Bishop Schneider: "I have asked Msgr. Fellay not to delay his acceptance any longer"“The movement to restore the traditional Mass is the work of the Holy Spirit, and is unstoppable”

Our partners at Adelante La Fe (Rorate in Spanish) today published an exclusive interview with His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider. The answers he gives are very blunt and bold -- even for the great bishop. It's pretty clear even by just skimming his answers that he believes the time has come for the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). 

HEADLINES

“There are many places where priests act more like Protestant ministers than Catholic priests”

“There are families that must travel more than 100 km (60 mi) so that they can go to a dignified Mass and hear sound doctrine”

“The faithful must ask the priests for kneelers so that they can kneel”

“We have a eucharistic-heart disease, and as long as we fail to heal it, the whole body will remain ill and will not produce fruit”

“In today’s climate, it’s a true miracle that we have vocations”

“Gender ideology is a depravity, a final form of Marxism”

“If they can, parents should withdraw their children from schools where they are taught gender ideology”

Important - Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith responds: Transsexual cannot be Godparent

The Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta, Spain, Bp. Rafael Zornoza, was the object of intense media persecution in his country after he refused the request of a lady (now claiming to be a "man") from being the "godfather". In early August, it seemed that he had caved in. As Breitbart reported on August 8, "A Spanish bishop has caved in to pressure and allowed a transsexual man to become a godfather. The Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta will now allow Alex Salinas, who was born a woman, to become godfather to his nephew, his local parish priest has said."

Alas, thankfully, that was not exactly the case. Today, the Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta published a long communiqué, which includes this central excerpt (first translation in English of the relevant CDF response):

[Bishop:]... Considering the disorientation caused among some of the faithful by some words having been attributed to me that I had not pronounced, and due to the complexity and media relevance of this subject, taking into consideration the possible pastoral consequences of any decision regarding it, I raised up a formal consultation before the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, whose response was:

Kiko Argüello and the Neocatechumenal Way: defenders of the family - but at what cost to Catholic doctrine?

{For the background to this post see our article: Rome's immense pro-family rally - a victory for marriage and for children in the face of secular and Bishops' hostility}

Kiko’s sombrero casts its shade on the demonstration in Rome of June 20th

 Corrispondenza Romana,
Roberto de Mattei

June 22nd 2015

The success of the demonstration against the ideology of Gender, on June 20th in Rome, was such that it almost overshadowed the echo of the media on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si, presented two days before in the Vatican.  The two events, which coincided, gave the opportunity to the sociologist Marco Marzano, of the university of Bergamo, to address “the challenge between two churches” : the first: applauded the Pope’s encyclical dedicated to social and ecological issues with a massive standing ovation; the second: took to the squares in Rome, to defend the traditional family  and  to reject equality between genders and any concession to the rights of homosexual couples”. (“Il Fatto Quotidiano” June 21st 2015).

Urgent: An Appeal to Prayer for Italy

Louis Duveau
A Mass at Sea in 1793 (1864)
Musée des beaux-arts de Rennes

Don Pietro Leone is a priest who has written numerous relevant pieces for Rorate, including the remarkable series "The Roman Rite - Old and New".

In view of the current legislative situation in the nation where the seat of Saint Peter presides to the Catholic Church, a situation that led to the massive rally in favor of Natural Law and the Family last Saturday in Rome, he sends us the following appeal to prayer.

Dear Brothers in the Holy Priesthood and Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Italian government is on the verge of passing a law to impose on the schools from the kindergarten level upwards the so called “Gender Ideology” , characterized by its peculiar intellectual and moral baseness which promotes natural and unnatural fornication within a purely hedonistic conception of sexuality.

This shameful and entirely despicable initiative in the very heart-land of Catholic Christendom certainly represents one of the focal points of this the gravest and most profound crisis that the Church and the world has ever known. It will result not only in the corruption and perversion of all our children but will also provoke the avenging fire of Divine wrath on the entire nation.

Rome's immense pro-family rally - a victory for marriage and for children in the face of secular and Bishops' hostility

Piazza San Giovanni, Rome. June 21, 2015

Zenit in Italiano and various Catholic media sources proclaim that there were a million marchers. Breitbart counts attendance at half a million, while secular liberal outlets put it at 300,000. Nevertheless there can be no doubt that Saturday's rally at the Piazza San Giovanni (in front of the St. John Lateran Basilica) was a resounding success. The rally was formally described by its organizers as a "National Mobilization" against the imposition of gender ideology in schools and the "Cirinnà bill" that has been introduced at the Italian Parliament. This bill proposes to give same-sex "couples" many of the same rights as married couples, effectively entrenching homosexual "civil unions" in Italian law.

Cardinal Danneels (family "expert" chosen by Francis) tried to convince King Baudouin to Sign Abortion Law - and shocking news of Brussels succession

Pro-life sovereigns: Queen Fabiola, Pope John Paul II, King Baudouin (Danneels walks behind them)

Two Belgian politicians admit for the first time openly that Cardinal Godfried Danneels tried to convince King Baudouin to sign the law on abortion in 1990. Former politicians Philippe Moureau (PS, Parti Socialiste) and Mark Eyskens (CVP, Flemish Christian Democrats) said this in a documentary for the Flemish Broadcasting Corporation VTM on April 6, 2015 (http://nieuws.vtm.be/binnenland/135916-25-jaar-abortuswet-boudewijn-onder-druk, at 2:05). According to VTM, cardinal Danneels did not want to comment.

The Danger of "Gender": The shaking up of sexual identity is a prelude for totalitarian ideologies.

"Male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27)

Avvenire [daily of the Italian Bishops' Conference]
An interview by Luciano Moia

February 28, 2015

“The shaking up of sexual identity is a prelude for totalitarian ideologies.”

Monsignor Tony Anatrella

“A cultural shift, sustained by an intellectual lobby and very powerful politics, which risks sapping the roots of the very foundations of Western civilization. Opposing and fighting it should be the task of all people of good will.”

This is what Monsignor Tony Anatrella sustains, a French priest and psychoanalyst, one of the greatest scholars in the world on the “gender-risk” and author of many essays on the same theme.

Yesterday evening at the Cultural Center in Milan, he presented two of them, the latest translated into Italian – Gender Theory and The Origins of Homosexuality and The Reign of Narcissus, both published by San Paolo.

***

Q. More than once you stated that behind the origins of “gender” there is a great lie: the assertion that sexual identity can be changed according to one’s liking, along the lines of an imaginary perspective that doesn’t take into account biological facts. Why is it dangerous to encourage such a conviction?

Dear Father: Answers for Troubled Times - Gender Ideology and the Priesthood

Dear Father,

I watched Cardinal O’Malley’s interview on Sixty Minutes the other night. I like him and have every reason to believe that he is a good bishop and takes that role seriously. But he made me uneasy when he was discussing the question of whether women can become priests. The Pope himself said that this was not a question “that could be put on the table”, not up for discussion. But the Cardinal seemed to be having difficulty responding to Norah O’Donnell’s question about whether the exclusion of women in the priesthood is “immoral”. His response, when it came, seemed to be the right one to give, but it included a statement that if he were to found a church he would love to have women priests. Am I wrong in being uneasy about all of this?

Ataloss in Atlanta

Bishops attack dangerous "Gender" ideology and redefinition of marriage. And from where else? Polonia Semper Catholica

[Note: The first English version of this Pastoral Letter had so many mistranslations it was impossible for us to post it at the time (late December 2013). We are glad that the Polish Bishops' Conference recently posted a new and improved translation of this very important document for the protection of the family and the struggle against the pervasive influence of Cultural Marxism in Europe.]

___________________________

Pastoral letter 

of the Bishops' Conference of Poland 

Dear Sisters, Dear Brothers!

As each year in the Octave of the Nativity of Our Lord, we are celebrating the Sunday of the Holy Family [according to the Calendar of Paul VI]. Our thoughts go to our families as we contemplate the situation of the modern-day family. Today’s Gospel tells us that in difficult and unclear situations, the Family of Nazareth tried to understand and fulfil God’s will and by so doing came out renewed of such situations. This behaviour tells us that today like in the past, obeying God and His sometimes impenetrable will guarantees family happiness.

[MARRIAGE AND HUMAN NATURE]

Blessed John Paul II, whose canonisation we are now awaiting, recalls that the truth about the institution of marriage “is above the will of individuals, the whims of particular marriages, as well as decisions of social and government bodies” (23.02.1980). This truth comes from God, for “God himself is the author of marriage” (GS, #48). God created the human being as a man and a woman and made the existence – in flesh and in spirit – of a man “for” a woman and a woman “for” a man a great and irreplaceable gift and task of married life. God based the family on the foundation of marriage joined for life by the unbreakable and exclusive bond of love. He decided that such family will be a suitable environment for bringing up children that the family gives life to and ensures their material and spiritual development.

This Christian vision is not an arbitrarily imposed norm; it transpires from an interpretation of the human nature, the nature of marriage and the family. Non-acceptance of this vision inevitably leads to the break-up of families and the defeat of the human being. The history of humanity has demonstrated that disregarding the Creator is always perilous and threatens a man’s and the world’s happy future. Hence attempts to impose a different definition of marriage and the family on us by supporters of the gender ideology, among others, that we hear in some media must raise the highest concern. Confronted with increasing attacks against different aspects of family and social life coming from this ideology, we are compelled to speak out clearly in defence of the Christian family and the fundamental values that support it, on the one hand, and, on the other, to warn against threats stemming from propagating new forms of family life.

["GENDER" IDEOLOGY AND CULTURAL MARXISM] 

The gender ideology is the product of many decades of ideological and cultural changes that are deeply rooted in Marxism and neo-Marxism endorsed by some feminist movements and the sexual revolution. This ideology promotes principles that are totally contrary to reality and an integral understanding of human nature. It maintains that biological sex is not socially significant and that cultural sex which humans can freely develop and determine irrespective of biological conditions is most important. According to this ideology, humans can freely determine whether they want to be men or women and freely choose their sexual orientation. This voluntary self-determination, not necessarily life-long, is to make the society accept the right to set up new types of families, for instance, families built on homosexual relations.

The danger of gender ideology lies in its very destructive character both for men, people contacts and social life as a whole. Humans unsure of their sexual identity are not capable of discovering and fulfilling tasks that they face in their marital, family social and professional lives. Attempts to form different types of relations de facto seriously weaken marriage as a community created by a man and a woman and the family built on marriage.

We see different attitudes formed in reaction to actions demonstrated by advocates of the gender ideology. A decisive majority has no idea what this ideology is about and consequently does not feel threatened by it. A small group of people, particularly teachers and educators, as well as Catechists and pastoral ministers, tries to find their own constructive ways to counter this ideology. Finally there are those who, seeing the absurdity of this ideology, believe that Poles will reject the utopian visions they are presented with. Meanwhile, without public knowledge or Poles’ consent for many months now the gender ideology has been slowly introduced into different structures of social life: education, health service, cultural and education centres and non-governmental organisations. Some media portray this ideology in a positive way: as a means to counteract violence and to aim for equality.

[HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITIES DEEPLY DISORDERED - MARRIAGE CANNOT BE COMPARED TO HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIP]

The community of the Church advocates an integral view of man and his sex, recognising his flesh/biological, mental/cultural and spiritual dimensions. There is nothing wrong with research on the impact of culture on sex. What is dangerous, however, is to argue on the basis of ideology that biological sex has no* significance in social life. The Church unequivocally opposes discrimination on the grounds of sex, but at the same time recognises the danger of eliminating the differences existing in the sexes. The fact that there exist two sexes is not the source of discrimination; it is the lack of a spiritual reference, human selfishness and pride that need to be continually overcome. The Church will never agree to debasing persons with a homosexual inclination, but at the same time it strongly underscores that homosexual activity is profoundly disorderly and that marriage as a community of a man and a woman as a social phenomenon cannot be put on par with a homosexual relationship.

On the feast of the Holy Family we fervently appeal to Christian families, representatives of religious movements and Church associations and to all people of good-will to courageously engage in actions that will disseminate the truth about marriage and the family. The need for education in the formative environment is now greater than ever before.

We also appeal to institutions responsible for Polish education not to yield under pressure from the few but very loud groups with not inconsiderable financial resources, which in the name of modern education carry out experiments on children and young people. We call on educational institutions to engage in the promotion of an integral vision of man.

We ask all faithful for their impassioned prayer in the intention of marriages, families and the children they are bringing up. We ask the Holy Spirit for continuous light to let us understand and see the truth in what amounts to a danger and a threat not only to the family, but also to our Homeland and humankind. Let us also pray for the courage of being people of faith and courageous defenders of the Truth. May the Holy Family of Nazareth that brought up God’s Son Jesus Christ be our model to follow and our spiritual assistance in undertaking this effort.

In this spirit we give our pastoral blessing to all.

*minor correction to mirror Polish text.
[Source]