A Blessed Thanksgiving To All

By CHRISTOPHER MANION

We’ll all be celebrating Thanksgiving come Thursday, and clearly there’s a lot to be thankful for. The country certainly celebrated. For more than a fortnight, America has been peaceful. The transition to the second Trump Administration is going smoothly, with the usual suspects supplying the necessary chatter.

Yes, America has a lot to be thankful for, and so do our shepherds. Their border state “charities” alone have received over half a billion taxpayer dollars a year under Joe Biden. They also received some $3.5 billion in 2020-2021 in COVID Relief Funds due to an “unprecedented exemption,” the AP reports.

Our bishops know all this, of course, but they don’t like to be asked about it. Perhaps that’s why, at their annual meeting a couple of weeks ago, they didn’t bother to thank the voters for sending “Catholic Joe” Biden and his “abortion czar” Kamala Harris to the dustbin.

Instead, they expressed fear that Donald Trump could cut their border funding. Of course, they didn’t put it that way. When addressing the USCCB’s immigration programs, bishops don’t mention the government money. Instead, they routinely insist that their position is Magisterial — “the Catholic Church teaches”; that claim apparently gives them grounds to insult their critics with the usual epithets. 

And they’re pretty nervous about it. When members of Congress inquired into the spending of taxpayer dollars by the border operations of Catholic Charities last fall, New York Timothy Cardinal Dolan simply branded them as “bigots.” 

Apparently, requesting the possible misappropriation of taxpayer funds constitutes a violation of “religious freedom.”

Does that mean that putting the “Catholic” label on a federal grant might be construed as a “license to steal?”

Of course not. But as Catholic Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) once told me, the bishops might well brand any inquiry into that spending as an “attack [on] the Catholic Church.”

But let’s look at the bright side.

What Ever Happened To Gratitude?

“In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thes. 5:18).

“St. Augustine taught: Gratitude is the beginning of faith. When we’re grateful to God, we’re people of faith and generosity. Happy Thanksgiving!” — Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, Thanksgiving 2013

Some 50 years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger penned a tome with an intriguing title: “What Ever Became of Sin?” Sin was something everyone knew about, of course, but suddenly no one was talking about it. And Menniger wondered why.

Today, it’s fair to ask: whatever happened to gratitude?

Bishop Michael Sis of San Angelo wrote last year about the ongoing habit of gratitude: “Gratitude is more than a one-time response to a one-time gift, it is a virtue that is learned, strengthened and perfected over the course of a lifetime.

“Gratitude is not just a spontaneous feeling that comes over us,” he writes. “Gratitude is a choice we make, an act of the will. We choose to be grateful. We’re not born grateful. We have to learn it. This is why parents have to teach their children, constantly reminding them to say ‘thank you.’

“St. Paul expresses this beautifully in Colossians 3:15-17,” Bishop Sis continues: “Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, … singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

In Through the Eye of a Needle, Peter Brown describes “euergetism — the practice of the wealthy to distribute part of their wealth to the community.” Its purpose “was to gain glory, honor, and gratitude — pompous and prideful.

“…[G]iving to the poor tended to be presented as an act of altruism in its purest and most challenging form. We should not underestimate the imaginative impact of such altruism. Late Roman society (like any other ancient society) was a world held together at every level by intense networks of reciprocal gifts. These ranged from the friendly exchange of services in neighborhood associations to the euphoric dialogue between civic benefactors and their “people,” by which the gift of civic pleasures was instantly repaid by the countergift of honor and acclaim. It was a world that appeared to be ruled by iron laws of reciprocity,” Brown writes.

In his Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas asks, “Whether thankfulness is a virtue, distinct from the other virtues?”

Dr. Michael Austin explains: “For him, the answer is yes, because thankfulness is ‘a special part of justice.’ Giving thanks to our benefactors, those who have given us a particular and personal favor, is an issue of obligation, or justice. We owe gratitude to them, and this is different from the related virtues of religion (owed to God), piety (owed to parents), and observance (owed to those who excel in dignity). We are left with thankfulness as a virtue distinct from these related excellences of character. Thankfulness, or gratitude, is a matter of justice.”

Aquinas continues: “Accordingly, since what we owe God, or our father, or a person excelling in dignity, is not the same as what we owe a benefactor from whom we have received some particular favor, it follows that after religion, whereby we pay God due worship, and piety, whereby we worship our parents, and observance, whereby we worship persons excelling in dignity, there is thankfulness or gratitude, whereby we give thanks to our benefactors” [ST II-II, Q. 106, (1)].

We must give thanks, then, to our benefactors. But how?

“Now it is evident that a benefactor, as such, is cause of the beneficiary. Hence the natural order requires that he who has received a favor should, by repaying the favor, turn to his benefactor according to the mode of each. And, as stated above with regard to a father, a man owes his benefactor, as such, honor and reverence, since the latter stands to him in the relation of principle; but accidentally he owes him assistance or support, if he need it” [ST II-II, 106 (3)].

Whom Do We Thank? And How?

Nobles in fifth-century Rome practiced generosity “to gain glory, honor, and gratitude — pompous and prideful.”

Could that be possible today? Of course, back then, at least it was their money. But today?

Could our politicians today be handing out billions of someone else’s money to gain glory, honor, and gratitude? Are they, too, pompous and prideful?

And what about our bishops? It’s not their money, either.

Do the politicians ever thank the taxpayers for our money that they use?

And whom should the bishops be grateful to when they spend it? The politicians, of course; they’re certainly pompous and prideful.

Imagine José, an illegal immigrant who just succeeded to cross the border into Texas. He’s so fortunate — the local Catholic bishop is there to greet him!

“Thank you, thank you, Your Excellency,” says the ebullient traveler.

How should the bishop respond?

“You’re welcome?”

Or, “Oh my goodness, don’t thank me, it’s not my money we’re spending on you, it’s the government’s.”

So he should thank Joe Biden?

Maybe somewhere José will meet a bishop who tells him, “No, José, thank the American taxpayer. It’s not our money, and it’s not Joe Biden’s money either. It belongs to the American taxpayer.”

Maybe some day our bishops will even muster the gratitude to thank us themselves.

Just maybe.

Trump Victory: Catholics Once Again Welcome In White House

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK

This country has dodged a bullet with the least qualified and most radically pro-abortion and infanticide candidates in history now, we may hope and pray, both permanently sidelined from the country’s highest offices and any possible future political life.

And the most anti-Catholic as well. Harris snubbed the Al Smith dinner in a much-publicized political and religious blunder, which may have inevitably served to draw further attention on the part of less aware voters to her long-simmering hostility toward the Church.

A new and more intense religious persecution on the horizon was predictable with Harris’ public avowal to forbid any religious carve-outs to her sweeping anti-family, anti-life, anti-God agenda.

So, many Catholics voted faith this time around, and Trump was indeed the “lesser evil,” by a long shot.

What will be different? There will be problems, as there always are, this being politics and not perfection.

The parade of White House heretic Catholic stand-ins will no longer be welcome. The real Catholics surrounding the Trump team will make sure of that. And the publicity surrounding the longstanding Biden scandal of a sitting president radically promoting abortion while receiving Communion is now over. The most damaging factor in American Catholic life will now, we can hope, be largely out of the public eye.

Nothing is more toxic to Catholic belief in both the non-negotiability of the pro-life teachings and the real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist than constant exposure to the images of the most prominent American who is both aggressively pro-abortion and LGBTQ regularly receiving the Eucharist.

Without a peep from our bishops.

Weak bishops, who falsely believe they have the option of remaining silent in the face of public scandal by a member of the flock, have enabled the pastoral disaster all along. God has removed the embarrassment of the lack of leadership and vigorous defense of the Kingship of Christ. Vox populi, vox Dei.

This is yet another blot on the Church that traces back to McCarrick, who concealed and lied about a letter from Benedict XVI which demanded that bishops do their job by denying reception of the Eucharist to politicians and other public officials who support and enable abortion in their roles in public life.

Catholics and our authentic message of faith and morals will now once again be welcome in the White House. The Catholic vice president-elect publicly proclaims Jesus Christ is King. It remains to be seen how he will negotiate the balance between following his faith honestly and wholeheartedly and the official Republican Reaganesque compromise of the pro-life platform.

Removing restrictions on abortion for “rape, incest and the life of the mother,” although appearing on the surface to be compassionate toward women who are, in some cases, undoubtedly in distress after extreme trauma, yet approves all the same of the premeditated taking of the innocent life of a preborn boy or girl.

Good news came out of Florida also this election day as the current abortion restrictions remain in place. In many other locations the lives of preborn children are still unjustly treated, irrationally and unscientifically, as simply another disposable organ in the mother’s body.

We saw with this election cycle that the prolife vote remains a force also in Nebraska and South Dakota where amendments to remove restriction or place abortion in the state constitutions failed. In places like Maryland, alas, the slide into greater evil seems bottomless. That state, named for Our Lady no less, voted to enshrine a “right” to legally execute unborn children in the state constitution. May the Lord have mercy on what is increasingly becoming a mid-Atlantic killing mecca.

This election, as many observers have already noted, was a rebuke to the globalists in the Church as well to those with their hands on the levers of political power. It was a pro-life, pro-family, pro-God red wave that drew in voters from across the spectrum. It may also have been a return to more honest voting procedures, with network commentators claiming that the disappearance of millions of urban Democratic voters was simply a result of Harris “underperforming” in comparison with Biden four years ago. It actually might be that less people who are dead or never existed aren’t voting this time.

The shenanigans in the Church, violating prohibitions on promotion of a candidate by name, were gross on the Democratic side. Extraordinary ministers at a D.C. Catholic parish wore Harris t-shirts while distributing the Eucharist at Mass, with the pastor proudly looking on as seen in a widely posted photo. No consequences. We all know the swift “justice” and leftist vengeance that would be visited upon any priest caught with a MAGA hat. Priests in cassocks and clerics have already been widely pilloried for their presence at Trump rallies.

Vatican II abuses, like EMHCs, have hugely succeeded in planting heretics in positions of permanent prominence in parishes all over America. Just one more reason to return to the sanity of removing lay people from the sanctuary with vested ministers only serving the sacred liturgy.

I gladly attended the second Butler rally in my cassock. Priests should always be present with their people in all the circumstances of life. This is one of the signs in the Church of the Kingship of Christ.

This is a historic political comeback of a man who was persecuted in almost every imaginable way, to include two assassination attempts as well as gratuitous lawfare, to be only the second in history after Grover Cleveland elected to a second term four years later.

Trump will be president during our 250^th anniversary on July 4, 2026, of the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Let us pray it will mean a renewed independence also for the Church to freely preach and teach the truth so that Christ will reign in all hearts and minds.

Christ’s reign is denied while the bishops cower behind staff or the USCCB instead of speaking out whenever necessary to defend the faith and save souls as the divinely appointed shepherds of their flocks. They are gelded as long as they cushion the financial shock of declining Mass attendance and offertory amounts by seeking government funding that muzzles them in matters of faith and morals. They must choose whom they will follow: God or Mammon.

The kingship of Christ is denied and blasphemed wherever and whenever His sacred image and likeness in any human person is violated by the great crime and injustice of abortion. Abortion is murder. When all Catholics proclaim and live this non-negotiable truth we might begin to turn this nation around to God.

Pray that President-elect Trump will be open to the whole pro-life message and the truth that it is barbaric to execute an unborn boy or girl because he or she, through no fault of his or her own, has a rapist or other criminal for a parent.

One of our US cardinals released a post-election message recognizing that some reacted to the results by breathing a sigh of relief. Count me among them. I’m puzzled, though as to whom he refers when also mentioning there are others who are experiencing “anxiety” as a result. Who are these anxious citizens who will now experience greater economic prosperity and national security?

Or are they in fact the heretics in our midst who have undermined God and souls for many years under the guise of mere political liberalism? If so, a little anxiety might do them some good. Perhaps they will now examine their consciences and come out a little more Catholic on the other side.

Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ our King, now and forever.

apriestlife.blogspot.com

Is It A Virtue To Have An Open Mind?

By DR. DONALD DEMARCO

A writer does not need to look very far to find grist for the mill. If he has an open mind he will find abundant opportunities to ply his trade. But if his mind remains open and never closes on anything worth communicating, he betrays his vocation. If one is open for business, he does want to close a sale or two.

I was in a drug store waiting for a prescription to be filled. This gave me time to roam the aisles to see if anything else tempted my pocketbook. I came upon an elaborate Halloween display. A row of ghoulish-looking talking heads caught my attention. I activated the voice box of one of them and listened to its eerie warning: “Don’t let your mind be so open that your brains fall out.” This grim annunciation was punctuated by several seconds of sardonic laughter.

Here was wisdom from a dummy that had something important to say to my students who, in general, were proud of being open-minded. But their affection for keeping their minds open was accompanied by their fear of ever closing it. I have always taught that the first lesson in philosophy is that the human brain should be activated.

The Halloween message is a paraphrase of something that Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times from 1935-61, once said: “I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.” Sulzberger would be amused to learn that his esteemed vehicle of communication has now shifted from the print medium to talking Halloween heads. His point is perennial. The purpose of looking is finding. The fulfillment of being open is to discover something worth having.

Allan Bloom wrote his best-seller, The Closing of the American Mind, to explain how having a perpetually open mind is equivalent to having no mind at all. There is no education without truth, which is something that the persistently open mind never attains. Being told in the classroom that the mind works only halfway is to immobilize the brain or, simply, to “close” it. Someone once said, “a diplomat is a man who says you have an open mind, instead of telling you that you have a hole in your head.” The classroom, however, should not be an arena for diplomacy. Truth may make a person uncomfortable, but there can be no education without it.

 “Keep an open mind” has become a mantra for those of a liberal persuasion. It is an attitude, however, that yields no fruit. Truth, accordingly, becomes undiscoverable, and the very point of being open is meaningless. It is one thing to be independent, but one should not be independent of what he needs. Phyllis McGinley was not impressed by the person who boasted of an open mind:

“So open was his mind, so wide

To welcome winds from every side

That public weather took dominion,

Sweeping him bare of all opinion.”

The human mind has not completed its natural function while remaining in the state of openness. It is only when it closes itself on something true or good or right that it has completed the activity for which it was created.

A door should open to let one in, and close to keep others out. The mouth must open and close in order for eating to take place. The hand opens to grasp, closes to release. Eyelids open so that one can see, close so that one can sleep. Life is dyadic, a system of opening and closing. So too, the mind should close on what is worth keeping. 

Sir Thomas Beecham once defined great music as, “That which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty.” “Magical music,” he added, “never leaves the memory.” We are open to good music, and when we come upon it, we want to keep it. Good music finds its home in the listener. 

We want to close on what we find to be beautiful. And if the word “close’ is problematic, it can be replaced by welcome, accept, enjoy, or treasure. Good music ultimately belongs in the mind and heart of the listener, just as truth belongs in the mind.

There is an unfounded fear of knowing the truth of anything. The fear is to appear proud or presumptuous.  This fear is unwarranted because a person who claims to know any truth must, in humility, recognize that the acquisition of truth does not make him superior but gives him the responsibility to profess it. The Catholic Church is both the teacher and guardian of truth. But it is equally zealous in promoting the virtues of humility and gratitude.  No one likes a show-off. But to deny that truth can be known is to lapse into cowardice. Truth can be known, humility and gratitude can be realized.

Ray Bradbury wrote his 1953 novella, Fahrenheit 451, to show how foolish it is to avoid knowing anything for fear of appearing superior or inferior. In the story, Fireman Guy Montag holds up a copy of Aristotle’s Ethics and explains that anyone who reads this book must feel superior for having read it. Therefore, he explains, all books must be burned so that equality among people can be preserved. An egalitarian world, however, is a dystopian world.

Having an open mind is half a virtue. And the half virtues can do more damage than a vice that has no claim to virtue. The other half of the virtue is closing the mind on what is honestly perceived to be true. One can make mistakes, but the pursuit of truth is an adventure that none of us should ever shun.

Live Your Baptism With Your Vote

By DEACON MIKE MANNO

We’re about two weeks from the election, as this column is delivered, and after watching all the campaign ads, there is something very bothersome that is playing out. It is the preoccupation of Democrats and their candidates that the most important issue on the ballot is the right of a woman to play in Satan’s playground and to rip her unborn child limb-from-limb.

                Besides “Trump is a Nazi,” that seems to be their entire message to voters this year. And what mystifies me most is that the argument seems to be catching on. Now granted, I do not live in one of the seven swing states that are presumed to decide the presidency, but I do live in a state where the Democrats, abortion and all, are making a concentrated effort to capture the legislature.

                All those candidates, legislative as well as congressional, have the same shtick: You will lose all your rights if you can’t kill your child. As we know, abortion is one of the leading issues in this year’s election, coming in at Number 2 in many polls. But outside of a few general comments about building a better economy and fighting crime, the only specifics of the Biden-Harris party is how they will enable you to more easily kill your offspring.

                Nice to know one of our great parties is putting most of its eggs into that basket. And it is Satan’s playground as most exorcists will tell you.

                But it is not the idea that one major party is campaigning on that issue, it is the emphasis which it puts on it. It is, suggests their propaganda, the most important issue in the land, topping all other concerns:

                There is a serious problem we are having with crime and laws that protect, and sometimes prevent the arrest and detainment of career criminals. Yes, that is important but you Democratic women must understand that your abortion rights are more important than that.

                We have Chinese spies in the United States working to undermine the country. Thay have their own “police stations” to monitor Chinese refugees here who use threats against relatives to keep them quiet. They sent a spy balloon across the continental United States fishing for military intelligence, and as noted recently, there are unknown drones now flying around our Air Force bases. But don’t worry about that, keep your eye on what’s important: your right to kill your kid.

                We all worry about the “minuscule” numbers of illegal alien border crossers coming into the country. Remember, their crime rates are down, and Kamala is a former prosecutor. Understand that your right to “control your own body” trumps (no pun intended) all these concerns.

                Our public schools are open to everyone, and we should be proud of that. We understand when foreign children who can’t speak the language are filling your child’s classroom. That is only a minor distraction while education is the common good for all. But abortion is the key issue of concern to watch when you vote.

                And don’t worry about your children being indoctrinated in those public information camps we call schools; they are simply being taught the true American way without reference to the false history fed to us by the white-Christian establishment. We are broadening the little tikes’ minds. We take care of the kids; you make sure you can “take care” of the ones you don’t want. 

                And is it so bad for your junior high daughter, after gym class, to have to shower with the boy down the street who doesn’t understand gender as generations of closed-minded parents did? After all, if something beautiful happens we still have abortion to protect your little girl’s future.  

                Of course, don’t worry when we investigate suspicious religions, especially those that communicate in foreign and ancient languages. Remember, they oppose your right to a childless future. And when we use lawfare to attack those who deny your reproductive freedom, we are doing so to protect you from the fascists who will restrict that right.

                Inflation and the economy have become an insurmountable problem for many families. Don’t worry so much about it — prices are declining; just listen to your president. But you must worry about abortion; it’s the non-negotiable of this election.

                That is how the Democrats promote their most cherished sacrament. It is almost a religion to them, and they seek to impose it on all. I mentioned near the top of this column something about Satan’s playground. If you have ever read anything from an exorcist you will remember how they described Satan’s involvement with abortion; I am incapsulating those thoughts into the term Satan’s playground, for it certainly is that.

                So how will this election go? Will the fair-haired always-correct Kamala Harris win? Or will the Nazi from Mar-a-Lago take the top prize? It appears almost too close to venture a prediction, for as one pundit quipped, “it is tied and getting closer.”

                I don’t know if that is an accurate reading of the crystal ball, but I do have a theory: As the race moves towards completion the so-called undecideds will begin breaking in one direction, with that candidate receiving about 55% of that group’s votes, which will provide the winning margin for the next president.

                The only remaining question is: Will they resist values that have stood the test of time, Christian values such as family, freedom, and the promises of the Bill of Rights? Or will they break on behalf of the scourge of abortion? So, as you ponder your vote, remember the promises you made at your baptism: to renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his empty promises. Keep your word and reject him again at the ballot box.

You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://faith-on-trial.simplecast.com/

The New Chapel Of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel

By KARA THAWMI

The Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a community of three priests and six brothers, located in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, about a 20-minute drive from the state’s capital city, St. Paul.

Construction is well underway for a new Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the grounds of the Hermitage and soon to be open to the faithful community at large.

One way to approach the Hermitage grounds is from a quiet residential road that curves around Lake Demontreville, then turn right onto the slender and smooth Mount Carmel Road which winds through broad fields with well-established trees and freely wandering wildlife to reach the monastery of the Carmelite hermits.

Fr. John Mary is Prior of the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He grew up in St. Paul and attended the University of St. Thomas there.

After graduation in 1976, he joined a new contemplative Carmelite community in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Penn. and was ordained to the priesthood in 1982.

Because the community’s future was uncertain, shortly after ordination Fr. John accepted an offer from the Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Lake Elmo to become their chaplain and spent five happy years serving as chaplain to the nuns and living a solitary life as a Carmelite hermit.

In 1987, the Carmelite nuns offered Fr. John Mary a portion of their property to begin a community of Carmelite hermits. Soon Br. Joseph came to join Father; after they received permission from then-Archbishop John R. Roach, they began to develop a master plan for the construction of the monastery which stands today.

The Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was included in the master plan for the Hermitage dating back to 1987, but because funds needed to be raised, it would be over three decades until the construction of the chapel would begin in earnest.

Finally, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Aug 15, 2022, the community of the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary broke ground for its new chapel.

Heart Of The Monastery And ‘Beauty of Carmel’

I had the honor of meeting with Fr. John on September 20, 2024, to learn more about the new chapel. Because the Hermitage still lacks a guest building, Father spoke to me in the refectory of the Hermitage, seated across from me at one of the tables next to the lectern where one of the hermits reads to the community at meals – which, other than the voice of the reader, are taken in silence.

Fr. John pointed out beautiful images carved into the wood lectern which include The Annunciation of the Lord, carved by Brother Christopher, who has designed and created a multitude of inspirational artwork over the years for the monastery and is planning the artwork to be installed in the new chapel.

I asked Fr. John to share what he would like readers to know about the new chapel, and he began by explaining that the tradition of organized monastic life began in the third and fourth centuries.

He next revealed a vital aspect of monastic life:

“At the heart of every monastery is its chapel, which is the place where God is worshiped through the liturgy, and a place where the community and others can also come for personal prayer and quiet meditation.”

Fr. John went on to give the primary reasons for constructing the chapel, saying, “We are building our chapel first of all, for the glory of God, to be able to worship Him in the liturgy, and also then to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the principal patroness of the Carmelite Order and also the patroness of our particular Hermitage.”

The founder of the Hermitage went on to further explain the special importance of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “In the Order of Carmel, we give Our Lady a particular title which comes from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the title: “Beauty of Carmel.”

Great reverence for the patroness of the Carmelite Order continued to be expressed through the tone of Fr. John’s voice when he gave his vision: “It is our hope, through the chapel, that we can show something of the beauty of the Blessed Virgin Mary – her spiritual beauty – through the beauty of the chapel itself, through its beautiful form, the arches and columns which are made from marble, and also, through the artwork of the chapel.”

He went on to say, “We hope that the chapel will be a place of inspiration for our [Hermitage] community, but also for our friends and visitors who will come to worship with us, a place where they can be inspired by the artistic beauty in their search for God.”

Inspired By The Ancient Basilicas Of Rome And Ravenna

The Hermitage is a place steeped in quiet contemplation and prayer, but at mid-morning of August 28, there were some loud sounds on the grounds. It was somewhat expected because Fr. John had invited The Wanderer publisher Joseph Matt and me to view the construction area of the chapel.

But when Fr. John welcomed us, he explained that the noise was from a generator, as a recent storm had taken out the power at the monastery.

Fr. John, who studied in Rome from 1979 Ð 1981, proceeded to walk us through the beginnings of the new chapel where the architectural design is tied to the ancient basilicas of Rome and Ravenna, in particular, old St. PeterÕs, the churches of St. Mary Major and St. Mary in Trastevere in Rome, plus the two churches dedicated to St. Apollinaris in Ravenna.

As we followed Fr. John into the in-progress chapel, it was a bit like entering a portal to ancient Rome: We entered a structure with partial walls with window openings bearing no glass, the damp brown earth underfoot and no ceiling above Ñ completely exposed to acts of God, such as the storm that had taken out the power just the night before.

After I had jotted on my steno pad the connection in color I observed between the soft gray clouds in the sky and the gray cinderblock skeleton in the form of a traditional basilica outline, I looked around more and began to feel glad that the chapel interior was going to be fully open to Heaven for a good amount of time during its development.

But unlike the vestige of an ancient Roman structure, this was instead an active construction site, with workers in hard hats moving with concentrated purpose up on scaffolding surrounding the recently erected marble columns. First crafted in Italy, the columns were then shipped in crates to the Hermitage in Lake Elmo. Although the columns are load-bearing supports inside this authentic basilica chapel, they are truly works of art in and of themselves.

The solid Damascata marble from Northern Italy was a carefully considered choice made to further glorify the patroness of the Carmelite Hermitage. Fr. John explained that this particular marble was chosen because it occurs naturally in the soft, more feminine hues of pink, gray and white, befitting of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Beauty of Carmel, who is honored in the chapel.

Because the columns were set in a space currently devoid of any of the adornments yet to come, the smooth perfection of the polished Damascata marble standing in perfect alignment was especially ethereal that morning.

The capitals which grace the top of each column are crafted from the exquisite white Carrara marble sourced from the same quarries that provided the marble for Michaelangelo to carve masterpieces such as the Pietà.

Brother Christopher, of the Hermitage, designed the capitals; a capital is a decorative element which tops each pillar. In order to create the capitals, a blueprint of his design was made and sent to Italy to be carved out of the famed Carrara marble, then shipped back to the Hermitage.

The Chapel Of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel features seven Damascata marble columns on each side of the nave which support the capitals and beautiful marble arches.

Construction of the arches was underway that day in August. Each arch is constructed by placing the marble sections around a wooden support and then once the keystone (final marble piece) is set, the wooden support structure is removed and the beautiful marble arch is revealed in all its glory.

More sacred art planned for the chapel are mosaics which will adorn the three apses of the chapel, and following the design of the Basilica of SantÕApollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, a row of saints in a mosaic design will line each side of the  main nave above the marble arches.

The floor plan outlines three spaces: the sanctuary, the monastic choir, and a section for the public which seats about 60 guests. The sanctuary, which will house the crucifix, tabernacle, altar, and apse mosaic will be flanked by two small chapels, one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Beauty of Carmel, and a matching one to her most blessed spouse, St. Joseph. During that gray morning, those three spaces held nothing other than the moist earth.

As I stood in the sanctuary, wishing I had worn boots to walk the spongy soil, I noticed a few tiny green shoots had sprung up from the ground in the area where Fr. John had indicated that the altar would be placed, donated by a local benefactor to honor his late wife.

Following In The Footsteps Of The Carmelite Saints

With the goal of becoming saints, the hermits follow the same Rule of Life as the great saints of Carmel, such as St. Teresa of Jesus, St. John of the Cross, St. Simon Stock, and St. Therese of Lisieux and their same ancient horarium as follows:

 4:30 a.m. rise
4:45 a.m. Vigils
5:30 a.m. free time*
6:00 a.m. Angelus and Matins (end of Great Silence)
6:30-7:30 a.m. mental prayer
7:45 a.m. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
8:45 a.m. breakfast (during the non-fast season)
9:00 a.m. Terce (the 3rd hour)
9:15-11:30 a.m. work
11:40 a.m. Sext (the 6th hour)
12:00 p.m. Angelus and dinner
12:45-2:40 p.m. free time
2:45 p.m. None (the 9th hour)
3:00-4:00 p.m. work
4:20 p.m. Vespers
5:00-6:00 mental prayer
6:00 p.m. Angelus and supper
6:45 p.m. recreation (speak and share with one another)
7:45 Compline
8:15 p.m. Great Silence
9:30 p.m. retire

*Free time may be to pray the rosary and do spiritual reading.

Sundays and major feasts allot an hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with Benediction.

Each hermit resides in a small hermitage: a room with bed, desk, sacred art, and a window onto its own little courtyard that features a tree which provides shade (no A/C) and fruit to eat from cherry, apple, plum, and pear trees. Other trees on the surrounding property are Black Walnut, Maple, Red and white oak, red and white Pine, Cherry, Birch, and Honey Locust. When a tree is damaged by disease or an act of God, the hermits cut it up into lumber for crafting and cabinetry, or for firewood.

Spanning between the monastery and the individual hermitages within the larger Hermitage is the cloister, completed in 2002. Built to serve as both a sheltered walkway and a peaceful meditation space, a place to pray the rosary.

There is a gift shop open to the public at specific times that is run by the hermits which contains bookshelves and a countertop crafted from wood that was felled on the grounds of the Hermitage and where you can purchase books, roasries, crucifixes, and art created by some of the hermits.

The Carmelite Order: Its Solitary And Community Aspects

Upon hearing of a “hermitage” and “hermits,” many people of the general public might picture a place where outsiders are not permitted to enter.

So, I asked Fr. John to speak to that possible preconception by the public. He replied, ÒWe do seek solitude and seclusion…but it should be recognized that those hermits who are called to a life of complete solitude out in a desert place or on a mountaintop are actually very few, and that the majority of hermits are actually semi-hermits who also have something of a community life. So from the very beginning, the Order of Carmel had a communal aspect to it…both a solitary aspect and a community aspect.Ó

He went on to explain, “The way we achieve our balance between the two is twofold: First of all, we have fixed hours when the Hermitage is open to visitors, from seven in the morning to four in the afternoon. So the other hours of the day we are quiet and in solitude. The other aspect is the cloistered areas of the monastery – the areas of the monastery which are only open to the members of the community – this also then provides a degree of separation and solitude for the members of the community.”

Fr. John spoke about the need for solitude in life, saying, “The solitary aspect is extremely necessary for every Christian to have the time when one can go aside in prayer and commune with God in the silence of the heart. And itÕs getting increasingly difficult to do that in the noisy interconnected world in which we live. So hermits go aside from society a little bit in order to facilitate their life of prayer and communion with God.”

He concluded, “But it was never for the Order of Carmel a complete seclusion … our Hermitage on Mount Carmel, the first house of our Order, is one of the stops given in the pilgrim guides from the Middle Ages … to visit the hermits there.”

+  +  +

Architect Duncan Stroik of the University of Notre Dame designed The Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a leading architect in the design of new Catholic Churches. His past projects include the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel at St. Thomas Aquinas College in California, and the new organ case and renovation of the choir loft at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The exterior of the chapel will be built of brick and granite to match the existing buildings of the Hermitage. Contribuing contractors are: George Siegfried Construction Company, General Contractor; Robert Pagliardi Company, Saran, Italy, Belden Brick, Ohio; CD Tile and Stone stone masons Curtis Nelson, Rob Willi, Travis Langer, and Paul Johnson, a 4th-generation stone mason who worked on the restoration of the St. Paul Cathedral).

Join The Brick Legacy Guild, Receive Prayers From The Hermits

Now you are needed as a builder! Yes, to complete the chapel dedicated to the Beauty of Carmel (and the four hermitages needed to accept new vocations) 75,000 bricks are required. The Hermitage needs to raise $3.75 million Ñ $50 per brick.

According to the Hermitage: Once you donate a brick and enter the Guild, we will offer a Mass for you and all of our Guild members each month. We will pray for your intentions, for your family and for the salvation of all the souls dear to you. And when we finally consecrate this new chapel and open our doors to the public, we hope all of our Guild members will be able to join us for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. What a glorious day that will be!

75,000 Bricks Needed To Raise $3.75 Million At $50 Per Brick

Donate now: https://www.carmelitehermitage.org/brick-legacy-guild

Learn more: https://www.carmelitehermitage.org/the-new-chapel-1

Mail donations to: 8249 Mount Carmel Road, Lake Elmo, MN 55042

Make check payable to: Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Suicide Of A Nation . . . Never Trumper, “Principled Vote,” Abstain From Voting: What Are You Thinking?

By JOSEPH MATT

As our national election for president enters the final stretch, a growing constituency of pro-life voters and even conservatives — and, of course, never Trumpers — are indicating their intention to withhold their presidential vote out of “principle” — the pro-lifers largely because of the GOP platform and Donald Trump’s latest softening stance on abortion.

Well, first of all, the GOP’s platform is the most baseless of excuses to boycott Trump, which will only benefit Harris. The GOP platform isn’t worth the paper it’s written on and hasn’t been for some time. Can you find me ten Republican congressmen who even know what their platform says?

For years, many Republicans have been paying lip service to their GOP constituents, especially the pro-life movement. Say what you will, but Trump did deliver with Supreme Court justices that overturned Roe v. Wade. How soon we forget.

Almost a decade ago with a Republican Senate, House, and President, Paul Ryan claimed Congress would defund Planned Parenthood. Oh, that’s right, they were also going to get rid of the Affordable Care Act — remember Obamacare? Well, how’s that working out? To this day, Planned Parenthood continues to receive in excess of $500 million a year in federal money to slaughter babies.

Abstaining is simply not a viable moral choice. We have a moral obligation to vote, especially if one candidate is an enemy of religion, morals, and liberty. Let’s look at reality: unless there’s a totally unexpected turn of events, either Harris or Trump will be elected president — a vote for anybody other than Trump, or abstaining from voting because of Trump, is a vote for Harris and that is a simple fact.

Given the completely foreseeable evils that will follow a Harris-Walz victory, this constituency of non-voters or voters for another candidate will share in the responsibility for the immoral effects of a Harris administration, all of which will contribute to the suicide of our once great nation. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that certain pro-life groups, those advocating for religious liberties, and similar groups who resist a Harris administration will be relegated to jail cells and re-education camps. After all, it is happening now under the Biden-Harris administration.

There are plenty of opportunities for principled stands especially when there are no distinctions in the evil between two choices, but this is not one of them. The positions are much more defined and apparent. Between the two options, one will be at a level of evil which our nation has probably not experienced before.

This is a case where the “principled” position of not voting at all is hardly principled. One of the arguments is that we are voting for abortion by voting for Trump. Did these same pro-lifers who voted for Trump in the first two presidential elections vote for abortions in cases of incest, rape, and life of the mother? (After all, that was Trump’s position at the time.) Where were their principles then?

God has allowed a situation of two possible outcomes — you do not have to look too deeply to see that one is far superior to the other. Can we all agree that there will be fewer abortions under Trump than Harris and certainly much more freedom to resist and restrain the pro-death movement and to strengthen and advance the pro-life cause under Trump? How can abstaining from the polls, which is effectively voting for Harris, be called “principled”, when we know she will increase abortions and possibly completely stamp out legal resistance to pro-abortion policies?

This is a binary choice. An abstained vote is more of a preservation of ideological purity than a position that would save more babies from abortion. If we all agree that one abortion is one too many, we must always stand up to evil. A vote for Trump does not mean we approve of his position on abortion and we certainly must continue the pressure and advocacy for laws that assure and protect human life at every stage regardless of who becomes president.

Withholding your vote is dangerous and careless in this particular case — it is not only life itself that is on the ballot this election, but issues that have bound the fabric and soul of our country together from its inception. Religious freedom, freedom of speech, the second amendment, and freedom of the press — these are just some of the liberties we stand to lose with this election.

For those of you who intend to withhold your vote or waste it on a non-contender, it is difficult to argue that you won’t bear some of the responsibility for securing your children and grandchildren a country which will not only include more abortion but will be on an accelerated path to a completely Godless, communist rule.

The demonic, Godless Harris-Walz ticket is totally devoid of any good. There is a reason they are withholding their policy intentions from the public. If the complicit dominant media were to expose their Marxist beliefs, the majority of the American electorate would have nothing to do with them.

Just wait for what they have in store for us if they achieve power this time around. In the age of the Internet, it is hard to conceal a track record, so based on their history we know exactly what they will do if they gain power. Do you really think this nation can withstand another four years of unlimited immigration, uncontrolled government spending, a court system that continues to remove itself from the Constitution, laws that continually go unenforced, a media that is controlled by the state, and on and on?

To get a preview of the evils that will befall our nation, one only has to examine briefly some of the Harris-Walz record and some of what they are known to believe. This should cause anybody to tremble in horror as to the consequences of a victory with these two lifetime Marxists.

These issues will only intensify or will be fast-tracked to implementation under a Harris presidency if they haven’t been done already.

On average, The Wanderer reports regularly on pro-lifers who are sentenced to jail time on the basis of violating the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act for so-called nonviolent protests at abortuaries across the country. When this unconstitutional practice accelerates under Harris-Walz, how does your “principled non-vote” affect your conscience?

The following examples should serve as a brief reminder of only some of the damage that Harris has been complicit in as Biden’s star DEI hire, and some of the moral and economic train wrecks her running mate Tim Walz oversaw as governor of Minnesota:

• Abortion on demand up to and after birth
• Open borders
• Sympathizing and supporting protesters and looters to the extent of posting bail during the Floyd riots
• Harris is on record stating that she would want the federal government to pay for transgender surgeries for immigrants
• We are dealing with outright communists, so much so that their policies are intentionally hidden from the press and the public
• Communist Bernie Sanders — who, compared to Harris, would be considered a capitalist — is on record commenting on Harris’ flip-flops on the issues, essentially saying she is lying to win the election. Harris herself says she has not changed her values when asked about her flip-flops
• Harris and Walz are both on record about making attempts to pack the Supreme Court
• The 15 to 20 million immigrants who have entered this country illegally will be eligible to vote if given citizenship. That would eliminate any margin of error, which would dispose of the need for future elections. The Marxists would reign unchecked.

Now let’s take a quick look specifically at China’s favorite son, Tim Walz, who is even more extreme than Harris, if such a thing is possible. These are some of the “niceties” now enacted into law that our “good governor” brought to our home state of Minnesota. Many of them are unknown to Minnesotans because of a silent media who covered for Walz even as he watched and empathized with the looting and burning of the state’s largest city, Minneapolis, for days on end.

You have to ask yourself: What kind of person passes a law that would allow children at the age of 12 to undergo so-called sex-change surgery without parental consent or consultation, yet with the full protection and support of the state? Many Minnesotans are just now learning of this heinous law because of a complicit and useless local media who never exposed the perversion and immorality of such laws.

What kind of heinous human being would watch a baby survive an abortion only to be left to die? Apparently, the Democrat vice presidential candidate would have no qualms — he joined with his Democratic colleagues in the Minnesota Legislature to repeal a law requiring medical care for abortion survivors and another law requiring that survivors and their fate be reported.

This same man implemented a snitching line in Minnesota for turning in neighbors who might have violated covid laws. (Communist China, anybody?)

Walz earned the nickname “Tampon Tim” for implementing the placement of tampon machines in boys’ bathrooms in schools. (This should be all you need to know about the man.) This man could be president — are you kidding me?

Don’t think for a minute these atrocities won’t be part of federal law in a Harris administration. Look how rapid the decay of our republic has been in the last four years. The state has tightened its grip on the media, punishing those who won’t be controlled or who offer dissenting opinions, labeling their content as misinformation. The use of laws like the FACE Act has increased under Biden-Harris to intimidate and suppress pro-life protesters. Lies go unabated by both government and the media unlike no time in modern history with no repercussions. Illegal immigrants are given preferential treatment and rights over everyday citizens. There has been a trend in this country of defunding the police in large cities resulting in an increase of crime. Hillary Clinton recently stated that those engaged in “propaganda” “should be civilly or even in some cases criminally charged.”

These examples only touch the surface. Upon reflection, ask yourself whose policies are going to kill more babies. Do not think for a moment these laws will not be promoted and advocated for on a federal level. Do you honestly think the pro-life movement and any group promoting traditional family values and the laws of God will be better served from a jail cell or a re-education camp? Ask yourself how many babies you are saving with your “protest,” “in-good-conscience” abstinence vote. Ask yourself based on history who is more apt to be persuaded to take more of a pro-life point of view, a more traditional family view, a more pro-democracy point of view, who will be better to respect the laws of God in governing our nation.

What Will Pro-life Resistance Look Like Under A Harris-Walz Administration?

Forget about it! If Harris and Walz get their way, there will be no resistance.

How can anyone be so naïve as to think that as a consequence of a Harris victory any fair pro-life or traditional values or God-given rights or any other conservative cause will stand a chance? A Harris victory will only embolden these communist thugs, who do not respect the law, the courts, the Constitution, or basic truth in order to eliminate any resistance to their evil ways.

Vladimir Lenin was known to say that socialism is the road to communism. Popes throughout history have consistently expressed the fundamental opposition between Christianity and communism and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe to even moderate socialism.

If the last four years have taught us anything it is that the Left has rapidly put our country on a trajectory toward communism: securing the complicity of the media, weaponizing the justice system, opening our borders, overseeing a $35 trillion national debt, threatening gun-owning, God-fearing citizenry; the list goes on.

This will pale in comparison to a Harris administration. How can anyone actually believe we will be allowed a level playing field with these people? How will we win? In the courts, the legislature? Where? The rule of law is now the rule of the elite, enforced on the average citizen; but for the political elite it is abused and corrupted for their own political advantage.

A look at where we are and how fast we got here should tell us where our future will be if we continue on the Harris-Walz bandwagon.

The Wanderer has endorsed Donald Trump for President in the last two elections. The endorsement was primarily from a pro-life, religious-liberty stance. And yes, as of late President Trump has sadly been a disappointment, softening his pro-life standpoint along with many in the GOP; specifically concerning is his latest stance on IVF and a seemingly evasive stance on the time frame in which he accepts abortion. However, a vote for Trump is not fundamentally a vote against life but rather a vote for many just policies.

There is a clear argument for this case from Catholic moral theology: This is a case where we must apply the principle of double effect. This principle applies to a situation in which the moral agent is faced with a choice which results in two effects, one good, one bad. It seems to me that in the action of voting for Trump, the good effect would be his election, and the many good policies we can expect from him given his record as President for four years (preservation and reinstitution of American traditions of religious freedom, free speech; closing the border; preventing nuclear war, to name a few!) while the bad effect is a potential furthering of liberal abortion/IVF policies.

Remember: Trump has already delivered more for the pro-life cause than any other president, and we must hope he can be persuaded to do so again. Let us remind President Trump, America can achieve economic prosperity, freedom to voice and live our beliefs, secure borders, safe neighborhoods, etc., but as long as we fail to protect the least among us — the unborn — we will never succeed in “Making America Great Again.” You will have our vote, but it comes with extenuating circumstances — be forewarned we will fight you every step of the way on the issue of innocent life. Let us pray that President Trump — as he has distanced himself from the pro-life movement — reverts to pro-life tendencies, since as we all know America will never be great again as long as it continues to slaughter the most innocent among us.

Ronald Reagan was noted as saying, “This country is one generation away from losing its freedom.” Well, I say we are at a crossroads — we are one vote away from losing our freedom. There are two choices, one GOOD, with potential evil thrown in, and one absolutely suicidal to this nation and its citizens. As Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” That, my friends, is the same as a non-vote.

Don’t waste your vote. A gift of Marxism to our children and grandchildren would be a terrible curse on your conscience. God help us!

No Blase Of Glory Here

By JOSEPH MATT

The culture of death was on full display for the world to see this past week in Chicago. The United Center which hosted the Democratic convention this past week is commonly referred to as “the house that Jordan built” – the famous basketball player. Well, this week with all the demonic, godless forces surrounding and within the convention center it could easily be referred to as “the house that Satan built.”

For in that house and around that house it was hard to find anything that would indicate otherwise. Just a sampling of the Satanic atmosphere – abortion, the sacred cow of the Democratic party was front and center of just about every discussion – hardly a speech was given without reference to their self- proclaimed God given right to kill babies. Of course, abortion is never mentioned by name; it is always referred to as the innocuous “women’s reproductive healthcare,” a much more innocent and harmless kind of word than one that would describe baby killing. Oh, and how much further the progressives have advanced – now they talk about aborting up to and killing after birth. It is now considered fashionable to openly brag and celebrate their abortions.

This year offered an even more enticing promotion by the ever-present largest provider of abortions, none other than Planned Parenthood – a mobile unit set up in close proximity to the convention center offering free abortions and vasectomies.  

For most of us, this is no surprise from the party that espouses perversion and death, but our displeasure and indignation are triggered even more when we see our shepherds who are supposed to lead us to Christ seemingly acquiesce in the ways of the world.  

Well, true to form, there always seems to be a Catholic bishop that will comply with the job. No other than Bishop Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, was invited for the opening invocation. I am sure the script of the prayer was vetted not to offend anybody in the audience except for practicing Catholics. No doubt he was seen as a useful tool, some would say idiot, by the powers that be, to attempt to show the world the Democrats are not totally Godless and they do have a moral compass, of course, as defined by them (not Christ). Who better to pick than a Bishop who is more outspoken on issues of open borders and climate change than on issues of life and death. Almost a guarantee he would not mention something as controversial as abortion.

This was a huge opportunity on a world stage to proclaim the Kingship of Christ and correct a wayward group of people who are on a road to perdition. Instead, we heard a prayer that had no real substance, which lacked any humility, and certainly did not address the obvious failings in regard to Christ’s teaching that permeated the auditorium. At the very least, a prayer for the conversion of hearts on the issues of abortion would have been appropriate.

Why a Catholic bishop would accept such an invitation if he was not able to offer anything of substance is a question to be asked. Unfortunately given your stature as an American Bishop representing the Catholic Church, attending such an event and remaining silent on these issues that concern Heaven and Hell only imply acquiescence on your part, your Excellancy.  

Again, a missed opportunity for a Catholic prelate to be a tool for Christ instead of a tool for the world.

Perverts Pirouette In Paris

By DR. CHRISTOPHER MANION, KM

“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” Olympics spokesperson Anne Descamps calmly lied as she responded to the worldwide uproar after the demonic depiction of the Last Supper at the Olympics’ opening ceremonies July 26. “If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

“Really sorry.” Right.

Thomas Jolly, the “artistic director” of the billion-dollar disaster wasn’t sorry, but he admitted being “baffled” by the outrage caused by the perverse spectacle.

Leave it to the sodomites — they’re always “baffled” that we’re “offended,” implying not an apology but an indelicate insult to our failure to “grow” in the smarmy spirit of empathy.

What’s Jolly really telling us?

“So your family loves sports, you eagerly tuned in as the Opening Ceremony began, and NBC shoved an X-rated blasphemy in your face. And you’re ‘offended?’ That’s just baffling! I can’t understand why you don’t let me soften up your kids for the next overture from a gay groomer or a government school union member to seduce them.”

Well, actually, Thomas (I mean Jolly, not his partner, whose name is also Thomas), I’m not baffled, I’m mad as Hell and want to have you arrested for baiting, taming, and then grooming millions of innocent boys and girls around the world. 

“Our idea was inclusion,” he said. “Naturally, when we want to include everyone and not exclude anyone, questions are raised.”

“Naturally?” Surprise, he’s right. When we’re dragged into a sewer of smut and slime, it’s only natural to fight back. “We never wanted to be subversive,” Jolly insists, which means, of course, that subversion was exactly what he had in mind: “This is the world of amateur sports, kids — if you want to play, get used to it, because we run the joint and we’ll rub your nose in it.”

But “inclusion” was not enough. Let’s get specific — what does Thomas want to include? “We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everybody.” Well, to Mr. Jolly, “diversity” means “perversity,” and if you don’t like it, take up bowling or bridge, because the world of amateur sports is now morally corrupted beyond repair.

Actually, this perversion plague has a history. Emmanuel Macron, President of France, and proud paragon of the Paris Olympics, has been championing “abortion rights” for years. In 2022 he tried to force the European Union to include it in its “Charter of Fundamental Rights”; when that failed, he attempted to insert it into the French Constitution, and failed again, but his dogged persistence finally paid off: this past March, the text of the Constitution of France was amended to include abortion as a “basic right.”

So it’s no surprise that on July 27, a day after Jolly’s debacle, Macron “hailed the opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, saying the bold showpiece on the River Seine had made France extremely proud,” Le Monde reported. Macron added that he “he’d been working on the ‘great spectacle’ for seven years.”

Seven years. A model of moral dissolution. But the corruption in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) goes back even further.
                Avery Brundage, the brilliant American who headed the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1929 to 1953 and the IOC from 1952 to 1972, had polished the Olympic tradition to a luster admired throughout the world. But then Juan Antonio Samaranch who bribed his way into heading the IOC for the next twenty years, introduced big-time corruption, favoritism, and politics into its membership and management.
                If Avery Brundage had sensed even a whiff of the filth that paraded in Paris last Friday, he’d have fired the whole lot of them. But the stench of Samaranch still floats like sewage down the Seine, and no one will be fired. They’re all so disappointed that we even bother to be offended!

Catholic Leaders Speak Out

Prelates from the Holy Land, France, Iraq, and the United States were among the dozens who spoke out strongly about the blasphemous performance. In The Catholic Thing, Father Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap., described the harrowing spiritual danger faced by those involved.
                “As almost everyone now knows, there was a mocking display of the Last Supper where Jesus was portrayed as an obese female dressed in white.  She was surrounded by a gaggle of drag queen ‘apostles,’ and a young girl was also — we should worry why? — included in this hypersexualized and sacrilegious depiction.

                Now, did those who made mockery of Jesus and his apostles not know that Jesus is the Spirit-filled Messiah? The answer to this question is “No.” If they did not know, what they did may be unseemly and tasteless, but they would not, because of their ignorance, be guilty of the unforgivable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. However, it is precisely because they did know that Jesus is the Father’s incarnate Spirit-filled Son that they mocked him, and so blasphemed the Holy Spirit. Contempt was the whole point of their blasphemous portrayal.
Thus, the entire event was demonic. The devil desires nothing more than for Jesus to be blasphemed, for Jesus, through his saving death and glorious resurrection, destroyed Satan’s kingdom. Satan clearly knows who Jesus is and what he is about. “Ah! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are, the Holy One of God” (Luke 4:34).

The Perversion Parade Comes Closer To Home

Less than 24 hours after the Olympic spectacle, several “drag queens” pranced into the small Virginia town of Front Royal to put on a “Pride Parade.”
                Why did they choose a small, conservative town for an event that “featured performances from several area drag queens?”
                “Smalltown Prides are the best because it really hits home,” longtime drag performer “Chasity [sic] Vain” told a star-struck local reporter. “It’s family friendly. There are a ton of kids out here. It’s just a good time. It’s a great time to support your neighbors, support your friends. You are not alone. This whole community is here for you — in your hometown.”
                Got that, folks? “We’re right here, and ready to support your kids.”
And that’s not all — we’ll hug them, too!
                Event organizer Kammi Mills gushed, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. There’s nothing better than giving a kid a hug who doesn’t get one at home. To be able to give something to a kid who’s been treated like that … it’s terrific.”
                Ms. Mills let the proverbial cat out of the bag with that one, and her remark reflects the hidden contempt that the left has demonstrated for the family since the eighteenth century.
                In the 1860’s, John Swett, California Superintendent of Education, identified the family, especially parents, as the true enemy of public education. “Children belong to the state, not to the family,” he said, removing the influence of parents as much as possible from the educational process town by California town. Swett, a Unitarian, was especially hostile to Catholics, whose schools he thought of as evil corruptors.
                Drag Queen Kammi’s comment reflects the attitude of many in the government school unions today, who frequently claim that “we’re the best friends those kids have,” as they malign the backward and protective homes their students come from.
                Parents are the enemy, always intrusive, always bossing those poor teachers around. Thank goodness they have the union to protect them. And it’s no surprise that California’s largest public school employees union, the “California Teachers Association” (CTA), names its most prestigious annual award after the man who founded the union in the nineteenth century: John Swett.

The Government’s War On Life Gains Momentum

By CHRISTOPHER MANION

“Avoid anti-abortion centers – they mislead you about your options if you’re pregnant.” This slogan appears on highway billboards, buses, and other public facilities in the state of Massachusetts. These taxpayer-funded attacks on pregnancy centers encourage women to “avoid” pro-life organizations.

What to do instead? “Get care you can trust.” And whom can you trust? The Massachusetts State government, of course.

The billboards went up across the state in June according to several on-site reports. The taxpayer-funded attacks also appear on every form of social media imaginable, and they are eerily reminiscent of the hundreds of attacks on Catholic churches, shrines, and, of course, pregnancy centers. The attacks were fomented by the Left after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision was leaked by a renegade liberal clerk at the Supreme Court two years ago.

Those were the days in which Biden Attorney General Merrick Congress, in sworn testimony before Congress, defended the mass demonstrations before the private homes of Supreme Court justices. Those threatening mobs included one heavily armed assailant whose sister miraculously convinced him to turn himself in at one o’clock in the morning as he stood in the dark a block from the residence of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Instead of attacking the lightly guarded family home, Nicholas John Roske called 911. It was that close.

When asked why the Justice Department was so aggressive in its arrests of pro-life demonstrators, while ignoring the countless attacks on Christian, Catholic, and pro-life locations, Garland flippantly dismissed the criticism. Most of those attacks occurred “after dark,” he said, which apparently bestowed a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card on the criminals.

After all, our federal law enforcers must have a good night’s sleep in order the better to spy on Catholic chapels in my neighborhood during the daytime.

The River Of Crime Runs Wide And Deep

And that’s not all. There are troubling parallels throughout Biden’s Deep State. Last September, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that he was forming a “Homeland Intelligence Experts Group,” an illegal confab of anti-Trumpers formed “to provide advice and perspectives on intelligence and national security efforts.”

The members of that elite cabal include the dregs of the rotten national security state spawned by Dick Cheney’s Patriot Act, which didn’t catch any terrorists but was pretty good at getting the government to spy illegally on Americans. The group included “John Brennan and James Clapper… two of the leaders in the ‘Letter of 51’ who used their ‘intelligence credentials’ to mislead the American public on the veracity of the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election,” writes America First Legal, the group that successfully filed suit against Mayorkas to shut the group down.

Yes, that’s the same Alejandro Mayorkas who was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives this past February. “The evidence is clear,” wrote House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, MD (R-TN).

“Secretary Mayorkas should be tried by the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors. Specifically, the House found that he willfully and systemically refused to comply with the laws passed by Congress, and breached the public trust… The Senate has a responsibility to conduct a full trial, hear the evidence, and render a verdict. Refusing to do so would mark the first time the Senate has refused to hold an impeachment trial when it had the opportunity to do so. Such unprecedented action would be a tacit approval of Secretary Mayorkas’ assault on our constitutional order, and an affront to the millions of Americans suffering under this sanctioned crisis. I look forward to the trial.”

But there was no trial. Defying its constitutional duty, the Democrat Senate, led by Chuck Schumer, refused to try Mayorkas and buried the case instead.

As for those “crimes and misdemeanors” committed by Joe Biden and his enablers in the Deep State, their number is legion. For instance, among the “Experts Group” documents released to America First Legal under court order was a DHS document stating that, “If you ask researchers to dive into indicators of extremists and terrorism, they might indicate being in the military or religious. This being identified as an indicator suggests that we should be more worried about this,” the document continued. “We need the space to talk about it honestly.”

Space? Honestly?

How can you expect honesty when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security claims that America’s “Domestic Terrorism threat” mostly comes from Trump supporters, members of the military, and “religious people”?     

Get Ready

We note that these efforts are all coming from unelected, and usually career members of the various bureaucracies in the military and civilian governments. These people will not disappear, even in the event of a sweeping MAGA victory in November. Like the bureaucrats behind Obama’s notorious and unconstitutional HHS contraception mandate, they will continue to harass law abiding Catholics and propagandize future generations in government schools and their allied unions, who constitute the strongest and most reliable left-wing financial an ideological powerhouse in the country. 

But there is another dimension to the massive effort aiming to annihilate the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God on which our Republic stands.

The American Left is on the ropes. Their usually obedient voter blocs are coming unglued. If criminals in high places can defy the law, why can’t the radicals take to the streets? Why can’t faceless government agencies bus illegals to vote in the Blue Cities in swing states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Wisconsin? Even blatant crimes committed in the next four months will not be dealt with until after the election, if at all – remember Black Lives Matter?

The Left causes chaos because the Left thrives in chaotic times. A few properly organized false flag operations can give “the authorities” all the “evidence” they need to lock down every “terror group” they care to identify.

Remember, Joe Biden’s “Silver Bullet” issue is abortion. And they are firing with every cylinder. At whom? Us. That’s right. And they’ve identified us already. They know where we live. Are we ready?

Despite All The Tricks For Biden… Reality Catches Up To Unworthy Joe At CNN “Debate” With Trump

By DEXTER DUGGAN

Did you hear that after Joe Biden failed so badly at his June 27 CNN debate with Donald Trump, Biden’s team said he couldn’t lift that 50-pound barbell on stage because it was the wrong kind of 50 pounds?

But, Joe, Joe, 50 pounds weighs 50 pounds, no matter what. If it’s 50 pounds of iron or 50 pounds of popcorn, it’s still 50 pounds.

Oh, said the team, well, the light reflecting off the barbell hurt his eyes and he grabbed the wrong way at it.

But, Joe, Joe, it was a dull black barbell, not shiny at all. It couldn’t have shined harshly into your eyes.

Oh, Joe got confused because the moderators spoke English, but Joe has been studying Chinese so intensely recently that comprehending English threw him. Why didn’t they speak Mandarin?

While the Biden team didn’t actually use these silly excuses I just proposed — at least, not so far as I know — the actual excuses didn’t make any more sense.

The facts that his establishment crowd have avoided ever since they turned to him in desperation for the 2020 presidential campaign — lest left-wingers’ heartthrob, the socialist Bernie Sanders, win the nomination and scare “moderates” — are even worse now than four years ago.

Biden has been decaying mentally and physically, and further-advancing age won’t make him better.

Among the inapplicable excuses, Biden’s defenders said the studio makeup gave sun-tanned Biden a pallor.

Oh, so his skin looking whiter than in reality (wait a second — someone didn’t want Biden to resemble people of color??) is what caused so much adverse reaction? Instead of his rambling, incoherent, unfinished responses?

And, as another weak excuse, they said Biden had a cold. Despite getting that healthy sun? So, makeup covering his suntan also got in the way of his brain cells operating better?

Defenders said Biden is at his best between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern Time.

Well, in the first place, most full-time workers even far below Biden’s level of political success are expected to do eight hours on a shift plus lunch time. How many could expect to be hired if they said they’ll only show up for about three-quarters of a day including midday lunch? And with frequent time off and trips out of state for long weekends?

Yet Biden thinks the most responsible job in the U.S. should have hours like a retired millionaire’s? Even a lot of older millionaires stay more active than this, maybe so they can make more millions.

Maybe Biden had relished that hard work wasn’t the way needed for him to make money, but guaranteeing that peripatetic Hunter got his traveling bags filled with foreign bribes?

Biden IS a millionaire, whether gained honestly or not, and he SHOULD be retired. So why doesn’t he admit reality and step aside for the leisure time that he seems so desperate to enjoy anyway, although pretending to be a hard worker?

Moreover, how can Biden as president even make any international diplomatic and political trips without taking a full week off at his destination before he gets sufficiently oriented to the new time zone’s 10-to-4 hours so that he can deal with responsibilities there?

And it’s an embarrassing fact that Biden even often skips state dinners overseas with other international leaders, where some valuable elbow-rubbing just might get done, but he’s not up to this exertion.

It’s hard to think of any job Biden could get hired for today because of his infirmities and decay. But his phalanx — which has far more energy than their field commander — works day and night to impose four more years of control on us by a boss barely capable of getting to work, even though his bedroom, breakfast table and office are on two floors of the same Executive Mansion!

Mr. President Biden falsely has claimed publicly (not merely on a private resume sheet) to have been everything from a law professor to an 18-wheeler driver, so why not add some zest to his campaign right now by concurrently applying to be a professional football kicker?

He’ll just need one player on each side of him to hold him up, special glasses to make sure to see when the quarterback snaps the ball, an AI-guided boost to his kicking leg, a drone-powered football, and referees too blind to notice all of this unallowable assistance.

Aside from this, Biden is only inches away from carrying whatever team hires him straight into the Super Bowl.

Biden was too bashful as president to give a softball TV interview to the Super Bowl audience, but surely he’s ready to take the field to play a full season toward claiming that championship ring while also being president for four more terms (popular acclamation soon to discard the two-term presidential limit).

Amid our wide-ranging speculations here, it’s an unfortunate fact that even if Biden actually stepped aside tomorrow as president, whoever were to replace him from Democratic top ranks would be as bad as Biden on policy issues, thanks to the ongoing purge of any Democrat who didn’t hold, or refused to adopt, the far-left stands Biden takes.

There used to be plenty of pro-lifers, nationalists, and others of traditional views as Democrats, but they were forced to get in line or get out by extremists who redefined party requirements.

Probably the latest among these transitions is an open, vigorous anti-Israel line. As has become evident, considerable youth energy among Democrats isn’t merely for Palestinians but in favor of Palestinian radicals expelling and even killing the Mideast’s Jews.

So, among the political dances Biden is trying to do is assist Israel while also being hostile to it.

Just before the CNN debate, Biden took a whole week away from the White House to go to Camp David to rest, be briefed on policy, and presumably get intensive therapies and drugs — yet he still turned in such a horrifying performance at the Atlanta TV headquarters.

What would Biden have looked like if he’d just been through a stressful week at the White House with two shooting wars in action and a third one threatening to start, his support further collapsing, the economy suffering from inflation still increasing instead of returning to the happy Trump economic days –

Oh, all those events did keep happening, but Biden just ignored them while skipping off to the Maryland presidential retreat for some more down time.

And just after the debate, decrepit Biden had to be helped down a few low steps from the studio’s lectern platform by Dr. Jill. Who actually acts as Nurse Jill, as well as the nation’s actual commander-in-chief for her doddering husband.

Critics noted that Nurse Jill told Biden he answered all the questions at the debate, as if he were a grade-school student. And as if “answering the questions” means simply saying some kind of words, no matter how confusing, incomplete or pointless.

If Biden could go back to the 1950s’ major television quiz shows, in the time of his youth, and be a contestant who’s allowed to get away with whatever he pleases, he could be the big winner by reciting the alphabet, no matter how many letters of it he left out.

Come to think of it, one of those big quiz shows was called “The $64,000 Question.” That was big money then, a bit over a half-century ago, but inflation under both major political parties has reduced that figure to a middle-class wage. Wikipedia says that $64,000 figure was “equivalent to $730,000 in 2023.”

It was said that family members didn’t want Biden to end his presidency now with such a debacle as the CNN debate as a defining image. But hasn’t that always been one of the top considerations for Biden — making himself look good, no matter how many lies and deceptions are effected?

Including claiming to be a “good Catholic,” even though actually living as one is anathema to Biden.

Biden is said to make his political career decisions with his family, and Dr. Jill and Hunter were said to be urging him to remain in the presidential race. There’s no doubt they’ve been around politics for a long time, but are they any wiser than a million-mile passenger who never took flying lessons?

The frequent flier knows how a takeoff and landing is supposed to feel, but how to direct a big plane into the sky and then back onto the ground from the flight deck are beyond his understanding.

The Democrats were in their fix with Biden because his team vigorously had blocked any serious challenger to him in 2024 like candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — even though Kennedy’s father’s generation of Democrat activists had driven incumbent Lyndon Baines Johnson from the presidential race in 1968 because of the impact of their getting into those primary elections.

Biden couldn’t survive any serious challenge to his decrepitude, and other Democrats made the grave error of accepting the strong-arming on behalf of a very weak incumbent.

Activist and entertainer Adam Corolla told “Turning Point USA” founder Charlie Kirk on Kirk’s national radio program that the political left was “gobsmacked” at seeing the reality of Biden’s debate performance because of the way they had avoided facts, but it was what conservatives expected to see because of their awareness.

Only two days earlier, Corolla said, White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre had claimed that conservatives used AI to make Biden falsely appear old and feeble.

No doubt Dr. Jill, Hunter and others are desperate to hang on to all the perks they can from one of the top political jobs in the world, but desiring to and deserving to are two entirely different things. Just the same as for Joe’s unworthy wishes.