Remnant News Watch

Marian Shrine Untouched By Tsunami

On December 26, 2004, people around the world were stunned by the news of a 9.0 earthquake which originated in the Indian Ocean, off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, causing a tsunami responsible for over 125,000 deaths and leaving millions homeless in almost a dozen countries. As the days passed and the death toll increased, television cameras sent back the images of utter ruination, of entire villages wiped off the face of the earth, of piles of bodies awaiting cremation.

And, yet, amidst the horror, something miraculous occurred at the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health in Vailankanni, India. Anto Akkara, writing for the Catholic News Service, reports (Dec. 30, 2004) that the basilica, a popular Marian shrine in India which draws 20 million pilgrims annually, remained untouched by the rampaging waters. In a statement issued on December 29th, basilica officials said that about 2,000 pilgrims attending Mass there were “miraculously saved” when the surging waves halted at the gates of the shrine compound.

Forty-foot high waves smashed into houses and hotels on the same elevation just 330 feet from the shrine, and a nearby bus stop, also on the same elevation but farther away from the beach, was inundated. Sebastian Kannappilly, a businessman, was attending Mass with his wife and daughter in the basilica when the tsunami struck. “It was a miracle,” said Kannappilly, “that the water did not enter the church.” More than 1,000 people, including pilgrims, died within a one-kilometer radius of the shrine.

Because several hundred volunteers rushed to the shrine on December 26th, government officials left all relief and rescue work in the area to the basilica. As volunteers removed bodies from houses, stores and debris, the odor of decay was so powerful that priests wore surgical masks in their rooms while coordinating the relief work. “The worst is over,” said Thanjavur Bishop Devadass Ambrose Mariadoss. “We are gradually recovering from the shock.”

Comment: In a land of temples and mosques, a shrine dedicated to the Mother of God remains standing unscathed, a beacon amidst the devastation surrounding it on all sides. What further comment need be made other than the thoughts expressed in this Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows: O Mary! I beseech thee by the sorrows thou didst experience in beholding thy divine Son dying on the Cross, procure for me a good death; obtain for me that, having loved Jesus and thee, my most tender Mother, here on earth, I may love you both and bless you eternally in Heaven. Amen. (From My Prayer Book by Fr. Lasance, 1908)

New Exorcism Course for Priests

Reuters reports (Dec. 9, 2004) that the Regina Apostolorum, one of Rome's most prestigious pontifical universities, will hold a special course for Catholic priests on Satanism and exorcism. An increased interest in Satanism on the part of Italian youths is a large factor in the decision to offer the course. Fr. Oreste Benzi, a priest who works to rehabilitate Satanists, estimates that worshippers of the occult number around 600,000 in Italy.

In early June, the bodies of two teenagers, Chiara Marino, 19, and Fabio Tollis, 16, who had been missing since 1998, were discovered in a wooded area northwest of Milan. Both were associated with a heavy-metal band called “Beasts of Satan” and frequented a heavy-metal bar in Milan called “Midnight.” After speaking with one of the accused killers, prosecutors concluded that the killings were drug-fueled ritualistic killings carried out by an occult sect. According to the Associated Press (June 9, 2004), Chiara Marino was stabbed to death because “she personified the Virgin Mary,” while Fabio Tollis was killed because he was “no longer considered a reliable sect member.”

The Regina Apostolorum issued a statement saying that such episodes should be seen as an "alarm bell to take seriously a problem which is still far too underestimated." The statement also said that Satanism aimed to sow confusion among the young and promote a world without moral rules. The two-month course on Satanism and exorcism will begin in February and will be limited to priests and advanced students of theology.

Comment: “In 1999,” says the Reuters report cited above, “the Vatican issued its first updated ritual for exorcism since 1614 and warned that the devil is still at work.” In 2001, the Catholic Church’s chief exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amroth, expressed his belief that “the declarations contained in the New Ritual are very serious and very damaging ... the fruit of ignorance and inexperience.” How did this come about? Because, according to Fr. Amroth, many of the Church’s liturgical reforms were influenced by “bishops and biblical ‘experts’ who do not believe in the Devil or in Hell – i.e., who do not believe in the revealed Truth of the Gospels.”

While it is heartening to see a renewed interest in exorcisms and the reality of diabolical possession on the part of Rome, we are justified in pointing out that a two-month course is no substitute for a “house built on rock,” which describes the Church when she is doctrinally and liturgically sound. Only a fool would deem it “coincidence” that the moral and intellectual decay in the world seemed to accelerate with the destruction of the Traditional Latin Mass. “The principal excellence of the most holy sacrifice of the Mass,” wrote St. Leonard of Port Maurice (+1751) in The Hidden Treasure, “consists in being essentially, and in the very highest degree, identical with that which was offered on the cross of Calvary.” Imagine it: before the liturgical devastation carried out in the name of Vatican II, each day saw thousands upon thousands of priests throughout the world offering a perfect, acceptable sacrifice to God. During these Masses, the graces won by Our Lord on Calvary would literally stream out to embrace the entire world.

Let us hope and pray that the participants in the Regina Apostolorum’s course benefit from it. But, let us hope even more that a study of what is at stake here – souls – will inaugurate in them a desire to return to the faith of their forefathers, the true “house built on rock.”

U.S. Bishops Hail Another Ecumenical Venture

On November 17, 2004, the Bishops of the United States announced their decision to join the ecumenical organization “Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. (CCT).” The group took shape in January of 2003 when a diverse group of 46 national church leaders met at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California and agreed on a proposal to take back to their respective churches for consideration. The proposal, which calls for “a fellowship that is committed to grow closer together in Christ in order to strengthen its Christian witness in the world, will be presented to the decision-making bodies of the various denominations. Leaders who participated in the Pasadena meeting represented "Evangelical/Pentecostal, Historic Protestant, Orthodox, Racial/Ethnic (for example, predominantly African American churches), and Roman Catholic" churches. Also present were participants from 18 Protestant and Orthodox churches which hold membership in the National Council of Churches (NCC).

The 46 church leaders agreed that implementation of the proposal constituting the new “Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A.” (CCT) would require “at least 25 denominations or communions to say ‘yes’,” and that the new organization “would not be inaugurated until the numbers reflect the diversity of the Christian families present at the meeting.”

Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore was present at the Pasadena meeting, where, according to a Zenit report (Oct. 31, 2004), “participants arrived at a consensus that a broader structure of some kind would be beneficial by its inclusion of the Catholic Church and major evangelical and Pentecostal groups that do not belong to the NCC [National Council of Churches].”

General Secretary Bob Edgar of the NCC welcomed the U.S. Catholic Bishops' decision to join “Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A.” Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, California, Chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Ecumenical Committee, said that the CCT will not be “another kind of National Council of Churches,” and that it is not intended “to create some kind of megabody or megachurch.” Instead, according to Bishop Blaire, “it's a forum for participation so we can pray together, grow in our understanding together and witness together our faith in whatever way is possible in our society."

Comment: The temptation here is to simply quote again the papal pronouncements against any ecumenical activities which promote “indifferentism” – i.e., the belief that all religions are equally valid. Of course, the Catholic bishops know of these teachings and, as a body at least, have rejected them. But it is not only the sound doctrinal bases of such prohibitions that are ultimately rejected by our “shepherds”; they toss aside both common sense and the honor of Jesus Christ with equal facility.

Bishop Blaire of Stockton claims that the CCT will help its members “grow in our understanding together.” Here, once again, is the error that the Catholic Church is “incomplete,” that she requires an association with heretical and schismatic sects in order to come to a true understanding of her nature and mission. It is as though Pope Pius IX never condemned the following propositions in his Syllabus of Errors:

* Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.
* Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation.
* Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church.

When you consider that the CTT plans to dialogue on such topics as worship, evangelism and Scripture, the very idea of participation by Catholic bishops becomes even more absurd. In addition, participants in the CTT will be expected to “uphold Christian Churches Together’s theological affirmations.” Should not Catholic bishops worry instead about upholding Catholic doctrine?

As for the honor of Jesus Christ? Did He not give His Apostles – the first Catholic hierarchy – the following command: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost ... Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” A Catholic bishop must be a teacher, not someone running to Protestants or the Orthodox for “understanding.” Or did Jesus say something He didn’t mean?

In his encyclical, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Pope St. Pius X stated that “the conserving force in the Church is tradition, and tradition is represented by religious authority, and this both by right and in fact; for by right it is in the very nature of authority to protect tradition, and, in fact, for authority, raised as it is above the contingencies of life, feels hardly, or not at all, the spurs of progress.” With the authority of the Pope weakened, with the authority (both ecclesiastical and moral) of the bishops weakened, with the authority of doctrine and liturgical truth weakened, then the Church does, indeed, begin to resemble another “denomination,” if anything else a more feeble one than its Protestant counterparts. By His very own words, however, and the words of His saintly Vicars, we know that this is not the Church that Our Lord had in mind when He announced that “thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

To suggest that Christ would leave His followers in chaos, amidst hundreds of “churches” all teaching contradictory things, and that He expects us to accept such an irrational premise and compromise Truth in His name, is the height of folly, and a gross disservice to His Passion and proclamation that He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Catholic League Shaky on Old Testament Messianic Prophecies

On December 6, 2004, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights reported on their “Joint Statement on Chrismukkah.” The statement by Dr. William Donohue, President and CEO of the Catholic League, and Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Executive Vice President of the New York Board of Rabbis, stated in part:

“We are deeply concerned about the spiritual misrepresentation of a newly created ‘holiday’ called Chrismukkah .... Chanukah and Christmas celebrated during the same period should not be fused into some cultural combination that does not recognize the spiritual identity of our respective faiths. Historically, Chanukah recalls the battle for religious independence that would permit all groups to freely practice their separate traditions without compromise or coercion. Christmas marks a most sacred period announcing the birth of the Christian Messiah, and the beginning of a sacred relationship between Jesus and the Christian people.”

Comment: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Has that phrase ever been more meaningful than it is in this age of false ecumenism and fruitless interreligious dialogue? The above “joint statement” is a perfect example of how it is always the Catholic side which must sacrifice its integrity in these seemingly benevolent, socially-conscious activities. I point to the sentence which reads “Christmas marks a most sacred period announcing the birth of the Christian Messiah, and the beginning of a sacred relationship between Jesus and the Christian people.”

In 2001, the Pontifical Biblical Commission (PBC) released a document entitled The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, a typically wordy attempt to syncretize Christianity and Judaism. For example, rather than simply admit that Jesus Christ fulfilled all the Old Testament messianic prophecies, the document tells us that “the notion of fulfillment is an extremely complex one, one that could easily be distorted if there is a unilateral insistence either on continuity or discontinuity.” I guess we should be used to this “Dr. Seuss Theology” at this stage in the game, but it still never fails to amaze!
The PBC document further tells us that “what has already been accomplished in Christ must yet be accomplished in us and in the world,” and that “Jewish messianic expectation is not in vain,” since the difference between Jews and Christians is that “for us the One who is to come will have the traits of the Jesus who has already come and is already present and active among us.”

Of course, the ecumaniacs who are in their element amidst such verbal tornadoes love this stuff. The rest of us are prompted to boil the “problem” down to a simple question: Is Jesus Christ the Messiah for ALL people, the One foretold by the Prophets, the Son of God and Redeemer of the World. Yes or no? It really is that simple: “Let your speech be yea, yea: no, no; and that which is over and above these, is of evil.”
For a Catholic, let alone one who claims to champion Catholicism in the public sector, to refer to Our Lord as the “Christian Messiah,” especially in tandem with a rabbi, is inexcusable, regardless of the intention. Let us not forget the words of Christ: “For he that shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him the Son of Man shall be ashamed.”

[Note: Dr. William Donohue has not responded to my e-mail asking for clarification on the above. If he does, I will relate his reply.]

Back to “Fido” and “Rex” for Brazil?

The Associated Press reports (Nov. 1, 2004) that a Brazilian legislator wants to make it illegal to give human names to pets. According to a spokesperson for federal congressman Reinaldo Santos e Silva, who proposed the law, psychologists have suggested that some children may get depressed when they learn that they share their first name with someone's pet. "Names have importance," declared the spokesperson, adding that congressman Silva “wants to challenge people's assumptions that it's acceptable to give animals human names.” If the law is passed, pet stores and veterinary clinics would be required to display a sign noting the prohibition of human first names for pets. Brazilians who break the law would be subject to fines or community service.

Comment: Just imagine the scene, right out of a classic film noir. A group of hardened criminals are lounging around a dank, shadowy prison cell, smoking cigarettes and carving their initials on the walls. One hardened mug turns to another and says, “What are you in for?” The other looks back and replies slowly, “I named my dog ... Jack.” All the other men move away from him in fear.

Welcome to the 21st century! We’ve seen “The Age of Chivalry” and “The Age of Enlightenment.” Heck, we’ve even seen “The Age of Aquarius.” Perhaps future historians will refer to our era as “The Age of Neurosis.” We certainly qualify more and more each day.