Ideo mittit illis Deus operationem erroris ut credant mendacio

There is a shadow over the world. It darkens societies and snuffs the candles in the sanctuary. It creeps around corners and billows over houses. Good people see it, but they don’t know what to do. How do you fight a shadow? How do you crush a phantasm? There’s no substance there, nothing to push or shove. Nothing works.

So what is this strange amorphous thing, this Mystery of Iniquity? How can we understand it?

Sometimes, the most complex, inexplicable things are not so hard to understand once the blinders are off. I’m a counseling psychologist—no theologian or scientist—but, like all who hold the Catholic Faith, I have eyes to see. After nearly forty years of studying the human mind, analyzing the root of emotional conflict, moral perversions, and intellectual error, this is how it looks to me:

Quite simply, the darkness is the result of a thought process disorder. Masquerading as philosophy and science, the disorientation has spread through the Church from top to bottom, corrupting minds and shaking the intellectual and philosophical foundations of Western civilization.

A new religion has the world in its grip.

Guardian Angels and Televised Mass in Chartres for the First Time Ever

The Remnant’s team here in the States is bound for France this week. God willing, we will once again be walking with our traditional Catholic brothers from all over the world on the grand Pentecost Pilgrimage of Notre-Dame de Chrétienté to Chartres.

I ask readers to please keep their 60 fellow American pilgrims in their prayers as we once again attempt the 3-day pilgrimage across France. The now 23-year-old U.S. Chapter of Our Lady of Guadalupe will remember all of the readers of The Remnant in their prayers every day on the road to Chartres.

This year the organization responsible for the Pilgrimage to Chartres is offering an opportunity for their American brothers and sisters to spiritually accompany the pilgrims in a special way. It is called the Guardian Angels Chapter and it is for people who cannot make the pilgrimage but wish to be present spiritually.

The Raramuri are a tribe of Native Americans inhabiting the extremely rugged, mountainous region of western Chihuahua in the Republic of Mexico. Those outside of the tribe commonly refer to them as "Tarahumara" and the mountains they inhabit are referred to as the "Sierra Tarahumara."  An integral part of the Raramuri culture is running. For the Tarahumara, running is more than simply sport, although it is certainly that. For them it is also wrapped up in their indigenous religious beliefs and ceremonies.

The Tarahumara are not native to these mountains. In pre-Colombian times they inhabited the more docile and more fertile areas that spread out in the plains to the east of these mountains. Pressure from European and Mestizo settlers who moved into these areas forced the Raramuri into their current climes, and they have adapted fairly well. They largely depend upon subsistence agriculture to survive. Drought and accompanying famine is a familiar scenario for these people.

[Note: Ascension Thursday is the day we begin the Pentecost Novena prayers—not on Sunday! This is yet another “novelty” from the Conference(s) of Catholic Bishops, and another bitter fruit of the Spirit of the Second Vatican Council. A disgrace to not only Christ, but to the Paraclete, Who came to confirm the teachings of Christ, showing us how to love God, His Church, and all that She teaches.]

AT THE FOOT of Mt. Olivet He had suffered; from its summit He ascended into heaven. There, on Mt. Olivet, He appeared to them, more gracious and irresistibly attractive than ever. He surely must have permitted them to kiss His sacred wounds in loving farewell. First His Blessed Mother must have come, then St. Peter, St. John, and the other Apostles and disciples. “And lifting up His hands, He blessed them.” (Luke 24:50.) He raised His hands on high, to show that the blessing He would give was of heaven. We may believe that He made the holy sign of the cross. We do not know what words He used in blessing them. Perhaps those tender words of the prayer after the Last Supper, “Holy Father, keep them in Thy name,” bless, protect them, “whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one as We also are.” (John 17:11.)

(The Remnant October 31, 1978)

In renouncing the ceremony of coronation, Pope John Paul I eliminated the touching reminder of death which was a part of it. During the ceremony a cleric would appear before the new pontiff, burn a wisp of flax, and cry out: Sic transit gloria mundi! “Thus passes the glory of the world. Remember that you are a mortal man.”

For some time I have been wanting to write about what was often called “a happy death”, or, to be more exact, a good death, bona mors, from the supernatural viewpoint. The present season of the Liturgy, coinciding with the recent unexpected and sudden demise of Pope John Paul I, creates a favorable moment for the subject.

The late Pope, in renouncing the ceremony of coronation, eliminated also the touching and significant reminder of death which was a part of it. During the ceremony a cleric would appear before the new pontiff, burn a wisp of flax, and cry out: Sic transit gloria mundi! “Thus passes the glory of the world. Remember that you are a mortal man.”

This is not the title of a satire. Instead, it succinctly describes the absurd state of the Church of Vatican II. In yet another hypocritical and unjust move, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz of the Congregation of Religious put the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate under Apostolic Visitation (investigation) as of May 19, 2014.  According to the Pray4TheFriars blogsite:

The general house located near Frattocchie (Rome area) is now ‘chaired’ by Sr. Fernanda Barbiero – Institute of Teaching Sisters of St. Dorothea. I don’t have exact infos on her stances, but at a first glance and for what I read from her, she seems moderately progressive-leaning. Whilst Sr. Fernanda has just a visiting tenure, it seems she’s been provided with vast power to rule the Order.

The Sisters’ crime? According to Fr. Fidenzio Volpi, who is currently busy destroying the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, the Sisters are guilty of a “distorted mentality.”

Dear Mr. Matt,

I was wondering if you have heard the story about the 27 year old Christian woman in Sudan being persecuted for being a Christian? Her husband has dual citizenship and lives in New Hampshire and is fighting to save his wife's life. She is in prison 8 months pregnant, along with her 18 month old baby boy. As soon as she has this baby she is sentenced to 100 lashes and hanging. My hope is that since her husband is an American, something can be done.

Please let’s spread the word to pray for this dear, brave woman. As a mother of 9 children, I am just heartsick over this. We are praying to St. Philomena. Thank you, Mr. Matt. - Gwen Marbach from Pa

Dear Mrs. Marbach:

Indeed we have. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag is a Sudanese woman who was born to a Muslim father but was raised by her Christian mother after her father abandoned the family when she was a child. She was never a Muslim, but rather embraced the faith of her mother, an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia.

The scientific community has very subtly but surely replaced God in the minds of academia by evolution. It is only when the enormity of this achievement is realized that the current situation in the Church can begin to come into perspective. Until then there is no hope. 

There are few dissenters. Virtually, all agree. The Faith is in free fall and has been for some time. How much longer can it go on before reaching rock bottom? Who’s there to stop it? Not Rome, since the Church is the victim! But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8).

Much thought has been spent to determine when it started, and particularly why. Until quite recently the consensus amongst traditional Catholics was that it stemmed from Vatican II. Closer study reveals this was a conservative estimate and, in fact, it went back decades to the beginning of the twentieth century. The Church has always had its opponents, but they were generally identifiable, and contained within discernible geographical limits.

 “...the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution...It may be said to have neither force nor will, but merely judgment...” Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #78

It is cherry blossom time, and tourists from around the country and the world are walking the streets of the District of Columbia in large and small groups, winding their way through the crowded streets. Others, especially those on school trips, arrive in buses that seem to be as tall as two-story buildings. It is a busy time in the nation’s capital, but an eerie silence greets you when you enter the area that houses the chambers of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Scalia’s secretary greets you with a warm smile, asking about your trip. The outer office is cavernous with large bay windows providing a great deal of light, and the carpet muffling any delinquent sounds that might arise in the corridor. There are paintings of former Justices on the wall, and law books that line the shelves.

Noah removes the arrow from the stricken animal and then murders the three hunters—PETA justice! At this point in the movie I began to gnaw away on a thick chunk of beef jerky, while the vegans in the theater munched down on buttered popcorn.

What do the actor Russell Crowe and the president Barack Obama have in common? They both sought private audiences with the Bishop of Rome for promotion of themselves and their personal agenda. Crowe wanted a photo op to bump up the numbers at the box office and Obama wanted a photo op to bump up the numbers at the ballot box.

ROME – In a famous speech to the participants of a European People’s Party symposium on March 30, 2006, Benedict XVI called upon Christians to safeguard what he termed “non-negotiable principles”, as part of the protection and promotion of human dignity in the public square: the protection of life from conception to natural death, recognition and promotion of the natural family as based on the marriage between one man and a woman, protection of the parents’ rights as primary educators of their children.