THE ESSENCE OF HOLINESS

 Pope Francis says that holiness doesn't mean doing extraordinary things, but doing ordinary things with love and faith."

He adds, "Having faith does not mean having no difficulties, but having the strength to face them, knowing we are not alone."

Faith Is A Lamp

 Pope Francis has said, "Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey."

Everyday Holiness

 Pope Francis has said, "Holiness doesn't mean doing extraordinary things but doing ordinary things with love and faith."

That means that the everyday routines and demands of life are occasions for growth in the spiritual life.

I must remember that the next time I clean out the refrigerator!

AFRICAN CONFERENCE FOR SYNOD

I have a hunch that the Catholic Church in Africa is taking Pope Francis’ initiative “A Synod on Synodality” more seriously and more successfully than the Catholic Church’s representatives in the United States and Canada.

African Catholics are currently engaged in a conference to discuss what synodality implies and to encourage some 200 participants (including nine cardinals, 29 bishops and 41 priests as well as laity) “to listen to each other about what the Holy Spirit is commanding the Church family of God in Africa in order to start a new era of evangelization.”

We are currently in the “Continental Phase,” the process in which seven continental meetings (Africa, Oceana, Asia, Middle east, Latin America, Europe and North America) will produce seven Final Documents that will serve as basis for the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2023.

The African Catholics’ continental meeting is lively, open, prayerful, and attune to African mentality. The participants are intent on making the meeting truly synodal, that is, an authentic  process calling people to listen to the Holy Spirit and share what they hear. 

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg came to Africa to address and to listen to the participants of this conference. He reminded the assembly that “Synod is not about power. It is not about democracy. It is about the Holy Spirit. It is about a Church which is open to the world. Its mission is to all humanity. It is a Church which knows how to pray. It is a Church in line with the Holy Spirit.”

I have a hunch that some conferences of bishops  have paid only lip-service to Pope Francis’ call for synodality, and have reluctantly and half-heartedly engaged in the process which was designed to listen to God’s people and offer recommendations to the bishops who will be engaging in the Bishops Synodal meeting in October 2023.

 A Lenten Insight from Pope Francis:

   There's something attractive about Lent beginning in the middle of an ordinary week, catching us in the middle of our daily occupations and asking us to take time out to find God there.  

   Lent doesn't take us away from our ordinary lives, but rather it invites us to bring a new and holy attention to those activities. This should be the way with all our spiritual practices.

   We take time apart in order to return to our daily practices with new inspiration. God will always surprise us with possibilities when we least expect them. Let this Lent be one of those surprises.

                                                                              -----

   

   

THE 2023 BISHOPS SYNOD

 SYNOD ON SYNODALITY

Pope Francis has asked the entire Catholic world to give thought and input for the Sixteenth Bishops Synod scheduled for 2023. 

According to the Roman Catholic Church's Code of Canon Law, "The synod of bishops is a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world to meet together at fixed time to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world" (#342).

This Synod of Bishops was instituted in response to recommendations from bishops gathered at the Second Vatican Council which met from 1962-65. Pope Paul VI established the Synod Bishops on September 15, 1965.

Pope Francis has invited input from the entire Church for the 2023 Synod. Each diocese has been instructed to gather this input and publicize the results of this solicitation before sending the results to the Vatican. Here are the instructions to the dioceses:

"Each diocese can choose to prepare the synthesis either before or after the Diocesan Pre-synodal Meeting, as long as the fruits of that meeting are also incorporated into the diocesan synthesis. As much as possible, everyone should feel that his or her voice has been represented in the synthesis. As a model of transparency, the members of the drafting team as well as the process of synthesizing the feedback be made public once it has been drafted, as a touchstone for the journey of the diocese along the path of synodality. As much as possible, opportunities can be given to the People of God to review and respond to the content of the diocesan synthesis before it is officially sent to the episcopal conference."

The Bishops Synodal Committe cautioned that this consultation of the people does not imply the assumption within the Church of the dynamics of democracy based on the principle of majority. Suggestions and decisions are always put in the context of what the Holy Spirit asks of us.

Pope Francis explained in his opening address for the 2018 synod that the purpose of a synod is not to develop documents but "to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands."

A President Lincoln-inspired Memorial Day Address

 If President Abraham Lincoln were alive to give a Memorial Day Address in 2022, he might say something like this:

Twelve score and six years ago (1776 ) our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all  human beings, male and female, regardless of race, color or creed, are created equal.

   Now we are engaged in a national holiday celebrating that nation. We are met across this continent on this day to recall that portions of our land  serve as a final-resting place for those who  gave their lives that that nation might live.  It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

   Brave men and women, living and dead, have consecrated this continent far above our poor power to add or detract.  The world will little note nor long remember  today’s memorial observance, but we can never forget what they did here.  Rather, it is for us the living to be re-dedicated this day to the unfinished work which those who have fought for this nation have so nobly advanced.

   It is rather for us on this memorial day to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us –that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion –that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.:

Pope Francis and the Rohingya

 Pope Francis and the Rohingya

In the book Let Us Dream (Simon & Schuster, 2020), based on interviews with Pope Francis, the pope says, “I think often of persecuted peoples…I have a particular affection for the Rohingya people. The Rohingya are the most persecuted group on earth right now; insofar as I can, I try to be close to them” (p. 12).

I was not aware of these people nor of the persecution they face. Pope Francis made me aware and Wikepedia helped clarify the situation. They are a people without a country even though they are indigenous to western Myanmar (Burma) but the government of Myanmar does not recognize them and has in fact driven most of them into neighboring Bangladesh. By 2017 an estimated 625,000 of them from Rakhine State in Myanmar sought safety in Bangladesh.

Pope Francis notes that he is especially moved by the generosity of the Bangladesh people toward these exiles and refugees. He says, “It’s a poor, densely populated nation; yet they opened their doors to 600,000 people Their prime minister at the time told me how the Bangladeshis give up a meal each day so the Rohingya can eat. When last year, in Abu Dhabi, I was given an award –it was a significant sum—I had it sent straight to the Rohingya: a recognition of Muslims by other Muslims” (ibid, p. 12).

An assessment in 2015  by the Yale Law School concluded that Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya could be classified genocide under international law. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees described the expulsion of the Rohingya as “ethnic cleansing.” Some who have looked into the treatment afforded the Rohingya have concluded that they are “one of the world’s least wanted minorities.”

The US House of Representatives in 2014 passed a resolution that called on the government of Myanmar to end the persecution and discrimination against the Rohingya, but clearly that resolution had no effect.

Pope Francis urges us to go to the periphery, to come to the aid of the poor and the persecuted. The Rohingya obviously qualify: poor, persecuted, and people on the periphery. When we look for the poor, the persecuted, the periphery we do not have to go far from home. Pope Francis is asking us to develop a servant mentality, which most of us can exercise and refine right here at home.

Synodality and the Holy Spirit

SYNODALITY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

Pope Francis’ initiative  “A Synod on Synodality”  is a consequence of his conviction that the Church is the People of God, and that the People share in the gifts and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  He takes seriously the insight of the Second Vatican Council that “All disciples of Christ are obliged to spread the faith to the best of their ability” (Lumen Gentium, 17).)

   All the People of God are called to be actively engaged in the saving mission of the Church. All the People by virtue of the gifts of the Holy Spirit granted to them in baptism and confirmation  are “endowed with diverse gifts and charisms for the renewal and building up of the Church, as members of the Body of Christ” (Vademecum For the Synod on Synodality, Synod Bishops, 1.3).

   The term synod comes from the Greek word odos, which means path, way, road, and  “indicates the path along which the People of God walk together. Equally, it refers to the Lord Jesus, who presents himself as ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (Jn 14:6), and to the fact that Christians, His followers, were originally called ‘followers of the Way’ (cf. Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4;; 24:14,22.)” (Vademecum, 1.2).

   It is Pope Francis’ hope and intention that the People of God worldwide would develop the mentality of walking together in this world and toward the Kingdom by following the Way of the Lord. A synod is not an occasion for griping and complaining about the Church or its hierarchy. It is rather the difficult exercise of listening for the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit and thereby determining the path that God wants us to follow.

   It may be that all the preparatory documents and directions for a synod on synodality have not emphasized enough the need for those who participate through their talking and listening that the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a necessary, essential element in the process of developing for the Church in our time the mentality implied in a truly synodal Church.

   For many Catholics their prayers of adoration, praise, petition, and apology are directed to God the Father and God the Son but God the Holy Spirit is neglected. The success of this synodal endeavor requires a sensitivity on the part of the People to the inspiration of that Spirit. That sensitivity is difficult to acquire because it means listening; it means being quiet, silent; it means putting aside our own agenda and being open to direction from the Divine One. Such a practice requires patience, self-emptying, and openness to change and to something new .

   Synodality is not forcing our convictions, theologies, and devotions on the People of God; on the contrary, forming a synodal Church in its purest state is implementation of our daily prayer: “Thy will be done!” Jesus’ invitation is “Come, follow me!” We must re-learn the lesson from the old bromide “God created human beings in the divine image and human beings have been returning the favor ever since.”

   The Synod of Bishops reminds us that “In the end, this Synodal Process seeks to move toward a Church that is more fruitfully at the service of the kingdom of heaven.” And let me emphasize again that this process requires paying attention to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Parishes As Beacons To Be Treasured

 Apparently the name or title of the program which is forming parishes in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati into "parish-families" was taken from something Pope Benedict XVI said about parishes in December of 2006: He said, 

“The parish is a beacon that radiates the light of faith above all in our largely secularized world. Thus it meets the most profound and authentic desires of the human heart, giving meaning and hope to the lives of individuals and families."

Pope Benedict's remark reminds me of something esteemed theologian Father Karl Rahner wrote in the 1950's. He said, the parish is "the highest degree of actuality of the total Church." If I understand Father Rahner's observation, he is pointing out that the Church is truly active and present in the real world in the presence, community, and sacraments which characterize what a parish and parish life are supposed to be.

Developing this idea Rahner concluded that the local church is a function of the already existing one Church of Christ which, by all means, attains its greatest event-fulness in the local community and especially in the local community's celebration of the Eucharist."

Rahner's theology of the parish may be difficult to follow but he clearly sees a parish as an essential actualization of the Church Jesus founded. Pope Benedict, in consecrating a new parish church in Rome, acknowledged that a parish serves the most profound and authentic desires of the human heart, that it gives meaning and hope to the lives of individuals and families.

The formation of "parish families" may threaten service to the profound desires of the human heart and obstruct the meaning and hope which parishioners cherish.

The importance of a parish in the lives of Catholics was underscored by Pope Benedict's closing remarks.

 "I ask all faithful, and all citizens of good will to continue their generous commitment, so that neighborhoods that are still deprived may, as soon as possible, have a home for their parish,"

The parish may be a beacon of light but it is also a treasure to be preserved.

BRIGHT LIGHT IN A DARK FUTURE

 If the past is simply prelude to the future, we may be reluctant to face a new year. The  pandemic threatening the world,  the politics dividing our nation, the reorganization of the parishes of our archdiocese all threaten our peace of mind and the comfort zones we once knew.

A poem written a century ago by Minnie Louise Haskins, a British poet and sociologist, was quoted by King George VI in his Christmas Address in 1939 to encourage his people as they faced the unknown consequences of war.

The comfort the poem offered the people of Britain may well provide comfort for us in our uncertain times. May its theme make your Christmas truly Merry, and your New Year surprisingly Happy!

THE GATE OF THE YEAR (aka GOD KNOWS) by Minnie Louise Haskins

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.

And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:

What need our little life

Our human life to know,

If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife

Of things both high and low,

God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will

Is best. The stretch of years

Which wind ahead, so dim

To our imperfect vision,

Are clear to God. Our fears

Are premature; in Him

All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until

God moves to lift the veil

From our impatient eyes,

When, as the sweeter features

Of Life’s stern face we hail,

Fair beyond all surmise

God’s thought around His creatures

Our mind shall fill.

Public Opinion Inside The Church

 Decades ago Pope Pius XII in an address to the international congress of Catholic Press meeting in Rome (see Osservatore Romano, French edition, 2/18/1950) spoke about the need for the free expression of opinion both inside and outside the Church. 

This papal statement and recognition that repressing the expression of opinion is an attack on human rights is to be remembered and honored in the light of Pope Francis' call for a world-wide synod on synodality,.  

For  Pope Francis, synodality is an expression of what the Church is called to be. Synod means "walking together" The term "synod" may be foreign to many but it has a time-honored place in the history of the Church. The Greek  word synodos is often translated into Latin as concilium, or in English as "council."

It is the gathering of people who are commissioned to reflect upon and discuss what the Lord is asking of us as the People of God, the Church. A synod is an occasion to focus on what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church. 

This effort to bring to consideration what God wants the Church to be requires reflection and listening as well as expression of opinion. It is not a time for griping or complaining, but it is an occasion for the People of God to gather and exercise discernment, letting go of prejudices and stereotypes, but accepting the reality that some things in our concept of Church may be open to change for the good of the Church's mission.

In his address more than 70 years ago, Pope Pius XII said:

"The free expression of one's opinion is the prerogative of every human society where people, responsible for their personal and social conduct, are intimately committed to the community to which they belong. . .In the eyes of Christians, repressing the expression of opinion or forcing it into silence is an attack upon the natural rights of persons, a violation of the world order that God has established. . .

"We want to add another word concerning public opinion inside the Church itself (naturally with respect to matters open to discussion). This may astonish those who do not really know the church or who only think they know it. The church is a living body, and it would lack an element of its life if the free expression of opinion was lacking --a lack for which both pastors and faithful would be blamed."

The first phase of the synod's free expression of opinion is to be conducted on the diocesan level and in Bishops' Conferences worldwide between October 2021 and April 2022. (The Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops has extended the deadline to August 15, 2022.) The results of these synodal sessions are then to be considered by the Assembly of Bishops in Synod in October of 2023.

This Synod of Bishops has prepared an official handbook for listening and discernment in dioceses. It is expected that the bishops of dioceses will hold synodal consultation meetings., Parish pastors are encouraged to promote synodal experiences in their parishes. Individuals can also contribute their consultation feedback directly to the diocese. 

 ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT SYNOD PROCESS
FROM THE ARCHDIOCESE OF CINCINNATI

The Holy See has initiated Synod 2021-2023, a two-year process of “reflection and sharing of the whole Church.” Archbishop Schnurr has appointed Deacon John Homoelle to lead and coordinate the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s contributions to this initiative.

 From Deacon John:

 “Synodality? What’s that, you may ask. Synodality is synonymous with collegiality. The Holy Father is asking to have a Synod on how the Church can be more collegial in its approach to addressing its mission – to evangelize the world. That Synod is entitled: ‘For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.’

 Consequently, the Holy Father seeks input from all the People of God. That journey began this month with an opening Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains at 11:00 AM on Sunday, Oct. 17, and will culminate in the Synod Meeting in Rome in 2023. Pope Francis wants to hear from the young, the elderly, those in religious orders, young adults, those who have drifted away from the faith, migrants and immigrants, those who live in poverty, lay organizations, the lay faithful, our Christian brothers and sisters, women, etc. In other words, everyone! 

To accomplish this, over the next six months, each diocese throughout the world will convene local meetings to address the questions on how we can be a more synodal – in other words, collegial – Church. For each diocese, the contact person will submit a ten page summary report to the local Ordinary who will in turn forward it to the USCCB for submission to the Synod. 

By virtue of our baptism, as a people of God coming together, we know that the Holy Spirit will lead us in this endeavor. Stay tuned for further details over the next month. If you would like to participate in any way, we welcome you! Please feel free to email Deacon John Homoelle at jhomoelle@catholicaoc.org. God Bless!”

 Contributing to the Synod will be an intensive process in our archdiocese over the next six months. Here are the key milestones:

 • The Deans will each appoint two deanery coordinators (one male, one female) by Fri., Nov. 5.

 • Before Thanksgiving, a web presence for the Synod process will be established on the Archdiocese of Cincinnati website.

 • In November and December, these coordinators will: (1) go through orientation with Deacon John; (2) establish “Town Hall” meeting dates and venues in each deanery; and (3) work to encourage the broad representation of the baptized from whom Pope Francis wants to hear.

 (Go to  communications@catholicaoc.org November 2021 5 to participate in these meetings. The archdiocese Communications staff will also promote participation, and will provide promotional materials to each parish to do so as well.)

 • In January and February, the Town Hall meetings will be held. • In March, the coordinators will submit their summaries to Deacon John. • In April, Deacon John will submit his consolidated report to Archbishop Schnurr and the USCCB.

 Please pray for a fruitful outcome to this important worldwide endeavor

 THE CALL FOR SYNODS

Pope Francis’ call for a Church-wide synod is likely to put fear, even dread, into the hearts and minds of some members of the hierarchy  because it opens the door to raising possible  changes and challenges which have previously been “settled.”

Issues on the local as well as world-wide level (parish, diocese, episcopal conference, bureaus in the Vatican, Canon Law)  are likely to be raised and promoted when the opinions of the faithful at large are invited.

Segments of God’s people will call for the re-instatement of the ordained diaconate for women; some will question and reject Pope John Paul’s 1994 declaration that “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful”; still others will humbly suggest that parish congregations should have some input in which priest is assigned as their pastor.

To many a Church-wide synod is opening a can of worms.

Pope Francis, however, in a 2015 speech at the 50^th anniversary commemoration of the Institution of the Synod of Bishops, said “It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium,” and his praise for the synodal process was not confined to the hierarchy.

As the International Theological Commissions study of synodality in the life and mission of the Church has announced with papal approval, “The entire People of God is challenged by its fundamentally synodal calling” (#72 in the Commission’s document).

The Commission met between 2014 and 2017, and concluded by means of a written vote their approval of the text of their study.

A synod can be described as a Church assembly convoked “to discern, by the light of the Word of God and listening to the Holy Spirit, the doctrinal, liturgical, canonical and pastoral questions that arise as time goes by” (4).

Now it is the admittedly daunting task of diocesan bishops to convoke such assemblies  as “an essential dimension of the Church” (42, 70).

What would you do?

 If your car ran out of gas would you get rid of your car?

If you want to brighten your neighborhood at night would you begin by eliminating street lights?

Priest Shortage

 Many dioceses across the country are facing priest shortages. Diocesan bishops have been told there are programs to deal with the problem.

These programs tend to be based on a business model., even though the Church is a great deal more than a business. Francis of Assisi finally figured out what God meant by "Repair my Church."

The Church exists to build the kingdom of God on earth. The criteria for judging the building of  the kingdom differs from the criteria for building business. 

Without denying the need to deal with the problem, we have to ask, "What is the problem?"

The problem is not "We have too many parishes"  The problem is "We don't have enough priests." It's the priest shortage that needs attention.

Walmart (if you will allow a comparison to business) does not close stores because it doesn't have enough managers. It gets more managers. 

As  Pope Benedict XVI said on December 10, 2006,  "The parish is a beacon that radiates the light of  the faith and thus responds to the deepest and truest desires of the human heart, giving meaning and hope to the lives of individuals and families."

Closing parishes extinguishes beacons that radiate the light of faith. Isn't that counter-productive? 

The Pontius Pilate Syndrome

 Lies, lies, lies --from political ads to scam phone calls about compromised social security numbers..

Truth has become the victim. 

Among many people the end justifies the means.

"It's All About Me:" has become the theme song of a disappointingly large segment of the population.

Rioting in the streets, looting, destruction of property are justified by selfishness and the demise of reason.

Opinions are no longer conclusions drawn from a search for what is true and moral. The assumption "I'm entitled to my own opinion" is used to justify prejudice, greed, self-indulgence, hatred.

It is disheartening to be bombarded by mendacious, manipulating, and misleading reports and rumors.

It must have been more than frustrating for Jesus when he explained to the Roman procurator that he had come into the world "to testify to the truth" only to hear Pontius Pilate respond, "What is truth?"

Covid-19 has been a threat for all humanity, but I have come to believe that a culture of lying is an even greater danger.

Whom do you trust?

Jesus' affirmed, "I am the way, the truth and the life."

It is to him that we must turn.

Damnatio Memoriae

I suspect many in the cohorts of iconoclasts destroying the statues, memorials and icons of our country’s history are bent on their destruction because they have no vested interest in modern America.



Past generations struggled to form this “one nation under God.” People from across the Atlantic and the Pacific came to the shores of the new world, enticed by the hope of living under a government that was dedicated to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And they paid a price for that dream.



Wars, economic depression, social philosophies that would undermine freedom were frequent threats to the hopes, dreams and promises which made up the American spirit. And the cost of protection and preservation was high.



Perhaps because the current generation of iconoclasts received rather than earned the peace and prosperity that the United States preserves, they can easily find fault with and eagerly dismantle the gift they have been given.



No thinking American can deny the nation’s many faults and failings. Slavery, racial discrimination, and unjust legislation have pockmarked the face of the nation. Many of the historical memorials and statues have reflected both America’s failures and defeats, but each is preserved to record a stage in the development of what many of us nonetheless consider “the world’s best hope.”



I suspect that part of the effort to blot out our history (damnatio memoriae) by destruction of icons is the result of a loss of historical perspective and personal investment in the home of the free and the brave. Education is failing us.



 It is so much easier to destroy than to build.



And two other corollaries may also come into play: 1) Those filled with hate can’t think straight; and 2) as historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., once opined, “We suffer today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.”

Archbishop Vignao's Analysis of the Times and Situation Facing the U.S.

The following is the June 7, 2020, letter to President Donald Trump from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.

June 7, 2020

Holy Trinity Sunday

Mr. President,

            In recent months we have been witnessing the formation of two opposing sides that I would call Biblical: the children of light and the children of darkness. The children of light constitute the most conspicuous part of humanity, while the children of darkness represent an absolute minority. And yet the former are the object of a sort of discrimination which places them in a situation of moral inferiority with respect to their adversaries, who often hold strategic positions in government, in politics, in the economy and in the media. In an apparently inexplicable way, the good are held hostage by the wicked and by those who help them either out of self-interest or fearfulness.

            These two sides, which have a Biblical nature, follow the clear separation between the offspring of the Woman and the offspring of the Serpent. On the one hand there are those who, although they have a thousand defects and weaknesses, are motivated by the desire to do good, to be honest, to raise a family, to engage in work, to give prosperity to their homeland, to help the needy, and, in obedience to the Law of God, to merit the Kingdom of Heaven. On the other hand, there are those who serve themselves, who do not hold any moral principles, who want to demolish the family and the nation, exploit workers to make themselves unduly wealthy, foment internal divisions and wars, and accumulate power and money: for them the fallacious illusion of temporal well-being will one day – if they do not repent – yield to the terrible fate that awaits them, far from God, in eternal damnation.

In society, Mr. President, these two opposing realities co-exist as eternal enemies, just as God and Satan are eternal enemies. And it appears that the children of darkness – whom we may easily identify with the deep state which you wisely oppose and which is fiercely waging war against you in these days – have decided to show their cards, so to speak, by now revealing their plans. They seem to be so certain of already having everything under control that they have laid aside that circumspection that until now had at least partially concealed their true intentions. The investigations already under way will reveal the true responsibility of those who managed the Covid emergency not only in the area of health care but also in politics, the economy, and the media. We will probably find that in this colossal operation of social engineering there are people who have decided the fate of humanity, arrogating to themselves the right to act against the will of citizens and their representatives in the governments of nations.

We will also discover that the riots in these days were provoked by those who, seeing that the virus is inevitably fading and that the social alarm of the pandemic is waning, necessarily have had to provoke civil disturbances, because they would be followed by repression which, although legitimate, could be condemned as an unjustified aggression against the population. The same thing is also happening in Europe, in perfect synchrony. It is quite clear that the use of street protests is instrumental to the purposes of those who would like to see someone elected in the upcoming presidential elections who embodies the goals of the deep state and who expresses those goals faithfully and with conviction. It will not be surprising if, in a few months, we learn once again that hidden behind these acts of vandalism and violence there are those who hope to profit from the dissolution of the social order so as to build a world without freedom: Solve et Coagula, as the Masonic adage teaches.

            Although it may seem disconcerting, the opposing alignments I have described are also found in religious circles. There are faithful Shepherds who care for the flock of Christ, but there are also mercenary infidels who seek to scatter the flock and hand the sheep over to be devoured by ravenous wolves. It is not surprising that these mercenaries are allies of the children of darkness and hate the children of light: just as there is a deep state, there is also a deep church that betrays its duties and forswears its proper commitments before God. Thus the Invisible Enemy, whom good rulers fight against in public affairs, is also fought against by good shepherds in the ecclesiastical sphere. It is a spiritual battle, which I spoke about in my recent Appeal which was published on May 8.

 For the first time, the United States has in you a President who courageously defends the right to life, who is not ashamed to denounce the persecution of Christians throughout the world, who speaks of Jesus Christ and the right of citizens to freedom of worship. Your participation in the March for Life, and more recently your proclamation of the month of April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, are actions that confirm which side you wish to fight on. And I dare to believe that both of us are on the same side in this battle, albeit with different weapons.

For this reason, I believe that the attack to which you were subjected after your visit to the National Shrine of Saint John Paul II is part of the orchestrated media narrative which seeks not to fight racism and bring social order, but to aggravate dispositions; not to bring justice, but to legitimize violence and crime; not to serve the truth, but to favor one political faction. And it is disconcerting that there are Bishops – such as those whom I recently denounced – who, by their words, prove that they are aligned on the opposing side. They are subservient to the deep state, to globalism, to aligned thought, to the New World Order which they invoke ever more frequently in the name of a universal brotherhood which has nothing Christian about it, but which evokes the Masonic ideals of those want to dominate the world by driving God out of the courts, out of schools, out of families, and perhaps even out of churches.

            The American people are mature and have now understood how much the mainstream media does not want to spread the truth but seeks to silence and distort it, spreading the lie that is useful for the purposes of their masters. However, it is important that the good – who are the majority – wake up from their sluggishness and do not accept being deceived by a minority of dishonest people with unavowable purposes. It is necessary that the good, the children of light, come together and make their voices heard. What more effective way is there to do this, Mr. President, than by prayer, asking the Lord to protect you, the United States, and all of humanity from this enormous attack of the Enemy? Before the power of prayer, the deceptions of the children of darkness will collapse, their plots will be revealed, their betrayal will be shown, their frightening power will end in nothing, brought to light and exposed for what it is: an infernal deception.

 Mr. President, my prayer is constantly turned to the beloved American nation, where I had the privilege and honor of being sent by Pope Benedict XVI as Apostolic Nuncio. In this dramatic and decisive hour for all of humanity, I am praying for you and also for all those who are at your side in the government of the United States. I trust that the American people are united with me and you in prayer to Almighty God.

            United against the Invisible Enemy of all humanity, I bless you and the First Lady, the beloved American nation, and all men and women of good will. 

+ Carlo Maria Viganò  Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana,  Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America

Personal Sacrifice During Pandemic

It’s encouraging to hear of the many, many examples of people reaching out to others during the pandemic lockdown.

Today's pandemic and subsequent lockdown provide ample arena for practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy, the criteria by which we will be judged worthy or unworthy of entry into the Kingdom of Heaven  (cf Mt 25:31-46).


Instead of expecting the government to respond to every need, our fellow citizens are finding ways of providing food, offering support, and mitigating loneliness and isolation for family, neighbors and even strangers.


The stories of taking on personal responsibility to assist others remind me of one of Peter Maurin’s “easy essays.”


Maurin was the French peasant with social action concerns who teamed up with Dorothy Day to begin the Catholic Worker movement.


Maurin wrote brief essays, in a poetic form, for The Catholic Worker newspaper. Though he died in 1949 his vision, critique and advice are still au currant for our day.


The essay which strikes an obvious chord today was titled “At A Sacrifice.”

In the first centuries

of Christianity

the hungry were fed

at a personal sacrifice,

the naked were clothed

at a personal sacrifice,

the homeless were sheltered

at personal sacrifice.

And because the poor

were fed, clothes and sheltered

at a personal sacrifice,

the pagans used to say

about the Christians

“See how they love each other.”

In our own day

the poor are no longer

fed, clothed and sheltered

at a personal sacrifice,

but at the expense

of the taxpayers.

And because the poor

are no longer fed, clothed and sheltered

at a personal sacrifice

the pagans say about the Christians

“See how they pass the buck.”