Ist Verboten!

Verborum ac Notionum ac Hominum et Ceterorum Index Prohibitorum:

Abortion
Abuse, especially of children, women, the elderly, and the liturgy
Access
Active participation
Activism
Activist judges
Adele
Adolf von Harnack
Adultery
Advertising
Affirmation
Affirmative action
“Afrocentric” names (e.g. Kenitha, Bunifa, Latifah, Halifah, Sharifa, Jamal, Oranjello, Lemonjello, Jerome, Tyrone, Tyrell, Femalee, Donté etc.)
Agribusiness
Alberto Cutié, a.k.a. “Fr. Oprah”
All you can eat buffets
America, United States of
American “culture”
American “history”
American “literature”
Androphobia
Angela Merkel
Animal rights’ activists
Anne Rice
Anthrax
The Anti-Defamation League
Antipopes
Apostasy
The Arab Spring
Archbishop Bugnini
Artificial anything
Aspartame
Assemblies instead of Congregations
Assisi Conferences
Asymmetrical haircuts
Atheists who (wrongly) think they’re happy
Attorneys
Austrian School of Economics
Autocephaly

Bailouts
Banks
The Beatles
Benjamin Spock
Bill Gates
Birth control
Bishops’ conferences, usually
Bishopesses
Blasphemy
Bob Marley
Bongo drums
Boob jobs
“Born-again” “Christians”
Bowling
Boy bands
Broadway musicals
The Brooklyn Bridge
Bulletin boards
Bullying
Bumper stickers

Cable News Network (CNN)
Californians (but not California)
Capitalism [Tancred notes: This ill-defined term is of great moment for many in the public sector who wish for a Utopian dream world.]
Cardinal Kaspar
Cardinal Law
Cardinal Mahoney
Cartoons
Catullus
Celine Dion
Charismatic Movement
Charles Curran
Che Guevara
Cheap booze
Cheez Whiz
Chicago cronyism
Chick tracts
Child actors
Christopher West
Chuck E. Cheese’s
Cigarettes (pipes and cigars are ok, for men)
Civil rights
Climate change
Clowns
Co-ed anything
Collegeville
Committees
Communion in the hand
Communism
Concelebration
Concubinage
Conspiracies
“Contemporary” “English”
Contraception
Conventions
Converse All Stars
Cool Whip
Corporatism
Country “music”
“Courtship” instead of “dating”
Cravats
Crystals

Dan Brown novels
David Cameron
David Haas
Debates
Decimal Currency
Delilah Rene (that stupid bitch on the radio)
Democracy
The Democratic Party
Demonstrations
Denim
Descriptive Grammar
Desecration
Dialogue
Dick and Jane Method
Disobedient children
Dissent
Diversity
Divination
Divorce
Dog Shit
Drag Shows
Dreadlocks, at least on white people
Drug Abuse Resistance Education
Dual Covenant Theology
Dungeons and Dragons

Eagles Wings
Ear wax
Ebonics

École Normale Supérieure

Ecumenism

Egalitarianism
Elections
Elvis Impersonators
Environment and Art in Catholic Worship
Equality
Error
Eucharistic Prayers, newly composed
The Euro
The European Union
Ex-priests
Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion

Fast food
Fat people
Febreze
Female clergy
Feminism
Folk music in church
Fornication
Fox News
Fraternities (but not the Fraternity)
Free-verse poetry, Elliot excepted
The French Revolution
Free Masonry
Free-standing altars in Western churches
Free trade
Freedom
French police in riot gear
Fundraisers

Gambling
Gas-guzzling SUVs
Gather Us In
Gay marriage
Gay sex
Gender balance
Gender identity
Gender studies
General intercessions
Global warming
Golf
Good Friday Prayer for the Jews, 1970
Gossip columnists
Government statistics
Graduate Record Examinations
Greek life
The Gregorian Institute of America
Guitars
Gynarchy
Gynergy

Haikus
Hamburger Helper
Hans Küng
Harley Davidsons
Harvard University
Health insurance companies
Hedonism
Here I am, Lord
Heresy
Heterodoxy
High school bands
Hip-hop
Hipsters
Historical critical method
Hitler
Hollywood
Homeopathy
Homilies instead of Sermons
Horoscopes
(For women:) How bad your last relationship was
(For undergraduates:) How drunk you were last night
Hugo Chávez
Human Rights Commissions
Hymns at Mass

Iconoclasm
Identity Politics
IKEA
Immigration
Imperialism
Improper grammar (e.g. “between you and I)
Inclusion
Inclusive language
Inculturation
Insubordination
The Internal Revenue Service
International Commission on English in the Liturgy
Internet dating websites
Inter-religious dialogue
Involvement
Ipods
Islam, radical or otherwise
The Israeli occupation of Palestine

Jackson Pollock
James Pike
Jazz
Jazzercise
Jeans
Jennifer Granholm
Jerry Springer
Jesuits, St. Louis and otherwise
Jesuit Psalter
The Jesus Seminar
Joan Chittister
John Calvin
John Shelby Spong
Justin Bieber (especially his haircuts)

Karl Rahner
Katharine Schori
The Kennedies
The Ku Klux Klan

Lady Gaga
Lawyers
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
The Left Behind Series
The Legion of Christ
Lensless glasses
Lesbianism
Liberalism
Libertarianism
Liberty
Lists
Litter Boxes
Liturgical Revision
Liturgists
The loss of the pronoun whom
The loss of the subjunctive
The lottery
Lutheranism

Margaret Sanger
Marijuana
Mark Zuckerberg
Martin Luther
Matriarchy
Marty Haugen
Marxism
Meat on Fridays
The media
Medjugorje
Megachurches
The Message
Meta-narratives
Methodism
Military-Industrial Complex
Miniskirts
Mixed Choirs
“Modern” “Art”
Modernism
Monster truck rallies
Montel Williams
Mormonism
Mothers who fail to breastfeed
Mullets
Music, post-1900

Neo-cons
Neo-liberal Economics
New age shit
New International Version
New York City
New Yorkers
Nightclubs
The 1960s and ‘70s
Nintendo
No Child Left Behind Act
North American Free Trade Agreement
Nose rings
Notre Dame University
The Novus Ordo
Nuns in business suits

One Direction
One size fits all
Open theism
Operah Winfrey
Oregon Catholic Press
Organic pet food

Pacifists
The Packers
Paganism, Neo- and otherwise
Paper napkins
Parents who don’t care
Partially hydrogenated oils
The “Peace Prayer” wrongly attributed to St. Francis
Peace signs
Pentecostalism
People We Don’t Like
Petitions, especially online
Pets
Pilates
Pianos instead of harpsichords
Piercings on men
Pink
Pius X Psalter
Planned Parenthood
Political correctness
Pollution
Poncho chasubles
Ponytails on men, especially clergy
Pope Paul VI
Pornography
Post-modernism
Praise and worship music
Pray Tell Blog
President Bush
President Obama
Presiders and their Captain Kirk chairs
Pretentiousness
Pride parades
Priestesses
Prince Charles
Princess Diana
Professional athletes
Projection screens in churches
Prom
Pornography
Property rights
Protestantism
Protests
Psalm tone propers
Psychics
Psychology

Quantitative Assessments
Queer
Questioning
Quotas

Racism
Rainbow flags
Rainbow stoles
Rap
The Rapture
RCIA directors
Refrain glorias
The Republican Party
Republicanism
Responsorial psalms
Revolution
Rice-A-Roni
Richard Dawkins
Rights
Rock concerts
Rock ‘n’ roll
Role playing games
Rowan Williams
Rush Limbaugh
Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Sacrilege
Sarah Palin
Saxophones
Scented candles
Scholastic gibberish
Seances
SeaWorld
Secularism
Sedevacantists
Self-gift
Self-narratives
Self-possession
Sex, most of the time
Sex education
Sex reassignment surgery
Sexting
Sexual assault
Sexually transmitted infections
Shag carpeting
Shake ‘n Bake
Shopping malls
Shortshorts
Sign of peace
Sin
Six-day creationism
Smart drinks
Soap operas
Soccer moms
Sociology
Sodomy
Sororities
Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Poverty Law Center
Speaking in tongues
The Spice Girls
Spirituality
Sports
Stalin
Star Trek
Star Wars
The Statue of Liberty (i.e. That Idol of a French Whore)
Steve Jobs
Stoles worn over chasubles
Stupid people
The Supreme Court
Sustainability

Taliban
Tarot cards
Tattoos (a.k.a. “tramp stamps”)
The Tea Party, but not tea simply
Televangelists
Television
Texting
Therapy
Think-tanks
The three-year lectionary
Tolerance
Toleration
Toupées
Trailer parks
Transgendered
Transvestites
Trousers on women

Ugly people
Ugly tabernacles
Underwater Mongolian basket weaving
United Nations
Urban sprawl

Vampire novels
Vandalism
Vatican II
Vegetarianism
Veganism
Versus populum
Viagra
Vice
Violence

Walmart
Walt Disney
Wall Street
Washington DC
Welfare dependency
Whiggery
Witchcraft
Witches
Wombforce
Women’s ordination
Women who drive and talk on the phone at the same time
Womynist identities
World Council of Churches
World Youth Day
Wrestling, professional
Written constitutions

Xylophones

Yankee cuisine
Yankee foreign policy
Yard signs
Yoga
Your face
Your feelings (mine are ok)
Your happiness (and mine too)
Your Mom

Cardinal Tauran Preaches Stresses New Dogmas During London Visit

Edit: a correspondent sent this.  Here's a google translation with some editing:

[Radio Vatican] "Religions are the source of love, unity and peace, and if a religion teaches otherwise, then it is not a religion." [This must be some new kind of orthodoxy] These are the words of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, on Friday in London. The prelate began a five-day visit to Britain. The president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue will strengthen interfaith relations in the country and stress that the friendship between religions is already the foundation of peace. 
On June 13, Westminster Cathedral, he attended an interfaith meeting entitled "together in prayer for peace." His visit comes amid tension after the recent murder in the stabbing of a soldier in London exacerbating intercommunal hatred. Hence the importance of such an initiative was welcomed by the bishop in charge of interreligious dialogue within the Episcopal Conference of England and Wales. 
Non-violence, an absolute imperative [Not the Faith] 
"At a time when violence and in many different forms, has become the major concern in many parts of the world, because it disturbs the peace in families, in communities and in society, the practice of non-violence becomes imperative for Catholics and Jains" said Cardinal Tauran. This implies that "believers and people of good will, honor the dignity of every human being, and that beyond differences due to religion or other factors, we recognize our responsibility vis-à-vis the family human to which we all belong and we need help, personally and collectively, for the full development of each in love, justice, freedom and harmony. This is the only way to help promote peace and prosperity in the world." 
An interfaith cooperation to promote harmony and peace 
Thursday was the highlight of the trip Cardinal Tauran. An interfaith ceremony was held in Westminster Cathedral in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, local bishops and members of  various new religions. "How can we, in practice, messengers and peacemakers?" Cardinal Tauran asked during his speech on the theme "Together in prayer for peace. "  The answer, he continued, "is that, first of all, we must first truly live their faith, regardless of the religion to which one belongs. For a life of faith lived authentically can not fail to produce fruits of peace and brotherhood, as no religion teaches otherwise." The Cardinal certainly did not deny the existence, at the moment," of some fundamentalists and fanatics who seek to incite intolerance and violence against those who do not share their beliefs in the name of religion. "However, he noted, these are a minority. Hence the appeal made ​​to  "interfaith cooperation" to promote "respect, mutual understanding and cooperation in the cause of peace."  
(Photo: Cardinal Tauran in England with the representative of the Hindu community) 

The Rebirth of Scouting?

A Catholic Symbol

Edit: I never got much out of Scouting, but it's a shame now that a lot of Catholics won't because of their waffling. A Scout is supposed to be morally straight.  The organization decided to put an end to that and has prompted the closing of branches in parishes predominated by faithful Catholics. Hopefully they can consider this as a legitimate alternative, the Scouts of St. George:

We are getting thousands of emails from all over the world. By God’s grace, the Scouts of Saint George will launch on time by the end of the summer!

These emails express excitement from young men and parents. However, its becoming apparent, that the SSG isn’t for everyone.

I want to be 100% transparent about what the Scouts of Saint George is and what it is not. I do not want anyone to spend their efforts with us only to be disappointed.

We have a very specific mission and goal: that Catholic men and boys will become saints in their love for our Lord Jesus Christ. The context we have chosen for this is the outdoors in the scouting tradition founded by Baden-Powell.

Here are 6 reasons why the Scouts of Saint George isn’t for everyone:

1) This is a Catholic movement. Please understand that the SSG is for Catholic men and Catholic boys. There are a number of reasons for this exclusivity:

a) The SSG will include activities expressly Catholic (Mass, Rosary, Marian hymns, pilgrimages to Guadalupe/Fatima/Rome, prayers to Saint George, etc). It’s not fair to ask non-Catholics to act contrary to their religious beliefs.

Image this! Think about forty boys and a few dads sitting around a campfire at 10:45pm with the sky full of stars. They just spent a long and exhausting day hiking and practicing survival techniques. The sky is full of constellations. The Milky Way is spread out above them. The boys just finished telling camp fire stories and performing a few skits. The dads cooked peach cobbler for the boys in their cast-iron dutch ovens. When they finish their hot cobbler, the boys take turns leading the Rosary and finish by chanting the Salve Regina to Mary in Latin.

If that doesn’t excite you, then the SSG is probably not for you. 

If this sounds like a scouting dream come true. Then join the team and start a troop.

b) Membership and leadership standards will include recommendations from a Catholic priest in good standing and safe-environment classes from the local diocese.

c) It would be disingenuous to give awards referring to saints, Mary, or sacramental realities to non-Catholics. A Mormon shouldn’t be receiving Trinitarian badges. Protestants shouldn’t be receiving Marian or Eucharistic regalia or symbols. It’s inauthentic. It doesn’t comport with the truth.

d) What if we allowed non-Catholics? What if a Troop became 51% Protestant and voted to have a Calvinist chaplain instead of a Catholic priest? Then what? Are any Catholics going to join it? The SSG in that town has abandoned its birthright.

“But what about witnessing to other non-Catholic boys? We cannot leave them out in the rain!” I certainly feel this objection in my heart. I was a non-Catholic scout and I do know that Catholic scouts had an influence on me. Trust me. I understand. However, if we are going to avoid the mistakes of the BSA, we are going to have to make a stand on this. We must be on the same page when it comes to moral issues. Which leads to…

2) We have high moral standards. The SSG are called to high standards. Alcoholism, adultery, fornication, and any other transgressions against the doctrinal or moral teaching of the Catholic Church will not be tolerated in the adult leaders or with the scouts. The SSG should be exemplars of virtue in their community.

3) This is a men’s movement. A lot of people have taken exception to this. “The Scouts of Saint George is as much about Cahtolic men as it is about Catholic boys.” I’ve placed this quote in bold because that sound bite should be repeated whenever anyone talks about the SSG.

Visit your local Catholic parish and you’ll see that men have generally abandoned its leadership. This is true with attendance and volunteer work. The published stats are readily available. We need a renewal in Catholic manhood. We start with the men and their boys. We begin to start a revolution where fathers and sons are not embarrassed to pray the Rosary together.

Can mother’s help out and be involved in a number of ways? Of course! We need the mothers! Wives are integral to the spiritual formation of their husbands and their sons. Our wonderful mothers are not to be excluded. However, the leadership and camping activities are for men and boys only. Boys become men through the mentorship of other men. The Blessed Virgin Mary was without sin, all holy, all wise, and the most perfect creature of all. Yet God still placed Saint Joseph into Christ’s life. Mary facilitated. However, Mary did not teach Jesus how to carve wood. She left that to Joseph.

4) We are not co-ed. Young men and women need each other, but they also need to have times apart. I’m an Eagle Scout. I’ve been a high school teacher. I am a college professor. I am a father. Take it from me: Boys act and think differently when girls are around. They don’t ask questions. They play it cool. They are more self-aware. They are less aware of their friends and more aware of the girls. That’s not bad. That’s just the way things are. Why fight nature?

Boys (and men) need to get away and get into the woods and sit around the fire. I believe that down to the core of my bones. Is your husband stressed out? Send him out into the woods. He’ll come back a happier man.

Will we start a “Scouts of Saint Joan of Arc” at some point? We are considering it. Right now, there is more demand for SSG and we are overwhelmed. Moreover, I am an Eagle Scout. I don’t know much about girl scouting. We would need women to help take up the torch in this regard. I’m open to it.

5) We are not a “boy’s club.” The Scouts reading this site already understand this. The Knight of Columbus Squires and other great boys groups are wonderful. We promote and support them. However, scouting is different. It’s an outdoors movement. It entails rappelling, knots, camping, backpacking, survival, dutch oven cooking, fishing, etc.

Camping and doing survival weekends isn’t for everyone. We are not chiefly concerned about community service. We encourage that, but that’s not the point of SSG. We want a boy to come home and proudly tell his mother that he now knows how to rig a small sail boat. We want a boy to have that moment of self-confidence burned into his memory.

6) We have high-standards. This point comes from Baden-Powell. He understood that boys don’t want to be boys. Boys want to be men. Inner city gangs understand this. Unfortunately, many good people do not understand this reality with boys. The SSG isn’t going to be an easy “check the box” organization. The ranks will be earned and the boys will know their faith and have character. We expect that many these young men will go on to be the heroic priests of the next generation.

Scouting, to distill the idea, is asking boys to achieve manhood. We are modeling ourselves on chivalry and the art of being a gentlemen. We aren’t going to tolerate backward baseball caps, shirt tails out, and white basketball shoes with the uniform. Yes, it’s going to be a little bit old fashioned. The handbooks, uniforms, badges, hats, neckerchiefs, and everything associated is going to be of higher quality than the BSA. When you see it, you will say, “Wow!” When non-Catholics see it, they will say, “I wish I were Catholic! That looks so cool!

Your sons will look like men because we want them to become men. Baden-Powell always stressed the importance of self-respect and public appearance, and we should not forget it. There is nothing Catholic about looking like a slob. From the chivalric orders, to the religious orders, to the diocesan priesthood, the Catholic Church has always insisted on proper dress. The Scouts of Saint George should see themselves in that tradition.

I imagine that a few will read these six points above and think, “Shucks. I’m out. This isn’t for me. This isn’t for my family.” That’s okay. It’s better for all of us to realize this at the beginning rather than two years into it.

If anyone wants to fight over these 6 points of identity for the SSG, please don’t. These six principles are not up for debate. They are part of the core identity of the Scouts of Saint George. There are other boys clubs and scouting organizations out there. I’m sure you can find a fit.

Now I turn my eyes to those who have read these six points and are fired up. Do you want be that father sitting around the camp fire praying the Rosary and looking up at the stars? Do you want a Catholic mens/boys movement that seeks to transform the culture and restore genuine manhood? If so, please start a troop in your town. Man up and take the lead. Let’s work together.

On our death beds, we will be glad and grateful that we did this…

CALL TO ACTION: We will begin the registration of the first 100 SSG Troops on July 1, 2013. These first 100 Troops will be “Charter Troops” and will retain special badges and honor in perpetuity as the original “100 Charter Troops of the SSG.”

In order to Charter a Troop you need:

1. A father to volunteer as Troop Sergeant (sergeant comes from the Latin serviens, meaning “one who serves”)
2. You need at least Catholic six boys. Baden-Powell believed that six boys were the bare minimum. We are exclusively Catholic among the Scouts and the leadership.
3. Support from your priest. A Troop cannot be chartered without a letter for reference from a priest in good standing. Adult volunteers will need to go through the “Keeping Kids Safe” (or similar program) in your Catholic diocese.
4. You will need to register your troop at this website to be officially associated with the SSG. Look for the application form in July.

Godspeed,

Taylor Marshall, PhD
Eagle Scout

Limericks

Sometimes even the LCWR can provide artistic inspiration:

There once was a sister named Sue,
Who didn't know what to do.
She took off her habit,
And married the abbot,
And said it was Vatican II.

And Sue, while teaching in pride,
To our children this nun would confide:
"It's only a meal,
And no big deal;
Develop the Goddess inside."

But soon Sue yearned to be free,
And so she went on a spree,
Now the abbot's her ex,
And she likes same-sex,
Approved, she says, by Vatican III.

And likewise Pray Tell:

There once was a liturgist named Ray,
Who would always forget to pray.
He took out the rail,
And one day will wail,
When Latin comes back to stay.

Cardinal Kasper:

There once was a Lutheran named Claude,
Who loved his heresy, so flawed.
He would not repent,
And to hell he was sent,
Because he refused to listen to God.

The author encourages his readers to contribute their own limericks on the thread. Share the love. Pass it forward.

"Venerabilis", Website for Indecent Encounters Between Priests in Italy

(Rome) It is not easy to talk about some things, but  Pope Francis' statement of a gay lobby in the Catholic Church draws waves. As the Catholic writer, Vittorio Messori made ​​known, there is a page on the Internet called Venerabilis which is run by  a fraternity of Homo-Sensitive Roman Catholic Priests.

The homo Sensitive  priestly society claims to be a loose association of gay and homophile Catholic priests. The website serves as a gay dating site, so that aberrosexual priests can find contact among themselves, or homosexual laity can meet like-minded priests and vice versa. This page offers chat rooms in five languages, including in German, a Twitter service to the Catholic Church and some news from a "homo sensitive" view. The ads are unique. Anyone who registers on the Venerabilis and gives a personal ad or responds to one, seeks homosexual sexual contact.

The site is operated by Italian aberrosexuals. The Italian chatroom is the most visited, followed by Spain and France.

Sex contacts for priests, seminarians, religious and lay people committed

Whether it is priests who are the operators, can not be said with certainty. However, Messori has no doubt. In the German chat room, you can read messages like: "Good day, I live in Germany and seeking contact with like-minded men (priests)", including e-mail address. Or: "I, too, am seeking a devout Catholic (within the Church as a committed layman) to like-minded people in the name of love ...". "I'm looking for a friend. A priest like me. "

In the Italian chat one gets  even more to the point. This recent entry contact on the 12th of June  is: "My name is Luca from Milan and would like to meet a priest with serious intentions to associate with him."  On the 23rd of May an "Anonymous" wrote, "Good day, I am 67 years old, I had friendships with priests who were important for my spiritual, personal and sexual life ... I would like to be contacted by priests in Rome again and to experience these feelings, PS: I am a teacher and guarantee discretion for me and for everyone who answers me. " Or "I'm a married man of 50 years, looking for gay priests for a discrete friendship in the area of ​​(name of city)." On 15 May: "Hi, my name is Marco from (city name), an ex-seminarian seeking young priest."

Since the 1st of May  the aberro-brotherhood, which calls itself Fraternitas Sacerdotalis. is  a "meeting place" in order to meet "personally" and at "no risk". And in fact, Rome Feltrinelli bookstore in Largo Argentina  has a "6- 8pm" at the cafeteria or in the department "Philosophy and Religion". "For the seminarians of the Jesuit university Gregorian University and the Dominican Angelicum from 11 to 12 clock in the same place. "

Zero tolerance of pedophilia. When is there also going to be zero tolerance towards aberrosexuality?

When Pope Francis reitrated the zero tolerance policy of Pope Benedict XVI. against pedophilia in April, the Catholic intellectual Roberto de Mattei said: "zero tolerance against homosexuality" The historian recalled a meeting on the 12th of April 2010 in Chile, and drew attention to the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone who addressed scientific studies  on an evident connection between sexual abuse of minors, and homosexuality. There is, says de Mattei, an urgent need to combat  the hedonistic and relativistic culture which has ripped into the church relativistic, for  homosexuality or homosexual tendencies in seminaries are even considered to be "irrelevant".

"Opposite, 'structures of sin' is silence not allowed. It is compulsory to tear the veil of hypocrisy, even if some will view this as a defilement of the Church. The dirt is sin, not the combat against it," says the historian, who quoted the holy Peter Damian (1007-1072): "This vice should not be viewed as a normal burden, because it involves significantly other vices. It kills namely, the body, destroys the soul, contaminating the flesh, choking the light of the intellect, drives away the Holy Spirit from the temple of the soul, leading to inciting a demon of lust, seduced into error ... ".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Venerable Screenshot

Link to katholisches...

First Communion "Star Wars" Mass with Light Saber Blessing

Hohenbrunn (Catholic news). There is a tremendous departure presently in southern Germany, which had its source in association with four parishes (St. Stephen in Putzbrunn, Ortisei in Sunnyvale, St. Magdalena in Ottobrun and St. Stephen in Hohenbrunn), from the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. It wasn't Darth Vader who gave the blessing to the first communion children. This was personally undertaken by Pastor Christoph Nobs with a bright green laser sword at the celebration of a Star Wars First Communion Mass. The idea for the stars-War Communion came from Nicolas Gkotses community director. Star Wars had been a theme for the children in their religious instruction and so he tried to communicate the gospel in this way in a timely manner. - "May the force be with you!"

 Source: Lightsaber blessing hi-münchen.de

Back to your regular dose of humour...

Back in the days when Anglicanorum Coetibus had been released but none of the Ordinariates had yet been set up, I did some internet research and noticed that the Episcopal/Anglican parishes that might come into the Ordinariate tended to describe themselves in similar ways online. The Muse then pushed a button and the following parody flowed from my fingertips.

Welcome to St Thomas of Canterbury Anglicatholic Church, where we’re formal, friendly, and faithful both to the Bishop of Rome and the Anglican tradition of worship.

On an average Sunday here at STCAC, the worshiper will find a great number of services to satisfy both his canonical obligation and Christian duty to worship God in the beauty of his holiness, decently and in order, at both the Divine Office and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. For those who prefer to observe the traditional Eucharistic fast from midnight or who may need to work later in the day, we offer two low Masses, the first according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at 5:30 AM and the other according to Sarum Use at 6:15 AM. While we have obtained permission from the Sacred Congregation in Rome for the lessons at these services to be read in the vernacular, such permission is superfluous for they are muttered so silently that no one can hear them. For those who prefer sung services, Matins or Morning Prayer begins promptly at 8:30 followed by the Great Litany in Advent, Septuagesima, Lent, and on other days of fasting or abstinence. At Matins and Lauds we typically follow Sarum Use translated into the hieratic style of the Prayer Book by the Reverend Palmer, but modified in accordance with Pope St. Pius X’s 1911 reforms of the weekly psalter. At High Mass which follows, we typically celebrate according to Sarum Use enriched with certain beloved prayers from the Prayer Book tradition, including the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church (always changing indifferently to impartially), the Comfortable Words, the Confession, the Absolution, and the Peace, all immediately after the Sermon, as well as Archbishop Cranmer’s Post-Communion. In times of penitence, the celebrant uses the Roman Canon in silence, whilst on other days he says a modified Prayer Book Canon, adding prayers for the Pope, the Sovereign, the Bishop, and the dead, as well as an elaborate and explicit epiclesis. We likewise typically follow the Roman colour scheme at these services, with the addition of blue vestments for feasts of Our Lady, yellow for feasts of Confessors, and ashen grey for Passiontide. High Mass is always followed by the chanting of the Angelus as well as prayers for the ascension of the House of Wittelsbach to the throne of St. Edward.

On most Sundays and Holy Days of the year, we reassemble as a community of faith for an organ recital at 4:45 PM followed by sung Evening Prayer or Vespers at 5:15 PM. This service usually follows that prescribed by the 1662 Prayer Book with an added first versicle for the Supreme Pontiff: God bless the Pope: And let not the Gates of Hell prevail against him. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament usually follows. On those days when we add a solemn Compline after Benediction, the Nunc Dimittis at Evening Prayer is replaced either by the Phos Hilarion or the New Testament Canticle of the 1975 Liturgia Horarum taken from the Authorized Version. The clergy who assist in choir at our evening services always wear cassock, gown, tippet, bands, and catercap, in accordance with the tradition of the Anglican patrimony.

In addition to our weekly cycle of liturgies, our parish also enjoys a rich devotional life. On Wednesdays at noon, please join us for public recitation of the rosary. On Fridays throughout the year and all ferial days of Lent, we pray the Stations of the Cross at 3 PM followed by Evensong. On Fridays in Lent, thereafter follows a soup supper and book study. Finally, on Saturday mornings after Mass, our local chapter of the Archconfraternity prays a perpetual novena to both St. Philomena and St. Charles, King and Martyr. Because we are Christians in full communion with the See of Rome, Bible study is officially discouraged but not forbidden.

Childcare is available for all children under the age of five at the principle services each Sunday and major Holy Day. Those adults who feel called to volunteer in the nursery are encouraged to join our local chapter of the Confraternity of St. Nicholas of Myra, patron of children, harlots, and apothecaries. 

Because STCAC is a growing community welcoming of all people, we invite you to join us as we work together to build God’s Kingdom on earth. With your help, we hope in time to have more registered laity than clergy, staff, and paid choir members combined. 

Eucharistic Miracle in Sri Lanka? Buddhist Vandals are Forgiven by Cardinal Ranjith

(Colombo) A group of Buddhists devastated the Catholic Church of St. Francis Xavier in Angulana, in the Archdiocese of Colombo in Sri Lanka. The vandals smashed a 143 year old statue of Mary. However, their goal was the Blessed Sacrament. The perpetrators tore the tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament from the altar, broke it up and set it on fire. According to police, at least 30 liters of kerosene were poured over the tabernacle, to put it on fire. However, by some miracle the consecrated Hosts did not burn in the tabernacle which was damaged but remained intact.

When the sacristan discovered the vandalism, he rang the church bells, so that the faithful flocked together. The Catholics of the Archdiocese of Colombo are shocked by the incident.

Many look to the integrity of the consecrated hosts as a miraculous intervention. A Eucharistic miracle, which should demonstrate the power of God, and shame the attacker, as it happened in Lanciano, Bolsena and many other places over the past 2000 years? "A great miracle has happened, mediated by Jesus in our country and it will give the attackers a message: No one can destroy Christ and His love. No one can harm Him," were the quoted voices of local Catholics by Asianews.

Pastor Christo Viraj Fernando and his chaplain Kasun Fernando condemned the violence. At the same time, they called on the faithful to remain calm, to thank God for the wonderful integrity of the consecrated Hosts to pray for the conversion of the perpetrators and to forgive them.

Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo has initiated investigations. The intact Hosts were brought to safety in order to allow the police, but also the church to inspect them. The Cardinal will perform the reconsecration as competent bishop for a church desecration according to church canons, before the church can be reopened for worship.

The incident occurred on 5 June at about 10 clock in the evening. Initially, Buddhist extremists were thought of as they have attacked Christians for months in Sri Lanka, but it may also be an attack from the Islamic minority. The attacks usually are a result of Buddhist extremist organizations Bodu Bala Sena and Sinhala Ravaya. A new phenomenon, the police and the public are faced with new challenges. Previously religiously motivated violence were a rarity on the island.

On Monday, the police arrested four teenagers. They are said to have done the deed while intoxicated. The facts did not correspond to the first suggestion, that there were two Buddhists and two Catholic perpetrators. According to police, all four perpetrators were Buddhists. Cardinal Ranjith has shown them the spirit of Christian love in public, such as the Sunday Times reported from Sri Lanka.

Text: Asianews / Giuseppe Nardi Image: Tamil Week Trans: Tanc

Russian Pro-Morality Bill Passes: The West is Aghast

Edit: in case you haven't seen this.

MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday gave its final approval for a controversial “anti-gay” bill, with only one of the 436 lawmakers present abstaining and no votes against, after a day of clashes outside the building and dozens of arrests by police. 

The bill seeks to ban the “the promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships,” making such acts punishable by a fine of up to 1 million rubles ($30,000). 

The first draft of the bill, passed by the State Duma on January 25, used the term “homosexuality” but this was replaced by the term “non-traditional sexual relationships,” in the final version Tuesday.

Link read further... 

A similar movement collapsed in Romania, however. (Surely, EU membership  threats loom somewhere on the horizon, and well, Romanians aren't Hungarians, they're not even Russians.) I found the following from the aforelinked blog, at a Political Refugee in the Global Village, which shows the determined lack of direction and conviction which typically stymies most people, unfortunately, especially churchmen, from making definitive and clear cut statements.  Auden may have struggled with sin, but he wasn't a "practicing homosexual" and he certainly didn't quibble about calling a sin a sin, either.  Understandably, as those of us with strong connections to people suffering from various kinds of sins in the Dictatorship of Relativism, we tend to waffle.  I think Auden would have objected to being called out thusly. Italics ours:

I hope this constitutional amendment  becomes law but doubt it will, simply for fear of foreign opinion.  

I do not want to be pharisaical or victimise homosexuals. As the cliché goes, many of my best friends are homosexuals (they really are). We are all fallen creatures, thoroughly imperfect, but because we break the rules this does not mean the rules about fornication, adultery and divorce  are wrong. I prefer what W.H. Auden, a practicing homosexual and a practicing Christian, said: 'Of course its a sin and we must hope that God will forgive us.'  Homosexual marriage would be a public recognition by the law that what Christianity teaches about sexual life was out of date and bigoted. It would also mean that marriage had changed in its essential meaning.  

Romanians used to be shocked by homosexuality (as by smoking joints and other things which are pretty normal further West). Now they are learning slowly from the EU that Christian teaching on the matter is bigoted. In other words, the old doctrine is a sin against the new human rights religion which seems to complement but is, in fact, replacing Christianity. 

Milwaukee's Archbishop Listeki to Direct Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Edit: This is from the planner's facebook group.  We've heard of Cardinal Gibbons going into protestant churches to preach on Sundays about the glories of Americanism, but this is really... comical.  Of course, some will remember when he helped unveil Archbishop Weakland's bronze "defender of children" statue.  Milwaukee is so lucky.

On Monday, June 17, 2013, Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki will trade in his bishop’s staff for a baton and add “music conductor” to his list of jobs, as he guest conducts the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the Milwaukee Theater, 400 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, 7:30 p.m.  

The 360-member chorus of men and women, and 65 members of the Orchestra at Temple Square, all volunteers, has performed at World’s Fairs and expositions, at inaugurations of U.S. presidents, in acclaimed concert halls from Australia and Europe to Asia and the Middle East, and on television broadcasts. With their incomparable voices and their shared faith in God, they are a significant presence in the world of music as they give service through song.

Pope Francis Admits "Gay Lobby" in the Hierarchy

Edit: here's an article from France 24 on this subject.  The pope is appointing at least three Cardinals who've had problems with this issue in the past.  Cardinal Marx himself has even appointed a priest dismissed for accessing child pornography in the infamous Sankt Polten Seminary scandal,  to parish work.  These Old Liberal celebrity predators never seem to get in trouble with the media bosses for their coverups.

AFP - Pope Francis has admitted the existence of a "gay lobby" inside the Vatican's secretive administration, the Curia, according to sources cited Tuesday by religious media. 

"In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption," the 76-year-old is quoted as having said during an audience last Thursday with CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women). 

"There is talk of a 'gay lobby' and it's true, it exists," he said. 

The Argentine pope has made reforming the Roman Curia -- the heavily criticised and intrigue-filled administration of the Catholic Church -- a keystone of his papacy, but said it would be "difficult". 

"I cannot carry out the reforms myself," he said, explaining that he was "disorganised".
For that reason, the task will be handled by a commission of eight cardinals from around the world whom Francis appointed in April to help him govern the Catholic Church, set to meet for the first time in October.

We cite the following:

• Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello of Italy, President of the Government of the Vatican City State;
• Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa of Chile, the retired archbishop of Santiago;
• Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India, archbishop of Bombay (Mumbai);
• Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the archbishop of Kinshasa
• O'Malley;
• Marx;
• Cardinal George Pell of Australia, the archbishop of Sydney;
• Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga of Honduras, the archbishop of Tegucigalpa.