Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Surprise your local bishop!

This post will only be interesting for the next four days. Someone is selling two cappae magnae (one of which looks like purple silk, the other like purple wool) and one winter-upper part of a cappa made of white fur (don't know if it is actually ermine).

So, if you have some left-over cash right now...





Monday, February 26, 2007

They finally lost all sense...

Now we know how far these people are willing to go. A NYTimes article about a James-Cameron-documentatry movie telling us everything we ever wanted to know about a crypt in Jerusalem that contains the bones of Our Saviour, His Blessed Mother, Her Most Chaste Spouse and - ta-dah! - Mary Magdalene and her Son, whose father is - ta-dah-dum-dee-dum! - Jesus of Nazareth.

My favorite line:
    Mr. Cameron said he had been “trepidatious” about becoming involved in the project but got engaged out of “great passion for a good detective story,” not to offend and not to cash in.
Have you no shame? At long, effing last - HAVE YOU NO SHAME?

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Council-Cappae








The last photo shows the moment when James Cardinal McIntyre collapsed during re-opening of the council due to heat and fatigue. Really, those Cappae should come with a warning.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Truer words were seldom spoken

Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris of Leo XIII, 28 December 1878:
    "At the very beginning of Our pontificate, as the nature of Our apostolic office demanded, We hastened to point out in an encyclical letter addressed to you, venerable brethren, the deadly plague that is creeping into the very fibers of human society and leading it on to the verge of destruction.
    At the same time We pointed out also the most effectual remedies by which society might be restored and might escape from the very serious dangers which threaten it. But the evils which We then deplored have so rapidly increased that We are again compelled to address you, as though We heard the voice of the prophet ringing in Our ears: 'Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet'. You understand, venerable brethren, that We speak of that sect of men who, under various and almost barbarous names, are called socialists, communists, or nihilists, and who, spread over all the world, and bound together by the closest ties in a wicked confederacy, no longer seek the shelter of secret meetings, but, openly and boldly marching forth in the light of day, strive to bring to a head what they have long been planning - the overthrow of all civil society whatsoever.
    Surely these are they who, as the sacred Scriptures testify, 'Defile the flesh, despise dominion and blaspheme majesty'. They leave nothing untouched or whole which by both human and divine laws has been wisely decreed for the health and beauty of life.
    They refuse obedience to the higher powers, to whom, according to the admonition of the Apostle, every soul ought to be subject, and who derive the right of governing from God; and they proclaim the absolute equality of all men in rights and duties. They debase the natural union of man and woman, which is held sacred even among barbarous peoples; and its bond, by which the family is chiefly held together, they weaken, or even deliver up to lust.
    Lured, in fine, by the greed of present goods, which is 'the root of all evils which some coveting have erred from the faith', they assail the right of property sanctioned by natural law; and by a scheme of horrible wickedness, while they seem desirous of caring for the needs and satisfying the desires of all men, they strive to seize and hold in common whatever has been acquired either by title of lawful inheritance, or by labor of brain and hands, or by thrift in one's mode of life. These are the startling theories they utter in their meetings, set forth in their pamphlets, and scatter abroad in a cloud of journals and tracts. Wherefore, the revered majesty and power of kings has won such fierce hatred from their seditious people that disloyal traitors, impatient of all restraint, have more than once within a short period raised their arms in impious attempt against the lives of their own sovereigns.
    But the boldness of these bad men, which day by day more and more threatens civil society with destruction, and strikes the souls of all with anxiety and fear, finds its cause and origin in those poisonous doctrines which, spread abroad in former times among the people, like evil seed bore in due time such fatal fruit.
    For you know, venerable brethren, that that most deadly war which from the sixteenth century down has been waged by innovators against the Catholic faith, and which has grown in intensity up to today, had for its object to subvert all revelation, and overthrow the supernatural order, that thus the way might be opened for the discoveries, or rather the hallucinations, of reason alone.
    This kind of error, which falsely usurps to itself the name of reason, as it lures and whets the natural appetite that is in man of excelling, and gives loose rein to unlawful desires of every kind, has easily penetrated not only the minds of a great multitude of men but to a wide extent civil society, also. Hence, by a new species of impiety, unheard of even among the heathen nations, states have been constituted without any count at all of God or of the order established by him; it has been given out that public authority neither derives its principles, nor its majesty, nor its power of governing from God, but rather from the multitude, which, thinking itself absolved from all divine sanction, bows only to such laws as it shall have made at its own will.
    The supernatural truths of faith having been assailed and cast out as though hostile to reason, the very Author and Redeemer of the human race has been slowly and little by little banished from the universities, the Iyceums and gymnasia - in a word, from every public institution.
    In fine, the rewards and punishments of a future and eternal life having been handed over to oblivion, the ardent desire of happiness has been limited to the bounds of the present. Such doctrines as these having been scattered far and wide, so great a license of thought and action having sprung up on all sides, it is no matter for surprise that men of the lowest class, weary of their wretched home or workshop, are eager to attack the homes and fortunes of the rich.
    It is no matter for surprise that already there exists no sense of security either in public or private life, and that the human race should have advanced to the very verge of final dissolution."
Welcome to the paradise of those who abandoned our Lord, gave up faith in favor of "reason" and are diligently working for the destruction of his Church. You don't want a part in it? Let them know! It is hard to engage in seemingly meaningless protest-marches or petitions when you are rooted in faith and don't have to get a life running through SanFran half-naked or whining about "equality" and "rights". But if you know how to organize yourselves, if you got the time, the nerve and the balls to suffer in his name, get out there and show them you don't want to play their poisonous games. It's time the people that still got brains AND souls put an end to this farce. Alright, you might want to pray a bit as well ;-)

Friday, February 09, 2007

What can I say?

From the Herald Tribune:
    With sirens wailing and streets blocked off to permit its passage, a convoy of police vehicles sped across Britain and wound through central London on Friday to bring five terrorist suspects to court here from Birmingham.

    A sixth suspect, who was not immediately identified by name, was charged with a terrorism offense in Birmingham on Friday evening, the police said.

    Nine people were seized nine days ago in a roundup of suspects in Birmingham linked to an alleged conspiracy to capture a British soldier and show images of his execution on the Internet. Three of them have them have been freed without charge.

    Of the five who faced terrorism charges in court on Friday, only one, Parviz Khan, 36, was charged specifically with engaging "in conduct to give effect to his intention to kidnap and kill a member of the British Armed Forces." The charge made no direct reference to the Internet.

    The other four — Amjad Mahmood, 31, Mohammed Irfan, 30, Zahoor Iqbal, 29 and Hamid Elasmar, 43 — faced charges along with Khan of planning to supply equipment and money in the knowledge that it might be used for an act of terrorism.

    Mahmood faced a single, separate charge of failing to disclose information that might have helped prevent an act of terrorism.

    The charges were brought under British anti-terrorism laws enacted in 2000 and 2006. The arrest of the nine suspects in Birmingham, Britain's second largest city, stirred worries and anger among Muslims who said they believed the police action and extensive coverage by television and newspapers had further stigmatized Muslims. One of the three men released after the arrests said that Britain had become a police state for Muslims.
Are these guys out of their minds? It was the police action and media coverage that stigmatized Muslims? Then I guess the death threats to Europe and Chrsitians were what put Muslims into the right perspective. Thanks for clearing that up!

Sunday, February 04, 2007

"Accipe Galerum Rubrum"


"Ad laudem omnipotentis Dei et Sanctae Sedis ornamentum, accipe galerum rubrum, insigne singularis dignitatis cardinalatus, per quod designatur quod usque ad mortem et sanguinis effusionem inclusive pro exaltatione sanctae fidei, pace et quiete populi christiani, augmento et statu sacrosanctae romanae Ecclesiae, to intrepidum exhibere debeas, in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti."