Benedict XVI and his infallible powers

Today, July 31, marks the first year anniversary of our weblog the John Paul II Millstone www.jp2m.blogspot.com and Benedict XVI is the clone of John Paul II.

At a vision in the last 2002 WYD World Youth Day of John Paul II, Paris saw St. Michael the Archangel tying a huge millstone around the neck of JPII because he refused to stop the activities of his JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army. July is a timely month as the total cost of this papal army in the USA alone is $2 Billion with the City of Angels costing the most, $666 Million (the extra $6M comes from Mahony pre-trial lawyers fees to suppress the lawsuits). Mahony was consecrated Archbishop of LA in July 16, 1985 by JPII.

WOW! Amazing Grace! Within one year our charitable non-profit weblogs, the John Paul II Millstone, www.jp2m.blogspot.com and God’s Rottweiler
we were able to reveal the absolute truths about:
1) the role of Opus Dei in the cover-up of priest pedophilia in the 20th century
2) how Benedict XVI is the clone-child of
3) MR. John Paul II and MRS. Josemaria Escriba, the new Mystical Marriage in the Catholic church (replacing Christ and his Mystical Bride).
4) Benedict XVI's infallible powers emanate from his despotic parents John Paul II and Josemaria Escriba, autocratic like (same-sex) fathers like son.
5) Benedict XVI papal hands reign with 6 rays of lighting were produced from the secret laboratory of the Opus Dei privately owned Vatican
6) Benedict XVI's 6 rays target specifically 6 groups -- the Jesuits, the Gays, the Muslims, the non-Catholics, Liberation Theologians like Jon Sobrino, and critics.

Below we reprint an entire article of the Hands of Opus Dei in El Salvador -- because it illustrates the lighting Opus Dei hands of Benedict XVI. When the Opus Dei are not busy being Octopus Dei, they are busy being lighting rods that crush whoever is not in agreement with their narcissist agenda – the worship and cult of MR. John Paul II and MRS. Josemaria Escriba.

This fact about El Salvador is not reported in secular media that -- the Opus Dei Bishop finished off the Notification on Fr. Jon Sobrino by silencing him and forbidding him to teach and publish.

Fr. Sobrino has given his life to serve the poor while the Opus Dei Bishop and his Opus Dei eunuchs wouldn't dare dirty their hands from their OD Bishops rich Palace (like Mahony LA palace) and they wouldn’t waste their OD time to go out to serve one poor El Salvadorian.


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The hand of Opus Dei in El Salvador

http://www.odan.org/media_hand_of_od.htm

by Marianne Johnson
The Tablet, UK
November 18, 2000

Oscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, is revered in Latin America as a saint because of his support for the voiceless and the poor. But the civil war is over and times have changed. A lay volunteer and researcher in El Salvador assesses the policy of Romero’s successor.

STANDING in the rose garden of the University of Central America (UCA), where the torn and butchered bodies of the six Jesuits were found almost 11 years ago, it is hard to believe Archbishop Fernando Sáenz Lacalle of San Salvador’s declaration that "liberation theology no longer has any place" in his country.

Jon Sobrino, the only Jesuit theologian in the UCA not to be killed, tells me I am one of 20,000 people a year who come looking for inspiration from these martyrs, whose faces stare down from the walls. The centre itself, buzzing with activity, visitors, seminars and delegations is a far cry from the garishly restored Metropolitan Cathedral. Here, where Oscar Romero used to appeal for justice to be restored to the poor and suffering, Archbishop Sáenz’s sermons centre on individual salvation and morality. Much has changed in the eight years since the peace accords were signed; and the Salvadorean Church no longer merits the quasi-utopian haze through which outsiders still see it. The country itself is in a state of post-war flux. At one end of this city stands the UCA, at the other, the cathedral – and it is clear which is in charge.

Government repression and guerrilla sabotage are no longer the shadows hanging over this tiny nation, no bigger than Wales, of six million people. The new enemy is violence, and its victims are no longer political. More now die each week from unnatural causes than during the 12-year civil war – when 75,000 people lost their lives. As social violence has increased, divisions between the rich few and the poor majority have yawned wider. Houses in the richer parts of town resemble mini-fortresses, the urban slums have grown larger. Guns are everywhere. Youths in gangs, gun battles between kidnappers, hold-ups and muggings are the stuff of daily life now, and there are mounting calls for the Government of President Francisco Flores to bring back the death penalty. Ironically, the best-known member of Flores’s party, ARENA, was the death squad leader Roberto D’Aubuisson, credited with ordering the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Nowadays, ARENA is seen as remote and detached, paying attention to people only when votes need to be courted. More than 200 officers of the National Civil Police (NCP) – formed in 1992 as part of the peace agreements – have been linked to organised crime. Queues stretch several times around the block of the United States embassy as people wait to escape to what they hope will be a better existence.

The decline of liberation theology in El Salvador is indisputable. Priests and activists are fewer, meet less and less often than at any time since the 1970s, while base communities are thin on the ground. The demise is partly self-inflicted. Liberation theology stripped away spiritual symbols and rituals that constituted such a fundamental part of the faith of Salvadoreans: it shunned rosary beads and scorned the adoration of statues. The politicisation of the personal and spiritual is no longer appealing to a nation exhausted by ideological conflict.

Yet the hostility to liberation theology on the part of the church hierarchy in the last six years has been out of all proportion to these limitations. Under Archbishop Sáenz Lacalle, an Opus Dei man, the strategy has not been to reform liberation theology, but to undo and remove all traces of it. There are frequent denunciations of it by church leaders in the national press; bishops have withdrawn funding and support from key programmes; priests have been strategically shifted, and nuns expelled. Drastic changes have been made to the seminary curriculum, with books containing liberationist teachings banned, conservative rectors put in charge, and seminarians pulled in from pastoral outposts in poor areas. For the visitor, who inevitably has in mind Archbishop Romero’s brave pronouncements from the pulpit in the Metropolitan Cathedral, it is the sermons that most register the change. When you hear them, it is hard to realise you are in El Salvador at all.

This purge of liberation theology and all its works has gone hand in hand with the Church repositioning itself in relation to social and political actors. In light of the recent Florida trial – when two former generals admitted the army’s systematic use of torture and massacre – Archbishop Sáenz’s 1997 acceptance from the military of the title of Brigadier General says much.

According to Jon Sobrino, this apparent rejection of the recent past should not come as too great a surprise. Liberation theology from the outset had the weight of the world against it, after all, and would inevitably provoke division and conflict between Church and state. A Church that is at war with a state is not in a position to suffuse all levels of society, instead of just the poor, with the Christian faith – an objective that has taken on a new force under Pope John Paul II; while a state that is at war with the Church is hard pushed to find moral justification for its existence and policies. An end to the rift offers mutually beneficial outcomes.

The Church in El Salvador, in short, has been re-romanised. Archbishop Sáenz’s efforts to centralise and control, to create a uniformity of outlook and action amongst clergy, is part of a larger, Opus Dei-led strategy in Latin America as a whole. But this lurch away from the prophetic Church of Archbishop Romero has been so extreme that its effect has been far from unifying. Around 20 per cent of clergy favour a pro-liberationist approach, while another 20 per cent oppose it, with the remainder falling somewhere between the two camps. Despite clear attempts to relegate them, liberationists still remain active within Salvadorean religious life, implementing programmes and classes faithful to the structures and viewpoints of the Christian base communities of the 1970s. Some are more conciliatory than before; others are opting for what comes across as more covert or almost undercover behaviour.

Contrary to the popular belief that Catholics are defecting to evangelical sects, UCA surveys suggest that in the last 12 years the biggest loss from Catholic ranks (around 7 per cent) has been of people who now describe themselves as of no fixed religious affiliation: lack of time in the face of the struggle for economic survival is cited as the biggest reason for not going to Mass. The same surveys indicate that of practising Catholics around ten per cent identify with new movements, especially Charismatic Renewal, which appeal to the emotions, offering a quick-fix of high-intensity spirituality and hand-clapping in place of the politico-religious compromises demanded by the Christian base communities (CEBs) of the past.

BY contrast, fewer than three per cent of Catholics attend CEBs. Shopping around between different evangelical sects or Catholic lay movements is now the norm. Some want escapism, some want social engagement, many a carefully-balanced mixture of both. Whatever it is they seek, it is clear that neither the hierarchy of the institutional Catholic Church nor the liberation theologians in El Salvador are offering the brands they used to; yet both have failed to find an alternative that sells. Charismatic Renewal, meanwhile, has done much to recreate a sense of belonging and community, in a society where social structures have collapsed through war, migration, and neo-liberal policies.

As one ex-guerrilla and CEB member told me, nothing is clear-cut in El Salvador any more. "In many ways wartime life was easier", he recalled. "Everybody knew which side they were on and who was their enemy, it was clear what needed to be done." Liberation theology, which demanded that the Church be on the side of the poor when the poor were persecuted, is less coherent in the post-war period. But it has not disappeared. Although greatly reduced in number, there still exist groups faithful to the see-judge- act practices of the past. No longer so damagingly linked to the left-wing guerrillas, these CEBs apply the Gospel to their local environment, to the culture of sexual inequality, and to the struggle for economic survival.

This last year in particular has revealed the deeper presence or legacy of the Romero years and the golden age of Christian base communities, showing that the Salvadorean popular Church and people have been imbued with a sense of values, a language of liberation even, that cannot so easily be separated from their spiritual beliefs. For while the key words of liberation and social engagement are less frequently heard from the people themselves, they want to hear them from the lips of their bishops. The fact that bishops spurn those words has generated a feeling of resignation in the face of yet another institutional body taking on an existence far removed from the realities of daily life. The candle-lit processions for Romero that flowed through the streets of the capital in March, the yearly village celebrations of local martyrs, and the nucleus of those who are a "minority working for the majority" all point to a source of energy and faith that has been dampened but not drowned, and which only awaits effective leadership in order to be channelled once more.

Benedict XVI is "pained" about LA settlements as he wallows in the lap of luxury in his vacation in the Italian Alps

Does Benedict XVI look "pained" in this vacation photos?

The Opus Dei elite are masters of cunning and deceit who use their Octopus Dei tentacles to achieve 'world dominion'. The Opus Dei was the only go-between between Pope John Paul II and the outside world therefore they were responsible for the great cover-up of the JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army for more than 26 years.
(see -- http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/07/john-paul-ii-and-cardinal-mahony-master.html)

Today the Opus Dei continues to control the Pope but through a cheap shield, a Jesuit Public Secretary with an Octopus Dei tentacle around his neck and hands. There is a real Private Secretary of Benedict
see his photos in http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2007/06/benedict-xvis-handsome-private.html

Gay? Georg is a secret member of the Opus Dei and together with the other Opus Dei eunuchs they surround the Pope and they conjure up how to fool Catholics and the world through cunning spin of words. The Opus Dei is the worst python from the Garden of Eden reincarnated.

Here is their latest Opus Dei spin on how the Pope feels "pained" about Cardinal Mahony's bargain settlement in LA (when the reality is they are celebrating their legal windfall by averting a court trial for criminal Mahony). This entire news article speaks about Opus Dei's more urgent priorities - the Latin Mass, the liturgy and formulas in the church Missal. To the Opus Dei the priest pedophilia is a mere farting matter and they continue to "justify" the JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army - by diverting attention now to other religious groups' pedophilia. The Opus Dei feels no compunction whatsoever for survivors and victims of priest pedophilia.
(See - http://jp2army.blogspot.com/)

As in many recent OD controlled newspapers, the Opus Dei spin begins with the Pope as feeling "pained" - (go tell that to the marines) -- when the truth is the Pope is enjoying the time of his life while vacationing in the lap of luxury and partying daily with Opus Dei eunuchs chanting their Opus Dei Latin Mass. The Opus Dei and the Pope live and dance like the Tsars unaware of the real world outside their gilded palace walls. They merely fart cunning words and spin their theological feces at Catholics and their slaves and followers.

This journalist ask what is the Latin for "bullshit" -- the answer is "Opus Dei"!
(See http://laist.com/2007/07/18/the_bbc_vid_the.php#post-comment)

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Vatican official: Pope pained by clerical sex abuse in Los Angeles

By Catholic News Service

PIEVE DI CADORE, Italy (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI's closest aide said the pope was pained and concerned by the "devastating scale" of clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, held a wide-ranging press conference July 18 in Pieve di Cadore, near where Pope Benedict is vacationing in the northern Italian Alps.

Even if the percentage of priests who have sexually abused children "is a minority," he said, just one instance "clashes with the identity and mission we are called to undertake."

"The problem of pedophile priests is one that pains all churchmen," he said, adding that the problem "in the diocese of Los Angeles was on a devastating scale."

Cardinal Bertone also was asked about concerns over the prayer for the conversion of the Jews in the Good Friday liturgy of the 1962 Roman Missal.

After Pope Benedict issued his letter allowing greater use of the Tridentine Mass according to the 1962 missal, several Jewish leaders and Catholics involved in dialogue expressed concern over the missal's prayer for the conversion of the Jews, which asks God to remove "the veil from their hearts" and help them overcome their "blindness."

Since the Second Vatican Council, in the Good Friday prayer approved by Pope Paul VI in 1970, the Jews are referred to as "the first to hear the word of God" and the prayer asks that "they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant."

Cardinal Bertone said "the problem can be resolved" either by closely following Pope Benedict's limits on using the 1962 Missal during Holy Week "or through a reflection that would lead to a decision valid for everyone -- for the traditionalists and for those who want to celebrate the Mass according to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council" -- that only the 1970 prayer be used at any Good Friday liturgy.

The Good Friday prayer for the Jews is one of a long set of prayers for various intentions, including prayers for the church, its ministers, other Christians, other believers in God and those who do not believe in God.

"It is a formula," Cardinal Bertone said. "The problem can be studied, and it could be decided that all those celebrating the Mass in the Catholic Church, according to the old missal or the new missal, recite the same formula of the Good Friday prayers, which were approved by (Pope) Paul VI; this can be decided, and it would resolve all the problems."

Cardinal Bertone also said the exact meaning of the limits Pope Benedict put on using the 1962 missal may need to be clarified. The papal document said, "In Masses celebrated without the people, any priest of Latin rite, whether secular or religious, can use the Roman Missal published by Pope Blessed John XXIII in 1962 or the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970, on any day except in the sacred triduum," which includes Good Friday.

But referring to those who have criticized in general Pope Benedict's decision to allow wider use of the Tridentine Mass, Cardinal Bertone said, "There is nothing worse than despising something you do not know."

Asked about the mid-July election in China of Father Joseph Li Shan as the new bishop of the Beijing Diocese, Cardinal Bertone said, "The bishop chosen is a very good and suitable subject, and this certainly is a very positive sign."

The vote by a group of priests, nuns and laypeople must be confirmed by the government-recognized Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church of China before it is final. It was the first election of a bishop in the registered church community since Pope Benedict's letter to Catholics in China was released June 30.

"We have not had an official communication about this election," Cardinal Bertone told reporters.

Normally, he said, a bishop elected by a government-registered community would later "enter into contact with representatives of the Holy See and ask for approval; we hope this will happen."

Cardinal Bertone also was asked if there was any possibility for a greater involvement of women in decision-making positions in the Catholic Church.

He told reporters there could be some surprises in the coming months.

"We are working on new appointments," he said.

"Considering the possibilities, the gifts and the feminine potential, I think there could be some positions that will be assigned to women," the cardinal said.

Currently inside the Vatican, the highest-ranking woman is Salesian Sister Enrica Rosanna, undersecretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The prefects, secretaries and undersecretaries of the eight other Vatican congregations are all bishops, cardinals or priests. Of the 11 pontifical councils, two -- the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications -- have laymen serving as undersecretaries.

Benedict XVI secret videos he doesn't want you to see

Watch these videos that Benedict XVI and the Octopus Dei do not want you and anyone to see.

http://laist.com/2007/07/18/the_bbc_vid_the.php#post-comment

Beware of the tentacles of the Octopus Dei!

Pope Benedict XVI's Great Sex Scandal: California here I come!

Pope Benedict XVI's Great Sex Scandal: California here I come!

In 2002 when Pope John Paul II came to North America for his last WYD World Youth Day, the epicenter of the priest pedophilia has just bursted in Boston. Yet he did abosolutely nothing and said nothing about it at the WYD. When the laypeople succedded in forcing Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law to resign, Pope John Paul II countered the laypeople by making Law as the Archpriest of the St. Mary Maggiore in Rome.

Today, his clone, Benedict XVI is doing the same. God's Rottweiler is busy biting at groups like the Jesuits, the Gays, the Muslims, but he refuse to acknowledge the AIDS brewing within the Catholic Church under his very eyes and nose. As Pogo said: The enemy is not them, it's us!

Watch out for California. Roger Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles, apple of the eye of Benedict XVI, Will Not Be Able to Hide Behind His Scarlet Much Longer.

Let us demand Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles to resign like Cardinal Bernard Law did in Boston!


John Paul II does NOT deserve to be called a 'saint' in America. John Paul II did NOTHING for victims of pedophile priests during 26 years of his papacy; he, Benedict XVI then Cardinal Ratzinger, and all Cardinals and Bishops were cohorts in crime in the cover-up of priest pedophilia.


See The John Paul II Millstone -- www.jp2m.blogspot.com

Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America

Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leader

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

USA Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 5,148 priests - John Paul II & Benedict XVI


* * * * * *

"When Los Angeles Bursts, It Will Make Boston Look Like an Altar Boys' Picnic!"

The Newchurch bishops would dearly love the Great Sex and Embezzlement Scandal to go away. They've done everything to hide it, to lie that it is under control and to involve JPII and Benedict-Ratzinger in their lies, but the Novus Ordo is so thoroughly corrupt that the slime is rising to the top at an ever increasing rate. The full extent of the degree to which these bishops have corrupted their offices, and have engaged both actively and passively in the foulest crimes that cry out to High Heaven for vengeance hasn't even begun yet.

Thomas Doyle, a Novus Ordo presbyter who was part of the Newvatican diplomatic corps 20 years ago when he warned the Catholic hierarchy that it needed to deal promptly with what was to become the Great Sex and Embezzlement Scandal, revealed on June 26 that the scandal is far from over. "The epicenter is California," Doyle said. "When Los Angeles bursts, it will make Boston look like an altar boys' picnic."

Mahony, who is generally considered the Arch-heretic of Newchurch because of his public denials of Catholic doctrine, has consistently refused to go public about the rampant sex crimes in his diocese and has lashed out at anyone who pressures him. It was Mahony who got Governor Frank Keating, a former FBI investigator against the Mafia, fired as chairman of the Sex Crimes Investigating Committee of the U.S. Newchurch bishops, because Keating publicly stated that the bishops were acting as criminally as the Mafia. Keating warned that some of the bishops should be prosecuted and sent to jail. He later called on Novus Ordinarians to withhold donations. This is the same Mahony, by the way, who was exposed in a U.S. News & World Report article as playing a confidence game with mortuaries in his diocese.

Doyle, a Newdominican, said that he was originally sure the Newchurch bishops would deal with the Great Scandal promptly. He now admits that the reaction of the bishops stunned him. In a P.R. conspiracy originating from the U.S. Conference of [Newchurch] Catholic Bishops, the media that reported on the abuse and the lawyers who sued Newchurch were labeled as anti-Catholic, he said. This ploy is very similar to the P.R. disinformation campaign of Newchurch bishops against traditional Catholics, who are lied about as "schismatic," when even Newrome doesn't hold this position. "I was in a courtroom when a judge told a bishop to answer questions or go to jail," Doyle said. "Their exalted position is being threatened, even their tax-exempt status." [Wisconsin Journal Sentinel]

In fact, victims of the New Order termed the measures adopted at the Newchurch bishops' recent June 2005 biannual meeting "backpedaling," saying that the bishops were failing to live up to the commitments they made at their 2002 meeting. "Time and time again since Dallas, bishops have moved backward toward the failed policies of the past, not forward toward real prevention in the future," said the president of one of the Novus Ordo abuse organizations.

The scoreboard. Two chairmen of the National Review Board, one a governor and FBI agent, the other an appellate court judge, have denounced the bishops as simply setting up a smokescreen for P.R. purposes and acting like Mafia criminals. Victims organizations have denounced the bishops as hypocrites (didn't Christ use the same word of the Church hierarchy of His time?). And the Novus Ordinarians continue pusillanimously to attempt to justify an invalid Mess, often phony Sakraments, heretical doctrine, and a criminal morality. Will they ever wake up and smell the coffee?

The U.S. Newchurch bishops, without exception, have conspired to destroy the Roman Catholic Faith and its morality. There is not a single one of them who is not involved, either "through what they have done or what they have failed to do," as their New Confession puts it. Not a single bishop has resigned in protest from the organization known as the "U.S. Conference of [Newchurch] Catholic Bishops" headquartered at Washington, D.C. This is the same organization that is being investigated by various police agencies for possible RICO (organized crime) felonies.

The Tower of Power maintained by Newchurch bishops is built on sand, and now everyone knows it. One sometimes can only hope that the feds will once and for all indict the USCCB and all the Newchurch bishops in it for crimes committed against young and old and put the Novus Ordo Tower of Power out of business once and for all. Then maybe truly Catholic bishops could be found for at least some of the 425-odd vacancies.

http://www.traditio.com/comment/com0507.htm (scroll to the bottom)

Benedict XVI, Latin Mass and the Opus Dei

Benedict XVI's revert to Pre-Vatican II Latin Mass is one of the biggest sign that Opus Dei controls the Pope and the Vatican. The Opus Dei celebrates Mass everyday in Latin only for their highest elite members, the numeraries (equivalent to nuns and brothers) mostly lawyers, doctors and professionals who turn in all their salaries to Opus Dei. They use ornate vestments, ornate vessels in their ornate Opus Dei chapels and the Opus Dei priest turns his back toward the congregation. To be in one of those Latin Masses is to be transported out of the realities of this world.

This is their 69 Million dollar new 'house' in New York -- http://maypinska.com/pages/projects/buildbodylex.htm

See the million dollar houses (secret convents) of Opus Dei in the world --
http://www.odan.org/foundations.htm


That is why the Pope and the Opus Dei are against Liberation Theology because they want to dwell in their comfort Latin zone and therefore cannot stomach the sufferings of the poor. They also cannot stomach the sufferings of the 12,000 American victims of John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army.

See - http://www.jp2m.blogspot.com/ - On the Lot: MR. John Paul II and MRS. Josemaria de Opus Dei

See- http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2007/05/benedict-xvi-gods-rottweiler-appetite.html
-- Benedict mauls Jon Sobrino and Liberation Theology

So Benedict XVI, the clone child of John Paul II and his June Mystical Bride, St? Josemaria Escriba is now turning back the clock and going back to pre-Vatican II. They want Catholics to live in the past, and they expect to rule with the fabricated infallibility of the Pope.

Below is a letter written by Sherlock Holmes today to Sr. Maggie about the Latin Mass .

Sister Maggie:

Whatdya think about the 'approval' by Herr Ratzinger of the return to die Latin Mass?

Me I think he needs a lobotomy. The Church is going to hell in a hand basket {scandals}...and goofball Ratzinger is toying over the monumental?? issue of can they have a Latin Mass here and there!

So some gay celibate? priest is facing the altar mumbling [ so far as the lemmings in the pews would know or understand] the words in Latin, whilst the 'faithful' finger their beads or read the print of their ' dusted off ' missals dutifully standing, bowing, sitting at the appropriate times....ah does it gert any better than this?

Reminds me when that doddering old fool John Paul sent out the directive to all the Cardinals and Bishops of the world in the Jubliee Year to lock one entrance door to each of their churchs not to be opend until the New Year Eve whence the celebration of the event dubbed Sancta Porta would occur, conferring indulgences on all those who would pass through that door upon it being 'unlocked' after recitiating some monotonous prayer.

Look it up on Google - Sancta Porta....and there was George kneeling before his locked door.....what an oaf!

When I attend these services I watch as they file in…some genuflect before entering the pew….others amble over to the statute of the "most sacred heart" kneel, take out a coin deposit it, light a stick from an existing votive then light another and bless themselves and momentarily later, retreating to a pew content or fulfilled I suppose that by depositing a coin, lighting a votive and kneeling before a statue whilst reciting some prayer and no doubt a plea as well, that this practice offers some measure of hope that their prayer and plea has somehow quasi-liturgically been faxed to the recipient.

Almost reminds me of the Hindu practice of Puja, where one chants prayers to the statue of a god or goddess, offering the deity a seat, washing its feet, and giving it water….even going so far as to bathe and clothe the image in new garments, embellished with ornaments, perfumes and flowers placed before it. Sometimes incense is burned, or a lighted lamp is waved in front of the deity. Foods such as cooked rice, fruit, butter, and sugar are offered. Family members bow before the image, and sip { similar to blessing (?) themselves with Holy (?) water } the water they have given the god, and receive a portion of cooked food. The food and water are now considered to have been blessed by the deity for the devotees.

Then, whence the service commences…. again in unison, the prayers are droned…and at the instance of the recitation of the Gospel virtually the entire assemblage makes a sign of the cross with the back of the thumb mindlessly….routinely on their foreheads, lips and heart, always the thumb and just as always the back thereof - further evidence of the spontaneous, instinctive almost involuntary nature of this gesture.

At the conclusion of the service they shuffle out….many dipping their fingers into the holy water for one last blessing…..all of it by the way, done in an seemingly unconscious repetitious manner that always makes me wonder about the whole process…from start to finish.

It reminds me of the "drill" that takes place daily on every dairy farm across this country…as the herd makes it way, in the same "pecking order" worked out among the animals, to the "milking parlor" twice daily, 12 hours apart…without being summoned, exactly at the same time each day without watches or clocks…consistently and regularly day in and day out….truly amazing to see….all without the prompting of a bell….the summoning call of a "herdsman" or any other contrivance….just plain simple unwitting, thoughtless, routine behavior….a regimen so ingrained that 7 days a week and 52 a year they make the journey from meadow to milking parlor twice at the very same time daily, save those who periodically are "dried up" before being "freshened again"….farm lingo.

I dare not share my opinions with fellow parishioners out of respect for their feelings and sensibilities. They are after all good people trying as best as one can to lead the Christian life within the context of their upbringing……the familiarity of the Catholic experience.

Indeed when invited to pray for my own intentions after "we pray to the Lord"…I often ask that my heart be not hardened…or that I be forgiven for my somber callousness.

Yet, through it all I keep coming back to desperate feeling of wondering when if ever the Council of Priests Federations will stand up and petition the Bishops to overhaul the liturgy of this staid Church doing away with some of the meanigless passages of the old testament as meaningfull excerpts of 'scripture' upon which or from which the believer can obtain any spiritual worth or growth for leading their 21st century lives **….realizing at the same time the enormous conflicts that resulted with previous changes, English language supplanting the Latin mass, altar and priest reversed, sign of peace the advent of 'altar girls' etc.



** example:

Jer: 1:4-5,17-19

The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

But do you gird your loins; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though I would leave you crushed before them; for it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: against Judah's kings and princes, against its priests and people. They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.


What say ye Sister Maggie?....have I not disturbed your comfort zone one bit?....for that is not my intent for the mere sake of it ...but to ask thoughful thinking followers of Christ to ask themselves.....am I being led by goofy old men?

Sherlock Holmes

Links: http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-07-07-voa22.cfm --Pope Benedict Approves Wider Use of Latin Mass