Tradicat

 + JMJ Welcome to the New Year! I have no doubt that this year will hold more of the same confusion, conflict and wars - both Religious and Secular. So here's a list of links that attracted my attention. P^3 Popes Past Present and Future RORATE CÆLI: THE UPCOMING CONCLAVE: A Close Look at the College of Cardinals (Exclusive for Rorate) A Groundbreaking Interactive Website on the College of Cardinals Is Launched - Edward Pentin The Church and The Crisis US Commentator: Francis Has Completed His Mission – Gloria.tv Cardinal Defends Maya Eucharist: "Christ Did Not Celebrate the Latin Mass" – Gloria.tv Cardinal Burke: Situation Is 'Apocalyptic' – Gloria.tv 2024 State the Diocese - YouTube The SSPX Confirmed A Critical Rumor Is Actually True - YouTube Star launches podcast documentary on SSPX Resistance in West Cork | Southern Star Tradition in Action Bookstore - Catholic Books, Booklets, Cassettes, CDs DVDs Council Fathers on Ambiguity in Vatican...

 + JMJ Fr. Zed (Zee for Americans :-) has published a list of predictions and ... frankly I think he is right on. I have added my own embellishments ... P^3 Fr. Z’s Predictions for 2025 | Fr. Z's Blog     2025 Predictions 1) There will not be a papal conclave. 2) The USCCB will oppose deportations. Tradicat: Even if none are made. 3) At least one SCOTUS justice will retire. 4) At least one Cardinal will be a source of major scandal. 5) Vatican finances will deteriorate even more. 6) The summer will bring another social upheaval like 2020. 7) The US border crisis will be mostly resolved. 8) Israel will attack Iranian nuclear sites. 9) The SSPX will consecrate a bishop. Tradicat: I think it will be 2 to 5 and won't happen until 2026 or 2027. 10) Fr. Z will not be made a “Monsignor”. Tradicat:... and he did pretty good in 2024   2024 Predictions 1) Trump will be elected [+1] 2) Hamas will be destroyed in Gaza [+0.5] 3) The Ukrainian war will continue with n...

 + JMJ   Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons  I move through a number of different Catholic 'circles'. Conservative Modern Catholic, Diocesan Latin Mass, and SSPX Traditional Catholic, The sedevacantist issue has popped up once in a while in my 40+ years as a Traditional Catholic. Pope Francis has, in some ways, become a unifying point. I've had to talk some Modern Catholics off the Sedevacantist ledge because Pope St. John Paul II was the only thread of Catholicism that they knew. So here's my off the top of my head points vs sedevacantism: When one stands on the judgment that a current Pope isn't the Vicar of Christ, then what is to stop someone else from making the same judgment on previous Pontiffs?   I know a person who started down that path with Pope B16, and found that Pope JP2 also didn't pass muster. Next fell Pope P12, B15 and so on down the line.   So where does it stop?  Well with the people I know, la...

 + JMJ  My current thoughts on the eventual consecration of new bishops by the SSPX. It is not a matter of if but when. The SSPX will ask for permission from Rome. #2 is what faithful non-schismatic / non-sedevacantist Catholics will do. It is ludicrous to say that one can't accept a bishop that Pope Francis gives permission to be consecrated.   What if Pope St. John Paul II had given permission for the four consecrated in 1988? Rome may or may not give permission ... but ... This may be taken as an opportunity to restart discussions Pope Francis is just the type of person to do it. So what?  We need to pray because as long as the SSPX is not given a no-compromise regularization, the Church is not on a path to recover from the current crisis. End Stop. P^3     Courtesy of RORATE CÆLI: “SSPX Episcopal Consecrations – Ignoring the Past” – Guest article by Joseph Bevan “SSPX Episcopal Consecrations – Ignoring the Past” – Guest article by Joseph Bevan...

 + JMJ While there is much turmoil in the world, we can still look back a couple thousand years and find peace and joy in a  little manger in the Holy Land! Wishing you a Blessed Christmas and a Holy New Year! P^3

  + JMJ December 24 Yesterday we talked about how the Greeks took over Judea, and how the Machabees fought the Greek Seleucids. Judah Machabeus and his brothers belonged to the Hasmonean family. The Hasmoneans continued to rule Judea and for some time, Judea was independent. The territory of Judea expanded northward to include 2 non-Jewish regions; Sumeria and Idumaea. During this time, the Jews were mainly concerned with keeping their independence, and the purity of the Jewish religion.  The Pharisees and the Saducees came into existence, as well as the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a council of 71 Jewish leaders who made important decisions. Meanwhile, the Roman Empire had grown very powerful. So far, Judea was on friendly terms with Rome, but things were about to change. The leader of Judea died and ...

  + JMJ December 23 We have seen how the Persians, under Cyrus the Great took over the Chaldean Empire. King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Judea,their homeland, and rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. The Persians went on to conquer most of the known world. They took over Egypt, putting an end to the dynasty of the great Pharaohs. India also became a Persian province. The Persians tried to take over Greece as well, but they were defeated at the battle of Marathon. (This victory was remembered by the Greeks with the Marathon races.) The Persians ruled for many years, but eventually their empire came to an end. A young man named Alexander the Great led armies out of Greece and in a few short years, he took over the civilized world. In 331 B.C. the Greeks took over Judea and Judea became a Greek province. Many Jews move...

  + JMJ December 22 In the year 539 B.C. King Cyrus the Great and his Persian armies took over Babylon. The Jews had been captive in Babylon for 58 years since the Chaldeans forced them to go there in 597 B.C.  The Jews had a prophecy; “I am the Lord, that make all things…that raise up the word of My servant, and perform the counsel of My messengers, who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be inhabited: and to the cities of Juda: You shall be built, and I will raise up the wastes thereof…Who say to Cyrus: Thou art My shepherd, and thou shalt perform all My pleasure. Who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be built: and to the temple: thy foundations shall be laid.” (Isaias 44:24-28) Thus read the prophecy which was written by the prophet Isaias, more than 70 years before the Jews were taken captive to Babylon, and more than 110 years before Cyrus was b...

  + JMJ December 21 Yesterday, we read how the Jews were taken into captivity by the Chaldeans and forced to live in Babylon. King Darius of Babylon liked Daniel very much and wanted to put him in charge of his kingdom. Others were jealous of Daniel and they looked for a way to get rid of him. Using flattery, they got the king to make a law forbidding anyone to pray except to the king for 30 days. Anyone caught disobeying the king’s law would be thrown to the lions. When Daniel went to pray to God, the jealous men brought Daniel before the king. Then the king knew he had been tricked into killing his friend, but he prayed that Daniel’s God would deliver him. The next morning, King Darius hurried to the den and Daniel answered him that an angel of the Lord had shut up the mouths of the lions. The king was “exceeding glad”...

  + JMJ December 20  In our study of Old Testament history, we’ve seen how after the reign of Solomon, the Hebrew people divided into 2 kingdoms. 10 tribes broke away and formed the Kingdom of Israel in the north. Their king, Jeroboam, did not want his people to go to Jerusalem to worship God, so he set up the golden calf idols at Bethel and Dan. The kingdom of Israel was eventually taken over by the Assyrians and the people were forced to leave their homes. They were dispersed all over the world, becoming the “Lost Tribes of Israel”. The other kingdom was the Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Judah was made up of 2 tribes; Judah and Benjamin. The Assyrians tried to take over Judah as well, but as we read yesterday, Judith killed the Assyrian general, Holophernes and for some time they were left in peace. The A...

  + JMJ December 19 So the Assyrians conquered the kingdom of Israel and the 10 tribes became known as the “Lost Tribes of Israel”. For many years the Assyrians were the strongest nation in the world. Their capital city was Ninive. The Assyrians spent their time fighting wars and destroying other countries. In 650 B.C. , about 70 years after Israel was overrun, the Assyrian king told his general, Holofernes to take over the kingdoms of the west, and destroy all other gods so that he might be the god of the world. Holophernes led an army of 120 000 soldiers, and 12 000 archers and horsemen as well as flocks of sheep and countless camels and provisions so that they covered the earth like locusts. (Jud 2:11) The Assyrians wreaked havoc and destruction. They killed men, women and children or sold them into slavery. Th...

  + JMJ December 18 Yesterday we talked about how the Assyrians took over the kingdom of Israel. Israel, you remember, was made up of the 10 tribes of Israel in the north, who broke away during the reign of King Solomon's son, Roboam. Because the Temple of Jerusalem was in the kingdom of Judea in the south, however, the other tribes would not go there to worship as God commanded. Instead they set up false gods at the places of Bethel and Dan. Over the years, God sent prophets to bring His people back, but in the end, the Assyrians took over Israel. Not all Israelites worshiped false gods, though. At the same time that the Assyrians were taking over Israel (722 B.C.), there lived a man named Tobias. He was of the Hebrew tribe and city of Nephtali. Tobias did not worship the golden calves at Bethel and Dan. H...