The most dangerous superstitions of any time and place are those that elites, so called, eagerly embrace.
Burn of the Day
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
No mention of the devil, the deceiver?
Nor of God who alone is supernatural, and can neither deceive nor be deceived?
A vile and stupid statement. They pretent to not know that every publicized supernatural event was heavily investigated by the Church.
I think at this point we know what we have in Pope Leo. A fine and holy man, who will not rock the boat, will follow the company line established by Pope Francis, only making a couple of adjustments along the way. He apparently wants no drama or controversy, but to ease through his pontificate with minimum of fuss. Looks like maintenance mode to me and he is not going to realistically address a lot of the issues in the Church. Who knows, maybe that’s what the Church needs at this time. I don’t see him reaching over to the conservative/TLM side of the Church too often, he’s committed to the European/South American vision of what the Church is about.
I read somewhere last week, and I should have noted the source, that Pope Leo isn’t going to reverse TC. Cardinal Burke and the President of Poland both urged him to do so but of course no action has been taken.
Here in Pittsburgh we are fortunate to have the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The Institute continues to grow and they are being invited to more dioceses as time goes on. Our former parochial vicar s now the pastor of the ICKSP in the Diocese of St. Petersburg and they are looking to construct a new church that will be all their own.
This is no comfort to those who have lost their parishes in the dioceses/archdiocese of Washington, Arlington, Charlotte, Detroit, Chicago and elsewhere.
There have been a few times in my life where I was too scared to stand up and do the right thing. It benefits nobody that the current Pontiff is apparently too timid to throw out the Bergoglio inflicted evils upon the Church. Ruining large, growing and faithful Catholic communities attached to the Mass of the Ages is no act of heroism, it was an act of hatred and letting it continue is no better than instituting it in the first place.
“The extraordinary phenomena that can characterize a mystical experience are not indispensable conditions for recognizing the sanctity of a believer: if present, they strengthen the virtues not as individual privileges, but as ordered to the edification of the entire Church, the mystical body of Christ. What matters most and what must be emphasized most in the examination of candidates for sainthood is their full and constant conformity to God’s will, revealed in the Scriptures and in the living Apostolic Tradition….
“With constant commitment, the Magisterium, theology, and spiritual authors have also provided criteria for distinguishing authentic spiritual phenomena, which can occur in an atmosphere of prayer and a sincere search for God, from manifestations that may be deceptive. To avoid falling into superstitious illusion, such events must be evaluated prudently, through humble discernment in accordance with the Church’s teaching.
“Almost summarizing the practice, Saint Teresa of Avila states: ‘It is clear that the highest perfection does not lie in interior sweetness, in great raptures, in visions and in the spirit of prophecy, but in the perfect conformity of our will with that of God, so that we will, and firmly, what we know to be of His will, accepting with the same joy both the sweet and the bitter, as He wills’. These words correspond to the experience of Saint John of the Cross, according to whom the exercise of virtues is the seed of passionate availability for God, so that His will and ours become ‘one will in a ready and free consent’, until the transformation of the lover into the Beloved.”
How vile! How stupid! How ignorant of God!
I’d like to see him apply that reasoning to the Medjugorje scam. Thanks to Francis’ failure to enforce the local bishops’ multiple negative evaluations, the grifters are touring the world, charging admission to their “witness” at parish churches. One of those is scheduled soon near Dallas, and was actually publicized in our parish Bulletin this week. You, too, can share the “miracle” for $40 a head.
Very true. According to Hilaire Belloc, the superstitions of the elite brought us Arianism. (“The Great Heresies”)
Frank, I don’t need to pay $40 to witness a purported miracle. I’ve seen some real ones of my own. Not apparitions, allocutions, etc., but miracles nonetheless. (Doesn’t mean I disbelieve in most established, accepted miracles, btw.)
“I think at this point we know what we have in Pope Leo. A fine and holy man, who will not rock the boat, will follow the company line established by Pope Francis, only making a couple of adjustments along the way. “
the company line???? established by Francis???? not rock the boat???
rather nice NGO you have there…
C. S. Lewis Screwtape Letter 12- “You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the enemy. it does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the light and out into the nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. indeed the safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,”
Pinky, I assume you understand that under the recently issued and current guidelines none of the most famous Marian appearances, Lourdes, Fatima or Guadalupe would make the cut today and under these new guidelines they could be now revised to be not miraculous and worthy of belief.
The Church has previously studied these and declared them as supernatural events and worthy of belief. To now question them and the Church’s previous judgement and her proclamations to the world is indeed vile and stupid.
Donald – if I’m able to get your email address it would be appreciated. Or otherwise if you can kindly send it to me at the email submitted in the comment. I would like to send you a thank you email and a final donation for the blog.
Thank you to Donald and all the wonderful commenters over the years. I have truly enjoyed your company. Thank you for sharing your struggles, prayers and hopes.
I think there is a tone by a certain commentator which I can’t sit aside and tolerate anymore, and I have tried to avoid her, yet there she is. I know a man of your integrity and understanding would appreciate this.
It’s over and out for me as a commenter of TAC. I’ll pray for you. Thank you and God Bless you all ✝️❤️
I will greatly miss your contributions Ezabelle. We must always remember that we are all friends here, at least that is the way I view each of you.
The pope wasn’t talking about the guidelines or questioning old judgments. But I’m not familiar with the guidelines. Please post a link.
Pinky, I’m not your researcher. This took a good 2 or so seconds to find.
The actual document, https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2024/05/17/240517h.html
Some commentary and implications of it.
https://onepeterfive.com/neo-modernism-the-ddfs-new-apparition-guidelines/
Not just his predecessor; Leo is just as committed to ecology and sodomy as was Francis
Thanks for the link. I wanted to be sure we were looking at the same document. I don’t see anything in the norms about questioning previous appearances. They’ve been in place for more than a year and I haven’t heard anything like that happening. There’s nothing in it that connects to the process of canonization, which was the contexts of the pope’s address. There’s nothing even indicating that a Fatima-type phenomena would be found not miraculous, and nothing interfering with a pope issuing an endorsement of a vision. The changes have to do with reducing the bureaucratic steps and eliminating the category of certainty – but without implying any kind of uncertainty.
Pinky, Happy to help by providing the link!
“ at least that is the way I view each of you.” And I of you. Thank you Donald. All the best.