Mass in Front Royal on St. Cyril's Feast Day

I attended Mass at St. John the Baptist in Front Royal this morning which is always an edifying experience. As I walked into the church, the congregation, led by the pastor, Fr. Jerome Fasano, was praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. As Father processed in from the sacristy we prayed the Angelus. Mass, as is the norm at St. John's, was said ad orientem (Novus Ordo) with the Greek Kyrie and some of the responses in Latin. Oh, and of course the bells and the reverent silence (except for the chirping of the baby birds in the congregation) and the many veiled women all contributed to an atmosphere of of awe and holiness. So many people attend morning Mass that distribution of Communion (at the altar rail where congregants can kneel or stand) takes about ten minutes. How I love attending daily Mass there!

Being St. Cyril's feast day, Father's homily focused on the Council of Ephesus which declared Mary the Mother of God (Theotokos). Early Church councils always addressed heresies and the Council of Ephesus was no exception. The Bishop Nestorius of Constantinople, a major see in the Church, was teaching that Jesus was two persons, one divine and one human. Mary, he said, was mother only of the human Jesus, not the divine. Of course, this heresy flew in the face of both Church doctrine and common sense, making Jesus the ultimate schizophrenic with His body separate from his spirit. St. Cyril, a doctor of the Church, opposed Nestorius and it is to him we owe the second half of the Hail Mary which declares her "Holy Mary, Mother of God."

Father also compared the bishop's antagonism to the faith to our own sad times where so many clerics are preaching a gospel different from the one taught by Christ. And he lamented the indifference and silence of so many, both clerical and laity, who put up with it. He referenced yesterday's Supreme Court decisions saying Justice Anthony Kennedy was a former parishioner who came to Mass weekly and received Communion. And he discussed the many other Catholic politicians who can get away with saying they are in "good standing" in the Church because no bishops will excommunicate them. Ah, yes, how many heretical and apostate politicians there are here in Arlington and Washington who claim to be Catholic and never a word of correction to protect Jesus from sacrilege or call them to repentance for  "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin." (Canon Law 915)

But the good news is the laity sometimes act when their bishops won't. Father described an incident where Nestorius spoke from the pulpit of his cathedral against Mary's divine maternity. Outraged, the congregation physically dragged the bishop from the pulpit, threw him from the church, and booted him out of town. Oh for the days when men were men and women urged them to act like it! Frankly, I can think of a few bishops who deserve the same treatment!

Nestorius ended his days with cancer of the tongue that removed his ability to speak any more blasphemies against the Mother of God. The people considered it divine retribution. One hopes he repented in his silent suffering.

We owe St. Cyril a great debt of gratitude and I hope you will honor him today with prayers of thanksgiving and begging for his intercession for our many milquetoast bishops who coddle dissent and persecute the faithful who, as Dietrich von Hildebrand says, should be their pride and joy.

St. Cyril, pray for us!

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Pope Francis Says No Communion for Pro-Abort Politicians!

Are the U.S. bishops listening?

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Canon Lawyer Urges Archbishop Cordileone to Withhold Communion

Nancy Pelosi receiving Communion in Rome at the pope's installation where she is no cause celebre is understandable. She Is, after all, as Dr. Ed Peter's says America's problem, not Rome's. But isn't it time that someone cares enough about this obstinate public sinner to warn her -- for the sake of her own soul? Dr. Peters thinks so:

For her sake, therefore, and for those confused by the chronic scandal she gives, Pelosi needs to be formally warned against taking holy Communion for so long as she promotes, as consistent with our Catholic faith, a variety of gravely immoral policies (per cc. 916, 1339); ministers, meanwhile, in her environs need to be directed to withhold Communion from her till advised otherwise by the competent ecclesiastical authority (per c. 915). [i.e., that means Archbishop Cordileone in California and Cardinal Donald Wuerl in Washington, D.C.]

Read more here.

Now, won't it be interesting
if Archbishop Cordileone refuses Pelosi Communion and Cardinal Wuerl welcomes her to commit sacrilege at the altar? That would be a fulfillment of the prophecy of Akita:

"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. 

"The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them"

Hmm...sounds familiar eh? Keep your rosary running through your fingers that the Holy Spirit will infuse our shepherds with fortitude and zeal for the house of God. Too many put the almighty dollar and their own comfort before almighty God.

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The Scandal Continues: Biden and Pelosi Committed Sacrilege at Papal Mass

Well, the White House has confirmed it: Pelosi and Biden went to Communion sacrilegiously at the papal installation Mass. (Huffington Post article.) What I found especially hypocritical, however, was Cardinal Wuerl's statement:

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, part of the conclave that elected Francis, has said he would offer Pelosi communion despite her views on abortion because he didn't believe communion should be used as a weapon. "We never -– the Church just didn't use Communion this way. It wasn't a part of the way we do things, and it wasn't a way we convinced Catholic politicians to appropriate the faith and live it and apply it; the challenge has always been to convince people," Wuerl said in a 2010 interview. His position would logically extend to Biden. The vice president's bishop, Francis Malooly of Wilmington, Del., has also said he would not deny communion to Biden.

Denying Communion to a public heretic (a person who denies at least one doctrine of the Church)
is not using the Eucharist as "a weapon." It is exercising Church law articulated in Canon Law 915. It shows concern for the soul of the person who is heaping up mortal sin on mortal sin which does several things to the unfortunate soul, i.e., makes it harder to repent, increases the moral debt of the soul so to speak, creates grave scandal when the heretic is a public figure which merits a "millstone," etc. Biden and Pelosi parade their "Catholic" credentials while they give the finger to Catholic doctrine.

Cardinal Wuerl shows little concern for his Washington, D.C. political flock when he announces he will never refuse to let them crucify Christ by unworthy reception His body and blood. Did Christ die for pro-abortion Catholic politicians? Of course. Does He want them to pile up one mortal sin of sacrilege after another? Hardly!

Frankly, I am sorely grieved at the lack of pastoral care bishops like Wuerl have toward these outrageous public sinners. He appears to care more for human respect and his own place in the halls of power than for their eternal salvation. He is like a father who buys his drug-addicted son the next fix instead of loving him enough to say no, because he doesn't want to alienate his son.

When I see Cardinal Wuerl's cowardice (What else can it be?) I think of his foils, bishops like Rene Gracida (bishop emeritus of Corpus Christi) who is a model of pastoral concern and courage when it comes to warning "obstinate public sinners" to refrain from Communion. (See a case study describing how Bishop Gracida put a Catholic politician under interdict.) Why should Biden and Pelosi and others of their ilk repent? Why should they even believe that Christ is present in the Eucharist? There certainly doesn't appear to be much evidence that their bishops believe it. If they did, would they, like Judas, turn Christ over to them to be crucified again? That's exactly what they do when they give Jesus to heretics.

Cardinal Wuerl and other bishops of his ilk illustrate clearly why the Church in the U.S. is in such a mess. They care less about scandalizing the hoi polloi in the pews than hobnobbing with the rich and powerful. Is it any wonder saints lamented that the floor of hell is littered with bishops' skulls and mitres? Sad!

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