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| Rev. George Kelly: Should Mothers Work? |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-14-2021, 07:39 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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ONE of the most significant changes of our time-perhaps the most important of all-has been the gradual and insidious breakdown of the family unit which has served man since his earliest moments. And no aspect of this breakdown is more alarming than the growing number of mothers who spend their days at work outside the home.
The extent of this trend is dramatically illustrated by figures compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 1890, about
4,000,000 women in the United States-one in seven-were employed outside the home. By 1920, there were about
8,000,000 female jobholders-and most were single women, widows, or mothers whose children had grown and no longer required their care. Even after World War I, the typical American husband considered it his shame if his wife worked to augment his income; it meant to him that he was an incompetent provider.
Contrast those statistics with today's. In 1958, according to the same government sources, about 23,000,000 women were in the labour force. One worker in three was female. For the first time in our history, more married than single women are employed by business and industry. Even more startling is the fact that one of every five mothers with children under five has a full-time job. Economists have estimated that if present trends continue, the married woman between 35 and 65 who remains at home will be in the minority within fifteen years; before this century ends, the woman who strives to fulfill her historic role as educator of her children will be virtually extinct.
What lies behind the frantic effort by so many American mothers to relinquish their position in the home and to place themselves on a payroll?
An obvious answer might be that their family needs the money. Actually, however, a survey by the U.S. Department of Labor has revealed that only about one woman worker in seven is the sole support of her family. Such bread-winners are usually widows or are separated from their husbands. They can see no alternative to work. They either take outside employment to support their families or go on relief.
The vast majority of mothers work for reasons other than absolute economic necessity, however. Most seek to provide higher standards of living than would be possible on the husband's income alone. For instance, many take jobs so that the family may have a more expensive home, better furniture, an automobile, the opportunity to take vacations and similar privileges. Another category of working mothers consists of those who seek creative satisfactions which they feel that they cannot obtain by caring for their children. Many in this group have been educated to work in the professions, or as secretaries, typists and the like.
Other factors-and combinations of factors-doubtless contribute to the decision of mothers to work. A woman may desire to avoid the loneliness which frequently accompanies the job of caring for small children. She may want to feel independent of her husband. She may seek the excitement often found in the business world where there are new challenges and people to meet. But regardless of why a woman leaves her children in other hands and becomes a wage-earner, one fact is paramount: unless she has a compelling economic reason for doing so, she is downgrading motherhood as her career. And since civilized people have long agreed that the development of young minds and souls is the greatest and most rewarding task that can be entrusted to humans, it is obvious that the woman who voluntarily turns away from her responsibility is changing the function of motherhood which has existed for ages. She is thus encouraging a revolution which will have a powerful effect upon society for generations to come.
In fairness to working mothers, however, it must be stated that the majority probably do not fully realize the consequences in terms of harm to their families and themselves that result from their long daily absences from the home.
Harm to the child. The young child needs his mother. No one else can adequately substitute. A child needs her constant affection and tender guidance, because only upon these foundations can he build the sense of security he needs for his full emotional development. He cannot get this affection at a nursery school. Nor can he obtain it from a succession of trained nursemaids who-however conscientious-cannot give the continuity of love essential for his growth.
The obligation of the woman who bears a child to care for it during its early formative years is recognized even by primitive societies. But what every woman instinctively knows is confirmed by the cold, analytical studies of scientists. For example, in a historic report on 'Maternal Care and Mental Health, published in Geneva in 1952, Dr. John Bowlby declared that the child's entire personality development depends upon the continuity of his relationship with his mother. If the child learns to give his love intimately and consistently to one person throughout his early years of growth, he develops a trust in human goodness and an inner security that enables him to meet confidently the problems of growing up.
What are the effects upon a child deprived of his mother's love during his early, crucial years? Medical records provide a voluminous and terrifying answer. During World War II, governmental authorities in Europe decided to evacuate children from zones in danger of enemy attack. Doctors had the opportunity to compare the psychological effect upon evacuated youngsters separated from their mothers, and upon children who remained with their mothers in areas where bombs fell. The doctors found that the incidence of neurosis and psychosis was fantastically higher among the evacuated children. Those who remained at home could endure even the threat of death without permanent psychological injury, because the security of their mothers' love sustained them in every time of danger.
The feeling that he has been deserted is one of the most terrifying experiences a young person can face. As proof, consider the hysterical scenes in a hospital ward. A child deposited in strange surroundings may experience such an intense fear of the unknown that it etches itself into his memory for the rest of his life. Psychiatrists report that the loss of their mother- through death, desertion, divorce or other factors-gives some children a fear and insecurity that they never entirely lose. Such a child may revert to infantile habits-his attempt to recapture the days when he had his mother's love. He may resist all efforts at discipline, and may whine or cry for no apparent reason. As an adult, he may require psychiatric care, for the adult patient who lost his mother during his early childhood sometimes is unable to give unstinting love to his wife-or to any human being- because he dreads the pain he would feel anew if his love were rejected again.
Of course, few children suffer in this acute way if a working mother shows her love when she and her child are together. Nonetheless, the child suffers more psychological damage than a parent perhaps realizes. The extent of the damage depends, naturally, on the amount of maternal deprivation.
Dr. Bowlby, in a report quoted by the 'Ladies' Home Journal of November 1958, says that the commonest result is a tendency to feel anxious and unhappy and to dread solitude. These symptoms are related to a feeling of basic insecurity. Dr. Bowlby says that children who have never received continuous loving care from one person cannot learn to love and develop emotional depth. 'They act from whim, he says, 'and are very sad, unreliable people indeed.
Children who have known real mothering for a time and then have lost it before they are three sometimes grow up full of hate and mistrust, mixed with a desire for love that they are afraid to admit but which comes out in such things as stealing and promiscuity-lone wolves and lost souls, they are. Deprivation after the age of three isn't quite so bad, but it still results too often in excessive desires for affection and excessive jealousy which cause acute inner conflict and unhappiness.
Many working mothers report that on Saturdays and Sundays, when they are at home, their little ones are with them constantly and do not want to let them out of their sight. The mother interprets this as an indication that she retains her child's love and trust. True, but it also indicates the child's insecurity and his fear that she will again leave him.
Harm to the husband. The damage that a working wife may inflict upon her husband may be almost as great as that done to her child. Man by nature must be the head of the home. From our earliest day, and through all stages of our civilization, he has been the family's provider. He is best fitted for this role: he is naturally active and decisive; he is muscularly stronger than woman; his physical reflexes are better developed. These characteristics have enabled him to hunt, fish and provide the other necessities of life to enable the family to live together. Even today, when physical prowess is not the most important attribute for the provider, typical masculine traits are required to achieve success in the business world.
By taking a position outside the home, a mother throws the historic relationship with her husband out of balance. How can he be the head of the house when he is not considered capable of performing his basic function? The very qualities she must develop in the working world- masculine traits of aggressiveness, decisiveness, coldness, impersonality-are the antithesis of those she needs in dealing with husband and children. She no longer complements her husband as nature intended. She becomes his rival. However much husbands sometimes encourage or accept the employment of the wife outside the home, the situation is not normal and not conducive to a good husband-wife relationship.
In other days, the mother always was responsible for the care of the home, and boys and girls knew that it was her job to mend clothes, prepare meals, wash diapers and clean the house. Today, husbands of working wives often do all of these tasks. Their youngsters have a difficult time in determining where Father's job begins and ends, and where Mother's function begins and ends. But as we have seen, a human being's full development can come only if he knows clearly what is expected of him as an adult. Boys must know what a man's work is. Girls must know how mothers should act. When there is a vast neutralized area, neither clearly masculine nor feminine, the sexual development of youngsters and their ability to comprehend their own responsibility in marriage are impaired. One of the great causes of marital unhappiness is the uncertainty of partners as to their respective roles. This confusion was first created in their childhood experience.
In view of the fact that her act of working outside the home downgrades her husband, his resentment might often be expected. Researchers of the Marriage Council of Philadelphia found this to be a fact. They studied the causes of troubled marriages referred to them for help, and they concluded positively that tensions in a home tend to increase when both partners produce incomes. The largest number of disagreements centred around management of the house, finances, the wife's job, the husband's work, the sharing of household tasks and the upbringing of the children. The researchers concluded flatly that the very existence of the marriage is threatened if a wife works against her husband's wishes.
Harm to the family unit. A working mother may cause more subtle damage to the family unit. For instance, if she works merely to improve material standards of living and not from sheer necessity, she may tend to put false values in first place. The family may come to believe that a new rug, steak on the table instead of hamburger, or clothes that reflect the latest decrees from Paris all are necessary to the enjoyment of life. Such standards may accustom her children to view life's successes and failures from a materialistic point of view. They thus may be taught, by example if not by word, to put spiritual and emotional values in a lower place.
Once materialism takes over in a home, the birth-control mentality almost surely follows. When a mother works to raise her family's living standards, she may more easily succumb to the temptation to prevent the birth of a new life which would force her to quit her job and thus lower her standard of living. Or if she becomes pregnant, the child may be held responsible for reducing the family income-and may never receive the loving acceptance which is his right. Family limitation almost always goes hand in hand with the young working mother. The great tragedy of this arrangement is that it deprives children of brothers and sisters who contribute to a well-rounded and affectionate family life.
Harm to herself. The harm a working mother does to her children and her husband may be equaled by that she does to herself. First, she takes the risk that once she gets a job-even a temporary one-she will not be able to become a fulltime homemaker again. As millions of working wives can testify, it is all too easy for a family to live up to its new income.
One mother, by no means atypical, once took a sales clerk's position to earn extra money for Christmas. She boarded her two small children, four and two years old, with her married sister who lived a mile away. Thanks to her earnings, her children had better clothes and her husband purchased expensive photographic equipment he had always wanted. After Christmas, however, the family was as badly off financially as before, and the mother decided to continue working-just for a few months more, of course. But soon the family was spending the additional income as soon as it came in. The husband was a salesman who could take days off at his convenience-without pay-and now that his wife had a dependable income, his days off became increasingly frequent. Before long the family depended as much upon the mother's earnings as they had upon the father's. The children continued to spend their days under their aunt's care. It is now eleven years since the mother took her 'temporary job. Her husband has become steadily lazier and her children respond less warmly to her than to her sister. She has been trapped into a lifetime of unrewarding drudgery.
The emotional harm that working mothers may do to themselves is often overlooked. One group of researchers interviewed young mothers and found that 64 per cent cited neglect of their home, their family and their housework as the main disadvantages of working. It would be an odd mother who did not feel concern when she went to a place of business leaving her sick child behind to be cared for by someone else. Few mothers can remain totally serene as they give their young sons latchkeys so that they can let themselves into the home after school to spend several hours without adult supervision. Indeed, one psychologist has described the typical working mother as a person subject to opposing pressures-the pressure to concentrate all her energies and efforts on succeeding at her outside job, and the pressure of being a good wife and mother. When she devotes herself to business, she cannot help but be aware that she takes time and energy away from the service she owes her husband and her children. Few mothers can avoid the nagging, emotionally harmful sense of guilt that results.
In order to compensate for this time spent away from home, some seem determined not to let their home and family suffer. After working outside all day, they plunge into frantic housework, preparing meals, scrubbing floors, mending clothes-tasks which stay-at-home mothers perform during the day. By trying to fill two jobs, they often become so tense that they cannot relax and enjoy their family's company. They become martyrs to their dual obligations-and their conduct hardly presents to the child an appealing picture of the burden of motherhood. It is likely that more than one spinster is unmarried today because she was determined not to duplicate the life endured by her mother who worked outside the home by day and inside it far into the night.
Does it really pay mothers to work? Many economists have pointed out that the actual financial gain achieved by the average working mother may be considerably less than she imagines. Many go further and state that she often is not substantially better off financially than if she remained at home.
Economists of the Department of Agriculture recently interviewed 365 wives with jobs outside their homes. This survey established that for every dollar a working wife earns, only sixty cents is actually added to the family's income. The average wife earned $2,200 a year. But she paid almost one third of that sum'$614'for transportation, lunches and other items. In addition, she had to pay $184 for laundry, child care, etc. She also paid $105 for clothing and personal grooming which she probably would not have needed had she remained at home. Instead of $2,200, therefore, she actually had only $1,297 to show for her year's work-before taxes!
Other economists have found that a working mother's expenses may be much greater even than this survey shows. For instance, taxes must be deducted from her salary and the government usually takes a greater percentage from her than from her husband, because the tax rate increases as family income increases. A typical working woman no longer has time to prepare low-cost meals or to shop for food bargains. As a result, her family eats more prepared foods-canned or frozen foods or restaurant meals-which are naturally more expensive. Out of her earnings, she often must pay someone to care for her children, and medical bills tend to shoot up sharply. Unable to care for her children personally and often distrustful of the person she hired to do so, she seeks a doctor's advice more often than would normally be the case. There are also extra expenditures for cleaning help, laundry, and possibly for the sheer luxuries she feels entitled to because she is doing two jobs. When these factors are considered, it can be seen that the working mother often merely changes jobs and does not receive any substantial financial gain from doing so.
Alternatives to work outside the home. Deploring the fact that more and more women seek work satisfactions outside their family circle will not reverse this trend, of course. Women must come to realize anew that their greatest contribution to God and society, and their greatest personal accomplishment, can come only when they bring new lives into existence and teach these beings to walk a path to earthly and eternal happiness. Frank Gavitt, one of the country's outstanding public relations executives, has recommended that universities award honourary degrees to outstanding mothers as they do to distinguished political, business and professional leaders. His suggestion would help to confer on motherhood the dignity and prestige it apparently needs before modern women will give it their total commitment.
It is ironic that a major trend of recent years has been that of 'doing it yourself. It seems that men obtain so few satisfactions from their work that they develop projects at home to give their creative energies an outlet. But while fathers return to the home, mothers are neglecting the creative aspects of home-making. Many of us can remember mothers or grandmothers who baked bread and cake, canned fruits and vegetables, and made their own clothing. The work not only saved money but gave a feeling of worthwhile accomplishment. If today's mothers used fewer of the costly products that take much of the creative joy out of homemaking, they might contribute almost as much to their families economically as they do by taking outside jobs.
What about mothers who must work because of real financial need? They should try to obtain employment which will enable them to be near their young children when they are needed most-during the daytime. There are more of such jobs than one might imagine. One mother obtained a position soliciting magazine subscriptions; she wheels her infant in a carriage from door to door, meeting his needs whenever they arise. Another woman runs a 'day nursery, caring for the children of neighbourhood mothers who wish to shop in freedom. A mother of three small children earns the family income as a typist, working at home for local businessmen while her children play under her supervision. Books listing hundreds of jobs which mothers can profitably perform in or near their homes are available at most public libraries.
Mothers of school-age youngsters can find many opportunities for part-time employment. A typical job is that of sales clerk. Most shoppers are women with children, and they visit the stores while their own young ones attend school. Many stores therefore require special help to handle the extra crowds from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Women who work during those hours can see their children off to school and can return home when they do.
The problem of 'moonlighters. Some of the reasons which prompt mothers to take outside employment also are responsible for the growing number of 'moonlighters-men who hold jobs at night as well as in the daytime. According to the Census Bureau, one male employee in twenty holds a second job.
Like the working mother, the father who holds two jobs can harm the family unit, his mate, his children, and himself. The family suffers because in effect it lacks his leadership. The man away from home sixteen hours a day, who returns only to sleep and to eat a quick meal or two, hardly gives the personal example which his children need to learn to be adults. When mother and children do not see the father except when he is asleep, they cannot be said to have a real family at all.
The wife suffers, because she is denied her husband's companionship. As is pointed out in detail in 'The Catholic Marriage Manual, mothers are justifiably tired of childish company after a long day spent exclusively with their little ones. They have a right to expect the attention, companionship and affection of their mates for at least a few hours of the twenty-four-hour period. The man who is busy earning money may love his wife and may want to make life easier for her. But a willingness to spend his free hours with her, even at the expense of material comforts, would be a greater indication of his affection-and would do far more for her.
The 'moonlighter's children suffer because they los e the opportunity of knowing their father at leisure. It is usually only after his day's work is done and the evening is at hand that he can talk to his children-recount his own experiences, prepare them for their future, and instill standards of conduct that will guide them throughout their lives. It is the father who gives his son his ideals and ideas of manhood and who teaches his daughter by example what to expect in her own husband when she marries. By his absence for prolonged periods, therefore, themoonlighter may be denying his children direction and example as much as does the father who does not live at home.
Nor should we overlook the fact that the man who holds two jobs for long periods may cause intense physical harm to himself. When he must bolt his meals to get from one job to another, when he works such long hours that he cannot get adequate sleep, when his schedule denies him any opportunity for recreation, he increases his nervous tension and susceptibility to the many diseases, such as heart trouble, high blood pressure and ulcers, which result at least partially from an inability to develop relaxed habits of living. The man who 'moonlights over a long period of time certainly will find that some, if not much, of his increased earnings must be used to pay doctors' bills.
We Americans make a fetish of our high standard of living. Advertisers and others bombard us with the concept that we can achieve happiness only if we have a better house, richer food, thicker rugs, more powerful cars than those commonly possessed even ten years ago. Acceptance of this false set of values is generally what prompts the mother to work and the father to 'moonlight. They overlook the basic fact that a family's essentials for life-food, shelter, clothing-cangenerally be obtained on the father's salary. When misguided ambition makes it necessary for the mother to work or the father to take a second job, the family achieves not true happiness but only a few materialistic substitutes for it.
NIHIL OBSTAT:
John A. Goodwine, J.C.D., Censor Librorum
IMPRIMATUR:
Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York
The nihil obstat and imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained
therein that those who have granted the nihil obstat and imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions or statements expressed. August 22, 1959[/b][/b]
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| Pfizer documents reveal variety of vaccine side effects |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-14-2021, 07:10 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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Pfizer documents reveal variety of vaccine side effects
RT | 12 Dec, 2021
Documents released by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reveal that drugmaker Pfizer recorded nearly 160,000 adverse reactions to its Covid-19 vaccine in the initial months of its rollout.
The documents were obtained by a group of doctors, professors, and journalists calling themselves Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, who filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FDA for their release.
The first tranche of documents reveal that, as of February 2021, when Pfizer’s shot was being rolled out worldwide on an emergency basis, the drugmaker had compiled more than 42,000 case reports detailing nearly 160,000 adverse reactions to the jab.
These reactions ranged from the mild to the severe, and 1,223 were fatal. The majority of these case reports involved people aged between 31 and 50 in the United States.
More than 25,000 nervous system disorders were reported, along with 17,000 musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders and 14,000 gastrointestinal disorders. A range of different autoimmune conditions were reported, along with some peculiar maladies, including 270 “spontaneous abortions,” and incidences of herpes, epilepsy, heart failure and strokes, among thousands of others.
BioNTech CEO replies to claims he refused vaccinationREAD MORE: BioNTech CEO replies to claims he refused vaccination
These side effects were previously known, and have all been logged on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database, which as of Sunday has tracked 3,300 deaths following vaccination with Pfizer’s vaccine, a figure broadly in keeping with the company’s own data.
Critics say that some of these deaths cannot be conclusively linked to vaccination, while others argue that the true number of deaths and adverse effects is underreported.
Critically, Pfizer’s documents were used by the FDA to declare the company’s jab safe, which it did for Americans aged 16 and older in August. It has since been approved for children as young as five, and booster doses for people aged 16 and up were approved last week.
The FDA says it may take until 2096 to release all 451,000 pages it used to approve Pfizer’s vaccine.
In the face of the more transmissible and apparently more vaccine-resistant Omicron strain of the coronavirus, the US government has continued to tout vaccination as key to defeating Covid-19. So too has Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who said on Wednesday that a fourth shot of his company’s vaccine may be needed to keep immunity levels up.
With one South African study showing Pfizer’s vaccine up to 40 times less effective against Omicron than previous variants, the company says it could have an Omicron-specific vaccine on the market by March 2022.
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| “This is the Largest Experiment Performed on Human Beings in the History of the World.” |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-14-2021, 07:06 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Dr. Robert Malone: “This is the Largest Experiment Performed on Human Beings in the History of the World.”
New American | November 9, 2021
In an exclusive and explosive one-hour interview with Veronika Kyrylenko of The New American, pioneering mRNA scientist Dr. Robert Malone explains the intensely corrupt workings of the government regulatory bodies that have mismanaged the pandemic, discusses the problems with the vaccine program and delves into potentially explosive and game-changing revelations about the shady origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China.
Who is Dr. Robert Malone? While working at the Salk Institute in 1988, Dr. Malone discovered important findings about in-vivo and in-vitro RNA transfection. He continued his work on the technology a year later at the biopharma start-up Vical where he conducted additional experiments. According to his bio, “The mRNA, constructs, reagents were developed at the Salk institute and Vical by Dr. Malone.” His research has also included important work on DNA vaccines. In addition to his fundamental work developing mRNA and DNA vaccine technology, Malone is also a medical doctor. According to his bio, Dr. Malone “received his medical training at Northwestern University (MD) and Harvard University (Clinical Research Post Graduate) medical school, and in Pathology at UC Davis.”
Few people are as qualified to comment on the course of the COVID pandemic and the mass vaccination campaign as Dr. Malone. In this important interview he shares his unique and deep insights on matters of critical national and international importance.
Bio source: https://www.rwmalonemd.com/about-us
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| Vatican explains new ‘ministry of catechists’ instituted by Pope Francis |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-13-2021, 04:02 PM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Vatican explains new ‘ministry of catechists’ instituted by Pope Francis
![[Image: 20211213T0945-CATECHISTS-MINISTRY-RITE-1...k=6_njKiPh]](https://www.americamagazine.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_image_750_x_503_/public/main_image/2021/12/13/20211213T0945-CATECHISTS-MINISTRY-RITE-1514116.JPG.JPG?itok=6_njKiPh)
Abraham Luque, a catechist from the Scalabrinian Parish of Our Lady of the Perpetual Help,
prays during a Christmas event at the Scalabrini welcome center in Lima, Peru, in this Dec. 16, 2018, file photo.
America Magazine | December 13, 2021
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholic men and women formally installed in the new ministry of catechists are not simply religious education teachers but are engaged in “the proclamation and transmission of the faith, carrying out this role in collaboration with the ordained ministers and under their guidance,” said a letter accompanying the Latin text of the Rite of Institution of Catechists.
Archbishop Arthur Roche, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, released the Latin text and a letter Dec. 13, seven months after Pope Francis instituted the “ministry of catechist” as a formal office and vocation in the church.
Bishops’ conferences will be responsible for translating the rite into their local languages and seeking Vatican approval for local adaptations, which are expected given the variety of roles catechists play in different parts of the world.
In 2022, Archbishop Roche said, his office would release the revised text for the Rite for the Institution of Lectors and Acolytes, a ministry Pope Francis opened to women in January.
“The term ‘catechist’ indicates different realities in relation to the ecclesial context in which it is used,” Archbishop Roche wrote. “Catechists in mission territories differ from those working in churches of long-standing tradition. Moreover, individual ecclesial experiences also produce very different characteristics and patterns of action, so much so that it is difficult to give it a unitary and synthetic description.”
Quote:NB: Ambiguity is a hallmark of modernism. The following is an observation made by Archbishop Lefebvre concerning the Second Vatican Council:
I shall stress the fact that the Council steadily refused to give exact definitions of the matters under discussion. It is this rejection of definitions, this refusal to examine philosophically and theologically the questions under discussion which meant that we could do no more than describe them, not define them. Not only were they not defined, but very often in the course of discussions on the subjects, the traditional definition was falsified. I believe that we are now confronted with a whole system which we cannot accept, manage to grasp and can keep in check only with because the traditional definitions, the true definitions, are no longer accepted.
In different parts of the world, he said, formally recognized catechists can be found “guiding community prayer, especially the Sunday liturgy in the absence of a priest or deacon; assisting the sick; leading funeral celebrations; training and guiding other catechists; coordinating pastoral initiatives; human promotion according to the church’s social doctrine; helping the poor; fostering the relationship between the community and the ordained ministers.”
Archbishop Roche said people should not be surprised by the “breadth and variety of functions” associated with catechists because “the exercise of this lay ministry fully expresses the consequences of being baptized and, in the particular situation of the lack of a stable presence of ordained ministers, it is a participation in their pastoral action.”
“This is what the Code of Canon Law affirms when it provides for the possibility of entrusting to a non-ordained person a share in the exercise of pastoral care in a parish, always under the moderation of a priest,” he wrote. “It is necessary, therefore, to form the community so that it does not see the catechist as a substitute for the priest or deacon, but as a member of the lay faithful who lives their baptism in fruitful collaboration and shared responsibility with the ordained ministers, so that their pastoral care may reach everyone.”
Those chosen for the ministry of catechist, he said, are to be called by their bishop and instituted in what the church calls a “stable” way. While the specific terms of their ministry are up to the local bishop, they are installed in the ministry only once and for a substantial period of time.
Archbishop Roche also include a list of those who “should not be instituted as catechists”:
- “Those who have already begun their journey toward holy orders and in particular have been admitted among the candidates for the diaconate and the priesthood,” because the ministry of catechist is a lay ministry.
- “Men and women religious -- irrespective of whether they belong to Institutes whose charism is catechesis -- unless they act as leaders of a parish community or coordinators of catechetical activity.”
- “Those who carry out a role exclusively for the members of an ecclesial movement” since that role is assigned by leaders of the movement and not by the diocesan bishop.
- “Those who teach Catholic religion in schools, unless they also carry out other ecclesiastical tasks in the service of the parish or diocese.”
The pope’s institution of a formal ministry of catechist, he said, also should not end the practice of all a parish’s or school’s religion teachers being commissioned and given a mandate at the beginning of each school year.
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| Federal judge rejects DOD claim that Pfizer EUA and Comirnaty vaccines are ‘interchangeable’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-13-2021, 03:32 PM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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Federal judge rejects DOD claim that Pfizer EUA and Comirnaty vaccines are ‘interchangeable’
A federal district court judge rejected a claim by the U.S. Department of Defense that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine being administered under Emergency Use Authorization is interchangeable with Pfizer’s fully licensed Comirnaty vaccine.
![[Image: Comirnaty-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Comirnaty-810x500.jpg)
(Children’s Health Defense - see original link for all hyperlinks) – A federal district court judge has rejected a claim by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine being administered under Emergency Use Authorization is interchangeable with Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine, which in August was fully licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In an order issued Nov. 12 in Doe et al. v. Austin, U.S. Federal District Judge Allen Winsor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida denied a preliminary injunction requested by 16 service members against the U.S. Military’s COVID vaccine mandate. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 14, 2022.
However, the judge’s acknowledgment that “the DOD cannot mandate vaccines that only have an EUA” is significant for two reasons.
One reason pertains to the difference in ingredients and manufacturing process between Pfizer’s EUA vaccine and the approved Comirnaty vaccine, and the other pertains to the legal difference between a fully licensed vaccine and an EUA vaccine.
The latter reason would apply not just to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but also to the vaccines produced by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), both of which are authorized only as EUA products.
Under law, everyone has ‘right to refuse’ EUA product
When the FDA approved Pfizer’s Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine in August, approval was accompanied by a series of confusing documents and equally confusing public statements.
One such confounding statement reads as follows:
Quote:“The licensed vaccine has the same formulation as the EUA-authorized vaccine and the products can be used interchangeably to provide the vaccination series without presenting any safety or effectiveness concerns. The products are legally distinct with certain differences that do not impact safety or effectiveness.”
The FDA provided no explanation as to how the licensed Comirnaty vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech EUA vaccine could “be used interchangeably” despite having “certain differences” that make them “legally distinct.”
There are key differences between fully licensed vaccines and those authorized under EUA. EUA products are considered experimental under U.S. law. This means they cannot be mandated, and everyone has the right to refuse such vaccines without consequences.
Τhe Nuremberg Code, as well as federal law, provide that no human being can be forced to participate in a medical experiment. Under 21 U.S. Code Sec.360bbb-3(e)(1)(A)(ii)(III), “authorization for medical products for use in emergencies,” it is unlawful to deny someone a job or an education because they refuse to be an experimental subject.
This is also made clear in the FDA fact sheet provided to patients receiving any Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. It states:
Quote:“Under the EUA, it is your choice to receive or not receive the vaccine. Should you decide not to receive it, it will not change your standard medical care.”
However, U.S. law does allow employers and schools to require students and workers to take licensed vaccines.
EUA products can’t be used once fully licensed product becomes available
Another key difference between fully licensed and EUA vaccines is that, under the 2005 Public Readiness and Preparedness Act (PREP Act), EUA vaccines are accompanied by a far-reaching liability shield that protects all parties involved with the product from lawsuits.
Specifically, if one is injured by an EUA vaccine, the only way to claim damages and receive compensation is to apply to the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), an administrative process under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which authorized the vaccines.
This scheme potentially covers only unpaid medical expenses and lost wages and creates significant barriers for filing a vaccine injury lawsuit.
Notably, under 4% of claims made through this program have been compensated. To date, CICP has not compensated any claims for COVID-19 vaccine injuries.
At this time, the Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine may have no liability shield, making it subject to product liability laws that allow those injured by it to potentially sue for damages, although Pfizer asserts that the vaccine is protected under the PREP Act as well.
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes a fully licensed vaccine on its recommended vaccination schedule, the vaccines similarly enjoy generous liability protections, but those protections are not as complete as under the PREP Act.
The FDA fact sheet states:
Quote:“This EUA for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine and COMIRNATY will end when the Secretary of HHS determines that the circumstances justifying the EUA no longer exist or when there is a change in the approval status of the product such that an EUA is no longer needed.”
This appears to contradict black-letter law — defined as well-established legal rules that are certain, no longer disputable, free from doubt and generally well-known — in addition to well-established case law.
In this case, an EUA is considered illegal and invalid if there is a fully licensed alternative available. This appears to be the case with Pfizer’s licensed Comirnaty while its EUA Pfizer-BioNTech is still on the market.
As stated by Children’s Health Defense (CHD) in its lawsuit against the FDA and Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner:
Quote:“The black letter law is clear. There can be no biologic license approved to a medical product for diagnosing, preventing or treating COVID-19 if there is also still an Emergency Use Authorization for the same medical product serving the same purpose.”
In another CHD lawsuit, pertaining to mask mandates for school children issued under an EUA, CHD President Mary Holland, co-counsel on the case, stated that “[i]t is black-letter law that EUA devices … cannot be mandated at all.”
Still, many media outlets refer to COVID vaccine mandates as an inevitability, based on a narrative which attempts to (mis)lead the public into believing the COVID vaccines have been fully licensed.
The same media narratives, such as a recent USA Today “fact check,” also claim the Comirnaty and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are the same.
CHD though, in its lawsuit against the FDA, argues that Comirnaty’s licensure was a classic “bait and switch,” and that there is no legal basis to retain the EUA status for other COVID vaccines once the FDA has fully licensed a COVID vaccine.
A recent lawsuit filed by Arizona’s attorney general against the Biden administration over its vaccine mandates made a similar argument:
Quote:“…the whole point of the mandates is to deny any such ‘option’ to those governed by them. Notably, only the Pfizer vaccine has received [U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)] approval, and none of the stock of it in the U.S. is actually the FDA-approved version (and instead is entirely under the EUA label subject to the EUA-mandated conference of choice).”
Do vaccines labeled ‘Comirnaty’ even exist?
All of these issues came to the fore in Judge Winsor’s Nov. 12 decision.
As recognized by the judge, “[u]nder the EUA statute, recipients of EUA drugs must be ‘informed … of the option to accept or refuse administration of the product.”
The judge further noted that with regard to the administration of an EUA product to members of the armed forces, such a right of refusal may be waived only by the president.
As noted, “[t]he DOD acknowledges that the president has not executed a [waiver], so as things now stand, the DOD cannot mandate vaccines that only have an EUA.”
Judge Winsor also pointed out that “DOD’s guidance documents explicitly say only FDA-licensed COVID-19 vaccines are mandated.”
While this would be applicable to the Comirnaty vaccine, the judge noted “the plaintiffs have shown that the DOD is requiring injections from vials not labeled ‘Comirnaty.’ Indeed, defense counsel could not even say whether vaccines labeled ‘Comirnaty’ exist at all.”
The judge also noted that the DOD “later clarified that it was mandating vaccines from EUA-labeled vials,” adding that “[i]n the DOD’s view, this is fine because the contents of EUA-labeled vials are chemically identical to the contents of vials labeled ‘Comirnaty’ (if there are any such vials).”
The judge found this argument “unconvincing,” stating that “FDA licensure does not retroactively apply to vials shipped before BLA approval.”
He further noted that EUA provisions suggest “drugs mandated for military personnel be actually BLA-approved, not merely chemically similar to a BLA-approved drug,” not just in terms of labeling, but also in terms of being produced at BLA-compliant facilities.
As the judge stated, “there is no indication that all EUA-labeled vials are from BLA-approved facilities,” adding that “the DOD cannot rely on the FDA to find that the two drugs are legally identical.”
What comes next?
Despite the federal judge’s opinion in Doe et al. v. Austin, no court has yet issued a final, definitive ruling that an institution may not mandate a COVID EUA product.
Some courts, most notably in Bridges et al. v. Houston Methodist Hospital, have upheld EUA mandates for employees in a case where 116 hospital employees filed a lawsuit disputing their employer’s vaccine mandate on the grounds the vaccines were being administered under an EUA.
This decision was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, and a decision is far from final.
Previous case law also appears to provide a precedent against mandating EUA vaccines, especially in the military context.
The DOD’s anthrax vaccine immunization program (AVIP), established in 1997, sought to mandate a vaccine previously used for cutaneous anthrax, to protect service members against inhalation anthrax. This alternate use was legally considered off-label usage, requiring informed consent from each individual or a presidential waiver of informed consent.
Service members filed a lawsuit in 2003, seeking to halt the AVIP. Later that year, a federal court, in response to the lawsuit, halted AVIP, due to the DOD’s failure to adhere to informed consent requirements.
The FDA, eight days after this decision, expanded the vaccine’s label to include inhalation anthrax. This decision was challenged by service members on procedural grounds, based on the claim that the FDA did not follow its own regulations regarding label amendments.
In October 2004, a federal district court sided with the service members, vacating the FDA’s decision. Subsequently, then-President Bush signed the Project BioShield Act into law, which amended the Public Health Service Act to “provide protections and countermeasures against chemical, radiological or nuclear agents.”
Following this, the FDA, in December 2004, filed for an EUA for the anthrax vaccine, which was issued within weeks. The new EUA encompassed inhalation anthrax. Vaccinations of service members resumed, but only on a voluntary basis.
It was not until December 2005 that the FDA formally approved a label expansion for the anthrax vaccine, and only after this did mandatory vaccinations resume for certain categories of service members.
This prior precedent seems to lend legal credence to the argument that EUA vaccines cannot be mandated, at least for military service members, based on a narrow interpretation of the relevant case law.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how courts will ultimately rule in relation to mandating COVID vaccines administered under an EUA.
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| Please Pray for Those Affected by the December 10th Tornadoes |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-11-2021, 09:19 AM - Forum: Appeals for Prayer
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Please keep the souls of those affected by the tornadoes that fiercely ripped through several states Friday night, December 10th in your prayers.
Tornadoes bring death, injuries, damage to several states
Destruction was reported in Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee
Fox News | December 11, 2021
Tornadoes and severe storms swept across several states Friday night, leaving in their wake multiple deaths, numerous injuries and severe structural damage, according to reports.
Affected states included Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, where the governor said it's likely that more than 50 people are dead.
Major incidents included heavy damage to an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, where two people are confirmed dead and dozens of workers were reportedly trapped inside the building, and the destruction of a nursing home in Arkansas, where at least two people were killed and five were hurt, according to reports.
Illinois
The Amazon collapse – just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis – was being called a "mass casualty incident" by local emergency responders. At least 30 people were bused away from the scene to be reunited with family, officials said.
As many as 50 to 100 employees were believed to be inside the building, FOX 2 of St. Louis reported.
Police received word of the collapse around 8:30 p.m., police told FOX 2 early Saturday. Officials said the emergency response was expected to continue far into Saturday morning.
About 40 employees were transported to the Pontoon Beach Police Department, KMOV-TV of St. Louis reported.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker expressed support for those affected in Edwardsville.
"My prayers are with the people of Edwardsville tonight," Pritzker wrote, "and I've reached out to the mayor to provide any needed state resources."
Missouri
In St. Charles County, Missouri, to the west of St. Louis, at least one person was killed and three injured when a tornado struck in the town of Defiance, according to FOX 2.
Arkansas
In Craighead County, Arkanas, emergency responders were dealing with a tragedy at the Monette Manor Nursing Home in Monette, FOX 16 of Little Rock reported.
At least 20 people were initially trapped inside the building after a suspected tornado struck, the report said. The damage left at least two people dead and five hurt, the report said.
The nursing home’s roof was ripped off and other buildings in town also were damaged, according to FOX 16.
Survivors were being directed to a local church to reunite with loved ones, the station reported.
Another fatality was reported at a Dollar General store in Leachville, according to The Weather Channel.
Kentucky
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear warned the commonwealth's residents early Saturday that the tornado death toll there may exceed 50.
Beshear made the comments by phone with Louisville station WLKY-TV. He said a single tornado ripped across the state for about 200 miles.
Earlier, the governor declared a state of emergency after major tornado damage was reported in the western part of the state, according to Louisville FOX station WDRB-TV.
"Last night Western Kentucky experienced some of the worst tornado damage we’ve seen, and we are urging everyone to please stay safe as there are still active cells," Beshear wrote on Twitter around 2 a.m.
"Loss of life is expected," in western Kentucky, the Kentucky State Police wrote on Twitter.
Southwest Kentucky saw "twin tornadoes" strike around 2:20 a.m. near Bowling Green, WDRB reported.
In Madisonville, Kentucky, a freight-train derailment was reported shortly after midnight, related to severe weather. No injuries were immediately reported, a spokeswoman for rail company CSX Corp. told Fox News.
Tennessee
At least two people were confirmed dead in Obion County, Tennessee, after dangerous storms tore through the area, FOX 17 of Nashville reported. No details were immediately available on how the deaths occurred.
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| Pope Francis was Advisor for Pachamama Park(?) |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-10-2021, 09:30 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Happy Francis Was Adviser For Pachamama Park
![[Image: 3fad70dg7czlj8o853umvtlipsgtiv0tzo5jwdd....ormat=webp]](https://assistant.gloria.tv/FxK6pqhk7ZiS1AZwTDoBU6KMY/3fad70dg7czlj8o853umvtlipsgtiv0tzo5jwdd.webp?format=webp)
gloria.tv | December 10, 2021
Santiago del Estero, Argentina, inaugurated on October 20 an inter-religious Parque del Encuentro (Park of Encounter).
It includes buildings representing Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism. A five-sided "Obelisk of Human Fraternity" climaxes the structure. According to Urgente24.com, Francis was an adviser to the project.
According to Telam.com.ar, Pachamama is recognised with an amphitheatre which represents "the South American cult of the Pachamama" and is "built with stone terraces, an expression of the fertility of Mother Earth."
For the inauguration, Francis wrote that the news of this venture made him "happy" because "in the midst of so many disagreements, a community has the courage to do something like this supposes courage, bravery and, above all, the desire to walk together.”
He added that mankind is “in the midst of this ‘Third World War in bits and pieces and in stages’” while the park is creating peace and harmony.
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| UN Unveils a Statue at its NYC Headquarters that Resembles the Beast from the Apocalypse |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-10-2021, 09:21 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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PURE EVIL: The United Nations Unveils a Statue at its NYC Headquarters that Resembles the Beast from the Book of Revelation
![[Image: UN-Beast-Sculpture.jpg]](https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/UN-Beast-Sculpture.jpg)
GP| December 9, 2021
The United Nations just unveiled a statue of a beast outside its headquarters in New York City. The statue is bizarre and resembles the beast from the book of Revelation.
The Most Important News reports:
Quote:One of the strangest statues that I have ever seen in my entire life has just been set up right outside UN Headquarters in New York City. When I first heard about this, I could hardly believe that the global elite would be so brazen, and so I checked into this very carefully. Unfortunately, this is not just a bad rumor. This absolutely gigantic statue is called “The Guardian of International Peace and Security”, and it looks like something out of a science fiction movie. It does not resemble any known creature on this planet. Instead, it appears to very closely resemble a “beast” that is described in the Book of Revelation. If you have not seen it yet, you can see video footage of this “beast” right here. Did they really think that they could put this up without anyone noticing?
The Most Important News continues:
Quote:Of course when Christians see this monstrosity, they are immediately going to think of the “beast” that is described in Revelation chapter 13…
Edited to Douay Rheims: [2] And the beast, which I saw, was like to a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his own strength, and great power.
Jaguars and leopards have builds that are at least somewhat similar, and so I guess one could make an argument that the body of the statue resembles either one.
As for the feet, they do seem to resemble those of a bear, and it is noteworthy that the feet are a totally different color from the rest of the body.
The UN tweeted a picture of the beast.
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| Calvary and the Mass [1936] by Bishop Fulton Sheen |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-09-2021, 12:16 PM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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Calvary and the Mass: A Missal Companion
by Fulton J. Sheen
1936 by P.J. Kenedy & Sons, New York, US.
Quote:Excerpt from the Angelus Press:
CALVARY AND THE MASS
Fulton J. Sheen, D.D.
In this 1936 work, then Msgr. Sheen takes Our Lord's seven last words from the Cross and correlates them to appropriate parts of the Mass - the sacramental representation of that same sacrifice. A fascinating book that will give you a new perspective on the Mass:
1)The Confiteor: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
2) The Offertory: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.
3) The Sanctus: Woman, behold thy Son...Behold thy mother.
4) The Consecration: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!
5) The Communion: I thirst.
6) Ite, Missa Est: It is finished.
7) The Last Gospel: Father, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit.
Bishop Sheen says, "Hence the Mass is to us the crowning act of Christian worship. A pulpit in which the words of our Lord are repeated does not unite us to Him; a choir in which sweet sentiments are sung brings us no closer to His Cross than to His garments. A temple without an altar of sacrifice is non-existent among primitive peoples, and is meaningless among Christians. And so in the Catholic Church the altar, and not the pulpit or the choir or the organ, is the center of worship, for there is re - enacted the memorial of His Passion." (from the Prologue).
PROLOGUE
THERE are certain things in life which are too beautiful to be forgotten, such as the love of a mother. Hence we treasure her picture. The love of soldiers who sacrificed themselves for their country is likewise too beautiful to be forgotten, hence we revere their memory on Memorial Day. But the greatest blessing which ever came to this earth was the visitation of the Son of God in the form and habit of man. His life, above all lives, is too beautiful to be forgotten, hence we treasure the divinity of His Words in Sacred Scripture, and the charity of His Deeds in our daily actions. Unfortunately this is all some souls remember, namely His Words and His Deeds; important as these are, they are not the greatest characteristic of the Divine Saviour.
The most sublime act in the history of Christ was His Death. Death is always important for it seals a destiny. Any dying man is a scene. Any dying scene is a sacred place. That is why the great literature of the past which has touched on the emotions surrounding death has never passed out of date. But of all deaths in the record of man, none was more important than the Death of Christ. Everyone else who was ever born into the world, came into it to live; our Lord came into it to die. Death was a stumbling block to the life of Socrates, but it was the crown to the life of Christ. He Himself told us that He came “to give his life a redemption for many”; that no one could take away His Life; but He would lay it down of Himself.
If then Death was the supreme moment for which Christ lived, it was therefore the one thing He wished to have remembered. He did not ask that men should write down His Words into a Scripture; He did not ask that His kindness to the poor should be recorded in history; but He did ask that men remember His Death. And in order that its memory might not be any haphazard narrative on the part of men, He Himself instituted the precise way it should be recalled.
The memorial was instituted the night before He died, at what has since been called “The Last Supper.” Taking bread into His Hands, He said: “This is my body, which shall be delivered for you,” i.e., delivered unto death. Then over the chalice of wine, He said, “This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.” Thus in an unbloody symbol of the parting of the Blood from the Body, by the separate consecration of Bread and Wine, did Christ pledge Himself to death in the sight of God and men, and represent His death which was to come the next afternoon at three.1 He was offering Himself as a Victim to be immolated, and that men might never forget that “greater love than this no man hash, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” He gave the divine command to the Church: “Do this for a commemoration of me.”
The following day that which He had prefigured and foreshadowed, He realized in its completeness, as He was crucified between two thieves and His Blood drained from His Body for the redemption of the world.
The Church which Christ founded has not only preserved the Word He spoke, and the wonders He wrought; it has also taken Him seriously when He said: “Do this for a commemoration of me.” And that action whereby we re-enact His Death on the Cross is the Sacrifice of the Mass, in which we do as a memorial what He did at the Last Supper as the prefiguration of His Passion.2
Hence the Mass is to us the crowning act of Christian worship. A pulpit in which the words of our Lord are repeated does not unite us to Him; a choir in which sweet sentiments are sung brings us no closer to His Cross than to His garments. A temple without an altar of sacrifice is non-existent among primitive peoples, and is meaningless among Christians. And so in the Catholic Church the altar, and not the pulpit or the choir or the organ, is the center of worship, for there is re-enacted the memorial of His Passion. Its value does not depend on him who says it, or on him who hears it; it depends on Him who is the One High Priest and Victim, Jesus Christ our Lord. With Him we are united, in spite of our nothingness; in a certain sense, we lose our individuality for the time being; we unite our intellect and our will, our heart and our soul, our body and our blood, so intimately with Christ, that the Heavenly Father sees not so much us with our imperfection, but rather sees us in Him, the Beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. The Mass is for that reason the greatest event in the history of mankind; the only Holy Act which keeps the wrath of God from a sinful world, because it holds the Cross between heaven and earth, thus renewing that decisive moment when our sad and tragic humanity journeyed suddenly forth to the fullness of supernatural life.
What is important at this point is that we take the proper mental attitude toward the Mass, and remember this important fact, that the Sacrifice of the Cross is not something which happened nineteen hundred years ago. It is still happening. It is not something past like the signing of the Declaration of Independence; it is an abiding drama on which the curtain has not yet rung down. Let it not be believed that it happened a long time ago, and therefore no more concerns us than anything else in the past. Calvary belongs to all times and to all places. That is why, when our Blessed Lord ascended the heights of Calvary, He was fittingly stripped of His garments: He would save the world without the trappings of a passing world. His garments belonged to time, for they localized Him, and fixed Him as a dweller in Galilee. Now that He was shorn of them and utterly dispossessed of earthly things, He belonged not to Galilee, not to a Roman province, but to the world. He became the universal poor man of the world, belonging to no one people, but to all men.
To express further the universality of the Redemption, the cross was erected at the crossroads of civilization, at a central point between the three great cultures of Jerusalem, Rome, and Athens, in whose names He was crucified. The cross was thus placarded before the eyes of men, to arrest the careless, to appeal to the thoughtless, to arouse the worldly. It was the one inescapable fact that the cultures and civilizations of His day could not resist. It is also the one inescapable fact of our day which we cannot resist.
The figures at the Cross were symbols of all who crucify. We were there in our representatives. What we are doing now to the Mystical Christ, they were doing in our names to the historical Christ. If we are envious of the good, we were there in the Scribes and Pharisees. If we are fearful of losing some temporal advantage by embracing Divine Truth and Love, we were there in Pilate. If we trust in material forces and seek to conquer through the world instead of through the spirit, we were there in Herod. And so the story goes on for the typical sins of the world. They all blind us to the fact that He is God. There was therefore a kind of inevitability about the Crucifixion. Men who were free to sin were also free to crucify.
As long as there is sin in the world the Crucifixion is a reality. As the poet has put it:
“I saw the son of man go by, Crowned with a crown of thorns. ‘Was it not finished Lord,’ said I, ‘And all the anguish borne?’
“He turned on me His awful eyes; ‘Hast Thou not understood? So every soul is a Calvary And every sin a rood.’”
We were there then during that Crucifixion. The drama was already completed
as far as the vision of Christ was concerned, but it had not yet been unfolded to all men and all places and all times. If a motion picture reel, for example, were conscious of itself, it would know the drama from beginning to end, but the spectators in the theater would not know it until they had seen it unrolled upon the screen. In like manner, our Lord on the Cross saw His eternal mind, the whole drama of history, the story of each individual soul, and how later on it would react to His Crucifixion; but though He saw all, we could not know how we would react to the Cross until we were unrolled upon the screen of time. We were not conscious of being present there on Calvary that day, but He was conscious of our presence. Today we know the role we played in the theater of Calvary, by the way we live and act now in the theater of the twentieth century.
That is why Calvary is actual; why the Cross is the Crisis; why in a certain sense the scars are still open; why Pain still stands deified, and why blood like falling stars is still dropping upon our souls. There is no escaping the Cross not even by denying it as the Pharisees did; not even by selling Christ as Judas did; not even by crucifying Him as the executioners did. We all see it, either to embrace it in salvation, or to fly from it into misery.
But how is it made visible? Where shall we find Calvary perpetuated? We shall find Calvary renewed, re-enacted, re- presented, as we have seen, in the Mass. Calvary is one with the Mass, and the Mass is one with Calvary, for in both there is the same Priest and Victim. The Seven Last Words are like the seven parts of the Mass. And just as there are seven notes in music admitting an infinite variety of harmonies and combinations, so too on the Cross there are seven divine notes, which the dying Christ rang down the centuries, all of which combine to form the beautiful harmony of the world’s redemption.
Each word is a part of the Mass. The First Word, “Forgive,” is the Confiteor; the Second Word, “This Day in Paradise,” is the Offertory; the Third Word, “Behold Thy Mother,” is the Sanctus; the Fourth Word, “Why hast Thou abandoned Me,” is the Consecration; the Fifth Word, “I thirst,” is the Communion; the Sixth Word, “It is finished,” is the Ite, Missa Est; the Seventh Word, “Father, into Thy Hands,” is the Last Gospel.
Picture then the High Priest Christ leaving the sacristy of heaven for the altar of Calvary. He has already put on the vestment of our human nature, the maniple of our suffering, the stole of priesthood, the chasuble of the Cross. Calvary is his cathedral; the rock of Calvary is the altar stone; the sun turning to red is the sanctuary lamp; Mary and John are the living side altars; the Host is His Body; the wine is His Blood. He is upright as Priest, yet He is prostrate as Victim. His Mass is about to begin.
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| Four Discourses by St. John Chrysostom |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-09-2021, 11:51 AM - Forum: Doctors of the Church
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FOUR DISCOURSES OF SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
CHIEFLY ON THE PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
TRANSLATED BY F. ALLEN, B. A.
LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER 1869
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PREFACE
OF the Christian Fathers, none have gained such fame, and few have left remains so voluminous as Chrysostom. In the melancholy narrative of Gibbon, two Christian champions are presented as men of real power and vigour of mind. The historian pauses to detail their acts and estimate their influence, but his admiration seems rather spontaneously and involuntarily shown, than formally expressed. These two men are Athanasius and John Chrysostom. The one is the man of unyielding polemical skill, of undaunted courage and astounding energy. The latter possesses in a remarkable degree, that which the former lacked or repressed, imaginative genius. As an orator, Chrysostom must have been as pre-eminent as Athanasius was as a polemical champion. “They [the critics of succeeding times] unanimously attribute to the Christian orator the free command of an elegant and copious language, the judgment to conceal the advantages which he derived from the knowledge of rhetoric and philosophy, an inexhaustible fund of metaphors and similitudes, of ideas and images to vary and illustrate the most familiar topics, the happy art of engaging the passions in the service of virtue, and of exposing the folly as well as the turpitude of vice, almost with the truth and spirit of a dramatic representation.” As a writer, too, the same historian, though speaking of the Letters only, which are of far less value than his Essays and Commentaries, (speaking of his last days in exile) says, “The respectful attention of the Christian world was fixed on a desert spot among the mountains of Taurus. From that solitude the Archbishop, whose active mind was invigorated by misfortunes, maintained a strict and frequent correspondence with the most distant provinces.” And, in a footnote, “Two hundred and forty two of the epistles of Chrysostom are still extant. They are addressed to a variety of persons, and show a firmness of mind much superior to that of Cicero in his exile.”
The orator must always fail to leave any worthy memorial of his genius. As might have been expected, the best remains of Chrysostom are those of his works which were not orally delivered, or which may be supposed to have been at least committed to writing by himself. The Sermons must of necessity be inadequately represented. And since the genius of Chrysostom worked chiefly by these oral discourses, it follows that his remains are weakest in that point in which the man himself was strongest. There are, however, traces even in the Sermons of the power that originated them.
The name of scarcely any other writer of antiquity has, after his death, been attached to so many spurious compositions as this great name. The Benedictine editor (Montfaucon) appends some of these. The reason for their rejection is usually founded, not on external evidence, but on the inferiority of the matter contained in them, (Multa peregrinitatem olent. Peregrinitatis notas deprehendimus, &c.) Writings by hands more able, but not more scrupulous, may have retained the borrowed name by means of their vigour.
There are, however, as has been remarked, many traces, even in the oral Discourses, of their original power. Those now submitted to the reader contain many things which the translator ventures to hope may be deemed worth attention or even remembering. The series in the Paris edition consists of seven Discourses. Of these, the first four only are here translated. The fifth is an integral part of the series, but contains different subjects, the parable having been completed in the fourth. The sixth and seventh, though partly on the parable, were delivered at another period, and repeat in some degree the earlier ones.
It would not be difficult to call up in imagination the crowded cathedral at Antioch, with the audience in rapt attention to the already most famous orator of the time, and the voice and manner of a man absolutely on fire with emotion. The “Send Lazarus,” (Πέμψον Λάζαρον,) repeated after measured intervals of thundering denunciation, would pierce the ear like a real cry of despair; or would seem like the monotonous recurring toll at the execution of some criminal.
No attempt can be made here to estimate worthily the character of Chrysostom, or to give an account of his life and times. It should, however, be suggested that he was an Oriental. Consideration should be taken of the state of society in his day, and of the open and vigorous and mutual hostility of Christians, Jews, and Pagans, in immediate juxtaposition in a magnificent city like Antioch or Constantinople. Allusions occur in these Discourses to customs belonging to the past. In Discourses ii. and iv. (pp. 45 and 93) it is implied that a criminal tried for capital offences was not permitted to see his judge. Poverty then was dependent absolutely on direct charity. This fact (and the well-known customs of the East about stranger guests) adds force to the remarks about hospitality in Discourse ii.
Applause in religious assemblies was then commonly and loudly uttered. In his Sermons on Genesis (see No. vii.) this custom is alluded to: “Yesterday ye shouted aloud and testified your pleasure,” (χθὲς μέγα ἀνακεκράγετε, δηλοῦντες τὴν ἡδονήν.) In the second of these Discourses, (3,) the silence of the assembly is remarked upon as unusual.
Chrysostom was himself strongly imbued with the ascetic notions of his age, and with the prevalent ideas about the superior sanctity of unmarried life.
He lived before the prominent development of the doctrine of Justification by Faith. Though speaking freely about the benefit of good works, he, nevertheless, manifests the Christian inner consciousness of the inefficacy of these or of mere penitence as a means of salvation. “If thou art grieved and humbly penitent, thy penitence is in a manner accompanied by salvation, (ἔχει τινὰ σωτηρίαν,)—not through the essential nature of penitence, but through the kindness of the Lord.” (Discourse vi. in the Paris edition.)
These considerations may be useful in estimating the extant works of Chrysostom. It is believed that the Discourses now translated have not hitherto been rendered into English. Our countryman Savile, in the beginning of the 17th century, published a splendid edition of the complete works of Chrysostom, in Greek. His notes (in Latin) are declared by Montfaucon to be of those then written the best. The able translation in the “Library of the Fathers” gives other works of Chrysostom. The fact, however, that those volumes form part of a large series renders the diffusion of even those of Chrysostom’s writings less extensive than might otherwise be.
It is hoped that this separate publication of another work of Chrysostom may increase the tendency now existing to read more generally the remains of Christian Antiquity, and the writings of the great instructors of the Church, of which Christ is the Head.
“Μεθʼ οὖ τῷ Πατρὶ ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, δόξα, τιμὴ, κράτος, νῦν καὶ ἀὲι, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.”
F. A.
DERBY, November 1868.
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| Prophecies of Bl. Elizabeth Canori Mora (1774-1825) |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-09-2021, 10:25 AM - Forum: Catholic Prophecy
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Bl. Elisabetta Canori Mora (1774-1825)
Taken from here.
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BL. ELISABETTA CANORI MORA (1774-1825) was born in Rome on 21 November 1774 to the aristocrats Tommaso Canori and Teresa Primoli as one of twelve children; six of these children died as infants. One sister was Benedetta. She was baptized on 22 November in the names of Maria Elisabetta Cecilia Gertrude.
Her parents first entrusted her to the religious at the convent of Santa Euphemia for her initial studies and the Superioress Gertrude Riggoli discovered her keen gifts and wanted her there as a full-time student. Bl. Elisabetta Mora received her Confirmation in Saint Peter's Basilica on 5 July 1782 and Sister Riggoli was her godmother. Her father withdrew her from the Santa Euphemia convent due to their poverty and soon after sought help from his brother in Spoleto when their fortunes began to dwindle. Her uncle helped and assumed the care of her and her sister Benedetta and entrusted them to a convent for education. The Augustinian Sisters from Casica oversaw her education from 1785 until 1788. During her education she became noted for her intelligence and her interior spirit of penance.
Bl. Elisabetta married the solicitor Cristoforo Mora on 10 January 1796 in the church of Santa Maria in Campo Corleo and the couple went on to have a total of four children. The first two children died within the week of their births with two surviving daughters Marianne (b. 1799) and Luciana (b. 5 July 1801) left; Marianna later married and had a single child while Lucina became a nun in 1795. Her father-in-law was the doctor Francesco Mora. Her husband proved unfaithful and sometimes violent and reduced the Mora's to a state of want to his abrasive nature. Her husband was also jealous and controlling and he became suspicious of his wife's ties to her parents - this led to him becoming cold and indifferent to her. Cristoforo in the beginning liked to parade her around and guard her like a treasure and called her his "pearl of great price" though as the marriage deteriorated took up a mistress. Her confessor and spiritual director before 1807 was the Jesuit priest Giovanni Giacomo Pegna.
On 15 August 1801 she fell ill with severe colic despite the attempts of her father-in-law to treat her and she almost died from this but was cured; there was no medical explanation for her cure and she deemed it to be a miracle. Her illness caused her to sell her jewels and her wedding dress to make up for the medical bills. Bl. Elisabetta Mora became a member of the Secular Trinitarians in 1807 and her fame spread throughout Rome at a rapid pace. The Trinitarian priest Fernando de San Luis became her spiritual director in 1807 had introduced her to the order before she joined it. Bl. Elisabetta Mora predicted that her husband would soon repent to the faith and become devout.
Her husband had reduced them to poverty to the point that he had stolen a considerable sum from his father who found out and suffered an apoplectic stroke - he was cured due to Bl. Elisabetta Mora turning to God for His divine intercession. Her sisters-in-law grew concerned for her as did her mother-in-law, and Cristoforo's sisters went to the Roman authorities for the Papal States to have them reprimand him for his vile mannerisms. The Cardinal Vicar of Rome received him at the convent of Santi Giovanni e Paolo and this enraged Cristoforo when he learnt his sisters were behind it and his wife knew of it. Cristoforo became so enraged with his wife that he pulled out a knife and lunged at her but did not strike her so instead fell to his knees and begged for her pardon in a sudden and unexpected moment of fear.
Her Mystical Experiences
Mora recorded all her spiritual experiences at her confessor's request and this ended up spanning countless notebooks. She saw the Our Lady on 7 September 1803 with a dove and this caused her to faint though she later awoke and saw a flame where her heart was. On March 22, 1814 she turned her mind in reflection to Pope Pius VII and had a sudden vision in which she saw the pontiff in the midst of a pack of "wolves". On 16 January 1815 she had a vision in which she saw angels and on 29 June 1820 saw Saint Peter descend from heaven in papal vestments with a legion of angels behind him. On October 19, 1816 she went to receive Communion and a voice said that God would speak with her on October 23, at midnight - on that date the Madonna appeared with the Infant Jesus and beckoned her to come to them. Bl. Elisabetta Mora approached them and the Infant Jesus placed a ring on her finger. She had an intense devotion to the Eucharist and once saw Saint Felix of Valois and Saint John of Matha appear to her with the Host. It was also said that Bl. Elisabetta Mora cured the epileptic Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti - the future Pope Pius IX - before the latter became a priest. This is lesser known for the future pope credited this to Pius VII when the pair met. In 1820 she was vested in the Trinitarian habit and assumed the name of "Jane Felica della Santissima Trinità". When she learnt that Pius VII would return from his French exile she - in great happiness - asked God to grant the pope safe passage through to Rome. On 29 September 1809 she saw the St. Michael with a legion of angels.
Bl. Elisabetta Mora had an intense devotion for Saint Ignatius and called him both her "father" and her "protector". She was a friend of Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, who was also gifted with visions and prophecy. On 17 June 1814 Bl. Elisabetta Mora returned from church and had a vision in which she saw the late Pope Pius VI who told her that he was in Purgatory for negligences committed in his pontificate. She hurried to tell his confessor who requested her to go five times to the tomb of Pope Pius V and to the tomb of Saint Pudentiana at the church of Santa Pudenziana. God later appeared to Mora and confirmed that Pius VI had been assumed into heaven.
In late December 1824 she became ill - the death of her mother-in-law on 12 December exacerbated this - and she summoned her daughters to her when she felt that her death was near. At 7:00 pm she called Lucina to her and requested that she take all of her writings and to give them to her confessor; she confided that she wanted to burn them but would have them given to her confessor out of obedience. Bl. Mora died during the evening on 5 February 1825 while her two daughters were caring for her. Her husband Cristoforo arrived too late at her deathbed and wept when he saw her dead in the bed; it was there that he repented and felt great shame for his conduct during their marriage. Her prediction came to fruition for her husband joined the Trinitarian Order and later became an ordained priest - in the name of "Antonio" - of the Conventual Franciscans in Sezze and died there on 9 September 1845 (he was ordained in 1834). Her remains were interred in the San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane church in Rome. Her nun daughter became the Superioress of the Oblate Nuns of Saint Philip Neri in Rome as "Maria Josephina" while her nephew Romualdo Canori was a professed brother and the then Vicar-General of the De La Salle Brothers.
The beatification process commenced in Rome in an informative process that opened on 6 September 1864 and later concluded not too long after in July 1867. The formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Pius IX on 26 February 1874 who titled her as a Servant of God while Pope Pius XI later confirmed her heroic virtue and named her as Venerable on 26 February 1928. Pope John Paul II later beatified her on 24 April 1994 at Saint Peter's Square.
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Her Visions of the Future Chastisement due to the Corruption of the Church – Compacts will be made against the Church - Hell will be Let Loose to Destroy the Evil Ones ( Satan's Century?) - There will be places of shelter for faithful Catholics, St. Peter will choose the new pope (Angelic Pontiff?) after the great devastation of the Church and the earth and the Church will be renewed – all shall convert to the Catholic Church – the Triumph of the Church (Age of Peace).
“On the Feast of St. Peter, 29th of June, 1820, whilst I was praying for the wants of the Church and the conversion of sinners, amongst whom I am the first, I was ravished in spirit, and drawn very near to God. Through an infinite light I was so intimately united to him that I lost all sentiments of myself The sweet impressions of the love of God replenished me with an inexpressible joy and satisfaction. My soul, however, remained calm in these tokens of Divine kindness. Then it seemed to me to behold the heavens opening, and St. Peter, prince of the Apostles, coming down, surrounded with great glory and by a numerous escort of heavenly spirits, singing canticles. St. Peter was dressed in his pontifical robes, and held in his right hand the pastoral staff, with which he used to draw upon the earth an immense cross: at the same time the angels sang these words of the Psalmist, “Constitues eos principes super omnem terram” — You will constitute them princes over the whole earth.
“After this the holy Apostle touched with his staff the four extremities of the cross, from which instantly sprung up four beautiful trees loaded with blossoms and fruits. These mysterious trees had the form of a cross, and were surrounded by a splendid light. Then I comprehended in the depth of my soul that St. Peter had produced these four symbolic trees to the end that they may serve as a place of refuge to the little flocks of the faithful friends of Jesus Christ, and in order to preserve them from the fearful punishment which shall convulse the whole earth. All good Christians shallthen be protected under these trees, together with all those religious persons who shall have faithfully preserved in their hearts the spirit of their order. I say the same thing in relation to the secular clergy and to all other persons of every class who shall have kept in their heart the Catholic faith, they shall all be protected.
But woe, to those religious who do not observe their rule! Thrice unhappy they! For they shall all be struck by that terrible punishment. I say the same to all secular clergy, and to all classes of people in the world who give themselves to a life of pleasure, and who follow the false maxims of modern ideas, which are opposed to the holy precepts of the gospel. These wretched people, who through their scandalous conduct deny the faith of Jesus Christ, shall perish under the weight of the indignant arm of God’s justice. Not one of them shall be able to escape the punishment.
I beheld those good Christians, who had sought a refuge under those mysterious trees, in the form of beautiful lambs confided to the care and vigilance of St. Peter, their good shepherd, testifying to him the most humble and most respectful obedience. As soon as St Peter, the prince of the Apostles, had gathered the flock of Jesus in a place of safety, he reascended into heaven, accompanied by legions of angels. Scarcely had they disappeared, when the sky was covered with clouds so dense and dismal that it was impossible to look at them without dismay. On a sudden there burst out such a terrible and violent wind, that its noise seemed like the roars of furious lions. The sound of the dreadful hurricane was heard over the whole earth. Fear and terror struck not only men, but the very beasts. (NOTE: this freakish storm as the first major warning has been predicted by other mystics).
“All men shall rise one against the other, and they shall kill one another without pity. (i.e great wars / genocides, revolutions) During this sanguinary conflict the avenging arm of God will strike the wicked, and in his mighty power he will punish their pride and presumption. God will employ the powers of hell for the extermination of these impious and heretical persons who desire to overthrow the Church and destroy it to its very foundation. These presumptuous men in their mad impiety believe that they can overthrow God from his throne; but the Lord will despise their artifices, and through an effect of his almighty hand he will punish these impious blasphemers by giving permission to the infernal spirits to come out from hell. Innumerable legions of demons shall overrun the earth, and shall execute the orders of Divine justice by causing terrible calamities and disasters; they shall attack everything; they shall injure individual persons and entire families; they shall devastate property and alimentary productions, cities and villages. Nothing on earth shall be spared. God will allow the demons to strike with death those impious men, because they gave themselves up to the infernal powers, and had formed with them a compact against the Catholic Church.”
(NOTE the words -- 'infernal powers that formed with them a COMPACT against the Catholic Church', there will be a veritable effort to destroy the Church to where a pact, treaty or contract will be made. Sounds very much like Marie-Julie Jahenny's prophecies of a conspiracy to start the revolts in France and the world to destroy the Church, and, evil people will make compacts with the devil. Freemasons will be a huge part of it according to what is revealed in the Marie-Julie Jahenny's visions.)
Back to Bl. Elisabetta Mora: "Being desirous of more fully penetrating my spirit with a deeper sentiment of his divine justice, God showed to me the awful abyss; I saw in the bowels of the earth a dark and frightful cavern, whence an infinite number of demons were issuing forth, who under the form of men and beasts came to ravage the world, leaving everywhere ruins and blood. Happy will be all true and good Catholics ! They shall experience the powerful protection of the holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, who will watch over them lest they may be injured either in their persons or their property. Those evil spirits shall plunder every place where God has been outraged, despised, and blasphemed; the edifices they profaned will be pulled down and destroyed, and nothing but ruins shall remain of them.
“After this frightful punishment I saw the heavens opening, and St. Peter coming down again upon earth; he was vested in his pontifical robes, and surrounded by a great number of angels, who were chanting hymns in his honor, and they proclaimed him as sovereign of the earth. I saw also St. Paul descending upon the earth. By God’s command, he traversed the earth and unchained the demons, whom he brought before St. Peter, who commanded them to return into hell, whence they had come.
“Then a great light appeared upon the earth, which was the sign of the reconciliation of God with man. The angels conducted before the throne of the prince of the Apostles the small flock that had remained faithful to Jesus Christ. These good and zealous Christians testified to him the most profound respect, praising God and thanking the Apostles for having delivered them from the common destruction, and for having protected the Church of Jesus Christ by not permitting her to be infected with the false maxims of the world. St. Peter then chose the new pope. The Church was again organized; religious orders were reestablished; the private families of ordinary Christians, through their great fervor and zeal for the glory of God, became like the most exemplary religious communities. Such is the glorious triumph reserved for the Catholic Church; she shall be praised, honored, and esteemed by all men. All men shall become Catholics, and shall acknowledge the Pope as Vicar of Jesus. Christ. Amen.”
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| Prophetic Apparitions of Our Lady at Heede, Germany |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-09-2021, 09:44 AM - Forum: Catholic Prophecy
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APPARITIONS OF HEEDE, Germany (1937- 1945)
Taken from here.
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APPROVED for 'FAITH EXPRESSION' by the local bishop – formal approval still pending but events are recognised as SUPERNATURAL. (Indicates Heede is still favourably viewed by the Church and we are permitted to spread the messages.)
Nov. 1, 1937
In Heede, which is the north west of Germany in Lower Saxony, four young girls went to church for the feast of All Saints in 1937 - Anna Schulte, Greta Gauseforth (11) (1926 - d.1996) and Margaret Gauseforth (13) and Susanna Bruns (d.1994).
The two sisters, Greta and Margaret, were surprised when they saw in the church-yard cemetery a "floating light" about 100 feet away from them and a meter from the ground, which then began to form into a woman's shape – it was a beautiful Lady holding the Christ Child and they both wore beautiful crowns.
Frightened, they entered the church and reported that The Blessed Virgin had appeared to them with the Divine child in her arms. Anna Schulte was curious and went to explore, but apparently didn't find anything and went back in to Mass, for it was after Mass when they all went back to look to find the Lady and Child. This time accompanying Greta, Maria and Anna, were Adele Bruns (15), and Anna's sister, Susanna Bruns.
Margaret suddenly exclaimed: “It's there – between the two cypresses!”
The apparition remained silent, also, Adele couldn't see it, so she impatiently wanted to go back home. However, Margaret and Grete told their mother who immediately alerted Fr. Staelberg, the parish priest.
The news was received in village with predictable scepticism and amusement. It wasn’t until the girls had shown a dramatic change in their way of life that villagers began to wonder. The girls switched from pleasures and amusements to long and fervent prayer, impatiently waiting for the hour when they would see the Heavenly Vision again.
Nov 2, 1937 – at the same time the Lady appeared again, this time without the Baby, and she remained silent, but had her hands clasped in prayer.
Nov. 5, 1936 – this time Our Lady brought the Baby, and, she asked the girls questions. The Virgin Mary stood on a white cloud with a luminous halo “about 30-40 cm surrounding her.” Her age seemed to be 18 or 19. She wore a golden crown, richly worked … a long white dress fitted at the waist by a cord … a non-transparent white veil falls on each side, doing some folds, and hides her hair … On her left hand, covered by the veil, sits the Christ Child. She raises her arm.”
Nov. 7, 1937 – By this time the villagers were no longer sceptical about the visions and close to 5,000 came to the next apparition. This time, several priests saw the apparitions.
Nov. 8, 1937 - More than 7,000 returned to the site the next day on November 8. But the civil authorities forbade Father Staelberg from accompanying the girls. Another priest was present that day from Herkenhoff and reported these details:
“Suddenly, the (four) girls fell to their knees, all together, without one or another making a signal to her companions … They posed several questions to the apparition. After a quarter of an hour – during which they continued to be constantly stiff, eyes fixed on a precise point – their questions seemed unanswered, even when they spoke. When Greta was alongside me later, she told me that she had wondered how the Mother of God feels. The response she received was a sad countenance. Greta said, ‘The Mother of God was very sad and very bright.’”
There were an estimated 100 visits by Our Lady to these four girls in Heede. Here are some highlights:
April 5, 1939: Margaret was alone for this apparition.
“I saw the Mother of God directly in front of me, standing two feet away, and asked her how she would like to be invoked.”
She replied, “as Queen of the Universe and Queen of the Poor Souls in Purgatory.”
When asked what prayer she would like to honour her, she indicated the “Litany of Laurentanas.” (i.e the Litany of Loreto).
May 12, 1939: Greta asked, “Will we have diseases?”
Our Lady: “Not yet.”
Then Greta asked, “Can we come here every day?”
Our Lady: “Yes.”
But then the number of occurrences decreased.
Many were fearful of visiting Heede because Hitler ruled Germany with an iron fist and forbade participation in this “superstitious nonsense.” The Gestapo forcefully took the children to an insane asylum and strictly forbade the pilgrimages to Heede.
After one month, the children were released but disregarded the orders of the Gestapo and resumed their visits to the place of the apparitions. The Queen of Heaven continued her appearances in secret locations.
Greta Ganseforth received the stigmata in 1939.
On October 19, 1940, Our Lady gave the four girls a “secret” intended for the Pope.
Our Lady then warned them, “Do not say anything to anyone other than the Holy Pope of Rome.”
The message was placed in a sealed envelope that was carried by Bishop Berning to Pope Pius XII.
The Virgin also showed them visions of future catastrophes and warned them that a horrifying event described as a “Minor Judgment” was in store for the future.
Our Lady: “The world will have to drink the dregs of the chalice of Divine wrath for their innumerable sins through which they have wounded the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Then she admonished them). Pray…pray much, especially for the conversion of sinners.”
She recommended they pray the Rosary in particular.
Despite Our Lady’s incredible beauty, she was usually solemn-faced, stern, or even shedding tears.
The apparitions of the Blessed Mother came to an end at 8:30 p.m. on November 3, 1940. Each girl received a “secret” from Mother Mary, who then spoke:
“Be good and faithful to the will of God. Pray often – especially the Rosary. Now farewell, my children, until we meet in Heaven.”
On July 23, 1942, Bishop Berning made the following remarks during his homily: “From Heede came a rich blessing. I could see that Marian devotion dramatically increased; that sacramental life, in particular, has flourished dramatically in this parish.”
NEW WARNINGS
Greta Ganseforth began receiving visits from Our Lord starting in 1945 and included the Angel of Justice.
Her spiritual director gave her orders to keep a diary of her mystical events. She did not see Our Lady again but did hear her voice, speaking to her from a brilliant light on numerous occasions.
A Warning about DANCES
There was an occasion when a school dance was being prepared for October 21, 1945, which apparently was going to exceed Catholic norms for decency. At the request of Our Lord, Greta sought to have the dance cancelled or at least modified so that it would not be a dangerous occasion of sin. Greta warned the parents as Our Lord declared: “If they proceed with that dance, all involved will have to answer to Me at their Judgement.”
The dance was subsequently cancelled.
Along with this event and a number of miraculous healings, other parish priests and clergymen finally believed.
Our Lord gave an imperative warning to mankind ~ we are in the last hour:
“Men did not listen to My Most Holy Mother when she appeared to them at Fatima and admonished them to do penance. Now I, Myself, am coming at the last hour to warn and admonish mankind!
The times are very serious! Men should at last do penance, turn away from their sins and pray, pray much in order that the wrath of God may be mitigated. Particularly the Holy Rosary should be prayed very often. The Rosary is very powerful with God. Worldly pleasures and amusements should be restricted.
Men do not listen to My voice. They harden their hearts; they resist My grace. They do not wish to have anything to do with My Mercy, My Love, My merits. Mankind is worse than before the deluge. Mankind is suffocating in sin. Hatred and greed rule their hearts. This is the work of the devil. They live in great darkness. Through the wounds that bled, Mercy will again gain victory over justice. My faithful souls should not be asleep now like the disciples on Mt. Olivet. They should pray without ceasing and gain all they can for themselves and for others.
This generation deserves to be annihilated but I desire to show myself as merciful. Tremendous things are in preparation; it will be terrible as never before since the foundation of the world. All those, who in these grave times have suffered so much, are martyrs and form the seed for the renovation of the Church. They were privileged to participate in My captivity, in My scourging, in My crown of thorns, and My Way of the Cross.
That which will shortly happen, will greatly surpass everything that has ever happened until now.
The Blessed Virgin Mary and all the choirs of angels will be active during these events. Hell believes that it is sure of the harvest, but I will snatch it away from them. I will come with My peace. Many curse me now, but these sufferings will come over mankind that they may be saved through it … Many expiate all they can for those who curse Me now …
With a few faithful I will build up My kingdom. As a flash of lightning this Kingdom will come … much faster than mankind will realize. I will give them a special light. For some this light will be a blessing; for others, darkness. The light will come like the Star that showed the way to the wise men. Mankind will experience My love and My power. My beloved, the hour comes closer. Pray without ceasing!
Those who are not in the State of Grace (when the Minor Judgment happens) – it will be frightful for them.”
On March 7, 1946, Bishop Berning authorised a statue of the “Mary, Queen of the Universe” to be made for placement in the church cemetery as directed by the visionaries. Finally, after years of investigation, the Bishop of Osnabruck declared on June 3, 1959, the following:
“The apparitions are undeniable proof of the seriousness and authenticity of these manifestations … In the apparitions and messages of Heede we find nothing contrary to the Faith. Indeed, their similarity to the approved apparitions of Fatima, Lourdes, and La Salette give good indications of their authenticity.”
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![[Image: 5zpw2swn70k6wccu39qk01tql9kh4t6pxtdr49u....ormat=webp]](https://assistant.gloria.tv/FxK6pqhk7ZiS1AZwTDoBU6KMY/5zpw2swn70k6wccu39qk01tql9kh4t6pxtdr49u.webp?format=webp)
