Friends saying, “That you, Jim? You’ve changed.

“Not that there’s anything WRONG with that! Hey, it’s your looks, do what you like.”

Think of the attention you’d get.

via ScrappleFace

Stinko, stinko situation, plus no response.

AND WHAT DOES THE VATICAN SAY ABOUT THE ABUSE OF NUNS?

The Vatican declined to comment on what measures, if any, it has taken to assess the scope of the problem globally, what it has done to punish offenders and care for the victims. A Vatican official said it is up to local church leaders to sanction priests who sexually abuse sisters, but that often such crimes go unpunished both in civil and canonical courts.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the issue, said only some cases arrive at the Holy See for investigation. It was a reference to the fact that the Catholic Church has no clear measures in place to investigate and punish bishops who themselves abuse or allow abusers to remain in their ranks — a legal loophole that has recently been highlighted by the McCarrick case.

The official said the church has focused much of its attention recently on protecting children, but that vulnerable adults “deserve the same protection.”

“Consecrated women have to be encouraged to speak up when they are molested,” the official told the AP. “Bishops have to be encouraged to take them seriously, and make sure the priests are punished if guilty.”

Once again, a dollar short in a God-awful issue.

via Vatican meets #MeToo: Nuns denounce their abuse by priests

About time?

via  ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

When shalt-nots come from on high . . . 

Hey. Stubborn about it? Looking to save some moolah? Like your cafeteria food? Tired of local gummint interfering with your life style? Bring your lunch!

via Bug off, higher-ups

Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Honduras attends a Mass for Latin America in St. Peter’s Basilica in 2011. (AP photo/Riccardo De Luca)

Isn’t this fellow a Francis favorite?

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Nearly 50 seminarians in Honduras have protested against what they say is a widespread and entrenched pattern of homosexual practice in Tegucigalpa’s major seminary.

In a letter written to the seminary’s formators that was subsequently circulated in June to the country’s Catholic bishops, the seminarians asserted “irrefutable evidence” exists that a homosexual network pervades the institution and is being protected by its rector.

“Heterosexual seminarians are scandalized and really depressed,” one of the seminarians who drafted the letter told the Register.

“Many are thinking about leaving the seminary,” the seminarian said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of a fear of reprisals. “I fear that many will leave.

He sure is. Indeed, has been . . .

. . . for many years Bergoglio’s closest friend in the Latin American hierarchy, was a key figure in gathering support for him in the 2013 Conclave, and has benefited correspondingly. In his capacity as president of the C9 [council of nine cardinals to oversee the process of reform], he has been referred to by some as the “vice-pope.” [Colonna, Marcantonio. The Dictator Pope: The Inside Story of the Francis Papacy (p. 58). Regnery Publishing. Kindle Edition]

Oh yes, has been tight with him:

One cardinal reports that on the eve of the Conclave Rodríguez Maradiaga was busy in the Honduran embassy telephoning potential floating voters, including Cardinals Pell, Ouellet, O’Malley, and Hummes, to solicit their vote for Bergoglio. {Ibid. p. 207).]

Francis has responded accordingly:

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga is known to be particularly close to a bishop who has been accused of supporting a male companion out of diocesan funds, and during his visit [apostolic envoy to Honduras] Bishop Casaretto discovered allegations of sexual abuse, which have not been acted upon. At the time of writing, the scandal remains subject to a cover-up in which Pope Francis seems to be fully complicit. [Ibid, p. 60.]

Etc. etc. Your donation dollars at work.

via Honduran Seminarians Allege Widespread Homosexual Misconduct

His sort of “old soldiers never die” letter to supporters:

“From the founding of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, I have instructed the men how to live the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. One of those vows, obedience, may especially challenge Religious because it is difficult to submit your will to a superior,” Fr. Phillips [said] July 18 [in a statement] to Protect Our Priests, a group formed to support and assist him.

“As you know, the Canons are requested not to have contact with me, which is difficult for them and for me as their Founder. Also, I have been asked by my superior to relocate to St. Louis. I am requested to do this not under formal obedience but willingly in the virtue of obedience. Is this difficult? Yes, it is,” he wrote.

The saints “were always obedient to their superiors, and their examples help to sustain me now,” Fr. Phillips wrote. “We need only look to St. Padre Pio to see the extent of his lived obedience. If I could not or would not listen to my superior, how could I then expect the Canons, as their Founder, to be obedient to their superior?”

He said he is uncertain of what the future holds for him, and that “time will tell” what it holds for the Canons.

The “old soldiers” bit recalls Douglas MacArthur, of course. But how about the most famous letter writer ever, you know, to Romans, Ephesians, Colossians, etc. etc.?

via Catholic World Report

Happier days, before the cardinal in the middle lost his right to practice as a priest.

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago presents the Spirit of Francis Award to Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, at an awards dinner on Oct. 27, 2016 in New York. (CNS photo/ courtesy Catholic Extension)

The pope took away the McCarrick faculties.

The cardinal on the left took away those of the Chicago pastor C. Frank Phillips, CR, not shown in photo, and removed him as superior of a religious community of men that he founded based in same parish, St. John Cantius.

McCarrick is in the usual limbo under specific accusation, a wait-and-see situation pending judgment of  specialists.

Phillips lost his pastorate AND his leadership of the religious community he founded, both permanently and immediately before adjudication of the not accusation of engaging in “improper conduct” with adult males.

Weeks later the specialists, or review board, found him innocent. Decision or not, the penalty remained in that Phillips had violated unspecified “standards for behavior,” the cardinal’s spokesperson explained.

Mostly via: Catholic World Report

Out the window with you, buddy.

What was the kid thinking of?

(Article is follow-up on Novus Quodlibet: The New Whatever Liturgy.)

Headline and lede to catch the attention:

Allow me to touch a liturgical third rail: Communion in the hand.

n’est-ce pas?

via Crisis Magazine

Trashed.

Imagine the scene, if you dare—for some readers this might be triggering or flat-out traumatic. But, there he is, a once-young, now-aging priest celebrating Mass, arriving at the homily, with Britney Spears headset microphone in place, center “stage” (err … Sanctuary), ready to “share” a “talk” (not a homily, God forbid!) dripping and gushing with vacuous platitudes and, in all seriousness, stereotypically diva-like gestures and postures.

And everyone is just beaming and smiling at him.

God is just soooooo big, he insists, no creed, no doctrine can have anything meaningful to say about him! Wait, strike that—not “him”—what was I thinking? That masculine pronoun for God never passes his lips. It is always “God’s-self,” never “himself” or “he” anything. In effect, he leaves the dazzled assembly with the sense that God is really just this amazing, infinitely squishy plush pillow, a gooey, androgynous shepherd figure who really just wants to hug the stuffing out of you.

And still he is not done with this ghastly assault on his captive “audience.” To drive home his faux-homily, he approaches the edge of the Sanctuary where a pre-set, purple Kurzweil SP-88 stage piano awaits his delicate fingers.

In full vesture, he giddily plays a soft, arpeggiated accompaniment, while the lead musician of the Mass, a keyboardist with big hair that must have time-travelled from an ’80s band, begins to sing his part of their slurry duet. The priest, eyes mostly closed, most soulfully sings a paraphrase of Psalm 23 with his musical partner. The barely recognizable “biblical” text seems mmm-kay with the raptured crowd as that last vestige of a lounge-singer’s favorite major-seventh chord can be heard through the harmonized “oooohhhh….” emanating from priest and singer as it mixes in the with the tinkle of chimes that ends his … homily.

An account of Liturgy Movement and renewal gone far, far astray.

Via When Will Our Priests Sing Again? – Crisis Magazine