Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins

May 3, 2021

 Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of SinsGuide for
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins 

  SOURCE: http://www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm

 

6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION

  1. Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
  2. Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
  3. Confess your sins to the priest.
  4. Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
  5. After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
  6. Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.

 

ACT OF CONTRITIONO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.

 


 

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
 


Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins

April 20, 2020

 Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of SinsGuide for
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins 

  SOURCE: http://www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm

 

6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION

  1. Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
  2. Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
  3. Confess your sins to the priest.
  4. Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
  5. After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
  6. Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.

 

ACT OF CONTRITIONO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.

 


 

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
 


12 YEARS LATER: “Gay” Sex Kills

April 4, 2020

“Gay” Sex Kills

“In light of the irrefutable medical facts, it should be considered criminally reckless for educators to teach children that homosexual conduct is a normal, safe and perfectly acceptable alternative form of sexual expression (or ‘sexual orientation’). “

 

Commentary by J. Matt Barber

April 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Can you imagine officials at a middle school, junior high or high school setting aside a day to promote “tolerance” for heavy smoking and drinking among children?  How about a day where teachers encourage kids to “embrace who they are,” pick up that crack pipe and give it a stiff toke? 

Neither can I.  The public would go ballistic, and for good reason.   

But that hasn’t stopped officials in thousands of schools across the country from promoting other politically correct and socially “in-vogue” behaviors that – both statistically and manifestly – are every bit as dangerous as the aforementioned frowned-upon behaviors. 

That’s exactly what the homosexual activist “Day of Silence” is all about – advancing, through clever, feel-good propaganda, full acceptance among children of the homosexual lifestyle.  

Just the Facts Ma’am

By recently admitting that “HIV is a gay disease,” Matt Foreman, outgoing Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, acknowledged what the medical community has known for decades: the homosexual lifestyle is extremely high-risk and often leads to disease and even death. 

In fact, multiple studies have established that homosexual conduct, especially among males, is considerably more hazardous to one’s health than a lifetime of chain smoking. 

To the consternation of “gay” activist flat-earthers and homosexual AIDS holocaust deniers everywhere, one such study – conducted by pro-“gay” researchers in Canada – was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology (IJE) in 1997.  (see the study here: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/26/3/657.pdf )

While the medical consensus is that smoking knocks from two to 10 years off an individual’s life expectancy, the IJE study found that homosexual conduct shortens the lifespan of “gays” by an astounding “8 to 20 years” – more than twice that of smoking.

“[U]nder even the most liberal assumptions,” concluded the study, “gay and bisexual men in this urban centre are now experiencing a life expectancy similar to that experienced by all men in Canada in the year 1871. … [L]ife expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men.” 

This morose reality makes a strong case for a fitting redefinition of so-called “homophobia,” that being “Homophobia: The rational fear that ‘gay sex’ will kill you!”

The fact that we don’t have mandatory surgeon general warnings on the side of condom wrappers is a testament to the power and influence wielded by the radical homosexual lobby.  (Warning: Male-male anal sodomy has been proven to shorten your lifespan by up to 20 years.)      

Not surprisingly, that same homosexual lobby and its codependent enablers in the mainstream media moved quickly to sweep the IJE study under the rug.  Under tremendous pressure, the researchers who conducted the study even jumped into the political damage control fray issuing a statement which read, “[W]e do not condone the use of our research in a manner that restricts the political or human rights of gay and bisexual men or any other group.”    

Yeah, so?

Of course, that’s all just worthless fluff.  All the political spin in the world doesn’t change reality, nor does it eliminate the study’s disturbing conclusions or practical implications.  The research left ZERO wiggle room for anyone who would argue that homosexuality is a “perfectly normal and healthy alternative sexual orientation.”    

The risks associated with homosexual conduct are so drastic, in fact, that U.S. health regulations prohibit men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have had sex with MSM, from even donating blood. 

Consider that, according to the Food and Drug Administration, MSM, “have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than first time blood donors and 8,000 times higher than repeat blood donors.” 

Adults and children who engage in homosexual conduct, especially males, are also susceptible, at an astronomical rate, to nearly all other forms of sexually transmitted disease (STD).  For example, the Hepatitis B virus is about five to six times more prevalent among “gays,” and Hepatitis C is twice as common. 

But perhaps most shocking are today’s syphilis rates among homosexual men and adolescents.  A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that although homosexuals comprise only a fraction of the population (one to two percent), they account for an epidemic 64 percent of all syphilis cases. 

The “Day of Silence”

In light of the irrefutable medical facts, it should be considered criminally reckless for educators to teach children that homosexual conduct is a normal, safe and perfectly acceptable alternative form of sexual expression (or “sexual orientation”).  

But instead, the “gay” lifestyle is vigorously promoted in our public schools.  Sexually confused children who suffer from gender identity disorder and same-sex attractions are told to “embrace who they are,” and are encouraged to entertain deviant and dangerous sexual temptations.  “But always use a condom!” liberal educators bellow.  (Forget that condoms have a perilously high failure rate and are incapable of preventing numerous STDs such as the HPV virus.)        

On April 25, 2008, the pro-homosexual indoctrination of your children comes to a boil.  Homosexual activists and like-minded liberal educators will be pushing the so-called “Day of Silence” on kids in thousands of schools across the country. 

The “Day of Silence” (DOS) is organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), one of the most militant and well-funded of the powerful homosexual pressure groups.  DOS purports to confront the alleged systematic harassment and bullying of children who self-identify as homosexual, bisexual or “transgender.”  (For a sampling of the kinds of things GLSEN teaches children, click here: http://www.cultureandfamily.org/articledisplay.asp?id=2580&a…; Be warned, though.  It’s pretty graphic.)

To be sure, bullying and harassment should not be tolerated against anyone, anywhere for any reason, and those who engage in such activities should be firmly disciplined.  However, DOS has very little to do with “bullying” and has everything to do with propaganda.   

During DOS, children and teachers are encouraged to disrupt the school day by refusing to speak, in a show of support to self-described “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual” and “transgender” students.  Kids are additionally taught that Biblical truth, which holds that human sexuality is a gift from God shared between husband and wife within the bonds of marriage, is “homophobic,” “hateful” and “discriminatory.”

Our schools are supposed to be places of learning, not places of political indoctrination.  It’s the height of impropriety and cynicism for “gay” activists and school officials to use good-hearted but misguided children as pawns in their attempt to further a deceptive, highly controversial and polarizing political agenda.

DOS is pure, unadulterated propaganda and, based on the medical science, amounts to nothing short of educational malpractice.  With liberal school officials in tow, these militant homosexual activists are brazenly circumventing and abusing parental authority to further this dangerous political agenda.  DOS is also a slap in the face to the many students with traditional moral values.

So, it’s time for the “Day of Silence” to finally live up to its name.  It’s time for these radical adult activists to be silent in our children’s schools. 

And you can to do something to help. 

At DOS-participating schools all over the country, parents are joining with dozens of pro-family organizations, such as Concerned Women for America (CWA), in a “Day of Silence Walkout.”  They’re keeping their kids home from school on DOS as a show of protest.  (For more information visit http://www.missionamerica.com ).     

Parents and children are also strongly encouraged to participate in the Alliance Defense Fund’s non-disruptive “Day of Truth,” which will follow DOS on Monday, April 28, 2008.  (For more information visit http://www.dayoftruth.org ).

Children are impressionable.  Their young minds are fresh clay ready for molding, and these adult homosexual activists know it.  Your child’s spiritual, emotional and physical well-being belongs in your hands, not in the hands of liberal activists and elitist educators with a deceptive and destructive political agenda. 

It’s time to shatter the silence with truth.         
_________________

Matt Barber is one of the “like-minded men” with Concerned Women for America. He is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law and serves as CWA’s policy director for cultural issues.

SOURCE: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08042101.html


Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins

March 3, 2019

 Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of SinsGuide for
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins 

  SOURCE: http://www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm

 

6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION

  1. Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
  2. Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
  3. Confess your sins to the priest.
  4. Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
  5. After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
  6. Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.

 

ACT OF CONTRITIONO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.

 


 

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
 


For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

August 16, 2018

For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

No one who sings of Her rosary should be forgotten in death. Say one Hail Mary for Elvis.

See also: Roman Miscellany: Five Catholic Facts About Elvis


10 Years Later: Eritrean Woman In Prison Dies Of Malaria

July 7, 2018

As reported: Wednesday July 23, 2008
ERITREA: CHRISTIAN WOMAN IN PRISON DIES OF MALARIA
Weakened by torture, Azib Simon succumbs to disease only a week after contracting it.

LOS ANGELES, July 23 (Compass Direct News) – Imprisoned and tortured for her Christian faith since December, 37-year-old Azib Simon died of malaria in Eritrea’s Wi’a Military Training Center last week. Weakened by ongoing torture, sources said, Simon contracted malaria only a week before she died. Christians in the prison are rarely given medical attention, and the sources said authorities refused to provide treatment for Simon’s malaria. She had attended the Kale-Hiwet Church in Assab, one of the independent evangelical churches that have been targeted by the country’s Marxist-leaning authoritarian regime. She was held at the notorious Wi’a Military Training Center, 20 miles south of the Red Sea port of Massawa, since her arrest in December 2007. On June 8 Compass learned that eight Christian brothers held at the Adi-Quala prison were taken to the medical emergency facilities as a result of torture by military personnel at the camp. Simon’s death makes a total of five Christians whom Compass has confirmed have died in Eritrean prisons after being tortured for refusing to recant their faith.

Pray for the repose of the soul of Azib Simon and those who would allow such an evil thing to come to pass.


Who are you? « Faith, Love, and Rock and Roll as Told by The Brown Kid

May 2, 2018

Who are you? « Faith, Love, and Rock and Roll as Told by The Brown Kid

Is this guy Catholic yet?


Ten years later how are we doing?

April 22, 2018

10 years later how are we doing?

U.S. Data 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 2005 2007
Diocesan priests 35,925 36,005 35,052 32,349 30,607 28,702 27,971
Religious priests 22,707 22,904 22,265 16,705 15,092 14,137 13,478
Total priests 58,632 58,909 57,317 49,054 45,699 42,839 41,449
Priestly ordinations 994 771 533 511 442 454 456
Graduate-level seminarians 8,325 5,279 4,063 3,172 3,474 3,308 3,274
Permanent deacons —  898 7,204 10,932 12,378 14,574 15,409
Religious brothers 12,271 8,625 7,544 6,535 5,662 5,451 5,015
Religious sisters 179,954 135,225 115,386 90,809 79,814 68,634 63,699
Parishes 17,637 18,515 19,244 19,331 19,236 18,891 18,634
Without a resident priest pastor
549 702 1,051 2,161 2,843 3,251 3,238
Catholic population 45.6m 48.7m 52.3m 57.4m 59.9m 64.8m 64.4m
Percent of U.S. population 24% 23% 23% 23% 22% 23% 22%
Catholic elementary schools


6,979
6,923
6,574
6,288
Students in Catholic elementary schools


1.991m
2.013m
1.779m
1.697m
Catholic secondary schools


1,238
1,221
1,225
1,210
Students in Catholic secondary schools


614,571
639,954
640,952
623,527

Is Arthur Boulet Catholic yet?

April 22, 2018

about me « finitum non capax infiniti

Is this guy Catholic yet?


Is this guy Catholic yet?

April 21, 2018

How to Detect a False Prophet « Possessing the Treasure


From 10 years ago… ‘Benedict’s impact? “It will be seismic”‘

April 21, 2018

I wrote this the day the following article was published and post-dated it to be published in ten years…

In 2008 I am wondering:

  • What was the impact?
  • Yesterday Pope Benedict left America after his first pastoral visit as Pope… Talking on the phone with Father J. Steele of the Holy Cross Fathers he seemed to be uncertain what impact this visit was to have.  (In his defense he was unable to watch most of the broadcasted portions of the visit due to his pastoral duties this weekend!) I believe it to be the case that this visit will have a long and lasting influence on strengthening the vision of the papacy as a strong leader in these times of moral crisis, and that the liturgical experneices we saw (we the unfortunate exception of the Mass at National Stadium! – it looked like a multi-cultural review, not a Mass!) strengthened and confirmed more tradition-minded liturgists what the new norms were going to be – far closer to more traditional norms.  Was that the case?
  • 10 years later did we see the expansiono of vocations as predicted in this article?

SOURCE: http://deacbench.blogspot.com/2008/04/benedicts-impact-it-will-be-seismic.html

Monday, April 21, 2008

Benedict’s impact? “It will be seismic”

 

People are doing the inevitable Monday morning quarterbacking after the Pope’s visit — but nearly everyone is giving him Read the rest of this entry »


Paola Brenda sacrifices life for “gift of motherhood, the gift of having children

April 8, 2018

Paola Brenda sacrifices life for “gift of motherhood, the gift of having children”

By Michael Baggot

PIEVE DI SOLIGO, Italy, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an act of sacrifice comparable to that of pro-life patroness St. Gianna Beretta Molla, Italian mother Paola Breda recently died after having declined potentially life-saving cancer treatment that could have harmed her unborn child.

Breda was diagnosed with breast cancer six months into her pregnancy with her child Nicola, but postponed treatment until after Nicola’s birth.

During her funeral, Vittorio Veneto Bishop Corrado Pizziolo called Breda an exemplification of Jesus Christ’s Gospel call “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

“What Jesus did – the Gospel which He lived for us – this is what we see carried out in the life of our sister,” said the Bishop according to the Italian newspaper Avvenire.

Father Giuseppe Nadal told Radio Vaticana that Breda was disappointed that she and her husband Loris Amodei were unable to have a child until a decade into their marriage.

Both Breda’s first child, Illaria, and her second child, Nicola, brought their mother great joy, said the priest. Fr. Nadal also recounted a teary-eyed Breda coming to him during her second pregnancy.

“‘I’ve been diagnosed with cancer, and they are suggesting chemotherapy, but that would hurt the baby. I absolutely don’t want that, because I always asked for the gift of motherhood, the gift of having children,” said Breda.

St. Molla was a Milanese pediatric doctor pregnant with her fourth child when she learned of a fibroma in her uterus and declined either the abortion or complete hysterectomy that would have saved her life.

Before surgery to rescue her unborn child, St. Molla told doctors, “If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child – I insist on it. Save him.”

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Paola Breda.


March 13, 2018

Prayers for the repose of the soul of the servant of God, Archbishop Paulos.  His body was found ten years ago today.


Ten Years Later: Evangelical Christian Tulu Mosisa Killed By Muslims While In Church

March 13, 2018

Thursday March 13, 2008
ETHIOPIA: MUSLIMS KILL WORSHIPER IN CHURCH ATTACKS
Assaults with machetes nearly behead Christian, leave 23 injured.

ISTANBUL, March 13 (Compass Direct News) – Eight Muslims wielding razor-sharp machetes and knives broke into two village churches in southern Ethiopia earlier this month and began wounding worshipers, instantly killing one Christian. Tulu Mosisa of Kale Hiwot church died after a machete blow nearly beheaded him, according to an eyewitness. Another two members of the Kale Hiwot and Birhane Wongel Baptist churches in the remote village of Nensebo Chebi both lost a hand each in the March 2 attacks, and a 5-year-old boy is still hospitalized after his arm was slashed to the bone. A total of 23 Christians from the two congregations were injured before local militia officers drove off the attackers, who launched what one observer called “a seemingly well-planned,” simultaneous assault midway through Sunday worship services. Located 400 kilometers (240 miles) south of the capital Addis Ababa, Nensebo Chebi is a remote village in the Bale Zone of Ethiopia’s predominantly Muslim Oromiya state. Every time the attackers struck someone, Christian survivors said, they shouted “Allah Akbar!” The two Arabic words, meaning “Allah is greater,” are the beginning of the Muslim call to prayer.


Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins

February 3, 2018

 Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of SinsGuide for
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins 

  SOURCE: http://www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm

 

6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION

  1. Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
  2. Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
  3. Confess your sins to the priest.
  4. Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
  5. After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
  6. Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.

 

ACT OF CONTRITIONO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.

 


 

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
 


Fathers on: Born Again of Water & Spirit

January 8, 2018

A commenter made a case for why John 3 is NOT talking about baptism. Nicodemus asks, “How can a man be born again?” and Jesus replies: “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. You can see his case for his interpretation
on my post How Was Baptism Administered in the Early Church?

You may be the judge of how well he makes his case. But the problem with it is, historically that is not how Christians understood or interpreted John 3. Since, we have seen how much division is caused by differing interpretations in Protestantism and stubborn insistence upon a certain interpretation to the point of leaving a church and starting another, I say to myself:

How did the people in the early Church interpret this passage?

That is much more likely to be the true interpretation and much closer in time to when Jesus taught. And, I also ask myself:

What Church has been in existence since Jesus founded His Church on Rock?

I have found the answer to both questions in the Catholic Church Here is what Justin who died for his faith said in 151 A.D.

“As many as are persuaded and believe that what we [Christians] teach and say is true . . . are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God the Father . . . and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit [Matt. 28:19], they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, ‘Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:3]” (First Apology 61).

Around 190 A.D., Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons, wrote, “And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan’ [2 Kgs. 5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [this served] as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: ‘Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:5]” (Fragment 34).

In the year 252 A.D., Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, said that when those becoming Christians “receive also the baptism of the Church . . . then finally can they be fully sanctified and be the sons of God . . . since it is written, ‘Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’ [John 3:5]” (Letters 71[72]:1).

Augustine wrote, “From the time he [Jesus] said, ‘Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:5], and again, ‘He that loses his life for my sake shall find it’ [Matt. 10:39], no one becomes a member of Christ except it be either by baptism in Christ or death for Christ” (On the Soul and Its Origin 1:10 [A.D. 419]).

Augustine also taught, “It is this one Spirit who makes it possible for an infant to be regenerated . . . when that infant is brought to baptism; and it is through this one Spirit that the infant so presented is reborn. For it is not written, ‘Unless a man be born again by the will of his parents’ or ‘by the faith of those presenting him or ministering to him,’ but, ‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit’ [John 3:5]. The water, therefore, manifesting exteriorly the sacrament of grace, and the Spirit effecting interiorly the benefit of grace, both regenerate in one Christ that man who was generated in Adam” (Letters 98:2 [A.D. 408]).

I do not trust myself to infallibly interpret scripture. I don’t trust you either, no offense. I trust the Church founded by Jesus 2000 years ago. If I am wrong, I also trust the mercy of God. But He knows I honestly sought the truth and went where it led me….even to the Catholic Church. Have you read my conversion story? Click–>My Conversion I did NOT want to become Catholic. But, I had to follow where TRUTH led me.


Marian Prayer Of Saint Gregory Of Narek (A.D. 1010)

November 12, 2017
MARIAN PRAYER OF SAINT GREGORY OF NAREK (A.D. 1010)

Assist me by the wings of your prayers,
O you who are called the Mother of the living,
so that on my exit from this valley of tears
I may be able to advance without torment
to the dwelling of life
that has been prepared for us
to lighten the end of a life burdened by my iniquity.

Healer of the sorrows of Eve,
change my day of anguish into a feast of gladness.
Be my Advocate,
ask and supplicate.
For as I believe in your inexpressible purity,
so do I also believe in
the good reception that is given to your word.

O you who are blessed among women,
help me with your tears
for I am in danger.
Bend the knee to obtain my reconciliation,
O Mother of God.

Be solicitous for me for I am miserable, Read the rest of this entry »


For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

August 16, 2017

For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

No one who sings of Her rosary should be forgotten in death. Say one Hail Mary for Elvis.

See also: Roman Miscellany: Five Catholic Facts About Elvis


Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni 1972 – 2007

June 3, 2017

Pray for us.

 


Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni, 1972 – 2007

 


9 YEARS LATER: Average age now 80?

April 28, 2017

So this post was first put out 9 years ago by Grad Watkins over at Roman Catholic Vocations… 9 years later it stands to reason the average age is 80…

  1. How have these groups fared?
  2. Have they gotten bigger?
  3. Have they gotten younger?
  4. How many vocations did they have last year?
  5. How are the Nashville Dominicans doing?
  6. How are the Ann Arbor Dominicans doing?
  7. How are the Intercessors of the Lamb doing?
  8. How are the Missionaries of Charity doing?
  9. How are the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ (Prayer Town, Texas ) doing?
  10. How are the Franciscans of the Eternal Word doing?

———————————–

Monday, April 28, 2008

“Average age 73”

From California Catholic Daily

Unable to attract novices, Sisters of Mercy begin merging communities


Photo at left: Sister of Mercy makes her temporary profession.

Faced with aging nuns and few new vocations, the 175-year-old Sisters of Mercy religious order – with six communities in California — has decided to undergo a major reorganization.

The “shrinking and aging of the order” is one factor that brought about the restructuring of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, reported the April 11 Catholic San Francisco, the weekly newspaper of the San Francisco archdiocese.

The Institute’s six California communities will merge with communities in the West and Midwest into an Omaha, Nebraska-based organization called the West Midwest Community. The restructuring was approved at a meeting in Chicago, March 24-30, and will take effect July 1.

The new organization will bring together 861 Sisters of Mercy and 525 associates. The Institute itself, covering the Americas, Guam, and the Philippines, numbers 4,194 sisters and 2,800 associates. The average age of sisters in the institute is 73.

Though the vocations office has “been very active across the Institute,” Liz Dossa, spokeswoman for the Mercy Sisters in Burlingame told Catholic San Francisco, its efforts have not been fruitful. The number of candidates, novices, and temporary professed in the West-Midwest Community is four, though “several women” are in the process of joining, Catholic San Francisco reported.

“The whole question of changes in religious life is huge, and there don’t seem to be any easy solutions,” Dossa told the archdiocesan newspaper. “I think the Mercy community will be a smaller community targeted to needs that aren’t being met in other ways.”

Among the needs to which the Mercy Sisters have been dedicated over the years are education, health care, parish work, spiritual direction, and social services. The ministries the Burlingame community has been involved in include Mercy High Schools, Catholic Healthcare West, and Mercy Center.

A “progressive” Catholic community, the Burlingame sisters were listed in Call to Action’s 1999 “Church Renewal Directory,” as among groups that “support the spirit of Call To Action’s 1990 ‘Call for Reform in the Catholic Church.’” Call to Action, which calls for women’s ordination and for Church acceptance of artificial birth control and the normalcy of homosexuality, has five regional chapters in Northern and Southern California.

The Mercy Retreat Center in Auburn, a ministry of the Auburn Sisters of Mercy, has in the past four years offered retreats by feminist theologian Edwina Gatelyon on the “feminine divine,” looking at “the history of God as Mother,” and by Sacred Heart Missionary Diarmuid O’Murchu on “the new cosmology.” O’Murchu’s retreat addressed replacing “the patriarchal sky-God with the divine life-force we encounter in the miracle of God’s creation.”

 


Did Pastor Steve Hickey finally become Catholic yet?

April 22, 2017

Killing People to Save the Planet – part one « Gate Post

Did Pastor Steve Hickey finally become Catholic yet?

Whenever you start to see Evangelicals writing about de-population and asserting their pro-life sentiments…  The writing always seems to be on the wall.


Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins

January 3, 2017

 Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of SinsGuide for
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins 

  SOURCE: http://www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm

 

6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION

  1. Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
  2. Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
  3. Confess your sins to the priest.
  4. Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
  5. After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
  6. Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.

 

ACT OF CONTRITIONO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.

 


 

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
 


Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins

December 3, 2016

 Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of SinsGuide for
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins 

  SOURCE: http://www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm

 

6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION

  1. Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
  2. Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
  3. Confess your sins to the priest.
  4. Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
  5. After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
  6. Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.

 

ACT OF CONTRITIONO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.

 


 

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
 


Marian Prayer Of Saint Gregory Of Narek (A.D. 1010)

November 12, 2016
MARIAN PRAYER OF SAINT GREGORY OF NAREK (A.D. 1010)

Assist me by the wings of your prayers,
O you who are called the Mother of the living,
so that on my exit from this valley of tears
I may be able to advance without torment
to the dwelling of life
that has been prepared for us
to lighten the end of a life burdened by my iniquity.

Healer of the sorrows of Eve,
change my day of anguish into a feast of gladness.
Be my Advocate,
ask and supplicate.
For as I believe in your inexpressible purity,
so do I also believe in
the good reception that is given to your word.

O you who are blessed among women,
help me with your tears
for I am in danger.
Bend the knee to obtain my reconciliation,
O Mother of God.

Be solicitous for me for I am miserable, Read the rest of this entry »


For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

August 16, 2016

For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

No one who sings of Her rosary should be forgotten in death. Say one Hail Mary for Elvis.

See also: Roman Miscellany: Five Catholic Facts About Elvis


Marian Prayer Of Saint Gregory Of Narek (A.D. 1010)

November 12, 2015
MARIAN PRAYER OF SAINT GREGORY OF NAREK (A.D. 1010)

Assist me by the wings of your prayers,
O you who are called the Mother of the living,
so that on my exit from this valley of tears
I may be able to advance without torment
to the dwelling of life
that has been prepared for us
to lighten the end of a life burdened by my iniquity.

Healer of the sorrows of Eve,
change my day of anguish into a feast of gladness.
Be my Advocate,
ask and supplicate.
For as I believe in your inexpressible purity,
so do I also believe in
the good reception that is given to your word.

O you who are blessed among women,
help me with your tears
for I am in danger.
Bend the knee to obtain my reconciliation,
O Mother of God.

Be solicitous for me for I am miserable, Read the rest of this entry »


Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins

November 3, 2015

 Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of SinsGuide for
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins 

  SOURCE: http://www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm

 

6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION

  1. Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
  2. Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
  3. Confess your sins to the priest.
  4. Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
  5. After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
  6. Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.

 

ACT OF CONTRITIONO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.

 


 

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
 


7 YEARS LATER: Eye Opening Article: “Disorder among the Orders”

April 21, 2015

Eye Opening Article: “Disorder among the Orders”

In 2008 I am wondering:

  • What became of the dissident orders listed below?
  • How has the model of the “sister who lives in an apartment alone and drinks beer on tap at the local watering hole” worked out?  Have folks like that stuck with the orders as the much older members needed care in nursing homes and the motherhouses got consolidated or sold?
  • What became of all the motherhouses?  We are just a few years away from a massive sell off of motherhouses that are the last homes to communities that no longer need them for formation.  For a number of them, they can’t today and most certainly won’t be able to use them in the next 10 years for existing members….  The combination of size, expense and unsuitability of a lot of these locations as nursing homes… And that is where the majority of today’s women religous who belong to the “Leadership Conference of Women Religious” will be – if they are still in this vale of tears – in the next 10-20 years.  Longevity for women who failed to have spiritual daughters will not prove to be a picnic.
  • Conversely, how are the Domincians in Nashville doing?  Ann Arbor?  What about in New Jersey?  How are the women of the Franciscans of the Eternal Word faring?  Are they in need of downsizing today?  Have they been forced into selling motherhouses for lack of bodies to fill them?
  • A recent study of 142 new or emerging communities of consecrated life by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University concluded that “the Catholic Church in the United States may be on the threshold of another cycle of rebirth in consecrated life — new groups of Catholics committed to a shared spirituality and the evangelical counsels [vows of poverty, chastity and obedience] that will address the changing times, concerns and needs in new and creative ways.”” – How did that play out?
  • What happened to the Basilian Sisters of Saint Basil the Great in Union Town?  Are they still at the motherhouse?
  • What happened to the Holy Cross Sisters at Notre Dame?

——————————————

Monday, April 21, 2008

SOURCE: http://romancatholicvocations.blogspot.com/2008/04/eye-opening-article-disorder-among.html

Eye Opening Article: “Disorder among the Orders”

From Our Sunday Visitor

By Ann Carey
Emphases and (comments) mine – BW
With vocations shrinking and financial problems looming large, some women Religious find themselves at a crossroads
When leaders of Religious orders met with Pope Benedict XVI earlier this year, he praised and encouraged them, but also expressed concern that many orders are in crisis, with shrinking numbers, confusion over their role and identity, and even disagreement with Church teaching.

Speaking to a group of superiors general, Pope Benedict said that many orders are experiencing “a difficult crisis due to the aging of members, a more or less accentuated fall in vocations and, sometimes, a spiritual and charismatic weariness.”

Three days later, the pope met with leaders of the Jesuits and reminded them of their fundamental duty of “keeping the harmony with the magisterium, which avoids creating confusion and bewilderment among the people of God.”

It may seem strange to Catholics in the pews that Pope Benedict felt compelled to remind superiors that many Religious orders are in disarray and that they should be in harmony with the magisterium. After all, canon law says that sisters, brothers and priests in Religious orders are to be “totally dedicated to God” and to “the upbuilding of the Church.”

Yet, the pope was voicing the obvious: Many Religious orders that thrived for a century or more have given up their traditional work and common life and are struggling to decide who they are and how they relate to the Church.

Furthermore, many of the most outspoken Church dissidents are members of Religious orders, a fact that naturally raises this question: “How can one remain a member of a Religious order while at the same time rejecting Church teaching?”

While Religious orders of both men and women are struggling today, the men’s orders have remained more stable, probably because about three-quarters of the approximately 19,000 men Religious are priests, an identity that grounds them.

The crisis is more pronounced among women’s orders, which have about 65,000 members. What follows is a closer look at the current concerns about Religious orders via a focus on women Religious.

These include a loss of identity, shrinking vocations, retirement worries and at-risk property. Some of the sisters interviewed for this article asked not to be named out of concern for repercussions from their orders.

Some orders have lost a sense of themselves

Before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Religious sisters almost always lived in convents, where they shared Eucharist and common prayer with other sisters. They worked in their orders’ institutions in jobs like teachers, nurses, retreat leaders, counselors and administrators, and carried out their work in communion with the Church. They also understood their identity as vowed, consecrated persons dedicated to Jesus Christ and his Church — a role clearly defined by the Church.

When Vatican II documents directed Religious orders to update obsolete practices and to examine their lives and ministry according to their founders’ vision, confusion reigned in many orders. Some orders did manage to renew their practices — perhaps 10 percent to 20 percent of women’s orders — while maintaining their identity as consecrated Religious.

Pope Benedict alluded to those renewed orders in his remarks to superiors, saying they are a positive sign, “especially when communities have chosen to return to the origins and live in a way more in keeping with the spirit of the founder.”

However, many orders of women Religious went far beyond the mandates of Vatican II, even blurring the distinction between their vowed members and lay “associate members.” These orders have been outspoken in their efforts to “transform,” bring “systemic change” and “re-image” Religious life and Read the rest of this entry »


Marian Prayer Of Saint Gregory Of Narek (A.D. 1010)

November 12, 2014
MARIAN PRAYER OF SAINT GREGORY OF NAREK (A.D. 1010)

Assist me by the wings of your prayers,
O you who are called the Mother of the living,
so that on my exit from this valley of tears
I may be able to advance without torment
to the dwelling of life
that has been prepared for us
to lighten the end of a life burdened by my iniquity.

Healer of the sorrows of Eve,
change my day of anguish into a feast of gladness.
Be my Advocate,
ask and supplicate.
For as I believe in your inexpressible purity,
so do I also believe in
the good reception that is given to your word.

O you who are blessed among women,
help me with your tears
for I am in danger.
Bend the knee to obtain my reconciliation,
O Mother of God.

Be solicitous for me for I am miserable, Read the rest of this entry »


Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins

October 3, 2014

 Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of SinsGuide for
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins 

  SOURCE: http://www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm

 

6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION

  1. Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
  2. Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
  3. Confess your sins to the priest.
  4. Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
  5. After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
  6. Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.

 

ACT OF CONTRITIONO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.

 


 

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
 


For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

August 16, 2014

For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

No one who sings of Her rosary should be forgotten in death. Say one Hail Mary for Elvis.

See also: Roman Miscellany: Five Catholic Facts About Elvis


8 years on I am wondering…

February 9, 2014

Has LutherPunk become Catholic yet?

Idle Ramblings of the LutherPunk

http://lutherpunk.blogspot.com/2007/02/tattoo-update.html

Friday, February 09, 2007

Tattoo Update

Shots from today’s work.

This is the cap piece on the left arm:

This is the back of the lower arm:


Marian Prayer Of Saint Gregory Of Narek (A.D. 1010)

November 12, 2013
MARIAN PRAYER OF SAINT GREGORY OF NAREK (A.D. 1010)

Assist me by the wings of your prayers,
O you who are called the Mother of the living,
so that on my exit from this valley of tears
I may be able to advance without torment
to the dwelling of life
that has been prepared for us
to lighten the end of a life burdened by my iniquity.

Healer of the sorrows of Eve,
change my day of anguish into a feast of gladness.
Be my Advocate,
ask and supplicate.
For as I believe in your inexpressible purity,
so do I also believe in
the good reception that is given to your word.

O you who are blessed among women,
help me with your tears
for I am in danger.
Bend the knee to obtain my reconciliation,
O Mother of God.

Be solicitous for me for I am miserable, Read the rest of this entry »


Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins

September 3, 2013

 Guide for Examination of Conscience for Confession of SinsGuide for
Examination of Conscience for Confession of Sins 

  SOURCE: http://www.scborromeo.org/confess.htm

 

6 STEPS FOR A GOOD CONFESSION

  1. Examine your conscience – what sins have you committed since your last good confession.
  2. Be sincerely sorry for your sins.
  3. Confess your sins to the priest.
  4. Make certain that you confess all your mortal sins and the number of them.
  5. After your confession, do the penance the priest gives to you.
  6. Pray daily for the strength to avoid the occasion of sin, especially for those sins you were just absolved from.

 

ACT OF CONTRITIONO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Amen.

 


 

FIRST COMMANDMENT
“I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before Me.” (Ex 20:2,3)
 


For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

August 16, 2013

For The Repose Of The Soul Of Elvis Presley

No one who sings of Her rosary should be forgotten in death. Say one Hail Mary for Elvis.

See also: Roman Miscellany: Five Catholic Facts About Elvis


Happy Birthday Carolina Cannonball!

July 10, 2013

Happy Birthday Carolina Cannonball!

Visit The Crescat and wish her well!


A Father Z Favorite: Saint Gianna Molla

April 28, 2013

Saint Gianna Molla

28 April 2008

Prepare to be amazed! The 2nd miracle of St. Gianna Molla

CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 3:54 pm

I have posted this before, but it seemed appropriate to repost it today, the anniversary of the death of St. Gianna Molla in great year of 1962.  It is her feast day today.  This is one of the saints of our time whom I would like to see included in an updated version of the traditional Roman calendar, which could stand some touching up, frankly.

In 2005 I wrote a piece in the Catholic Online Forum on the 2nd miracle through the intercession of St. Gianna. 

I reproduce it here, somewhat edited, on her feast day.  The account of this miracle gave me shivers.  I had to share it.  Recently we heard news about a possible miracle for Ven. John Henry Newman and the process for the miracle at the Congregation (here and especially here).  Sometimes we don’t get many details about what these miracles are all about.

You perhaps can fall into wondering, “Was it really all that unusual?

You decide.

Here is my original post.  I wrote this when I was pretty much thinking only in Italian, so if it sounds odd here and there, that is why:

Since I have just recently finished over 100 hours of training at the Congregation for Causes of Saints concerning the history, theology and juridial dimensions of causes of beatification and canonization (investigating the life, heroic virtues, martyrdom, reputation of holiness, reputation of martyrdom, miracles, etc.), I figured I should put some of that training to use and occasionally produce some of it here with some comments that might be of use to others. After all, what training I get isn’t just for me: it has to be for the whole Church or it is worth only the cost of the parchment.

We had the chance to learn from and question the officials of the Congregation, the experts who collaborate with it, and the physicians and historians who are experts consultants. We had lectures from the Prefect, Secretary and Under-Secretary, the Promotor of the Faith (so-called “Devil’s Advocate” is a misnomer, really) and the Relator General. We had tours of the archives and attended the proceedings of the opening of a cause in the Roman phase. Abundant materials were provided and we were, naturally, allowed then to be thoroughly tested on them.

Going into the course I was not sure what to expect, but I brought a certain measure of sceptism about some things I had heard (mostly due to faulty and insufficient information, I see now). I heard stories of lives and of miracles which left me nearly with my jaw on the table as I listened and saw the documentation.

This was a privilege which for the rest of my priesthood will affect how I can help other people understand things about the life of grace in a way I could Read the rest of this entry »


5 years ago: Paola Brenda sacrifices life for “gift of motherhood, the gift of having children

April 8, 2013

Paola Brenda sacrifices life for “gift of motherhood, the gift of having children”

By Michael Baggot

PIEVE DI SOLIGO, Italy, May 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an act of sacrifice comparable to that of pro-life patroness St. Gianna Beretta Molla, Italian mother Paola Breda recently died after having declined potentially life-saving cancer treatment that could have harmed her unborn child.

Breda was diagnosed with breast cancer six months into her pregnancy with her child Nicola, but postponed treatment until after Nicola’s birth.

During her funeral, Vittorio Veneto Bishop Corrado Pizziolo called Breda an exemplification of Jesus Christ’s Gospel call “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

“What Jesus did – the Gospel which He lived for us – this is what we see carried out in the life of our sister,” said the Bishop according to the Italian newspaper Avvenire.

Father Giuseppe Nadal told Radio Vaticana that Breda was disappointed that she and her husband Loris Amodei were unable to have a child until a decade into their marriage.

Both Breda’s first child, Illaria, and her second child, Nicola, brought their mother great joy, said the priest. Fr. Nadal also recounted a teary-eyed Breda coming to him during her second pregnancy.

“‘I’ve been diagnosed with cancer, and they are suggesting chemotherapy, but that would hurt the baby. I absolutely don’t want that, because I always asked for the gift of motherhood, the gift of having children,” said Breda.

St. Molla was a Milanese pediatric doctor pregnant with her fourth child when she learned of a fibroma in her uterus and declined either the abortion or complete hysterectomy that would have saved her life.

Before surgery to rescue her unborn child, St. Molla told doctors, “If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child – I insist on it. Save him.”

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Paola Breda.


10 YEARS LATER: Pat Buchan – “An index of Catholicism’s decline”

December 11, 2012
An index of Catholicism’s decline


Posted: December 11, 2002
1:00 am Eastern 

By Patrick J. Buchanan
© 2008 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

 

As the Watergate scandal of 1973-1974 diverted attention from the far greater tragedy unfolding in Southeast Asia, so, too, the scandal of predator-priests now afflicting the Catholic Church may be covering up a far greater calamity.

Thirty-seven years after the end of the only church council of the 20th century, the jury has come in with its verdict: Vatican II appears to have been an unrelieved disaster for Roman Catholicism.

Liars may figure, but figures do not lie. Kenneth C. Jones of St. Louis has pulled together a slim volume of statistics he has titled Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II.

His findings make prophets of Catholic traditionalists who warned that Vatican II would prove a blunder of historic dimensions, and those same findings expose as foolish and naive those who believed a council could reconcile Catholicism and modernity. When Pope John XXIII threw open the windows of the church, all the poisonous vapors of modernity entered, along with the Devil himself.

Here are Jones’ grim statistics of Catholicism’s decline:

     

  • Priests. While the number of priests in the United States more than doubled to 58,000, between 1930 and 1965, since then that number has fallen to 45,000. By 2020, there will be only 31,000 priests left, and more than half of these priests will be over 70. 
  • Ordinations. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States. In 2002, the number was 450. In 1965, only 1 percent of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15 percent of all U.S. parishes. 
  • Seminarians. Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700, a decline of over 90 percent. Two-thirds of the 600 seminaries that were operating in 1965 have now closed. 
  • Sisters. In 1965, there were 180,000 Catholic nuns. By 2002, that had fallen to 75,000 and the average age of a Catholic nun is today 68. In 1965, there were 104,000 teaching nuns. Today, there are 8,200, a decline of 94 percent since the end of Vatican II. 
  • Religious Orders. For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven. The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 to 84 in 2000. 
  • Catholic schools. Almost half of all Catholic high schools in the United States have closed since 1965. The student population has fallen from 700,000 to 386,000. Parochial schools suffered an even greater decline. Some 4,000 have disappeared, and the number of pupils attending has fallen below 2 million – from 4.5 million.

Though the number of U.S. Catholics has risen by 20 million since 1965, Jones’ statistics show that the power of Catholic belief and devotion to the Faith are not nearly what they were.

     

  • Catholic Marriage. Catholic marriages have fallen in number by one-third since 1965, while the annual number of annulments has soared from 338 in 1968 to 50,000 in 2002. 
  • Attendance at Mass. A 1958 Gallup Poll reported that three in four Catholics attended church on Sundays. A recent study by the University of Notre Dame found that only one in four now attend. 
  • Only 10 percent of lay religious teachers now accept church teaching on contraception. Fifty-three percent believe a Catholic can have an abortion and remain a good Catholic. Sixty-five percent believe that Catholics may divorce and remarry. Seventy-seven percent believe one can be a good Catholic without going to mass on Sundays. By one New York Times poll, 70 percent of all Catholics in the age group 18 to 44 believe the Eucharist is merely a “symbolic reminder” of Jesus.

At the opening of Vatican II, reformers were all the rage. They were going to lead us out of our Catholic ghettos by altering the liturgy, rewriting the Bible and missals, abandoning the old traditions, making us more ecumenical, and engaging the world. And their legacy?

Four decades of devastation wrought upon the church, and the final disgrace of a hierarchy that lacked the moral courage of the Boy Scouts to keep the perverts out of the seminaries, and throw them out of the rectories and schools of Holy Mother Church.

Through the papacy of Pius XII, the church resisted the clamor to accommodate itself to the world and remained a moral beacon to mankind. Since Vatican II, the church has sought to meet the world halfway.

Jones’ statistics tell us the price of appeasement.

SOURCE: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29948

 

U.S. Data 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 2005 2007
Diocesan priests 35,925 36,005 35,052 32,349 30,607 28,702 27,971
Religious priests 22,707 22,904 22,265 16,705 15,092 14,137 13,478
Total priests 58,632 58,909 57,317 49,054 45,699 42,839 41,449
Priestly ordinations 994 771 533 511 442 454 456
Graduate-level seminarians 8,325 5,279 4,063 3,172 3,474 3,308 3,274
Permanent deacons —  898 7,204 10,932 12,378 14,574 15,409
Religious brothers 12,271 8,625 7,544 6,535 5,662 5,451 5,015
Religious sisters 179,954 135,225 115,386 90,809 79,814 68,634 63,699
Parishes 17,637 18,515 19,244 19,331 19,236 18,891 18,634
Without a resident priest pastor
549 702 1,051 2,161 2,843 3,251 3,238
Catholic population 45.6m 48.7m 52.3m 57.4m 59.9m 64.8m 64.4m
Percent of U.S. population 24% 23% 23% 23% 22% 23% 22%
Catholic elementary schools


6,979
6,923
6,574
6,288
Students in Catholic elementary schools


1.991m
2.013m
1.779m
1.697m
Catholic secondary schools


1,238
1,221
1,225
1,210
Students in Catholic secondary schools


614,571
639,954
640,952
623,527

Does Science Show That the Unborn Are Human Beings?

December 4, 2012


The Bible & Homosexuality: How to Respond to Dan Savage’s Attack

November 30, 2012


Was Same-Sex “Marriage” a Christian Rite?

November 25, 2012


TO BE ABSENT FROM THE BODY

November 20, 2012


SOLA SCRIPTURA & THE BEREANS

November 14, 2012


Marian Prayer Of Saint Gregory Of Narek (A.D. 1010)

November 12, 2012
MARIAN PRAYER OF SAINT GREGORY OF NAREK (A.D. 1010)

Assist me by the wings of your prayers,
O you who are called the Mother of the living,
so that on my exit from this valley of tears
I may be able to advance without torment
to the dwelling of life
that has been prepared for us
to lighten the end of a life burdened by my iniquity.

Healer of the sorrows of Eve,
change my day of anguish into a feast of gladness.
Be my Advocate,
ask and supplicate.
For as I believe in your inexpressible purity,
so do I also believe in
the good reception that is given to your word.

O you who are blessed among women,
help me with your tears
for I am in danger.
Bend the knee to obtain my reconciliation,
O Mother of God.

Be solicitous for me for I am miserable, Read the rest of this entry »


DID THE CHURCH CHANGE THE SABBATH?

November 10, 2012


Is St. Peter the Rock on Which Jesus Founded His Church

November 4, 2012


Are the Gospels Really True?

October 31, 2012


Is Repetitious Prayer Condemned in Scripture?

October 26, 2012


Perpetual Virginity of Mary

October 22, 2012