Reconstructing Catholic identity.

St. Anthony returns to Modesto church.
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A statue of St. Anthony, once removed from the church of St. Stanislaus due to the re-emergence of the ancient iconoclast heresy following the spirit of VII, has now been reinstalled. Read on - as to the reason why the statues were removed in the first place:
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All that is known is that after the reformations of Vatican II were handed down in the 1970s, priests often removed the statues of saints to help parishioners focus on the celebration of the Eucharist instead.
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"Before Vatican II, the Mass was in Latin," said the Rev. Ramon Bejarano, pastor of St. Stanislaus. "Because they didn't understand the Latin, people were praying devotions to the saints or saying the rosary during Mass. Some priests and parishes decided to move the statues out so people could concentrate and have active, full participation in the Eucharist." - Story
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Huh?
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The reformation of Vatican II? People didn't understand the Latin? So they wreckovated the churches in order that people could concentrate and have active participation in the Eucharist? That's what all that was about?
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This past weekend my pastor has taken to enhancing the Mass by adding explanatory prayers before the offertory and other parts of the Mass. After the gifts are brought up and the altar is prepared, he ad libs something like, "As we prepare the altar... let us bring our hearts, our cares our sorrows, etc., joining them to this bread and wine..." I don't know what else. He is a good priest and means well, but I really have to agree with Fr. Z - PLEASE: Just say the black and do the red.

Old sinners have a lot to teach us.

Alessandro Serenelli.

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After about 6 years into his sentence, the man who killed Maria Goretti experienced a profound conversion in prison after the blessed Marietta appeared to him in a dream, smiling upon his tortured soul. The saint assured him of her forgiveness and Alessandro finally experienced a sense of peace and penitence. Before that moment he had been tormented and filled with contempt for all that is good. His life had been debased by his passions, which he indulged in pornography leading up to the attack upon Maria. After the saint appeared to him, he became a different man. Upon completion of his prison sentence, Serenelli was accepted as a Capuchin tertiary and lived in the monastery, laboring as the friar's gardener and handy man. He was reconciled to the townsfolk, and more importantly to Assunta, Maria's mother, whom he accompanied to the canonization of her daughter.

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Alessandro Serenelli died on May 6th, 1970 in the Capuchin convent of Macerata. He left the following testimony, dated May 5, 1961, as his spiritual legacy:

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"I'm nearly 80 years old. I'm about to depart.

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"Looking back at my past, I can see that in my early youth, I chose a bad path which led me to ruin myself.

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"My behavior was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking. And I did the same. I was not worried.

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"There were a lot of generous and devoted people who surrounded me, but I paid no attention to them because a violent force blinded me and pushed me toward a wrong way of life.

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"When I was 20 years-old, I committed a crime of passion. Now, that memory represents something horrible for me. Maria Goretti, now a Saint, was my good Angel, sent to me through Providence to guide and save me. I still have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and of pardon. She prayed for me, she interceded for her murderer. Thirty years of prison followed.

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"If I had been of age, I would have spent all my life in prison. I accepted to be condemned because it was my own fault.

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"Little Maria was really my light, my protectress; with her help, I behaved well during the 27 years of prison and tried to live honestly when I was again accepted among the members of society. The Brothers of St. Francis, Capuchins from Marche, welcomed me with angelic charity into their monastery as a brother, not as a servant. I've been living with their community for 24 years, and now I am serenely waiting to witness the vision of God, to hug my loved ones again, and to be next to my Guardian Angel and her dear mother, Assunta.

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"I hope this letter that I wrote can teach others the happy lesson of avoiding evil and of always following the right path, like little children. I feel that religion with its precepts is not something we can live without, but rather it is the real comfort, the real strength in life and the only safe way in every circumstance, even the most painful ones of life." - Alessandro Serenelli

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From John Paul II:

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"Maria Goretti, so illuminating with her spiritual beauty, challenges us to a firm and secure faith in the Word of God, as the only source of truth, to remain firm against the temptations of this world."

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"Young people, look at Maria Goretti, don’t be tempted by the tempting atmosphere of our permissive society, which declares, everything is possible. Look to Maria Goretti, love, live, defend your chastity."

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"Young people, don’t be afraid to carry the torch of your life, light and ideals into modern society."

The Apotheosis of Michael Jackson

The media event of the century...

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Al Sharpton was in Los Angeles Sunday preaching on Michael Jackson's contribution to the Civil Rights cause - according to the Rev., Oprah wouldn't be the success she is without Michael. He was also accusing Jackson's detractors - anyone in the press who brought up all the scandals in their coverage - as being racist and hate-filled. In death Michael is being rehabilitated and mythologized beyond all imagining. Sharpton:

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The Rev. Al Sharpton has delivered a sermon in Los Angeles where he called for nationwide "love vigils" for Michael Jackson on Tuesday.

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The civil rights activist addressed congregants at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday.

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Sharpton is urging people to gather in schools, community centers and churches to honor Jackson on Tuesday, when a public memorial service will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. - AP

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My biggest surprise yet regarding the eulogies piling up in honor of Jackson came from Vox Nova with the most over-the-top post I have ever read on that blog: Michael Jackson: The Man in the Mirror.

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Reflecting on the 1980s and early 1990s, one labors to imagine a more heroic episode in history’s hard march against tyranny. Liberty sprang up amidst a near bloodless convulsion, and took a daring but peaceful step forward. It was in the intensity of this revolutionary fervor that the artistry of Michael Jackson towered as a beacon of light for those struggling to be free. - Gerald Campbell

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I will never again be embarrassed about anything I post on my blog.

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Most recent beatified model of purity.

Bl. Albertina Berkenbrock (1919-1931)
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From the Holy See website:
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"Albertina Berkenbrock was born on 11 April 1919 in São Luís, Imaruí, Santa Catarina, Brazil. She was baptized on 25 May 1919 and confirmed on 9 March 1925. She made her First Holy Communion on 16 August 1928.
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Albertina grew up in a devout family. She willingly helped her parents at home and on the land. At an early age she learned to pray with deep devotion and was strong in the practice of her Catholic faith. She spoke of her First Communion Day as the most beautiful day of her life and had special devotion to Our Lady and to St Aloysius Gonzaga, a model of purity and the Patron Saint of São Luís.
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At school Albertina was a model for her peers and a cause of admiration to adults. Her teachers especially praised her spirituality and morals, superior to children of her age. She was a diligent student who knew her Catechism and kept God's Commandments.
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At home, when her brothers teased and taunted her, as siblings do, she would not retaliate. With her Christian upbringing, even the childhood games she played reflected her deep religious sense. She played happily with the poorest children and shared her bread with them.
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At home, she was especially loving to the children of an employee of her father; while unknown to her, that man would become her future assassin.
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One day when Albertina was searching for a runaway bullock she came across Maneco loading beans into his cart. When she asked him if he had seen the bullock he pointed in the wrong direction to entice her to a place where he could satisfy his lust without attracting attention.
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Innocently, Albertina followed Maneco's directions and came to a wooded area. On hearing twigs cracking she turned, thinking it was the bullock, and found herself face to face with Maneco. She was petrified.
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He informed her of his intentions but she firmly refused him. Albertina fought hard for her virtue. Even when he threw her to the ground, she did her best to cover herself. Furious at having been morally defeated by the young girl, Maneco grasped her by the hair and slit her throat with a knife." - Finish reading here.
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Image source.
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Also: News report on Youtube. Another here.

Martyrs for purity.

Blessed are the pure of heart.
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Tomorrow is the memorial of St. Maria Goretti, the young girl murdered for refusing the advances of a teenage man, Alessandro Serenelli, who lived and labored alongside the Goretti family. Maria's story is quite well known. I watched part of a film depicting her life last night; it was okay - but not as well done as it could be. The acting was a bit schmaltzy in the attempt to show Maria's charity towards others, and there was a lot of crying - the mother cried a lot. At times Maria was portrayed as being much too familiar with Alessandro and other men - caressing their cheek, speaking a bit too much, and in one scene Maria's mother left Allesandro and Maria alone by the fire as she retired to bed for the night. It seemed rather un-Italian to do that.

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Anyway - everyone knows Maria, but there was another young woman, closer to our time, who happened to be at Maria's canonization, and who suffered a similar fate in 1957. Pierina Morosini. Pierina was 26 when she was murdered while returning home from her job in a factory. Her attacker attempted to seduce her, and as she refused his advances and tried to fight him off, he beat her to death with a large stone, crushing her face.

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Blessed Pierina is today venerated as the patron of rape victims, as well as a martyr for chastity.

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Born into a poor family of eight children in 1931 in the Diocese of Bergamo, Italy, she at one time desired religious life but remained a lay woman consecrated to God by a private vow of chastity. She remained with her family offering support to her mother, while teaching catechism in her parish. Trained as a seamstress, Pierina began to work in a factory at age 15. On October 4, 1987, John Paul II beatified Pierina along with another Italian martyr for purity, Antonia Mesina , the 16 year old Sardinian murdered by a teenage rapist in 1935.

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Meditation:

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The dignity and the vocation of women - as well as those of men - find their eternal source in the heart of God. And in the temporal conditions of human existence, they are closely connected with the "unity of the two". Consequently each man must look within himself to see whether she who was entrusted to him as a sister in humanity, as a spouse, has not become in his heart an object of adultery; to see whether she who, in different ways, is the cosubject of his existence in the world, has not become for him an "object": an object of pleasure, of exploitation. - THE DIGNITY AND THE VOCATION OF WOMEN, John Paul II

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Trivia: Bl. Pierina shares her birthday with Bl. Pier Giorgio - both were born on April 6, although years apart.

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Art: Pierina Morosini idealizzata da Gigi Pedrini

Weird politics...

What's the deal with Palin? Is she quitting to head the secessionist movement up in Alaska? Is there some scandal going to break about her?

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Looks to me like she couldn't finish the job she started. So far I haven't been impressed by any woman in politics. Can't think of one I'd want as President.

True friendship

Happy Independence Day.

Another POV on TOB.

Not your ordinary pop-theologian-sex-therapist's POV either...
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Fr. Maurizio Faggioni, OFM, a professor at the top pontifical institute for moral theology, the Pontifical Academy “Alphonsianum,” said in a recent interview with Catholic News Agency that the teachings of the Church suggest “far more prudence” in approaching some of the issues raised by Christopher West in his presentation of the Theology of the Body.
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Faggioni, a Franciscan who teaches at the Alphonsianum, an academy named upon the father of modern Moral theology, St. Alphonsus of Liguori, is one of the most consulted moral theologians and is an advisor to several Vatican dicasteries.
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In a conversation with CNA, Fr. Faggioni explained that some of the issues discussed publicly by West, such as the appropriateness of anal sex or other forms of sexual “foreplay” in married relationships, have to be dealt with using great care, since “the risk is of displacing the attention from marital love and the anthropologic meaning of lovely gestures to merely the genital aspects.”
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“Sexuality,” Fr. Faggioni said, launching into his analysis West's presentation of the Theology of the Body, “is the language of love and this language is authentic only when it is respectful of the meaning of human love.”
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Fr. Faggioni said that “it is simply not true that the traditional Catholic morality supports the use of acts that Thomas Aquinas call contra naturam -against nature- (such as anal sex) as something ordinary.”
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Regarding the practice of blessing the genitals before a sexual relationship, Fr. Faggioni expressed “real perplexity.” “Without doubt, all the body in each one of its parts is God’s creation and deserves honor. We precisely respect our private parts by surrounding them with greater respect and modesty.”
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“In itself,” he continued, “nothing forbids thanking God for the sexual body of oneself or the spouse, but from the perspective of Christian anthropology, it is not right to emphasize the genitals as if our sexuality could be reduced to them. “Love is made with all the body, with the entire person’s humanity, not only with the genitals.”
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“This is not prudishness, but the wisdom of the Church that has time and again demonstrated the importance of discretion and prudence when it comes to sexual issues,” he added. - Finish reading here.

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Art: Adam and Eve - Tamara de Lempicka

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

July 4 is the feast day of Bl. Pier Giorgio, shown above partying with his friends. [Pier Giorgio is the one wearing the paper hat.]

Amazing face found on pebble...

Full frontal.

Profile.

Profile detail.

THE FACE IN THE ROCK.
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As I sat in my garden praying the rosary today, I noticed this pebble (shown) amidst the gravel. I tried to ignore it, but I kept looking back at it, no matter how hard I fought against the temptation to curiosity - my eyes were drawn to it. I got up to walk about the yard, yet something pulled me back to the strange little rock which seemed to stand out from the countless other stones. Once I finished my prayers, I picked up the tiny stone and immediately noticed the face. I stared in stunned silence, tears streaming down my face. I dropped to my knees and let out a loud, extended breath.... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! It was the face of John Paul I! I immediately decided to photograph it - as you can see, my hands were trembling. I mounted the face on a brass orb with a miniscule piece of wax - and suddenly I understood: Volto Santo Padre! Faccio d'luna!
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The face on the moon - John Paul - the prophecy of Malachy - De Medietate Lunae! IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!