This is war, friends. Total, unrestricted, asymmetrical war. Wherein Fr. Z rants.

This is war, friends.  Total, unrestricted, asymmetrical war.  Wherein Fr. Z rants.: UPDATE: Read what I wrote about totalitarians back in Jan 2020 before the Wuhan Devil COVID-1984 madness took full control HERE And check out Jennifer’s book… The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives and Why the Church Was Right All Along US HERE – UK HERE Origi

Be Very, Very Cautious Who You Listen to and Who You Follow. Only Follow Christ and His Holy Catholic Church.

 
This post is not going to be a popular one but since I don't get many viewers, I do not think there should be too much slack. 

I am a traditional Catholic. I was raised a traditional Catholic. I do my best to live a traditional Catholic life (except for the short time in my youth when I left the Church and dwelled in the protestant world) and I very strongly reject the modernism found today in the Church. 

Traditional Catholicism has been here since Christ founded His Church. We have saints of the past and good traditional priests and bishops (sadly not a lot) today fighting for the Church as those who have gone before them did. There are societies, fraternities, traditional sisters also. There will be good, faithful, traditional Catholics continuing into the future until Christ's return also.

Today, in our internet driven world, there are a lot of traditional Catholics out there who have good websites, good new sites, good blogs, good Youtube channels, and work hard to teach and follow the true faith. I would definitely suggest checking them out because it seems to me, and maybe it is not really traditional Catholics supporting this, but we seem to be canonizing a particular person who says he is a traditional Catholic and making him the leader of the Church and putting him in the papal seat where he should not be. At least this is what I see happening here in the United States with this person.

Out of Christian charity, I am not going say any names but many will suspect who I am talking about and even if you do not  this post could apply to any very popular, celebrity type Catholic speaker.

The person I particularly have in mind has an online bible study type website, which I have been a member of in the past. He has a great thing going at that website, but now over recent years has developed a Youtube channel with a great following. Many of this man's videos are very good but...

Something has gone wrong at this channel recently and I can't exactly point to what it is but it seems to be drifting away from true traditional Catholicism. Don't get me wrong, he has some great videos and good interviews but just like all of us he is still just a man. Some of his videos seem, to me, anyway, more of a revenge attack on the Church than anything uplifting and encouraging to traditional Catholicism. 

Plus when I look at the comments on his videos, calling him a holy man, the one called to save the Church, the one who should start the New Catholic Church, the one crying out in the dessert, telling him how much they love him, he's great, he's awesome, he's the greatest, he will always stand by us no matter what, well it is just getting  a little "creepy" to me, more protestant than Catholic. I saw this a lot in the protestant churches. 

I, have taken a step away, unsubscribed from his Youtube channel and I would suggest others do the same or at least listen with cautionary ears. It is rather better to study the faith from the Roman Catechism, read scripture, study the saints, listen to some other very good traditional Catholics out there, some of which are also warning us to be cautious in following one person too far and expecting him to be the end all, be all answer for the Church.

We should ask ourselves, is this fair to this man for Catholics to be lauding him as the answer to the Church's problems. What kind of weight does this put on him? How can such praise and adulation affect his thinking? his salvation? How many misunderstand what he is saying and yes, leave the Church because of what he is saying?

Unfortunately Catholics today are hungry for leadership, hungry for good pastoring but I just want to warn Catholics beware of who you follow. As one traditional Catholic said at Restoring The Faith, "don't trust anyone". If they are still alive, they can take a wrong turn.

We should all be working out our salvation with fear and trembling, while also fighting the good fight but we can not fight the good fight if we follow someone who possibly could lead us down the wrong path out of a lack of humility.

There is a saying, "don't shoot the messenger"  but as Catholics we need to remember also, "don't canonize the messenger" at least not until they have passed from this Earth and have been canonized a saint by the Holy Catholic Church.

God bless, pray the rosary, pray for Holy Mother Church. 

Celebrating Advent

I recently came across the book,  Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family and love it, so if you are trying to make the most of the liturgical season in a traditional Catholic way in your home, this is a great read with many suggestions.

Maria Von Trapp, yes, is the young woman who started out trying to become a nun, then became a governess to Captain von Trapp's children and then the stepmother to all the children after marrying the Captain. The family was a singing family who later came to America to escape the Nazi's in Austria.

She wrote several books, which I hope to read but right now I have just started Around the Year.

In this book many Advent traditions are discussed such as the Advent wreath, Christmas wheat, Advent hymns, St. Barbara's Day, The Christmas Crib, recipes and more. 

She also talks about remembering St. Nicholas Day and one comment she says which is very interesting is, "Something happened to him on his way from Europe to America". Isn't that so true. So many countries with a good Catholic history still maintain this feast day, that unfortunately somehow never made it to America.

So far, all that I have read in this book, copyrighted 1955, comes from a traditional Catholic view, mostly because she didn't know any thing else probably. So, perhaps if you are like me this is just that what you are looking for. 

Maria von Trapp's view of Advent also is one of penance, which is what this time is about. Not as much as Lent, but there is to be an attitude of penance and spiritual growth.

No matter the size of your family, make Advent a time to draw closer to Christ while waiting for His coming.

Below is a link to the book at Amazon.

Around the year

God bless and pray the rosary.

From the National Catholic Register:

US and Canada to be Consecrated to ‘Mary, Mother of the Church’

Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the U.S. bishops' conference, is inviting all U.S. bishops to join him on May 1 in reconsecrating the U.S. to the Blessed Virgin Mary in response to the pandemic. The reconsecration is timed to coincide with the bishops of Canada consecrating their own country to Mary at the same time..

Archbishop Gomez, who is the Archbishop of Los Angeles, said in a letter sent to all American bishops April 22, that the Marian reconsecration would be done under the title of “Mary, Mother of the Church.” He invited all the bishops of the country to join him in prayer on May 1 at 12 p.m. PDT, or 3 p.m. EDT....read more below.

https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/us-and-canada-to-be-consecrated-to-mary-mother-of-the-church

I am so glad to hear this. May we all pray with the bishops for the US and Canada and the whole world for the end of this virus and in hopes that people can get back to work, make a living and support their families. 

We need more civil authorities like this.

From RORATE CAELI:

Italy and the Coronavirus outbreak: The Mayor of Venice consecrates Venice and the Veneto territories to the Immaculate Heart of Mary click title for more


An exemplary witness to the faith - when the civil authorities set an example….

Catholics Must Know Scripture

I enjoy listening to Dr. Marshall on youtube. I haven't linked any of his videos as of yet but I thought I would start with this one. I agree it is so very important that Catholics should know Scripture. More than just what we hear at Mass. We rarely remember that anyhow.

Many protestants believe they know Scripture but they mostly have come to just misunderstand it and so it is important if Catholics can explain Scripture under the guidance of the Church, since that is where God has chosen to divinely reveal His Word to the world.

Click here for video:
Why Trad Catholics Must Know Bible Better than Protestants


I am also adding a link to the book Tim Flanders wrote and they talk about in the video. I have ordered it and am looking forward to reading and getting a better understanding of Scripture from a Traditional point of view.

Introduction to the Holy Bible for Traditional Catholics: A Beginner’s Guide to Reading the Scriptures for Spiritual Profit

������ Feminine Skills To Cultivate

Recently during a casual conversation with a woman I recently met, I mentioned that I was doing some sewing at home and looking for some fabric for curtains. I like to quilt, craft and sew much of my own household decorations.  She told me that she had taken several years of sewing classes in high school but couldn't sew. She asked if I would mind doing some mending for her. I said I would.

The mending, for me anyway, was pretty basic, needle and thread sewing, such as sewing on a button, fixing a hole in a blanket and sewing closed a seam or two on a shirt.

My concern here and the reason I wanted to share this video is, this woman took several years of sewing classes and is unable to mend some articles for her home. Perhaps she didn't pay attention in school. I am not sure the reason. She is a pretty smart and hard working person, so I am not sure why she can't sew. Perhaps she doesn't remember how but I can't help but wonder if it isn't more of an, "I don't want to sew because that is too domestic" attitude.  I ran into a similar attitude once when asking women to bake pies for bake sale our church was having. A couple of "I don't bake pies" firmly came my way.

Today it is very easy to learn many things on your own. There are books, and classes to take at shops and youtube videos galore that one can learn skills and this includes how to sew and mend.

So, the problem and the question is, do women want to do these things? I will say probably for the most part, many women would say no but there are those women, usually traditional type women, who would be all the willing to learn how to sew and mend for those in their home and that is what they do, out of love.


As the video from TradCatFem above indicates, there are skills all women need to cultive, sewing and mending should absolutely be one.