The Drinan files! How a Jesuit provincial gave not a hoot about obedience, pinning his superior general in Rome to the wall, neutralizing him (bragging about it later to fellow Jesuits) through Machiavellian maneuvers that would put to shame many an on-the-make politician who has graced or disgraced the halls of government in these United States.

— Based on Jesuit at Large: Essays and Reviews by Paul V. Mankowski SJ, edited with introduction by George Weigel. Blithe Spirit commentary on pp 195-232, “Memorandum on the Drinan Candidacy and the NE [New England] Prov[ince] Archives,” Paul V. Mankowski SJ, April 2007.

More to come . . .

1940-60, progress on steroids. 1960-2000, regression.

Between 1940 and 1960 the percentage of black families living in poverty declined by 40 points as blacks increased their years of education and migrated from poorer rural areas to more prosperous urban environs in the South and North.

No welfare program has ever come close to replicating that rate of black advancement, which predates affirmative action programs that often receive credit for creating the black middle class.

Moreover, what we experienced in the wake of the Great Society interventions was slower progress or outright retrogression. Black labor-force participation rates fell, black unemployment rates rose, and the black nuclear family disintegrated. In 1960 fewer than 25% of black children were being raised by a single mother; within four decades, it was more than half.

FromWall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley via Cafe Hayek

All in all, a tribute to the power of utopianism preached by unscrupulous pol as uncritically bally-hoo’d by noosepapers, radio and tee-vee.

Giving his views on communion for politicians who support abortion, Francis calls it casuistry to say yes or no, preferring his pastoral approach. Actually, it’s the other way around, as in my 1994 book, Bending the Rules:What American Priests Tell American Catholics, in effect a study of casuistry employed for pastoral reasons.

This writer, Andrea Gagliarducci, in his “Monday Vatican” blog, puts the question, “Pope Francis, what is your approach to theological questions?” and concludes:

A synthesis would be necessary, but this is not only not offered by Pope Francis. It does not seem to be on the horizon. Pastoral care and doctrine are mixed with pragmatism, and in the end, it is difficult to understand what is the right or wrong thing to do.

He disguises it, ignoring his wholly critical role as Supreme Pontiff. “In the end,” says Gagliarducci,

. . . a sense of the Church is missing, a common point of view, while the Pope remains always at the center, loved or hated, but certainly the only decision-maker. With his choices, words, and ambiguities mixed with certainties and doctrinal orthodoxy, Pope Francis is not just a divisive Pope. He is a Pope at the center of attention. While the Church, to tell the truth, seems to be disappearing.

A damning analysis when you get down to it.

The inimitable Barnhardt expatiates.

Nurse Claire and Julianne from Long Island are doing yeoman’s work getting the word out. Keep a close eye on their Twitterfeeds and share their information and links aggressively.

If you pull the focus all the way back, you realize that satan wants every human being actively participating in the molochian cult of child sacrifice – while cooperating with the Malthusian human population reduction plan. It is all of a piece.

Trickery.

In trying to “sell” Regeneron to the unJabbed, a non-trivial percentage of whom refuse it due to its connection to abortion, satan is trying to trick people into thinking that Regeneron is somehow a pro-life “alternative” to the poison DeathJab (as if poison DeathJabs have or require an “alternative”.)

Not only is it no such thing, it’s actually far more proximate to the murder of children – IVF “leftover” babies being harvested for their stem cells, which are then inserted into mouse embryos so that the mice will produce human antibodies. It’s hellish.

As for “devilry” above, try “deviltry.” Meanwhile, think about the above.

She publicly flouts church teaching, but so what?

Benet Academy has reversed course and offered the head coaching job of the girls lacrosse team to Amanda Kammes, an alumna of the Lisle-based Catholic high school who had seen the job offer rescinded after officials learned she was in a same-sex marriage.

Why wouldn’t it disqualify her? Scandal given here by Catholic school, slap in face, you might say, to the Church. An example for all.

Authored by Mark Glennon via Wirepoints.org,

It’s perhaps the most effective way to save your life if you are infected with COVID-19, but probably the least known. It reduces the risk of even being hospitalized by 70% to 85%, though it must be administered early to be effective – within four days of infection. Lives probably are being lost unnecessarily because people don’t know about it.

It’s monoclonal antibody treatment, abbreviated as mAb. To the extent the public has any familiarity with it they, may know it as Regeneron, though that’s actually the name of the company that makes the leading treatment, REGEN-COV2, and there are several other mAbs from other makers.

Worth a look but embargoed in most of the nation, including Illinois.

. . . as they expected.

It’s been known since early in the pandemic that children’s risk of death from COVID-19 is extremely low. However, proponents of school closures have long argued that keeping schools open would put teachers at significant risk.

Back in January, six teaching unions urged the Government to “pause” school reopenings. They argued that returning pupils to classrooms while the virus was still spreading would expose education workers to “serious risk of ill-health”.

However, figures published by the ONS [UK
Office for National Statistics] later that month cast serious doubt on the unions’ claims. Between March and December of 2020, the COVID-19 death rate among education workers – adjusted for age and sex – was “significantly lower” than that among the general population.

The highest death rates were observed among taxi drivers, machine operators, security guards, restaurant workers, and social care staff – i.e., in working class professions. [boldface added]

This and much, much more from . . . The Daily Sceptic: Question Everything. Stay Sane. Stay Free.

A bishop’s dilemma when faced with a recalcitrant priest with a huge public following:

. . . right now, the bishop said, he is adhering to what “the Gospel dictates,” that any means of “pastoral solicitude” in Fr. Altman’s case must be conducted in private, not “in the bright light of the public arena.”

“Most people expect a decisive move from me, one way or another. Many suggest immediate penalties that will utterly silence him; others call for complete and unwavering support of his views,” Bishop Callahan said. “Canonical penalties are not far away if my attempts at fraternal correction do not work.

“I pray that Fr. Altman’s heart and eyes might be open to the error of his ways [!] and that he might take steps to correct his behavior and heal the wound he has inflicted on the body of Christ.” [!]

Fr. Altman opens his video with a prayer about the blood of Christ and his sacrifice on the cross to save humanity. He also quotes from the Baltimore Catechism that God made us “to know, love and serve” him, and argues that “godless politicians” and the nation’s “godless education system” have resulted in policies and people who do not know God and so cannot love and serve him.

He included brief flashes of photos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and an empty classroom. Pelosi is standing behind a sign calling for “equal access to abortion.” Both Pelosi and Biden, who are Catholic, support legalized abortion.

Those who accuse him of “just being political” need to remember the words of Pope Benedict XVI: “The Church is not a political power. It is not a party, but it is a moral power. Therefore, since politics fundamentally should be a moral enterprise, then the Church in this sense has something to say about politics” and Catholics have a duty and an obligation to speak up when politicians and politics “act in an immoral way.”

In his statement, Bishop Callahan said that after viewing Fr. Altman’s video, “I understand the undeniable truth that motivates his message.”

“When we approach issues that are contradictory to the faith and teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church, particularly on abortion and other life issues, we should invite dialogue and heartfelt conversion to the truth,” the bishop said. “Our approach must never seek to divide, isolate and condemn.”

“That being said,” he continued, “it is not only the underlying truth that needs to be evaluated but also the manner of delivery and the tone of his message.”

Bishop Callahan also pointed to Fr. Altman’s tone, saying it “comes off as angry and judgmental, lacking any charity and in a way that causes scandal both in the Church and in society.”

“His generalization and condemnation of entire groups of people is completely inappropriate and not in keeping with our values or the life of virtue,” he added.

“Pray for me as I address this issue, and pray for Fr. Altman that he might hear and respond to my fraternal correction,” the bishop added. “Finally, please pray for the Church that we might seek the truth in charity and apply it in our daily actions.”

$30,000 a ticket.

AOC and her socialist ilk pretend to be “of the people” while declaring from such ritzy events just how they’re going to take care of the hoi polloi by supposedly taxing their wealthy progressive oppressors.

The kinds of people who attend these events, however, more often than not have accountants who find every tax write-off and loophole possible to avoid paying a single penny more in taxes than is absolutely required by law.

Fund-raising is endemic, but who does it with such style?

. . . via U.S. bishops’ news service:

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin, said Sept. 9 [2020] that he has privately begun “applying Gospel principles” to correct a pastor who in a video says Catholics who are Democrats must “repent” of their support for the party or “face the fires of hell.”

“Canon law indicates that before penalties are imposed, we need to ensure that fraternal correction, rebuke or other means of pastoral solicitude will not be sufficient to repair the scandal,” Bishop William P. Callahan said in a statement about Father James Altman, pastor of St. James the Less Parish in La Crosse, and his video.

The priest’s nearly 10-minute YouTube video was posted Aug. 30 by Alpha News MN on its website. To date, over 389,000 people have viewed it at least once.

“Here’s a memo for clueless, baptized Catholics out there: You cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat. Period,” the priest says.

“Their party platform absolutely is against everything the Catholic Church teaches,” especially its teaching that abortion is a “moral evil.”

Bishop Callahan says he has become “a social media phenomenon and is now a mainstream media story. The amount of calls and emails we are receiving at the diocesan offices show how divisive he is.”