Readings & Reflections: Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Rose of Lima, August 23,2017
Isabel was born in 1586 in Lima, Peru. A nurse remarked that she was “beautiful life a rose,” and the name stuck. From the very young age, Rose felt chosen by God and sought to “proclaim the beauty of divine grace” through constant prayer and mortification. She rubbed her lovely face with pepper to make herself unattractive to ward off would be suitors. She worked diligently to support her family by creating delicate lacework, and tended the poor sick that came to her home. She was frequently criticized by her neighbors, but also frequently consoled by profound experiences off Christ’s presence. The commission of the Inquisition that investigated her concluded that her mystical experiences resulted from “the impulses of grace.” At age twenty she took a vow of chastity and entered the Dominican Third Order. She died in 1617 A.D.read more
<ROME>, AUGUST 22, 2017 (Zenit.org).- “Politics must not interfere in the life of the Church” : there is convergence on this point between the Patriarchate of Moscow and the Holy See, said in Russian the Patriarch of Moscow, after the meeting between Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, and Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, President of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate , on Monday, August 21, 2017 at Moscow in Russia. The issue of conflicts in Syria and Ukraine was also addressed, reported the same source.read more
The celebrity Jesuit tweeted Sunday evening, “The most popular heresy in the Catholic Twitterverse is Docetism. It betrays a fundamental fear of any indication that Jesus was fully human.”
Docetism was an Early Church heresy that held that Christ was not truly human, but only appeared so — a notion based on a gnostic denigration of the physical body over spirit. Martin — known for pushing pro-gay ideology and refusing to teach on chastity for active gay couples — charges Catholics with essentially forgetting Christ’s humanity — the humanity that experienced everything we experience yet without sin, and which — to borrow today’s popular Church-speak — results in an “encounter” that “meets people where they are” and “accompanies them” on their “journey” — even if that journey means remaining in mortal sin.read more
As we shared with you yesterday, all this week, the staff here at the apostolate will be having in-service days, making plans for the next year, programming decisions, training and so forth. So for this week, we will be providing you with abbreviated Vortex episodes.
Today, there are cries for unity, especially coming from social and theological Leftists. Please, move along with your hypocrisy. Western civilization was at one time unified — as a Catholic civilization — and it was you whole lot, first theological heretics, stemming from the Martin Luther initiated Protestant Revolt and then ramped up under anti-Catholic, philosophical Leftists, until it finally ascended to governmental Leftists with the French Revolution and now Cultural Leftists with your enshrining of mental illnesses as constitutional rights like homosexuality, transgenderism and of course child murder — even paid for by taxpayers.read more
Public reading is not public speaking, and lectoring requires nothing less, not more, of the lector.
In the past I have taught college speech, many times. Along with requiring students to deliver the usual species of speeches conforming to the usual categories, I always included sections on poetry recitation and public reading before a group. Both are art forms, I think (I may exaggerate but at least I taught them that way). Certainly they are a craft, and lectoring is a craft by itself.
Done well, reading scripture publicly is more than just a Bible reading. It is the lector’s job to read a passage into life so we may hear God’s story for us, first hand, for ourselves.read more
Archbishop Fernández Defends ‘Amoris Laetitia’ From Its Critics: Fornicating in self-defense
Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, at the Vatican Press Office, Oct. 8, 2014. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)
BLOGS | AUG. 21, 2017
Archbishop Fernández Defends ‘Amoris Laetitia’ From Its Critics
The ghostwriter of the Pope’s apostolic exhortation says the Holy Father wanted to discreetly change the Church’s pastoral practice on a key part of the Church’s moral teaching, while a prominent English Dominican calls for a procedure to correct papal errors in the document.
By Edward Pentin
One of Pope Francis closest advisers has publicly responded for the first time to trenchant criticisms of the Pope’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, insisting that, on the issue of remarried divorcees receiving Holy Communion, the Pope intended to discreetly change pastoral practice by taking into account the importance of responsibility and culpability in complex cases.
Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and the author who drafted Amoris Laetitia, said the Pope wishes pastors to consider “the complexity of particular situations” where he believes the terms “fornicator” or “adulterer” would be inappropriate.read more
Ary Scheffer, “Saint Augustine and His Mother Saint Monica”, 1846
BLOGS | AUG. 21, 2017
10 Lessons on Wayward Children
“God does not require that we be successful, only that we be faithful.”
By Patti Armstrong
“Please pray for one of my children,” an acquaintance in the Catholic media pleaded to me. “This person has lost their faith. Heartbroken. The one thing we tried so hard to do, the thing for which I prayed the most was that none of my children would ever experience this.”
When a child leaves the faith, parental heartbreak begins. My husband and I took serious measures to make sure we would avoid that.
This past April, one of our daughters married a good Catholic man at a beautiful wedding concelebrated by three priests. This was exactly what we envisioned would result from our dedicated Catholic parenting.read more
Readings & Reflections: Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time & Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 22,2017
Today’s feast reminds us that holiness means depending on God. The Queenship of Mary invites us to exercise our obedience to God in a way that results not in submission, but likeness. Saint Maximillian Kolbe wrote that Mary “has a right to be loved as Queen of all hearts so that through her, hearts would be cleansed and themselves become immaculate, similar and like unto her own heart, and so worty of union with God.” “A queen enjoys full power, even with regards to the king. Mary’s fullness of power is expressed in her intercession for us and her mediation of graces, so that we receive all personal graces from God” (von Balthasar).read more
The Holy Father said the attack August 17, 2017 in Barcelona was “blind violence” and a “very serious offense to the Creator”.
His words came in a telegram August 18, 2017 from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, his Secretary of State, to the Cardinal Archbishop of Barcelona Juan José Omella y Omella after the attacks that struck Spain, including Barcelona and Cambrils, Thursday evening, August 17.read more
A brief announcement, all this week the staff here at the apostolate will be having in-service days, making plans for the next year, programming decisions, training and so forth. As a result, we will be providing you with abbreviated Vortex episodes where we hope the points will be obvious but must be said.
So for today, is anyone else sick of the hypocritical moaning of the Left about racism and hatred and so forth? Yes, the events in Charlottesville were awful. No one should ever want to see someone be killed because they oppose them politically in a street demonstration.read more
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by 
Jeffrey Bruno
Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, rector of the Pontifical 
Ary Scheffer, “Saint Augustine and His Mother Saint Monica”, 1846
BLOGS | AUG. 21, 2017
10 Lessons on Wayward Children
“God does not require that we be successful, only that we be faithful.”
