Words of hope from holy men and women during these dark times

 Inspirational  Quotes : 

St.Ignatius of Loyola, , Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict VI,  Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko, Father James Whalen and more...

 " God’s moral message and standards are clear. We are to 'take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ ' (2 Cor. 10:5). 'Every thought we allow should be able to pass the examination proposed in Scripture. Is this thought, true, noble… right… pure… lovely… admirable… excellent… worthy? (cf Phil 4:8) + "' Father James Whalen ,  Catholic Life and Family, 2004, Issue 1

A Prayer for Life " Lord, give us the strength to persevere. Father; teach us how to change hardened hearts. Help us always to choose life. Grant us the graces to protect all human life today. Have mercy and forgive all who promote a culture of death. Lord, open the eyes of all to your truth. "Father James Whalen   DAILY PRO-LIFE PRAYER - A Review by Fr. Jim Whalen 2001, Issue 3

" The right to life of a human fetus is non-negotiable. To experiment on a human fetus, is not acceptable. The truth is non-negotiable." Father James Whalen  The truth is non-negotiable  ~REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY~ by Fr. Jim Whalen 1997, Issue 2

" Truth never changes. It cannot be destroyed by any decision or legal act. Telling the truth with courage is a way leading directly to freedom " Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko

“Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away. God never changes. Patience obtains all things.  Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.”  Santa Teresa de Jesús 

" Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed. Each of us is loved. Each of us is necessary."   Pope Benedict XVI

"I f we allow the love of Christ to change our heart, then we can change the world. This is the secret of authentic happiness."  Pope Benedict XVI

“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. "Maximilian Kolbe 

" Dear friends, may no adversity paralyze you. Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, his name will continue to resound throughout the world. "Pope Benedict XVI

"To choose rightly it is necessary to concentrate on the end for which I am created, that is, for the praise of God and for the salvation of my soul." - St.Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 169

"Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me." Saint Ignatius Loyola 

"Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything." Words of Our Lady to Juan Diego

"Do not be afraid of the demands of the love of Christ. On the contrary, be afraid of being fainthearted, of taking things lightly, of seeking your comfort, of being selfish. Be afraid of everything that seeks to silence the voice of Christ Who addresses each person." Pope John Paul II

"It is a great poverty to decide that a child must die so you can live as you wish" Mother Teresa of Calcutta

"The greatest destroyer of  peace  today is abortion because it is war against the child " Mother Teresa of Calcutta

"Suffering for the sake of love, truth, and justice is a sign of fidelity to the God of life and of hope. It is the blessedness of those who suffer for Christ, who fall to the ground like grains of wheat and are promised life and resurrection." Pope John Paul II

" Let us pray the Rosary and ask our Blessed Mother to strengthen us, so that we always have the courage to promote the sanctity of human life and defend Catholic Teaching." Jennifer Snell, Ottawa ON, Canada 

"We can conquer 'The Culture of Death' and build a 'Culture of Life' if we unite in dedicated prayer, through our Blessed Mother, Mary, by proclaiming the Glory of God throughout the entire world". Fr. Jim Whalen , founding National Director, Priests for Life Canada 

"The common outcry which is justly made on behalf of human rights - for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family to culture, is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination." Pope John Paul II, Christifideles laici

"Those who deem themselves to be Christian must know this fact. They are bound by conscience to the basic, imperative duty of bearing witness to the truth in which they believe and to the grace that has transformed their soul. "Blessed Pope John XXIII 

" At the heart of the human family and of the Church the work of assistance to the poor, the sick, the elderly, the disabled, the marginalized, the alienated, is as fruitful as the love that inspires it. It is a living force of Christ's disciples that cause today's observers to repeat, "See how they love one another." Pope John Paul II 

" And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth." John 1:14 

All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence" Leonardo da Vinci

"The peace of Christ is different from that of the world. The peace of Christ surely does not remove trials and tribulations, but it is always a source of serenity and happiness. For it brings with it the fullness of life." Pope John Paul 11

"Pray for the many spiritual and material needs of your families, your communities, the whole Church, and all of humanity. Indeed, prayer is the first and greatest work of charity that we must do for our brothers and sisters." Pope John Paul 11

"Mary is the clearest and surest sign that God always comes to us with His love. She sings with all her being that whatever we receive from God is grace. The Virgin is our true teacher in the journey of faith." Pope John Paul II

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following Your Will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing... - Thomas Merton

"You will probably, if you continue as you do, begin the laborious job of changing the national mind and opening up the national conscience. How far will you get? God alone knows. All that you and I can ever hope for in terms of visible results is that we will have perhaps contributed something to a clarification of Christian truth in this society, and as a result a few people may have got it straight about some things and opened up to the grace of God and made some sense out of their lives, helping a few more to do the same." Thomas Merton

" All the good that you will do will come not from you but from the fact that you have allowed yourself, in the obedience of faith, to be used by God's love. ...The real hope, then, is not in something we think we can do, but in God who is making something good out of it in some way we cannot see. If we can do His will, we will be helping in this process. But we will not necessarily know all about it beforehand." Thomas Merton

 Do not make concessions as regards truth and goodness. Do not stoop to compromise on the Gospel values that must be the basis of your life. For they are the foundation of your new life inaugurated by Christ."   Blessed Pope John Paul II

From the homily - Saint Patrick Basilica  - 2009 March for Life  `Being pro life is not just a cause, it is a calling. We are men and women who are called to be artisans of a culture of life. We know in our hearts that human life is to be respected because it is sacred, because we are made in God's likeness. It is not mere religious opinion. Upholding the right to life is speaking up for a basic fundamental human right. We are called to give our lives so others may live, not counting the cost and not afraid to acknowledge the truth. Our vocation is love and it is by our love that we will win the hearts of others and the world will come to know the truth. ``Bishop Jean Louis Plouffe

" The absolute ‘right’ to an abortion without conditions does not exist in Canadian law. Canadian courts have been clear on that. Is it time that Canadians and indeed Parliament carry out what the Court has suggested – to have a debate about what ‘life’ means in Canada, to determine the role that abortion should have, and to put in place laws that will protect every Canadian’s right to ‘life, liberty and security of the person’, as stated in Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?" Taken from A ‘RIGHT’ TO ABORTION? - ABORTION IN CANADIAN COURTS – Office of David Anderson, MP (July 2018) 

Ben Shapiro Reacts to What South Park Predicted

Teen Girl Sues Doctors for Allowing Her to “Transition” at Age 13

Rosary on Parliament Hill, Sunday March 19, 2023, to honour the Solemnity of St. Joseph

ROSARY FOR REVIVAL

https://stjoanofarc.ca/

Procession from Cathedral to Parliament Hill

March 19, 2023 | 2-4 PM to honour the Solemnity of St. Joseph

Photos by Jackie Edmond 

thanks Jackie

 

Happy Birthday Patty!

Today at Barb's 

don't ask

Barb, the scramlet ( Barb makes up words ) was delicious but the cake was so delicious, there is no word to describe it 

Barb could invent a word if I asked

Paula being Paula very funny short clips

Paula and Barb preparing brunch

It was so yummy

Cake Trivia

This Day God Gives me - our pilgrimage downtown - March 17 2023

"The Joy of the Lord is our Strength"

Pat and I took the train downtown this morning for the celebration of the Holy Mass at St. Patrick Basilica at 10:am

 but first, we prayed the rosary near the abortion facility 

We sneaked in a selfie 

In the lobby across the street from the Morgentaler abortuary.  

"I don't think that would be against the law: we weren't praying"

Saint Patrick Basilica

We arrived around 9:35 and we were able to sit near the front. 

Monsignor Robert Latour, a former pastor from Annunciation of the Lord Parish 

was sitting in the front pew so I went up to say hi. 

 "Pat said I should have given him a hug but I didn't think of it"

Another priest joined Monsignor Latour after a while. 

I believe it was Fr. Pierre Champoux. Mass was beautiful of course. 

Thank you, Archbishop Marcel, 

And the music was spectacular! What an awesome choir! 

Photos by Paul Lauzon at this link

Short video during Mass (a few short clips)

plus Dana singing "This Day God Gives me "following the video I love her singing 

 After mass 

Pat and Brian

"Pat is wearing her shamrock underneath her coat duh! "

After mass Pat and I went to Starbucks for a coffee

Check out Pat's awesome dance steps below!

Thanks Pat 

Sadly, our young people of this generation have been indoctrinated by this evil ideology, by the media, political leaders. Even our "so called Catholic Schools" it seems. So I did a search on what our popes have said 

Communism and the Popes

 https://catholicinsight.com/communism-and-the-popes/

Communism and the Popes

By

 Paula Adamick

 -

February 16, 2018

No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true Socialist.

Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (1931)

From Pope Pius XI

Not only is communism intrinsically evil, as Pius XI explained. Its enduring appeal rests largely in the fact that too few have been able to grasp its nature.“The majority instead succumb to its deception, skilfully concealed by the most extravagant promises,” Pius writes. “By pretending to desire only the betterment of the condition of the working classes… and by concealing when convenient the repulsive crudity and inhumanity of communist principles and tactics, the communist ideal wins over many of the better minded members of the community. Who, in turn, become apostles of the movement among the younger intelligentsia who are still too immature to recognize the intrinsic errors of the system. The preachers of communism are also proficient in exploiting racial antagonisms and political divisions and oppositions … And, taking advantage of modern agnostic science, they burrow into the universities where they bolster up the principles of their doctrine with pseudo-scientific arguments.”

Before he became a famed author of children’s books in the 1930s, Arthur Ransome spent five years in Russia as a British correspondent for the Guardian newspaper. During those years, he witnessed the fall of the Romanov dynasty and the Bolshevik Revolution, all with unprecedented access to the revolution’s perpetrators, including Lenin, Trotsky and Karl Radek whose secretary Ransome eventually married. It was a brutal, bloody and formative period in modern history led primarily by Vladimir Lenin whose powerful influence, Ransome believed, would come to be regarded as the greatest in world history, eclipsing that of Peter the Great, Napoleon and even Adolf Hitler.

That conviction was reinforced when he attended Lenin’s eerie funeral in 1924.

“I had the curious feeling that I was present at the founding of a new religion,” Ransome recalled. He also recounts a conversation with Lenin that haunted him for the rest of his life. It began when Ransome expressed doubts that, despite what he`d witnessed in Russia, the Communist revolution would ever happen in England. To which Lenin chillingly replied:

“We have a saying that a man may have typhoid while still on his legs,” Lenin said. “Twenty, maybe thirty years ago, I had abortive typhoid and was going about with it, had had it some days before it knocked me over. Well, England and France and Italy have caught the disease already. England may seem to you untouched, but the microbe is already there.”

What Lenin was speaking of was the pernicious Communist virus designed to infect the mind and soul of every person who entertains it. As such, it’s had many names and permutations over the years: Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Socialism, Soviet Communism, Chinese Communism, Liberalism, Progressivism and so on.

It’s also had many goals: the obliteration of God, the deification of science, the overturning of the natural law and its social order and the reduction and enslavement of humankind. And its many tools, used to advance its agenda, include environmentalism, evolutionism, secularism, feminism, racialism, humanism and pan-sexualism – that portmanteau of sexual theories contrary to the natural law.

Lenin’s prediction

Lenin’s prediction to Ransome – that the Communist virus was already infecting the post-World War I world in a permanent way – was demonstrated again this month at a gathering in Ottawa promoting the revolutionary Leap Movement, spawned by the Leap Manifesto of Canadian activists Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis. Courage to Leap was the title of the February 15th event. It coincided with the opening of the NDP convention and on hand to promote the cause was prominent disrupter Becky Bond, senior adviser to Bernie Sanders and co-author of Rules for Revolutionaries.

As for the Manifesto itself, it’s a declaration calling for sweeping policies to deal with global problems such as climate change, income inequality, an end to all pipelines and international trade deals, and calls for a national child care program along with studies into a basic, guaranteed income.

None of this is accidental, of course, as Leap activists can be expected to impose pressure on the NDP party and its new leader Jagmeet Singh to push even further Left, thereby further jeopardizing Canada`s oil industry, now suffering under the interference of environmental activists oblivious to the disastrous consequences of their ideology on the economy.

And here again is another example of this anti-human ideology in action, as it boasts humanitarian concerns while camouflaging itself in the language of science, a tactic it’s been using for more than a century. A tactic referenced by Pius XI in Divini Redemptoris (1937) and anticipated nearly a century earlier by Pius IX who had already spotted this noxious cloud looming on the horizon. Hence his 1846 encyclical Qui Pluribus in which he solemnly condemned “the infamous doctrine of so-called communism which is absolutely contrary to the natural law itself, and if once adopted would utterly destroy the rights, property and possessions of all men and even society itself.”

And what timing! Not only did Pius IX’s condemnation come two years before the publication of Marx & Engel’s Communist Manifesto in 1848, it forecast in detail the true nature of what was coming: “A very bitter and fearsome war against the whole Catholic commonwealth (is) being stirred up by men bound together in a lawless alliance. … They are experienced and skillful in deceit, which they use to set in motion their plans to quench peoples’ zeal for piety, justice and virtue, to corrupt morals, to cast all divine and human laws into confusion, and to weaken and even possibly overthrow the Catholic religion and civil society. They teach that the most holy mysteries of our religion are fictions of human invention, and that the teaching of the Catholic Church is opposed to the good and the prerogatives of human society. They are not even afraid to deny Christ Himself and God.”

How prescient. And how utterly contemporary!

Later on, Leo XIII – who’d also watched the advance of this atheistic philosophy of the Industrial Age which sought to divorce science from the Faith and the very life of Holy Mother Church – condemned it again in his 1878 Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris when he defined communism as “that fatal plague which insinuates itself into the very marrow of human society only to bring about its ruin.”

Lenin’s threat fulfilled

Thus it was that, from a great distance, the Catholic pontiffs had seen what was coming and how it eventually materialized in its full horror when Lenin and his Bolsheviks who, in the name of atheistic international communism, destroyed Russia’s royal family – an attack simultaneously symbolic and real – and plunged Mother Russia into an agony of blood and soul destruction from which it has yet to fully recover.

And the carnage continued under Stalin and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR 1922) until the body count had risen to well over 100 million people, millions of whom died after once prosperous farmers were forced to practice inefficient collective farming. And millions more were executed in political and religious purges simply for harbouring thoughts that contradicted the official Communist Party line.

Meanwhile, spectators inside and outside the USSR cheered the Soviets in their belief that with the aristocracy out of power, capitalists would no longer exploit workers and the ‘People’ would prosper together. How naïve. What the ‘People’ got instead were secret police, five year plans, food shortages and starvation, incompetent bureaucracy, religious and ideological purges, persecution and mass murder. For seventy years.

Then came the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the much ballyhooed collapse of the Soviet Union in 1993 which, in turn, gave rise to the Biggest Lie of the past century: That communism was dead.

And people believed it!

Soviet Collapse

What really happened was this: After the Soviet system collapsed under the staggering dysfunctionality of its atheism and iniquity, the West – long infiltrated and subverted by Leftist influences throughout Western culture – picked up the Marxist banner publicly, all the while pretending, like fish denying the existence of water, that the communism of old no longer existed.

Again, with predictable results: The entire West now appears to be failing and falling in the same way as the former USSR while its advocates, some sporting Che T-shirts and convinced of their own moral superiority, march into bondage after fighting hard for what they thought were essential ‘freedoms’. Such as banning prayer from their schools, secularizing the culture and the public square, aborting babies by the millions, extinguishing the home fires by sending women into the workplace and corrupting the entire society by encouraging wholly destructive sexual hedonism of every kind.

Never mind that Communism kills wherever it’s practiced and that, despite its myriad configurations, it has never worked, Never mind that its godless immorality hasn’t changed a bit as it continues to destroy. Millions still believe in the false promises of this lying ideology and all its Hydra-like bastards, despite all the evidence. Evidence that should prompt a sane person to kneel before God and ask forgiveness.

Lenin was right to think that international communism would prove triumphant, not because communism is a force for good but because it is a virulent spiritual virus that tempts and spreads like sin. Literally.

Not only is communism intrinsically evil, as Pius XI explained. Its enduring appeal rests largely in the fact that too few have been able to grasp its nature.“The majority instead succumb to its deception, skilfully concealed by the most extravagant promises,” Pius writes. “By pretending to desire only the betterment of the condition of the working classes… and by concealing when convenient the repulsive crudity and inhumanity of communist principles and tactics, the communist ideal wins over many of the better minded members of the community. Who, in turn, become apostles of the movement among the younger intelligentsia who are still too immature to recognize the intrinsic errors of the system. The preachers of communism are also proficient in exploiting racial antagonisms and political divisions and oppositions … And, taking advantage of modern agnostic science, they burrow into the universities where they bolster up the principles of their doctrine with pseudo-scientific arguments.”

Isn’t that exactly what’s happening even today?

Political Correctness

This deeply entrenched movement even has its own thought police known as political correctness which is actually a form of mental martial law wherein individuals made in the image and likeness of God, each with a soul who knows his Creator, censor their own words and thoughts to conform with the compulsory Leftist doctrines of the day, most of which focus on so-called equality which does not exist in nature and on so-called sexual liberation (read: unaccountable carnality) which has normalized behaviours once regarded as deviant.

Sadly too, those afflicted with this mentality soon become ruthless and often violent in service to their cause which seeks a new kind of human being – a quantum leap in the evolutionary process of Man into a higher species – and which can also justify unlimited brutality, even total annihilation, as no more immoral than stamping out the small pox virus.

All aided with money and with propaganda Pius XI described as ‘truly diabolical’: “It has at its disposal great financial resources, gigantic organizations, international congresses and countless trained workers. It makes use of pamphlets and reviews, of cinema, theatre and radio, of schools and even universities. Little by little it penetrates into all classes of the people and even reaches the better-minded groups of the community, with the result that few are aware of the poison which increasingly pervades their minds and hearts.”

Eighty years on, nothing has changed. Communism is not dead. It lives and still infects new generations of the gullible and the godless. This is the same ideology the Popes warned about and that infected the Bolsheviks and their progeny of the past century and is still playing a hugely successful  role in the destruction of what was once known as Christendom. All with the assistance of today’s true believers – among them, a new generation of millennials who believe in Bernie Sanders-style socialism with little idea of what Socialism really is; university professors; and teachers from JK to high school who see no irony in their demands for a ‘diversity’ that tolerates no deviation from political correctness. Nor do they see the harm in identity politics as it continues to divide and fragment society into raging conflicts between the races and the sexes. Or the assault on gender relations and masculinity, resulting in an emasculated society too timid to defend itself.

All this tyranny – and yes, it’s tyranny – is the consequence of a wilfully blind insistence on fulfilling the goals of revolutionary Marxism/Leninism (and its many manifestations) without any rational analysis of the failed enterprise itself.

Marxism without Marx

This is Marxism without Marx. Leninism/Stalinism without Lenin or Stalin. The virus Lenin spoke of. Nor has the defeat of communism in the USSR and its satellites assured its defeat in the world. Instead, the release of the West from its conflict with the East appears only to have further emancipated utopian communism across the West. Which means that the struggle for the preservation of western civilization has entered a new —and far more dangerous — phase. And without a return to God, it has also entered the point of no return.

Bottom line: In its folly, the World, which has long ignored the many, hugely informed and informative papal warnings against Communism and all its godless bastards, has long been paying the price. Which means the World either returns to the Faith of Our Fathers or proceeds at its own peril.

What the Popes say about Socialism

Sadly, our young people of  this generation have been indoctrinated by this evil ideology, by the media, political leaders. even our "so called Catholic Schools" it seems. So I did a search on what our popes have said 

 https://tfpstudentaction.org/blog/what-the-popes-really-say-about-socialis

What the Popes Really Say About Socialism

By

 Gustavo Solimeo

Topics:

 

• Socialism

"Hideous", "destructive", "wicked", and "perverted" are only some of the adjectives used by the Popes to describe socialism.  From Pius IX to Benedict XVI, the popes have thoroughly and consistently condemned socialism.  Given the advance of socialism in America, TFP Student Action is glad to offer its readers a brief selection of thought-provoking quotes from the Popes on the topic.

LEO XIII (1878-1903)
"Overthrow is Deliberately Planned"

For, the fear of God and reverence for divine laws being taken away, the authority of rulers despised, sedition permitted and approved, and the popular passions urged on to lawlessness, with no restraint save that of punishment, a change and overthrow of all things will necessarily follow. Yea, this change and overthrow is deliberately planned and put forward by many associations of communists and socialists.” (Encyclical Humanum Genus, April 20, 1884, n. 27)

Debasing the Natural Union of Man and Woman
“They [socialists, communists, or nihilists] debase the natural union of man and woman, which is held sacred even among barbarous peoples; and its bond, by which the family is chiefly held together, they weaken, or even deliver up to lust. (Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, December 28, 1878, n. 1)

"The Harvest of Misery"
...there is need for a union of brave minds with all the resources they can command. The harvest of misery is before our eyes, and the dreadful projects of the most disastrous national upheavals are threatening us from the growing power of the socialistic movement.” (Encyclical Graves de Communi Re, January 18, 1901, n. 21)

SAINT PIUS X (1903-1914)
The Dream of Re-Shaping Society will Bring Socialism

“But stranger still, alarming and saddening at the same time, are the audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society under such conditions, and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of the Catholic Church, ‘the reign of love and justice’ ... What are they going to produce? ... A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity. It will be a tumultuous agitation, sterile for the end proposed, but which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people. Yes, we can truly say that the Sillon, its eyes fixed on a chimera, brings Socialism in its train.” (Apostolic Letter Notre Charge Apostolique [Our Apostolic Mandate] to the French Bishops, August 15, 1910, condemning the movement Le Sillon)

BENEDICT XV (1914-1922)
Never Forget the Condemnation of Socialism

“It is not our intention here to repeat the arguments which clearly expose the errors of Socialism and of similar doctrines. Our predecessor, Leo XIII, most wisely did so in truly memorable Encyclicals; and you, Venerable Brethren, will take the greatest care that those grave precepts are never forgotten, but that whenever circumstances call for it, they should be clearly expounded and inculcated in Catholic associations and congresses, in sermons and in the Catholic press.”
(Encyclical Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum, November 1, 1914, n. 13)

PIUS XI (1922-1939)
Socialism Cannot Be Reconciled with Catholic Doctrine

“We make this pronouncement: Whether considered as a doctrine, or an historical fact, or a movement, Socialism, if it remains truly Socialism, even after it has yielded to truth and justice on the points which we have mentioned, cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth.” (Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, May 15, 1931, n. 117)

Catholic Socialism is a Contradiction
“[Socialism] is based nevertheless on a theory of human society peculiar to itself and irreconcilable with true Christianity. Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.” (Ibid. n. 120)

PIUS XII (1939-1958)
The Church Will Fight Socialism to the End

 “[The Church undertook] the protection of the individual and the family against a current threatening to bring about a total socialization which in the end would make the specter of the 'Leviathan' become a shocking reality. The Church will fight this battle to the end, for it is a question of supreme values: the dignity of man and the salvation of souls." (“Radio message to the Katholikentag of Vienna,” September 14, 1952 in Discorsi e Radiomessaggi, vol. XIV, p. 314)

The All-Powerful State Harms True Prosperity 
"To consider the State as something ultimate to which everything else should be subordinated and directed, cannot fail to harm the true and lasting prosperity of nations." (Encyclical Summi Pontificatus, October 20, 1939, n. 60)

JOHN XXIII (1958-1963)
“No Catholic could subscribe even to moderate socialism”

“Pope Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism. The reason is that Socialism is founded on a doctrine of human society which is bounded by time and takes no account of any objective other than that of material well-being. Since, therefore, it proposes a form of social organization which aims solely at production; it places too severe a restraint on human liberty, at the same time flouting the true notion of social authority.” (Encyclical Mater et Magistra, May 15, 1961, n. 34)

PAUL VI (1963-1978)
"Christians Tend to Idealize Socialism"

Too often Christians attracted by socialism tend to idealize it in terms which, apart from anything else, are very general: a will for justice, solidarity and equality. They refuse to recognize the limitations of the historical socialist movements, which remain conditioned by the ideologies from which they originated.” (Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens, May 14, 1971, n. 31)

 

JOHN PAUL II (1978-2005)
Socialism: Danger of a "simple and radical solution"

“It may seem surprising that ‘socialism’ appeared at the beginning of the Pope's critique of solutions to the ‘question of the working class’ at a time when ‘socialism’ was not yet in the form of a strong and powerful State, with all the resources which that implies, as was later to happen. However, he correctly judged the danger posed to the masses by the attractive presentation of this simple and radical solution to the ‘question of the working class.’" (Encyclical Centesimus Annus - On the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum, May 1, 1991, n. 12)

BENEDICT XVI (2005 - 2013)
"We do not Need a State which Controls Everything"

The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person - every person - needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. … In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live ‘by bread alone’ (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3) - a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human.” (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, December 25, 2005, n. 28)

Socialism and communism are the same ideology

 https://tfpstudentaction.org/blog/10-reasons-to-reject-socialism

10 Reasons Why You Should Reject Socialism

By

 TFP Student Action

Topics:

 

• Socialism

Why we must protect the family, private property and America from the dangers of socialism.

1. Socialism and communism are the same ideology

Communism is but an extreme form of socialism. From the ideological standpoint, there is no substantial difference between the two. In fact, the communist Soviet Union called itself the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922-1991) and communist China, Cuba and Vietnam define themselves as socialist nations.

2. Socialism violates personal freedom

Socialism seeks to eliminate "injustice" by transferring rights and responsibilities from individuals and families to the State. In the process, socialism actually creates injustice. It destroys true liberty: the freedom to decide all matters that lie within our own competence and to follow the course shown by our reason, within the laws of morality, including the dictates of justice and charity.

3. Socialism violates human nature

Socialism is anti-natural. It destroys personal initiative – a fruit of our intellect and free will – and replaces it with State control. It tends to totalitarianism, with its government and police repression, wherever it is implemented.

4. Socialism violates private property

Socialism calls for "redistributing the wealth" by taking from the "rich" to give to the poor. It imposes taxes that punish those who have been able to take greater advantage of their productive talents, capacity to work or thrift. It uses taxation to promote economic and social egalitarianism, a goal that will be fully achieved, according to The Communist Manifesto, with the "abolition of private property."

5. Socialism opposes traditional marriage

Socialism sees no moral reason for people to restrict sex to marriage, that is, to an indissoluble union between a man and a woman. Furthermore, socialism undermines private property, which Friedrich Engels, founder of modern socialism and communism along with Karl Marx, saw as the foundation of traditional marriage.

6. Socialism opposes parental rights in education

Socialism has the State, and not parents, control the education of children. Almost from birth, children are to be handed over to public institutions, where they will be taught what the State wants, regardless of parental views. Evolution must be taught. School prayer must be forbidden.

7. Socialism promotes radical equality

A supposed absolute equality among men is the fundamental assumption of socialism. Therefore, it sees any inequality as unjust in itself. Private employers are quickly portrayed as "exploiters" whose profits really belong to their employees. As a consequence, they rule out the system of wage earning.

8. Socialism promotes atheism

Belief in God, who unlike us is infinite, omnipotent and omniscient, clashes head-on with the principle of absolute equality. Socialism therefore rejects the spiritual, claiming that only matter exists. God, the soul, and the next life are illusions according to socialism.

9. Socialism promotes relativism

For socialism there are no absolute truths or revealed morals that establish standards of conduct that apply to everyone, everywhere, and always. Everything evolves, including right and wrong, good and evil. There is no place for the Ten Commandments, neither in the private mind nor in the public square.

10. Socialism mocks religion

According to Karl Marx, religion is "the opium of the people." Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union, agreed: "Religion is opium for the people. Religion is a sort of spiritual booze in which the slaves of capital drown their human image, their demand for a life more or less worthy of man."

May God protect America from socialism.

Praying for Bishop Álvarez| National Catholic Register

Praying for Bishop Álvarez| National Catholic Register: COMMENTARY: The Nicaraguan bishop is currently being held prisoner on trumped-up charges by the anti-Catholic Ortega regime.

Run With Life: Part 1 - Pro-abortion report - anti-Christian hate...

Run With Life: Part 1 - Pro-abortion report - anti-Christian hate...: 

Part 1 - Pro-abortion report - anti-Christian hate speech?

Joyce Arthur is at it again. She's just released her third hit piece against Pregnancy Care Centres (PCCs) in Canada. These centres support women through unplanned pregnancies. Their grave and unforgivable sins are that they are pro-life, not pro-abortion, and frequently Christian. And they will not refer for abortions. Which is a spurious argument at best, since in Canada you don't need a referral for an abortion, a fact well known by Arthur.

Her latest report is really just a rehash (reminds me of hash-browned potatoes) of Arthur's 2016 and 2009 reports (both of which have been soundly refuted here and here ). Also recall that Arthur received a taxpayer funded grant of $27,400 to write her vicious 2009 report.

In this post I'd like to take aim at just one aspect of Arthur's report, and will write more posts later as necessary.

The first notable aspect of most of Arthur's writings, and this report in particular, is her undisguised disdain for religion, and in particular, all things Christian and Catholic. It's also hard not to notice what usually goes along with theme number one, that is, theme number two: all of these centres that she takes aim at, also (in her mind anyway) deceive, misinform, give inaccurate information, are biased etc.

I have detailed below the number of times Arthur uses these terms in her report.

• Catholic (23 times)
• Christian (24 times)
• Protestant (2 times)
• Orthodox (3 times)
• Jesus Christ (2 times)
• Religious (94 times)

-----------------------------------------

• fear-mongering (2 times)
• dissuade (5 times)
• biased (7 times)
• referrals (12 times) ie as in do not provide abortion referrals
• inaccurate (9 times)
• deceptive (9 times) ie “From their very inception, CPCs have employed deceptive practices and disinformation to further their agenda.”
• misinformation (34 times)
• disinformation (3 times) as far as I know this word makes its first appearance in this report. I expect we'll see more of this word from Arthur in the future.
• anti-choice (186 times)
• misleading (25 times)

Arthur makes great pains, in all of her writings, to make sure her readers know that pregnancy Care centers are run by Christians, and then in her next breath--or the next 117 pages--informs the world that these very same Christians deceive, misinform and fear monger to women. All of these claims have been refuted here and here.

Extreme pro-abortion idealogues would like to see a world where pregnancy Care centres simply cease to exist. This is Arthur's goal. This abortion utopia would ensure that only one option remains for a woman in an unplanned pregnancy situation: abortion.

Run With Life: Dying with Dignity approves of patient waiver for ...

Run With Life: Dying with Dignity approves of patient waiver for ...: In the fall there was an article in a magazine I get for retirees. Dying with Dignity was quoted. They support MAID. I wrote a letter.  What...

CLOTHED with POWER - CCRSO Conference - Ottawa ON Canada - Saturday April 29th 2023 - Blessed Sacrament Parish