News Reports -- The Pope Addresses the Bishops' Synod

Vatican.  Yesterday morning Pope Benedict XVI spoke in an extemporaneous speech before the Bishops' Synod. He informed them about two changes in the Curia.  Responsibility for the seminaries went from the Congregation of Education to the Congregation for Clergy.  The responsibility for Catechesis is to be undertaken by the newly created -- and till now unemployed -- Papal Counsel for the New Evangelization.  Finally the Pope justified the six new Cardinal which will take place in the Consistorium at the end of November.  It should complete the Consitorium of last February and show the universality of the Church.

A Good Shepherd Goes Home

Germany.  The chaplain in the seminary of the traditional Society of St. Peter in Wigratzbad, Father Pierre Gaudray (91) is dying.  The clergyman has been a priest for 64 years.  He always remained true to the Rite of his ordination.

Adultery as the Means for the New Evangelization?

Vatican.  On Friday the Bishops' Synod was presented a concluding document in the Vatican "Message to the People of God" with 58 proposals.  Therefore the Pope is going to deliver an unnecessary post-synodal document.  In the message the career Bishops -- even though the Synod had already discussed the New Evangelization -- also talk about adultery and fornication.  They tendentiously downplay bigamy  as "forms of family and cohabitation, which does not mirror every picture of unity and love of life which the Lord has given us."  It gives "pairs, who live without the bond of marriage."  It gives an increasing number of "disordered facial situations, which are built on the  failure of a previous marriage."

Right-wing Extremists Throw Molotov Cocktails at Home

Occupied Palestine. Recently, Right-wing extremist, Jewish settlers -- near an illegal Jewish settlment to the east of Ramallah -- attacked a house with several molotov cocktails.  This caused the burning of several homes.  The defense responded.

Old Liberal Word Games

"The progressives plead a hermeneutic of discontinuity and of break.  The Traditionalists plead a hermeneutic of pure continuity:  only that which is to be found in Tradition can be Catholic teaching, for which reason there can't be an actual renewal.  Both see the Council at the same time as a break, if only in another point of view.  This understanding is the Conciliar Hermeneutic of Break which the Holy Father has called into question and the stated 'Hermeneutic of Reform', the continuity and the renewal are bound up together."

The Old Liberal Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifial Council for Christian United, in an interview with the Roman news agency 'zenit.org'.

Link to kreuz.net....

+Wuerl Chancery Issues Cowardly Apology in Face of Media Frenzy

Edit:  the days when the American Church could be counted upon to withstand public opinion seem far away.  Many prelates will use public opinion to their advantage, but when it really comes to defending the Sanctity of the things they're sworn to defend, they cower like hirelings before the baying of the wolves that are threatening the flock.

Here's how it's going to play itself out, more or less: the next step will be to summon Father Guanizo for a meeting where he will be expected to apologize, and he'll be expected to undergo counselling as well while the Diocese considers his suitability for future ministry.

“You brought your politics, not your God into that Church yesterday, and you will pay dearly on the day of judgment for judging me,” she wrote in a letter to Guarnizo. “I will pray for your soul, but first I will do everything in my power to see that you are removed from parish life so that you will not be permitted to harm any more families.”

Late Tuesday, Johnson received a letter of apology from the Rev. Barry Knestout, one of the archdiocese’s highest-ranking administrators, who said the lack of “kindness” she and her family received “is a cause of great concern and personal regret to me.”

“I am sorry that what should have been a celebration of your mother’s life, in light of her faith in Jesus Christ, was overshadowed by a lack of pastoral sensitivity,” Knestout wrote. “I hope that healing and reconciliation with the Church might be possible for you and any others who were affected by this experience. In the meantime, I will offer Mass for the happy repose of your mother’s soul. May God bring you and your family comfort in your grief and hope in the Resurrection.”

Johnson called the letter “comforting” and said she greatly appreciates the apology. But, she added, “I will not be satisfied” until Guarnizo is removed.

The priest’s action has also triggered an uproar among gay rights activists and enlivened some religious conservatives. It came just days after the Maryland Senateapproved legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in the state; Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) is expected to sign it this week.

Link to D.C....

H/t Religion News Roundup....

Handbook for Tutors of Unchastity: Seminary Guide teaches Immorality

This book will contain some familiar bromides about rigidity, but it's hard to find. Fortunately, Father Habiger gave some inside baseball about the vile methodology of demoralization starting from seminary formation and naturally filtering into the pews where unsuspecting families would be subjected to the "homilies" and "spiritual advice" of men formed by the template of immorality in the following book. It's no wonder the USCCB is so confused about these issues since many of them probably ingested and internalized many of the principles and bromides of this book which was all part of the Trojan Horse.

CNA

Fr. Mathew Habiger
mhabiger@kansasmonks.org

In 1976 the Catholic Theological Society of America endorsed the publication of a book on Catholic sexual ethics, entitled HUMAN SEXUALITY: New Directions in American Catholic Thought. It was authored by Fr. Anthony Kosnik and several others. Many seminaries used this as a text for sexual ethics during the 1980s and 1990s. You still find copies of it in rectory libraries. Notice that it received the endorsement of the CTSA, and that was taken as sufficient justification for using it in major seminaries. It helps us understand why there is such a reluctance among many of the clergy today to preach on God’s plan for marriage and spousal love. Its way of explaining Catholic sexual ethics is at great variance with what the Church teaches in her major documents. Kosnik finds the norms given in Casti Connubii, Humanae Vitae and the Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics to be too rigid and oppressive. He thinks that the Magisterium places too much emphasis upon concrete individual human acts, instead of upon the overall intentions indicated by a whole spectrum of choices and acts. Instead of using HV’s norm for the spousal act (unitive and procreative), he replaces this with a more squishy and elastic norm (creative growth and integrative).

By using the greater elasticity provided by his new norms, Kosnik is able to justify instances of deviations from just about all of the norms of the traditional Catholic sexual ethic. This includes acts of contraception, sterilization, adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, and even bestiality!

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Htip, Semper Vita