An update...
Well, they are just under one million dollars shy of the goal of 11 million, but it has taken them almost a year. However, the number of donors has once again decreased.
Here were the results from previous Appeals:
The financial goal for the 2021 Annual Appeal was $11.9 million. The amount raised was $10.3 million from just over 20,000.
The 2020 Annual Appeal brought in $10.4 million from over 33,000 donors.
It seems that St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Washington DC is n for Kamala Harris.
During the 10am Mass, on September 29th, Fr. Moore (the pastor) called up Mary(?) who announced that for those who ordered Kamala Harris t-shirts, they could now be picked up during the after Mass gathering. Further, if you were still interested, you could still order. Finally, she invited the Men of St. Joseph purchase them
I thought that the word was sent out to all Priests, Religious and Deacons that there would be no politicking this election. Guess they did not get the message or maybe they choose to ignore.
Think I am making it up, go to their YouTube website and watch the 10am Mass recording for September 29th. Start at 1hour and 29 minutes, as it will begin at almost 1 hour and 30 minutes.
This is taken from the substack page of Fr. Michael's Newsletter (Sept. 22, 2024) . Fr. Mike is from the Archdiocese of Washington.
I am posting this here in full and not simply as a link, as I believe that +Gregory will order it to be taken down. And Fr. Mike will take it down, but as the Archdiocese has no control over me, I will leave it up.
++++++
The powerful centuries in which popes, bishops, priests and religious men killed is well documented. I use the verb kill very deliberately. This centuries old traditional manner of killing is not the same as the criminal act of murder. Church killings do not take a person’s physical life. Rather this ancient mode of killings by ordained men involve the killing of a person’s human spirit, the oppression and eventual destruction of one’s mind and heart and the steady destruction of various body parts such as one’s muscles and bones. Depression is nearly a universal pain inflicted upon the victims whose lives have been, are now being, or ultimately are intended to be destroyed.
One only need sit down with clerical rape victims. They might have been raped by a priest forty years ago. The reality is they have suffered every year since that evil act was carried out by some ordained priestly rapist. The criminal act was long ago. The suffering continues decades later. The rape victim is living out a life sentence. Among our three to four hundred American Roman Catholic bishops 150 or more are known to be sexual predators and almost all of these bishops are accessories in the decades old cover-ups of such criminal sexual abuse matters. Do our US Bishops care? Absolutely not! They work the hardest covering up.
Just recently here in the Archdiocese of Washington our Wilton Cardinal Gregory has authorized the return of a credibly accused homosexual predator. The rectory he now lives in also houses our internationally renown homosexual predator, Fr Adam Park. Some of the vulnerable boys or young men they targeted with sexual predation are now living daily lives in depression, parts of their young adult bodies have required surgery, and their passing days are spent in despair. In contrast these ordained sexual predators live their comfortable daily lives fully aware they are well protected by our Church. Is this fair?
Also, is it fair a young girl raped by her parish priest in the 1970s remains in her coffin around fifty years later with no accountability provided by the Archdiocese of Washington? Is this ok? I say not! However, the older priests and bishops tell me to “Let it go”! Really? There is a little boy raped by a priest in the 1970s who then killed himself. That same priest is known to have raped at least five other boys. The Archdiocese of Washington simply wants to leave this matter in the past. Is this justice? No! Not at all! Our child-centered and young adult rape victims of RC ordained sexual predators deserve the fullness of greater justice, greater divine mercy and greater revelation of the fullness of truth. Many of these victims are dead or living daily lives suffering in sheer miseries. Our trusting and youthful brothers and sisters deserve our undivided attention. Justice for these countless victims of clerical sex abuse has yet to be fulfilled!
The bishops and priests have a great criminal or mafiosi system going. Until the laity and serious law enforcement agencies come down very hard on the American RC Bishops these lives will continue to suffer and thousands of additional clerical rapes will continue. Where is law enforcement?! It is way past the time for both Catholics and non-Catholics to partner and investigate, gather testimony, evidence and the legal representation required to pursue this far too long postponed justice. I pray my fellow priests and faithful Catholics will help to obtain this justice. We must do this in order to rebuild His Church. Let us work for greater justice. Amen.
I have received word of the passing of Deacon Thomas Roszkowski of the Archdiocese of Washington.
Here is a link to his bio and funeral information.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and let Your perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
Amen.
The liturgical abuse at St. Teresa continues. Usually, you find one or two but this is the fourth and so we now have liturgical dance taking place during Mass.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship stated in 1994:
Among some peoples, singing is instinctively accompanied by hand-clapping, rhythmic swaying, and dance movements on the part of the participants. Such forms of external expression can have a place in the liturgical actions of these peoples on condition that they are always the expression of true communal prayer of adoration, praise, offering and supplication, and not simply a performance. (Instruction on Inculturation and the Roman Liturgy, 42; italics added)
However, what took place at St. Teresa's on March 10th was a performance. here are some screen shots...and if you watch the video, it takes place at the one hour and fifty-one minute mark.
A few years ago, my pastor informed us that there were to be no blessings given at Communion. This was a mandate from, I believe the USCCB but I know that if I am wrong, I will be correct.
At St. Teresa, it seems that at Communion anyone can give a blessing anyone wanting. Case in point: Sr. Dr. Oralisa Martin was invited up by Msgr. East during Communion to bless anyone who wanted a blessing.
You can see it in the video at about 1:39:30 mark. However, here are some screen captures from the video.
BTW, this sort of blessing took place on March 17th and March 24th, which you can see in the videos posted on YouTube.
In my parish, and probably almost all of the parishes in the Archdiocese, I have been told that the only ones who can give a sermon/homily is an ordained Catholic priest and/or deacon. No lay person. No religious. No one else. I know in my parish, this is strictly enforced.
If you want one of the parish ministries to get up and say a couple of words about themselves, well, that is done after Communion at the time of the parish announcements. No ands, ifs, or buts.
Well it seems that at St. Teresa, someone other than a priest or deacon can give the homily/sermon. And, this has also been done on March 17th. You can see it on their YouTube Channel. Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC0-ZcAj2_k
So, who is this person? Her name is Sr. Dr. Oralisa Martin and runs Oracle Religious Assn in DC, which was established in 1993 according to their website.
Sr. Dr. Martin, based on my reading of her bio, is a religious but I have no idea which order she was a associated with but it was located in LA.
It says that she has moved to "private" vows. You can read all private vows here. So, is she using
the term "Sr." in the religious order sense, or is she using it in the
generic sense, as when the priest says "Sisters and Brothers"? Msgr. East calls her "sister," but again, is she still a member of an order or has she renounced her vows. I am very unclear about it.
In addition, it should be noted that Msgr. East serves as the chaplain of Oracle Religious Association's evangelization and catechetical ministries.
More tomorrow.
A reader has informed me that there has been liturgical abuse happening at one (and there are probably others) DC parish: St. Teresa of Avila.
St. Teresa of Avila is located at 1401 V St., SE Washington, DC. The pastor is Msgr. East.
Looking at the website, it looks like most other parishes. There are Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, there are various ministries to help those in need of food, the men's group, etc. But there is also Liturgical Dance, which always raises my eyebrows.
Looking at their bulletin for March 17th, they have lots of activities - either direct, jointly or simply advertising what others are doing. Some lean to the more "progressive" side.
St. Teresa takes the Gospel and instead of reading it, as it should be, acts it out -- as if it was a play you might see in an elementary school.
Also, the Gospel is read by a lay person and not a priest or deacon, given the fact that there are both on the altar.
Unless, the person doing the Gospel is a deacon, which then shows a disregard for the norms of how a deacon should be clothed on the altar.
Here are some screenshots from their YouTube video:
But, the best is yet to come on liturgical abuse...
And to see the full video, please go here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC0-ZcAj2_k
The Gospel starts about 24 minutes in.
Well, as you can see, they are not quite halfway to the goal of 12 million.
As a reminder, here is what took place on a couple of previous appeals:
The financial goal for the 2021 Annual Appeal was $11.9 million. The amount raised was $10.3 million from just over 20,000.
The 2020 Annual Appeal brought in $10.4 million from over 33,000 donors.
Will they be able to reach their goal?
Will the pool from which they receive donations drop or increase?
Only time will tell, but once again, I have refused to donate.
It has been a while since I took a look at what Deacon Mark Asselin of St. Elizabeth's parish has been up to.
You may remember that he was the Deacon who supported Planned Parenthood on X (formerly Twitter) and then took it down.
Well, after looking through the last few weeks of posting on X, I noticed that he watched Joe "devout catholic" Biden's State of the Union Speech. A huge waste of time, but it is his time.
He commented on a few parts, congratulating him on a few points but conspicuously absent was any criticism of Biden's all out support of abortion.
I wonder why?
Maybe I should contact him and just in case you wish to do so, here is his email: masselin@stelizabethchurchmd.org. BTW, if you do contact him, please -- no curse words, no death threats, etc. Just ask him why?
Last week, The Daily Signal reported that Rachel Carbonneau was invited to a Lifespan Development course at Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C. Carbonneau, who was an English lecturer at the school in the mid 2000s, is the founder of Family Ways, an LGBT-affirming doula company.
Among the topics Carbonneau discussed were her past experiences helping “transgender men.”
“I have some men who have given birth; it’s amazing, we call it seahorse birth. It’s lovely, especially when it’s a water birth,” Carbonneau said in a recording reportedly obtained by The Daily Signal.
To read about CUA's reaction and the rest of the story, please go to LIFESITE News.
Did you know that the Annual Catholic Services Appeal (formerly the Cardinal's Appeal), is now accepting cryptocurrency. Yep, here is what they posted on their website...
This year, the "Cardinal's Appeal" is no more.
Yep, it has a new name: Annual Catholic Services Appeal.
Now, one of the interesting things to note was that last week they had posted both the amount currently donated and the number of families/individuals who had donated. This week, it is gone.
I would urge you not to give. If you wish to give, give directly to your parish or an order serving the parish.
We have a "woke" Cardinal and the only way that he will get the message -- if he ever does -- is to withhold funding.
