Vigil, Sheen in Shorts & Jihadists

TIA,

In face of the ecumenical vigil of Pope Francis for peace in Syria, two things came to my mind:

1. The words of Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, founder of the Militia Immaculata, on ecumenism, which I reproduce for you and your readers:

"Only until all Schismatics and Protestants profess the Catholic Creed with conviction, when all Jews voluntarily ask for Holy Baptism – only then will the Immaculata have reached its goals...There is no greater enemy of the Immaculata and her Knighthood than today’s ecumenism, which every Knight must not only fight against, but also neutralize through diametrically opposed action and ultimately destroy.

“We must realize the goal of the Militia Immaculata as quickly as possible: that is, to conquer the whole world, and every individual soul which exists today or will exist until the end of the world, for the Immaculata, and through her for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus." (Maximillian Kolbe, Entry of Diary dated April 23, 1933, The Immaculata Our Ideal, p. 37)

2. The fact that St. Boniface destroyed the idol the barbarians, ancestors of the present day Germans, used to adore. The 'Apostle of Germany' was no 'esteemer' of false religions:

"A vast crowd of pagans watched intently, expecting some dire misfortune to overwhelm St. Boniface. But when the oak tree fell to the ground and the saintly Bishop remained unharmed, the pagans with one accord praised the God of the Christians and asked to be received among his followers. St. Boniface baptized them, and out of the wood of the tree he built a little Oratory dedicated to St. Peter (Fr. John Laux, Church History, TAN, 1980, p. 149).

Below, the picture shows St. Boniface chopping down Thor's 'sacred' oak tree at Geismat.

Those two facts tell us by contrast how wrong the conciliar ecumenism is.

     Mark Stabinski

Peace be with you Dr. Horvat,,

I am emailing you to say that I have changed my way of speech when it comes to calling children kids. I no longer say this and have been correcting folks (whoever they may be) telling them that Children are not goats! I agree with you on this so much that I thought (maybe) one day I would bring a goat to a restaurant that advertises ‘kids eat free’ to see what they would do. When they say no, I will say, “Hey, your sign says kids eat free and I have a kid here.”

Then, when this does not work, I will say, “Well, I will just have to sue you for false advertising.” Yes, I know it is a crazy idea, but to prove a point I would do it and I am sure there is a lawyer out there that would help? I am so SICK of people always saying kids, kids, kids, that I want to do something other than correct them.

Well, enough of that. I think you know what I am thinking.

     Ad majorem Dei gloriam,

     A.M.

TIA,

A question came up with a friend about the relative merits of Archbishop Fulton Sheen for canonization. I made a reference to an article that you once posted about the Archbishop's post-Vatican II life.

However, I also read or heard years ago that Fulton Sheen died a bad death, that is, his body was found on a beach while wearing swim trunks. Yet, it seems the official story is that he died quietly in his apartment.

Can you confirm any of this?

     A.T.


TIA responds:

A.T.,

We cannot confirm that Fulton Sheen died in his swim trunks. We have never heard about that. If you find solid evidence on this, we would be interested to know it.

The biographies we know affirm he died in his home in New Jersey on December 9, 1979. Actually, in New Jersey, December is not a month propitious for going to the beach in swimming trunks.

What is normally reported is that on the morning of December 9, a young couple was with Sheen at Mass and then listened to him practice part of a homily he was preparing for Christmas Midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s. Early that evening he died alone, reportedly from heart failure.

Until your suspicion came to our knowledge, we had no reason to doubt this description or to affirm whether or not he had a bad death, since he was alone.

Given that he was preparing another of his theatrical performances for Christmas, certainly we can say that he was not expecting to face his Judgment on that day.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

TIA,

Below is a news report your readers may follow with interest.

J.P.

Popular and widely read Egyptian newspaper Al Wafd published today the picture below portraying U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama as Satan himself. The unflattering picture has been making the rounds on Facebook in the Middle East and, according to Al Wafd, is representative of the hatred growing numbers of people in the region have for the American president, thanks to his staunch and unwavering support for Islamists and jihadiists — whether in Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, or Syria — even as they terrorize, murder, rape, and burn down Christian churches, that is, even as they engage in diabolical activities.

Dear TIA,

I would like to pray for my late grandmother for the repose of her soul. You have written extensively on indulgences and the lack of prayer offered for the holy souls.

I would like in particular to pray the Chaplet of the Five Wounds, but they must receive a special blessing from a Passionist priest for them to be effective. All the Passionist priests where I am from are Novus Ordo. Is it still acceptable for me to receive the blessing? Or am I wrong, can the chaplet be blessed by an SSPX priest instead?

Below are the documents I found on the topic.

I greatly appreciate you help in this matter.

     Sincerely,

     P.F., Australia

Faculty to Bless

The Decree of Pope Leo XII, Dec. 20, 1823, gave the Father General of the [Passionist] Congregation the power to delegate this faculty only to priests of our Congregation. Later on, however, when the devotion began to spread, through the zeal of the Missionaries, the General received permission to sub-delegate other priests than Passionists in those places where we had no houses. This faculty, first given in 1826 for seven years, later renewed several times, finally became perpetual through a Rescript of Pope Pius X, on May 18, 1907.

In 1933, by the general decree Consilium suum persequens, the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary rescinded this faculty. This sweeping decree, framed at "the express order of our Holy Father, Pope Pius XII," states that "for the future, the privileges of certain Orders and religious Congregations to bless beads and enrich them with indulgences may be used by the members of the same Orders and Congregations personally only, and do not belong to them in such a manner that they can grant them also to other priests who do not belong to the same Orders or religious Congregations …" Henceforth "all these faculties, necessary for the use of such privileges, can be obtained only from the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, with the presentation of special letters of commendation from one's own Ordinary."

Consequently the Rescripts and Apostolic Letters, which give our General the power to sub-delegate priests outside the Congregation to bless the Five Wound Beads, no longer have any force.



TIA responds:

Dear P.F.

Thank you for your questions, your frequent correspondence and your trust in us.

The official information you provide is quite clear that the privilege of giving indulgences granted to the Passionists cannot be sub-delegated to secular priests or priests of other orders.

So, if these documents are still in force - right now we do not have conditions to check for you to see whether they are or not - you may find a Novus Ordo Passionist priest who still believes in indulgences and ask him to bless your chaplet. We do not believe the Novus Ordo priests lost their power of orders because they are progressivists.

We hope that you can find one and that your prayers will be effective to free your grandmother from Purgatory, if she is there. We are including her in our prayers as well.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk