TIA,

I want to thank Mr. Valladares for exposing Vatican complicity in the world-wide promotion of Communist Cuba that is taking place today. I was shocked - but not surprised - to see Pope Benedict's words of praise for conditions on the Island Prison when he received the Vatican Cuban Ambassador Delgado(who should have never even been accepted as ambassador, given his long history of complicity with Communism and its cruel tactics.) This Pope speaks about human rights on one hand and, on the other, praises and supports the most repressive regime imaginable. In this he follows the policy of his predecessors.

I thought you would be interested to know that recently there was another gesture of support from the Vatican

At a recent symposium sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, chancellor Msgr. Sanchez Sorondo praised Cuba for its medical and educational progress (As Valladares points out this is a joke and a lie). He even held the Communist nation up as an example for other developing nations! Incredible.

You can see that Socialism is alive and well at the Vatican.

[Check the text of the news report spread by Communist Cuba here]

     May God have mercy on us,

     P.H.

Dear TIA,

I was moved by your article that illustrated the fact most Catholics are lost and not saved, one of the main reasons the Lord sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, undoubtedly. The first being his rejection by most of the Jews as Messiah.

He also told us in Sacred Scripture that the way to Heaven is narrow and winding and few are they who find it, while the path to Hell and everlasting torment is broad and many go that way. The many must include Catholics, as many are called to the faith but few are chosen to go to Heaven.

The saints have written that Catholics suffer in Hell more that any other souls; torments are given in proportion to graces abused in life, so religious, priests, Bishops, Cardinals and Popes need to take heed in life - they are called to a higher standard than the laity. We are sure, thanks to Dante, even some of them are there - and are going there.

The Pange Lingua warns about bad or sacrilegious communions. Padre Pio said the Church is not a hotel for saints but a hospital for sick people. Hopefully, we not only take our medicine but benefit from following the Divine Physician Jesus' prescriptions.

     Padre Pio, pray for us,

     S.M.

Dear TIA,

I have a family member who has recently abandoned attendance at the Latin Mass and has subsequently returned to attendance at the Novus Ordo Missae. Apparently this decision is for every reason BUT spiritual.

I'm trying to locate anything written about this unfortunate turnaround... that may offer some sound advise.

Thank you for any help in this heart-wrenching dilemma.

     Sincerely,

     T.J.



TIA responds:

Dear T.J.,

We are sorry to hear your bad news.

Perhaps one of the following articles may be of assistance to you:

• The Six Marks of the Novus Ordo Mass
  
  
• New Mass Has a Flavor of Protestantism
  
  
• The Novus Ordo Mass Broke the Identity of the Church
  
  
• The Abomination of the Desolation in Machabees and in the Present
  
  
• Quo Primum versus Novus Ordo

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

Dear TIA,

Regarding your article Re-establishing Authority in the Home, I thank you again for holding up the banner of truth and decency.

I just had to comment on the picture of the child screaming at the parent. The mother, though obviously suffering terribly, shows a look of a certain refinement, of having been brought up better, at some point. The "child," on the other hand, bears a striking resemblance to the hideous, carved creatures which serve as water spouts on the eaves of the great Notre Dame in Paris.

I was there a couple of years ago, as well as in Britain and Ireland, and saw many such depictions of monsters and the tortured, evil damned portrayed in paint and stone at the various churches, and I must say those are the images which leapt into my mind when I studied the face of this little miscreant.

Of course, in reality, the mother is perhaps at more fault than her child, but she herself is the product of this culture of ours, which knows no restraint and is increasingly out of control, seeking at every turn to bind authority while celebrating the rebels.

Thanks for letting me comment.

     Yours in Christ,

     Gail Aggen - Click here to visit my blog

TIA,

I thought you might be interested in seeing some pictures here of the lovely Queen Astrid of Belgium, featured on the cover of your book Courtesy Calls Again

Here are some other clips from her funeral. She died in a tragic car accident at age 34 while vacationing with her husband in Switzerland.

     D.N.

TIA,

I read the article about how to address priests, nuns, etc. with interest. However, what came to mind is, how would Jesus have been addressed? Surely with respect, but I tend to think he would have shunned the 'very reverend', 'his excellence', 'his holiness' titles for obvious reasons.

It also made me think how we have taken the straightforward teachings of Christ and made them into such a convoluted 'theology' based on power and hierarchy. And I not only speak of Catholicism, in which I was raised, but most other systems of organized Christian religion as well.

Do you really suppose Christ thought about 'transubstantiation vs. consubstantiation vs. impanation' and imagined his followers would kill each other over such distinctions?

     Sincerely,

     F.V.

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