DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, Make us innocent as doves and wise as serpents. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
ANTI-CHRISTIAN BIAS: [8:21] – The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) just published a report entitled “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias Within the Federal Government.” It recounts a “consistent and systematic pattern of discrimination” against Christians by the Biden administration. The 48-page document is linked below.
In February, President Trump established the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, which is chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi. The task force is charged with ensuring that “any unlawful and improper conduct, policies, or practices that target Christians are identified, terminated, and rectified.”
BEWARE of FALST PROPHETS : CLICK https://x.com/DefiantLs/status/1965062570303517018 [:57] to hear a Christian preacher speak nonsense to score political points. Jesus was neither an “illegal immigrant” nor a “refugee.” Israel and Egypt were both part of the Roman Empire. His legal status was defined as a peregrinus, a common-born provincial who, while not a Roman citizen, was under the sovereign control of Rome. This status was not legally equivalent to foreign nationals who are here on valid visas, but it’s similar enough to understand that He was both documented and free to travel.
CHICAGO: On September 8, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by a criminal illegal alien. The agency says, “This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”
SCOTUS: [11:14] – Justice Barrett talks with Brett Baier. Her new book, “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution,” was released yesterday.
VAXXXINES: The Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports of child deaths after COVID-19 vaccination. They’re looking at the VAERS database, talking with family members of the deceased children, reviewing autopsy reports and having physicians do the review.
“At that time: The Pharisees and scribes said to him, ‘The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.’ He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.'”
Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, better known to the world as Mother Teresa. Born in 1910 in Skopje (present-day North Macedonia), she entered the Loreto Sisters in Ireland as a young woman and soon moved to India, where she taught at a girls’ school in Calcutta. In 1946, during a train journey, she experienced what she later described as a “call within a call”: the deep conviction that Jesus was asking her to leave the security of her convent and dedicate herself to serving the poorest of the poor. With nothing but a simple white sari and a heart full of faith, she began walking the streets of Calcutta, tending to the sick, abandoned, and dying.
In time, others joined her, and the Missionaries of Charity were founded, growing into a worldwide order dedicated to serving the poor, sick and vulnerable. Mother Teresa became a global symbol of compassion, not because of great speeches or grand buildings, but because of her radical closeness to those whom society had cast aside. She tended wounds, lifted dying bodies off the streets, and reminded the forgotten that they were beloved children of God. For her, each suffering person was “Jesus in a distressing disguise” as she referred to. Her life was a living testimony that holiness is not found in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things with extraordinary love to ordinary people.
The Gospel for today speaks of the “new wine” of Jesus’ teaching that cannot be contained by old wineskins. Mother Teresa’s vocation was just such a new wine. She left behind the old wineskin of convent life and poured herself completely into the new mission God gave her. Her witness reminds us that the Gospel is always fresh, always challenging, always pushing us beyond comfort and convention. Like the new wine, God’s call can burst open our old patterns, leading us into unexpected places where His love is most needed.
Our watercolour by American artist John Alan Warford is beautiful in its simplicity: a tender, intimate scene of Mother Teresa gently tending to the wounds of a sick person.
Everyone acts like Islam “came out of nowhere” in the 7th century. It didn’t. It was built by lifting Catholic ideas, stripping them down, and repackaging them as “new revelation.” Let’s expose a few.
The Angel Gabriel
Appears to Mary in Luke 1. He brings the Word that becomes flesh. That’s Catholic revelation.
600 years later, “Gabriel” appears to Muhammad in a cave. But this time? No Incarnation. Just dictation. Sound familiar?
The Virgin Mary
Catholics had venerated Mary as Mother of God for centuries. Ephesus (431 AD) settled it: Theotokos.
Islam? Mary gets lifted wholesale into the Qur’an… but Christ’s divinity is stripped out. It’s like stealing the frame and burning the painting.
The Eucharist
From the start, the Church celebrated the Body & Blood of Christ at the altar. “Unless you eat, you have no life in you.”- John 6
Islam? Denies it, but keeps the “ritual meal” vibe in Ramadan’s breaking of the fast. A hollow echo.
Monasticism & Prayer
By the 4th century, Catholic monks prayed fixed hours daily. The Divine Office. Bells. Prostrations.
Islam? Five daily prayers facing a holy city. Prostrations. Ritual words. Copied—minus Christ.
Pilgrimage
Christians had pilgrimages to Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre, martyrs’ shrines. Long before Muhammad.
Islam? Hijacks the practice, re-centers it on Mecca, strips it of the Cross.
Scripture & Authority
The Church had the canon of Scripture locked down by the 4th century. Magisterium safeguarded it.
Islam? Claims a “book from heaven” with no witnesses, no councils, no continuity. Just one man’s word.
The irony?
Islam denies the very truths it borrows.
Loves Mary, but denies her Son is God.
Honors Jesus, but calls Him a prophet, not a Savior.
Copies prayer, pilgrimage, fasting—while rejecting the Cross that gives them meaning.
Islam is not an “independent revelation.” It’s a remix of Catholic truths— distorted, stripped of Christ, and repackaged as “submission.”
The Catholic Church: ✝️ The blueprint.
Islam: ☪️ The counterfeit.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: If you admire Islam’s discipline, prayer, fasting, pilgrimage — You’re admiring Catholic practices Islam stole.
I was very moved by what Christine Niles said in the video I posted previously and below, so I copied the pertinent part of the transcript and cleaned it up so I could re-read and share it.
The following from Christine Niles begins at the 24:00 mark. I am adding graphics to break up the text, because I believe it makes multiple paragraphs of text easier to visually scan and mentally process on a digital screen.
“I know people say … Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo, … is a product of the Chicago machine. Very, very huge differences here. First of all, Prevost was closer to Cardinal Francis George, who was known to be a very holy Orthodox defender of the faith in Chicago. He was closer to Cardinal Francis George also as a priest.
“[Prevost] was formed under Father Dudley Day, who had close associations with a traditionalist parish, Saint John Cantius, and Father Day, according to multiple people who knew him, said that he was probably one of the holiest, most devout, orthodox priests that they had ever met. He was an Augustinian. He had his own confessional at Saint John Cantius. So this was the man who helped form Prevost and actually helped to enroll him in the Augustinians.
“And then during Cardinal Bernardin’s reign in Chicago, Prevost was actually in Peru. You know, he spent 20 years in Peru. So he just wasn’t really around during Bernardin’s time in Chicago. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that Prevost is a product of the Chicago machine, the way that Archbishop Casey is now.
“Casey was ordained by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. Anybody who knows about Bernardin’s reign. I’m not going into all the details here, but it’s just scandalous. Utterly scandalous. Accused by numerous men, including seminarians, of sexual assault. Just a scandalous. You know, when he died, they actually had the Windy City Gay Chorus sing at his funeral. Okay, just anyway, this was the man who ordained him.
“And not just that, Casey was appointed to head Chicago’s Casa Jesus. From 1998 to 2003, he served as associate director and then as rector, so he was there for a total five years leading and forming these men. And during that time there were homosexual scandals, cancer. Casa Jesus was a house of formation founded in 1987 by Cardinal Bernadin for Latin American seminarians.
“They would go down to Latin America, various Latin American countries, and they would recruit seminarians there for Chicago. But during the entire time of his existence, there were so many homosexual scandals to it. And these were not just vague rumors, allegations, these were actually reported publicly in the Secular News. And there’s so many, so many details. I mean, so many stories. I’m not going to go into all the details here.
If you want to learn more, just go to my website @ https://stellamaris.media/. I published an article titled Priest Porn Scandal in Cincinnati marred by Bishop’s Falsehoods @https://stellamaris.media/f/priest-porn-scandal-in-cincinnati-marred-by-bishops-falsehoods. I go into the history of Casa Jesus. Some of the major homosexual scandals there, but especially the one that took place in 2015, 2016, which led to his use finally being shut down. It was quietly shut down in 2016 by Cardinal Cupich because the rector there, Octavio Munoz, he was busted for homosexual child porn found on his laptop. He was charged and he was convicted.
“Please keep in mind, he was rector for seven years of Casa Jesus. He would regularly go down to Latin America and recruit seminarians. This was the man who helped form these souls for seven years. Busted for child porn. Now serving his time. So 2016, it gets shut down after nearly 30 years in operation. But the point is that Father Robert, Father Robert Casey, now Archbishop Robert Casey, was rector of Casa Jesus for years, and during that time there was a gay subculture there, and he refuses to discuss his time there. … And now he’s in charge of the souls in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. And as I have already pointed out, his tenure has started out in a disastrous way. …
“When a bishop uses his sacred office, his spiritual authority to shame Catholics into silence, Catholics were scandalized and expressing sincere concerns over the behavior of a priest. When a bishop does that, that’s textbook spiritual abuse. I’ve seen it again and again and again, especially as an investigative journalist who’s reported on clergy sex abuse cover up. I’ve seen it again and again, and it’s disgusting and it’s sick and it’s abuse of the bishops office. Priests do it too. Many times. I’ve heard from whistleblowers or from victims who want to go report something. ‘Oh, you can’t do that. That’s a sin of detraction. That’s a sin of detraction. You’re sinning. You shouldn’t be revealing these things. It’s a sin.’ Spiritual abuse.
“But all of this is why we need to pray for Pope Leo. We need to pray for him. He’s got heavy burdens. He’s got a lot of work cut out for him. Pray that he has the wisdom, courage, and strength to clean house. Remember, Pope Benedict asked us to pray for him at the beginning of his pontificate. ‘Pray that I do not flee for fear of the wolves.’ How many of us actually prayed for him? He resigned.
“Pray for Pope Leo that he has the strength to clean house, and do so with fearlessness and courage. You know, you read about stories like this. You hear about stories like this, scandals like this, in which the bishop himself is possibly implicated in covering up for sexual misconduct. And you realize the church has a long way to go in being purged and purified of this filth.
“Now, one question I get asked a lot by people after hearing about these terrible things happening in the church, these scandals is okay, ‘Well, we can pray for the Pope. Obviously, but what can we actually do? What can we, as laity do to help turn this ship around? Well, Pope Leo actually gives us an answer. He said something significant and beautiful in his sermon for the commemoration of Mary, mother of the church, over the weekend. You know how how do you help the church? How do you help the Pope?
This is what he said. ‘The Holy See is holy as the church is holy in her original core. And the very fabric of her being. The Apostolic See thus preserves the holiness of its roots while being preserved by them. But it is no less true that it also lives in the holiness of each of its members. Therefore, the best way to serve the Holy See is to strive for holiness, each according to his particular state of life and the work entrusted to him or her.’
“What does this mean? It means we Christians are all part of the Mystical Body of Christ, and what we do affects others in the body of Christ. There’s no such thing as private sin because your sin affects others, whether you know it or not, whether you see it or not, it has a ripple effect in the body of Christ. It affects others for good or for ill. Just like the good things that you do, the holy things that you do also affect the body of Christ for good. Your sin affects the body of Christ for ill and only those with a spiritual view of things understand this. You don’t see the world in terms of the spiritual if you only see us as autonomous individuals, each doing our own thing, disconnected from everybody else. …
“God actually does want to reunite all of us into a single family unity matters, and it’s the message of Pope Leo. I’ve said this before, he’s the Pope of unity, and he said in numerous homilies and addresses, try not to demonize the other. Try to reach out and try to understand the other. Don’t make it about us versus them. But remember that the person on the other side, the other side of the political spectrum, theological spectrum, whatever that is a human being created the image of God endowed with dignity.
“Now, we don’t always act that way. Obviously, we can act very badly. We don’t act in conformity with our human nature, which is stamped with divinity. But even when we behave badly, even when we give way to evil urges and commit terrible crimes, we should try to resist the temptation to demonize such people. … Yes, of course, … they have to take responsibility. Nobody saying that they shouldn’t. But very often these people are in the grip of the evil one. They’re in the grip of Satan, who exists, who is real, an actual, real spiritual being. Which is why these people need prayers. Prayers to be set free from whatever evil spiritual forces are oppressing them, driving them to behave badly. … Some of them, quite frankly, I think, are partially possessed. They’re enslaved to evil, and God desires that they be freed from the grip of evil.
“It is why, after all, Christ came to earth to become man, to become one of us, to suffer on our behalf, to free us from our slavery to sin, and open the gates of heaven for us. This includes the worst sinners among us. He didn’t come to call the righteous, but the sick, so he came to call the lost the hopeless cases. God is constantly like a good, loving and merciful father, reaching out to the lost, bidding them come back, come back, turn back, repent. Allow Him to heal, heal them, transform them, sanctify them.
“You know, in the history of Christianity, the worst sinners have sometimes become the greatest saints. I did an episode on this. So this is why we should never lose hope for the salvation of others, no matter how wretched their lives may be, but also why we should try to resist the temptation to demonize others, because there are dark forces involved who wish to enslave us to sin, and to keep us there forever. Forever divorced from God, forever separated from God. That is the ultimate victory for Satan over souls.
“But Christ loves us and he wishes to help break free. Help us break free from that so he can heal us and ultimately bring us to be with him in heaven forever. That is the goal. Eternal union with God. It’s what God desires of all of us, without exception. And yes, even for those bishops who lie and cover up and commit spiritual abuse, even them, in fact, they need our prayers most of all, because if they don’t repent, they’re facing the most fearful judgment of all.”
DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, You didn’t need to come to us at all, but You chose to out of Your great love to not only come to us, but to do it through the best of us. In Jesus’ Name, we thank You. Amen.
CATHOLIC: [10:09] – Pope Leo has asked us to pray more often in Latin, a language that is basic to our Catholic heritage.
DOMESTIC TERRORISM: “We’ll burn it all down.” [5:19] – When people tell you who they are, believe them.
FLORIDA: “If you’re driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety. And so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you. You don’t have to sit there and just be a sitting duck and let the mob grab you out of your car and drag you through the streets. You have a right to defend yourself in Florida.” ~Gov. DeSantis
GENESIUS TIMES: LOS ANGELES—In a dazzling display of logic-defying activism, anti-ICE protesters turned the streets of Los Angeles into a blazing paradox yesterday, firebombing the very country they’re desperate to call home—apparently to avoid the heartbreak of returning to the homelands they adore. Armed with Molotov cocktails and a questionable grasp of strategy, the demonstrators torched government buildings while chanting, “Don’t deport us back to paradise!”
NEW JERSEY: [2:00] – A federal grand jury has indicted Rep. LaMonica McIver on 3 counts for forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers at a Newark, NJ, ICE facility.
SUMMER OF LOVE 2.0: Add Phoenix and Denver to that list. Andy Ngo says, “The Party for Socialism and Liberation, a communist group that the recent DC Jewish museum gunman suspect belonged to, has organized a direct action against the U.S. government. They’re demanding the end of immigration enforcement.” There are many clips of violence in the various cities at the Not the Bee link below.
TEXAS: [2:09] – Operation Soteria Shield, a month-long, multi-agency effort targeting online sexual exploitation or minors, rescued 109 children and arrested 244 offenders.
GRAMMY NOTES: Mama Buzz adds a page to her journal every day. I love how she combined fragile things with this verse. Also, Dearest’s procedure went perfectly. His heart rhythm is normal and he’s driving himself home as we speak. ❤ Thank you for your prayers!
The Daily Mail has published a story claiming the new pope is a registered Republican. This is incorrect. Illinoisans do not register by party. They may vote in one party’s primary per election, but can switch at any time.
Pope Leo XIV, who has lived in Peru and Rome for most of his career, has allegedly voted in some GOP primaries and presidential elections. Obviously, there is no record of whom he voted for when he did vote, but since he is staunchly pro-life, it is unlikely he voted for Harris last November. However, that doesn’t mean he’s a MAGA Trumper.
In January, J.D. Vance said, “There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.” The Daily Mail claims that then-Cardinal Prevost responded by writing an article entitled, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
I googled that title and got a hit at National Catholic Reporter; the article was written by Kat Armas. Prevost merely posted the link, without comment, on his X account. In his statement, Vance was referencing a concept in Catholic theology known as “ordo amoris” (Latin for “order of love”) which is based on the words of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In the words of St. Augustine, we are called to give “special regard” to those persons who, “by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection” with us.
Personally, I think it is odd that Pope Leo XIV appeared to criticize Vance with his tweet, given that he is an Augustinian priest and is certainly acquainted with this concept. I also doubt very much that he has not practiced ordo amoris in his own life. I mean … who hasn’t? Who couldn’t? If we were to reduce our most intimate personal interactions to only those that we grant to the billions of strangers living on the other side of the world, then we would have no personal interactions at all.
Jesus certainly practiced ordo amoris. He spent 30 years in intimate relationship with His mom, followed by less than 3 years in public ministry. But even during His public ministry, He treated His disciples differently than He did the people. Even amongst the disciples, He singled out some for special attention. E.g., only four of the twelve were at the Transfiguration.
The Left seems delighted to have found social media posts by Prevost that appear to be critical of the Trump administration. I noted a few reasons why they’re making way too much of it. One is that he rarely posts. There were no posts at all in 2024 and have only been five this year. Of these, two were about praying for Pope Francis’ health and three were links to published articles about Trump’s immigration policies.
Among other things, the American Magazine article entitled Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration by Jesuit priest Sam Sawyer says, “Catholic teaching both allows and calls for ‘development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration.’ No one, except those who are misrepresenting the church’s advocacy and care for migrants, claims that Catholics are in favor of illegal immigration or open borders.”
It concludes with, “The Gospel does not offer a charter for how to legislate about immigration. It does offer a standard for how far we are to go to love our neighbor, and a refusal to accept the limits we might be comfortable with on who our neighbors are. The question we need to answer is whether we judge our politics according to the Gospel or the other way around.”
The Catholic Standard article, entitled This Ordeal is the Passion by Bishop Evelio Menjivar, is much more biased, calling the early sweep of criminal illegals “shock and awe” campaign of “aggressive threats” and “questionable legality.” One wonders where God’s demand for honesty lies in this diatribe. One could say much the same about the previous administration’s open border and sanctuary welfare benefits. However, even that article comes around to pleading for putting the Gospel first, saying “we cannot let the dark side of anti-immigrant animus take hold.”
Let us hope and pray that the new pope’s focus will be more on the Gospel and less on propping up progressive political causes. And maybe we can also be just a little like these kids, even if our first ever American pope is from Chicago! https://x.com/Monocarp_/status/1920536512782889126 [:43]
“This Holy Week, Melania and I join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ — the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity.
“Beginning with Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and culminating in the Paschal Triduum, which begins on Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, followed by Good Friday, and reaching its pinnacle in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. This week is a time of reflection for Christians to memorialize Jesus’ crucifixion—and to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for His miraculous Resurrection from the dead.
“During this sacred week, we acknowledge that the glory of Easter Sunday cannot come without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross. In His final hours on Earth, Christ willingly endured excruciating pain, torture, and execution on the cross out of a deep and abiding love for all His creation. Through His suffering, we have redemption. Through His death, we are forgiven of our sins. Through His Resurrection, we have hope of eternal life. On Easter morning, the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and light prevails over darkness — signaling that death does not have the final word.
“This Holy Week, my Administration renews its promise to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government. We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life, and protecting God in our public square.
“As we focus on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, we look to His love, humility, and obedience — even in life’s most difficult and uncertain moments. This week, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved Nation. We pray that America will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world, and we pray to achieve a future that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in Heaven.”
“May God bless you and your family during this special time of year and may He continue to bless the United States of America.”
DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, We ask You today to grant us the graces we need to reject hate in all forms. Open our hearts to forgive those who trespass against us lest we in turn lose our own salvation. We pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: Guess who opposes a Texas bill that would restrict using SNAP benefits to purchase sugary drinks and processed snacks? Guess who has a history of receiving funding from major food companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola?
GREENLAND: Four of the five main parties on the recent ballot favor independence from Denmark. Two of them just won first and second place. Greenland, whose population is approximately 57,000 people, currently operates as a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM: When they show you who they are, believe them. – CLICK https://x.com/DefiantLs/status/1900913901350309921 [:48] to hear one of the joyful and tolerant members of the hard left express her deepest desire.
DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, Today we lift up all of those who brave the elements on our behalf. We ask You to bless them and their loved ones abundantly. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
BEAUTIFUL: Bob shared “A Little Bird” by Sean Dietrich with me. It touched my heart and soul.
BORDER: This week, President Trump ordered 1,500 more U.S. troops to the southern border. Meanwhile, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove reminded all department employees that the U.S. Constitution requires state and local actors to comply with federal immigration enforcement.
The law carries a prison term of up to five years for each count of resisting, obstructing, or otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands from the executive branch. Furthermore, federal law bars individuals from bringing illegal immigrants into the United States, or harboring them in the country. These violators can receive up to 20 years in prison and may even face the death penalty if a violation results in the death of any person. (Who let Laken Riley’s killer in?)
Meanwhile, Mexico is building shelters in anticipation of all the illegals Trump is expected to deport.
CAN YOU READ CURSIVE? The National Archives is looking for “Citizen Archivists” to help reach and transcribe some of the more than 300 million digitized objects in its catalog. Those records range from Revolutionary War pension records to the field notes of Charles Mason of the Mason-Dixon Line to immigration documents from the 1890s to Japanese evacuation records to the 1950 Census. All that is required is to CLICK https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/get-started-transcribing to sign up.
CATHOLIC: A bill proposed by Montana Democrats would jail Catholic priests for upholding the confessional seal, to which they are bound by –
Canon Law 1386 – “A confessor [priest] who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; he who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the offence.”;
Canon Law 983 – “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.” and
Canon Law 984 – “A confessor is prohibited completely from using knowledge acquired from confession to the detriment of the penitent even when any danger of revelation is excluded.”
When questioned about the bill, its chief supporter said she used to be Catholic. Oh. The same is true of any priest who violates the sanctity of the Sacrament of Reconciliation; he would become someone who used to be Catholic.
COVID-19: Rand Paul tweeted, “If there was ever any doubt who bears responsibility for the COVID pandemic, Biden’s pardon of Fauci seals the deal. As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed. Fauci’s pardon will only serve as an accelerant to pierce the veil of deception.”
According to the site linked below, “The legal authority for preemptive pardons in the United States is rooted in the Constitution and clarified through key judicial precedents.” Biden’s pardon may keep Fauci out of jail, but it won’t save his reputation.
DEI: President Donald Trump has signed an executive order cutting off federal funding to any learning institution that mandates DEI or that hire contractors that engage in such practices.
He has also signed an executive order suspending all DEI activities immediately. By the close of business yesterday, they must have notified all staff they are on leave, closed every office, taken down any public-facing trace of those offices, withdraw any related guidance or directives they have pending and cancel all DEIA trainings.
FCC: [20:30] – Sen. Kennedy is always worth listening to. This one is especially important.
LIFE: Insanity suggests a mental illness that makes someone incapable of making moral judgments. This isn’t insane. It’s EVIL.
NATIONAL CATHEDRAL: The “Service of Prayer for the Nation” is held in this Episcopal church. The membership of this denomination now represents a tiny sliver of (mostly old; modal age = 69) Americans. There are actually six times as many Jews in the U.S. than there are Episcopalians. Maybe they should switch the service to the Nation BASILICA, which is Roman Catholic.
SERVICE OF PRAYER FOR THE NATION: The photo shows their faces as the leftist female “bishop” lectured them at a prayer service for “unity.” Afterwards, the new president issued this statement –
“The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our country and killed people. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”
VPOTUS: CLICK https://www.facebook.com/reel/1321904552323328 to hear Senator J.D. talk about inclusive language. The guy’s answer … “I’d have to give that one some more thought” … is so typical of Woke Lefties. The man had a scheduled appearance before the U.S. Senate. He should have had all his thinking done beforehand. But every time you ask them to justify or even to stand up for their idiotic positions, they dodge and weave. Another common one that Kamala used all the time was, “We need to dialogue about that.”
GRAMMY NOTES: I am doing retroactive prayers today for old hurts caused by rude people. Their nastiness always felt so personal, but none of it was about me.
DAILY PRAYER: Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.
CATHOLIC: In AD 325 Emperor Constantine convened the very first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea. More than 300 bishops came from all over the Christian world to debate one of the early church’s most intense theological questions.
Arius of Alexandria had been teaching subordinationism, the idea that Jesus, the Son of God, was not equal to God the Father, but rather had been created by God before He created time.
The bishops at Nicaea declared this to be heresy, that Jesus is consubstantial (of the same substance) with the Father. A later council would declare the Holy Spirit to be consubstantial with the Father and the Son, thus formally defining the orthodox doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
Bishop Nicholas of Myra, whose person became the foundation for Saint Nick/Santa Claus, was at the Council of Nicaea, where he is said to have been a staunch opponent of Arianism. There is an old legend that he felt so strongly about the matter that, during the council’s deliberations, he actually slapped Arius. However, this story is from more than 1,000 years after Nicholas died. It makes for some funny Catholic nerd memes, but I find it difficult to believe it ever happened.
CONGRESS: Trump &c successfully blocked a bloated, 1500-page Continuing Resolution and got it replaced with a more streamlined 116-page bill that was passed in the wee hours of this morning, December 21, 2024.
DEM LIE: Dems are furious at the failure of their attempt to fund woke projects and are casting Republicans’ as the bad guys for, get this, refusing to fund cancer research funding for children.
A stand-alone bill called H.R. 3391 – 118th Congress “Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0” was passed on March 5, 2024, by the Republican-controlled House. This bill was received by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions [HELP] on March 8, 2024, where it languished, without action, for nine months. HELP, which is chaired by Bernie Sanders, has 20 other members who are evenly between Democrat and Republican.
Yesterday, this Dem-led, Dem-majority committee finally got their thumbs out to send the bill to fund kids’ cancer research to the Senate, where it passed without amendment by a voice vote on the same day, December 20, 2024 … right after the porky 1500 page CR failed.
Whatcha wanna bet the Dems sat on this bill specifically so they could include it in some porky package like the 1,500-page CR. Then, on the off chance their pork didn’t make it through, they could do what they’re doing, which is whine about how eeeeevil Republicans (wiping tears) don’t care about kids after they’re born!
POLLINATOR NEWS: [1:57] – Five years ago, the northern giant hornet was first spotted in Washington state near the Canadian border. This invasive breed is known for its ability to slaughter a honey bee hive in a matter of hours. These vicious bugs have 6mm long stingers and can spit venom. (Brr.) GOOD NEWS!! On Wednesday, we learned they have been eradicated in the U.S.
“I’ve gotta tell you, as an entomologist — I’ve been doing this for over 25 years now, and it is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects,” Sven Spichiger, pest program manager of the Washington State Department of Agriculture.