Q. What follows from this?
A. It follows that, as the heathen is damned, so, also, all those will be damned who die out of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Q. Can a man be saved who is too proud to submit to the Head of the Church of Christ, and despises Jesus Christ in His representative—the Pope?
A. He cannot; because Jesus Christ says: "He who despiseth you (the Apostles and their successors) despiseth me."
Q. Do Protestants despise Jesus Christ in the person of St. Peter and his successors?
A. They do; for Luther taught them that whoever does not oppose the authority of the Pope cannot be saved. 1 Vol. Germ. Edit., f. 353.
Q. Do you think Christ can admit into Heaven him by whom He is despised?
A. This is impossible, and of such a one is true what St. Paul says: "He that resisteth the power that is from God, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist purchase to themselves damnation." Rom. xiii. 1,2.
Q. Can any one enter into the Kingdom of Heaven without good works?
A. No.
Q. How do we know this?
A. Because on the last day of judgment Christ will say to the wicked: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. For I was hungry and you gave me not to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me not to drink." Matt. xxv. 41, 42.
Q. Do not Protestants perform such good works?
A. Many of them do.
Q. Will they be saved on account of such good works?
A. By no means; because works, however good in themselves, performed outside of the church established by Jesus Christ, are not accompanied and vivified by divine faith, without which it is impossible to please God, and, therefore, they do not, they cannot merit the everlasting joys of Heaven. As faith without works is dead, so also works without faith are dead and cannot save the doer from damnation.
Q. What does Jesus Christ say of those who do not receive His Body and Blood?
A. Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you shall not have life in you. John vi. 54.
Q. Do Protestants receive the Body and Blood of our Lord?
A. No, because their ministers are not priests, and consequently have no power from Jesus Christ to say Mass, in which, by the words of consecration, bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That they will not enter into life everlasting, and deservedly so, because they abolished the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
Q. What was the consequence of the abolition of Mass?
A. By abolishing the Mass, they robbed God the Father of the infinite honor which Jesus Christ renders Him therein, and themselves of all the blessings which Jesus Christ bestows upon those who assist at this holy sacrifice with faith and devotion. "Wherefore the sin of the young men (the sons of Heli) was exceeding great before the Lord, because they withdrew men from the sacrifice of the Lord." 1 Kings ii. 17.
Q. Do you believe that God the Father will admit into heaven these robbers of His infinite honor?
A. By no means; because if those are damned who steal temporal goods of their neighbor, how much more will those be damned who deprive God of His infinite honor and their fellow-men of the infinite spiritual blessings of the Mass.
Q. Can a man be saved who dies in the state of mortal sin?
A. He cannot; because God cannot unite Himself to a soul in heaven who, by mortal sin, is His enemy.
Q. Do Protestants commit other mortal sins besides those above mentioned?
A. Very many besides.
Q. How do you prove this?
A. If it is a mortal sin for a Roman Catholic wilfully to doubt only one article of his faith, it is also, most assuredly, a mortal sin for Protestants wilfully to deny not only one truth, but almost all the truths revealed by Jesus Christ.
Q. Do they die in the sins of apostasy, blasphemy, slander, etc.?
A. They do, because all die in mortal sin who, having grievously offended Almighty God, are nor willing to confess their sins.
Q. How do we know this?
A. Because Jesus Christ assures us that those sins which are not forgiven by His apostles and their successors, by means of confession, will not be forgiven. "Whose sins you retain they are retained." John xx. 22, 23.
Q. Are Protestants willing to confess their sins to a Catholic Bishop or priest, who alone has power from Christ to forgive sins? "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them."
A. No, for they generally have an utter aversion to confession, and therefore their sins will not be forgiven throughout all eternity.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That they die in their sins and are damned.
Q. If any one loves God, will he also love the Mother of God and the Saints?
A. He will, undoubtedly.
Q. Do Protestants love the Mother of God and the Saints?
A. They do not, or they would not ridicule and blaspheme the Mother of God and the Saints.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That Protestants will never be admitted into the company of the Saints in heaven, whom they have ridiculed and blasphemed on earth.
Q. Would a great king of this world punish most severely one who slanders the Queen?
A. He would.
Q. Is the Catholic Church the Spouse of Jesus Christ, the King of heaven and earth?
A. She is, and St. Paul assures us that "Jesus Christ loves His church, that He died for her in order that He might have a glorious church, having neither spot nor wrinkle, but holy and without blemish." Eph. v. 25-27.
Q. Have Protestants ever ceased to slander her?
A. Never.
Q. How do they slander the Spouse of Jesus Christ?
A. The Protestant Episcopalian book of homilies, for instance, says: "Laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages and degrees of men, women, and children of entire Christendom had been drowned in abominable idolatry."
Q. Is idolatry a grievous sin?
A. It is one of the most grievous sins that can be committed.
Q. Could Protestants ever prove that the Catholic Church, the Spouse of Christ, became guilty of this sin?
A. Never; on the contrary, all know that the Catholic Church has abolished idolatry and has always held it in abomination.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That Protestants commit the great sin of slander against the Spouse of Christ.
Q. Can they commit this great sin without accusing Jesus Christ at the same time of having abandoned that glorious Spouse, whom He loves so ardently?
A. They cannot.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That the vengeance of Jesus Christ shall sooner or later overtake Protestants for committing the sins of horrid blasphemy and slander.
Q. But is it not a very uncharitable doctrine to say that none can be saved out of the Church?
A. On the contrary, it is a very great act of charity to assert this doctrine most emphatically.
Q. Why?
A. Because Jesus Christ Himself and His apostles have taught it in very plain language.
Q. Is it not great charity to warn one's neighbor when he is in danger of falling into a deep abyss?
A. It is indeed.
Q. Are not all those who are out of the Church in very great danger of falling into the abyss of hell?
A. They are.
Q. Is it not, then, great charity to warn them of this danger?
A. It would be as great a cruelty not to warn them.
Q. Are all those who are out of the Church equally guilty and damnable before God?
A. No; some are more guilty than others.
Q. Who are least guilty and damnable?
A. Those who, without any fault of theirs, do not know Jesus Christ or His doctrine at all.
Q. Who are most guilty and damnable?
A. Those who know the Catholic Church to be the only true Church, but do not embrace her faith, as also those who could know her if they would candidly search, but who, through indifference and other culpable motives, neglect to do so.
Q. What are we to think of the salvation of those who are out of the pale of the Church without any fault of theirs, and who never had any opportunity of knowing better?
A. Their inculpable ignorance will not save them; but if they fear God and live up to their conscience, God, in His infinite mercy, will furnish them with the necessary means of salvation, even so as to send, if needed, an angel to instruct them in the Catholic faith, rather than let them perish through inculpable ignorance.
Q. Is it then right for us to say that one who was not received into the Church before his death, is damned?
A. No.
Q. Why not?
A. Because we cannot know for certain what takes place between God and the soul at the awful moment of death.
Q. What do you mean by this?
A. I mean that God, in His infinite mercy, may enlighten, at the hour of death, one who is not yet a Catholic, so that he may see the truth of the Catholic faith, be truly sorry for his sins, and sincerely desire to die a good Catholic.
Q. What do we say of those who receive such an extraordinary grace, and die in this manner?
A. We say of them that they die united, at least, to the soul of the Catholic Church, and are saved.
Q. What, then, awaits all those who are out of the Catholic Church, and die without having received such an extraordinary grace at the hour of death?
A. Eternal damnation.
Q. But are there not many who would lose the affections of their friends, their comfortable homes, their temporal goods, and prospects in business, were they to become Catholics? Would not Jesus Christ excuse them under such circumstances from becoming Catholics?
A. As to the affections of friends, Jesus Christ has solemnly declared that: "He who loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me," Matt. x. 37; and to the loss of temporal gain He has answered: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?" Mark viii. 36.
Q. But would it not be enough for such a one to be Catholic in heart only, without professing his religion publicly?
A. No; for Jesus Christ has solemnly declared that, "He who shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man shall be ashamed when he shall come in his majesty, and that of his Father, and of the holy angels." Luke ix. 26.
Q. But might not such a one safely put off being received into the Church till the hour of death?
A. This would be to abuse the mercy of God.
Q. What might be the punishment for this sin?
A. To lose the light and grace of faith, and die a reprobate.
Q. What else keeps many from becoming Catholics?
A. It is this; they know very well that, if they become Catholics, they must lead honest and sober lives, be pure, and check their sinful passions, and this they are unwilling to do. "Men love darkness rather than light," says Jesus Christ, "because their deeds are evil." There are none so deaf as those that will not hear.
Q. What follows from what has been said on salvation in the Roman Catholic Church alone?
A. That it is very impious for one to think and to say that it matters little what a man believes provided he be an honest man.
Q. What answer can you give to a man who speaks thus?
A. I would ask him whether or not he believed that his honesty and justice was so great as that of the Scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel?
Q. In what did the honesty and justice of the Scribes and Pharisees consist?
A. They were constant in prayer, they paid tithes according to the law, gave great alms, fasted twice a week, and compassed sea and land to make a convert and bring him to the knowledge of the true God.
Q. What did Jesus Christ say of this justice of the Pharisees?
A. He says: "Unless your justice shall exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 20.
Q. Was, then, the righteousness of the Pharisees very defective in the sight of God?
A. Most undoubtedly. Their righteousness was all outward show and ostentation. They did good only to be praised and admired by men; but within, their souls were full of impurity and malice. They were lewd hypocrites, who concealed great vices under the beautiful appearance of love for God, charity to the poor, and severity to themselves. Their devotion consisted in exterior acts, and they despised all who did not live as they did; they were strict in the religious observances of human traditions, but scrupled not to violate the commandments of God.
Q. What are you then to think of those men who say: "It matters little what a man believes, provided he be honest"?
A. That their exterior honesty, like that of the Pharisees, may be sufficient to keep them out of prison, but not out of hell.
Q. Should a non-Catholic say: "I would like very much to believe the doctrine of the Catholic Church, but I cannot," how would you answer?
A. That, without doubt, it is the will of God, that "all men be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Tim. ii. 4; but it is, at the same time, the will of God that you should earnestly employ all the proper means to acquire this necessary knowledge; otherwise, you plainly show that you do not sincerely desire to believe.
Q. What are the means you speak of?
A. Sincerity of heart which must prove itself,
1. By a most earnest desire to know the true religion,
2. By a diligent and persistent search for it,
3. By fervent and frequent prayer to God for the gift of faith,
4. And lastly, by a firm resolution to trample underfoot every obstacle that might hinder or retard one from embracing the known truth.
Q. But will one not lose his dear liberty if he believes and does what the Roman Catholic Church teaches?
A. No; on the contrary, he will then only enjoy true liberty, for he only is free whom the truth makes free.
Q. Cannot God do all things that He pleases?
A. He can.
Q. Why?
A. Because He is supreme Liberty itself.
Q. But can God sin?
A. He cannot.
Q. Are not the angels and saints in heaven free?
A. They are perfectly free, because they partake of the liberty of God.
Q. But can the saints sin?
A. They cannot.
Q. Is it, then, a mark of liberty to be under the power of sin, in following your passions, and so going to perdition?
A. This is no power or mark of liberty at all.
Q. What is it, then?
A. It is rather a mark of weakness and misery.
Q. What does the power of sin imply?
A. The possibility of becoming a slave of sin and the devil.
Q. Are those then truly free who are greatly under the power of sin, and thus go to hell?
A. They are rather the miserable slaves of sin and of their passions.
Q. What must necessarily become of them if they remain under this power of sin and of their passions?
A. They will become the slaves of the devil in hell for all eternity.
Q. Who, then, can call himself truly free?
A. He who wills and does what God wishes him to do for his everlasting happiness.
Q. If God, then, as we have seen, wishes that men should be saved only in the holy Roman Catholic Church, does a man lose, or does he enjoy liberty, when he believes and does what the Church teaches?
A. Then, indeed, he enjoys true liberty, and makes a proper use of it.
Q. What do you say of a man whose power of will is very great, and who hardly experiences any difficulty in following the teaching of the Church?
A. Such a man is truly free.
Q. Do Catholics, then, who faithfully live up to the teaching of the Church, enjoy greater liberty than Protestants and unbelievers, who believe and do as they please?
A. They do, indeed, because they are the children of the light of truth, that leads them to heaven, whilst those who live out of the Church are the children of the darkness of error, that leads them finally into the abyss of hell.
Q. If no one can be saved except in the Roman Catholic Church, what are all who are out of it bound to do?
A. They are obliged to become members of the Church.
Q. Does not common sense tell this to every non-Catholic?
A. It does.
Q. How so?
A. Because every non-Catholic believes that every practical member of the Catholic Church will be saved.
Q. What follows from this?
A. It clearly follows that when there is question about eternal salvation and eternal damnation, a sensible man will take the surest way to heaven.
Q. Will every one who is a member of the Catholic Church be saved?
A. No; only practical members will be saved; but those who are dead members, that is, bad Catholics, will be condemned to hell.
Q. Who is a practical member of the Catholic Church?
A. He who firmly believes all the truths contained in the Apostles' Creed, keeps the commandments of God and of the Church, and uses the means of grace, that is, the sacraments and prayer.
Q. Where do you learn all this?
A. In the Christian doctrine.
Q. Whose duty is it to teach the Christian doctrine?
A. This is the duty of the pastors of the Catholic Church.
Q. Is it very pleasing to God to instruct men in the Christian doctrine?
A. Yes; it is one of the holiest works, and most pleasing to God.
Q. Whose duty is it to attend to the explanation of the Christian doctrine?
A. This is the duty of all, but especially of those who are more or less ignorant of the Christian religion.
Q. Is God much pleased with those who eagerly listen to the explanation of the Christian doctrine?
A. God is so pleased with them that He often showed His pleasure by miracles.
Q. Is God also much displeased with those who do not care for the Christian doctrine?
A. God is so displeased with them that He often showed His displeasure by frightful punishments.
Q. What should we do when we hear the Christian doctrine explained?
A. We should listen to it with the intention of profiting by it.
Q. What do you call the book which briefly contains the Christian doctrine in the form of questions and answers?
A. The Catechism.
Q. Of what, then, does the Catechism treat?
A. The Catechism treats of what we must believe, of what we must do, and of the means of grace which we must use; that is, of the sacraments and prayer.
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Babies could be killed 28 days after birth under proposed Maryland law, attorney warns |
Posted by: Stone - 03-09-2022, 09:38 AM - Forum: Abortion
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Babies could be killed 28 days after birth under proposed Maryland law, attorney warns
Senate Bill 669 could be interpreted to allow for abortions through the first month after the baby is born, a legal analyst says.
Mon Mar 7, 2022 - 5:53 pm EST
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (LifeSiteNews) – Legislation proposed in the Maryland Senate would allow babies to be left to die for as long as the first 28 days after birth, according to analysis from a pro-life attorney.
Senate Bill 669 is also known as the Pregnant Person’s Freedom Act of 2022, but the problems go beyond the use of “person” in place of accurate references to women having babies. Senator William Smith, a Democrat, sponsored the legislation, which will have a hearing on March 15.
“[T]he bill also proposes a revision of the fetal murder/manslaughter statute that would serve to handcuff the investigation of infant deaths unrelated to abortion,” American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) attorney Olivia Summers wrote in her analysis.
This is because the legislation prohibits investigations and criminal prosecutions for women and medical professionals for a “failure to act” in relation to a “perinatal death.”
“In other words, a baby born alive and well could be abandoned and left to starve or freeze to death,” Summers wrote, “and nothing could be done to punish those who participated in that cruel death.”
She said that the language used is unclear, so the law could be interpreted to “prevent investigations into the death of infants at least seven days AFTER their birth, and may extend to infants as old as four weeks!”
The Maryland Code does not define “perinatal,” Summers said. A 2020 law does define “perinatal care” as the “provision of care during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum and neonatal periods.”
A definition on MedicineNet, a website owned by WebMD, defines it as “the 20th to 28th week of gestation” to “1 to 4 weeks after birth.”
Summers, with the ACLJ, noted in her analysis that the state already has a safe haven law that allows parents to leave a newborn baby with a responsible adult without fear of prosecution.
“Under the Safe Haven law, a distressed parent who is unable or unwilling to care for their infant can safely give up custody of their baby, no questions asked,” the Maryland Department of Human Services explains. “Newborns can be left at hospitals or law enforcement stations.”
“There is absolutely no reason for Maryland Senate Bill 669’s attempt to prevent someone who lets their baby die from being investigated,” Summers said. ”This bill just further exposes the complete lack of regard abortion advocates have for innocent human life.”
“If they truly want to protect life and women, then legislators could simply extend the length of the safe harbor provision already in place,” she said.
Senator Smith, the bill’s sponsor, did not provide a comment on the ACLJ’s analysis of the legislation. The office responded to the initial email but did not comment any further.
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Europeans Panic-Buying Iodine |
Posted by: Stone - 03-09-2022, 09:33 AM - Forum: Global News
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Even before this news today:
there was this:
Putin's nuclear alert is prompting Europeans to panic-buy iodine as they think it may protect them from radiation, reports say
Business Insider | Mar 3, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear alert is prompting Europeans to panic-buy iodine because they believe it may protect them from radiation poisoning, multiple reports said.
Some pharmacies in Bulgaria, Poland, and the Czech Republic have sold out of iodine since Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine and ordered Russia's nuclear weapons to be placed on high alert, Reuters reported.
Iodine pills in a classroom in Fessenheim, France, on June 12, 2018, during a nuclear-accident drill. Reuters
Nikolay Kostov, the chair of the Pharmacies Union, told Reuters that Bulgarian pharmacies had sold as much iodine in the past six days as they usually sold each year.
In Poland, the number of pharmacies selling iodine more than doubled after demand soared, Reuters reported.
Officials in other European countries including Belgium, France, and the Netherlands said they were also seeing an increase in demand despite being farther away from the conflict in Ukraine, local media reported.
In Belgium, nearly 30,000 residents picked up iodine tablets, which are normally offered for free in pharmacies, The Brussels Times reported. The pharmacists' union in France reported a significant increase in people requesting the medication, Le Parisien reported.
Iodine — which can be taken in pill or syrup form — can be used to help protect people from developing thyroid cancer, which can be caused by radiation.
But if radiation is not present in the body, taking iodine is not protective and could cause harm, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
European officials said this week that taking the medication was not necessary and would not help in a nuclear war.
"The current situation in Ukraine does not require taking tablets of iodine," the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control tweeted. "Only take iodine on the recommendation of the authorities."
Dana Drábová, the head of the Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety, tweeted: "You ask a lot about iodine tablets ... as radiation protection when (God forbid) nuclear weapons are used, they are basically useless."
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CDC Director Walensky Admits She Found Out Vaccines were Effective by Watching CNN |
Posted by: Stone - 03-09-2022, 09:25 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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CDC Director Walensky Admits She Found Out Vaccines were Effective by Watching CNN
GP [adapted] | March 8, 2022
Robert Kennedy Jr. tweeted out a report from his organization the Children’s Health Defense on Tuesday on CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky’s recent talk in St. Louis. Walensky spoke at a Washington University event where she admitted that the medical elites relied too much on the vaccine as a “cure-all” and disregarded treatments.
This is something the rest of us already knew. There was not prescribed treatment for COVID patients and now nearly one million Americans are dead!
Dr. Walensky also said she found out about the effectiveness of the vaccines by watching CNN.
Stunning!
Quote:Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), became the latest prominent official to contradict key aspects of the official COVID-19 narrative of the past two years.
In a March 3 appearance at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Walensky was interviewed by Dr. William G. Powderly, co-director of the institution’s Division of Infectious Diseases.
During the interview, Walensky said she learned COVID vaccines were effective from watching CNN. She also admitted health officials relied too heavily on vaccines as a “cure-all” of sorts for COVID, and said vaccine makers didn’t warn the agency that the vaccines would be less effective against potential variants.
She also admitted that the science, far from being “settled,” is “gray” instead of “black and white.”
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Canadian banks say Freedom Convoy backers’ frozen accounts will be flagged for life |
Posted by: Stone - 03-09-2022, 09:16 AM - Forum: Global News
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Canadian banks say Freedom Convoy backers’ frozen accounts will be flagged for life
'There would be something in the file indicating a freeze had taken place,' said the Canadian Bankers Association on Monday.
Tue Mar 8, 2022
OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — Freedom Convoy supporters whose bank accounts were frozen will be flagged for life.
The personal accounts of protesters that were locked after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act have been permanently marked, the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) revealed at the House of Commons finance committee meeting on Monday.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, bankers also explained that they froze accounts corresponding to 257 names that were not on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) blacklist provided to the banks, meaning they went beyond the scope of what the government asked of them.
“We primarily relied upon the names provided by the RCMP, but there were obligations under the order separate that required banks to make their own determinations,” Angelina Mason, general counsel for the Bankers Association, testified to the finance committee on Monday.
“Were there accounts of individuals frozen that did not appear on a list of names submitted by banks to the RCMP?” New Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) Daniel Blaikie asked.
“Yes,” Mason replied.
“Once an account is frozen and eventually unfrozen, are there any permanent markers or indications on a client’s file that would indicate they have had their accounts previously frozen?” Conservative MP Adam Chambers queried.
“There would be something in the file indicating a freeze had taken place,” Mason affirmed.
In response to other questions, Mason confirmed that if a person whose name was flagged by the RCMP had a joint account with someone whose name did not appear on the RCMP’s blacklist, the banks froze the account anyway, cutting both parties off from accessing their funds.
Mason added that even in the event that some of these accounts were illegitimately or unnecessarily frozen, there was “immunity provided” in the Emergencies Act that shields the banks from any legal consequences.
The Freedom Convoy protest, which consisted of thousands of protesters and hundreds of trucks, clogged the downtown core of Canada’s capital of Ottawa for just over three weeks, from the end of January until mid-February.
The stated goal of the protest was to get Canadian governments to rescind the mandates they had imposed during the so-called COVID pandemic, with supporters of the protest saying the measures taken to fight the virus were largely unnecessary, harmful, and unconstitutional.
When the convoy of trucks and their supporters were first making their way to Ottawa, Trudeau maligned the diverse group of Canadians as a “fringe minority” with “unacceptable views” while also suggesting many of the demonstrators were Nazi sympathizers and racists.
Despite the size and length of the protest, police reports indicate that the movement was overwhelming peaceful and non-violent, but was nonetheless met with Trudeau invoking the never-before-used Emergencies Act, granting him the power to use federal police to forcibly end the protest while compelling financial institutions to freeze the bank accounts of anyone involved in financing the protest without a court order.
Trudeau’s harsh actions against the protesters were met with widespread criticism from international figures on both the political right and the political left.
Conservative FoxNews host Tucker Carlson accused Trudeau of turning Canada into a “dictatorship” after he granted himself the emergency powers, and prominent left-wing comedian Bill Maher likened Trudeau’s anti-protester rhetoric to the discriminatory and hateful language used by Adolf Hitler.
Since the Freedom Convoy protest, many provinces decided to move in the direction the protesters desired by phasing out or outright axing their vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, and mandatory indoor masking policies. However, Trudeau’s federal government has still held on to the vaccine mandate for all interprovincial air travelers, mandatory quarantining for unvaccinated Canadians entering Canada, and the requirement that all employees of the federal government be fully vaccinated.
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Pope Francis is using Synod to separate Church ‘leadership’ from ‘ordination’: liberal Vatican nun |
Posted by: Stone - 03-08-2022, 12:51 PM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Pope Francis is using Synod to separate Church ‘leadership’ from ‘ordination’: liberal Vatican nun
Sr. Nathalie Becquart told The New York Times that the role of women in the Church was changing under Pope Francis.
Sr. Nathalie Becquart, under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops
Mon Mar 7, 2022
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – A prominent female member of the Vatican Curia, Sister Nathalie Becquart, has declared that Pope Francis intends to “disconnect participation in the leadership of the church from ordination” in the Synod on Synodality.
Sr. Becquart – appointed in February 2021 as the Vatican’s first female member of the Roman Curia with synodal voting rights, and under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops, the body which is organizing the current Synod on Synodality – made the revelation in an interview conducted by The New York Times as part of the publication’s “Women and Leadership special report.”
Asked about the “obstacles” to female ordination in the Catholic Church, Becquart replied:
Quote:The vision of Pope Francis, through this synod, is to get rid of a clerical church and move to a synodal church — to disconnect participation in the leadership of the church from ordination. We can say that the way now opening up is to listen to all different views; for instance, not everyone thinks ordination of women is a good path. You have some groups calling for that, but you also have some groups calling for new ministries.
“The question of women is a sign of the times,” she said. “It is a powerful call within our societies and in the church. The church has already said we should fight against any discrimination against women. But it is a long way, not only in the church.”
Similar allusions to fundamental change in the Catholic Church following the Synod on Synodality were made by Cardinal Mario Grech, the general-secretary of the Synod of Bishops, who recently said the Synodal process would be a “discernment process,” by which the Church would “find truth.” Grech even hinted at Pope Francis effecting a “change” in doctrine following the Synod.
Yet the Church has already explicitly ruled against the possibility of female ordination, despite Becquart’s suggestion that such an option could be on the table. In Ordinatio sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II firmly condemned any attempt at female ordination, writing:
Quote:Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.
The doctrine of male-only priesthood “has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents,” the Pope added.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has repeatedly confirmed this magisterial teaching, stating that “women cannot become priests because this is excluded by the nature of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.” This prohibition is “normative and as a truth contained in Revelation, not a habit subject to change.”
In 2019, warning about the Amazon Synod’s working document (Instrumentum Laboris), Müller wrote firmly against any future change to the teaching on ordination:
Quote:Therefore, no synod – with or without the Pope – and also no ecumenical council, or the Pope alone, if he spoke ex cathedra, could make possible the ordination of women as bishop, priest, or deacon. They would stand in contradiction to the defined doctrine of the Church.
Pope Francis’ reported desire to divorce ecclesiastical “leadership” from ordination has already been rejected as impossible by Father Karl-Heinz Menke, a retired theologian of dogmatics at the University of Bonn. Menke told LifeSiteNews in 2019 that “the power of ordination (potestas ordinis) and the judicial power (potestas jurisdictionis) may not be separated.” Jurisdiction is intrinsically linked with “ordination,” noted Menke. ...
Notwithstanding such teaching, Becquart’s own appointment as under-secretary to the Synod of Bishops was taken by Cardinal Grech as a sign of change both in the curia and the wider Church, as noted by LifeSiteNews previously. “We will then see what other steps could be taken in the future,” he declared after her appointment, adding that her presence in the General Secretariat would “undoubtedly” force a structural change.
Becquart herself alluded to a form of ecclesiastical revolution, commenting in 2021 that “the Church has learned from the Synod of the Amazon the importance of empowering women.” The “clericalist mindset is changing,” she said, employing one of Pope Francis’ oft-repeated terms.
Becquart repeated this theme when speaking to The New York Times, saying “now we rediscover that the main focus of the church is people walking together: Everyone has a role. Nobody should be set aside.”
She praised Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Spiritus Domini, which opened up the ministries of acolyte and lector to women for the first time, calling it “a major change” for women in the Church.
However, theologian and acclaimed author Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, told LifeSiteNews at the time that the Pope’s move was “a kind of sop thrown to the feminists in the Church, which, of course, will not satisfy them, since the ‘holy grail’ is the priesthood or even the episcopacy.”
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