Pope Condemns Calumny: Victims of Persecution by the Sanhedrin Yesterday and Today

Protomartyr

Edit: in today’s address, the Holy Father addresses one of the first victims of the Sanhedrin’s persecution of Catholics, St. Stephen, protomartyr and the sin of calumny, as if he could be addressing the false accusations of anti-Semitism. It’s interesting that there are many who wring their hands over these allegations, when a Christian is martyred every five to ten minutes for his faith, where Muslims are baptized in secrecy. Indeed, it’s very hard not to take the Holy Father’s words in any but the most encouraging ways. Here they are from Zenit:

[Zenit]Drawing from the First Reading account of Stephen, the first martyr, being dragged before the Sanhedrin, Pope Francis today strongly condemned the sin of calumny.

At his customary morning Mass in Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Holy Father noted that Stephen was accused of "false witness," and that his enemies chose "the path of calumny.”

Vatican Radio reported on the Holy Father's homily, noting that Francis described calumny as worse than sin and a direct expression of Satan.

"We are all sinners; all of us. We all commit sins. But calumny is something else. It is of course a sin, too, but it is something more. Calumny aims to destroy the work of God, and calumny comes from a very evil thing: it is born of hatred. And hate is the work of Satan. Calumny destroys the work of God in people, in their souls. Calumny uses lies to get ahead. And let us be in no doubt, eh?: Where there is calumny, there is Satan himself," he said.

Link to Zenit…

 It’s persecution like this which not only brings to mind martyrs of the past, the very first martyrs who fell victim to the Sanhedrin, but those martyrs of the recent past:



And it so happens that even the leadership of the Church raises a hand against its own champions, in order to shame them and destroy them if possible in an autolesionistic festering. How obedient and eager to serve Roman Catholic Faithful was back in 1997 when Father Paul Marx was unjustly accused of hating Jews:

We reject in the strongest possible terms any suggestion that HLI is anti-Semitic. The allegations of "bigotry" and "anti-Semitism," made by members of the chancery staff and by the news media against HLI are serious and defamatory.

We are deeply saddened that Archbishop Harry Flynn has reneged on his previous commitment to HLI and to Father Paul Marx to celebrate the opening Mass of our international conference of pro-life leaders.

We hold Archbishop Flynn in highest regard. Even as recently as February 24, 1997, we received a warm letter of welcome from him, which included high praise for Fr. Marx. Therefore, we wholeheartedly believe that his actions today are out of character and that he has been ill-advised and ill-served by members of his staff.

Furthermore, we deplore the manner in which this matter has been handled. Since November, we have repeatedly contacted the chancery to request a meeting between the Archbishop and any one of the members of our Board of Directors, all Catholic priests. These requests were repeatedly denied.

Then, upon receipt of false, inflammatory and defamatory information about HLI, rather than communicate directly with our office, the chancery communicated with us through the media, with a story that appeared in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Holy Thursday, casting aspersions on the integrity of Fr. Marx and HLI. This news report went statewide. Continuously, our requests to speak with the Archbishop have been denied.

At the same time however, it is evident that a "dialogue" has been conducted between members of the chancery bureaucracy and groups that oppose HLI and the pro-life cause. It is emphatically clear that such groups have an agenda of their own which has nothing to do with "interfaith cooperation." Has ecumenism come to mean abandoning one's own to the lies and calumny of the pro-abortion opposition?

One only need to examine the past — the HLI 1995 World Conference in Montreal for example — to see the well-orchestrated campaign against HLI, which has as its genesis a 1994 report about HLI by Planned Parenthood.

The charge of anti-Semitism is a smokescreen to hide the real agenda of the Culture of Death that HLI meets at World Conferences: Planned Parenthood, the Fight the Right Coalition, Refuse and Resist, Love and Rage, radical feminists, radical gay activists and anarchists.

The Archbishop has been deceived.

PRO-LIFE RABBI REFUTES HLI's JEWISH CRITICS

Front Royal, VA — Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Jewish Advisor to Human Life International expressed his extreme dismay at allegations of anti-Semitism made by the American Jewish Congress against HLI Founder and Chairman, Father Paul Marx.

"I've been involved with Father Marx in furthering protection for unborn Jewish babies in Israel and North America for more than ten years. Father Marx is providing seed money to mobilize public support for Jewish pro-life efforts. What kind of Anti-Semite does this?" said Levin.

Rabbi Levin pointed out the close working relationship that Fr. Marx has with other Jewish leaders such as Midge Dector, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Norman Kurland and Dr. Judith Reisman. He also noted that for the past two years Fr. Marx has spearheaded interfaith cooperation with the Jewish community by signing the Judeo Christian Pro-Life Alliance, a document that binds both groups to work on behalf of the unborn of all faiths: Jewish, Christian or Muslim.

"I agree with my Jewish colleague Midge Dector, former contributing editor to Commentary magazine, that 'the charge of anti-Semitism has become, alas, a sinfully cheapened currency, and we feel that it is long since time to put a stop to its...tendentious circulation.'"

"Many secular Jews tend to be overwhelmingly liberal, even supporting abortion on demand. Why else would B'nai Brith or the American Jewish Congress or other such organizations not take a stand on saving the lives of pre-born babies, Jewish or non-Jewish" Levin added.

Rabbi Levin concluded with an invitation to members of the American Jewish Congress to join Human Life International's efforts to protect unborn Jewish babies and support their mothers.

Link to source at Roman Catholic Faithful…

 Image taken from here...

El Paso Diocese Attacks Priest With Catholic Message

All Are Not Welcome

Edit: Some may remember a few gallant priests who have  preached  in a very uncompromising way the truths of the Catholic Faith a little while back, in addition to Father Marcel Guarizo, who was not only reprimanded publicly but attacked by Quasi-Canon Peters and fired from his job.  Defending the Catholic Faith can be a perilous business in places like Portland, Maine, Washington D.C. and El Paso, Texas, just to name a few.  You're not even safe on the internet.

Along with approved bloggers like Mark Shea, there are several Bishops in the United States, who are sending a message that seeks to relativize the long-standing condemnation of sexual activity outside of marriage for the sake of false charity. These 'defenders' of niceness waste no time viciously attacking, or just walking away from, Catholic priests who defend Catholic teachings, however.

Mark Shea looks like he's taking a very familiar trajectory, like Gerald Augustinus of "The Cafe is Closed" who underwent a dramatic (or contrived?) shift from defender of orthodoxy, to cafeteria Catholic in about two short years. You'd think men like Mark Shea would treasure courageous priests, but they don't, they just shill for the Archdiocese. Why are these people attacking those who defend Church teaching?

It is just possible that a Diocese would love to have a fervent, zealous priest at the helm of a big parish, nope, not if he's preaching sexual chastity.  Fr. Micheal Rodriguez is doing just that.  He's actually too inoffensive and makes too many concessions to political correctness in our opinion, but that doesn't matter.  Not to the Diocese.

Not surprisingly, the Diocese insists that Father's message isn't the Catholic Church's message, but they don't specify how that is.

It's stories like this that reinforce the impression there is a group within the Church that will no suffer to hear the Catholic truth of the ages, as Lifesite reports:

“Without question, God loves all of His children, regardless of sexual ‘orientation,’” he continued. “We Catholics must show charity, respect, and understanding towards our homosexual brothers and sisters. Above all, we are to show love and compassion towards homosexuals by leading them to the truth, and helping them to reject sinful homosexual activity.”

In the final essay, Rodriguez faults modern culture in harsh terms for framing the breakdown of the family as an advancement for society, and criticizes El Paso officials for “acting immorally” by promoting gay domestic partnerships.

“Here in El Paso, certain City Council members have remained obstinate in promoting public recognition and legitimization of homosexual unions,” he wrote. “Whether they realize it or not, their actions are objectively immoral and gravely harmful to marriage and the family. It should be obvious to all Catholics what our duty is with respect to these members of City Council.”

Meanwhile, in Liberal Maine, the usual kinds of people are out advocating "change", more of the bad kind, as they attempt to redefine marriage outside of the Church's teachings. As you can see in the photo, most of them are elderly baby boomers out to cause trouble. In their self-adulation, it probably never dawned on them that their personal views are at variance with the Church's actual teachings and that if they were right, there would be no point in being Catholic.

Baby Boomers

Meanwhile, is there any response from the Bishop of Maine?