From the only reliable source of Catholic news on the net, Eye of the Tiber:
“Yeah, we weren’t exactly shocked to learn that Fr. Crowell was being reassigned to our parish,” said parishioner Jacob Denver from Crowell’s new church. “We get all the orthodox ones. It’s crap. Any time there’s a fundamentally solid priest pissing off the bishop, they send him to us because there’s a lot less of us to indoctrinate. It’s hard being a Catholic in the boonies, I’ll admit that. Sometimes I just wish we could move into a rich suburban area where we won’t have to constantly be nagged about confession and stuff like that. We’ll just be nagged about giving more money and be left alone after that. Not a bad trade off.”When asked about this the Pope said, It could be worse they could have sent him to (shudder) Cordoba, Argentina where the Jesuits sent me!
I understand that the final straw for him was when he said that there probably weren’t any iPhones in heaven.
The pastor at my former parish twice claimed that the miracle was that Jesus encouraged the people in attendance to share.
After the absence of an Advent wreath, the St. Louis Jesuits, a piano player who played throughout the Consecration (he should have been playing at the Steubenville Holiday Inn), Eucharistic Ministers places strategically though the nave so you could NOT receive Communion from the priest, and a cry room where moms spent the entire Mass talking, I had had enough.
Penguins Fan.
As a volunteer at a soup kitchen in downtown Milwaukee a story was shared when we sat down at the end of the evening. The kitchen is run by the Franciscan order..Order of Franciscan Minor.
A prayer was said by the Brothers as they realized the disappointment of the evening. The donations from regular sources were scant that month, and on one particular night they had an additional one hundred souls to feed.
Miraculously the soup pot did not empty until the final homeless man was fed. The story was shared in a quiet humbled manner by an older volunteer who has worked along side with the Brothers for many years.
God is good.
He blesses and materializes what he wills when he wills it.
I feel bad for his priests that participate in daily miracles, ( celebration of the Mass and consecration of the Holy Eucharist ) but feel moved to change the narrative of one of his most beautiful manifestations of his love.
Philip,
I can completely believe what you say. People such as yourself, who volunteer to help the poor, and Mr. McClarey,who finds time to read his Holy Bible each day serve both as an inspiration to me and as an example of how much more and how much better I could do.
Penguins Fan.
The most incredible blessings are found in our homes. My wife, in her love and acceptance of who I am (faults galore), is the catalyst for my ability to serve.
She said follow my heart when I felt the call to leave the insurance practice and enter into one on one care for the aged.
Our humble lifestyle allowed this change in income and this leap of faith has enlarged our hearts. The trade off has been blessing following blessing, and none of them is earned, yet given freely by the giver of Life. The reason for Life was found in humility. One of their names is Fr. Solanus Casey, a humble soul if ever their was one. He wrote simply The Reason for Life; “Life is to live and life is to give, for talents to use for good if you choose. Do not pray for easy lives, but pray to be stronger. Do not pray for tasks that are equal to your talents, but pray for talents that are equal to the task…then the doing of your work is no miracle, but You become the miracle…and that is when you shall receive the richness of Life, brought to you by the grace of God.”
He died in 1958. Over 12,000 souls lined the sidewalks to pay their respects to “the porter of St. Bonaventure’s.”
His writings are simple and his life was miraculous.
I owe so much to our Saints and holy Venerable’s like Fr. Solanus.
Fr. Crowell doesn’t hold a position particularly different from Card. Kasper—that the miracles of Christ in the Gospel are fables—who, after all, Card. Kasper has authored 3 books on the subject taking this position.
Again, I am reminded of Card. Mario Luigi Ciappi’s now-famous observation—Card. Ciappi being the official theologian to 5 popes, from P Pius XII onward, and who actually viewed the Fatima 3rd secret—“…It is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.” (Personal Letter to Austrian seminary teacher, Dr J. Baumgartner, 2000)
I know that the late Fr. Nicolas Gruner was viewed as a crackpot in some parts, but having heard him speak personally, I do not know many people in my life who had a more compelling presence and message. In his last letter before his sudden passing April 29th (2015), he spoke of a personal interview he had with the famous “Pope’s own Exorcist”, Fr. Gabriel Amorth: Fr. Amorth chilled him with a solemn assertion that “…Unless the Consecration of Russia is performed properly before the end of October, the culmination of the Chastisement will begin not long thereafter. Fr. Amorth is not known as an apocalyptic “seer” but one of the most eminently practical, feet-on-the-ground types left in the Catholic Church, who also yet believes in that which the Church has always taught.
So, we shall see after this October, no?
Steve Phoenix,
Didn’t we used to say the Prayer to St. Michael after Mass for the Conversion of Russia in the 50s, early 60s? I was a child then, but it was supposed to happen while there was a queen on the throne of England. Or am I combining two events? What is the Consecration of Russia?
If Nathan Bedford Forrest could disband the KKK, Pope Francis can suppress the Jesuits.
Good association of disparate threads Micha!
Responding to CAM (I will let our senior Civil War expert, Mr McClarey, unravel the Nathan Bedford Forrest comment..if he can..):
CAM: The prayers of consecration were part of the introductory prayers composed by Fr. Patrick Peyton, CSC (d. 1992):
Queen of the Holy Rosary, you have deigned to come to Fatima to reveal to the three shepherd children the treasures of grace hidden in the Rosary. Inspire my heart with sincere love of this devotion, in order that by meditating on the Mysteries of our Redemption which are recalled in it, I may be enriched with its fruits and obtain peace for the world, the conversion of sinners and of Russia, and the favor which I ask of you in this Rosary. (Here, mention requests.) I ask it for the greater glory of God, for your own honor, and for the good of souls, especially my own. Amen.”
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The mystery regarding the universal consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by all the dioceses in the world remained the focus of Fr. Gruner’s work his entire life, until the very end, and it was also for that matter of the late Sr. Lucia, the third surviving seer of the Fatima vision. (I am aware that she was supposed to have communicated that the consecration was “completed” by P John Paul II, in 1984 (Pius XII also performed an act of consecration in 1952): but because she was under virtual house arrest since 1957 and not permitted to speak freely or to be interviewed, her freedom to make that statement and to give particulars remains to this day under a cloud. It remains a question to this day why so much distrust of her speaking publicly was such an issue. Her last public interview was with Mexican priest Fr. Augustin Fuentes (Dec. 26, 1957) and it is worth reading today.
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However, as you probably know, regarding the consecration, Russia was not mentioned specifically by name, at least in the 1984 consecration by JP2 (it was done so by Pius XII in 1952); however also, the act of consecration was certainly not done in union with all the bishops throughout the world (cf. June 13, 1929, message to Sr. Lucia in her chapel while at prayer: ‘The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the bishops of the world, to consecrate Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.'” The specifics are important, naming Russia especially, because Lucia said the children had no idea what this strange land named Russia was (June 13, 1917 message at Fatima), having never ever heard of it before. Yet, when questioned independently (and with great hostility) by the mayor and other officials of Fatima, they stuck with remarkable clarity to this specific information. Also, the specific requirement of all the bishops throughout the world was something Sr. Lucy adhered to up until her passing according to her nephew, a priest, who regularly was still allowed to visit her.
As we come up on the first centenary of Fatima, there are a number of historic anomalies: The June 13th, 1917 appearance with the 3 children (the 2nd of the 5 appearances, of course the first was May 13th, 1917) was not long after Tsar Nicholas had been deposed (Mar., 1917),and immediately after Lenin was secretly transported by German agents into Russia (April 16, 1917); the final Marian appearance, the “exclamation point”, the Miracle of the Sun, occurred Oct. 13th, 1917, 12 days before the successful Bolshevik October Revolution.
”
The other remarkable series of dates and times appearing to show a projection of events of a universal Catholic significance into modern history was Fr. Gruner’s paraphrase of an address on Fatima given by Pius XII: ” In 1517, Martin Luther popunded his 95 theses on the church at Wittenberg: Luther led a movement that rejected the Church, but still believed in God and Jesus Christ. The next revolution was 200 years later: in 1717, the community of Freemasons announced their presence in London: The Masons revealed a New World Order was to be: they rejected both Christ and the Church but they believed in God. Finally culminating at the time of Fatima, in 1917, Lenin achieved the October Revolution: Lenin and the Bolsheviks rejected Christ, the Church, and God, and announced the new order of a godless totalitarian state.” (address, Phoenix AZ, Aug. 2001)
It was this last revolution, according to Fr. Gruner, that Our Lady personally sought to intervene in human history with the permission of her Son, to make one last appeal to spare the human race.
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98 years later, and tens of millions slaughtered by Communism, Nazi Socialism, and Maoism, we have a clearer vision of her effort to spare us from destruction, both spiritual and natural.
Steve Phoenix, thank you for the explanation,which I have just finished reading. 0002, May 13th.