Schism, You Say?

 

SOMEONE asked me the other day, “You are not leaving the Holy Father or the true magisterium, are you?” I was startled by the question. “No! what gave you that impression??” He said he wasn’t sure. So I reassured him that schism is not on the table. Period.

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The Most Important Homily

 

Even if we or an angel from heaven
should preach to you a gospel
other than the one that we preached to you,
let that one be accursed!
(Gal 1:8)

 

THEY spent three years at the feet of Jesus, listening carefully to His teaching. When He ascended into Heaven, He left them a “great commission” to “make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20). And then He sent them the “Spirit of truth” to infallibly guide their teaching (Jn 16:13). Hence, the first homily of the Apostles would no doubt be seminal, setting the direction of the entire Church… and world.

So, what did Peter say??Continue reading

The Great Fissure

 

Nihil innovetur, nisi quod traditum est
“Let there be no innovation beyond what has been handed down.”
—POPE Saint Stephen I (+ 257)

 

THE Vatican’s permission for priests to dole out blessings for same-sex “couples” and those in “irregular” relationships has created a deep fissure within the Catholic Church.

Within days of its announcement, nearly entire continents (Africa), bishops’ conferences (eg. Hungary, Poland), cardinals, and religious orders rejected the self-contradictory language in Fiducia supplicans (FS). According to a press release this morning from Zenit, “15 Episcopal Conferences from Africa and Europe, plus around twenty dioceses worldwide, have prohibited, limited, or suspended the application of the document in the diocesan territory, highlighting the existing polarization around it.”[1]Jan 4, 2024, Zenit A Wikipedia page following opposition to Fiducia supplicans currently counts rejections from 16 bishops’ conferences, 29 individual cardinals and bishops, and seven congregations and priestly, religious, and lay associations. Continue reading

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 Jan 4, 2024, Zenit

Have We Turned a Corner?

 

Note: Since publishing this, I have added some supporting quotes from authoritative voices as responses around the world continue to roll out. This is too crucial a subject for the collective concerns of the Body of Christ to not be heard. But the framework of this reflection and arguments remain unchanged. 

 

THE news shot across the globe like a missile: “Pope Francis approves allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples” (ABC News). Reuters declared: “Vatican approves blessings for same-sex couples in landmark ruling.” For once, the headlines weren’t twisting the truth, even though there’s more to the story… Continue reading

Confront the Storm

 

A NEW scandal has rocketed across the world with headlines proclaiming that Pope Francis has authorized priests to bless same-sex couples. This time, the headlines weren’t spinning it. Is this the Great Shipwreck Our Lady spoke of three years ago? Continue reading

I am a Disciple of Jesus Christ

 

The pope cannot commit heresy
when he speaks ex cathedra,
this is a dogma of faith.
In his teaching outside of 
ex cathedra statements, however,
he can commit doctrinal ambiguities,
errors and even heresies.
And since the pope is not identical
with the entire Church,
the Church is stronger
than a singular erring or heretical Pope.
 
—Bishop Athanasius Schneider
September 19th, 2023, onepeterfive.com

 

I HAVE long been avoiding most comments on social media. The reason is that people have become mean, judgmental, flat-out uncharitable — and often in the name of “defending the truth.” But after our last webcast, I attempted to respond to some who accused my colleague Daniel O’Connor and me of “bashing” the Pope. Continue reading

The Obedience of Faith

 

Now to Him who can strengthen you,
according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ…
to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith… 
(Rom 16:25-26)

…he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross. (Phil 2:8)

 

GOD must be shaking His head, if not laughing at His Church. For the plan unfolding since the dawn of Redemption has been for Jesus to prepare for Himself a Bride who is “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). And yet, some within the hierarchy itself[1]cf. The Final Trial have reached the point of inventing ways for people to remain in objective mortal sin, and yet feel “welcome” in the Church.[2]Indeed, God welcomes all to be saved. The condition for this salvation are in the words of Our Lord himself: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15) What a vastly different vision than God’s! What an immense abyss between the reality of what is prophetically unfolding at this hour — the purification of the Church — and what some bishops are proposing to the world!Continue reading

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 cf. The Final Trial
2 Indeed, God welcomes all to be saved. The condition for this salvation are in the words of Our Lord himself: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15)

The Final Trial?

Duccio, The Betrayal of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, 1308 

 

All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written:
‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be dispersed.’
(Mark 14:27)

Before Christ’s second coming
the Church must pass through a final trial
that will shake the faith of many believers…

Catechism of the Catholic Church, n.675, 677

 

WHAT is this “final trial that will shake the faith of many believers?”  

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Church On a Precipice – Part II

The Black Madonna of Częstochowa – profaned

 

If you live in a time that no man will give you good counsel,
nor any man give you good example,
when you shall see virtue punished and vice rewarded
stand fast, and firmly stick to God upon pain of life…
— Saint Thomas More,
beheaded in 1535 for defending marriage
The Life of Thomas More: A Biography by William Roper

 

 

ONE of the greatest gifts Jesus left His Church was the grace of infallibility. If Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32), then it is imperative that every generation know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what the truth is. Otherwise, one could take a lie for truth and fall into slavery. For…

…everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. (John 8:34)

Hence, our spiritual freedom is intrinsic to knowing the truth, which is why Jesus promised, “When He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to all truth.” [1]John 16:13 Despite the flaws of the individual members of the Catholic Faith over two millennia and even the moral failures of Peter’s successors, our Sacred Tradition reveals that the teachings of  Christ have been accurately preserved for over 2000 years. It is one of the surest signs of Christ’s providential hand upon His Bride.Continue reading

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 John 16:13

The Path of Life

“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through… We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel, of Christ versus the anti-Christ… It is a trial… of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization, with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations.” —Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (JOHN PAUL II ), at the Eucharistic Congress, Philadelphia, PA; August 13, 1976; cf. Catholic Online (confirmed by Deacon Keith Fournier who was in attendance) “We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through… We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel, of Christ versus the anti-Christ… It is a trial… of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization, with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations.” —Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (JOHN PAUL II ), at the Eucharistic Congress, Philadelphia, PA; August 13, 1976; cf. Catholic Online (confirmed by Deacon Keith Fournier who was in attendance)

We are now facing the final confrontation
between the Church and the anti-Church,
of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel,
of Christ versus the anti-Christ…
It is a trial… of 2,000 years of culture
and Christian civilization,
with all of its consequences for human dignity,
individual rights, human rights
and the rights of nations.

—Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (JOHN PAUL II ), Eucharistic Congress, Philadelphia, PA,
August 13, 1976; cf. Catholic Online

WE are living in an hour where nearly the entire Catholic culture of 2000 years is being rejected, not only by the world (which is to be somewhat expected), but by Catholics themselves: bishops, cardinals, and laity who believe the Church needs to “updated”; or that we need a “synod on synodality” in order to rediscover the truth; or that we need to agree with the ideologies of the world in order to “accompany” them.Continue reading

You Were Loved

 

IN the wake of the outgoing, affectionate, and even revolutionary pontificate of St. John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was cast under a long shadow when he assumed the throne of Peter. But what would soon mark the pontificate of Benedict XVI would not be his charisma or humor, his personality or vigor — indeed, he was quiet, serene, almost awkward in public. Rather, it would be his unswerving and pragmatic theology at a time when the Barque of Peter was being assailed from both within and without. It would be his lucid and prophetic perception of our times that seemed to clear the fog before the bow of this Great Ship; and it would be an orthodoxy that proved time and again, after 2000 years of often stormy waters, that the words of Jesus are an unshakeable promise:

I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)

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Who is the True Pope?

 

WHO is the true pope?

If you could read my inbox, you’d see that there is less agreement on this subject than you’d think. And this divergence was made even stronger recently with an editorial in a major Catholic publication. It proposes a theory that is gaining traction, all the while flirting with schismContinue reading

Defending Jesus Christ

Peter’s Denial by Michael D. O’Brien

 

Years ago at the height of his preaching ministry and before leaving the public eye, Fr. John Corapi came to a conference I was attending. In his deep throaty voice, he took to the stage, looked out upon the intent crowd with a grimace and exclaimed: “I’m angry. I’m angry at you. I’m angry at me.” He then went on to explain in his usual boldness that his righteous anger was due to a Church sitting on its hands in the face of a world in need of the Gospel.

With that, I am republishing this article from October 31st, 2019. I have updated it with a section called “Globalism Spark”.

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So, You Saw Him Too?

brooksThe Man of Sorrows, by Matthew Brooks

  

First published October 18th, 2007.

 

IN my travels throughout Canada and the United States, I have been blessed to spend time with some very beautiful and holy priests — men who are truly laying down their lives for their sheep. Such are the shepherds whom Christ seeks these days. Such are the shepherds who must have this heart in order to lead their sheep in the coming days…

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On the Mass Going Forward

 

…each particular Church must be in accord with the universal Church
not only regarding the doctrine of the faith and sacramental signs,
but also as to the usages universally received from apostolic and unbroken tradition. 
These are to be observed not only so that errors may be avoided,
but also that the faith may be handed on in its integrity,
since the Church’s rule of prayer (lex orandi) corresponds
to her rule of faith (lex credendi).
—General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 3rd ed., 2002, 397

 

IT might seem odd that I am writing about the unfolding crisis over the Latin Mass. The reason is that I have never attended a regular Tridentine liturgy in my life.[1]I did attend a Tridentine rite wedding, but the priest didn’t seem to know what he was doing and the whole liturgy was scattered and odd. But that’s exactly why I am a neutral observer with hopefully something helpful to add to the conversation…Continue reading

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 I did attend a Tridentine rite wedding, but the priest didn’t seem to know what he was doing and the whole liturgy was scattered and odd.

There is Only One Barque

 

…as the Church’s one and only indivisible magisterium,
the pope and the bishops in union with him,
carry
 the gravest responsibility that no ambiguous sign
or unclear teaching comes from them,
confusing the faithful or lulling them
into a false sense of security. 
—Cardinal Gerhard Müller,

former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
First ThingsApril 20th, 2018

It is not a question of being ‘pro-’ Pope Francis or ‘contra-’ Pope Francis.
It is a question of defending the Catholic faith,
and that means defending the Office of Peter
to which the Pope has succeeded. 
—Cardinal Raymond Burke, The Catholic World Report,
January 22, 2018

 

BEFORE he passed away, almost a year ago to the day at the very start of the pandemic, the great preacher Rev. John Hampsch, C.M.F. (c. 1925-2020) wrote me a letter of encouragement. In it, he included an urgent message for all my readers:Continue reading

For the Love of Neighbour

 

“SO, what just happened?”

As I floated in silence on a Canadian lake, staring up into the deep blue past the morphing faces in the clouds, that was the question rolling through my mind recently. Over a year ago, my ministry suddenly took a seemingly unexpected turn into examining the “science” behind the sudden global lockdowns, church closures, mask mandates, and coming vaccine passports. This took some readers by surprise. Remember this letter?Continue reading

Not a Moral Obligation

 

Man tends by nature toward the truth.
He is obliged to honor and bear witness to it…
Men could not live with one another if there were not mutual confidence
that they were being truthful to one another.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), n. 2467, 2469

 

ARE you being pressured by your company, school board, spouse or even bishop to be vaccinated? The information in this article will give you clear, legal, and moral grounds, should it be your choice, to reject forced inoculation.Continue reading

Prophecy in Perspective

Confronting the subject of prophecy today
is rather like looking at wreckage after a shipwreck.

— Archbishop Rino Fisichella,
“Prophecy” in Dictionary of Fundamental Theology, p. 788

AS the world draws closer and closer to the end of this age, prophecy is becoming more frequent, more direct, and even more specific. But how do we respond to the more sensational of Heaven’s messages? What do we do when seers feel “off” or their messages simply don’t resonate?

The following is a guide for new and regular readers in the hopes to provide balance on this delicate subject so that one can approach prophecy without anxiety or fear that one is somehow being misled or deceived. Continue reading

Your Questions on the Pandemic

 

SEVERAL new readers are asking questions on the pandemic—on the science, the morality of lockdowns, mandatory masking, church closures, vaccines and more. So the following is a summary of key articles related to the pandemic to help you form your conscience, to educate your families, to give you ammunition and courage to approach your politicians and support your bishops and priests, who are under immense pressure. Any way you cut it, you’re going to have to make unpopular choices today as the Church enters deeper into her Passion as each day passes by. Don’t be intimidated either by the censors, “fact-checkers” or even family who try to bully you into the powerful narrative drummed out each minute and hour on the radio, television, and social media.

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The Chair of Rock

petroschair_Fotor

 

ON THE FEAST OF THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER THE APOSTLE

 

Note: If you have stopped receiving emails from me, check your “junk” or “spam” folder and mark them as not junk. 

 

I was passing through a trade fair when I came across a “Christian Cowboy” booth. Sitting on a ledge were a stack of NIV bibles with a snapshot of horses on the cover. I picked one up, then looked at the three men in front of me grinning proudly beneath the brim of their Stetsons.

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To Vax or Not to Vax?

 

Mark Mallett is a former television reporter with CTV Edmonton and award-winning documentarian and author of The Final Confrontation and The Now Word.


 

“SHOULD I take the vaccine?” That’s the question filling my inbox at this hour. And now, the Pope has weighed in on this controversial subject. Thus, the following is crucial information from those who are experts to help you weigh this decision, which yes, has huge potential consequences for your health and even freedom… Continue reading

Dear Shepherds… Where Are You?

 

WE are living through incredibly fast-changing and confusing times. The need for sound direction has never been greater… and neither has the sense of abandonment many of the faithful feel. Where, many are asking, is the voice of our shepherds? We are living through one of the most dramatic spiritual tests in the history of the Church, and yet, the hierarchy has remained mostly silent — and when they do speak these days, we often hear the voice of the Good Government rather than the Good Shepherd.Continue reading

A Gospel for All

The Sea of Galilee at Dawn (photo by Mark Mallett)

 

Continuing to gain traction is the notion that there are many paths to Heaven and that we’ll all eventually get there. Sadly, even many “Christians” are adopting this fallacious ethos. What is needed, more than ever, is a bold, charitable, and powerful proclamation of the Gospel and the name of Jesus. This is the duty and privilege most especially of Our Lady’s Little Rabble. Who else is there?

 

First published March 15th, 2019.

 

THERE are no words that can adequately describe what it’s like to walk in the literal footsteps of Jesus. It’s as though my trip to the Holy Land was entering into a mythical realm that I’d read about all my life… and then, suddenly, there I was. Except, Jesus is no myth. Continue reading

Can You Ignore Private Revelation?

 

Those who have fallen into this worldliness look on from above and afar,
they reject the prophecy of their brothers and sisters…
 

—POPE FRANCIS, Evangelii Gaudium, n. 97

 

WITH the events of the past few months, there has been a flurry of so-called “private” or prophetic revelation in the Catholic sphere. This has led to some reasserting the notion that one does not have to believe in private revelations. Is that true? While I’ve covered this topic before, I’m going to respond authoritatively and to the point so that you can pass this on to those who are confused on this issue.Continue reading

Communion in the Hand? Pt. I

 

SINCE the gradual re-opening in many regions of Masses this week, several readers have asked me to comment on the restriction several bishops are putting into place that Holy Communion must be received “in the hand.” One man said that he and his wife have received Communion “on the tongue” for fifty years, and never in the hand, and that this new prohibition has put them in an unconscionable position. Another reader writes:Continue reading

Video: On Prophets and Prophecy

 

ARCHBISHOP Rino Fisichella once said,

Confronting the subject of prophecy today is rather like looking at wreckage after a shipwreck. —”Prophecy” in Dictionary of Fundamental Theology, p. 788

In this new webcast, Mark Mallett helps the viewer understand how the Church approaches prophets and prophecy and how we should see them as a gift to discern, not a burden to bear.Continue reading

Who is Saved? Part II

 

“WHAT about those who are not Catholic or who are neither baptized nor have heard the Gospel? Are they lost and damned to Hell?” That’s a serious and important question that deserves a serious and truthful answer.

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Who is Saved? Part I

 

 

CAN you feel it? Can you see it? There is a cloud of confusion descending on the world, and even sectors of the Church, that is obscuring what true salvation is. Even Catholics are beginning to question moral absolutes and whether the Church is simply intolerant—an aged institution that has fallen behind the latest advances in psychology, biology and humanism. This is generating what Benedict XVI called a “negative tolerance” whereby for the sake of “not offending anyone,” whatever is deemed “offensive” is abolished. But today, what is actually determined to be offensive is no longer rooted in the natural moral law but is driven, says Benedict, but by “relativism, that is, letting oneself be tossed and ‘swept along by every wind of teaching’,” [1]Cardinal Ratzinger, pre-conclave Homily, April 18th, 2005 namely, whatever is “politically correct.” And thus,Continue reading

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 Cardinal Ratzinger, pre-conclave Homily, April 18th, 2005