Selasa, 28 Juni 2011

Is There Any Hope For America?

Signing of the Declaration of Independence
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America


When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security...

source
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The chronicling of the fall of Western civilization is all around us.  From the economic implosion of the European Union to the decline of the United States dollar, from the rise of legalized abortion to the fall of traditional marriage; every aspect of our traditional Christian society is crumbling.  The recent decision in the state of New York, to legalize "marriage" for sodomite relationships between members of the same gender, is yet one more paragraph in the chronicle of Western collapse and perhaps the conclusion of another chapter in the history of America's demise.  The fall of New York to the government blessing of legalized sodomy is a great loss in the history of Christian civilization, and in spite of what it's supporters say, it will ultimately result in the social destruction of the State of New York.

No, this destruction will not happen overnight, these things never do, and yes it is going to take time.  Give it about ten to twenty years and we will begin to see the results.  What will those results be?  To summarize, what we will all witness first and foremost is the loss of religious liberty in New York, just as we have seen in Massachusetts, and will likely soon follow in the rest of the New England states.  This of course will result in the exodus of conservative Christian families from the region.  Since these families tend to produce the most children, they will take the region's youthful demographics with them, leaving New York, and the rest of New England with a graying population.  This of course will negatively affect the economy of those regions, and that coming on the heels of the Great Recession/Depression we are already in.  Social institutions in the region will collapse as well.  Catholic Charities will likely be the first casualty, and we can probably expect them to close their doors within a couple years from the date of this writing.  Other institutions will soon follow, and Catholic schools will find it increasingly difficult to educate children according to our religious beliefs.  If you're a young Christian family, living anywhere in New England right now, probably the best thing you can do is GET OUT!  The time has come to relocate to a Southern or South-Midwestern state  (anything in, or south from, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Kansas).  That's because the future of New England, the West Coast and the Rust Belt states is starting to look rather bleak for raising children, both for economic and social reasons.  We must remember that both economic and social politics are simply two different branches of the same moral principles.  America doesn't have a social problem nor an economic problem.  America has a MORAL problem, and this moral problem is being played out in both economic and social politics, because both come from the same moral foundation.  Young families need to get their kids to a place that is relatively "safer" to raise their children, so as to protect them from the corrupting influence of Western decadence.  Getting these families near, or south from, the old Mason-Dixon line will be a short-term refuge that may buy us enough time to salvage what is left of this nation.

Now comes the cold harsh reality.  My fellow citizens of the United States, I hope you're sitting down, because what I'm going to tell you may not surprise you, but it will trouble you.  It has become increasingly more obvious now, without any doubt whatsoever, that the current United States federal republic WILL collapse.

It's a bit worse than that actually, because not only will the United States federal government collapse, but so will the state governments of nearly all the New England states, most of the Rust Belt, and probably the West Coast as well.  I cannot put a time table on this collapse, because I cannot predict the future.  I can only tell you what the coming trends are, based on the obvious signs.  In other words, the writing is on the wall.  If I were simply going to guess however, I think it would be safe to say that this American collapse will come within one Biblical generation at the latest (or within about 40 years). Believe me, the nations of the world are already preparing for that eventuality.

Now when people start predicting governmental collapse, of course, the worst case scenario often pops into mind.  We think of such things as anarchy, riots in the street, chaos everywhere, civil war, etc.  While all of these things are indeed possible, that doesn't mean it's going to happen that way.  Government collapse can often happen in a quiet whimper rather than a loud noise, resulting in little more than a call to dissolve the old institutions and simply create new ones.  For the United States, I imagine it will likely be something in between.  Civil unrest will likely take place in those states that are the weakest, primarily those that have succumbed to the morality of abortion-on-demand and gay-marriage (the "culture of death"), thus driving out young families and reducing their economic growth and tax base.  Other states, that will likely soon be receiving a large number of young families from the New England and West Coast exodus, will likely experience at least some small economic growth, with a relatively stable tax base.  These factors will produce an American collapse that will likely see more civil unrest in the North and West, with less civil unrest (perhaps little to none) in the Southern Midwest to Southeast regions.  Again, this is yet one more reason to relocate your young family if you have one.  (Did I mention the largest growth for conservative and traditional Catholicism in America is located in the Southern Midwest and Southeast states?)

Now when the collapse comes, and it will come, there is going to be a lot of powers pulling in different directions.  Some will push for secession and breakup of the American Union.  However, when the time comes that will no longer be feasible.  Namely because the Southern Midwestern states will likely have their act together, while the Northern and Western states most certainly will not.  Breaking the Union up at that time will result in the West falling into anarchy and ultimately being plundered by Mexico and China.  While the Northeastern states will simply stagnate in poverty until they are gobbled up by Canada or Europe.  None of them will be able to support themselves.  There will be a huge push from the international community to keep the United States intact as is, with only extreme outer regions breaking away for independence (Hawaii, Alaska and non-continental U.S. territories).  The burden of national reconstruction and recovery will fall directly on those states that have their economic and social house in order, namely the South Midwest and Southeastern states, or the "Old South" as they call it.  In other words, the post Civil-War mantra will likely become a prophecy -- "The South will rise again!"   This time not in rebellion from the Union, but in salvation for the Union.

A constitutional convention will likely be called, in which these South Midwestern and Southeastern states will likely hold the most dominant role, calling the shots, while delegates from the North and West will be in little position to dictate anything since their states are gradually falling into anarchy.  This constitutional convention will likely dictate only a few social mandates, such as the definition of traditional marriage, and the right of the states to regulate abortion.  Beyond that, in accordance with the Old South tradition, states-rights will be the primary focus, decentralizing the whole federal government entirely, putting all social programs in the hands of the states, as well as the majority of taxation.  It is likely the federal government will be forbidden from taxing the people directly ever again, and a strong barrier will be erected between the people and federal regulation.  The federal government will inherit a new Constitution from this convention, which will be much more "confederate" in nature, leaving most of the power to the states, and restricting the federal government to national defense and interstate commerce.  (I wouldn't even be surprised if a new tradition develops where state flags fly over the union flag as a symbolic gesture of the new order of things.)  Yes, we will still have the "Bill of Rights," as it is simply a list of articles that can easily be transferred from one document to another without any difficulty, but I imagine it will be strengthened with more articles further defining the rights of the people and the states, while restricting the powers of the federal government.  The United States of America that emerges from the coming collapse will be significantly different from what we know today.  It will be smaller, leaner, less intrusive, and in many ways "better" than what currently exists.  To get there however, we're going to have to go through the hard times first, and yes, those hard times are coming -- soon.

Make no mistake about it.  History dictates that no government that blesses sodomy survives long.  It is the law of nature, and our God is the God of nature, so it is God's law as well.  Ancient Greece collapsed, as did ancient Rome, and so will the United States of America as well as the European Union.  In many ways, I suspect America's collapse will be much more gentle than Europe's collapse, for this reason and this reason only.  The United States of America still has a sizable remnant of good, decent Christian people, who still subscribe to traditional morality in spite of what our state and federal governments are doing.  There are still some state governments that cater to this population in the South and Southern Midwest states.  In Europe, that remnant is so much smaller.  It is almost non-existent.  What few governments left, that have tried to cater to this population, are falling fast to the increasing pressure of the European Union.  When America falls, it has a recourse to a new beginning.  When Europe falls, it has recourse to nothing.  Only a war of conquest by a new European emperor could save that continent after it's implosion, but that's another story for another time.

There are those who say America's collapse will precede Europe's collapse, and that may be true in spite of what we are currently seeing in the news with the civil unrest in Greece and looming problems for Ireland, Portugal and Spain.  While the Eurozone is definitely in trouble, it doesn't have the same kind of enormous national debt that faces every American taxpayer.  Yes, economically, America is on thinner ice than Europe, so I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens next.  An economic collapse for the United States, sooner rather than later, may be a blessing in disguise, as it would force a constitutional convention before much of the Union has time to fall into social anarchy.  This could pave the way for immediate decentralization and greater protection of states rights in the short term, thus setting the stage for the rise of Southern dominance sooner rather than later.

What of the North American Union?  We must realize that this is a plan that has been in the works for a long time, and there will be a huge push toward continental integration once the economic collapse occurs in the United States.  I've given a lot of thought to this issue, and I do believe there is a strategy we can employ against it.  The truth must come out that the movers and shakers of the North American Union (NAU) are simultaneously the architects of America's economic collapse.  If we can make it known that the people who are proposing the NAU are the exact same people who have been working behind the scenes to destroy America's sovereign economy, than we have some hope.  Of course, this will require demonizing former presidents George W. Bush and George H. Bush, as well as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  Anyone associated with NAFTA and the New World Order will have to be made into a traitor and international criminal.  If the TEA Party movement, and America's Christian priests and pastors, can accomplish this than we can send the plans for the NAU into the scrap heap of world history, but not until then. 

Finally, as a personal strategy for every American family we must pursue a new lifestyle of "cultural succession" from the current entertainment and social culture dominating the United States.  What does this mean?  Well, first and foremost, we have to remember who we are.  We are Christians first, and our real government is the King of hearts -- Jesus Christ.  He is America's king, and so long as we remember that, we can keep our local neighborhoods and towns from falling into chaos.  Second, we are Americans, and believe it or not, the Constitution of the United States IS NOT our founding document.  Our founding document is the Declaration of Independence, and that is why I've quoted it at the top of this article.  Two-hundred and thirty-five years ago (this year) our Founding Fathers politically seceded from the British Empire.  However, we should remember that a culture secession had already taken place some time before.  American colonists had gotten used to a life relatively free of imperial politics, so when the French-Indian War happened in 1754 to 1763, this conflict infuriated the colonists who had been living in relative peace with their Indian neighbors up to that time.  As stated in the Declaration of Independence, this imperial interference into colonial life was a major catalyst leading to the secession of the colonies in 1776.  Some comparisons could be drawn between this and the Arab-American wars between 1990 to present.  Again, imperial politics are at play here.  This time instead of King George III, it's the military-industrial complex as embodied in the office of the President of the United States in recent decades.  This is coupled with the entertainment industry which is designed to keep us passive and docile while the military-industrial complex robs us blind and puts us into eternal debt.  So our only defense is to turn to our churches and employ the gospel in our families, living lives of independence from the popular media and cultural trends.

Is there any hope for America?  Yes, there is, believe it or not.  But if you were hoping for a strong America that remains an economic and military superpower and world politics, you were hoping for the wrong thing.  That's not the kind of America that awaits our future.  The America that awaits us will be smaller, leaner and more free, but to get there we must first suffer the collapse of this current America, and that isn't going to be pretty.  When the collapse comes, we must be prepared to culturally resist the forces that will drive us toward greater continental integration with Mexico and Canada, and then we must push for a new constitutional convention giving way to the Old Southern traditions of small government and states rights.

There is more strategy to come, of a spiritual nature, but it applies mainly to Catholic Americans.  That article will be released on July 4th of this year -- just six days from now.  Please be watching for it.  In the mean time, please forward and share this article with as many people as you can, particularly conservative Christians, especially if they live in the Northeast and West Coast.

Senin, 27 Juni 2011

WAR WITHIN THE VATICAN

Storm Clouds Gather Over the Vatican
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: A war is playing out within the city walls of the Vatican. Indeed it is a silent war, and it's been in play for decades now. Just recently, since 2005, it has become most intense.

Nobody was more acutely aware of the anti-papal forces within the Vatican than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who watched his fellow cardinals quietly assail and undermine his beloved friend Pope John Paul II. So it was Cardinal Ratzinger who ratcheted up the battle when he became Pope Benedict XVI.
(DICI) - These are the words from the Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: “But you know, it’s the priests, it’s the bishops, it’s the Catholic universities: they are full of heresies!” That’s what the the Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith told us in June 2009!

read full story here
The source of this quote may at first give us pause, but when we consider all the evidence we have witnessed over the last decade, can anyone deny it sounds strikingly familiar to what we've seen? The bishop who gives us this quote may be many things, but one thing his is not is a liar. Therefore, we must take him for his word, as disturbing as that may be for now.

This quote comes in the greater context of intentional disruption and contradiction within the Vatican city walls, as various officers within the Curia have actively been working against this current pope since the beginning of his papacy. It's the pope and the CDF verses practically everyone else, and it's a quiet conflict, played out in secrecy and subtlety.

So it would seem that all of the prophecies from Fatima to Akita are in play already. The Great Chastisement is now upon us, we are still years away from it's completion, and the worst is yet to come.

So it is in times like these, what can we do, other than rally to the pope's side and demand of our local priests and bishops that the Holy Father's will be done! As for the Vatican, what more can we do but pray. May God have mercy on us all!

States Rights Pave Way For American Renewal

The Declaration of Independence
(ABA) - Six states have passed laws banning abortions after the 20th week of gestation in an apparent conflict with Roe v. Wade, but no one has challenged the legislation in court.

The laws—passed in Nebraska, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma and Alabama—are based on the theory that a fetus can feel pain the 20th week after conception, the New York Times reports.

The 20-week limit conflicts with Roe v. Wade, which holds that abortion cannot be banned until the fetus is viable. Generally viability is thought to be at the 24th week, the story says, citing information from the Guttmacher Institute...

read full story here
SO BEGINS THE HOLY AMERICAN REBELLION

We the people of the states, do hereby assert our state sovereignty against the tyranny of our own federal government. For forty years the United States federal government has engaged in a war of extermination against the children of this nation, systematically killing them within their own mothers' wombs.

Today we exercise our state sovereignty against the murderous acts of our federal government.  We expect legal resistance, and we will not be swayed.  We will continue to fight against this tyranny, using every legal means at our disposal, even if it means dismantling the entire federal government through constitutional convention.  We will not stop.  We will fight forever because God is on our side.  When we are gone our children will fight, and their children after them.  This is a holy war.  We did not start it, but we will finish it. 

Our weapons are prayer, the Declaration of Independence and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our forefathers broke their chains of tyranny some 235 years ago.  We will follow their example in braking our chains today.  These are the SOVEREIGN states of America.  The power to govern is only on loan to the federal republic.  If the federal republic will not yield to our state sovereignty then we will dismantle it, and we will do it using the legal tools given to us by our Founding Fathers via a national Constitutional Convention, if that's what it takes. 

The states have now retaliated against the federal tyranny launched against them forty years ago.  The 20-week law is just the beginning.  Soon we will roll it back to 16 weeks, then 12, and so on, until abortion is made illegal in our states.  The ball now rests in the Supreme Court of the United States.  The justices of this court now carry the heaviest burden ever carried by Supreme Court justices.  Their decision on this matter will determine the fate of the federal republic.  If they uphold the states rights to limit abortion, then the current republic will likely be preserved.  If they deny them, then we can look forward to a nationwide movement by the states to eliminate our current federal government entirely in constitutional convention.

May I remind all my readers now that a measure to enact a constitutional convention has already run through the states.  The magic number is 34.  If 34 states approve the measure, another constitutional convention will be held, and the federal government's grip on power will effectively be ended.  The following states have already approved the measure...

Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
Delaware
Colorado
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Wyoming

The magic number to legally make a constitutional convention happen is 34 states. There are 29 listed above that have already passed resolutions calling for one. Another 3 states have also called for one (Alabama, Florida and Louisiana) but they recently rescinded their call based on fears that a convention may do more harm than good. However, those rescissions have not yet been challenged in court, and there is a good chance they may be invalid. Only one state is needed to tip the scales. If so much as one more state, anywhere in the Union, were to pass a resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention, a chain of events would be set into motion that would be virtually unstoppable. The rescissions of Alabama, Florida and Louisiana would immediately be called into court on the grounds that they are invalid. Regardless of the outcome of the cases, the news of this hitting the airwaves would spur at least a few other states to call for a convention too, causing a bandwagon effect, effectively making the previous 3 state's rescissions a moot point. Just one more state is all it will take to set the ball into motion. Just one more state will have the opportunity to make history. Which state will it be?

As I said, the ball squarely rests in the U.S. Supreme Court now.  If the justices rule against the states rights to limit abortion now, it will be the final insult to state sovereignty, signaling a federal government that has completely run amok and no longer serves the people.  That, combined with our nation's economic woes, will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back. 

How To Reclaim The West...


THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: What is needed is a bold invasion of the public square of the message of our Eucharistic Lord. In every city, in every state, in every country, regularly, frequently, and fearlessly.

This event was likely coordinated by no more than a dozen people. Yet as you can see many more dropped to their knees in worship, while dozens upon dozens looked on in amazement. The event was relatively short and unobtrusive. Once it was over, life returned to it's normal routine, but make no mistake about it, people were affected. This is how we do it. One square and one city at a time; regularly, consistently, quickly and randomly, leaving the enemy no opportunity to stage a disruption. I call it "Hit and Run Catholicism," which is nothing short of guerrilla spiritual warfare.

Jumat, 24 Juni 2011

We Need More Priests Like This


THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: If only we had more courageous priests like this who would appear in city council meetings, simply exercising their rights as citizens to speak.

Minggu, 19 Juni 2011

Two Babylons -- an Alternate History

A Full-page Anti-Catholic cartoon in Harper's Weekly, September 30, 1871
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Once in a while I get an email that takes me back to my old Evangelical Fundamentalist days. Regular readers of this blog know about my history. I was born and baptized Lutheran, raised a Baptist, became a nondenominational Evangelical as an adult, with heavy Fundamentalist leanings. My Fundamentalism was due primarily to ignorance of Christian history and an irrational fear of religious ritual. It was at this point I became a raving anti-Catholic loon. My Evangelical pastor saw some potential for ministry in me, so he put me in charge of some Bible study groups in our local Calvary Chapel™ and set me on the path toward ordination as an Evangelical pastor.

It was during my pastoral studies that things started turning around for me. I was the zealous type that would never settle for just textbook information. I always wanted to dig deeper. For example, I knew Jesus was Jewish, so I fully explored the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, even to the point of celebrating the Passover Seder meal and other Jewish feasts. I also wanted to dig down into the earliest of all Christian roots, so as to understand the "mind" of the early Church. I read several history text books, but these always seemed a bit dry, and failed to produce what I was looking for. I did notice however, that all of these history books cited writings from early Christians as sources, dating all the way back to the early Church period. So I decided to read these writings for myself, and wow! did I get an eye opener! Once I was exposed to original source documentation from early Christians, my entire worldview was turned upside-down. These early Christians were a lot more "Catholic" than I would have ever thought. In fact, based on the history I previously learned, they weren't supposed to be Catholic at all. Well, you can guess what happened next. My Fundamental Evangelicalism died out rather quickly. I spent some time in The Episcopal Church for a while, and identified myself as an "Anglo-Catholic." Then as I began to see the writing on the wall of the coming demise of the Anglican Communion, while I simultaneously continued to explore more Church history from original source documents, I came to understand the Catholic Church is the one true Church established by Jesus Christ and built on Peter the "rock." My wife and I were received into the Catholic Church simultaneously on the Easter vigil of 2000. We were both about thirty years old when we received the sacrament of confirmation.

The subject of this article is not really about me. I only cited my religious history to establish my credentials. The subject of this article is actually about "alternate histories," and it's something that I happen to know a thing or two about.

You see, it was Cardinal Henry Newman, and Anglican convert to Catholicism, that said "knowledge of history is the end of Protestantism." He was right. A sound understanding of historical Christianity puts all of Protestantism on it's deathbed, and this most especially applies to Evangelical Fundamentalism. I can attest to that personally. So, one of the ways Protestantism continues to survive and flourish is through a propaganda tool I like to call "alternate histories," and no form of Protestantism does this better than Evangelical Fundamentalism.

This is how it works. Fundamentalists see history as a problem - a big problem - that if their people were exposed to, it would result in the loss of their followers. So how do you deal with such a problem? Simple. You just "change" history. That's right, you change the story, to make it fit your purposes. This is what they do, and they've been doing it for a very long time. They didn't start it you see. Their spiritual forefathers started it centuries ago. The first one to do this was Martin Luther of course, the father of the Protestant Reformation. His "alternate history" was really very simple, and it wasn't really a retelling of "history" at all. Rather it was a labeling of sorts. He simply labeled the institution of the papacy as the "Whore of Babylon" written of in the Book of Revelation. It was a clever little strategy that helped him win a few more converts, and politically portray himself as the lone hero standing up to the "colossal tyrant" of Rome -- a classic "David and Goliath" comparative. What Luther started, others would build on centuries later. The Protestant English crown was adept at twisting current events to villainize the Catholic Church. The history of the Spanish Inquisitions, as reported by the English, is a classic example of this kind of propaganda. Reports of abuse were exaggerated a thousand-fold to produce the desired effect among English Protestants. This propaganda was recorded in history books, for school children to learn for generations, until just recently (in the last 20 years), when the accounts were revisited by academic historians and found to be shockingly inaccurate. Then of course, by the 1700s, English Protestants began to intermingle with Freemasons, an alliance perpetuated to this day among all branches of English Protestantism. This intermingling resulted in a far more organized form of anti-Catholicism that spread to the English colonies in America and played a large role in the early political parties of the United States. Yes, Americans have been subjected to tales of alternate histories from the very beginning of this once great nation. American history is riddled with anti-Catholicism from the early colonial period, all the way up to the presidential election of 1928. However, the apex and pinnacle of anti-Catholic alternate histories is encapsulated in Presbyterian minister Alexander Hislop's book "Two Babylons" (learn more here) written in 1853 through 1858 and published in 1919. It is a masterpiece in propaganda and constitutes the greatest conspiracy theory of all time, citing an alternate history to implicate the Catholic Church as a continuation of Babylonian Paganism disguised as Christianity. Though historians and scholars of all stripes have repudiated the book as diluted fantasy and factually inaccurate, it remains a hot item on Protestant bookstore shelves across North America. The book can be read for free online here, brought to you by your friendly neighborhood anti-Catholic website called "BibleBelievers.Com." Go ahead and visit the links if you dare, but be warned, they're likely to elevate your blood pressure and expose you to some very inaccurate information based on ignorance and bigotry. Herein lies the zenith of Protestant alternate history propaganda.

From this source, "Two Babylons," derives a plethora of modern anti-Catholic propaganda shared by Protestant Fundamentalists and Progressive Liberals alike. Each having their own reason for using it, these opposing groups see the Catholic Church as the common enemy. It's a classic case of the mindset that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend -- for now." It is unclear just how much of a role Freemasonry has in all of this, but suspicions run high, especially in Europe. Hundreds of anti-Catholic books and pamphlets have been published during the 20th century, citing "Two Babylons" as their primary source of information. These texts often build on Hislop's work with their own conspiracies and tales of alternate history. The United States remains the largest producer of such anti-Catholic material which is heavily laced with American nationalism. Sometimes when reading such literature, one would think the United States itself is the Church. Of course, probably the most notorious producer of anti-Catholic alternate history is the comic book retailer "Chick Publications" which again cites "Two Babylons" as it's primary source for information on Catholicism, along with the testimonies of alleged Catholic clergy and religious who claim to have left the Church because of this "valuable information." It should be noted the Vatican has no record of many of these people. When I say "no record," I mean no record of them even being Catholic, let alone a priest or a nun. So make of that what you will.

The alternate history these people rely upon basically goes like this. If you're an Evangelical reading this, it may sound familiar. Here it goes in a nutshell. According to the propaganda, the Church established by Jesus Christ and the apostles went into hiding after the first century and never emerged until the Protestant Reformation 1,400 years later. During the interim period, Christians were first persecuted by the Pagan Roman empire. Then in 312 AD, Emperor Constantine had a brilliant idea, so the propaganda goes. He thought, "if you can't beat em - join em!" So he brought together all the Pagan priests of Rome and told them to start imitating the Christians, mixing Pagan worship with Christian rhetoric, thus creating a new hybrid religion called "Catholicism." (In addition to Protestants, you would be shocked to learn how many Catholics have actually bought into this nonsense.) Thus the secret Pagan religion of Catholicism was born, and of course the pope serving at the head of this new "Babylon" religion, must be none other than the "Antichrist" himself. As you can see this retelling of history is heavily dependent on ascribing certain motivations to dead historical figures who are no longer able to speak for themselves. For example, the heroic act of Emperor Constantine that legalized tolerance of Christianity in the Roman Empire in 312 AD is turned into something negative and villainous. Christians who suffered for their faith in the late third to early fourth centuries are maligned as "traitors" to the gospel. While every faithful Christian who has served the Church for over a millennium thereafter is made out to be an evil servant of the devil. The propaganda goes on to imply that "real Christians" (modern Evangelical Fundamentalists of course) remained in hiding during this time, only to be martyred by the Catholic Church whenever they revealed themselves in public. This of course explains why there is no historical record of them. That is until Martin Luther, and the other fathers of the Protestant Reformation, made Europe safe for "true Christians" to finally emerge from hiding and begin public worship for the first time since the first century AD. Of course, the United States of America would eventually become the "promised land" of all "true Christians" everywhere.

Now fortunately, this alternate history is no longer taught in many Protestant churches. Yes, some Protestant Fundamentalist churches still teach it, but the majority of Protestant churches have dropped it. Even many Baptist, Evangelical and Pentecostal churches have dropped it entirely, recognizing it's poor scholarship and outright lies. Unfortunately, in the absence of the propaganda, many pastors no longer teach on Christian history at all. Thus the result is a rather large portion of the Protestant population in the United States has no knowledge of any Church history between AD 100 - 1517, a collective memory gap of some 1,417 years! This is nothing short of spiritual amnesia! But it is in many ways what keeps Protestantism alive and well.

Now most Protestants simply go through life content with this 1,417 year gap in history. Some however are not, and I think it's safe to say that about 90% of those who actually start reading real history to fill in the gap, end up turning Catholic eventually. I myself am fond of original source documentation, written by the people who were there and lived through it. The following website contains some excerpts from writings of early Christians. They are categorized to specific early Church doctrines. The website is here. However, you can read all of the writings in their full context here. Enjoy!

Impeach Him !!!

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: As of today, the president of the United States is in violation of the War Powers Act and has committed a federal crime. If the Republican Congress really cares about the rule of law, they will impeach him.

Kamis, 16 Juni 2011

China Flips For Russia - New World Order Backfires!!!!

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The New World Oder, created by George H. Bush, Henry Kissinger and company, has just backfired and blown up in the face of the United States and Europe.

China has, in the course of just one week, declared the United States in default of our national debt, and turned to Russia as it's new partner for the 21st century. Where does this leave the United States? Good question. Where DOES this leave the United States? China owns the majority of American debt. Russia doesn't like American involvement in the Middle East. China is now entering into a partnership with Russia. Hmmm. Could Russia coax China to use it's holdings on US debt as leverage to force the United States out of the Middle East? With China and Russia no longer trading oil in US dollars, the United States would be up the proverbial creek if it loses it's influence in the Middle East too.

read the story here

Rabu, 15 Juni 2011

U.S. Anglican Ordinariate Emerges!

This symbol resembles the shield
of The Episcopal Church in the USA,
the traditional symbol for U.S. Anglicans,
except the stars in the blue canton
have been replaced with the papal
seal, symbolizing reunification
with Rome
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The U.S. personal ordinariate for Anglicans is now officially underway. On June 15, 2011 Cardinal Donald Wuerl addressed the USCCB about the widespread interest in the United States for the pope's offer to traditional Anglicans. He announced the ordinariate would be erected in the fall of 2011.

The U.S. Anglican ordinariate will be a welcome addition to the U.S. Catholic Church, and a necessary tool for Pope Benedict XVI's liturgical "reform of the reform." Traditional Anglicanism is modeled after traditional Catholicism, with a particularly Old English ethos called the "Anglican Patrimony." Essentially, Traditional Anglicans have much more faithfully preserved the liturgical traditions of pre-conciliar Roman Catholicism, even though they were outside the communion of the Roman Catholic Church. The Traditional Anglican mass resembles in many ways the traditional Latin mass. The language used is usually Elizabethan English. Imagine, if you will, a traditional Latin mass translated into English by Shakespeare. This would be very similar, though not totally identical, to the Traditional Anglican mass. The priest usually celebrates in the ad orientem posture, communion rails are common, women are usually veiled, and communion is always served on the tongue while kneeling. The emergence of Anglican ordinariate parishes around the United States will not only serve as a bridge for mainline traditional Protestants seeking full-communion with Rome, but they will also offer general Roman Catholics a viable alternative to the typical Novus Ordo mass celebrated in the usual banal manner. The timing of the emerging ordinariate will coincide with the reformed English translation for the ordinary form of the mass in the general Roman Rite. This will create a two prong pincer assault on the post-conciliar Novus Ordo culture. This combined with the pope's instruction on his motu proprio, creating a generous provision of the traditional Latin mass, seals the deal of reform. The Modernists have nowhere left to run. They can either conform to the Holy Father's "reform of the reform" or they can leave the Church for a more liberal schismatic sect.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl
reported on the emerging
ordinariate to the USCCB
General Roman Catholics in the United States will be free to attend Anglican ordinariate parishes, societies and missions. They may even become members of such groups, though they themselves will remain under the episcopal authority of their diocesan bishop. They will not be eligible for ordinariate membership unless they have immediate family who are already within the ordinariate. That being said, Roman Catholics who marry Anglican Catholics, or who baptize their children in an ordinariate parish, will then have access to membership in the ordinariate in addition to parish membership. Let me reiterate, a general Roman Catholic DOES NOT need to be a member of the ordinariate to be a member of an ordinariate parish. Parish membership and ordinariate membership are separate. That being said, a young Roman Catholic married couple could easily join an ordinariate parish as full members, even though they would still be under the episcopal authority of their Roman diocesan bishop. Then the couple could baptize their newborn children in that same ordinariate parish, if they so desire, and that would make their children automatically ordinariate members as well as parish members. Then the parental couple could themselves apply for ordinairate membership, if they so desire, because their children are already members of the ordinariate by baptism. The reason why I am spelling out this process here is so traditionally-minded Roman Catholics have a means to access both pastoral shelter in an ordinariate parish, and if absolutely necessary, full episcopal shelter in the ordinariate itself. This may be necessary in such diocese where the Roman bishop is openly hostile to traditionally-minded Catholics.

Traditional Catholics of the Extraordinary Form (traditional Latin mass) will find kindred spirits in the emerging Anglican ordinariate. Anglican Catholics, as they will be called, have a particular affection for pre-conciliar traditions and customs. They will become the natural allies to traditional Roman Catholics, even though they will retain many of their own unique characteristics of the English patrimony. We can expect to see a good amount of crossover of Traditional Catholics attending Anglican Catholic masses, and vice versa, with Anglican Catholics attending Traditional Catholic masses. This is inevitable. So it behooves both Traditional Catholics and Anglican Catholics to reach out and make contact with each other, build friendships and work together toward common goals. (Perhaps a joint-community picnic might be a good place to start? Wherein Traditional Catholics can "welcome" their new Anglican Catholic brethren.)

The Anglican Use Pastoral Provision was created by Pope John Paul II thirty years ago, and is in many ways a precursor to the new ordinariate template. Through the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision, priests from The Episcopal Church USA were able to convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and then receive holy orders even if they were already married. This special provision was considered an "Anglican Use of the Roman Rite." The ordinariate template is based on this. It is not a separate rite within the Church but rather a subdivision of the Roman Rite. Anglican Catholics will be under the same canon law and will use the same catechism as Roman Catholics. The canon of the mass will be identical to the general Roman Rite, but the rest of the liturgy will be based on the Anglican patrimony, which as I said above, bears striking resemblance to the pre-conciliar Roman liturgy. Again, I should point out here; it is not identical to the traditional Latin mass. There are differences. These differences have, however, a much greater continuity with the pre-conciliar Roman liturgy. In comparison to the Novus Ordo "ordinary form" mass, there really is no comparison. The Traditional Anglican mass is in continuity with the pre-conciliar liturgy, while the Novus Ordo mass is not, at least not as it's typically celebrated. The new reformed English translation will "help" the Novus Ordo, but it will not fix it. The Novus Ordo needs a make over, and indeed something like that will eventually happen, but probably not for a long time.

In the mean time, traditionally-minded Catholics can now find shelter in two places. The first of course is the traditional Latin mass communities spawned by Ecclesia Dei and Summorum Pontificum. Assuming a traditional Latin mass community exists in the area, and assuming this community is not being suppressed by the local diocesan bishop, than traditionally-minded Catholics will be able to find refuge there. However, in such cases where a traditional Latin mass community is not formed, or is suppressed by an unfriendly bishop, than traditional-minded Catholics may still possibly find refuge in an Anglican ordinariate parish.

Unlike the traditional Latin mass communities, the Anglican ordinariate communities will not need to rely on the friendliness of the local diocesan bishop. Anglican ordinariate missions and parishes can be erected with or without a local diocesan bishop's approval. While the U.S. Ordinary for Anglican Catholics will of course seek cooperation and feedback from the local bishop, permission for the creation of a group is not required. Between the Latin mass Catholics citing canon law that requires a bishop to provide a traditional Latin mass, and Anglican Catholics creating new traditional-style parishes nearby, unfriendly Catholic bishops are going to find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

Elevation during the
Anglican Use mass
Of course, there is the other side of the coin. Diocesan bishops who are friendly to historical tradition will have much to benefit from all of this. I have it on good authority that the U.S. Anglican ordinariate will have no shortage of priests for the immediate short term. In fact, there will likely be a surplus -- a significant surplus. Furthermore, the U.S. Anglican ordinariate will have twice as many resources to draw upon for more vocations, both among married and unmarried men. Rome has made it clear that it intends to indefinitely maintain the Anglican tradition of allowing married men into the priesthood, in spite of what you may have recently heard at the bishop's conference in Seattle today. So while traditionalism will attract more ordinariate men to the priesthood anyway, the pool to draw upon will be exponentially greater because of the availability of married men. While Rome will not allow Roman Catholics to transfer over to the ordinariate for the sake of ordination, Rome has made it clear that so long as married men have a legitimate connection to the Anglican patrimony, either through membership in the ordinariate or a previous Anglican sect, the priesthood will remain open to them on a case-by-case basis. So the long and short of it is this. The ordinariate is going to have PLENTY of priests to go around, both for the short term and the long term. Initially there will be more priests than assignments, and for diocesan bishops friendly to tradition, those priests will be available for work. There is nothing preventing a diocesan bishop from hiring an ordinariate priest for regular diocesan work -- that is -- so long as he doesn't mind the Novus Ordo mass celebrated in the most traditional way possible. Assuming that bishop doesn't mind these priests celebrating mass ad orientem, and distributing communion on the tongue, as such ordinariate priests would be inclined to do, than it is likely there will be plenty of diocesan work to go around.

So begins the Pope Benedict's "reform of the reform" in the United States.


Minggu, 12 Juni 2011

Anglicanism Implodes While Anglican Catholicism Rises

Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams
No, I don't know what he's doing. 
(Telegraph) - Here’s the reality. The Anglican Communion has disintegrated on Rowan Williams’s watch, partly thanks to his habit of saying one thing to fundamentalist Africans and quite another to liberal Americans. His own bench of bishops is hopelessly divided on key moral issues, and Rowan’s hand-wringing isn’t uniting them.

Out of four bishops commissioned to look after traditionalist congregations, three have left the C of E to become Catholic monsignors. Over fifty Anglican ministers are being ordained RC priests this month.
You may or may not sympathise with their decision. But one thing’s for sure. When Pope Benedict is confronted by a major crisis in his Church, he doesn’t take time off to guest edit a secular magazine in the hope of impressing his mates...

read full story first
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Yes, Anglicanism is imploding around the world, not just in England, but the Anglican Communion is in good company. Lutheranism is on it's last leg too, as well as Methodism, Presbyterianism, etc. In fact, the only two Christian denominations that are growing right now are the Catholic Church and Evangelical/Pentecostal communities. Everything else is in decline. So Anglicans shouldn't feel too bad about that. It's nothing specific to their brand of Christianity. That being said however, Anglicanism does present an interesting microcosm of what is happening in the entire Protestant world.

Before I go on, let me say what this is NOT about. This is not about English Christianity or English Christians in general. It certainly has nothing to do with English heritage. So this is not an attack on Anglicanism in particular. What this is about is Protestantism in general, and specifically, it is about the very premise of what Protestantism is built on. It's taken about five-hundred years, but in that time we have witness the complete and total erosion of the Christian faith.

The problem goes right back to the Protestant Reformation itself (AD 1517 - 1648). It really begins with Martin Luther actually, and believe it or not, his Ninety-Five Thesis has little to do with it. It actually begins in 1520 with a declaration made by Martin Luther of Sola Scriptura or "Scripture Alone" which teaches that the Bible is the ONLY inspired word of God, that it is the ONLY source of Christian doctrine, and that the Bible requires no interpretation outside of itself, meaning that anyone may interpret it authoritatively. This is in direct contradiction to the historic teaching of Christianity that the Bible can only be authentically interpreted in the context of Apostolic Tradition and by the successors of the Apostles themselves. This idea of Sola Scriptura was later adopted by the Church of England in the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1646...
VII. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.
So began a "hermeneutic of rupture" with historic Christianity in the Protestant world that began with Martin Luther, spread across all of Europe, and found it's way into the Church of England. Now the Church of England, and the broader Anglican Communion, has undergone many transformations over the centuries, and I don't propose to suggest the Westminster Confession captures the heart and soul of Anglicanism today. I simply mean to say this was one of the seeds that started it all.  By adopting Sola Scriptura, the Anglicans set themselves up for a train wreck in slow motion that would take hundreds of years to see it's final devastation.   If scripture, tradition and reason are all anyone needs, than by one man's reason, Scripture can be reinterpreted anyway one wants based on the tradition one chooses.  So began the formula of Anglicanism's demise.  In the Oxford Movement the Anglicans saw a brief reprieve of hope, in which for a moment, it looked as if things might turn around, but this hope was soon lost in the twentieth century with the Anglican adoption of artificial contraception, followed by liberal attitudes toward abortion, feminism and homosexuality.  The only thing the Oxford Movement provided was a way out for those Anglicans who wanted it -- a way to step off the train wreck before the final crunch -- a way that is seeing it's completion in Pope Benedict's personal ordinariate for Anglicans.

With the rise of the Anglican ordinariate in the UK, English Christians are now faced with a crystal clear choice.  Pope Benedict has effectively adopted the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (or 98% of it anyway) as an authentic Catholic liturgy.  He has created a means for Anglo-Catholics to govern themselves within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.  He has given English Christians everything that could possibly be given, and now the ball is squarely in their court.  Aesthetically, the ordinariates are in every way English.  They fully embrace the Anglican Patrimony of the last five-hundred years and beyond. The clergy of these ordinariates are autonomous, in the sense that they cannot be absorbed by the larger Roman Rite.  It is everything the Oxford Fathers could have imagined and then some.  So now, with that being said, what will English Christians choose?  That is a matter for history to decide.  The choice is no longer between English and Roman.  Rome has retreated, shall we say, at least liturgically, but it has done so with dignity, and the English ethos now permanently rules through the ordinariate.  Of course the general Roman Rite will always be available for those who want it, but no more will English Christians have to choose between Rome and their Anglican heritage.  Now, if they want it, they can have both.

The choice is no longer between Rome and Canterbury, but it is now simply a choice between Catholicism and Protestantism.  All the Church of England, and the broader Anglican Communion, has to offer now is a difference in doctrine.  Anglicans can no longer boast of a unique Christian culture, heritage and ethos.  All of this now exists in the ordinariates.  So the real choice is simply between doctrine and nothing more.  Is Scripture subject to one's own private interpretations, or is it part of a broader Christian Tradition that should be interpreted by the successors to the apostles?  Is Christ only spiritually present in the Eucharist, or is he really truly there in a physical sense?  Does moral relativism rule Christianity, or is there really such a thing as absolute right and wrong?  These are the questions that face English Christians now.  This is the choice they must now make.  It is no longer an issue of "being English."  That can be done within the ordinariates.  The question is now one of being Christian.  What would the apostles do?

As for the Church of England, and the broader Anglican Communion, I think we all know what it's future holds.  The Communion is now in the process of being shattered.  The Africans and Asians will go the way of the Evangelicals, breaking communion with Canterbury and England just as they already have with The Episcopal Church in the United States.  These Anglo-Evangelicals will follow the rest of the world's Evangelicals into their own discovery of the inadequacies of Sola Scriptura.  As for what remains of Anglo-Catholicism in England, North America, Australia and New Zealand, it will continue to follow the path of Liberal Modernism to it's ultimate conclusion -- which is total relativism and final apostasy -- creating an anti-church that in every way looks and sounds Catholic but in reality teaches an entirely different gospel.  Like all liberal churches, it will eventually shrink to practically nothing, and then rely on inter-communion with other liberal churches to shore up it's lost numbers.  The irony of the whole thing is this.  Liberal Anglicans make the accusation that Rome will eventually absorb the ordinariates into the Roman Rite, leaving nothing of the Anglican patrimony behind, even though Rome has already made such action impossible though canon law.  While at the same time, the Canterbury communion has itself consigned itself to it's own absorption of relativist syncretism through denominational inter-communion. 

Kamis, 09 Juni 2011

ACC Calls for Reforms ALREADY Realized !!!

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The American Catholic Council (ACC), meeting in Detroit, will this weekend call for radical reforms to the U.S. Catholic Church that would in effect remake the U.S. Catholic Church into a mirror image of The Episcopal Church U.S.A.

Yes, that's right! Virtually everything the ACC is calling for this weekend has already been realized in The Episcopal Church. From this we can safely conclude that participants in the ACC, and it's sympathizers, are actually Episcopalian wannabees. To read the demands of the ACC click here. It is thoroughly Episcopalian. Highlights include the following...
  1. Transforming the governance of the Church into a democracy whereby laymen can vote for their clerical leaders and on various doctrinal and moral issues.
  2. The ordination of women to the priesthood.
  3. The ordination of known homosexuals to the priesthood.
  4. The elimination of clerical celibacy.
  5. The greater emphasis on a "social gospel" and "liberation theology."
Of course the question of 'The Catholic Knight" is simply this. If the members of the ACC want an Episcopalian form of governance so badly, why don't they just become Episcopalians? It certainly would save them a whole lot of trouble. Lord knows these policies have worked so well for The Episcopal Church they can use all the new members they can get.

To learn more about The Episcopal Church click here.

Rabu, 08 Juni 2011

Archbishop Condemns Schismatic "American Catholic Council"


Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The U.S. Catholic Church is in immediate peril! There is a significant threat of schism looming in Detroit. For some time now 'The Catholic Knight' blog has warned of a significant threat to Church unity in the United States. Those warnings can be read here, here, and here. Now the Archbishop of Detroit has also seen the threat and acted accordingly.

The threat comes from Progressive Modernists within the U.S. Catholic Church. These are "Catholics" who view the Second Vatican Council as some kind of watershed event, a rupture with historic Catholicism, and a license to go forward with various "reforms" and innovations all in the name of the "Spirit of Vatican II." These people, both clergy and laity, have ruled over various parishes and dioceses in the United States like dictators. They've suppressed those who clamored for a return to tradition and promoted those who abused the liturgy and twisted Church doctrine. Their height of power was in the decades immediately following the Second Vatican Council (1970s - 1990s). Now that their influence is beginning to wane under the pontificate of Benedict XVI, these liberal dissenters of the historic Church have seen the writing on the wall. They know their days are numbered, and so in a desperate attempt to preserve what they have worked so long for, and re-energize a new generation with their heretical zeal, these people are now attempting to create a rival council to the pope and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It's called the American Catholic Council (or ACC), and it's first meeting is scheduled for June 10-12 of 2011 at the Detroit Convention Center and Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center.

In response, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron has issued the following statement condemning the American Catholic Council. Here are the highlights...
(Archdiocese of Detroit) - ...Although their stated purpose is to "respond to the Spirit of Vatican II by summoning the Baptized together to demonstrate our re-commitment and the documents issued by the American Catholic Council offer some valid aspirations for the Church, in fact, the goals proposed are largely in opposition to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the Holy Spirit, which inspired the Council.

The archdiocese wishes to commend and embrace all true efforts at Church renewal - the American Church Council's agenda is not such an effort. Some of the advertised speakers and groups organizing the effort espouse positions which are clearly contrary to Catholic faith, leading to alienation and estrangement from the Church. The Archdiocese of Detroit cautions any Catholic against participating in the American Catholic Council local listening sessions and national gathering in June 2011. Catholic parishes, schools, and institutions are not to host any meetings, gatherings, or "listening sessions" associated with the planning of the June 2011 American Catholic Council. Priests, deacons, and ecclesial lay ministers will want to avoid lending support to such a misguided effort. On behalf of the archdiocese, Archbishop Vigneron has asked the organizers to cancel their plans for this national gathering that distorts the true Spirit of Vatican II. He asks us all to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we may embrace authentic development of faith and morals, and shun efforts which threaten unity.

read full statement here
The Catholic Knight wishes to publicly thank the good archbishop for this strong stand against the American Catholic Council. Indeed, he had to respond this way, as the event is being hosted in his own backyard.  Anything less than what was mentioned above might have been viewed as cowardly acceptance of the "council's" mission.  The good archbishop rose to the occasion and courageously defended his diocese from this threat.  What is needed now is a nationwide response, from every Catholic bishop in the United States, to put down this schism before it has time to spread. 

These people are the final result of a three-decade long experiment in leniency and innovation.  The so-called "Spirit of Vatican II," which takes upon itself initiatives not called for by the Second Vatican Council,  has reached it's ultimate conclusion - SCHISM!  This schism however, does not come without a list of heresies to accompany it.  It is a list that I dare say nearly half of all baptized Catholics in the United States, who's consciences having been dulled by three decades of poor catechesis and liturgical innovation, will most certainly find appealing.  It is a list that I fear will soon hit mainstream, and reverberate throughout this nation, pealing one parish after another away from the magisterium of the Church.

What these people in the American Catholic Council want has already been invented.  The structures they advocate already exist.  It's called The Episcopal Church.  Likewise, once the ACC gets off the ground, it will simply be reinventing the wheel, and the results of this wheel will be identical to those found in The Episcopal Church (or TEC), namely female clergy, gay clergy, gay marriages, acceptance of abortion and birth control, as well as the embrace of Socialism in the form of "Liberation Theology."  Some form of unification between the ACC and the TEC will likewise be inevitable, especially after those adhering to the ACC have been excommunicated from the U.S. Catholic Church.

Sadly, there is virtually a 0% chance that the ACC meeting in June will be canceled.  Though the good archbishop's stand against the organization was strong, there was not much he could do outside of banning his own people from being a part of it, and prohibiting diocesan property from being used for it.  However, the ACC never intended to use diocesan property, and the good archbishop cannot restrict people outside his archdiocese from attending.  That's another reason why we need a nationwide condemnation from all the U.S. Catholic Bishops before it's too late.  Mark my words, these people will meet, and they will promote heresy.  Likewise they will grow to lead others away from the magisterium of the Church.  The only variable that exists is "how big" will their movement become.  Strong nationwide action against it now will pull a lot of wind out of their sails.  Failure to act now will only result in larger repercussions later.  For the sake of unity and orthodoxy within the U.S. Catholic Church, let us pray our bishops act quickly.

Selasa, 07 Juni 2011

The Chapel Veil Campaign


THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Starting in Advent 2011, the U.S. Catholic Church is to begin its long awaited, and much anticipated, liturgical reforms of the English mass. The new translation, demanded by the Vatican, will reflect a much more accurate rendering of the official Latin version of the Novus Ordo liturgy issued by Rome nearly 40 years ago. (You can download a PDF of the new English mass HERE.) This marks a major shift in the American Church toward a more traditional and orthodox approach to the liturgy. You can read more about the coming changes here.

Some women have expressed to 'The Catholic Knight' a desire to return to the time honored custom of wearing the chapel veil during mass, and see the coming liturgical changes as a perfect opportunity to do this. Returning to this tradition will serve to further reinforce the message that the Catholic Church is the same today as it was yesterday, and the time honored customs of the Church have not died out, but on the contrary, live and breath through a new generation of Catholic women.

Sacred Scripture presents several reasons for wearing the chapel veil. St. Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians (11:1-16) that Christian women must cover their heads because it is a Sacred Tradition commanded by our Lord Himself and entrusted to Paul: "The things I am writing to you are the Lord's commandments" (1 Cor. 14:37). "That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels" wrote St. Paul (1 Cor. 11:10). The invisible hierarchy should be respected because the angels are present at all Christian assemblies during worship, offering the Holy Sacrifice with us according to the honor due to God. St. John the Apostle wrote: "And another angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense that he might offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne." (Rev. 8:3, see also Matt. 18:10). They are offended by a lack of reverence at mass. The women of Corinth, beset by modern sensibilities, started coming to church without their heads covered. When St. Paul heard of their neglect, he wrote and urged them to keep the veil. According to St. Jerome's commentary Bible, he finally settled the matter by saying the head covering was a custom of the primitive communities of Judea, "the Churches of God" (1 Thess. 2-14, 2 Thess. 1-4) which had received this Tradition from early times (2 Thess., 2:15, 3:6). The “veil” represented modesty in many religions and cultures, especially in Judaism which was the cradle of the early Christian Church. A veil or head covering, is both a symbol and a mystical sacrifice that invites the woman wearing it to ascend the ladder of sanctity. When a woman covers her head in the Catholic Church it symbolizes her dignity and humility before God. It should not surprise us why so many modern women have so easily abandoned the tradition of the chapel veil (head covering) when the greatest meaning of the veil is modesty. It is purely an anti-Catholic culture that frowns on modesty. Do not be deceived, it was Secular feminism (a militantly anti-Catholic movement), that shunned Catholic women for wearing the chapel veil, telling them that a male dominated Church seeks to repress them. Such lunacy was nothing more than a lie straight from hell. If it were true, women would have been instructed to veil in the presence of men, but that is not the case at all. Both Sacred Scripture and previous canon law instructed women to veil in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament (not men), and particularly during the public prayer of the holy mass. The veil is a sign of modesty before our Eucharistic Lord. It is NOT a sign of male dominance. You can learn more about the custom of the chapel veil and what it means here.

'The Chapel Veil Campaign' is accompanied by a survey poll which can be viewed at the top of this blog. 'The Catholic Knight' requests that all you Catholic ladies out there review this material and prayerfully consider it. Then cast your vote in the accompanying poll to express your support for The Chapel Veil Campaign. Your vote of support will help other Catholic women muster the courage to do the same. The idea is to encourage young Catholic women all over the English-speaking world to put away the rebellion of the 1970s "hippy" generation, and start wearing the chapel veil again.

In the United States, the new English translation of the liturgy is currently scheduled to go into effect in Advent of 2011. That's because the US Catholic bishops no longer have permission from the Vatican to celebrate the "defective" English translation of the Novus Ordo mass we've been using since the 1970s. Since permission to celebrate it has been revoked, the US Catholic bishops will be unable to delay the transition anymore.

The return of the chapel veil, along with the liturgical renewal in the English translation of the mass, will send a clear and definite signal to the world that English-speaking Catholics have not lost the time-honored traditions of our sacred Catholic faith.

Please pass this message on by sending a Chapel Veil Campaign link to friends and family...
http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2007/12/chapel-veil-campaign.html


'The Catholic Knight' welcomes your comments...

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Our Lady of America - The Time Has Come


THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Regular readers of this blog know 'The Catholic Knight' is an American patriot, but at the same time I am (like so many others) frustrated with the things going on in our government, and the nation in general. In previous articles I have been highly critical of our nation's government and the emerging culture of death across the United States. Were I not a patriot, these things wouldn't bother me so much.

Statue of Our Lady of America
Because of our collective national sins (greed, sexual immorality, divorce, abortion, euthanasia and homosexuality), the United States of America is about to endure it's greatest trial since the Civil War (1861-1865). This trial will be economic in nature, but will likely have both political and social fallout. As an American, I cannot remain silent at this time, nor is criticism of my nation's problems enough to satisfy the needs of my country. I must point to a solution, and now more than ever, the time has come for Our Lady of America.

I am calling upon all Catholic Americans first, but secondly I am calling upon our Protestant friends of good will. Our time of division is quickly coming to an end. Our nation is falling, and the divisions between us have only aided it's destruction. In ancient times, according to the Old Testament, Jewish kings always placed their mothers at their sides as their queens. They may have had one wife or more, but none of these were placed beside them as queen. That honor was always reserved for the Jewish king's mother. Jesus Christ is Jewish, and the New Testament tells us he is not only the King of the Jews but also the King of kings. Therefore, if you believe in the Bible, regardless if you are Catholic or Protestant, you have to acknowledge one thing about Mary. According to Jewish tradition, she is the Queen alongside King Jesus, and that makes her not only Queen of the Jewish people, but Queen of every nation in the world. Jesus is the King of kings, and so that makes her the Queen of kings. If Jesus Christ is the King of America than Mary is the Queen of America. To deny Mary's queenship is to either deny the kingship of Jesus Christ or else deny his Jewish heritage. I assert again, citing Biblical precedence, Mary is the Queen of the United States of America, and of the whole world, and I defy anyone to prove me wrong using the Bible.

Sister Mildred Mary Neuzil
This one thing Catholic and Protestant Americans should be able to agree on, if indeed pride does not get in our way, and after all is said and done, it is both personal and national pride that has brought our nation to the economic brink. In the midsts of the political and social upheaval that shall soon follow the complete and total economic collapse, this one thing we must remember. Jesus is our King and Mary is our Queen. This is the Royal Family of the United States of America. Our government is to be subservient to "We The People" and "We The People" are to be subservient to our King and Queen.

The time has come for Our Lady of America to take center stage in the drama of our national history. In 1956 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in a vision to Sister Mildred Mary Neuzil in Rome City, Indiana. She appeared as Our Lady of Lourdes, drawing Sister Mildred's attention to that 19th century apparition in France wherein Our Lady revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception. (The United States was dedicated to the patronage of the Immaculate Conception in 1847, a full eight years before that doctrine was defined as infallible Catholic dogma by Pope Pius IX). In Sister Mildred's vision Our Lady said...
"I am pleased, my child, with the love and honor my children in America give to me, especially through my glorious and unique privilege of the Immaculate Conception. I promise to reward their love by working through the power of my Son's Heart and my Immaculate Heart miracles of grace among them. I do not promise miracles of the body, but of the soul. For it is mainly through these miracles of grace that the Holy Trinity is glorified among men and nations. Let America continue and grow in its love for me, and I in return, in union with the Heart of my Son, promise to work wonders in her. My child, I desire that this be known."
Of course with any Marian apparition there is almost always a message. What does Our Lady want of us? Why did she come? What is the message she's carrying to us from God? For the people of the United States, for all Catholic Americans, and for all Christian Americans in general, her message is one that cannot be argued, as it is in perfect alignment with the gospels. Our Lady calls us to live lives of purity and trust. Sister Mildred related the message given to her for our benefit as follows....
"I am Our Lady of America. I desire that my children honor me, especially by the purity of their lives."

“My child, I entrust you with this message that you must make known to my children in America. I wish it to be the country dedicated to my purity. The wonders I will work will be the wonders of the Soul. They must have faith and believe firmly in my love for them. I desire that they be the children of my Pure Heart. I desire, through my children of America, to further the cause of faith and purity among peoples and nations. Let them come to me with confidence and simplicity, and I, their Mother, will teach them to become pure like to my Heart that their own hearts may be more pleasing to the Heart of my Son.
"
In this visitation the Blessed Virgin Mary asked for no shrines to be built in her honor as Our Lady of America, but instead that a statue of her image be placed in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC, where she may be venerated as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin. As she told Sister Mildred: "I desire to make the whole of America my shrine by making every heart accessible to the love of my Son." She continued....
"Behold, O my children, the tears of your Mother! Shall I weep in vain? Assuage the sorrow of my Heart over the ingratitude of sinful men by the love and chasteness of your lives. Will you do this for me, beloved children, or will you allow your Mother to weep in vain? I come to you, O children of America, as a last resort. I plead with you to listen to my voice. Cleanse your souls in the Precious Blood of My Son. Live in His Heart, and take me in that I may teach you to live in great purity of heart which is so pleasing to God. Be my army of chaste soldiers, ready to fight to the death to preserve the purity of your souls. I am the Immaculate One, Patroness of your land. Be my faithful children as I have been your faithful Mother."
Sister Mildred's Drawing
of Our Lady of America
Of course much more was said to the visionary Sister Mildred, not only by Our Lady, but by St. Joseph, St. Michael and Our Lord himself. Now we have heard of similar types of visions coming to other approved seers in the Church, such as Sister Faustina Kowalska, now a canonized saint and promoter of the popular devotion to the Divine Mercy. Likewise, the vision of Sister Mildred Mary Neuzil has received very high recognition and local approval in the Catholic Church. The devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of "Our Lady of America" enjoys complete canonical approval through former Archbishop of Cincinnati Ohio, the late Paul Francis Leibold. This approval of the late Archbishop Leibold was confirmed by Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, while he was the Archbishop of St. Louis Missouri. The text of his review can be read here. Sadly, the message of the vision has come under attack in recent years, and controversy has erupted among different parties promoting the devotion, but in spite of that, Cardinal Burke reminds us it is a very beautiful devotion and especially fitting for our time.  We must remember that such controversies are often spawned by devils in a vain attempt to frustrate the work of our Lord and Lady.  Therefore, we should not let such petty controversies inhibit our devotion to the message of Our Lady given to Sister Mildred Mary Neuzil.

The following interview with Cardinal Burke, from "Inside the Vatican," will help shed some light on the matter....
Cardinal Raymond Burke
Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura

"I think it is a very beautiful devotion and
especially fitting for our time."
Question: Some devotees of Our Lady of America, are rather critical of the letter you wrote when you were Archbishop of St. Louis, claiming that the devotion had now been approved. They say that because Sister Mary Ephrem Neuzil (the seer who initiated and encouraged this devotion until her death in the year 2000) came from Ohio, it was not within your authority to write the letter?

Burke: I was simply asked to give a canonical opinion as to whether the devotion had ever been properly recognized. It was perfectly proper to ask me to write the letter because I have a certain knowledge of canon law and was provided all of the necessary documentation to reach a conclusion about the question of the approval of the devotion. After studying the documentation, I was able to write the letter. The letter was sent to my brother Bishops in the United States; it was not written to a wide audience. Before sending the letter, I sent a draft of it to the Archbishop of Cincinnati and the Bishop of Toledo, in whose jurisdiction Sister Mary Ephrem lived a good part of her religious life.

So what the letter simply says is that, yes, Archbishop Paul Leibold [a previous archbishop of Cincinnati] knew of this devotion from its beginning, when he was a priest, and eventually approved it.

I am sad there are these divisions in regard to the devotion, because I think it is a very beautiful devotion and especially fitting for our time. Our Lady’s message on the living of the Holy Trinity within us, and its manifestation in the purity of the young is so much needed in our culture, today.

I was not in a position to approve anything. You can criticize me for many things, but what I did in writing the letter was correct.

Question: Well because of the position you have now in Rome, can you expedite Mary’s request to have the statue of Our Lady of America enshrined at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC?

Burke: No, there is nothing I can do here. That decision entirely rests with the competent bishops in the United States.

source
The apparition came to Sister Mildred at a time when America still exhibited social inhibitions against sexual impurity. Little did Sister Mildred know that in just ten years time, the United States of America would be completely transformed by the "sexual revolution" into a nation that glorifies and celebrates impurity and sexual license.

Statue of
Our Lady of America
Much of what we know today as the "sexual revolution" was spawned by communist infiltrators into the Western world. The writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels demonstrate this, as it was Engels in particular who theorized that sexual license, the "liberation" of women from marriage, and the destruction of the traditional family, would help to usher in the socialist utopia of the communist state. Certainly it is reasonable to theorize that Soviet moles into Western colleges and the entertainment industry likely played a role in bringing about the "sexual revolution" in the Western world. The United States was in no way immune from this, but quite to the contrary, we succumbed to it easily. Just as Engels theorized, with rampant impurity came calls for greater socialist entitlement programs, big government, and massive federal spending. All of this was the precursor to our current economic woes.

The message of Our Lady of America is just as relevant today as it was in 1956, if not a thousand times more so. The source of America's greatest sins is our sexual impurity. It leads to everything from fornication, to adultery, to divorce, to artificial contraception, to abortion, to homosexuality, to child molestation, to socialism, to massive government debt and economic insecurity. Everything Our Lady of America said was true, and now we are about to pay the worst price our nation has paid in a hundred and fifty years.

However, all is not lost. As frustrated as I am with our current government, and as much as I believe every state retains to right to secede and become it's own country, I am absolutely convicted that the United States of America MUST be saved and preserved in it's current borders! Catholic Americans should learn and adhere to the message of Our Lady of America, and each of us must challenge our bishops to bring the message of this devotion to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Washington DC, fulfilling Our Lady's request to Sister Mildred. With this our nation will see the BEGINNING of healing.

Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Washington DC, USA
For our Protestant brethren who may be reading this I only wish to say the following. I know that you have difficulty understanding Catholic devotion to Mary, and as a former Protestant myself I do not fault you for this. While I would like to encourage you to try to research and understand the nature of this devotion, I will not ask you to accept it at this time. Rather, I will ask you to consider the message of this devotion for sexual purity and total dedication to Jesus Christ. This is what Our Lady requested of us in the vision to Sister Mildred. That request for sexual purity in Jesus Christ is something that I know you cannot argue with. So in this one thing we can be unified. This is one thing you can support in our devotion to Mary, though you may disagree with the object of our devotion herself. Our nation is dying, along with our current way of life, and we all know the reason why. Let us unite together in Christ for it's renewal and rebirth by trusting Jesus Christ and living lives of sexual purity.

To my Catholic brethren, the time for waiting is over. The message of Our Lady of America MUST be heard, and it MUST be heeded. You can learn more about this vision here: OurLadyOfAmerica.com