Easy for Blasphemers to Endorse Blasphemy

by Thomas A. Droleskey

As was noted on the home page of this site on Sunday, December 3, 2006, The Nativity Story blasphemes Our Lady and Saint Joseph as it attacks and undermines Catholic teaching on the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We must not patronize this motion picture, which has its "world premiere" at the Paul VI Audience Hall in Vatican City on November 26, 2006, opening to the delight of the conciliarists in attendance.

Archbishop John Foley, a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, actually gave a brief address to welcome the attendees before the showing of The Nativity Story's premiere. None of the Vatican attendees raised a word in protest after the motion picture. Indeed, those who spoke were exuberant in their praise of the film, thus leading Catholics across the ecclesiastical divide worldwide to think that The Nativity Story was worth viewing during this Advent season, which it is not.

Consider this review of the film by Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Heckenkamp of the Apostolate of Our Lady of Good Success in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, which was distributed by them to their e-mail list on the evening of December 4, 2006:

 

On December 2, 2006,  on the First Saturday of December, we went to the local movie theater to watch the movie “The Nativity.  Based on previous reviews of this movie that we had heard, and the fact that the Vatican2 held a premier showing of this movie, we were expecting a movie that at the very least held to Catholic beliefs.  However, from the very beginning of the movie we soon realized our high expectations had to be thrown into the trash, for as the movie progressed, we became more and more disappointed.  The overall conclusion of this movie is that it is not a catholic movie at all, but at best, a Protestant movie directed by men who did not even follow the Biblical account of the birth of Christ. At worst, it is a vile anti-Christian movie created by people who hate Christ and His Church and whose main motive was to defame the name of the Blessed Mother and warp the story of the Birth of Jesus.

As mentioned before this movie discredits our Catholic beliefs, beliefs that are so essential to our Faith that if we do not believe in them, the Church no longer considers us Catholic. What beliefs are these that have been maligned? It is those beliefs which we hold sacred: the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth.

In one of the very first scenes of the movie, Mary is shown with her friends, sowing a field of what looks to be corn.  These friends of Mary give sideways glances and smiles to each other after looking at a group of boys that are nearby.  Then one of these girls runs to tackle one of the boys and what ensues appears to be a pile up of youths in the cornfield with Mary sort of participating in on the outer edges of this entanglement.  Then from the house emerges Mary’s mother looking stern and upset.  She calls to Mary and shakes her head “No.”   The fact that Mary looks to have been participating in some kind of impropriety and had to be corrected by her mother is beyond belief but this is only one occurrence of “sinning” on the part of Mary.  For throughout the first part of the movie, Mary is depicted as any normal 14 year old given to sullen, sulky moods.  This movie shows her to be unhappy with the future marriage that is being arranged for her by her parents (which we know to be historically incorrect).  She walks out of her house in defiance when her father tells her that she is now betrothed to Joseph. These scenes call into question the dogma of the Immaculate Conception issued by Pope Pius IX in 1854. 

It also was implied in the betrothal scene that Mary and Joseph planned on a large family as Mary’s parents indicated that they were to live as husband and wife in every way for one year except for that one act that would produce a family.  Joseph began building the home for Mary and their future children indicating Joseph was planning on having many children.    This is in line with the Protestant viewpoint that Mary and Joseph had many children after Jesus and counters the Catholic Church as it has always taught that both Mary and Joseph took vows of virginity and mutually consented to live as virgins in the married state.

The scene of Annunciation was not anything that a catholic would contemplate while saying the rosary.  They depicted Mary reclining under a tree in the middle of the day while others were around her working.  What is supposed to be the “Archangel Gabriel” is first shown as a hawk and then as a man with an Afro-like hairstyle and white robe looking as if he could be a son of Cheech or Chong. The “angel” had no mystical or holy appearance and he is shown at quite a distance from Mary.  The portrayal makes you wonder if he’s truly Heaven sent.

The Visitation was portrayed as an excuse to run away from her “intended”, Joseph. A way out all of it- as if the whole idea of the coming of Our Lord and the idea of marriage was too much for her. The Magnificat was left out of this scene; however it was partially narrated at the end of the movie omitting the first half of this beautiful prayer:

“ My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior; Because he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid; for, behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed; because he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name; And his mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him...”

You can be certain, upon looking at these omitted words, just why they were omitted and the intentions of the creators of this vile cinematography!

The birth of Saint John was very degrading.   This scene is about two minutes long, depicting Elizabeth holding her upper body up off a chair by holding onto ropes, screaming from pain while two women are ready to receive the child. She delivers, while Mary, with a horrified look on her face, stands by watching.   This scene is not suitable for children to watch.

During Mary’s absence at Elizabeth’s, Saint Joseph was portrayed as being upset that Mary left.  Also were included, implications that Joseph did not expect Mary to come back, as in one scene where he was deep in thought pondering his future with Mary holding his carpenter tools – then suddenly with a look of frustration and anger, he throws his tools to the ground.  Saintly behavior for sure!

When Mary had returned to Nazareth, Joseph was excited to see her. However, on lifting her from the wagon he discovered that she was heavy with child and walked away upset.  Mary tried to convince her parents and Joseph that she was not pregnant due to another man but that “an angel” appeared to her and told her she was going to have a baby.  There was no evidence of any of the three believing Mary.  It was implied that Joseph was ready to stone Mary until he had a vision through a dream (with that “angel” again) that Mary was telling the truth.

The traveling of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem was the best of all scenes in the movie.  But even during this trip there was an occurrence that was disturbing.  While Mary and Joseph were walking through a market of a town, a palm reading woman offered Mary a small piece of cheese or bread which Mary accepted but then this sorceress read Mary’s palm and claimed she was going to have a son. Mary accepted this prophecy with a smile and Joseph shook the woman’s hand, thanked her and then they continued their journey.  The implication was that Joseph and Mary had no objection to fortunetellers.

The scene of the Nativity was extremely heretical. Besides this grave evil, again we find it necessary to say that this movie should not be viewed by children.  Mary was shown to be in labor while she was in the town of Bethlehem.  Joseph rushed around carrying Mary in a frantic state trying to find a room for her as she groaned and breathed heavily as if she had taken Lamaze lessons.  The worst of the worst occurs once they arrive at the stable with Joseph kneeling ready to deliver the baby.  He partially lifts Mary’s dress putting his hands between her legs ready to receive the child.   Mary is laboring, her face sweating and in extreme pain with all of the normal actions of a woman in a delivery room and then she gives birth.  Joseph raises Jesus in the air showing the baby covered with blood and Joseph laughs for joy totally discrediting belief in the Virgin Birth. There is no sign of worship or adoration by either Mary or Joseph. 

Therefore this was not only a Protestant view of the Nativity but also indirectly an act of disbelief in the Divinity of Jesus. There was no indication that Mary and Joseph believed Jesus to be God. 

Meanwhile, the Archangel Gabriel (yes, that same “angel”) appears to one shepherd to inform him of the birth.  There are no other angels that appear as stated in St. Luke’s Gospel “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to god and the highest on earth peace among men of good will.”

 

One by one, the shepherds seem to be leaving their sheep in a “zombie-like trance” and seen walking NOT RUNNING toward the star as it would seem natural to do considering they received this great news from a heavenly vision of great beauty!  There was no joy exhibited in this scene by these shepherds.  It only looked as if these guys were told to walk to this cave and stare at something…  When the shepherds arrive at the stable Mary is seen reclining and holding the child; he is not lying in the manger.  None of the shepherds worship or adore the child and they arrived simultaneously with the three Kings. Who neither appear to be worshipping him.  Then there is this GREAT pause in the movie as we look on at this living Nativity Scene. Some kind of cold, blue lighting is glaring on Baby Jesus that causes him to keep his eyes closed.  Surely they could have done better than this!

This was to be the culmination of the greatest act of love – God becoming Man to die for us!  And yet this movie could not convey even a hint of this profound act of God. 

 And so it is, with all of these facts exposed for your examination, we refute and condemn this movie, “The Nativity.”

Since these cinematographers (who incidentally were the same ones that produced “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy” and had well within their grasp the ability and capability to make a work that would honor Our Lady and Our Lord instead of dishonor them) offended and blasphemed in a seemingly intentional way the Immaculate Heart of Mary in not just one way but ALL FIVE ways that Our Lady had mentioned in her apparitions to Sr Lucia of Fatima, we sincerely hope and pray that our small effort to undo this travesty will help those of you who read this to know the truth and join us in making reparation for this movie by  following the directives of the Queen of Heaven:

‘Look, my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say that I promise to assist, at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.’”

 

Please make sure to distribute this excellent review as widely as possible. Mr. and Mrs. Heckenkamp are to be commended for their diligence and fidelity to the truths of the Holy Faith (as well as their good work in behalf of Our Lady of Good Success). Mr. Richard Nicoletti of New Jersey, who was one of the two sources I relied upon for the first warning about The Nativity Story that was placed on the home pages of this site, reminds me that the motion picture conveys blasphemy against both Saints Joachin and Anne, who disbelieve the Mother of God, their Blessed Daughter, when she explains to them the news of the Incarnation.

What is, of course, interesting to note is that it is evidently the case that none of the conciliarist officials who viewed The Nativity Story (either when it was presented to them via a DVD or in the "premiere" at the Paul VI Audience Hall on November 26) had any objections to the film's doctrinal problems. It is evidently the case that none believed that Our Lady or Saint Joseph or Saint Elizabeth, who scream at Our Lady at one point in the film (according to a report sent to me by another reader), were blasphemed in the motion picture, although it is probably the case that some low-ranking curial officials, one of whom was in seminary with me a quarter of a century ago, recognized the blasphemies but are afraid to speak out publicly for fear of blowing their chances to become "bishops" in the conciliar structures. Most of the conciliar officials who congratulate themselves endlessly on the "new springtime of the church" they have helped to create and sustain walked out of the Paul VI Audience Hall on November 26, 2006, without thinking for a single moment that anything was opposed to Faith and morals in The Nativity Story.

When you think it about it, however, it is easy for blasphemers to endorse blasphemy. That is, men who offer a form of purported "worship" to God that is actually offensive to Him and thus harmful to souls become desensitized to the horrors of blasphemy. The Novus Ordo Missae is an offense to God of its very Protestant and Modernist nature. Men who come to accept the Novus Ordo Missae as a natural and normal expression of the Catholic Faith to the needs of "modern man" will all too readily become accepting of "modern" ways of expressing the Faith in the fora of the popular media. Remember these words of Paul VI that were quoted a few days ago on this site:

The Liturgical reform affects habits that are dear to us; it demands of us some effort. We may not relish this, but we must be docile and have trust. The religious and spiritual plan unfolded before us by the new liturgical constitution is a stupendous one for death and authenticity of doctrine, for rationality of Christian logic, for purity and riches of culture and art. It corresponds to the interior being and needs of modern man."

Ah, yes, the "needs" of modern man. "Modern" man has the need for the fullness of the Catholic Faith as entrusted to Holy Mother Church by her Divine Bridegroom, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "Modern" man needs the Immemorial Mass of Tradition as the most perfect means by which to worship God at the hands of an alter Christus, who is re-presenting the Sacrifice of Calvary in an unbloody manner on an alter of sacrifice (not a "banquet table"). "Modern" man needs to be reminded of his sinfulness, that there he has the need to do penance for his sins, not to abandon forms of "outward penance that belong to another age in the history of the Church" (see Paragraph 15 of the General Instruction to the Roman Missal).

"Modern" man also needs to have the perennial truths of the Catholic Faith taught in all of their holy integrity, not undermined by the blasphemous novelties of ecumenism, which is founded on the belief that it is not necessary to seek with urgency the unconditional conversion of all men at all times to the Catholic Church, and religious liberty, which is founded in the belief that those who adhere to false religions have the right to propagate their false beliefs in public and that those beliefs can contribute to "justice" within nations and "peace" among nations. The novelties of conciliarism blaspheme God and confuse souls, helping to reaffirm non-Catholics in false religions and propagating the Judeo-Masonic notion that "denominationalism" is not necessary or advantageous in a world of pluralism, that it is possible for men of divergent beliefs to live together in "peace" without seeking the restoration of Christendom, thereby denying abjectly Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's absolute rights to reign as King of both all men and of all nations. It is no wonder, therefore, that men who promote these blasphemous concepts can sit by idly as the Mother or God and her most chaste spouse, Saint Joseph, are demeaned and blasphemed.

After all, men who have come to accept "modern" methods of Scriptural exegesis will see few, if any, problems in the depiction of Our Lady in a way that betrays any and all understanding of the effects of her being preserved from all stain of Original Sin and all Actual Sins. Men who believe that Our Blessed Lord did not perform the miracles of the loaves and fishes but merely "inspired" the people who were listening to Him to share what they were hiding from others are not going to view the Faith through the lens of dogmatically defined truths as they sit in rapt attention to the latest "discovery" of some alleged Scriptural expert or as they sift through the contradictions and paradoxes of "new theologians" such as Hans Urs von Balthasar, et al. 

The devil has spun quite a little web this time, catching his conciliarist compatriots in it as they think they are doing Catholics a service by endorsing The Nativity Story and having its premiere at the Paul VI Audience Hall. It might--emphasis on might--have been the case that the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights would have denounced The Nativity Story for its blasphemous depiction of Our Lady and Saint Joseph and the miraculous Birth of Our Blessed Saviour. It cannot do so now, can it? Oh, no. Its legs have been cut off from under it by the Vatican itself. How can a lay-run (but episcopally-advised) Catholic organization denounce a motion picture that has the official endorsement of the Vatican, which could not have been given without the approval of Benedict XVI himself? This stands in stark contrast to the way in which the Vatican sought to distance itself when John Paul II's single sentence about The Passion of of the Christ ("It is as it was") became public nearly three years ago now. (See A Really Big Shew, one of the first articles posted on this site in February of 2004, before, obviously, I had embraced sedevacantism.)

Although there are conciliar officials in the Vatican and within various Novus Ordo parishes and perhaps even chancery offices who know the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception and how Our Lady had a perfect human nature and that she was not a "run-of-the-mill" teenager who would run away from Saint Joachim in a fit of anger or resent her espousal to Saint Joseph. They, too, are now hamstrung. Those who denounce the movie--and there will doubtless be some who will do so--will be confronted by parishioners who will confront them with the Vatican's endorsement of it. Others will see no problem with the motion picture at all, either being ignorant of the doctrinal effects of the Immaculate Conception or dismissive of the the harmful catechetical influences of a doctrinally unsound and blasphemous motion picture on the souls of the Catholics who see them as their legitimate shepherds.

Yes, you see, once again souls are at stake. Souls. The souls for whom Our Lord shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross. The souls for whom Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart was pierced with a sword of sorrow on seven occasions. The souls to whose pastoral care has been entrusted exclusively to the Catholic Church for their instruction and sanctification unto eternity. Souls. Souls. Souls. How many Catholics today, having been steeped in the errors and novelties of conciliarism will be encouraged to support a work of blasphemy because the Vatican, now in the captivity of the conciliar wolves, has endorsed it, thereby reaffirming themselves in all of the confusion about doctrinal principles they have come to accept as a normal and natural part of everyday Catholic belief and praxis?

We know that there will be the triumph of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. We must spend much time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and to her, who is the Mother of God, to make reparation for these and other offenses. We must never lose sight of the fact, however, that the blasphemers of Protestantism and Judeo-Masonry and others in the secular world would never have much of a chance, humanly speaking, to be as successful as they have been in recent decades had it not been the blasphemies of the novelties and errors of conciliarism.

Let us pray a Rosary of reparation right now for The Nativity Story--and for its having been endorsed by the fomenters of the liturgical and doctrinal blasphemies that are part and parcel of life in the conciliar structures. Let us also pray the Magnificat each time we pray the Angelus today and each day through the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe:

And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.

He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy: As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever. (Luke 1:46-55)

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Andrew, pray for us.

Saint Sabbas, pray for us.

Saint Barbara, pray for us.

Saint Nicholas, pray for us.

Saint Ambrose, pray for us.

Saint John Mary Vianney, pray for us.

Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.

Saint Therese Lisieux, pray for us.

Saint Martin of Tours, pray for us.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.

Saint Isaac Jogues, pray for us.

Saint Rene Goupil, pray for us.

Saint John Lalonde, pray for us.

Saint Gregory Lalamont, pray for us.

Saint Noel Chabanel, pray for us.

Saint Charles Garnier, pray for us.

Saint Anthony Daniel, pray for us.

Saint John DeBrebeuf, pray for us.

Saint Athanasius, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.

Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us.

Saint Dominic, pray for us.

Saint Basil, pray for us.

Saint Augustine, pray for us.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.

Saint Sebastian, pray for us.

Saint Tarcisius, pray for us.

Saint Eustace and Family, pray for us.

Pope Saint Stephen I, pray for us.

Saint Lucy, pray for us.

Saint Agnes, pray for us.

Saint Agatha, pray for us.

Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saint John of the Cross, pray for us.

Saint John Bosco, pray for us.

Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.

Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.

Venerable Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.

Father Miguel Augustin Pro, pray for us.

Francisco Marto, pray for us.

Jacinta Marto, pray for us.

The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.  Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.  Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with  the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven.  That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.  Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage.  Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.  That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.  These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.  Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory.  They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude.  Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and arm the Church.  Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations.  Amen.

Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.

Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.

Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.

Response: As we have hoped in Thee.

Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.

Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.

Verse: Let us pray.  O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls. 

Response:  Amen.