Monday 29 September 2014

Annum Secundum and a Summary from our Holy Father on This Feast of St. Michael (and Gabriel and Raphael)

Hello Everyone,

Lo and behold, this is the second anniversary of Servimus Unum Deum existing in the Catholic blogosphere. While I admit I have not been blogging as much this year, it's still good that this blog's voice exists, to counter that of the Radical Catholic Reactionaries. Not to mention my original focus still stands, and those serving position summaries are here to stay.

More importantly, this is the Feast of St. Michael in both EF and OF calendars of the Latin Rite, though the OF adds archangels St. Gabriel & Raphael on this feast as well. To commemorate this anniversary and the feast of a Saint I love dearly since my time at good old SMCS, allow me to post in full from www.news.va/ the Pope's daily fervorino from today, in the Santa Marta chapel. This one is about angels and how they protect us:

Pope at Santa Marta: The angels defend us

2014-09-29 Vatican Radio
(Vatican Radio) The angels battle Satan for the destiny of mankind and win.  They defend and custody  the greatest mystery of the Church, God-made-Man.  Even though in Satan often presents “humanistic explanations” for his attacks on mankind.  This was the focus of Pope Francis homily at Mass Monday morning at Casa Santa Marta, marking the Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.
Today’s readings present us with very strong images: the vision of the glory of God described by the prophet Daniel with the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, before the Father: the archangel Michael and his angels fighting against "the great dragon, the ancient serpent, he who is called the devil" and "seduces all of inhabited earth," but who is defeated, as affirmed by the Book of Revelation; and the Gospel in which Jesus says to Nathanael: "You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man". Pope Francis speaks of "the struggle between God and the devil":
"This struggle takes place after Satan seeks to destroy the woman about to give birth to a child. Satan always tries to destroy man: the man that Daniel saw there, in glory, and whom Jesus told Nathanael would come in glory. From the very beginning, the Bible speaks to us of this: Satan’s [use of ] seduction to destroy. Maybe out of envy. We read in Psalm 8: 'Thou hast made ​​man superior to the angels,' and that angel of great intelligence could not bear this humiliation, that a lower creature was made superior to him; thus he tried to destroy it".
Satan, therefore, seeks to destroy humanity, all of us:
"So many projects, except for one's own sins, but many, many projects for mankind’s dehumanization are his work, simply because he hates mankind. He is astute: the first page of Genesis tells us so, he is astute.  He presents things as if they were a good thing.  But his intention is destruction. And the angels defend us. They defend mankind and they defend the God-Man, the superior Man, Jesus Christ who is the perfection of humanity, the most perfect. This is why the Church honors the Angels, because they are the ones who will be in the glory of God – they are in the glory of God - because they defend the great hidden mystery of God, namely, that the Word was made flesh".
"The task of the people of God - the Pope said - is to safeguard man: the man Jesus” because "He is the man who gives life to all men". Instead, in his plans for destruction, Satan has invented "humanistic explanations that go against man, against humanity and against God":
"This struggle is a daily reality in Christian life, in our hearts, in our lives, in our families, in our people, in our churches ... If we do not struggle, we will be defeated. But the Lord has given this task mainly to the angels: to do battle and win. And the final song of Revelation , after this battle, is so beautiful: Now have salvation and power come, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed. For the accuser of our brothers is cast out, who accuses them before our God day and night”.
Pope Francis concluded urging those present to pray to the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, and "recite the ancient but beautiful prayer to the archangel Michael, so he may continue to do battle and defend the greatest mystery of mankind: that the Word was made Man, died and rose again. This is our treasure. That he may battle on to safeguard it".
(from Vatican Radio)

Pax, Julian. 

Saturday 27 September 2014

Highlight: Abbey Roads' Terry Nelson With Great Reflection on Radical Catholic Reactionary Blogosphere

Hello Everyone,

Don't have much to report on Latin Mass stuff right now. However, I will leave you with a little nugget for your reading pleasure.

A few days ago, I caught something from one of the blogs that I've now followed, Abbey Roads by Terry Nelson. He's a young Catholic male buck like myself on the right side of Catholic orthodoxy. I don't have anything yet to indicate he's a Latin Mass attendee or not, but what he writes is a breath of fresh air in a poisoned blogosphere with Trads Behaving Badly.

Recently, he commented quite excellently on the situation I had sunk into spiritual despair about a few weeks ago, in a general manner. You should take a good hard read at this, and even quotes from a favourite Redemptorist saint of mine, St. Alphonsus (the Redemptorist's founding father.). The whole text of the post is worth reading, and so will be displayed in full, in courier font which I use on S.U.D. for quotes and citations of text not my own:


Sunday, September 21, 2014


Abbey Roads contra blogdum ...

Go forth and proselytize the living hell out of them!


The spiritual desolation generated in blogdum does not come from the good spirit.

I almost got sucked down that vortex of negative speculation and gossip and the sky-is-falling.  I strongly urge readers to go to confession, talk to your spiritual director, or a good, solid, holy priest.  Don't go to strangers online.  Don't listen to me or any self-guided apologist/evangelist/mystical twit online.  A few days ago a good priest with a blog said to take the miraculous stories associated with a certain saint 'with a grain of salt'.  I say take his blog with a grain of salt.  Take my blog with a grain of salt.  Take those who cajole and condemn the bishops and even the pope with a grain of salt.  If you have a simple, ordinary pure faith and deep piety - avoid reading blogs written by the disgruntled and the rude rad-trad-gic alienated grumblers - be they ordained or un-ordained disorderly.

"Discernment of spirits is a challenging task. It requires maturity, inner quiet, and an ability to reflect on one’s interior life."
Spiritual desolation, in contrast, is an experience of the soul in heavy darkness or turmoil. We are assaulted by all sorts of doubts, bombarded by temptations, and mired in self-preoccupations. We are excessively restless and anxious and feel cut off from others. Such feelings, in Ignatius’s words, “move one toward lack of faith and leave one without hope and without love.”
The key question in interpreting consolation and desolation is: where is the movement coming from and where is it leading me? Spiritual consolation does not always mean happiness. Spiritual desolation does not always mean sadness. Sometimes an experience of sadness is a moment of conversion and intimacy with God. Times of human suffering can be moments of great grace. Similarly, peace or happiness can be illusory if these feelings are helping us avoid changes we need to make.
For people who are trying to live a life pleasing to God, the good spirit strengthens, encourages, consoles, removes obstacles, and gives peace. The evil spirit tries to derail them by stirring up anxiety, false sadness, needless confusion, frustration, and other obstacles. - Discernment of spirits.
Now about those bishops.

St. Alphonsus Liguori had some things to say that may be helpful to consider in our time.  There have always been problems in the Church, bishops and pastors have been exiled, founders of religious communities kicked out of their own orders, and so on.  Christ promised us everything - 'and persecutions besides'.  We need the perspective of God - we judge as humans judge and fail to see the divine purpose behind his providential designs.

As regards my opinions concerning the present state of the church with relation to the election of the new Pope, what opinion of any weight could a miserable, ignorant, and unspiritual person like myself possibly give? There is need for prayer and much prayer. All the human science and prudence that there is cannot extricate the church from the present state of relaxation and confusion in which every section finds itself; the all-powerful arm of God is necessary.
As regards the bishops, very few of them possess genuine zeal for souls. Almost all religious communities – and one could omit the “almost”– are relaxed. As a result of the present state of general confusion, observance has collapsed and obedience is a thing of the past. The state of the secular clergy is still worse: so, in a word, there is a need for a general reform of all clerics and ecclesiastics if there is to be any improvement in the present great corruption of morals among the laity.
I assure you, my friends, that I desire, like yourself, to see remedies for so many and such unfortunate situations. In all this matter a thousand ideas circulate in my head which I feel like telling everybody about.But, mindful of my own unworthiness, I have not the effrontery to publicize them lest I should appear to wish to reform the whole world. So I share these ideas with you not from any arrogance but for my own peace of mind. St. Alphonsus


So knock it off.

Have a blessed and holy Sunday, whatever rite you choose. Pax, Julian. 

Thursday 18 September 2014

2 Weeks of Blogging Despair: Embarrasment from the Radical Catholic Reactionaries over ++Burke and ++Dolan

Hello Everyone,

I realize that this is a lengthy post. Bear with me though. It needs the length as this is 2 weeks worth of observation and reflection.  

These past two weeks have been a sad and woeful one on the Catholic blog-o-sphere. This has been one of the worst periods of recent, where it feels like there is no hope living as a Catholic. The players who are directly responsible for carrying out the sin of despair are powerful men in esteemed positions of authority, who are not speaking with the Mind of the Church, despite the responsibility given to them by our Lord. Are you thinking what I am thinking, or whom I am directly referring to?

Perhaps I should explain further, by discussing what I have been witnessing on the Catholic blog-o-sphere. The situations that have been of critical (as well as hateful) discussion these past two weeks, are in regards to two cardinals, on opposite sides of the theo-political spectrum. They are Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, who’s what we could call “pastoral”, while at the other end, the “spiritual” end, is Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, possibly soon to be ex-prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome.

Summary of the Major Events

Dolan’s criticism, and fury amongst the Traditionalists Behaving Badly (my term by the way that I created, like Dave Armstrong with Radical Catholic Reactionary, to purposely ostracize the Traditionalists who are disobedient and hateful to and within Holy Mother Church, from the good, loyal traditionalists who don't do what they do,) deal with the fact the jolly Cardinal is MC for the upcoming St. Patrick’s parade in New York in 2015. The parade is now letting in pro-gay groups. Dolan's acceptance of the "honour" is being seen as an OK for being gay in the Church. Further, the TBBs are likely thinking of him as the Devil’s minion, for wanting to close down Holy Innocents Catholic Church in NYC, the U.S.A base of operations for valiant Glad Trad hero, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf of WDTPRS. The critics are also implying that the only reason Dolan extended the possible merger/closing of H.I is because too much bad press got out about him, despite his response, so he's saving face for himself and the office of the Archdiocese of New York.

At the other end of things, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke is likely being re-assigned to another office of the Church, a superior of sorts of the Knights of Malta, based in Rome. This move by Pope Francis is being seen by the TBBs as a “demotion” and part of a conspiracy theory of Pope Francis’ and company’s hate for anything dealing with that trad hero, Benedict XVI. They are also attributing this demotion to the fact that ++Burke and other traditional bishops and Jesuits wrote a book defending the traditional teachings of the Church on marriage and the family, in contradiction to the violation of Church teaching in the “tolerated but not acceptable” position of ++Kasper on non-annulled Catholics receiving communion. In addition, ++Kasper is getting a “ringmaster’s stage” for the upcoming Extraordinary Synod of the Family. The worst of the rumour mill at Rorate Caeli, even says that Francis was royally pissed off at this book, and even scolded ++Muller of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith not to promote the book … if you believe the worst PR site for radical traditionalism who’s one step away from sedevacantism that is. 

So, what am I getting at?

With the summary of the main events, it seems as if our appointed leaders in the Catholic world are failing us. The disgusting liberal clergy who are wolves in sheep’s clothing are heroes, the good Cardinals are being destroyed by the Spirit of Vatican II clergy including our Pope of Mercy, and St. Anna Catharine of Emerich’s prophecy is coming true right? Well the leadership of the Church certainly has failed …. But surprise! It’s not entirely the clergy. 

I am talking about those of us laity charged with the full participation of Christ’s priesthood, prophecy, and kingship.

The laity who are being leaders, fighting what they think is their quest to maintain the Church’s order and governance, have done the greatest disservice these past two weeks for the Church. THEY DO NOT, IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, HAVE VESTED AUTHORITY TO DICTATE OR ENFORCE THE CHURCH’s LAWS OR TEACHINGS. If they say they do, they are liars and only have the privileges every ordinary Catholic has, albeit at the service and mercy to the clergy and Canon Law (including choice to wield said law.) Many of them, are laypeople, with nothing more than an acumen to see black wherever there is white, and no good of the Church. 

Now, by no means am I wearing rose coloured glasses and saying "all is well", but they have crossed a line between critical evaluation and fraternal correction, into the Devil’s camp using his weapons of slander, calumny, and detraction. They have also aided in committing the sin of despair, sister to the deadly Sloth.

Despair

If anything, the bloggers have allowed for the fruition of the sin of despair amongst what they say. What is the sin of despair? The Sin of Despair is, as per Catholic Catechism of the Catholic Church 2091, ".... By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy."

What the bloggers have been reporting constantly, with hatred/anger, pride (also deadly sins, evidenced in their writing), actually detracts from Holy Mother Church’s mission of evangelizing and the salvation of souls. People want to be saved or seek internally salvation, or being “happy.” Every person’s reason for existence, a la Baltimore Catechism #1 is to know, love, and serve God all their lives. The Church is that spiritual and physical means by which in His Eternal Sacrifice on the Cross, Christ gave us, so that we could be with Him in Heaven. All that these bloggers have done is contravened the Holy Father’s “mission of mercy” and have shown that the Church is another institution with corrupt people in it via their coverage. To show that there is nothing but corruption in the Church and no means of salvation via their blogging coverage is exactly causing despair, a loss of any hope in the Church because of the institutional problems (and false boogeymen) within it. 
  
Let's continue. As traditional Catholics, one would know a number of lists that is nearly forgotten and not taught by current “Catholic” teachers and clergy. One of these lists is The Nine Ways of Being An Accessory to Another's Sin. Allow me to refresh your memory with the list:
  1. By Counsel
  2. By Command
  3. By Consent
  4. By Provocation
  5. By Praise or Flattery
  6. By Concealment
  7. By Partaking
  8. By Silence
  9. By Defense of the ill done


This list, by the way, is in the little red missal books you Latin Mass attendees see at most chapels, churches, and lay-organized Masses. 

If you notice, some of the ways of assisting in committing sin are blatantly being committed by these members on the Net, which I`ve highlighted:

Partaking: Between the quantity and slanderous and calumnous nature of the postings, this is clear provocation of sin, division, and the like amongst members of the Church. This is even more so when these attacks directly concern the Holy Father. Might I also remind you that the Holy Father himself equated gossip and calumny as the devil's works? Those "works" would obviously be sins of grave Matter. The devil's works are no laughing matter. They are always serious business. 

Provocation: The provocation of what they have done is on numerous levels: 1) Vs. the clergy and establishment in place, to anger them, and drive those targets to sin further themselves, 2) Amongst their fellow Traditionalists, by once again embarrassing them and can prompt further persecution. 3) Others, that is, it provokes others to experience the sin of despair. 

Defense of the Ill Done: And how do they justify their actions? They continue to say they will not stop in attacking the Holy Father, will not stop attacking others, and will not stop harming the faithful spiritually. Their defense of their sins committed is that it's all for the Good of the Holy Church, when it's pure bullying, harassment, and hatred dressed up as religion. 

Whether it is in disparaging the Jesuits, the Holy, Father, or Cardinals, this is blatant Pharisee-ism at its worst. In doing the disservice, those leaders on the Catholic blogosphere are leaving us with only one question: Why would anyone in their right mind want to be part of the Church when it is no different from its secular counterparts of schools, government, workplaces, etc.?

Furthermore, people like myself, who actually care about Traditional Catholicism, can only leave shaking our heads in disgust. We want to have a vibrant and happy life with traditional Catholicism as part of the beautiful fabric of worship and liturgical rites in the Church, not the sole be all and end all that is enforced upon everyone! When these leaders embarrass us, misrepresent ALL CATHOLICS, say cruel barbs at our priests and clergy, and fellow Glad Trads and Catholics alike, either we desire to depart from our sinful siblings by having nothing to do with the Latin Mass, or worse, we put our heads in the sand and sin by omission when those significant few do their dastardly deeds, because we fear the “big bad bishops” will take away our Mass in violation of Church Law. Better to continue going to the Latin Mass every Sunday and not say anything right? Both approaches do nothing to increase participation and/or respect for the Latin Mass and Traditional Catholicism. Yet it's all because of a few spiritually misguided souls who just haven't found the proper means to say, "Hey! The Church is awesome! Even though our leaders do sin, there is STILL Spiritual salvation here!" 

I, myself, became quite disparaged about the Church this week, thanks to my sad “brothers and sisters” of Christ. It affected my disposition with my relationships and made me question if there is anything positive in the Church when we are all mucking it up, bloggers included. Thankfully, Christ in Matthew 16:18 promised us Hell would not prevail!

My Appeal

To those specific bloggers, you are making Traditional Catholicism a hateful place to be, and all your Catholic brothers and sisters and clergy will want none of it! Even your closer friends and clergy, can only stand so much, and will be forced in their fidelity to the Lord, to part ways for their souls. Do you care about the actions and influence that you wield on your fellow Catholics? You do want more people to discover the Latin Mass and become traditional Catholics right? Have you heard the expression, “you attract more flies with honey than vinegar?” 

Listen, I get that we have collectively “became awake” to politics and how we were not taught the truths of the faith in light of the institutional, NOT "TRUE", Church’s adoption of the “Spirit of Vatican II” a.k.a. pastoring gone wrong as extreme liberalism, misinterpreting the Vatican II documents. I also understand that some of you are war survivors, carrying around battle wounds that have never been fully healed deep within. There is scar tissue, but it's only a patch that easily opens with the slightest provocation. 

But does bearing your scars mean we are to wage war against the Church and smear every clergy member and layperson who does not practice the doctrine and laws perfectly, even at the cost of your eternal salvation when you go too far, too deep in your conquest? 

I can only end with saying this in necessity. While you have used this in past against me in anger and hatred, or others just like me on the blog-o-sphere not in your "camp," I must appeal to you in earnest. Please, for your spiritual health and others, seek the help of those who can assist you and give you spiritual mercy. What good has airing our all this on the Internet done for your spiritual health? Do you feel any better after? Has the institutional Church around you, or in a large scale, "changed" in any way from your actions? Please refrain from causing sin and grave spiritual harm to yourselves, and those others you associate with. Find a proper, Biblical, and truly, Theological way to love your brother with True fraternal, Catholic charity, according to the virtues (theological, cardinal, others) without resorting to the Devil’s trickery.

If you do not have counselling, please do seek a good and noble priest (preferably), or other orthodox Catholic who can help you with your issues. I do not mean simply a “yes man” who agrees 100% with your ideas and thoughts. I mean someone who can honestly acknowledge your concerns, your hurts, your pains, and assist you in fully seeking and obtaining Christ’s Love and mercy. This might even challenge you, or contradict your thoughts now, but that person will do so in order you to come to a deeper relationship with Christ, and lead a more true, Catholic life. 

Final Words

If anything, it shows that Pope Francis’ mission of mercy is more pertinent than ever, as even Christ’s “best soldiers” of the Church Militant, are badly wounded and their armor in need of major black-smithing to repair the damage.

Finally, allow me to end off with a pertinent link from "Neo-Trad" (a.k.a. Orthodox Good Guy) Mark Shea who succinctly shares to a degree my feelings and concerns, in an excellent interview about the changing face of Catholic Internet blogging:


Everyone, I know that things are rocky right now, but we have to do better than this. As Fr. Z says, Benedict XVI gave us the tools we need. It’s time to get the training wheels off the bicycle and ride with it!

Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin.

P.S. I haven't forgotten about SINE, or my Latin Mass Serving Posts. Give me a break here as I got a significant lady in my life, a Mon-Fri job, and 3-7 other things on the go I gotta worry about, plus being stressed out at the end of the day needing to unwind. You try it and let me know if you do better. I'd like to know your strategies. 


Saturday 6 September 2014

UPDATED Sept 6 2014: Still Hope for Monsignor Charles Pope? His Blog isn't Dead Yet

Hello Everyone. Guess what? Despite the cries and initial reports from other TBB and conservative bloggers, MONSIGNOR's BLOG HAS NOT BEEN SACKED!!! It is also still accessible from the Archdiocesan webpage, albeit it's at the bottom of the page and not in plain, visible sight. See here:


MSGR's BLOG CAN STILL BE FOUND HERE: http://blog.adw.org/Yesterday, there is a posting though from Monsignor where he addresses us all about why the post was taken down. From a layman's standpoint, I think that this is the most charitable and reasonable approach of Monsignor going onward. The Archdiocese didn't sack his blog, he still writes (albeit I think he might have received minimum a word of warning to written discipline in his personal file in the office) and we the laity still get his nourishing words.

So folks, needless to say some of the blogs were wrong on this one. I told you it was good to wait it out and see what would happen.

Pax, Julian.

Friday 5 September 2014

Still Hope for Monsignor Charles Pope? His Blog isn't Dead Yet

Hello Everyone,

While this isn't 100% pertinent to Latin Mass or Archdiocese of Toronto related issues, something darkens the Catholic blogosphere, and the Trads Behaving Badly (TBB) who want to hate upon anything in the Spirit of Vatican II. They, of course, won't let this issue past.

Monsignor Charles Pope is part of the Archdiocese of Washington, in the Unites States. He was blogging as part of the Archdiocesan website, and had been a good, solid, Orthodox catholic blogger. [EDIT: HE DOES] do the Latin Mass, & you could say he`s got a Traditional mindset that is NOT TBB. I`ve also used some of his posts for reference for my altar serving posts.

However, yesterday, he wrote an article about St. Patrick`s Day in shock and to counter how ++Dolan is being the parade's main sponsor or MC. There's also mention about some ``Al Smith`` dinner (no relation to our beloved Canadian Gasman!). Apparently, the dinner was some sort of ``neutral`` gathering of politicians, but apparently, it is now a farce for pro-abort politicians and haters of the family and heterosexual relationships to gather.

Long story short from Monsignor: Pray and do penance for the outrages and reparations of the sins being represented in the parade, and for the false princes of our world. This article is floating around the web despite it's takedown, however I am NOT going to link to certain Canadian sites here on S.U.D. because I`m refusing to give web hits to TBBs. Instead feel free to see the removed article on Southern Orders'  Blog of Fr. Allan J. McDonald here.

Shortly after Monsignor wrote his article, supposedly (because I have not been able to see the before and after) it was taken down and Msgr`s blog was removed from the Archdiocese of Washington`s site.

What do I have to say? Right now, TBBs and the right-wing Catholic bloggers are going nuts with this, also tailing on Cardinal Dolan being the St. Patrick's Day parade's MC or main host. Fr. AJM also has a post on that too. But furthermore ... I am posting here to say this ..

MONSIGNOR'S BLOG, For now, STILL EXISTS! Further, there is no report on any disciplinary actions yet ..... MSGR's BLOG CAN BE FOUND HERE: http://blog.adw.org/

However, in the worst case scenario it does get taken down ... I'd get screen captures or copy the text of some of your favourite articles.

So right, now, don't believe in all of the negative coverage here as the blog is still up, and don't go planning calumny, detraction, or slander assaults on the Archdiocese, their staff, or ++Dolan if you just cannot refuse to attack a bishop. Stay tuned to see if the Archdiocese does anything. If it does kill the blog .... well that's your call what to do. But seriously, keep your anger intact and your powder kegs dry, and please follow Msgr's advice, but also pray for ++Dolan that he changes his mind and for a strengthening of his leadership, and for Pope Francis to continue in action and prayer, fighting against such sin and leadership.

Pax, Julian.