A Treasure To Be Shared

There are enough Catholic Germans who think with the Church (sentire cum Ecclesia) in spite of media reports of many of the German brethren behaving like heathen. Back in 2023, Neuer Anfang, New Beginning, a group of faithful Catholics, challenged the heterodox Synodal Way (Der Synodale Weg). Where such faithful groups exist, there is hope. https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/europe/group-of-faithful-in-germany-rejects-synodal-way-we-want-to-remain-catholic https://neueranfang.online/ Saint Boniface: pray for them! According to the 8th-century Vita Bonifatii auctore Willibaldo , Saint Boniface of Wessex, an Anglo-Saxon missionary, and his companions cut down Thor's Oak, a tree worshipped by the German population. The oak’s wood was reportedly used to construct a church on the site, dedicated to Saint Peter. Boniface, known as the Apostle of Germany, earned this title for his significant role in the Christianization of the region. "For 10 years (725–735) Boniface was active in Thur...

Say 'no' to communion in the hand... to say 'yes' to the profound adoration of God by receiving the Holy Eucharist on the tongue. I mention, for example, a change not proposed by the Council Fathers or by the Sacrosanctum Concilium, Holy Communion received in the hand. This has contributed to some extent to a weakening of faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This, and the removal of altar rails and kneelers in church and the introduction of practices which oblige the faithful to sit or stand at the elevation of the Sacred Host, weakens the genuine significance of the Eucharist and the Church’s profound sense of adoration for the Lord, the Only Son of God. Albert Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith (November, 2007) | Behind communion-in-the-hand – I wish to repeat and make as plain as I can – is a weakening, a conscious, a deliberate weakening of faith in the Real Presence.  Father John Hardon, S.J., November, 1997 |  One receives in the mouth what one believes ...

  The Church established by Jesus Christ is a church with synods, but not a synodal church as some might imagine or attempt to impose. The Church is not nor has she ever been a democracy nor a mere social club. Can. 342 The synod of bishops is a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet together at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world. A synod is subject to the supreme authority of the Roman Pontiff (Can. 344).  To confine the Church to man's socio-political constructs is to attempt to undermine the authority of Jesus Christ, an authority which He, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, extends to the bishops of His Church. We hope that the bishops are u...

Players around a poker table try their best to conceal their tells, those subtle ticks that reveal to others what kind of hand they possess. The astute person is able to figure out their opponents' tells while concealing his own. A tell in poker is a change in a player's behavior or demeanor that is claimed by some to give clues to that player's assessment of their hand. A player gains an advantage if they observe and understand the meaning of another player's tell, particularly if the tell is unconscious and reliable. - WP Life Around The Synod Card Tables For the record: this blogger does not hold that every Synod attendee marches to the beat of an ignominious drummer. Father James Martin showed his hand this past week when he expressed his disappointment that the alphabet soup he so wants the Church to adopt was not included in the published Synod documents. To have included the maimed rainbow acronym would have been to jam ideology into the vocabulary of the Church,...

To walk together as disciples of Jesus is to walk first with Jesus Christ. In the Gospel, in John 14:6, we find the confirmation of Jesus: "I am the way, the truth and the life...". Then, in Acts 9:2, Saul uses the term "the path" in reference to following the Lord and His Gospel. So to follow Jesus, to be and live as Christians, means that we finally live as "congregants" and this already happens from the moment of our baptism. We all walk as the Church of Christ on a journey that we do together as Christians of course, but the question that should be asked from the beginning is this: "Journey with whom?" The word "synod" comes directly from the Greek meaning "to walk with...". However, what is important and the most fundamental (aspect), I would say, that must be clarified immediately in order not to skew our reflection on synodality, is the meaning and the real object of the Greek preposition "plus" (συν). It does...

[ 4 minute read ] How many times do we need to hear from well-informed pundits about the loss of a sense of the sacred before we get up off our couches and dive deeply into the Faith to worship God in spirit and in truth? Quite often, when one is attuned to those websites that challenge one to think with the Church of the ages, the Church of the sainted brethren. Those who most need to hear about the need for rehabilitation - because they are the principal protags massaging theological and liturgical nonsense into the flesh of unsuspecting Catholics - generally aren't disposed to taking ownership for their hefty contributions to the massive drift from the Apostolic Faith. That is not to say that the Church is doomed, or wrecked or whatever. It is enough to say that the Church is hurting due to the sins of her sons and daughters, especially the sins of those offspring who want the Church to be the "Church-of-Today" or the "Church-of-Me". So then, we must care fo...

Hand of God, from a fresco at Saint Clement of Taüll, Catalonia. Almighty God and Father, vouchsafe to grant Thy servants the grace that illuminates minds and conforms wills to the truth revealed by Thy Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Pour forth Thy Holy Spirit to guide them and all Synod delegates in perfect faithfulness to the Apostolic Tradition for the glory of Thy Name, for the unity of the Body of Christ, and for the salvation of souls. In Jesus' Name. Amen. Hail Mary... Glory be... Holy Michael, archangel... His Eminence Gérald Cyprien Cardinal LACROIX, I.S.P.X., Archbishop of Québec His Grace John Michael MILLER, C.S.B., Archbishop of Vancouver The Most Reverend William Terrence McGRATTA, Bishop of Calgary The Most Reverend Raymond POISSON, Bishop of Saint-Jérôme - Mont-Laurier The Most Reverend Marc PELCHAT, Auxiliary Bishop of Québec, Titular Bishop of Lambesi The Reverend Gilles ROUTHIER, professor in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Laval Universi...

READ TIME: 11 minutes The fruit for which we ask at the next Assembly is that the Spirit inspire the Church’s walking together as the People of God in fidelity to the mission that the Lord has entrusted to it. Indeed, the purpose of the synodal process “is not to produce documents, but to open horizons of hope for the fulfilment of the Church’s mission” (DCS, 6). - 3. Instrumentum Laboris A lot of highly intelligent people have invested a great deal of time and effort in an attempt to discern the call of the Holy Spirit in and to the contemporary Church during the past few years, the years of the Synod On Synodality, and since the 1970s, each suggesting - or rather, each of the so-called "Spirit-led" among those intelligent folk, claiming - that they possess some unique insight into the Spirit's intent. An ever growing number of contradictory positions and often sterile agendas are being promoted among believers. Diversity and inclusivity, for all their virtue, are produc...

Apologies to Eugene Field Wynken Weighs In (Gavin Ashenden) The handbook or vademecum for the Synodal process puts it like this: “Widespread participation is an important part of the diocesan process, with no one being excluded. “We must personally reach out to the peripheries, to those who have left the church, those who rarely or never practice their faith, those who experience poverty or marginalization, refugees, the excluded, the voiceless, etc.” This rather gives the game away. These are sociological categories, not ecclesial or spiritual ones. How does someone who has deliberately turned their back on the church, or refuses to practice their faith constitute the Church? Do they have no agency, no will, no responsibility? Gavin Ashenden was a senior clergyman in the Church of England who recently converted to the Catholic Church.  https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-synodal-way-offers-nothing-more-than-quasi-marxist-content-in-a-spiritual-comfort-blanket/ Blynken Boos (Rac...