Bishop Liu & Our Lady in the Earthquake

TIA,

In view of your stand defending the authentic Catholic Church in China, I thought you would like to know about the death of this true Bishop faithful to Rome and not the Patriotic Association. Please pray for his soul

He was persecuted his whole life for that. Also, you can see the Communists are still persecuting real Catholics in China; they only accept the Patriotic Association because it is under their thumb. Now the Vatican is supporting the Patriotic Association, which is mixing up a lot of Catholics in China. I probably couldn’t even write this e-mail if I was there. Since I still have family there, I won’t even sign my name. Here is the report:

Bishop Peter Liu Guandong, once the primary leader of China’s “underground” Catholic Church, has died at the age of 94. Bishop Liu, the retired head of the Yixian diocese, was the key figure in setting up a conference of Catholic bishops loyal to Rome. He had spent years in prison, and since 1997 had been living in hiding.

Secretly ordained in 1945, Bishop Liu was arrested in 1955, released after 2 years, then soon imprisoned again for his opposition to the government-controlled Patriotic Association. He was arrested again in 1989, and eventually released in 1994. He was consigned to house arrest after suffering a crippling stroke, but supporters managed to arrange his escape.

Bishop Liu was succeeded in the Yixian diocese by Bishop Shi Enxiang—who was himself arrested in 2001 and has not been seen in public since that time.

     M.G.L.

Dear TIA,

Your recently posted a picture of a statue of Our Lady standing after an earthquake destroyed much of Bohol in the Philippines and asked if anyone knew anything about it.

Here is a link regarding the statue found untouched among the rubble in Bohol. As you can read, it was found standing amid the ruins of two churches following the devastating earthquake.

My only question is, what image of Our Lady does it depict? Perhaps you or your readers may know.

     In Christ,

     A.A.


TIA responds:

Dear A.A.

The only devotions to Our Lady that we know similar to the one in Bohol where she seems to be offering the Child Jesus to the faithful are Our Lady of the Consolation, second row, and Our Lady of the Atonement, third row. In the first row, to make possible an easy comparison, we enlarged the statue found intact amid the rubble in Bohol.

The devotion of Our Lady of the Consolation is quite popular in the Philippines, what leads us to think that the statue saved from the destruction is also Our Lady of the Consolation.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

TIA,

The Vatican is running a referendum. It looks like the Vatican is using democracy to modify the Church so it fits the desires of today's secular society. We need to pray for the restoration of the Church.

Please find the news report I am referring to here.

     L.G.

TIA,

I thought you would be interested in what the new LA Archbishop is endorsing openly, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Cardinal Mahony.

The article in this link was sent by someone to Cal Catholic and I am passing it on. It is about giving drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants.

For me it is particularly disturbing to see the Archbishop promoting Democratic leaders who openly advocate abortion, homosexual marriage, etc. It is as good as openly proclaiming to LA Latino Catholics, “Vote Democratic!”

It looks like Prelates like Gomez are taking Francis’ words literally, not to put so much emphasis on moral issues like “abortion, gays and contraception,” and instead they are paying more attention to important “social issues” like immigration rights.

We might as well rename the Church in Los Angeles the California Democratic Catholic Church.

Below is Gomez delivering his support to the drivers' licenses issue.

     Keep up your excellent work!

     M.G.

Dear TIA,

Thank you for posting that photo I sent you [of the Pope with the red nose], and for adding additional comments.

The part that scares me is the “necklace” of the man behind. In your photo I also noticed the program being held by the man.

It’s the “subliminal” items......

Thank you for all you do.

You remain in my prayers.

     Sincerely,

      F.H.

Dear TIA,

I want to make a comment about the picture of the Holy Father with a comic red nose.

The Holy Father is being very badly advised. Leaving aside the lack of respect, grace and dignity (can one imagine Pope Pius XII thus comically pictured, let alone St Gregory the Great or St Peter or – dare one add - Our Blessed Lord?) there are other implications.

Here in England there is an annual “Red nose day” when people in the media, and all the left-wing politicians, wear red noses for “charities” and encourage schools to do the same. As you can imagine, money goes to “charities” which are pro-abortion and support “gay rights”. Faithful Catholics in England have for some years been fighting against “Red nose Day”.

Now, of course, the Holy Father did not intentionally want to give support to abortion. But by an action which was, at the least, ill-advised, he will appear to be giving support for Red Nose Day. I have no doubts that when this awful day comes round there will be photographs displayed in England of the Holy Father with his red nose.

Keep up your daily invaluable work. Feel free to publish this letter on your website if you think it might be of use.

     Yours very truly in Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

     Eric Hester, England

Dear TIA,

Confirming a picture that you posted on your website, I receive a video of a part of the ceremony wherein Cardinal Bergoglio, then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, was blessed by Protestants.

It is in Spanish and can be watched here.

I believe it is good for you to keep it in your records for eventual use.

     May God bless and Mary keep you in the good fight.

     P.H., Brazil

Dear TIA,

The letter from Kerri Dillon was absolutely priceless. It made me laugh and made me aghast - again(!) (in more than one place) by what was seen, experienced, and felt. What a masterpiece!

I could totally relate to all of it, even though I had never had the opportunity to attend the Latin Mass with any recollection, as I was born 10 years later. I received my First Communion in 1969, and even though I do remember a paten and receiving the host on my knees, I didn't get the chance to have such vivid memories of the Latin Mass ... But I CAN tell you that the first few times I had the opportunity to attend a Tridentine mass, I had to choke back my tears after I received Our Precious Lord -- with a paten and no one but the priest handling that host.

The first time, I wept until church was over, as I could not stop myself. As I sat in a state of complete disbelief, I asked myself over and over again, “How could it be that such a beautiful ceremony could have been replaced by such an abominable sacrilege? How could so many turn their backs to THIS?”

Thank you for sharing all of that with us and allowing us to remember that we are not alone in this fight.

     E.S.