The Happy Dreams of Hollow Men

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Much has been written on this site in the past two years concerning the false worship given to Baal and his friends in the form of the sacrilegious conciliarist novelty known as "interreligious prayer meetings." These interreligious prayer meetings are violations of the First Commandment. True, they predate the Second Vatican Council, in that James Cardinal Gibbons participated in a travesty of this sort at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, once again proving my oft-made point, to the consternation of Americanists,, that the Potomac does indeed flow into the Tiber.

That is, the attempts to accommodate the Catholic Faith to the exigencies of the religious indifferentism and cultural pluralism that are at the foundation of the constitutional regime of the United States of America helped to pave the way for the triumph of "ecumenism" at the Second Vatican Council, admitting, of course, that there were many, many other elements at work in the Modernist movement in Europe, which hijacked the liturgical movement and turn it into a veritable highway of ecumenism after Modernism was suppressed, albeit temporarily, by Pope Saint Pius X, who knew full well that the Modernists would be back later in the Twentieth Century. However, the Americanist bishops in the United States did play a very important role in establishing the foundation that would lead to the triumph of the novelty of ecumenism at the Second Vatican Council. Consider this passage from Mrs. Randy Engel's excellent The Rite of Sodomy, which really leaves the Americanists, including the members of the John Birch Society, no room to contend that prevailing ethos of this country, which has been the devil's playground from its inception, did not undermine the Catholic Faith significantly throughout the Nineteenth Century:

On April 20, 1884 Pope Leo XIII issued Humanum Genus, the last in a long line of papal encyclicals condemning Freemasonry and secret societies that began with Clement XII in 1738 and continued under Benedict XIV, Pius VII, Leo XII, Pius VIII, Gregory XVI and Pius IX.

Despite this clear teaching of the Church for almost 150 years, [James Cardinal] Gibbons [the Archbishop of Baltimore, 1877-1921], promoted the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, a highly secretive and ritualized fraternal lodge that attracted a wide-assortment of Marxists, anarchists, and free thinkers and all around revolutionary and anti-clerical workers. The Knights of Labor was the precursor of the American Federation of Labor that attracted many Catholic workers and became a hotbed of Communism during the 1930s and 40s.

As a young man, Gibbons had become totally absorbed in the preaching and teachings of Father Isaac Hecker, the founder of the Paulist Order in the United States and a precursor of Catholic "Pentecostalism." Father Hecker preached in an "ecumenical" and "nonjudgmental" contemporary idiom, and his sermons on Catholicism were notorious for their novelty and their defense of Americanism.

After his ordination, Gibbons also committed himself to ecumenicalism. As Archbishop of Baltimore he repeatedly scandalized the Catholic faithful by preaching from Protestant pulpits, using a Protestant Bible, and intoning Protestant prayers.

On September 11, 1893, Cardinal Gibbons gave the opening and closing prayers at the World Parliament of Religions, a pre-Assisi happening held at the Chicago's World Fair. Gibbons shared the "sacred space" with Theosophist Annie Besant, Swami Vivekananda, and representatives of Judaism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and a gaggle of pagan witches.

On hand to assist Cardinal Gibbons were Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul, Father John J. Keane, the former Bishop of Richmond, now Rector of Catholic University of America, Irish-born Archbishop Patrick John Ryan of Philadelphia, and Dutch-born Francis A. Janssens, who was consecrated Archbishop of New Orleans by Cardinal Gibbons. (Randy Engel, The Rite of Sodomy, p. 526)

Cardinal Gibbons was not in the least interested in converting the other participants of the World Parliament of Religions at the World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, in 1893 to the true Faith. Oh, not. He was there to demonstrate his "respect" for other "religions," each of which has, you see, an "element" of truth in it. Richard Cardinal Cushing, the Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970, boasted before he died that he had never made a single convert to the Catholic Faith. Ah, yes, the fruits of Americanism and wicked seeds planted thereby as a the forerunner to ecumenism and the acceptance of sacrilegious and blasphemous "interreligious prayer meetings" as exercises in "charity" and "brotherhood," ignoring the plain fact that one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to instruct the ignorant. To seek the conversion of others to the true Faith is a supreme act of Charity and a demand of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Himself, which is why, you see, I have termed Benedict XVI an enemy of souls: he does not believe it it is necessary to seek the conversion of those outside of the Catholic Church to her own maternal bosom in order to know the safe harbor of salvation that she alone provides.

As noted in From Caesar's Collector of Tribute to God's Collector of Souls, the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday to fortify them with His seven gifts and twelve fruits so that they could proclaim the true Faith to far corners of the known world. Our Lord died for souls. He appointed the Apostles to seek out the lost sheep. Every baptized and confirmed member of the Catholic Church has the responsibility to pray for the conversion of all people to the Catholic Church and to use whatever moments arise in our daily lives to plant a seed in the soul of someone God places in our paths. This can be done quite simply by the giving of a blessed Miraculous Medal or a Green Scapular and entrusting the rest to the Mother of God. We are called, though, to seek souls for the true Church.

The counterfeit religion of conciliarism, however, will have none of this. Building on the foundation provided by the likes of James Cardinal Gibbons here in the United States of America, the modern ecumenists consider it a virtue to engage in the sort of interreligious gatherings that were rather scandalous to many Catholics in 1893. John Paul II had his Assisi I event in 1986, twenty years ago. He participated regularly in all manner of sacrilegious events during his travels around the world, including praising a voodoo witch doctor for the "contributions" he made to his people. Benedict XVI has recently issued "new rules" for these interreligious prayer meetings (see New Rules for Praying with Baal and His Friends) and events, which give rise to the appearance of indifferentism and syncretism despite all of the protestations from the conciliar popes that they do not give such an appearance at all. Remember, no one, including a putative pope, can make two plus two equal five. Truth is what it is. The Catholic Church condemned all "prayer meetings" with non-Catholics prior to the dawning of the age of conciliarism. There is no such thing as "outcome-based" papal governance. Each Catholic, including the ostensible holders of ecclesiastical office, are bound to take these words of Saint Paul the Apostle rather seriously:

That all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity. But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of God, for that God hath chosen you firstfruits unto salvation, in sanctification of the spirit, and faith of the truth: Whereunto also he hath called you by our gospel, unto the purchasing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God and our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope in grace,  (2 Thess. 11-15)

One of these Traditions is not to "bear the yoke with unbelievers." Who said this? Once again, Saint Paul, the convert from Judaism:

Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: And I will receive you; and I will be a Father to you; and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.  (2 Cor. 6: 14-18)

The plain words of Sacred Scripture and the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church mean nothing to the conciliarists when they want to engage in their pet projects, such as ecumenism, which they believe will bring men "together" and forge a world of "peace" without "dividing" men along denominational lines. These "differences," which have led to so much "disagreement" and "violence," must be put aside in order to forge common bonds across denominational lines. This belief, however, is of the very essence of Freemasonry, as Pope Leo XIII noted in Humanum Genus, 1884:

If those who are admitted as members are not commanded to abjure by any form of words the Catholic doctrines, this omission, so far from being adverse to the designs of the Freemasons is more useful for their purposes. First, in this way they easily deceive the simple-minded and the heedless, and can induce a far greater number to become members. Again, as all who offer themselves are received whatever may be their form of religion, they thereby teach the great error of this age -- that a regard for religion should be held as an indifferent matter, and that all religions are alike. This manner of reasoning is calculated to bring about the ruin of all forms of religion, and especially of the Catholic religion, which, as it is the only one that is true, cannot, without great injustice, be regarded as merely equal to other religions.

But the naturalists go much further; for, having, in the highest things, entered upon a wholly erroneous course, they are carried headlong to extremes, either by reason of the weakness of human nature, or because God inflicts upon them the just punishment of their pride. Hence it happens that they no longer consider as certain and permanent those things which are fully understood by the natural light of reason, such as certainly are -- the existence of God, the immaterial nature of the human soul, and its immortality. The sect of the Freemasons, by a similar course of error, is exposed to these same dangers; for, although in a general way they may profess the existence of God, they themselves are witnesses that they do not all maintain this truth with the full assent of the mind or with a firm conviction. Neither do they conceal that this question about God is the greatest source and cause of discords among them; in fact, it is certain that a considerable contention about this same subject has existed among them very lately. But, indeed, the sect allows great liberty to its votaries, so that to each side is given the right to defend its own opinion, either that there is a God, or that there is none; and those who obstinately contend that there is no God are as easily initiated as those who contend that God exists, though, like the pantheists, they have false notions concerning Him: all which is nothing else than taking away the reality, while retaining some absurd representation of the divine nature.

One of the chief ways by which Judeo-Masonry seeks to make warfare upon the Catholic Faith and to implant false ideas into the minds of ordinary Catholics is to get the ostensible shepherds to agree with its agenda of religious indifferentism, starting with the acceptance of the heretical notion of the separation of Church and State. Pope Leo XIII noted this in Humanum Genus:

In those matters which regard religion let it be seen how the sect of the Freemasons acts, especially where it is more free to act without restraint, and then let any one judge whether in fact it does not wish to carry out the policy of the naturalists. By a long and persevering labor, they endeavor to bring about this result -- namely, that the teaching office and authority of the Church may become of no account in the civil State; and for this same reason they declare to the people and contend that Church and State ought to be altogether disunited. By this means they reject from the laws and from the commonwealth the wholesome influence of the Catholic religion; and they consequently imagine that States ought to be constituted without any regard for the laws and precepts of the Church

It is a relatively easy thing for the devil to convince Catholics that "interreligious prayer meetings" are actually good and productive, if not pleasing to God, who "loves" all religions, it is claimed, once a nation establishes itself on the false, blasphemous principle that it has no obligation to render unto God a formal recognition of the true religion, namely, Catholicism, as the foundation of order within the souls of its citizens and hence for the foundation of an order in the body politic that is consonant to the fostering of conditions in which citizens can better save their souls as Catholics. The only foundation for good citizenship is Catholicism, something that the devil knows quite clearly, which is why he has attacked the true Faith--violently in Europe and Latin America, insidiously here in the United States by means of a popular culture founded on Protestantism and Judeo-Masonry--with unremitting fury in the form of the secular state. A secular state predisposes all citizens, especially Catholics who are deformed by the ethos of conciliarism that has drawn much of its sustenance from the currents of Judeo-Masonry, to think that there is indeed some inter-denominational or non-denominational or completely secular way in which to provide order at home and peace internationally.

Alas, there is only one way to know authentic peace, that of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and that is by persisting in a state of Habitual or Sanctifying Grace. Peace in the individual souls of men makes it more possible, although never guaranteed (human nature is wounded and men are always inclined to commit sins), for men to work together in civil society as they keep in mind the pursuit of their Last End as citizens of Heaven first and foremost. Our citizenship as members of the Catholic Church is what predisposes men to work with each other cooperatively in the fostering of the common good of a society. Those who take seriously the Particular Judgment that will be rendered on their immortal souls when they die understand that they have a solemn obligation from God Himself to do everything for His greater honor and glory, that even in the things that pertain to Caesar they must obey His Commandments and recognize that everything in the realm of Caesar must be done in light of eternal salvation or damnation.

Those who reject this plain truth come to look for "solutions" to social problems by means of political parties, elections, political ideologies or philosophies and by attempting "put aside" differences in the quest for "understanding." This is all from the devil, who wants to deceive men into thinking that they are more or less self-redemptive, that they do not need to submit to the Deposit of Faith entrusted by Our Lord solely to the Catholic Church to know what is true and that they do not need to have belief in, access to or cooperation with Sanctifying Grace to be holy. Having rejected the Catholic Church as the one and only path to personal sanctity and thus to social order, men will be predisposed to look to blasphemous and sacrilegious "prayer meetings" such as took place in Chicago in 1893 and such as have taken place--and continue to take place--throughout the conciliar structures as the rot of ecumenism burrows itself deeper and deeper into the Catholic psyche.

Thus it is that so few Catholics bat an eyelash or are at all concerned when the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, a Buddhist who is ambivalent about abortion (see appendix below), is the featured speaker at an "ecumenical event" co-starring the Bishop of Buffalo, the Most Reverend Edward Kmiec, Jerry Seidler, a pro-abortion Jewish rabbi of the "Reconstructionist" school of Talmudic Judaism, a "zen master" and an assortment of Protestant "ministers." Here is the story from the Buffalo News:

The Dalai Lama opened his three-day visit to the University at Buffalo on Monday afternoon by joining Sikhs, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and just about any other religious group in celebrating what was likely the largest interfaith service in Western New York history.

Drawn together by the world's most famous Buddhist, about 6,000 people from all sorts of religious backgrounds set aside their differences for an hour inside UB's Alumni Arena.

The Dalai Lama, who spoke briefly and without notes, emphasized the importance of spirituality in people's lives and encouraged harmony among faith groups.

He acknowledged strife among faiths, but insisted that religion can still play a positive role in developing happier and better human beings.

"We need religious spirituality," he said. "Please practice sincerely and seriously. Religious teaching should be part of our daily life."

The remarkable service brought the red-and-gold robed Dalai Lama on a dais with a Muslim imam, Catholic bishop, Baptist preacher and Jewish rabbi, as well as 10 other clergy and area religious leaders.

"I don't think we've ever had that kind of gathering in Buffalo before, certainly not in my time here," said Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, who was seated directly to the Dalai Lama's left.

Nawang Khechog's Tibetan flute-playing, which sounded at times like a flock of finches chirping around a backyard feeder, started the event.

Several dozen religious leaders, including a group of eight Tibetan monks, then proceeded into the arena, greeted by a group of children from UB's Early Childhood Research Center and a traditional performance by a delegation of Haudenosaunee, the first people to settle in Western New York.

There were readings, prayers and chants from sacred texts, as well as a ritual gonging and three minutes of meditative silence.

Rabbi Jerry Seidler sang a contemporary Jewish peace song in Hebrew and in English. Sawsan Tabbaa read a verse from the Quran in Arabic; her son, Hassan Shibly, followed her, reciting the passage in English.

"It was a needed service for this community at a time when people were suffering and turning away from peace. This was so much needed at this time," Tabbaa said afterward.

Dr. Kailash Lall, who marched in the procession, said he was happy to see so many religious groups working in harmony.

"We're trying to get everybody together. It's a very good opportunity for people of different faiths to express their own views and accept other peoples' views in a positive manner," said Lall, a Hindu.

The Dalai Lama sat in a large chair between Kmiec and Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede of the Rochester Zen Center, often responding to a reading or prayer by clasping his hands and nodding slightly.

Entering the arena, he greeted enthusiastic spectators with a wide, cherubic smile and outstretched arms.

"It was really amazing to be in the same room as him," said Amy Lipsitz of Buffalo. "Just to see him sitting there with all those other people, and seeing the energy come off him."

"He's got the most wonderful smile and expression," added Janet Grossman of Elma.

The service was especially important in light of so much global conflict, she said.

"The world right now - there's so much unrest, so much poverty, so much war going on everywhere," said Grossman. "I think people need to realize we can all work together."

The Dalai Lama, with a bow to the crowd and the religious leaders on stage, took to the podium at 4:30 p.m.

Before his commentary on materialism and the value of religion, he lightened the solemnity of the event with his characteristic humor.

Struggling for the exact words to describe the performance of a group of UB theatre and dance students - who did a series of interpretive dances on the running track located above the seating in the arena - he compared them to "angels from different directions come to bless us."

Then, he added, with a hearty laugh, "Something like that."

The crowd roared with its own laughter.

He also poked fun at a minor mistake in the otherwise well-planned program. The master of ceremonies, Bert Gambini, had introduced a Baha'i prayer; instead, a woman took the microphone and read a popular Christian prayer.

"Everything precise, except the announcements there," noted the Dalai Lama, glancing playfully in the direction of Gambini.

Again, laughter.

He spoke for about 15 minutes and didn't disappoint.

"He didn't have to say much, just being there was enough," said Bob Merritt, 62, a practicing Buddhist from the Town of Tonawanda. "He just has a charisma about him."

Anyone who attended the service was handed a thin yellow string. Toward the end, they were asked to help each other tie the strings around their wrists, as a gesture of mutuality and good faith.

The Dalai Lama tied the string around Kmiec's wrist.

He then handed out embroidered white silk scarves, known as khatas, to Kmiec and other religious leaders on the dais - a sign of reciprocating blessing.

The group proceeded out of the arena after a performance by the the Nu Revelation Choir of True Bethel Baptist Church.

Well, as someone with whom I used to be fairly friendly from the Buffalo area is wont to say, "There you have it!" The Dalai Lama didn't "have to say much." His "being there was enough." What more is there to say? Buddhists do not believe in reality. (All right, I know. Buddhists do not believe that we we see with our minds is reality, which is why we must "empty" our thoughts. A mind that that is emptied, however, becomes the possession of the devil. Yes, this leads to all manner of political and ecclesiastical applications. I will leave same to the readers to make for themselves.) What can they say that matters when these "peace-loving" folks are not persecuting Catholics in Thailand or elsewhere? What is the point of such a meeting except to give the impression that we are all "one big family" and that everyone really, really loves "his" "God" and his "truth" and that we should just all get along like veritable Rodney Kings without mentioning anything "divisive" or "judgmental."

Some will protest that this is all so "harmless." No, it is not. This is offensive to God. It is a grave scandal that a man considered by most to be an authentic Catholic shepherd was in attendance and probably encouraged the people of the Diocese of Buffalo to attend. Yes, true, he is following the example of John Paul II's own interreligious prayer meetings, which included treating bogus Protestant "clergymen" as legitimately ordained "ministers" capable of administering a "blessing" on crowds of people. Nevertheless, ladies and gentlemen, this whole exercise is a violation of the First Commandment and reaffirmed everyone in attendance in religious indifferentism, possibly even giving rise to thoughts of religious syncretism in the minds of more than a few Catholics (that is, merging elements of each "religion" into one, something that Pope Saint Pius X called in Notre Charge Apostolique, August 15, 1910, "The One-World Church").

Although a few papal encyclical letters will be cited below, a treatise written by the late Bishop George Hay, the Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District of Scotland from 1778 to 1811, explains this matter in great detail. Take a deep breath. It is worth a patient and careful reading. Bishop Hay was explaining what the Church had always taught from time immemorial. No one on earth has any power to "reform" the irreformable:

GENERAL LAWS OF GOD, FORBIDDING ALL COMMUNICATION IN RELIGION WITH THOSE OF A FALSE RELIGION (from The Sincere Christian)

Q. What are those laws which prohibit this in general?

A. They are principally these following:

(1) The first is grounded upon the light in which all false religions are considered in the Holy Scripture; for there we are assured that they arise from false teachers, who are called seducers of the people, ravenous wolves, false prophets, who speak perverse things: that they are anti-Christs, and enemies of the cross of Christ; that, departing from the true faith of Christ, they give heed to the spirits of error; that their doctrines are the doctrines of devils, speaking lies; that their ways are pernicious, their heresies damnable, and the like. In consequence of which, this general command of avoiding all communication with them in religion is given by the apostle: "Bear not the yoke together with unbelievers; for what participation hath justice with injustice? or what fellowship hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbelievers? or what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God." (2 Cor. 6:14)

Now it is the true religion of Jesus Christ, the true doctrine of His gospel, which is justice and light; all false doctrines are injustice and darkness; it is by our holy faith that we belong to Christ, and are temples of the living God; all false religions flow from the father of lies, and make those who embrace them unbelievers; therefore all participation, all fellowship, all communication with false religions, is here expressly forbidden by the Word of God. We have seen above 2 that we are obliged to love the persons of those who are engaged in false religions, to wish them well, and to do them good; but here we are expressly forbidden all communication in their religion — that is, in their false tenets, and worship. Hence the learned and pious English divines who published at Rheims their translation of the New Testament, in their note upon this passage, say: "Generally, here is forbidden conversation and dealing with unbelievers in prayers, or meetings at their schismatical service, or other divine office whatsoever; which the apostle here uttereth in more particular terms, that Christian people may take the better heed of it."

(2) The next general command to avoid all religious communication with those who are heretics, or have a false religion, is this, — "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, AVOID; knowing that he that is such a one is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment." (Tit. 3:10)

Here we see another general command to avoid all such — that is, to flee from them, to have no communication with them. But in what are we commanded to flee from them? Not as to their persons, or the necessary communications of society; for then, as the same holy apostle says upon a similar occasion, "You must needs go out of the world." [1] Cor. 5:10) Not as to the offices of Christian charity; for these we are commanded by Christ himself, in the person of the good Samaritan, to give to all mankind, whatever their religion be: therefore, in the most restricted and limited sense which the words can bear, the thing in which we are commanded to avoid them is in all matters of religion; in that in which they themselves are subverted and sin; in things relating to God and His service. In these they err, in these they are subverted, in these they are condemned; therefore in these we must avoid them.

Hence the pious translators of the Rheims New Testament, in their note on this text, say, "Heretics, therefore, must not wonder if we warn all Catholics, by the words of the apostle in this place, to take heed of them, and to shun their preachings, books, and conventicles."

(3) A third general command on this subject is manifestly included in this zealous injunction of the apostle: "We charge you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received from us." (2 Thes. 3:6)

In this passage, all the different sects of false religions are particularly pointed out; for, however they may differ in other respects they generally agree in this, of rejecting apostolical traditions handed down to us by the Church of Christ; all such the apostle here charges us, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to avoid — to withdraw ourselves from them. Now it is evident that the most limited sense in which this command, so warmly laid on us by the apostle, can be taken, is to withdraw ourselves from them in everything relating to religion, — from their sacraments, prayers, preachings, religious meetings, and the like. It is in these things that they "do not walk according to the tradition received from the apostles". In these things, then, we are here commanded, in the name of Christ Himself, "to withdraw ourselves from them".

Seeing, therefore, that the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of this holy apostle, has so often, and in such strong terms, forbidden all manner of fellowship in religion with those who are out of His holy Church, let us not be deceived by the specious but vain sophistry of cunning men, who lie in wait to deceive; let us not offend our God, by transgressing these His express commands, by joining in the prayers or going to the meetings of such as are separated from His holy Church, lest He should withdraw His holy grace from US, and as we expose ourselves to the danger, leave us to perish in it.

Let us hear and follow the advice and command of the same holy apostle: "As therefore ye have received Jesus Christ the Lord, walk ye in Him; rooted and built up in Him, and confirmed in the faith; as also ye have learned, abounding in Him in thanksgiving. Beware lest any man impose upon you by philosophy and vain deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ." (Col. 2:6) Wherefore, to all those arguments which may be brought from human, worldly, or interested motives, to induce us to join in or to partake of any religious duty with those of a false religion, though in appearance only, we ought to oppose this one, — "God has expressly forbidden it, therefore no human power can make it lawful."

PARTICULAR LAWS OF GOD FORBIDDING ALL COMMUNICATION  WITH FALSE RELIGIONS, AND ASSIGNING REASONS FOR IT

Q. What are the particular laws on this subject?

A. In the three general commands above mentioned, God Almighty speaks, by the mouth of His holy apostle, as Lord and Master, and lays His orders upon us absolutely. In what follows, He unites the merciful Savior to the Sovereign; and whilst He no less strictly commands us to avoid all religious communication with those who are separated from His holy Faith and Church, He at the same time condescends to engage our obedience, by showing us the strongest reasons for it.

(1) "Beware of false prophets", says our blessed Master, "who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves". (Mat. 7:5) Here Jesus Christ commands His followers to "beware of false prophets" — that is, to flee from them, to be on their guard against them; and He adds this powerful motive, "Lest ye be seduced and ruined by them"; for, whatever appearance of godliness they may put on, though they come to you in the clothing of sheep, yet within they are ravenous wolves, and seek only to slay and to destroy.

To the same purpose He says in another place, "Take heed that no man seduce you; for many will come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and they will seduce many." (Mat. 24:4) "And many false prophets shall arise and seduce many." (ver. 2) Here He foretells the cunning of false teachers, and the danger of being seduced by them, and commands us to take care of ourselves, that such be not our fate.

But how shall we escape from them? He afterwards tells us how: do not believe them, have nothing to do with them, have no communication, with them. "Then", He says, "if any man shall say, to you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive even the elect. Behold. I have told it you beforehand. If therefore, they shall say to you, Behold he is in the desert, go ye not out; behold he is in the closet, believe it not." (Mat. 24:23)

Can there be a more powerful reason to enforce the observance of His command, or a stronger motive to induce His followers to have no religious communication with such false teachers? Many will be certainly seduced by them; and so will you, if you expose yourself to the danger.

(2) St. Peter, considering the great mercy bestowed upon us by the grace of our vocation to the true faith of Christ, says, that it is our duty to "declare the praises and virtues of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His admirable light". (1 Pet. 2:9) St. Paul also exhorts us to "give thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His beloved Son." (Col. 1:12) Where it is manifest that as the true Faith of Jesus Christ is the only light that conducts to salvation, and that it is only in His Kingdom — that is, in His Church — where that heavenly light is to be found, so all false religions are darkness; and that to be separated from the Kingdom of Christ is to be in darkness as to the great affair of eternity. And indeed what greater or more miserable darkness can a soul be in than to be led away by seducing spirits, and "departing from the faith of Christ, give heed to the doctrine of devils". (1 Tim. 4:1) St. Paul, deploring the state of such souls, says that they "have their understandings darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance: that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts". (Eph. 4:18)

On this account the same holy apostle exhorts us in the most pressing manner to take care not to be seduced from the light of our holy Faith by the vain words and seducing speeches of false teachers, by which we would certainly incur the anger of God; and, to prevent so great a misery, He not only exhorts us to walk as children of the light in the practice of all holy virtues, but expressly commands us to avoid all communication in religion with those who walk in the darkness of error. "Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief; be ye not, therefore, partakers with them. For ye were theretofore darkness; but now light in the Lord; walk ye as the children of the light,. . . and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness". (Eph. 5:6)

Here, then, we have an express command, not only not to partake with the unfruitful works of darkness — that is, not to join in any false religion, or partake of its rites or sacraments — but also, not to have any fellowship with its professors, not to be present at their meetings or sermons, or any other of their religious offices, lest we be deceived by them, and incur the anger of the Almighty, provoke Him to withdraw His assistance from us, and leave us to ourselves, in punishment of our disobedience.

(3) St. Paul, full of zeal for the good of souls, and solicitous to preserve us from all danger of losing our holy Faith, the groundwork of our salvation, renews the same command in his Epistle to the Romans, by way of entreaty, beseeching us to avoid all such communication with those of a false religion. He also shows us by what sign we should discover them, and points out the source of our danger from them: "Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them who cause dissensions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and to avoid them; for they that are such serve not Our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by pleasing speeches and good words seduce the hearts of the innocent". (Rom. 16:17)

See here whom we are to avoid — "those that cause dissensions contrary to the ancient doctrine"; all those who, hating, left the true Faith and doctrine which they had learned, and which has been handed down to us from the beginning by the Church of Christ, follow strange doctrines, and make divisions and dissensions in the Christian world. And why are we to avoid them? Because they are not servants of Christ, but slaves to their own belly, whose hearts are placed upon the enjoyments of this world, and who, by "pleasing speeches and good words, seduce the hearts of the innocent" — that is, do not bring good reasons or solid arguments to seduce people to their evil ways, so as to convince the understanding, for that is impossible; but practice upon their hearts and passions, relaxing the laws of the gospel, granting liberties to the inclinations of flesh and blood, laying aside the sacred rules of mortification of the passions and of self-denial, promising worldly wealth, and ease, and honors, and, by pleasing speeches of this kind, seducing the heart, and engaging people to their ways.

(4) The same argument and command the apostle repeats in his epistle to his beloved disciple Timothy, where he gives a sad picture, indeed, of all false teachers, telling us that they put on an outward show of piety the better to deceive, "having an appearance, indeed, of godliness, but denying the power thereof;" then he immediately gives this command: "Now these avoid: for of this sort are they that creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, who are led away with divers desires"; and adds this sign by which they may be known, that, not having the true Faith of Christ, and being out of His holy Church — the only sure rule for knowing the truth — they are never settled, but are always altering and changing their opinions, "ever learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth"; because, as he adds, "they resist the truth, being corrupted in their mind, and reprobate concerning the Faith". (2 Tim. 3:5)

Here it is to be observed that, though the apostle says that silly weak people, and especially women, are most apt to be deceived by such false teachers, yet he gives the command of avoiding all communication with them in their evil ways, to all without exception, even to Timothy himself; for the epistle is directed particularly to him, and to him he says, as well as to all others, "Now these avoid", though he was a pastor of the church, and fully instructed by the apostle himself in all the truths of religion; because, besides the danger of seduction, which none can escape who voluntarily expose themselves to it, all such communication is evil in itself, and therefore to be avoided by all, and especially by pastors, whose example would be more prejudicial to others.

(5) Lastly, the beloved disciple St. John renews the same command in the strongest terms, and adds another reason, which regards all without exception, and especially those who are best instructed in their duty: "Look to yourselves", says he, "that ye lose not the things that ye have wrought, but that you may receive a full reward. Whosoever revolteth, and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine the same hath both the Father and the Son. If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, nor say to him, God speed you: for he that saith to him, God speed you, communicateth with his wicked works". (2 John, ver. 8)

Here, then, it is manifest, that all fellowship with those who have not the doctrine of Jesus Christ, which is "a communication in their evil works" — that is, in their false tenets, or worship, or in any act of religion — is strictly forbidden, under pain of losing the "things we have wrought, the reward of our labors, the salvation of our souls". And if this holy apostle declares that the very saying God speed to such people is a communication with their wicked works, what would he have said of going to their places of worship, of hearing their sermons, joining in their prayers, or the like?

From this passage the learned translators of the Rheims New Testament, in their note, justly observe, "That, in matters of religion, in praying, hearing their sermons, presence at their service, partaking of their sacraments, and all other communicating with them in spiritual things, it is a great and damnable sin to deal with them." And if this be the case with all in general, how much more with those who are well instructed and better versed in their religion than others? For their doing any of these things must be a much greater crime than in ignorant people, because they know their duty better.

Q. These laws are very clear and strong; but has the Christian church always observed and enforced the observance of them?

A. The spirit of Christ, which dictated the Holy Scriptures, and the spirit which animates and guides the Church of Christ, and teaches her all truth, is the same; and therefore in all ages her conduct on this point has been uniformly the same as what the Holy Scripture teaches. She has constantly forbidden her children to hold any communication, in religious matters, with those who are separated from her communion; and this she has sometimes done under the most severe penalties. In the apostolical canons, which are of very ancient standing, and for the most part handed down from the apostolical age, it is thus decreed: "If any bishop, or priest, or deacon, shall join in prayers with heretics, let him be suspended from Communion". (Can. 44)

Also, "If any clergyman or laic shall go into the synagogue of the Jews, or the meetings of heretics, to join in prayer with them, let him be deposed, and deprived of communion". (Can. 63)

So also, in one of her most respected councils, held in the year 398, at which the great St. Augustine was present, she speaks thus: "None must either pray or sing psalms with heretics; and whosoever shall communicate with those who are cut off from the Communion of the Church, whether clergyman or laic, let him be excommunicated". (Coun. Carth. iv. 72 and 73)

The same is her language in all ages; and in this she shows herself to be the true mother, who will not suffer her children to be divided. She knows her heavenly spouse has declared that "no man can serve two masters; we cannot serve God and Mammon;" and therefore she must either have them to be hers entirely, or she cannot acknowledge them as such. She knows His holy apostle has protested that there can be no "participation, no fellowship, no concord, no pact, no agreement between the faithful and the unbeliever;" and therefore she never can allow any of her faithful children to have any religious communication with those of a false religion and corrupted Faith.

Notice this last line: "The same is her language in all ages. . . . She knows His holy apostle has protested that there can be no 'participation, no fellowship, no concord, no pact, no agreement between the faithful and the unbeliever;' and therefore she can never allow any of her children to have any religious communication with those of a false religion and corrupted Faith." Bishop Hay was not inventing this teaching. He was merely reiterating the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church. This should be an indication, at the very least, to those not yet ready to accept the conclusion that I have reached about the conciliar church has embraced the very thing that a Successor of the Apostles said that the Catholic Church could never allow.

Indeed, Bishop Hay also pointed out that the Third Council of Carthage, which was an assembly of North African bishops in the year 398, condemned in absolute terms the very sort of exercise that took place in Buffalo, New York, a few days ago:

"None must either pray or sing psalms with heretics; and whomsoever shall communicate with those who are cut off from the Communion of the Church, whether clergymen or laic, let him be excommunicated."

Pope Pius XI prohibited Catholics from participating in such events with non-Catholics. Writing in Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928, he noted:

This being so, it is clear that the Apostolic See cannot on any terms take part in their assemblies, nor is it anyway lawful for Catholics either to support or to work for such enterprises; for if they do so they will be giving countenance to a false Christianity, quite alien to the one Church of Christ. Shall We suffer, what would indeed be iniquitous, the truth, and a truth divinely revealed, to be made a subject for compromise? For here there is question of defending revealed truth. Jesus Christ sent His Apostles into the whole world in order that they might permeate all nations with the Gospel faith, and, lest they should err, He willed beforehand that they should be taught by the Holy Ghost: has then this doctrine of the Apostles completely vanished away, or sometimes been obscured, in the Church, whose ruler and defense is God Himself? If our Redeemer plainly said that His Gospel was to continue not only during the times of the Apostles, but also till future ages, is it possible that the object of faith should in the process of time become so obscure and uncertain, that it would be necessary to-day to tolerate opinions which are even incompatible one with another? If this were true, we should have to confess that the coming of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles, and the perpetual indwelling of the same Spirit in the Church, and the very preaching of Jesus Christ, have several centuries ago, lost all their efficacy and use, to affirm which would be blasphemy. But the Only-begotten Son of God, when He commanded His representatives to teach all nations, obliged all men to give credence to whatever was made known to them by "witnesses preordained by God," and also confirmed His command with this sanction: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned." These two commands of Christ, which must be fulfilled, the one, namely, to teach, and the other to believe, cannot even be understood, unless the Church proposes a complete and easily understood teaching, and is immune when it thus teaches from all danger of erring. In this matter, those also turn aside from the right path, who think that the deposit of truth such laborious trouble, and with such lengthy study and discussion, that a man's life would hardly suffice to find and take possession of it; as if the most merciful God had spoken through the prophets and His Only-begotten Son merely in order that a few, and those stricken in years, should learn what He had revealed through them, and not that He might inculcate a doctrine of faith and morals, by which man should be guided through the whole course of his moral life. . . . .

So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it. During the lapse of centuries, the mystical Spouse of Christ has never been contaminated, nor can she ever in the future be contaminated, as Cyprian bears witness: "The Bride of Christ cannot be made false to her Spouse: she is incorrupt and modest. She knows but one dwelling, she guards the sanctity of the nuptial chamber chastely and modestly." The same holy Martyr with good reason marveled exceedingly that anyone could believe that "this unity in the Church which arises from a divine foundation, and which is knit together by heavenly sacraments, could be rent and torn asunder by the force of contrary wills." For since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His physical body, is one,compacted and fitly joined together, it were foolish and out of place to say that the mystical body is made up of members which are disunited and scattered abroad: whosoever therefore is not united with the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with Christ its head.

Pope Pius XI was writing about the sort of ecumenism that has been embraced by the entire ethos of conciliarism, an ecumenism that does not seek the unconditional conversion of Protestants to the true Church and that permits Catholic popes and cardinals and bishops and members of the laity to pray to violate the First Commandment and to spit in the face of the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church stated so clearly by Bishop George Hay two hundred years ago. Readers will either see this or they will not. There is simply no reconciling Catholicism with conciliarism.

For those who would say that "past policies" do not bind present popes, a review of the words of Pope Saint Pius X, contained in Pascendi Dominci Gregis, might be useful:

All these prescriptions, both Our own and those of Our predecessor, are to be kept in view whenever there is question of choosing directors and professors for seminaries and Catholic Universities. Anyone who in any way is found to be tainted with Modernism is to be excluded without compunction from these offices, whether of government or of teaching, and those who already occupy them are to be removed. The same policy is to be adopted towards those who openly or secretly lend countenance to Modernism either by extolling the Modernists and excusing their culpable conduct, or by carping at scholasticism, and the Fathers, and the magisterium of the Church, or by refusing obedience to ecclesiastical authority in any of its depositories; and towards those who show a love of novelty in history, archaeology, biblical exegesis; and finally towards those who neglect the sacred sciences or appear to prefer to them the secular. In all this question of studies, Venerable Brethren, you cannot be too watchful or too constant, but most of all in the choice of professors, for as a rule the students are modeled after the pattern of their masters. Strong in the consciousness of your duty, act always in this matter with prudence and with vigor.  Equal diligence and severity are to be used in examining and selecting candidates for Holy Orders. Far, far from the clergy be the love of novelty! God hateth the proud and the obstinate mind.

"Interreligious prayer meetings" are novelties that blaspheme God and scandalize souls. One wonders if any conciliar bishop in the United States of America has read Pope Pius IX's Iam Vos Omnes, September 13, 1868, or Pope Pius XI's Mortalium Animos, no less Pope Saint Pius X's Pascendi Dominici Gregis. I would say, however, that few are even remotely familiar with the prophetic warning and call to arms issued by Pope Gregory XVI in Probe Nostris, September 18, 1840:

You are well aware, venerable brothers, of the many misfortunes which now afflict the Catholic Church. You know, too, that holy religion is being attacked by the pollution of errors of every kind and by the unbridled rashness of renegades. At the same time heretics and unbelievers attempt by cleverness and deceit to pervert the hearts and minds of the faithful You are aware, in shore, that practically no effort has been left untried in the attempt to overthrow the unshakeable building of the holy city. In particular, We are obliged, alas! to see the wicked enemies of truth spread everywhere unpunished. They harass religion with ridicule, the Church with insults, and Catholics with arrogance and calumny. They even enter cities and towns, establish schools of error and impiety, and publish their poisonous teachings which are adapted to secret deceit by misusing the natural sciences and recent discoveries. Furthermore they enter the hovels of the poor, traverse the countryside, and seek the acquaintance of the farmers and the lowest classes. They try every method of attracting the uneducated, especially the youth, to their sects, and of making them desert the Catholic faith, whether by means of Bibles inaccurately translated into the vernacular, pestilential newspapers and pamphlets of little weight, or by seductive speeches, pretended charity, and gifts of money.

We mention events which you yourselves witness. For despite your sorrow and your pastoral denunciations, you are obliged to tolerate in your dioceses these men spreading heresy and unbelief, these assertive preachers who ceaselessly waylay and ravage your flock by going around in sheep's clothing while inwardly they are ravening wolves. What more can We add? There is hardly any uncivilized district left in the entire world to which headquarters of the main societies of heretics and unbelievers have not sent scouts and emissaries without counting the cost. These men, by waging secret or open war on the Catholic religion and its pastors and ministers, tear the faithful from the bosom of the Church and prevent unbelievers from entering it.

You can easily imagine the straits in which We live, since We are laden with the care of Christ's flock and the churches, and must therefore render a detailed account to the divine Prince of Shepherds. For this reason We decided to recall in this letter the causes of the troubles which beset both Us and you. You can then reflect how important it is for all the bishops to redouble their efforts so as to break the assault of the enemies, to beat back their attacks, and to forewarn and protect the faithful from their clever appeals. We have been doing this, and We shall not stop. We know that you have likewise done so, and We are confident that you will continue.

However, in order not to lose heart, "we should all be sure not to fear them as if We had to overcome them by our own strength, since Christ is both our counsel and our courage. As we can do nothing without Him, with Him we can do all things. To give strength to the preachers of the Gospel and ministers of the sacraments, He says, 'Behold I am with you all days even to the end of the world' and also, 'I have spoken these things to you that you may have peace in me; in the world you shall have affliction but take heart, I have overcome the world.' So clear and indisputable are these promises that no scandals should make us weak lest we seem unthankful for God's choice of us even though His help is as effective as His promises are true."

To confront with sobriety the truth of our ecclesiastical situation is not to lose heart. Not at all. We must maintain the Supernatural Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity at all times. God has redeemed this moment of Church history in which we are living. The victory belongs to His Most Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. We must, though, protect our own souls from all contact with conciliarism, seeking out the authentic Faith of our fathers in the catacombs, calling to mind these words of Saint Athanasius, who was exiled and excommunicated for his unwavering opposition to Arianism:

May God console you! ... What saddens you ... is the fact that others have occupied the churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside. It is a fact that they have the premises --- but you have the Apostolic Faith. They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true Faith. You remain outside the places of worship, but the Faith dwells within you. Let us consider: what is more important, the place or the Faith? The true Faith, obviously. Who has lost and who has won in the struggle --- the one who keeps the premises or the one who keeps the Faith?

True, the premises are good when the Apostolic Faith is preached there; they are holy if everything takes place there in a holy way ...

You are the ones who are happy; you who remain within the Church by your Faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the Faith which has come down to you from Apostolic Tradition. And if an execrable jealousy has tried to shake it on a number of occasions, it has not succeeded. They are the ones who have broken away from it in the present crisis.

No one, ever, will prevail against your Faith, beloved Brothers. And we believe that God will give us our churches back some day.

Thus, the more violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate themselves from the Church. They claim that they represent the Church; but in reality, they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going astray.

Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ.

These words are precisely applicable in our own day today. Most Catholics at the time of Saint Athanasius in the Fourth Century did not realize (or care) that their bishops were Arians. Most Catholics of our day today in the Twenty-first Century do not realize (or care) that their bishops are infected with the mindset of Modernism, if not actual Modernists themselves. The parallels are exact.

As I have been noting in the past six months, find a good place in the catacombs. Get "prayed up" as a priest who hails from the Big Sky State is wont to say.  Assist only at the Immemorial Mass of Tradition outside of the conciliar structures. Stay close to Our Lord in His Real Presence. Consecrate yourself (and/or renew your consecration) to Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Say as many Rosaries as your state-in-life permits. Read about the lives of the saints. Know that this time of apostasy and betrayal will pass, perhaps not in our lifetimes, but that it will pass. Our Lady will have the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart, and it will be glorious. In the meantime, we stand by the foot of her Divine Son's Cross with her at Holy Mass, begging her some share in the sufferings of her Divine Son so that we can make reparation for our own sins--and for those of sins of hollow men who dream happy dreams of a world without denominational boundaries.

Vivat Christus Rex!

Sorrowful Immaculate Heart of Mary, 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 Matthew, pray for us.

Saint Thomas Villanova, pray for us.

Saint Eustace and Companions, pray for us.

Saint Athanasius, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.

Saint Dominic, pray for us.

Saint Basil, pray for us.

Saint Vincent de Paul, 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 Lucy, pray for us.

Saint Agnes, pray for us.

Saint Agatha, pray for us.

Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.

Saint Catherine 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 Therese Lisieux, pray for us.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.

Blessed Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.

Blessed Francisco, pray for us.

Blessed Jacinta, pray for us.

Sister Lucia, pray for us.

 

A Solemn Act of Consecration to Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, Pope Pius XII

Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of Your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to You, all the people of our country and all the world.

Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as You wish to accomplish Your designs in the world.

O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.

We come with confidence to You, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed Your own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes Your shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with your rule, triumph in every heart and home.

Amen.

 

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 harm 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.  

 

A Note on Buddhists and Abortion (from a Buddhist website):

The Buddhist texts make no case for the legal rights of a fetus, nor do they mention abortion in circumstances of rape, incest, severe deformity, or cases of mental, physical, or emotional abuse. (1) His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is watching closely to see whether medical research is able to determine precisely when the consciousness enters the fertilized egg, whether at the time of conception or perhaps somewhat later. In 1992, he voiced the unorthodox and controversial view that:

There might be situations in which, if the child will be so severely handicapped that it will undergo great suffering, abortion is permissible. In general, however, abortion is the taking of life and is not appropriate. The main factor is motivation. (2)

Making such ethical decisions is a tremendous personal responsibility, however, and one's motivation is crucially important. Another Tibetan, Lama Thubten Yeshe, once said, "If you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are creating happiness rather than suffering for a being by killing it, then go ahead. But who, other than a person with a very high level of spiritual realization, can be completely sure?" In the Buddhist perspective, such confidence would require the power to discern other beings' past and future lives, and this ability is rare. The traditional Buddhist view takes into account the happiness of both the unborn fetus and the pregnant woman, not only in this life, but in all future rebirths, and this is beyond the ability of ordinary people to see.