A Belated Smack

I have been moved to make a belated smack of the miter to . . .

Google's "Ad Sense."

When I decided to place it on the blog, the disclaimer said that only appropriate ads would be placed on the blog. And, for the first few days, this was true. Ads for online Catholic stores, online Bible study classes etc . . . However, this morning's ad was for a free sample of a Trojan condom.

Not only has "Ad Sense" been miter-smacked, it has been excommunicated.

Nod of the Miter, Smack of the Crozier

Enjoy the new style of smack/nod.

I Have A Precious One At Home

Well, craziness has descended upon my home. A few weeks ago, I heard a small cry outside my window, so I looked out. Sitting on the sill was a tiny kitten, not any older than a couple weeks. Well, it ran off, and for the next couple weeks, I would only hear the occaisional cry.

Then a friend of mine lent a "Have-a-Heart Trap" to me that I might catch the little one and give her a safe home.

Mission accomplished.

New Videos from Cleansing Fire

The first video below is in perfect working order. The second one, putting the church photos into a video, had its audio track deleted by YouTube for a supposed copyright problem. Seriously, who bothers to renew a copyright from 1932?

If anyone cares to look for the music, just type in the words from the first slide of the movie. It's a good song and perfectly described the video. The video, as it is now, makes little sense. Don't hold me accountable for it, please.

"The Only Reverent One Is Christ Our Lord, Not Your Priest!"

So hawked the Protestant throngs outside HSBC Arena on Saturday, August 15th for the Fr. Corapi Conference. I'll start at the very beginning, for it's a very good place to start:

I (and an army of priests, seminarians and acolytes) stayed the night before the conference at the Doubletree Club Hotel, on High Street. Complimentary cookies at check-in were amazing. Beds were very comfortable with five pillows piled high for "sweet dreams," as the embroidered pillows declared. Side note: I could see the spire of St. Louis' Catholic Church from my room. Dinner and the next morning's breakfast were in the "Au Bon Pain" restuarant downstairs. I dined with a father and daughter from Georgia who are both going through RCIA. The daughter is finishing upcollege and wants to join, hopefully, Mother Angelica's order of religious nuns. So then, this is where it gets interesting: the hotel's promised shutlle busses never showed up in the morning to take us to the conference. 200 cranky Catholics on the streets of Buffalo - not a good thing. I was standing next to a Brooklyn lady who, upon seeing an oncoming taxi, rushed out and seized it, comandeering it for immediate "Corapi use." So, eight of us piled into this one taxi and were off.

So then we arrived at HSBC Arena about 7:30, half an hour before the first sermon. My seat was about 45 feet from the stage, looking down upon it. Looking around at the people flooding in I recalled the number of attendees which "Miss Georgia" told me: 19,000 people. Yes, 19,000 people. Now, I forgot to mention that there was a throng of Bible-thumping Protestants outside, trying to convert this army of 19,000 Catholics. I mean, really? You really think you're going to convert a Catholic who is going to the Fr. Corapi Conference? Poor misguided souls. The Catholic reaction to the cries of "only the Lord has authority, only the Lord is reverent" was either laughing, indifference or yelling back, "Yeah, and that's why you guys should come in and listen to our padre!"

The sermons themselves where absolutely amazing. There were two before Mass, and three after, one of which was given by Raymond Arroyo. Fr. Corapi's talks were about the Holy Spirit: "It's not a timid fire." I suppose it could be said that this is our Imprimatur? They will be selling CD's and DVD's of this conference on his website once the footage is edited (camera boom knocked over flowers onto the podium) and when the backgroudn noise is filtered out (of 19,000 Catholics, 1,000 were under 2 years old). I'll write more at length on the sermons later, once I see the footage and remember actual lines. One theme was "Those who obey receive the Spirit." He added, "but you have a duty to disobey and fight against evil and indifferent leaders in state, society and Church." His general message was, "Oh dear God, we've got the democrats in. Run for your lives! And on your way into your bunkers of Catholicity, trample under foot heresy and corrupt clergy and laity!" I think we've been doing our best to keep his message alive, yes?

Now to the Mass:

The main celebrant was Bishop Kmiec of Buffalo, with nearly 200 priests concelebrating, and throngs of deacons assisting. Several seminarians wserved as acolytes etc . . . and only one lay person (aside from the servers) helped. The woman simply read the readinsg which were not edited or neutered of their masculine pronouns. The music was generally written by Mr. Haugen, but was performed with an almost polyphonic manner. The servers wore cassocks, the priests did nothing out of line, no nuns or laypeople preached, and Bishop Kmiec's "assistant" was not some white-haired she-priest in an alb, but rather, a monsignior. The bishop acted with peity and dignity, without being either aloof or disingenuine. Let's pray that all bishops (wink, wink) learn from his pious and kindly example. How emotion-packed was the Mass? Try listening to 19,000 singing the Lourdes Hymn (aka Immaculate Mary) and not being moved with a great dose of Catholic pride. No, this does not mean we are going to have a Cleansing Fire float next year at Rochester's "Pride Week." I think the Episcopalians take up too much room anyways . . .

The food was tolderable at the arena, renamed "Holy Spirit Blessed Church" by Bishop Kmiec. I will let it rest by saying that my lunch was supplied by Perry's Ice Cream. Soft-served twist rocks my Catholic mind. Evidently the concessions people underestimated the turn-out, because they all closed by 1:30 and Tim Hortons (all 8,000 stands) ran out of coffee. However, I didn't go because of the food. I went because of the example of faith shown by all in attendance and by all who said Mass, and by he who preached. That's the amazing thing: 19,000 people all of the same mind, all catholic in the "lower-case 'c'" meaning.

The whole thing was amazing. Wish you could have all come. Maybe next time there will be a Cleansing Fire charter bus?

And a most definite "wow" goes to the fact that we were given a further Imprimatur by the area's Catholic radio station. Wow. Deo Gratias.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, 'Tis Off to Buffalo We Go

I will be leaving for Buffalo in about an hour to attend the "Corapi Conference," whose theme this year is "Lord and Giver of Life," aka, "Holy Spirit." Below is the description of the event from Fr. Corapi's site:

Father Corapi will be preaching what he says will be one of his most powerful presentations ever on the person and power of the Holy Spirit. He will be delivering four exciting and moving sermons for the first and only time at this special conference. Topics will include, "The Theology of the Person and Power of the Holy Spirit," "The Gift that Contains All Gifts," "The Holy Spirit is Given to Those that Obey," and "The Spirit We Have Been Given is No Cowardly Spirit!" More Info

Looks like someone's been reading Cleansing Fire . . .

Why Socialism Fails

From a friend:

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before,
but had once failed an entire class.

--------------------------------------------

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.


The professor then said, "OK,
we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".


All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.


After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.


As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D!
No one was happy.


When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering,
blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.


All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Can You Hear Me Now?

I was touring a few churches with a priest friend of mine today, and he noted how, in every "renovated" "church" even the speakers for the sound system are given more prominence than the Blessed Sacrament. Upon entering one locale he declared, "That's just obscene."

I couldn't agree more. I struggled for a few minutes trying to discern where the tabernacle was. We finally found it, off to the side, deep into what used to be a side altar. We hadn't looked there before because of the maze of pipes and banners cluttering the area. The wooden tabernacle, which looked more like doodled-on cardboard, was guarded by a sanctuary lamp, which is also called, "the red thing with a candle" according to some of our liberal brethren (sistren?).

So, yes, evidently many Catholics are now forced to worship, not God in His Most Blessed Sacrament, but rather, music and sound coming from mysterious boxes placed prominently in their churches. St. Bose, pray for us.

In response to our question, "Can you hear me now," I suppose we can. We can hear the prayers. And the folk music. And the chewing/gnawing of the host. And the slurping of the Precious Blood. And the various other digestion noises. And the frenzied, whispered directions to incompetent servers.

More From "Sanctus"

I'm sure that some of you who read this will recall the musings of a 92-year-old gentleman whom I call "Sanctus." Everyone seemed to like his original thoughts, so I decided to share with you a story he recently shared with me.

I praphrase:

"The only priest I ever became really close to was Bishop Casey (an 'assistant bishop' in Rochester a long while back). He was a great guy. He used to pick me up from my house on Flower City Parkway and bring me with him when he'd visit parishioners of Sacred Heart. There was this one time where he said, 'come on, we're going somewhere.' So I got in the car and we drove and drove and finally we got to the county jail. We went inside and I guess he had a Mass or something, but he gave me a book and put me in a cell and said, 'stay there. I'll be back later.' I was sitting there and then I looked up and saw three friends behind bars in the next cell over. 'For cripe's sake,' I said, 'what did you guys do to get in here?' 'What did we do? What did you do?' Well, a long time went by and Bishop Casey came back to get me. Did you know he was the one who did the renovation of the cathedral?' (Here, I informed him of the contemporary "renovation.") Why the heck did they do that? I mean, really, why did they need to do that junk? Geeze, you'd think the bishop would listen to the people in the pews."

Well, we can pray that he does. After all, if the recommendation of the planning group goes ahead, we need to pray that the bishop would choose to sell to a religious order rather than to a Muslim group. I'm all for religious freedom, but I'd rather see a Catholic church stay Catholic. I should think you'd all agree. Anyways, we need to pray. "Sanctus" said that he has a table set up at his house that has the following things: dozens of old prayer cards in piles, a couple statues, a crucifix, a candle or two, and a bottle of holy water from Lourdes. He prays often and devotedly, as I hope we do too. Prayers are, ultimately, the only thing which can resolve the current situations in the DoR. Indeed, without prayer, any effort fails. (On that note, the Novena of Fortitude's last two days are completed, but YouTube has been temperamental lately. I'm just waiting till it's more stable.)

In Honor of 10000 Hits: A Dose of Merriment

Need Volunteers

I have been working on a project as of late, and desperately need some people to assist in accomplishing it. I am looking for people who have the following:

• musical experience (vocal/polyphonic)
• a sense of humor (necessary)
• a desire to sing
• the ability to match pitch, possibly harmonize (if you are able)

All I will say right now is that, if this materializes, it will be the most entertaining thing ever to come from one of the Rochester-area Catholic blogs.

Please respond to cleansingfire@live.com. Even if you're not entirely certain, please, please, please send an email.

Slight Change at Cleansing Fire?

I've been mulling this over lately, and thought I should extend my question to you, the readers. Should I make it so that only registered members of blogger can post comments? Some anonymous users are genuinely trying to learn, and I am honored that they have chosen this place to learn from others. Some are absolutely hysterical. Others are blatantly hate-mongering and critical in a way which is blinded by what I construe as blind hatred for "this our glorious cause." Another option would be for a "review board" of sorts to "approve" comments which appear on the site. I am hesitant to do either of these options, however, because I just love free-flowing banter. I suppose it's too much to ask that we just behave ourselves? (Please note, my annoyance, and I am sure the annoyance of many, is not directed at people who genuinely seek to learn real answers to real questions, i.e. our recent cruelty discussion. Rather, it is directed towards those who try to cause blatant and obvious problems.)

What are your opinions? I'm very interested to hear from you all.

Veni Creator Spiritus

As more and more adverse events come to pass in the Diocese of Rochester, one has to wonder, "is the Holy Spirit at work here or is He not?" I should like to say that, yes, He is most definitely at work. Each time that a school is closed, more children find their way to traditional Catholic schools such as John Bosco and Archangel. Each time a parish is closed or "clustered," more people make their way to Our Lady of Victory and St. Stanislaus. Each time a "progresive lay reformer" becomes an administrator in a parish, more people dedicate themselves to fighting against this infection which has so weakened the local Church.

The Church's history is filled with destructions and desecrations which are then promptly met with graceful renaissance. The Romans persecuted the Church. Then the Church toppled the Roman Empire. The barbarians launched Europe and the Church into the Dark Ages. Then the Church flourished as a refuge of Faith and learning. The Church became corrupted by power and greed, then weakened by the Protestant Reformation. Then the Church refocused and saved Europe from becoming completely over-run by heresy. The Church was weakened by misinterpretations of Vatican II.

Then what?

Then we have a core of true believers, strengthened by adversity.

Then we have dedicated young men answering calls to the priesthood.

Then we have religious orders being founded with the sole purpose of restroing the Liturgy.

Then we have faithful who, though less in numbers, are even more zealous in defending the Faith.

Look around you. Amid the ruins of failed experimentation are the beautiful remnants of what "Church" was. Indeed, the remnants of what "Church" is. The Church is timeless, "ever ancient, ever new." If it weren't, it would have died with so many martyrs in Ancient Rome. The Church is resilient in the face of tribulation. If it weren't, it would have yielded to the Protestants rather than fought back with dedication for the ultimate Truth of the Eucharist. Indeed, when one considers what has besieged our Holy Mother Church, our current woes seem almost inconsequential.

However, every time that the Blessed Sacrament is desecrated, every time the Liturgy is de-sanctified, every time our priests are vilified, every time our parishes give way to passing fads of liberalism, a travesty is committed against the dignity of the Church and Her Divine Founder, Jesus Christ.

Will we continue to permit his perpetual crucifixion at the hands of contemprary centurions in almost every sanctuary in Rochester? I should think not.

"Kiss Me Sweet and Kill Me"

Thus wrote John Dowland under the persecution of Queen Elizabeth I of England.

It seems as if there are numerous parallels between our situation today in certain dioceses and the situation under the Protestant Tudors of so long ago. Although we Catholics no longer lose our lives in Western New York, several of us have had our souls ripped out and desecrated by those who claim to do the Lord's bidding. Names will not be mentioned, for you know those of whom I write.

It seems to me that left-leaning Catholics who gain leadership roles are seldom passive in their approach to administration, while those who are right-leaning (right as in both conservative and correct) are much more docile and humble. Of course, there are exceptions in both. However, how many people have fled parishes because the priest did what he was supposed to? My guess: considerably less than have left because of liberal shenanigans. Before the "new ways" were ingrained into the minds of our religious, nuns were contented to be nuns and priests were proud to be priests. Now, we have nuns who look with contempt upon their femininity and wish to become priests, and we have priests who are ashamed of their vocation. When was the last time you saw a priest, other than the priests favored here, wearing a collar or a cassock in public? I myself ran into Fr. Gary Tyman at Barnes and Noble during a recent stay. His apparel: polo shirt, khakis and dress shoes. I pray that our local church learns to appreciate the masculinity of the priesthood and the femininity of "nunhood." After all, even in the first few centuries of our Church, women stepped forward, not to be priests, but to serve as an early form of religious. They visited the sick, buried the dead, helped to lead underground faith communities. The key word there: helped. They did not preside at early liturgies, and if so, did so as illicitly and invalidly as certain women do now.

"Kiss me sweet, and kill me." If we are to die for the Holy Mother Church in a "white martyrdom of faith," so to speak, then let us make the most of it. Let our sufferings be used to bring attention to those who perpetuate error and heterodoxy. When we are chastised for orthodoxy and preserving tradition, then let us strike back with our words and our education. After all, liberlaism is, at it score, naive. It looks only at the present and forsakes the future and the past as irrelevent to present desires. Just look at our mounting national debt for proof of this. We need to give our young people the desire to stand up for the Church, and we need to make sure that our adults and elderly are firm in the Faith, unwilling to buy into the falsities of this modernist heresy. We are the Church. Let us not permit it be desecrated without a fight.

Novena of Fortitude - Day 7

We Have Bumper Stickers!

It's true. We've now got bumper stickers and t-shirts. Talk about living large . . .

I must thank a Rochester reader for supplying the designed products.


make custom gifts at Zazzle

Save St. Thomas the Apostle

Please, readers, pray for the success of our efforts in regards to St. Thomas the Apostle. The parish is one that deserves not to be punished for its orthodoxy and adherence to Rome's norms as opposed to Bishop Clark's. Pray and act.

Novena of Fortitude - Day 6

Today's theme is "blessed are the persecuted."

Novena of Fortitude Returns Monday

I apologize for not keeping as up-to-date with your doses of fortitude, but time is a resource most lacking in my week/weekend. I will post Day 6's video on Monday.

However, on a random note, a priest gave me the following psalm in reference to the Diocese of Rochester's plight of liberalism:

¹ In the LORD I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
"Flee like a bird to your mountain.

² For look, the wicked bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
at the upright in heart.

³ When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do?

⁴ The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of men;
his eyes examine them.

⁵ The LORD examines the righteous,
but the wicked and those who love violence
his soul hates.

⁶ On the wicked he will rain
fiery coals and burning sulfur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.

⁷ For the LORD is righteous,
he loves justice;
upright men will see his face.

Six Christians Burned to Death

Lahore, Pakistan, Aug 2, 2009 / 11:31 am (CNA).- Religious extremists struck again in Pakistan on Saturday when a violent mob of Muslims looted and burned a Christian neighborhood, killing six Christians by burning them to death. The attacks took place in reaction to a rumor that the Koran was desecrated in a nearby village.

The violence, which took place in the central Punjab town of Gorja City, occurred early on Saturday when a throng of Muslims surged into the Christian quarter, setting all 40 of the Christian houses and two churches aflame.

As the crowd of Muslims approached Gojra City, Christians fired shots at them in self-defense.

Six Christians—four women, a man and a 7 year-old child—were burned to death in the attacks.

The rioters were enraged by the alleged desecration of the Koran in the village of Koriyan, about two miles away.

However, Rana Sanaullah, provincial minister for law, who is also responsible for security matters of Punjab, said that an initial investigation found there was no desecration of the Koran. "It was just a rumor which was exploited by anti-state elements to create chaos," he said.

According to locals, the police observed the looting and burning, but took no action. “Though police was present at the time of attack, miscreants were not stopped by them,” local Christians complained. After some time, the police tried to stop the protesters, but the mob turned on the police, resulting in some injuries.

According to Minorities Concern of Pakistan, “this is the third incident in the last two months of this kind in Punjab province in which Christian localities were attacked due to alleged blasphemy.”

Christians make up just 1.5 percent of the total population of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Thus is the world. Thus have they made it. If there is such outcry that a text, albeit sacred to a people, is desecrated, is it not worse that six human beings have been mutilated? The body is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. A book is not.