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  Father Jean-Pierre De Caussade: Abandonment to Divine Providence (Audiobook)
Posted by: Stone - 05-29-2021, 01:47 PM - Forum: Resources Online - No Replies

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  Researchers develop vaccine technology in ‘wafer’ form, identical to Catholic host used at Mass
Posted by: Stone - 05-29-2021, 11:43 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines - No Replies

Researchers develop vaccine technology in ‘wafer’ form, identical to Catholic host used at Mass
Should it come to be used as a means to deliver COVID-19 vaccines, comparisons would certainly be drawn between what has been described
as the 'church' of COVID and the Catholic Church’s own sacramental rites.

[Image: wafer1_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg]
A polymer wafer that resembles the host at Catholic Mass could one day be used to deliver vaccines.

May 28, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – A team of researchers from the Universities of Minnesota and Texas have developed a polymer “wafer,” which bears a striking resemblance to the host used at a Catholic Mass, that they predict could become the vaccine of the future and harks back to the warnings of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who pointed to COVID adherence as a new religion.

The six-man development team is composed of three scientists from the University of Minnesota, two from the University of Texas, and one from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The study, published in the peer reviewed medical journal, Journal of Controlled Release, explained that the membrane on the underside of the tongue leant itself to absorbing drugs very effectively.

While the membrane could easily absorb smaller molecules, the larger molecules used in vaccines and experimental injections, such as Pfizer’s COVID-19 injection, are too large to enter in this manner and hence are delivered via needles in the arm.

However, the research team believes that the wafer will offer a solution to that, having already proved that the wafer works with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) proteins, and has been designed with a potential future HIV vaccine in mind.

The team noted, though, that the wafers could be used in the future to deliver COVID-19 vaccines.

The wafer itself is predominately composed of alginate and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). According to reports, the alginate ensures that the proteins do not disintegrate and the CMC works to keep the wafer connected to the membrane in order for the proteins to be imparted.

In a press release from the University of Minnesota, Chun Wang, one of the study’s authors and associate professor in the university’s College of Science and Engineering, expressed hope that the technology could revolutionise the future of vaccines.

Quote:“This is just a small step in this long journey,” Wang said. “If we continue this line of work, it can bring us to a point where we will have vaccines — they could be based on DNA, RNA, proteins — that can be stored without refrigeration and easily delivered under the tongue at the sublingual site.”

“They will be quickly disseminated throughout the world because they don’t rely on certain equipment and preservation and all of that stuff. This will be particularly good for low-resource regions of the world, even in America — rural areas that are lacking certain essential facilities and infrastructure.”

Catholics commenting on the wafer have noted the obvious and striking similarity to the host used at every Catholic Mass, which after the words of Consecration becomes the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. In fact, the wafer developed by the team of researchers appears physically to be almost identical to those used at Mass.

Should it come to be used as a means to deliver COVID-19 vaccines, comparisons would certainly be drawn between what has been described as the “church” of COVID and the Catholic Church’s own sacramental rites.

Indeed, in January, Archbishop Viganò, former Papal Nuncio to the United States, described the global adherence to the authoritarian COVID measures as being akin to a religious observance. In light of Pope Francis’s reception of the abortion-tainted injections and subsequent dictate that everyone must take the injection, Archbishop Viganò wrote:

Quote:“The bleak Paul VI Audience Hall has been emblematically chosen as the temple in which to celebrate this new sanitary rite, officiated by ministers of the Covid religion in order to assure, certainly not the salvation of souls, but rather the illusory promise of health for the body.”

Indeed, some weeks before, Archbishop Viganò described the COVID-19 measures as being part of a “pseudo-health regime” governed by people both inside and outside of the Church who were “people corrupt in the soul and sold out to Satan.”

“They have thundered at us, using arcane words like 'social distancing' and 'gatherings,' in an endless series of grotesque contradictions, absurd alarms, apocalyptic threats, social precepts and health ceremonies that have replaced religious rites,” he wrote, when summarizing the year 2020.

The archbishop was supported by Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, Vatican whistleblower and the former head of the Vatican bank. Gotti Tedeschi spoke of the manner in which society turned to the COVID vaccines as though to a new form of religion:

“The apparent result seems to be a new form of scientism, reincarnated to solve the COVID problem with vaccines to be accepted fideistically (with blind faith), and perhaps nominating itself as the new moral authority of this age, one that demands an act of faith towards the modern religion, the scientific one.”

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  May 29th - St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi
Posted by: Stone - 05-29-2021, 07:41 AM - Forum: May - Replies (1)

May 29 – St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, Virgin
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger  (1841-1875)

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Our Paschal Calendar gives us three illustrious Virgins of the beautiful Italy. We have already kept the feast of the valiant Catharine of sienna; in a few days, we shall be honoring the memory of Angela de Merici, surrounded by her school-children; today, it is the fair lily of Florence, Magdalene de Pazzi, who embalms the whole Church with the fragrance of her name and intercession. She was the loving imitatrix of our Crucified Jesus; was it not just that she should have some share in the joy of his Resurrection?

Magdalene de Pazzi was one of the brightest ornaments of the Order of Carmel, by her angelic purity, and by the ardor of her love for God. Like St. Philip Neri, she was one of the grandest manifestations of the Divine Charity that is found in the true Church. Magdalene in her peaceful Cloister, and Philip in his active labors for the salvation of souls—both made it their ambition to satisfy that desire expressed by our Jesus, when he said: I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?

The life of this Spouse of Christ was one continued miracle. Her ecstasies and raptures were almost of every day’s occurrence. The lights given to her regarding the Mysteries were extraordinary; and in order to prepare her for those sublime communications, God would have her go through the severest trials of the spiritual life. She triumphed over them all; and her love having found its nourishment in them, she could not be happy without suffering; for nothing else seemed to satisfy the longings of the love that burned within her. At the same time, her heart was filled to overflowing with charity for her neighbor: she would have saved all mankind, and her charity to all, even for their temporal well-being, was something heroic. God blessed Florence on her account; and as to the City itself, she so endeared herself to its people by he admirable virtues, that devotion to her, even to this day, which is more than two hundred years since her death, is as fervent as ever it was.

One of the most striking proofs of the divine origin and holiness of the Church is to be found in such privileged souls as Magdalene de Pazzi, on whom we see the Mysteries of our salvation acting with such direct influence. God so loved the world, as to give it his Only Begotten Son; and this son of God deigns to love some of his creatures with such special affection, and to lavish upon them such extraordinary favors that all men may have some idea of the love wherewith his Sacred Heart is inflamed for this world, which he redeemed at the price of his Blood. Happy those Christians that appreciate and relish these instances of Jesus’ special love! Happy they that can give him thanks for bestowing such gifts on some of our fellow creatures! They have the true light; whereas they that have an unpleasant feeling at hearing of such things, and are angry at the thought that there can be an intimacy between God and any soul of which they are not worthy—this class of people prove that there is a great deal of darkness mixed up with their faith.

We regret extremely that we have space for a fuller development of the character and life of our Saint. We therefore proceed at once to the Lessons given in her Office. Even they are too short, and give us but an imperfect idea of this admirable Spouse of Christ.

Quote:Mary Magdalene was born at Florence, and was of the illustrious family of the Pazzi. It might be said of her that she entered the way of perfection when a babe. When ten years of age, she took a vow of perpetual virginity; and having taken the habit in the Carmelite Monastery of Our Lady of the Angels, she became a model of every virtue. Such was her purity, that she utterly ignored everything that is opposed to that virtue. She received a command from God, which she fulfilled, of fasting on bread and water for five years, Sundays alone excepted, on which she might partake of Lenten diet. She mortified her body by a hairshirt, discipline, cold, abstinence, watching, want, and every kind of suffering.

Such was the ardor of divine love that burned within her, that not being able to bear the heat, she was obliged to temper it by applying cold water to her breast. She was frequently in a state of rapture, and the wonderful ecstasies she had were almost daily. In these states, she was permitted to penetrate into heavenly mysteries, and was favored by God with extraordinary graces. Thus strengthened, she had to endure a long combat with the princes of darkness, as also aridity, abandonment by all creatures, and divers temptations: God so willed it, that she might become a model of invincible patience and profound humility.

She was remarkable for her charity toward others. She would frequently sit up the whole night, either in doing the work of the Sisters, or in waiting upon the sick, whose sores she sometimes healed by sucking the wounds. She wept bitterly over the perdition of infidels and sinners, and offered to suffer every sort of torment, so that they might be saved. Several years before her death, she heroically besought our Lord to take from her the heavenly delights wherewith he favored her; and was frequently heard saying these words: “To suffer; not to die.” At length, worn out by a long and most painful illness, she passed hence to her Spouse, on the twenty-fifth of May, in the year 1607, having completed the forty-first year of her age. Many miracles having been wrought by her merits, both before and after death, she was canonized by Pope Clement the Ninth. Her body is, even to this day, preserved from corruption.

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Thy life here below, O Magdalene, resembled that of an Angel, who was sent by God to assume our weak and fallen nature, and be subject to its laws. Thy soul was ceaselessly aspiring to a life which was all heavenly, and thy Jesus was ever giving thee that thirst of Love which can only be quenched at the waters of life everlasting. A heavenly light revealed to thee such admirable mysteries, such treasures of truth and beauty, that thy heart—unequal to the sweetness thus given to it by the Holy Ghost—sought relief in sacrifice and suffering. It seemed to thee, as though there was but one way of making God a return to his favors—the annihilation of self.

Seraphic lover of our God!—how are we to imitate thee? what is our love, when we compare it to thine? And yet, we can imitate thee. The year of the Church’s Liturgy was thy very life. Each of its Seasons did its work in thee, and brought thee new light and love. The divine Babe of Bethlehem, the bleeding Victim on the Cross, the glorious Conqueror of Death, the Holy Ghost radiant with his seven gifts—each of these great Realities enraptured thee; and thy soul, renewed by the annual succession of the Mysteries was transformed into Him who, that he might win our hearts, gives these sublime celebrations to his Church. Thy love of souls was great during thy sojourn here; it is more ardent now that thou art in possession of the Sovereign Good;—obtain for us, O Magdalene, light to see the riches which enraptured thee, and love to love the treasures which enamored thee. O riches! O treasures! is it possible that they are ours too?

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  St. Alphonsus de Liguori: Meditations for the Ember Days for the Week after Pentecost
Posted by: Stone - 05-29-2021, 07:20 AM - Forum: Pentecost - Replies (3)

St. Alphonsus de Liguori: Meditations for the Ember Days for the Week after Pentecost
Taken from here

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Wednesday Ember Day
Morning Meditation

THE GREAT GIFT OF JESUS IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

God is Omnipotent; but after He has given Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament He has no greater gift to give us. O wonderful prodigy of Divine love!

I.

The love of Jesus was not satisfied with His shedding His Blood and laying down His life for us in the midst of ignominies and torments, in order to make known His affection for us; but, moreover, to oblige us the more to love Him, on the night, before His death, He would leave us His whole Self to be our Food in the Holy Eucharist. God is omnipotent, but, having given Himself to us in this Sacrament, He has nothing more to give. The Council of Trent says that Jesus, in giving Himself to us in the Holy Communion, pours out upon us all the riches of His infinite love. He pours out, as it were, the riches of His love towards men.

O my dear Jesus, what more canst Thou do to make us love Thee? Oh! make us sensible of the excess of Thy love in, reducing Thyself to Food in order to be united with us sinners. Thou, then, my Redeemer, hast had so much love for me as not to refuse to give me Thy whole Self frequently in the Holy Communion, and I have many times had the baseness to expel Thee from my soul! But Thou wilt not despise a contrite and humble heart. Thou didst become Man for my sake; Thou didst die for me; and Thou hast given me Thyself to be my Food; and what more remains for Thee to do to gain my love? Oh! that I might die with grief as often as I remember having despised Thy graces! I am sorry with my whole heart for having offended Thee. I love Thee, 0 infinite Goodness! I love Thee, O infinite Love!

II.

How honoured would that vassal esteem himself, says St. Francis of Sales, to whom his prince at table should offer a portion from his own dish, or of his own very flesh! Jesus, in the Holy Communion, gives us for our Food, not a portion, from His own table, nor a part of His sacred Flesh, but His whole Body: Take and eat¬this is my body. And at the same time that He gives us His Body He gives us also with it, His Soul and Divinity; so that, as St. Chrysostom says, our Lord, in giving us Himself in the Holy Eucharist, gives us all that He has, and nothing more remains that He can give to us. O wonderful prodigy of love! God, Who is the Lord of all, makes Himself entirely ours!

I desire nothing but to love Thee, 0 my Jesus, and I fear nothing but to live without loving Thee. My beloved Jesus, do not refuse to come again into my soul. Come, for I would rather die a thousand deaths than drive Thee from me any more; and I will do all in my power to please Thee. Come, and inflame my whole soul with Thy holy love. Grant that I may forget all things else to think only of Thee, and to aspire after Thee alone, my sovereign and only Good. O Mary, my Mother, pray for me, and by thy holy prayers make me grateful for the great love of Jesus towards me.


Spiritual Reading  - THE VISIT TO MARY

And now as to the Visit to the Most Blessed Virgin, the opinion of St. Bernard is well known and commonly accepted: namely, that God dispenses no graces otherwise than through the hands of Mary: “God wills that; we should receive nothing that does not pass through Mary’s hands.” Hence Father Suarez declares that it is now the sentiment of the universal Church, that the intercession of Mary is not only useful, but even necessary to obtain graces. And we may remark that the Church gives us strong grounds for this belief, by applying the words of the Sacred Scripture to Mary, and making her say: In me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me all ye that desire me–(Ecclus. xxiv. 25, 26). Let all come to me; for I am the hope of all that; you can desire.

Hence she adds: Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors-(Prov. viii. 34). Blessed is he who is diligent in coming every day to the door of my powerful intercession, for by finding me he will find life and eternal salvation: He that shall find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord-(Prov. viii. 35). Hence it is not without reason that the Church wills that we should call Mary our common hope, by saluting her with the words: “Hail, our hope!”

“Let us then,” says St. Bernard (who went so far as to style Mary “the whole ground of his hope”), “seek for graces, and seek them through Mary.” For, as St. Antoninus says, if we ask for graces without her intercession, we shall be only making an effort to fly without wings, and obtain nothing. “He who asks without her as his guide, attempts to fly without wings.” In Father Auriemma’s little book, Affetti Scambievoli, we read of innumerable favours granted by the Mother of God to those who practised this most profitable devotion of often visiting her in her churches or before her image.

Do you also, then, be careful to ever join to your daily visit to the Most Blessed Sacrament a visit to the most holy Virgin Mary in some church, or at least before a devout image of her in your own house. St. Andrew of Crete says, that Mary always bestows great gifts on those who offer her even the least act of homage.

Spiritual Communion during Visit

As it is suggested in the following visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament to make a Spiritual Communion after each, it will be well to explain what a Spiritual Communion is, and the great advantages of making it. A Spiritual Communion, according to St. Thomas, consists in an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament, and in lovingly embracing Him as if we had actually received Him.

How pleasing Spiritual Communions are to God, and how many graces He bestows through their means, was manifested by Our Lord Himself to Sister Paula Maresca, the foundress of the Convent of St. Catherine of Sienna, in Naples. It is related in her Life that our Lord showed her two precious vessels, one of gold, another of silver. He then told her that in the gold vessel He preserved her Sacramental Communions, and in the silver her Spiritual Communions. He also told Blessed Jane of the Cross that each time she communicated spiritually she received a grace like in kind to that which she received when she really communicated. But for us it will suffice to know that the holy Council of Trent greatly praises Spiritual Communion, and encourages the faithful to practise it.

Hence devout souls are accustomed often to make use of this holy exercise of Spiritual Communion. Blessed Agatha of the Cross did so two hundred times a day. Father Peter Faber, the first companion of St. Ignatius, used to say that it was of the highest utility to make Spiritual Communions, in order to receive the Sacramental Communion well.

All, therefore, who desire to advance in the love of Jesus Christ are exhorted to make a Spiritual Communion at least once in every visit that they pay to the Most Blessed Sacrament, and once at every Mass that they hear. Better still on these occasions to repeat the Spiritual Communions three times; that is to say, at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. TIlis devotion is far more profitable than some suppose, and at the same time nothing can be easier to practise. The above-named Jane of the Cross used to say that a Spiritual Communion can be made without anyone remarking it, without being fasting, without the permission of our director, and that we can make it any time we please; an act of love does all.


Evening Meditation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST -  XIII.-THE MEANS OF AVOIDING LUKEWARMNESS AND ATTAINING PERFECTION

I.

Alas, my God, how many souls, for want of applying themselves to lead a life of greater recollection and more detachment from earthly things, care not to receive Holy Communion! And this is the true cause of their not wishing to communicate frequently. They are well aware that to wish always to appear, to dress with vanity, to be fond of nice eating and drinking, of bodily comforts, of conversations and amusements, does not harmonise with frequent Communion; they know that more prayer is required, more mortification, as well internal as external, more seclusion; and on this account they are ashamed to approach the altar more frequently. Without doubt, such souls are right to refrain from frequent Communion as long as they find themselves in that unhappy state of lukewarmness; but whoever is called to a more perfect life should lay aside this lukewarmness, if he would not greatly risk his eternal salvation.

II.

It will be found likewise to contribute very much to keep fervour alive in the soul often to make a Spiritual Communion, so much recommended by the Council of Trent, which exhorts all the faithful to practise it. The Spiritual Communion, as St. Thomas says, consists in an ardent desire to receive Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament; and therefore the Saints were careful to make it several times in the day. The method of making it is this: “My Jesus, I believe that Thou art really present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love Thee and I desire Thee; come into my soul. I embrace Thee; and I beseech Thee never to allow me to be separated from Thee again.” Or more briefly, thus: “My Jesus, come to me; I desire Thee; I embrace Thee; let us remain ever united together.” This Spiritual Communion may be practised several times a day: when we make our prayer, when we make our Visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and especially when we assist at Mass at the moment of the priest’s Communion. The Dominican Sister, Blessed Angela of the Cross, said: “If my confessor had not taught me the method of communicating spiritually several times a day, I should not have trusted myself to live.”

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  Fauci In 2012: Gain-Of-Function Research Into Bat Viruses Is Worth The Risk Of A Pandemic
Posted by: Stone - 05-28-2021, 07:04 PM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

Fauci In 2012: Gain-Of-Function Research Into Bat Viruses Is Worth The Risk Of A Pandemic

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The Federalist | MAY 28, 2021 

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci defended “gain-of-function” research in 2012 — wherein scientists extract viruses from the wild and engineer them to infect humans in order to study potential therapeutics including vaccines — as research worth risking a pandemic over.

“In an unlikely but conceivable turn of events, what if that scientist becomes infected with the virus, which leads to an outbreak and ultimately triggers a pandemic?” Fauci wrote in a paper reported on by The Australian. “Scientists working in this field might say — as indeed I have said — that the benefits of such experiments and the resulting knowledge outweigh the risks.”



The revelation of Fauci’s 2012 defense of the research comes as new reports emerge, breathing new life into the lab-leak theory among the political establishment that dismissed the origin hypothesis, which was always credible, as a conspiracy theory.

Reporting on previously undisclosed intelligence this month, the Wall Street Journal published a story of three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who were hospitalized with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, preceding the pandemic’s first outbreak in the Hubei province. The lab, known for its relaxed safety protocols, was reportedly collaborating with the Chinese military and conducting gain-of-function research into bat coronaviruses, according to the Trump State Department in a fact sheet not disputed by officials in the Biden administration.

Two years after Fauci’s defense of the high-stakes research, the U.S. government deemed the work so dangerous it was banned. According to longtime journalist and former New York Times science writer Nicholas Wade, however, Fauci circumvented the U.S. moratorium and supported gain-of-function with grant money from the NIAID funneled through EcoHealth Alliance, operated by Dr. Peter Daszak.

“From June 2014 to May 2019 EcoHealth Alliance had a grant from NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health, to do gain-of-function research with coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Wade reported in a lengthy Medium post.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul pressed Fauci on U.S. tax dollars going to the Wuhan lab during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions earlier this month.

“Gain-of-function research, as you know, is juicing up naturally occurring animal viruses to infect humans. To arrive at the truth, the U.S. government should admit that the Wuhan Virology Institute was experimenting to enhance the coronavirus’s ability to infect humans,” Paul said.

Fauci denied that the novel coronavirus was a potential byproduct of funding from the NIAID or its parent organization, the National Institutes of Health.

“With all due respect, you are entirely, entirely and completely incorrect,” Fauci told Paul. “The [National Institutes of Health] has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”



In later testimony before House lawmakers, Fauci admitted that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was a recipient of a $600,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study bat coronaviruses that could infect humans. Fauci has continued to vehemently deny the money went toward gain-of-function research.

Fauci’s denial is “surprising,” Wade wrote, given the evidence of experiments “with enhancing coronaviruses and the language of the moratorium statute defining gain of function as ‘any research that improves the ability of a pathogen to cause disease.’” Fauci’s denial, Wade explained, is likely a technical one based on the definition of “gain of function.”

Last weekend, Fauci, who has thrown cold water on the lab-leak theory since the start of the pandemic, with corporate media following suit, conceded he is “not convinced” the novel coronavirus, which has killed nearly 3.5 million people worldwide, was an organic disease.

Fauci’s potential role in funding the birth of the pandemic while disputing the claims to Congress has led several lawmakers to demand the NIAID director’s resignation.

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  A first even in N. O.: Cardinal appoints woman to head office for priestly formation
Posted by: Stone - 05-28-2021, 06:02 PM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism - No Replies

German cardinal appoints woman to head diocesan office for priestly formation

[Image: Rainer_Maria_Cardinal_Woelki_2014_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg]
Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki

COLOGNE, Germany, May 28, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The archbishop of Cologne has appointed a woman as head of priestly formation, making her the first female to take the important role within the archdiocese, and breaking with the tradition of having such a position fulfilled by ordained men exclusively.

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, who heads the Archdiocese of Cologne, announced the unprecedented decision in a press release Wednesday.

“The hiring of Dr. Breuckmann-Giertz is another important signal of a necessary, distinctive contribution that women are making in a modern, changed training for priests and deacons,” Woelki said. “With her competence and commitment at the interfaces of education and theology, Dr. Breuckmann-Giertz brings with her the best prerequisites for this.”

Woelki used the opportunity to note his longstanding desire to introduce women into historically male roles in church governance: “The promotion of women in various professions in the Church, explicitly also at the leadership level, has long been a great concern of mine. The elaborated votes of our Pastoral Way Forward and the positive suggestions of the ‘Synodal Path’ encourage me on this way.”

Though the cardinal has voiced his support for female leadership within the Church in the past, suggesting that some women should “become the superiors of priests,” and now installing a woman as head of priestly formation in his diocese, he has stood in opposition to calls by some German bishops for the creation of a female diaconate or, indeed, priesthood.

“There is a clear, conclusive no from Pope John Paul II,” Woelki said regarding the ordination of women in a 2020 interview with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. He added that even “Pope Francis has just confirmed again” the perennial doctrine of a male clergy, in reference to the Pope’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia.

Carmen Breuckmann-Giertz has a doctorate in theology from the University of Bonn, and before being appointed to the diocesan office was serving as Director of Studies at a Catholic secondary school.

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Carmen Breuckmann-Giertz - on far right

“I look forward with respect and drive to the challenges and opportunities that await me in my new position.” Breuckmann-Giertz said in response to her appointment. “I look forward to working with those responsible in the seminary, the Collegium Albertinum, and the Institute of Deacons. Above all, I look forward to getting to know the candidates who are preparing for a clerical profession.”

The theologian told Trauer Teilen, a blog dedicated to grief counseling and ethical end-of-life care, that she has rejected “[t]he old doctrine of the separation of body and soul,” when asked for her beliefs about death in a 2020 interview.

The perennial doctrine of the Catholic Church, however, has traditionally taught that bodily death necessarily involves the separation of the body from the soul, expressly contradicting Breuckmann-Giertz’s understanding. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 997) explicitly describes death as “the separation of the soul from the body,” explaining that the “human body decays and the soul goes to meet God.”

Again, in CCC 1016, the Church teaches, “By death the soul is separated from the body.”

Breuckmann-Giertz’s appointment fulfils part of an “8-point plan for improved protection against sexual violence” in the archdiocese. Along with archdiocesan Vicar General Dr. Markus Hoffman, Cardinal Woelki established the plan in response to an investigation into “the handling of sexual violence in the Archdiocese of Cologne.”

Point eight, Changes in the formation of priests, promises that “[i]n the future, women will be much more active in the formation of priests than before.”

Hoffman announced he was pleased “that with the appointment of Dr. Breuckmann-Giertz we can promptly implement another announcement of our plan.” “Further decisions will follow.” The archdiocese offered no explanation for why a female head of priestly formation addresses historic problems of sexual abuse mishandling.

Despite paving the way for female leaders in priestly formation, Woelki stands as one of few voices of criticism among the German episcopate against the now-infamous Synodal Path.

The Synodal Path was established by the German Bishops’ Conference in 2019 and is expected to convene periodically until 2022. The process involves discussions on four major aspects of the Church’s structure and teaching: ecclesiastical hierarchy and authority; the role of women in the Church; the role of the priest; and sexual ethics.

Woelki blasted some of the stated goals, noting particularly the movement towards “the abolition of obligatory celibacy, women deacons, and the reduction of Catholic sexual morality to the sentence: Between adults, voluntary sexual relations of whatever kind are not to be objected to.”

Following the first synodal meeting in early 2020, Woelki commented that his fears about the unorthodox direction of the process had played out in reality. “[M]any arguments put forward at the first synodal assembly are incompatible with the faith and teaching of the universal Church,” the prelate said at the time.

Woelki added that “due to the way this event was conceived and constituted, a Protestant church parliament is being implemented here … My impression is that much of what belongs to the theological body of knowledge is no longer shared by many of us here … The view according to the tradition of the Church no longer plays a major role.”

  Archdiocese Of Cologne, Carmen Breuckmann-Giertz, Priestly Formation, Rainer Maria Woelki

K

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  French court removes 6 children from British parents of 10 after dispute over Catholic schooling
Posted by: Stone - 05-28-2021, 10:18 AM - Forum: Against the Children - No Replies

French court removes 6 children from British parents of 10 after dispute over Catholic schooling
Clare and David Graham's daughters, age 9 and 10, have been placed in the care of an Algerian man who has been teaching them 'Muslim prayers.’ The Grahams told LifeSiteNews that French social workers repeatedly made rude comments about their family size and laughed with the police about putting the terrified family in cells.

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Quatre enfants de la famille Graham / Four of the Graham children

Read this story in French HERE.

ORNE, France, May 27, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A British couple who hoped a judge could help settle a dispute over their children’s schooling in France was stunned when the court decided to put the children in foster homes instead.

The six children are all Catholics, and the two little girls — age 9 and 10 — have been placed with a couple who, the mother reports, refuses to take them to Mass but has taught them how “to do Muslim prayers.”

One of children’s adult sisters told LifeSiteNews by email that the four older siblings are “very upset” at the seizure of the six minors and that the younger siblings just want to come home.

“Me and my elder brothers and sister are very upset about them being put in care, and it is very hard when the children ask, ‘When can we come home?’ and we don't know the answer,” said Georgina Graham, 21.

David and Clare Graham first moved to France in 2005 for “a better life” as Clare told LifeSiteNews. As Britain was then part of the European Union, Britons were free to live and work in France. The cost of living in the French countryside was cheaper than living in the U.K., and the Grahams could afford a larger house there.

At the time, the couple had four British-born children. Today, they have 10 children in all, six born in France. The eldest four are grown up and two of them, boys, are in Britain. Two of the girls, age 22 and 21, still live in France and help their parents with their four youngest brothers and two little sisters. David has maintained his family by continuing his profession as a builder in France, carrying out renovations and fixing roof, usually for fellow expatriate Britons.

Whereas David, 55, does not have a religion, Clare, 51, is a devout Catholic. Because she objected to the “rubbish” taught in secular state schools in the family’s neighbourhood — and because the schools give contraception to their students, among other reasons — four years ago the Grahams took four of their children out of the state school system.

Clare’s original idea was to home-school her kids. A parent at the children's school then reported her to French social services when the children no longer attended it. After sending the surprised Grahams a letter, the social workers appeared at their home. This was to be the beginning of a long and very rocky relationship between the Grahams and the various arms of the French social welfare apparatus.

‘I did find their questions intrusive, like they desperately wanted to find something wrong with my parents. I believe they didn't like how my mum is religious and has a lot of children, or the fact that my parents are British.’

Georgina Graham told LifeSiteNews that she had experienced racism and bullying in French state schools.

“I went to the local public schools and had very bad experiences with racism and physical and verbal bullying,” she said.

“(This) is one of the reasons my mother wanted to send my younger siblings to Catholic schools, so that they wouldn't have to go through what my older sister and I did.”

Georgina said, “At school I was tormented for being English and experienced racial slurs daily by students and teachers. I was also assaulted on numerous occasions: head-butted, punched, kicked (...) dog feces put in my schoolbag, chewing gum put in my hair. I had things thrown at me during all of my classes, so it was very difficult to concentrate on the lesson.”

Georgina confirmed that the social workers first “came into (their) lives around four years ago” when a parent reported her parents for taking her brothers out of school. Being questioned by them was a disagreeable experience.

“I did find their questions intrusive, like they desperately wanted to find something wrong with my parents,” she said 

“I believe they didn't like how my mum is religious and has a lot of children, or the fact that my parents are British,” she continued.

“They have always been very rude to my parents.” 


Traditional Catholic schools

Worried about social services removing her children but also that her children would be morally damaged by the state schools, Clare found sympathetic hearts at private Catholic schools. The two boys (now 15 and 12) continued their studies at a Catholic boarding school in the South of France, and the two girls (now 9 and 10) were enrolled in a Catholic boarding school nearer home. The one-income family is not wealthy, and the children were accepted by both schools on very generous terms. When their two youngest sons (now 7 and 5) were old enough to go to school, the Grahams enrolled them in the local primary school. Clare’s hope was that the little boys would also go to their brothers’ school when they were fluent in French.

The parents did not — and still do not — see eye to eye on the children’s education. David Graham told LifeSiteNews that he doesn’t mind his children being Catholic or going to Catholic schools, but he misses them very much when they are at boarding schools, and he knows that they miss being at home. He would prefer them to go to the local state schools nearby until the family returns to England.

Clare and David had separated on a previous occasion, when Clare had taken their children and gone to live in England for nine months. Eventually, tensions at home, exacerbated by the social workers, once again became too much for Clare, and in November 2020, she went to live in a rented house in another district of Normandy, Calvados, closer to the girls’ school, taking the two youngest boys with her. Clare told LifeSiteNews that she just “needed a break.” David told LifeSiteNews that one of the social workers had suggested that Clare move to Calvados so as to “take the heat off” from social services. Only an hour away, the children saw their father often during the brief separation.

Unfortunately, the move exacerbated the Grahams’ money troubles, already strained by an injury the self-employed David had sustained to his back. Because she had changed addresses, Clare’s family allowance and social security payments were blocked. Thanks to red tape, this situation continued from December 5 until May 11. Clare and the children squeaked by in Calvados on loans from her mother in England.


‘They’ve asked me umpteen times why I have so many children’

Clare and David both maintain that their children were healthy, well-cared for, and happy despite their parents’ troubles. Neither Clare nor David is fluent in French, which made dealing with employees of social services, who frequently arrived to interview any children at home, difficult.

Like her daughter Georgina, Clare believes that the social workers despise her Catholic faith and told LifeSiteNews that they had made inappropriate remarks about the size of her family. When social workers first came to the Graham home, they attempted to discuss contraception with the married Catholic mother.

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Five of the Graham children after church

“They’ve asked me umpteen times why I have so many children,” Clare said.

In April 2019, French social services passed the Grahams’ file to the “open environment educational action service” (that is, Service d’action éducative en milieu ouvert, or AEMO). AEMO was supposed to check on the family’s welfare overall — for example, to make sure they had enough money for their needs.

The family’s AEMO case worker seemed to befriend Clare, and it was she, Clare says, who advised her to leave her husband and go to Calvados. The AEMO case worker also suggested that Clare and David work out their disagreements about the children’s schooling in front of a children’s judge. When this led to the children being seized, Clare said, the AEMO worker apologized for setting up the hearing. However, David thinks the caseworker is actually responsible for the court’s decision to take his children.

“I am pretty sure the social worker is the one who swayed the judge even before we went to court,” he told LifeSiteNews.

“I got the feeling the judge just wanted an excuse to place our children.”

The hearing, in late November, was a disaster from the start. On the way to court, one of the little girls threw up on her brother, soiling his shoes. As a result, the boy appeared in court without them, which made a bad impression on the judge. The court documents state also that none of the four children wore a coat to the hearing. Two of the boys were not present, as they been sent back to school in the South of France, and when she found out, “the judge went mad,” Clare told LifeSiteNews, “banging the table, really threatening behavior.”

The children who were present huddled together. They were not forthcoming when they were questioned because they were frightened and intimidated by the court, Clare said. This also made a bad impression on the judge.

“They didn’t speak much to the judge because she was very intimidating,” the mother said.

“I found her intimidating, so heaven knows what they thought of her.”

David appeared with a lawyer; Clare did not. Nettled by the lawyer, Clare accused David of throwing a cot at her—which he had, over twenty years earlier, he admits—and of being mentally ill, which David denies. David, stung, accused Clare of throwing a cup and of pointing a knife at him. He also made unwarranted criticism of the elder boys’ school, which he now regrets. Clare regrets badmouthing her husband to the judge, telling LifeSiteNews her motive was to be able to keep her daughters in the Catholic school they love.

“So we really messed up,” David told LifeSiteNews.

“Neither one of us is violent, but I think we could not have made a bigger mess of the hearing that day.”

The court documents—which were never translated into English for the Grahams, and with which the Grahams take issue—make for sad reading. They allege that the family’s financial situation was “extremely precarious,” with many bills unpaid. Social workers alleged in October that the two youngest boys weren’t in school and that the two older boys didn’t want to go back to their boarding school. They also alleged that David thought this school was too strict and even that Clare had announced she wanted to divorce her husband and leave with the children during the October school break. (Clare denies she wants or wanted a divorce.)

The documents discuss the November separation and the state school’s surprise when the boys didn’t turn up for class. They say David had declared he was afraid to object to their removal to Calvados, for he thought Clare might report him as demented to emergency services. They say he was also afraid Clare might leave France with the children. They also say Clare claimed David was psychotic, had a criminal record back in the U.K., and had abused her.

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Three of the Graham children

Clare strenuously disagrees with many of the statements in the court papers.

The documents also indicate that the social workers thought Clare’s Catholic objections to the local state schools were to her discredit: “Mrs. Graham says it would be terrible for [child] who can’t read and write to go to a public school... She considers that the teachings of the secular school are inadequate and immoral.”

Clare told LifeSiteNews that the AEMO caseworker she thought was her friend stood up at the hearing and said that Clare did not want her children in the state schools because they gave out contraceptives. Clare felt humiliated by the stares that followed this announcement. 

The documents also claim that the children can’t speak French, which Clare says is “a lie,” adding that her youngest daughters had been at the French convent school for three years, and that the teachers have reported the girls are fluent. The two youngest boys, she admits, are not yet fluent as they have not been at school for long. The documents also suggest that the children have had inadequate schooling, which Clare vehemently denies.

The judge’s decision shocked both parents. Instead of siding with one or the other on the schooling issue, the judge ruled that the children should be removed from their care:
Quote:Although separated materially because of the departure of Mrs. Graham in the department of Calvados shortly before the hearing, the usual residence of the minors was not granted to either of the two parents, this situation having vocation to last insofar as Mrs. Graham indicated not to consider a judicial separation for the moment from her husband. She speaks of difficulty in entrusting the children to the father, which the social services were unable to verify. Finally, it must be noted that although Mr. Graham deplores the choices made by his wife, considering them to be contrary to the interests of their common children, he has never taken a position for the protection of the children until now. In these conditions it is impossible to entrust the minors to one or the other of the parents. No person is capable to be designated as a trustworthy third party and no member of the family seems to reside on the national territory, and it should be recalled that the family was very isolated in the Orne region.

The minor children, who are living with their mother in Calvados, will therefore be placed for 6 months. The parents obtain mediate visits (in presence of third parties) every 15 days in alternation, with the possibility of lightening of these measures. [Emphasis added.]

Clare Graham told LifeSiteNews that her eldest daughter, who is 22, asked to take charge of her brothers and sisters so that they could be together, but her plea was refused. At least one of her adult daughters does, in fact, “reside on the national territory.”

Georgina Graham told LifeSiteNews on behalf of all her siblings that their parents have never neglected them.

“We have never been neglected by our parents in any way,” she said via email.

“They have always put their children first.”


‘It was like a nightmare’

The judge’s decision was not immediate, for she had said she needed to think about it. Then Clare was stunned when she received a letter about two weeks later saying that the children would be “placed,” that is, put into foster care. At first there had been a long delay, and Clare thought it was because there was no foster family that would take all six children. Her court-appointed solicitor had also made an appeal, and apparently a court of appeal was willing to suspend the placement if Clare could prove the children were in school. By then, all four of the boys were enrolled in state schools in Calvados, and the youngest were even receiving extra tuition.

“I thought it was done,” Clare said, meaning the threat of the children being taken away.

When the “placement people”—two women—came to Clare’s house on Friday, March 13 to tell her the children would be taken away on Monday, the mother had just received a letter from the court of appeal, asking her to provide certain papers.

The police eventually burst open the bedroom door, and one of the boys was so frightened, he wet himself.  Georgina said that as they drove her to the station, the police laughed over the youngest child’s terror.  ‘Whilst I was in the police car, I heard the police laughing hysterically at how their colleague had screamed and kicked down the door where my siblings were hiding and scared my five-year-old brother to death,’ she told LifeSiteNews.

“They contacted the judge who told the placement people to split the children up as no family would take six children together,” Clare alleged.

“I told the placement people that everything was well with the children; they were all at school [and] we had no problems. They dismissed me, saying the judge wants them in care so they will be going into care.”

Clare was devastated.

“We ran,” she said. “I couldn’t sit back and let them get taken like that.”

The social workers had told Clare to pack suitcases and prepare the children to leave for their foster homes. Clare and one of her adult daughters did pack up, but they fled the small house in Calvados on Monday with the children. These included the girls, who had come home from their boarding school on Friday.

Clare’s British passport had run out, and although she had applied for them, she hadn’t yet received British passports for the children. As a result, they moved from place to place in France before finally returning to David and the family home in Orne. There they must have let their guard down, Clare believes, for as she looked out the window early on Tuesday, April 6, she saw the police arrive.

“I’ve never been so frightened in my life,” she said.

The house in Orne is made of two dwellings joined together. The police “tore apart” one of them before entering the wing where Clare was hiding with the children in a bedroom.

“We heard them all next door, me and the children, and [the children] were terrified,” she recalled.

Georgina Graham described what it was like to be on the other side of the wall:

Quote:I woke up around 7 a.m. to my dad telling me to hurry downstairs — “The police are here to see you.” When I got down, I was confronted with about ten or twelve police in the kitchen. The chief approached me and was very aggressive and frustrated because they had still not found my mum and the six children after three weeks of searching for them. He raised his voice and said that he has been made a fool of because of me and my family.  He then said, ‘I am going to ask you one last time where they are, and if you don't tell me, you will be arrested right now and put in custody until you do.’ I answered, 'I still don't know where they are’ and was then arrested, searched and put in a cell.

The police eventually burst open the bedroom door, and one of the boys was so frightened, he wet himself. 

“My [5] children were pulled from my arms by social services and quickly rushed into cars and driven away extremely distressed,” Clare said.

“Nothing prepared me for that; it was like a nightmare.”

The Grahams’ 15-year-old son was taken away by police, alone and frightened, for questioning. Clare and David were arrested and charged with kidnapping their own children, and their adult daughters were also arrested and charged. The latter were kept in police cells for three hours, their mother said.

Georgina said that as they drove her to the station, the police laughed over the youngest child’s terror.

“Whilst I was in the police car, I heard the police laughing hysterically at how their colleague had screamed and kicked down the door where my siblings were hiding and scared my five-year-old brother to death,” she told LifeSiteNews.

The situation did not improve at the separate police stations to which the Grahams were taken. 

“My treatment by the police was terrible,” Clare recalled.

“I was kept for 11 hours and not even offered a drink of water. The policeman interviewing me persistently shouted in my face, and two others present with him thought it was amusing.”

Clare accuses the social workers, too, of finding their situation laughable. When the social workers came to her house in March to say they were taking her children, Clare heard them laughing and asking each other who spoke the best English, she said. When the “placement people” came to the police station to take her 15-year-old son, they laughed with the police about putting the family in cells. Later, when social services returned a call by one of the adult daughters, they left a message on her phone, forgot to hang up, and “could be clearly heard to be laughing about it in the background,” Clare said.

The children were divided and put in different families, ones that do not share their faith and do not take them to Sunday Mass. The two girls, aged 9 and 10, were placed with an Algerian Muslim man and his French wife, against Clare’s wishes. Clare’s daughters have told her that their carer has said he wants to take them to visit Algeria. Meanwhile, when Clare expressed surprise that her dress-loving daughter was dressed, on a visit, in black jeans bought by their foster parents, a social worker told her that it was a good thing the children were in placement, for that way they could “express themselves.”


No Catholic schools, no Catholic Mass — but Muslim proselytism from foster parents okay?

Clare says she has seen her children only twice since April 5 even though most people get to visit their children in foster care once a week. The children are permitted to call her and speak to her for only up to 15 minutes, and only on weeks they haven’t seen her. Meanwhile, her request that her children continue to attend Catholic schools has been denied. Last week she was told it would help her case if she would sign a form saying that she will now place all her children in state schools.

“So I’ll get the children back so long as I follow what they say I’ve got to do,” she said.

‘I think it was done deliberately. [The placement workers] knew they were girls from a Catholic convent school, and yet they were placed with a Muslim man and his wife.’

And although the children have not been permitted to go to Mass, two of them are receiving religious instruction from quite a different quarter.

“I spoke with my daughters tonight, and they are not happy at all,” Clare told LifeSiteNews on May 13.

“[They] keep asking when they can come home. Shockingly, they asked if they could attend [Ascension Day] Mass today, but instead they were told how to do Muslim prayers,” she continued.

“I think it was done deliberately. [The placement workers] knew they were girls from a Catholic convent school, and yet they were placed with a Muslim man and his wife.”

Meanwhile, the siblings in the different fostering households are not permitted to see each other, and their sister Georgina’s request to visit them in person has been denied.

The court of appeal in Caen will give a judgement on the case in June. 


Friends and family in Britain support the Grahams: ‘They were just a normal family’

An appeal has been made to raise funds for the Grahams to pay a private lawyer to get their children back home. Both parents have told LifeSiteNews that they wish to return to England with the children. Clare intends to homeschool them with the support of her extended family.

Gemma Lloyd, the English woman who set up the fundraiser, told LifeSiteNews that she is a family friend of the Grahams, having known Clare from their church community in Yorkshire since she was a little girl.

“I was told at Mass one week by Clare’s mother that this is happening to Clare, so I thought I should try to help in lots of different ways, contact some people who could help her in France, and then [realized] that she needs financial help,” Lloyd said.

The fundraiser was delayed while Clare worked with the court-appointed lawyer, but when this proved fruitless, Lloyd launched the giving page.

“We wanted to get her the best, really,” she said.

Lloyd last saw Clare and her children when they were last in Yorkshire, when the youngest was a baby, and she said the children were “as normal as they come.”

“They were just a normal family,” she asserted.

Asked why she thought the French state took away the Grahams’ children, Lloyd indicated that she believes secular ideology is behind it.

“They want to control the children’s minds and take away anything to do with God, anything to do with religion,” she continued.

And to me the Catholic country that France was, is no longer Catholic. It’s more or less communist, like our Lady of Fatima warned us of.” [Emphasis The Catacombs]

Clare’s mother Sheila Campbell told LifeSiteNews that she and her husband are very distressed with the whole situation.

“We have 18 grandchildren and have tried to be involved with them all, as I believe that grandparents have a lot to offer the young ones in giving them a broader experience in life,” Mrs. Campbell said via email.

“George (my husband) and I both had grandparents who passed on a love of our Catholic faith, as well as sound advice on life itself,” the grandmother continued.

“I am therefore so upset that my younger grandchildren have been taken away in these circumstances, for no reason that I can understand. We have been refused permission to speak to them for the reason that we would speak to them in English and they would not understand what was being said. We would hardly be planning to take over the world!”

Campbell was distressed again to hear that her youngest granddaughters were being instructed in Islamic prayers.

“I know it was Eid, but more importantly, it was Ascension Day, and they should have been at Mass, not at a Muslim celebration,” she said.

Like her daughter, she thinks the girls were placed in that particular home because they were just completely their third year in a convent school when they were taken away.

“[The girls] were asking Clare last night why they can’t go back to the nuns, where they were settled and happy,” the grandmother wrote.

“I cannot begin to properly express how distressed and emotional I feel about this situation. We all just want the children back with the family and as soon as possible to be back in Yorkshire with their extended family who are all incredulous about the whole affair.”

Clare Graham has not received help from British authorities, even though her mother has contacted her MP and written to many others, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The British Embassy in Paris has been of limited use. Clare told LifeSiteNews that the British Embassy had been helping repatriate the family back to the U.K., but “all that came to a stop” after the hearing. Clare believes that when she contacted the British Embassy, when she was on the run, the official she spoke to called social services to report the conversation. One of the difficulties of the case is that Clare doesn’t believe that her six youngest children are French citizens, but the French bureaucrats they have dealt with say that they are.

Meanwhile, Clare’s medical doctor in France has been supportive and recently wrote two letters to the court to say, Clare says, that the mother “has always looked after the children well and didn’t have any mental health problems.”

According to the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child has, “as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.” The Convention states also that the child has the right “to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.” The child also has the right to “freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”

Article 30 of the Convention is very clear about the rights of ethnic minority children, as the English-speaking Graham children are in France:

Quote: “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.”

LifeSiteNews has reached out to the Mother Superior of the convent school in which the girls were pupils, but she would not comment on the case. LifeSiteNews also reached out to the British Embassy in Paris, but its spokeswoman would not speak on record.

To assist the legal fund for the Graham family, click here.

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  Pope Francis appoints UK bishop known for criticizing traditional liturgy as head of the CDW
Posted by: Stone - 05-28-2021, 09:53 AM - Forum: Pope Francis - No Replies

Pope Francis appoints UK bishop known for criticizing traditional liturgy as head of the Congregation for Divine Worship

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Archbishop Arthur Roche, the new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine WorshipLumen Civitatis / YouTube

VATICAN CITY, May 27, 2021 (LifeSiteNews - adapted) – Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Arthur Roche as the new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW), replacing Cardinal Robert Sarah and potentially ushering in a new era of active opposition to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. ...

The press release from the Holy See, issued May 27, announced the news of Roche’s appointment, alongside that of the new Secretary and under-Secretary of the Congregation.

Archbishop Roche, formerly bishop of Leeds, U.K., served as Secretary of the Congregation from 2012 through this year, having been appointed to it by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Roche previously served as bishop of Leeds from 2004 through 2012, and auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Westminster from 2001 through 2002, under Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor.

Commenting on the news, CNA Europe editor Luke Coppen wrote that Roche’s appointment demonstrated the level of influence that was enjoyed by Cardinal O’Connor, who was one of the group of clerics dubbed the “St. Gallen mafia,” a group that wished to radically change the Church and make it “much more modern.”

Roche is joined by Bishop Vittoria Francesco Viola, O.F.M., of Tortona as the new Secretary of the Congregation and Monsignor Aurelio Garćia Marćias, the current Head of Office of the Congregation since 2016, as the new under-Secretary, raising him to the episcopate at the same time.


Roche set to lead a new-look CDW

The appointment of Roche comes in light of fears that Pope Francis is about to restrict the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (also referred to as the Traditional Latin Mass, or the Tridentine Mass). Reports have emerged in recent days stating that Francis has spoken to the Italian Bishops Conference, telling them that he has finished the third draft of a document that will restrict the offering of the Extraordinary Form.

Vatican journalist Diane Montagna announced today that Messa in Latino, the original source of the news, had confirmed to her that the information was trustworthy and had come to them from three bishops and two high ranking members of the Roman Curia, who were all present at the event.

Indeed, Pope Francis recently initiated a peculiar investigation into the CDW. Archbishop Roche sought to downplay the news, but Rome sources confirmed to LifeSiteNews at the time that it was far from a regular event. Italian newspaper Il Messagero has called it a “decidedly unusual extraordinary act personally ordered by the Pope to ‘straighten out’ the Congregation of Divine Worship.”

Given that it came shortly after the announcement of new restrictions being placed on celebrating the traditional Mass in the Vatican, the news has led to speculation that it is part of an effort by Francis to remove from the Congregation those members who are more sympathetic the traditional Latin liturgy and its theology.


Roche’s history on the Latin Mass and Vatican II

Various commentators have noted that Archbishop Roche has taken action several times to limit the celebration of the traditional Catholic liturgy.

Following Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, which gave priests permission to offer the traditional Mass without seeking permission from their bishop, Roche swiftly declared that the power of the bishops to prevent the Latin Mass was still in effect, and issued guidelines on the matter.

In 2020, he penned a letter to the bishops of the world attacking the traditional Mass and praising the Second Vatican Council’s paradigm shift in its view of the Church, hailing the fact that the Council had removed the notion of the Church as a “perfect society and a world power to be contended with,” and instead was viewed as “constantly open to reform and conversion.”

The 71-year-old prelate styled the new rite of the Mass, the Novus Ordo, as the “good fruit from the tree of the Church.” He called it an “ecclesiastical duty” to implement the Novus Ordo, criticizing how the Extraordinary Form did not promote the community celebration by the laity, and how the Extraordinary Form had “the priest alone as celebrant.”

Roche called the Novus Ordo missal of Paul VI “a witness to unchanging faith and uninterrupted tradition.”

He also strongly advocated the community celebration over the priestly celebration, condemning the so-called “passive” role played by the congregation at the Traditional Latin Mass.

The Novus Ordo was a result of the “dawning consciousness” that moved away from the “solely clerical version of the liturgy,” wrote Roche.

However, traditional theologians have warned of the dangers of such language around community celebration, warning of a blurring of the lines between priest and people. In his work on the liturgy, The Destruction of the Roman Rite, Don Leone warns that with this teaching, “the congregation no longer unites itself spiritually with the unfathomable mysteries of the Mass, but usurps the functions of the clergy.”

Indeed, in his encyclical Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII warned of the dangers of Roche’s view, describing as erroneous the position that “they look on the eucharistic sacrifice as a ‘concelebration’ in the literal meaning of that term and consider it more fitting that priests should ‘concelebrate’ with the people present than that they should offer the sacrifice privately when the people are absent.”

The “good fruit,” which Roche proclaims, has previously been described by liturgy expert Dr. Peter Kwasniewski as responsible for diminishing belief in the Real Presence. Kwasniewski stated that the “liturgical reform cruelly diminished” the liturgical gestures of love and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, “and introduced other practices, now habitual to the point of being immovable, that suggest we are dealing with common food and drink.”

Commenting on Roche’s 2020 letter, Una Voce Scotland described it as “a feeble attack on the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.”

Aside from promoting the new style of liturgy, Archbishop Roche has also declared that Vatican II, described as “pastoral” in the opening address of John XXIII, was in fact of far greater weight, perhaps even than any council before.

“The Second Vatican Council for the first time ever solemnly proclaimed a body of doctrine on the Church which is now part of the Church’s Magisterium,” Roche wrote in February 2020.


Roche and Holy Communion

While acting as Secretary for the CDW, Roche gave his name to a controversial letter sent from the CDW, which supported a U.S. bishop in his decision to ban the faithful from receiving Holy Communion on the tongue during the COVID-19 disruption.

“As has already been enunciated in the circular letter of Card. Robert Sarah of August 15, 2020, and approved for publication by His Holiness Pope Francis, ‘in times of difficulty (e.g., wars, pandemics), Bishops and Episcopal Conferences can give provisional norms which must be obeyed’, even clearly, as in this case, to suspend for whatever time might be required, reception of Holy Communion on the tongue at the public celebration of the Holy Mass,” the letter states.

While missing the all-important signature of Cardinal Sarah, the letter bore the signature of Archbishop Roche instead.

As reported by LifeSiteNews at the time, Roche’s letter contradicted a 2009 letter from the same Congregation regarding the same question in the midst of the H1N1 influenza pandemic. At that time, the Vatican under Pope Benedict, wrote that Church law on the subject stipulates, “each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue” and that it may not be abrogated.

Furthermore, Roche was acting in violation of the 2004 instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, which holds that “each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue.”

Speaking to LifeSiteNews at the time, Kwasniewski mentioned that Roche’s letter “undermines the universal norms and tradition of the Church, reiterated many times, concerning the most appropriate and reverent manner for receiving the Holy Eucharist.”


A new era of anti-traditionalism in the Vatican

With the appointment of Archbishop Roche to head the CDW, the Vatican appears set to begin a renewed campaign against the traditional movement in the Church.

The upcoming Vatican conference, entitled “For a fundamental theology of the priesthood,” due to take place in early 2022, is also set to discuss one of Roche’s key interests - the relationship between the ordained priesthood and the priesthood of the faithful. It is expected by many that the conference may well further undermine traditional teaching regarding the sacrament of holy orders, clerical celibacy, and female deacons.

The conference will take place with the Church is in the midst of Pope Francis’s newly announced Church-wide two-year synod on synodality, following the German example of the synodal church, which has been described by concerned traditional Catholics as “Vatican III.”

Noting his concerns to LifeSiteNews, Kwasniewski called the upcoming “Vatican III” a “continual submersion in bureaucracy, a surrender to the modern mentality of administration as the cure for all evils, which keeps the Church busy gazing at its navel while real evangelization withers and the pews empty out.”

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  May 28th - St. Augustine of Canterbury
Posted by: Stone - 05-28-2021, 08:37 AM - Forum: May - No Replies

May 28 – St Augustine, Bishop, Apostle of England
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger  (1841-1875)

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Four hundred years had scarcely elapsed since the glorious death of Eleutherius, when a second Apostle of Britain ascended from this world, and on this same day, to the abode of eternal bliss. We cannot but be struck by the fact that the names of our two Apostles appear on the Calendar together: it shows us that God has his own special reasons in fixing the day for the death of each one among us. We have more than once noticed these providential coincidences, which form one of the chief characteristics of the Liturgical Cycle. What a beautiful sight is brought before us today, of the first, Archbishop of Canterbury, who—after honouring on this day the saintly memoRy of the holy Pontiff from whom England first received the Gospel, himself ascended into heaven, and shared with Eleutherius the eternity of heaven’s joy! Who would not acknowledge in this, a pledge of the predilection wherewith heaven has favoured this Country, which, after centuries of fidelity to the Truth, has now for more than three hundred years been an enemy to her own truest glory?

The work begun by Eleutherius had been almost entirely destroyed by the invasion of the Saxons and Angli; so that a new Mission, a new preaching of the Gospel, had become a necessity. It was Rome that again supplied the want. St. Gregory the Great was the originator of the great design. Had it been permitted him, he would have taken upon himself the fatigues of this Apostolate to our Country. He was deeply impressed with the idea that he was to be the spiritual Father of these poor islanders, some of whom he had seen exposed in the market-place of Rome. that they might be sold as slaves. Not being allowed to undertake the work himself, he looked around him for men whom he might send as Apostles to our Island. He found them in the Benedictine Monastery where he himself had spent several years of his life. There started from Rome forty Monks, with Augustine at their head, and they entered England under the standard of the Cross.

Thus the new race that then peopled the Island received the Faith, as the Britains had previously done, from the hands of a Pope; and Monks were their teachers in the science of salvation. The word of Augustine and his companions fructified in this privileged soil. It was some time of course before he could provide the whole nation with instruction; but neither Rome nor the Benedictines abandoned the work thus begun. The few remnants that were still left of the ancient British Christianity joined the new converts; and England merited to be called, for long ages, the “Island of Saints.”

The history of St Augustine’s Apostolate in England is of thrilling interest. The landing of the Roman Missioners, and their marching through the country, to the chant of the Litany; the willing and almost kind welcome given them by king Ethelbert; the influence exercised by his queen Bertha (who was French and a Catholic), in the establishment of the Faith among the Saxons; the baptism of ten thousand Neophytes, on Christmas Day, and in the bed of a river; the foundation of the metropolitan See of Canterbury, one of the most illustrious Churches of Christendom on account of the holiness and noble doings of its Archbishops; all these admirable episodes of England’s conversion are eloquent proofs of God’s predilection of our dear Land. Augustine’s peaceful and gentle character together with his love of contemplation amidst his arduous Missionary labours, gives an additional charm to this magnificent page of the Church’s history. But who can help feeling sad at the thought that a Country, favoured as ours has been with such graces, should have apostatized from the faith? have repaid with hatred that Rome which made her Christian? and have persecuted with unheard-of cruelties, the Benedictine Order, to which she owed so much of her glory?

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We subjoin the following Lessons on the Life of our Apostle, taken from an Office approved by the Holy See:
Quote:Augustine was a Monk of the Monastery of Saint Andrew, in Rome, where also he discharged the office of Prior with much piety and prudence. He was taken from that Monastery by St. Gregory the Great; and sent by him, with about forty Monks of the same monastery, into Britain. Thus would Gregory carry out, by his disciples, the conversion of that country to Christ—a project which he at first resolved to effect himself. They had not advanced far on their journey, when they became frightened at the difficulty of such an enterprise; but Gregory encouraged them by Letters which he sent to Augustine, whom he appointed as their Abbot, and gave him letters of introduction to the kings of the Franks, and to the Bishops of Gaul. Whereupon Augustine and his Monks pursued their journey with haste. He visited the tomb of St. Martin, at Tours. Having reached the town of Pont-de-Cé, not far from Angers, he was badly treated by its inhabitants, and was compelled to spend the night in the open air. Having struck the ground with his staff, a fountain miraculously sprang up; and on that spot, a Church was afterwards built, and called after his name.

Having procured interpreters from the Franks, he proceeded to England and landed at the Isle of Thanet. He entered the Country, carrying, as a standard, a silver Cross, and a painting representing our Saviour. Thus did he present himself before Ethelbert, the king of Kent, who readily provided the heralds of the Gospel with a dwelling in the city of Canterbury, and gave them leave to preach in his kingdom. There was, close at hand, an Oratory which had been built in honour of St. Martin, when the Romans had possession of Britain. It was in this Oratory that his queen Bertha (who was a Christian, as being of the nation of the Franks) was wont to pray. Augustine, therefore, entered into Canterbury with solemn religious ceremony, amidst the chanting of psalms and litanies. He took up his abode for some time near to the said Oratory; and there, together with his Monks, led an apostolic life. Such manner of living, conjointly with the heavenly doctrine that was preached, and confirmed by many miracles, so reconciled the islanders, that many of them were induced to embrace the Christian Faith. The king himself was also converted, and Augustine baptized him and a very great number of his people. On one Christmas Day he baptized upwards of ten thousand English, in a river at York; and it is related that those among them who were suffering any malady, received bodily health, as well as their spiritual regeneration.

Meanwhile, the man of God Augustine received a command from Gregory to go and receive Episcopal ordination in Gaul, at the hands of Virgilius, the Bishop of Arles. On his return he established his See at Canterbury, in the Church of our Saviour, which he had built, and he kept there some of the Monks to be his fellow-labourers. He also built in the suburbs the Monastery of Saint Peter, which was afterwards called “Saint Augustine’s.” When Gregory heard of the conversion of the Angli, which was told to him by the two Monks Laurence and Peter, whom Augustine had sent to Rome,—he wrote letters of congratulation to Augustine. He gave him power to arrange all that concerned the Church in England, and to wear the Pallium. In the same letters he admonished him to be on his guard against priding himself on the miracles which God enabled him to work for the salvation of souls, lest pride should tum them to the injury of him that worked them.

Having thus put in order the affairs of the Church in England, Augustine held a Council with the Bishops and Doctors of the ancient Britons, who had long been at variance with the Roman Church in the keeping of Easter and other rites. And in order to refute, by miracles, these men, whom the Apostolic See had often authoritatively admonished, but to no purpose, Augustine, in proof of the truth of his assertions, restored sight to a blind man in their presence. But on their refusing to yield even after witnessing the miracle, Augustine, with prophetic warning, told them of the punishment that awaited them. At length, after having laboured so long for Christ, and appointed Laurence as his successor, he took his departure for heaven on the seventh of the Calends of June (May 26th) and was buried in the Monastery of Saint Peter, which became the burying-place of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and of several Kings. The Churches of England honoured him with great devotion. They decreed that each year his feast should be kept as a holyday, and that his name should be inserted in the Litany, immediately after that of St. Gregory, together with whom Augustine has ever been honoured by the English as their Apostle, and as the propagator of the Benedictine Order in their Country.

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We also give the following hymn in honour of our Apostle, which has also been approved by the Holy See:

Hymn

Fœcunda sanctis insula,
Tuum canas apostolum;
Et filium Gregorii
Laudes piis concentibus.


O Isle fruitful in Saints, sing a hymn to thine Apostle! Praise, in holy song, the son of Gregory!


Ejus labore fertilis,
Messem dedisti plurimam,
Quæ sanctitatis floribus
Diu refulges inclyta.


Made fertile by his toil, thou gavest a rich harvest, and, for ages, wast famed for thy flowers of Sanctity.


Turma quadragenaria
Stipatus intrat Angliam:
Vexilla Christi proferens,
Dux pacis adfert pignora.


He enters England, having with him his forty Brethren. He bears the Standard of Christ. He is the Leader, and brings the pledges of Peace.


Crucis trophæum promicat,
Verbum salutis spargitur:
Fidem quin ipse barbarus
Rex corde prompto suscipit.

The trophy of the Cross glitters in the air; the word of salvation is spread through the land. Yes, the king himself, though a barbarian, receives the Faith with a ready heart.


Mores feros gens exuit,
Undisque lota fluminis,
Ipsa die renascitur
Qua sol salutis ortus est.


The nation casts aside its savage ways; it is baptized in the river’s stream, and is born to its New Life, on the very Day that the Sun of Justice rose upon our earth.


O Pastor alme, filios
E sede pascas siderum:
In matris ulnas anxiæ
Gregem reducas devium.


O kind Shepherd! from thy heavenly throne, feed thy children. Thy flock has gone astray; lead it back to its anxious Mother’s love.


Præsta, beata Trinitas,
Quæ rore jugi gratiæ
Vitem rigas: ut pristina
Fides resurgens floreat.
Amen.


O Blessed Trinity, that art ever pouring the dew of grace upon thy Vine! grant that the ancient Faith may rise again and flourish in our Land! Amen.

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O Jesus, our Risen Lord! thou art the Life of Nations. as thou art the Life of our souls. Thou biddest them know and love and serve thee, for they have been given to thee for thine inheritance; and at thine own appointed time, each of them is made thy possession. Our own dear country was one of the earliest to be called; and when on thy Cross thou didst look with mercy on this far Island of the West, In the second Age of thy Church, thou didst send to her the heralds of thy Gospel; and again in the Sixth, Augustine, thine Apostle, commissioned by Gregory, thy Vicar, came to teach the way of Truth to the new pagan race that had made itself the owner of this highly favoured Land.

How glorious, dear Jesus, was thy Reign in our Fatherland! Thou gavest her Bishops, Doctors, Kings, Monks, and Virgins, whose virtues and works made the whole world speak of her as the “Isle of Saints;” and it is to Augustine, thy disciple and herald, that thou wouldst have us attribute the chief part of the honour of so grand a conquest. Long indeed was thy Reign over this people, whose Faith was lauded throughout the whole world; but, alas! an evil hour came, and England rebelled against thee; she would not have thee to reign over her. By her influence. she led other nations astray. She hated thee in thy Vicar; she repudiated the greater part of the truths thou hast revealed to men; she put out the light of Faith, and substituted in its place the principle of Private Judgment, which made her the slave of countless false doctrines. In the mad rage of her heresy, she trampled beneath her feet and burned the Relics of the Saints, who were her grandest glory; she annihilated the Monastic Order. to which she owed her knowledge of the Christian Faith; she was drunk with the blood of the Martyrs; she encouraged apostasy, and punished adhesion to the ancient Faith as the greatest of crimes.

She, by a just judgement of God, has become a worshipper of material prosperity. Her wealth, her fleet, and her colonies—these are her idols, and she would awe the rest of the world by the power they give her. But the Lord will, in his own time, overthrow this Colossus of power and riches; and as it was in times past, when the mightiest of kingdoms was destroyed by a stone which struck it on its feet of clay,—so will people be amazed, when the time of retribution comes, to find how easily the greatest of modem Nations was conquered and humbled. England no longer forms a part of thy Kingdom, O Jesus! She separated herself from it by breaking the bond that had held her so long in union with thy Church. Thou hast patiently waited for her return; yet she returns not. Her prosperity is a scandal to the weak; so that her own best and most devoted children feel that her chastisement will be one of the severest that thy Justice can inflict.

Meanwhile, thy Mercy, O Jesus, is winning over thousands of her people to the Truth, and their love of it seems fervent in proportion to their having been so long deprived of its beautiful light. Thou hast created a new people in her very midst, and each year the number is increasing. Cease not thy merciful workings; that thus these Faithful ones may once more draw down upon our Country the blessing she forfeited when she rebelled against thy Church.

Thy mission, then, O holy Apostle Augustine! is not yet over. The number of the Elect is not filled up; and our Lord is gleaning some of these from amidst the tares that cover the land of thy loving labours. May thine intercession obtain for her children those graces which enlighten the mind and convert the heart. May it remove their prejudices, and give them to see that the Spouse of Jesus is but One, as he himself calls her; that the Faith of Gregory and Augustine is still the Faith of the Catholic Church at this day; and that three hundred years’ possession could never give Heresy any claim to a country which was led astray by seduction and violence, and which has retained so many traces of ancient and deep-rooted Catholicity.

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  18 Connecticut teens hospitalized for heart problems after COVID vaccines
Posted by: Stone - 05-27-2021, 09:36 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines - No Replies

18 Connecticut teens hospitalized for heart problems after COVID vaccines, White House says young people should still get the shots
The mother of 17-year-old Gregory Hatton, diagnosed with pericarditis within days of his second dose of the vaccine, said her son 'basically has a heart condition now and it’s terrifying.'

May 27, 2021 (Children’s Health Defense) — One week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it was investigating heart inflammation in recently vaccinated young adults, Connecticut reported 18 new cases of heart problems among teens who had received a COVID vaccine.

All 18 cases resulted in hospitalization — the vast majority for a couple of days, reported NBC Connecticut. The cases were reported to the Connecticut Department of Public Health by vaccine providers, said Deirdre Gifford, acting health commissioner.

“One individual that we’re aware of is still hospitalized,” Guifford said Monday. “The other 17 have been sent home and they’re doing fine.”

The first case at Connecticut Children’s was Rachel Hatton’s 17-year-old son, Gregory.

“It’s terrifying,” said Hatton. Her son started complaining of severe chest pain three days after his second vaccine dose. It worsened on the fourth day, causing back pain.

After blood work and an x-ray, doctors diagnosed Gregory with pericarditis, an inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart that can cause sharp chest pain and other symptoms.

“They hooked him up to a heart monitor, did more EKGs, echocardiograms. Infectious disease actually came and ran their own set of blood work to try to figure out if it could have been caused by something else, some sort of infection, something else, like Lyme disease. They tested him for all sorts of things and one by one those tests came back negative,” said Hatton.

Doctors couldn’t confirm Gregory’s condition was caused by the COVID vaccine, but two more recently vaccinated patients presented to the hospital with similar symptoms. A spokesperson from Connecticut Children’s said patients have presented with both pericarditis and myocarditis

Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle that can lead to cardiac arrhythmia and death. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, myocarditis can result from infections, but “more commonly the myocarditis is a result of the body’s immune reaction to the initial heart damage.”

Mayo Clinic doctors say treatment focuses on the cause of the condition and symptoms, such as heart failure and shortness of breath.

Hatton said her son is now out of work, on medication and hooked up to a heart monitor. He will have another MRI in June to see if his condition has improved.

“I don’t sleep because … if I hear my son sneeze or if he sounds like he’s out of breath when I call him on my break at work, I get nervous because I just don’t know what else could happen. He basically has a heart condition now and it’s terrifying,” she said.

NBC Connecticut spoke with other parents of teens who received their first dose of COVID vaccine and are scheduled to get their second.

“I can’t believe the government would really put out a shot that would really negatively impact the health of my child so I’m behind the vaccine 100%,” said Heather Salgado.

“I’m just trusting the science and the recommendation is to get the vaccine,” said Theresa Galizia.

Other parents, like Siobhan Cefarelli, had reservations. “It’s one thing for me to get the vaccine, but for my child to get the vaccine, it’s kind of scary not knowing what’s going to happen and not having a lot of research having been done on it.”

Hatton said she shared her son’s story because she wanted parents to be aware. Despite doctors saying the condition is rare, Hatton explained it doesn’t feel rare when it’s affecting your own child.

The CDC has not determined if vaccines were the cause of the reported heart condition in the Connecticut cases. But the CDC safety committee released an advisory May 17 alerting doctors to reports of myocarditis, which seemed to occur predominantly in adolescents and young adults, more often in males than females, more often following the second dose and typically within four days after vaccination with Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing Monday the Biden administration will continue to advise young people to get vaccinated, despite reported cases of myocarditis.

“Our health and medical experts still continue to convey that it is the right step for 12- to 15-year-olds to get vaccinated, that these are limited cases, and that, obviously, the risks of contracting COVID are certainly significant even for people of that age,” Psaki said.

According to CDC data, the death rate among adolescents ages 0 to 17 who get COVID and are subsequently hospitalized is 0.7%, with many experiencing either mild or no symptoms at all. The COVID death rate in all adolescent age categories is less than 0.1%.

While the CDC numbers appear to contradict Psaki’s assessment of young people’s risk of getting COVID, new research suggests that even the CDC’s numbers are too high.

As The Defender reported, two papers published May 19 in the journal of Hospital Pediatrics found pediatric hospitalizations for COVID were overcounted by at least 40%, carrying potential implications for nationwide figures used to justify vaccinating children.

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  May 27th - Sts. John I and Bede the Venerable
Posted by: Stone - 05-27-2021, 08:33 AM - Forum: May - Replies (1)

May 27 – St John I, Pope and Martyr

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The palm of martyrdom was won by this holy Pope, not in a victory over a pagan persecutor, but in battling for the Church’s Liberty, against a Christian King. But this king was a heretic, and therefore an enemy of every Pontiff that was zealous for the triumph of the true faith. The state of Christ’s Vicar here on earth is a state of combat; and it frequently happens that a Pope is veritably a martyr, without having shed his blood. St. John the First, whom we honour today, was not slain by the sword; a loathsome dungeon was the instrument of his martyrdom; but there are many Popes who are now in heaven with him, martyrs like himself, who never even passed a day in prison or in chains: the Vatican was their Calvary. They conquered, yet fell in the struggle with so little appearance of victory, that heaven had to take up the defence of their reputation, as was the case with that angelic Pontiff of the eighteenth century, Clement XIII.

The Saint of today teaches us, by his conduct, what should be the sentiment of every worthy member of the Church. He teaches us that we should never make a compromise with heresy, nor approve the measures taken by worldly policy for securing what it calls the rights of heresy. If the past ages, aided by the religious indifference of Governments, have introduced the “Toleration of all Religions,” or even the principle that “all religions are to be treated alike by the State,”—let us, if we will, put up with this latitudinarianism, and be glad to see that the Church, in virtue of it, is guaranteed from legal persecution; but as Catholics, we can never look upon it as an absolute good. Whatever may be the circumstances in which Providence has placed us, we are bound to conform our views to the principles of our holy faith, and to the infallible teaching and practice of the Church—out of which, there is but contradiction, danger and infidelity.

The holy Liturgy thus extols the virtues and courage of our Saint:

Quote:John, by birth a Tuscan, governed the Church during the reign of the Emperor Justin the Elder. He undertook a journey to Constantinople, in order to solicit the Emperor’s protection against the heretical king Theodoric, who was persecuting the faithful of Italy. God honoured the Pontiff, during this journey, by several miracles. When about to visit Corinth, a certain nobleman lent him a horse, which he kept for his wife’s use, on account of its being so gentle. When the Pontiff afterwards returned, and gave the horse back to the nobleman, it was no longer a tame creature as before; but, as often as its mistress attempted to ride it, would snort and prance, and throw her from its back, as though it scorned to bear a woman’s weight, after it had carried the Vicar of Christ. They therefore gave the horse to the Pontiff. But a greater miracle was that which happened at Constantinople. Near to the Golden Gate, and in the presence of an immense concourse of people, who had assembled there together with the Emperor to show honour to the Pontiff, he restored sight to a blind man. The Emperor also prostrated before him, Out of a sentiment of veneration. Having arranged matters with the Emperor, he returned to Italy, and immediately addressed a letter to all its bishops, commanding them to consecrate the churches of the Arians, that they might be used for Catholic services. He added these words: “For, when at Constantinople, for the interests of the Catholic religion and on account of king Theodoric, we consecrated all the Arian churches we could find in that country, and made them Catholic.” Theodoric was exceedingly angry at this; and, having craftily induced the Pontiff to come to Ravenna, put him in prison. There, from the filth of the place, and from starvation, he died in a few days. He reigned two years, nine months, and fourteen days; during which time he ordained fifteen bishops. Theodoric died soon after; and St. Gregory relates that a certain hermit saw him plunged into a pit of fire at Lipari, in the presence of John the Pontiff, and the Patrician Symmachus, whom he had murdered: thus they whom he had put to death stood as judges condemning him to punishment. The body of St. John was taken from Ravenna to Rome, and buried in the Basilica of Saint Peter.

Thy fair palm, O holy Pontiff, was the reward of proclaiming the spotless holiness of the Church of Christ. She is the glorious Church, as St Paul calls her, having neither spot nor wrinkle; (Ephesians 5:27) and, for that very reason she can never consent to yield to Heresy any of the inheritance given her by her Divine Lord. Nowadays, men form their calculations on the interests of this passing world, and are resolved to regulate society independently of the rights of the Son of God, from whom proceeds all social order, as well as all truth. They have deprived the Church of her external constitution and influence; and at the same time, they give encouragement to the sects that have rebelled against her. So has it been, within the last few years, with Catholic Mexico; and how severely has not the crime been punished! O holy Pontiff, awaken in our hearts the sentiment of what Divine Truth is, and how error can never create prescription against her rights. Then shall we submit to the unhappy necessities handed down to us by the fatal triumph of heresy, without accepting, as a progress, the principle and law that “all Religions are on an equality.” In thy prison, brave martyr! thou proclaimedst the rights of the one only Church; preserve us, who are living during that Revolt which was foretold by the apostle, (2 Thessalonians 2:3) from those cowardly compromises, dangerous prejudices, and culpable want of solid instruction, which are the ruin of so many souls; and may our last words, on leaving this world, be those that were taught us by our Jesus himself: Heavenly Father! Hallowed be thy Name! May thy Kingdom come!

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  Chicago archdiocese: Parishioners must show ‘proof of vaccination’ to be maskless
Posted by: Stone - 05-27-2021, 08:22 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Spiritual] - No Replies

Chicago archdiocese: Parishioners must show ‘proof of vaccination’ to be maskless
‘Fully vaccinated individuals’ may show their faces ‘as long as they bring proof of vaccination and the parish’s
greeter/hospitality team has the capacity to validate attendees’ vaccination status.’

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CHICAGO, Illinois, May 26, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The third largest diocese in the United States has announced that parishioners can return to Mass unmasked but only if they can provide “proof of vaccination.”

The Archdiocese of Chicago, led by Cardinal Blase Cupich, issued a statement Friday offering two options for parishes “given the recent announcements by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local health departments and state and city officials,” easing COVID-19 restrictions. 

Option 1 for Masses and liturgies allows “fully vaccinated individuals to refrain from wearing masks as long as they bring proof of vaccination and the parish’s greeter/hospitality team has the capacity to validate attendees’ vaccination status.”

“The pastor and leadership team should clearly communicate to all parishioners and registered attendees the expectation that vaccinated individuals should bring a written record of completed vaccination to show the greeter/hospitality team upon entering the church,” warns the archdiocesan guidance. 

“Please note that a picture of the vaccination card on the parishioner’s phone will suffice,” it added. It is unclear if parishioners will be forced to show photo identification, too.

Option 2 requires “masks for all attendees at Masses and liturgies. This option is best if a parish does not have a sufficiently staffed, dedicated greeter team to assume the added responsibility of validating attendees’ vaccination status.” 

The second option will remain in effect until the state reaches Phase 5, “at which time it is expected that all mask mandates will be lifted,” according to the statement.

“It is critical that the pastor consult with his Parish COVID-19 Reopening Team and Parish Council to gather input into the decision and process to move forward,” continues the directive.

“Registration for Mass and liturgies must continue until we reach Phase 5.”

The strict instructions from the Chicago archdiocese to its nearly 300 parishes leave some questions unanswered:

1. How exactly will such a vaccine card-checking system work? Will vaccine cards be checked at every Mass by a “greeter/hospitality team”? Will parishes keep lists of vaccinated parishioners?

2. What will happen in the case of a person who cannot receive the vaccine (for example, because of allergies) or who chooses not to receive the vaccine (for example, due to conscientious objection over the vaccines’ connections to abortion, which the Vatican recognizes as valid) yet also cannot wear a mask (for example, due to a disability or condition like pregnancy)? Will such individuals be allowed in churches at all, or will they be denied access to Mass and the Sacraments?

3. Are priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago required to receive the vaccine as a condition of employment?

LifeSiteNews reached out to the Archdiocese of Chicago for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

Chicago Catholic schools will continue to require that all individuals wear masks “regardless of vaccination status, in all archdiocesan schools and at all archdiocesan school events, whether indoor or outdoor, through the remainder of the school year.”

“Since the vast majority of students and children are not yet vaccinated, this application of the mask mandate makes it easier to administer on the part of school leadership and continues our ongoing efforts to keep young people safe,” claims the archdiocesan statement. “This also remains in accord with Illinois State Board of Education guidance.”

Richard Kijowski, a veteran who is an archdiocesan parishioner, told ABC7 Chicago that he has thought for a long time that mask-wearing has been unnecessary.

“I don't think you need them,” said Kijowski. “I disagree with the whole shebang that we've had here the last 15 months.”

The Archdiocese of New York recently announced it will segregate vaccinated and unvaccinated parishioners, and only those who have received the abortion-tainted injections will be permitted to sing in the choir or serve on the altar.

“Some pastors and choir directors will ask singers for proof of vaccination, but others may use the honor system. It will vary from parish to parish and choir to choir,” an Archdiocese of New York spokesman told the New York Times.

The nearby Diocese of Brooklyn has a similar segregation policy.

LifeSite has reported recently on a number of cases where parishioners were left out from the fullness of parish life due to not having had the experimental coronavirus injection.

The large parish of St. Joseph in the Archdiocese of St. Louis was forced to walk back plans for segregating the congregation based on vaccine status, although the parish hall is reserved for use only by those who have had coronavirus injections.

Meanwhile, New Mexico Archbishop John C. Wester stated that singing in the church choirs, as well as distribution Holy Communion on the tongue, would be reserved for those who had been injected.

Such a stipulation was echoed by St. Cloud’s ordinary, Bishop Donald J. Kettler, who wrote to the diocesan clergy to “strongly encourage that only vaccinated individuals – including priests – distribute Holy Communion.”

Contact information for respectful communication:
Archdiocese of Chicago
Cardinal Blase Cupich
835 North Rush Street
Chicago, IL 60611-2030
+1 (312) 534-8200

RELATED:
Archdiocese of New York to segregate vaccinated, unvaccinated parishioners

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  Pope Francis wants to “reform” Summorum Pontificum “for the worse”?
Posted by: Stone - 05-26-2021, 05:33 PM - Forum: Pope Francis - No Replies

Fears Traditional Latin Mass will be suppressed renewed in wake of Pope’s alleged comments to Italian bishops
The unsigned article in 'Messa in Latina' (MIL or messainlatina.il) alleges that the pontiff told the Italian Bishops at the opening of their General Assembly yesterday that he had finished the third draft of a document that will restrict the use of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, also called the Traditional Latin Mass or Tridentine Mass.

ROME, Italy, May 25, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A website dedicated to promoting the Traditional Latin Mass has warned that “multiple sources” within the Conference of Italian Bishops say that Pope Francis wants to “reform” Summorum Pontificum “for the worse.”

The unsigned article in “Messa in Latina” (MIL or messainlatina.il) alleges that the pontiff told the Italian Bishops at the opening of their General Assembly yesterday that he had finished the third draft of a document that will restrict the use of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, also called the Traditional Latin Mass or Tridentine Mass.

“After once again warning against accepting ‘rigid’ (that is, faithful to doctrine) young men into the seminary, Francis told the bishops that he had reached the third draft of a text that contains measures restricting the celebration by Catholic priest of Mass in the Extraordinary Form made accessible by Benedict XVI, who according to [Pope Francis] wished with Summorum Pontificum to encounter only the followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre,” Messa in Latina reported.

Pope Francis then suggested, the website alleged, that there are many young priests who want to celebrate the “Tridentine Mass” even if they don’t know Latin. The sources also apparently told Messa in Latina that the pontiff told a characteristic story about a supposedly rigid young priest and his wise, in the eyes of Francis, bishop.

“To illustrate he told the story of a bishop to whom a young priest had turned to express his intention to celebrate in the Extraordinary Form,” MIL reported.

“When asked if he know Latin, the young priest told the bishop that he was learning it. At that the bishop told him that it would be better to learn Spanish or Vietnamese because there were many Hispanics and Vietnamese people in the diocese.”

The MIL blogger fears that there will be a return to the days of the “indult” — when priests could say the Traditional Latin Mass only with the permission of their bishop, or an even stricter situation, in which they can celebrate it only with the Vatican’s approval, “ghettoizing” priests and laypeople dedicated to the ancient rite. He contrasted the Pope Emeritus and Pope Francis in dramatic terms.

“After Moses the liberator, the Pharaoh would return,” he wrote.

The unknown author also underscored, correctly, that Benedict XVI did not address only “Lefebvrians” with his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, but the whole Church. As evidence, MIL pointed to an interview the Pope Emeritus gave to Peter Seewald, in which he explicitly said that he had not written Summorum Pontificum as a concession to the SSPX (the Society of St. Pius X priests).

Although the English-language blog Rorate Caeli swiftly posted MIL’s story, it was greeted with scepticism by liturgical expert Gregory Di Pippo. Upon hearing the allegations that Pope Francis wants to water down Pontificum Summorum, Di Pippo, editor of New Liturgical Movement, said, “Again? How many times have we heard this in the last 8 years?"

It is a matter of public record that Pope Francis opened the socially-distanced 74th General Assembly of the Conference of Italian Bishops at the four-star Ergifle Palace Hotel yesterday afternoon. The theme of the four-day meeting, which will end on Thursday, is “To announce the Gospel in a time of rebirth; to start a synodal journey.”

According to the Sala Stampa, the Vatican Press Office, the pontiff gave an “off-the-cuff" address to the assembled Italian bishops, followed by an interview with those present. It did not publish Pope Francis’s remarks.


[Emphasis mine.]

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  May 26th - Sts. Eleutherius and Philip Neri
Posted by: Stone - 05-26-2021, 08:04 AM - Forum: May - Replies (1)

May 26 – St Eleutherius, Pope and Martyr
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger  (1841-1875)

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This twenty-sixth of May is also honored by the memory of one of those early Pontiffs who, like Urban, were the foundations of the Church in the Age of Persecution. Eleutherius ascended the Papal Throne in the very midst of the storm that was raised by Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. It was he that received the embassy that was sent to Rome by the Martyrs of Lyons’ and, at the head of them that were thus sent, was the great St. Irenæus. This illustrious Church, which was then so rich in Martyrdom, would offer its palms to Christian Rome, in which, to use St. Irenæus’ own expression, it recognized “the highest Sovereignty.”

Peace, however, was soon restored to the Church, and the remainder of Eleutherius’ pontificate was undisturbed. In the enjoyment of this peace, and with his name, which signifies a Freeman, this Pontiff is an image of our Risen Jesus, who, as the Psalmist says of him, is free among the dead.

The Church honors St. Eleutherius as a Martyr, as she does the other Popes who lived before Constantine, and of whom almost all shed their blood in the Persecutions of the first three centuries. Sharing, as they did, in all the sufferings of the Church, governing it amidst perils of every description, and seldom or never knowing what peace was—these three and thirty Pontiffs have every right to be considered as Martyrs.

A special glory for Eleutherius is his having been the Apostle of our own dear Country. The Romans had made Britain one of their colonies, and thus brought the island into intercourse with the rest of the world. Divine Providence chose the peaceful years of Eleutherius as the time for uniting it to the Church, at least in some measure. This was the 2nd Century. But later on, our England was to become the Island of Saints; and this same day gives us our second Apostle—St. Augustine.

Quote:Eleutherius was born at Nicopolis in Greece. He was a Deacon of Pope Anicetus, and was afterwards, that is, during the reign of the emperor Commodus, chosen to govern the Church. At the beginning of his pontificate, he received letters from Lucius, king of the Britons, begging him to receive himself and his subjects among the Christians. Wherefore Eleutherius sent into Britain Fugatius and Damian, two learned and holy men; through whose ministry, the king and his people might receive the Faith. It was also during this Pontificate, that Irenæus, a disciple of Polycarp, went to Rome, and was kindly received by Eleutherius. The Church of God was then enjoying great peace and calm, and the Faith made progress throughout the whole world, but nowhere more than at Rome. Eleutherius governed the Church fifteen years and twenty-three days. He thrice held Ordinations in December, at which he made twelve Priests, eight Deacons, and fifteen Bishops for divers places. He was buried in the Vatican, near the body of St. Peter.

Thy name, O Eleutherius, is the name of every Christian that has risen with Christ. The Pasch has delivered us all, emancipated all, made us all freemen. Pray for us, that we may ever preserve that glorious Liberty of the Children of God, of which the Apostle speaks. By it were we freed from the chains of sin, which consigned us to death; from the slavery of Satan, who would fain have robbed us of our Last End; and from the tyranny of the world, which was deceiving us by its false maxims. The New Life given to us by our Pasch is one that is all of heaven, where our Jesus is awaiting us in glory; to lose it would be to return to slavery. Holy Pontiff! pray for us, that, when the Pasch of next year comes, it may find us in that happy Liberty which the fruit of our having been redeemed by Christ.

There is another kind of Liberty of which the world boasts, and for the acquiring which it sets men at variance with men. It consists in avoiding as a crime all subjection and dependence, and in recognizing no authority except the one appointed by our own elections, which we can remove as soon as we please. Deliver us, O holy Pontiff, from this false Liberty, which is so opposed to the Christian Spirit of obedience, and is simply the triumph of human pride. In its frenzy, it sheds torrents of blood; and with its pompous cant of what it calls the Rights of Man, it substitutes egoism for duty. It acknowledges no such thing as Truth, for it maintains that Error has its sacred rights; it acknowledges no such thing as Good, for it has given up all pretension to preventing Evil. It puts God aside, for it refuses to recognize him in those who govern. It puts upon man the yoke of brute force: it tyrannizes over him by what it calls a “Majority;” and it answers every complaint, that he may make against injustice, by the jargon of “Accomplished Facts.” No—this is not the Liberty into which we are called by Christ, our Deliverer. We are Free, as St. Peter says, and yet make not Liberty a cloak for malice.

O holy Pontiff! show thyself still a Father to the world. During thy peaceful reign, thy throne was near to that of the Cæsars, who governed the Seven Hilled City. They were the Rulers of the world, and yet thy name was revered in every part of their Empire. While the material power held the sword suspended over thy head, the Faithful of various distant lands were flocking to Rome, there to venerate the Tomb of Peter, and pay homage to thee his Successor. When Lucius sent ambassadors from his Island, they turned not their steps to the Emperor’s Palace, but to thine humble dwelling. They came to tell that that a people was called by divine grace, to receive the Good Tidings, and become a portion of the Christian family. The destinies of this people, which thou wast the first to evangelize, were to be great in the Church. The Island of the Britains is a daughter of the Roman Church; and the attempts she is now making to disown her origin are useless. Have pity on her, O thou that wast her first Apostle! Bless the efforts which are being everywhere made to bring her back to unity with the Church. Remember the faith of Lucius and his people; and show thy paternal solicitude for a Country which thou didst lead to the Faith.

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  Shock Doctrine Comes Home: Interesting [Secular] Commentary
Posted by: Stone - 05-26-2021, 07:50 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism - No Replies

Shock Doctrine Comes Home

American Sun | MAY 25, 2021

Whether on the streets or on social media, no one can miss the fried mental status of Americans. Some of us have carried on with normal lives during covid lockdowns or the scare, but we see millions living lives of fear and hysteria. It does seem overblown. Using a framework from a pre-financial crisis pop economic book, it is easy to see America is going through an oligarchical imposed episode of shock doctrine. A tool used so effectively in the empire has now been turned inward.

Shock Doctrine is a great title to label the multiple instances where the machinery of big business, the US foreign policy apparatus, and academia could install economic policies known as the Washington Consensus. In short, create a crisis, install a new government, while everyone is reeling this team installs the new economic policies and if there is failure and chaos, keep instituting more and more free trade, free floating prices and wages, and austerity. It is a banker’s delight. Capital can move freely and speculate for quick gains while the masses get burned by the economic shock.

It is not economic shock though, not on its own. Shocks are usually political but can be disaster or war related. Everyone is confused. As the economic changes create chaos, people clamor for the new regime to do anything to ease the pain. Klein uses very clear examples of political disruption (Chile, Poland, Russia, etc) creating an opening for the neoliberal economic agenda and wholesale pillaging of national assets. Post-Asian Flu economic reforms were forced on nations and transformed the entire region. It was always for the same suite of policies: the Washington Consensus. At the end, there is always this stance of changes being set in stone because the IMF & World Bank are there to enforce the rules. No reforms, no loans. No loans if you go back on your reforms. Klein is a standard issue Canadian liberal, but the subject matter and narrative read much clearer today. It was alien and foreign then.

Shock Doctrine was published in 2007, and the 2008 global financial crisis and consequences look straight out of shock doctrine’s neoliberal playbook. Municipal assets have been auctioned off to crony insiders to pay bankers whole. Bailouts made hedge funds and Wall Street bondholders whole while impoverishing Greeks, Italians, etc. The West even saw an austerity wave in the EU to settle the ship after trillions in bailouts and liquidity injections to keep banking institutions alive. We bound our nations to keep a specific piece of the system whole rather than the reverse.

Looking at this book in 2020, you see it all around you. Covid hit. Major state governments took the most aggressive lockdown stance across the US. The political class stabbed its citizenry and then the aid it provided was a one time check and some unemployment bonus. Evictions were paused. Student debt payments were paused under certain conditions. The major winners in the CARES Act were big business interests. The 2021 Democrat covid bill used family checks as a shield for public relations to bail out blue states horrible finances and pension problems.

How many people cared? This is why the shocks have been steady and the hysteria has been so long going despite the truth that 99.9% of people under 65 survive covid. All those states could have taken a different approach. Big business sectors like travel might have suffered or might have had an all Millenial and Zoomer clientele. The lockdowns were the shock to justify aid. The never ending hysteria drove people to want some help due to the deadly virus, forgetting it was their governments that choose the lockdown forever path.

Never let a crisis go to waste. Fits here. The year long hysteria is creating shell shocked people who won’t bother to object to the silly hold up of relief checks because the rest of the bill needs to be hammered out. Too large a mass of people are in a daze or has had their brains fried by the hysteria to not demand a one page up and down vote for cash. They can’t even protest that ridiculous hold up of $1400 checks for all Americans, but first we need to send a trillion to states and businesses. Protesting would be bad in this deadly plague.

Klein documented how the success in getting Chile and Argentina emboldened the neoliberal academics to repeat the process at every opportunity, even helping make opportunities. The dark but probable prediction for America is that shock doctrine has come home to stay. They don’t need to bring the banking system to a near fail anymore. They don’t even need a real plague. They just need to create a climate of fear on a steady enough basis for just enough of the population to wither in until legislation is signed.

[Emphasis mine.]

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