Friday 29th March 2024

Home » Our Catholic Faith » Currently Reading:

Catholic Replies

July 24, 2015 Our Catholic Faith No Comments

Q. In our parish it is a custom following the final blessing at Mass for the priest to lead the congregation in a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel and a Hail Mary. This past Sunday during that prayer, I was reminded of the tradition in the late 1940s and the 1950s to offer prayers for the conversion of Russia following the final blessing. I assume that tradition was Church-wide in the U.S.
My question: Assuming that it was widely practiced, how was that tradition instituted, and believing in the power of prayer, wouldn’t it seem appropriate, given the many challenges facing our Church and nation today, to offer prayers for a “spiritual renewal” of the people of our great nation? How could that happen today? — D.M., via e-mail.
A. The Prayer to St. Michael at the end of Mass was prescribed by Pope Leo XIII after experiencing a vision of Satan in 1884. It was later accompanied by three Hail Marys, the Hail, Holy Queen, a prayer “for the conversion of sinners and for the liberty and exaltation of our Holy Mother the Church,” the ejaculation “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us” (three times), and by the Divine Praises (“Blessed be God…). Both Popes Pius XI and Pius XII designated the prayers as being chiefly for the conversion of Russia.
Although these prayers were suppressed when the Mass of Paul VI was promulgated in 1970, we know of parishes where they are still recited to this day, and rightly so since the power of the Devil continues to be very strong. We agree with D.M. that such prayers ought to be mandated by the bishops today to renew both the people of our Church and our country. The American bishops have taken a step in this direction in recent years by promulgating a Prayer for Religious Freedom, but we don’t know how widely this prayer is used.

Q. In a Catholic Replies column last December, you presented a very sound indictment of the global warming movement, and I agreed with you wholeheartedly. So what is your take on Pope Francis’ recent encyclical on the environment and his references to global warming? While a number of his statements are quite sound, such as condemning contraception and abortion and the greedy exploitation of the poor nations, etc., I believe he is far off base on his viewpoint on global warming. — J.M., Missouri.
A. In his encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis said that “a very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. In recent decades, this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon.”
He said that “humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production, and consumption in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes that produce or aggravate it” (n. 23).
As we noted last December, the “very solid scientific consensus” exists only among those members of the climate change establishment, and their media supporters, who have ridiculed the conclusions of hundreds of scientists who disagree with them and who have prevented these dissenting conclusions from being published in scientific journals or in prominent media outlets.
Records show that there has been no global warming over the past 17 or 18 years, which may be why the alarmists have switched the terminology from global warming to climate change.
No faithful Catholic objects to having the Pope express concern about the need to find ways to reverse the degradation of our natural environment — what he calls “our common home” (n. 1).
Previous Popes, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, have emphasized the “common stewardship” that God has given to each one of us to protect the Earth and its resources and to improve the living conditions of millions of our brothers and sisters in poverty. But when a Pope moves from unquestionable principles to questionable solutions, then Catholics are entitled to disagree respectfully, especially when one considers those who may have colored the Holy Father’s viewpoint.
One scientist who influenced Laudato Si was Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who is director of the Institute for Climate Impact in Potsdam, Germany, and who was named to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in June 2015. Schellnhuber had presented a paper — co-authored by Maria Martin — to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 2014 entitled “Climate-System Tipping Points and Extreme Weather Events.”
But when these “tipping points,” which include such things as potentially higher global temperatures and melting ice floes, don’t come true and predicted catastrophes fail to occur, their proponents don’t even acknowledge their errors, but move on to new prophecies of doom. Remember all the predictions in the 1970s about “global cooling” and a coming “ice age” that never materialized? But did those false prophets lose any credibility in the scientific community? Of course not. They’re the same people now hawking global warming.
Schellnhuber is known for having said, at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009, that the “carrying capacity” of the Earth is below one billion people. When asked recently about this statement, he said, “All I said was that if we had unlimited global warming of eight degrees warming, maybe the carrying capacity of the earth would go down to just one billion, and then the discussion would be settled.” He denied favoring population control to reach that one billion level, but then added:
“If you want to reduce human population, there are wonderful means: Improve the education of girls and young women. Then the demographic transition will be a little bit faster and, as [Peter] Cardinal Turkson said, you will enhance human capital and have emancipation of many people on earth. So I subscribe to a good education, and that’s the only way of population strategy I would support.”
He didn’t mention that the usual way the population controllers “educate” girls and young women is to impose on them contraception, abortion, and sterilization. How else can the world’s population be reduced from the current seven billion to one billion except by extreme population control measures? But Schellnhuber’s whole argument is worthless since it presupposes eight degrees of warming, when in fact there hasn’t been even one degree of warming in nearly 20 years.
Pope Francis is not supportive of immoral measures to reduce population, as he made clear in criticizing those who would reduce the birthrate in developing countries through “forms of international pressure that make economic assistance contingent on certain policies of ‘reproductive health’” (n. 50). Which raises the question of why he would accept advice from anti-life scientists like Schellnhuber? Or why scientists who dispute the global warming scenario were apparently given no input in drafting Laudato Si. Or why advocates of immoral ways of controlling population, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs, were invited to address the global warming summit at the Vatican last April.
In the encyclical, the Pontiff somewhat qualified his view on global warming by saying “it would appear” that the alleged warming “has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and . . . by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon” (n. 23).
He also said later in the encyclical that “there are certain environmental issues where it is not easy to achieve a broad consensus. Here I would state once more that the Church does not presume to settle scientific questions or to replace politics. But I am concerned to encourage an honest and open debate so that particular interests or ideologies will not prejudice the common good” (n. 188).
This is our concern as well, so perhaps His Holiness and his advisers could reach out to those men and women who for solid scientific reasons dispute the global warming theory.
They could start with Dr. Judith Curry, professor of climatology at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Once known as the “high priestess of global warming,” Dr. Curry now calls herself a “heretic” because she no longer believes in the so-called evidence presented to support this theory.
“I am mystified as to why President Obama and John Kerry are making such strong statements about climate change,” she said. “Particularly with regard to extreme weather events, their case is very weak.”

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)