Ecce Ancilla Domini, Fiat Mihi Secundum Tuum: A Reflection on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today's article is a slightly revised reflection on the feast we celebrate today, the feast which signifies the moment when the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, the very Word through Whom all things were made, personally entered into human history as He was made Incarnate in the Virginal and Immaculate Womb of His Most Blessed Mother by the power of the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, God the Holy Ghost, Who overshadowed Our Lady after she had given her perfect Fiat to the Will of the First Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, God the Father, as that Will was made known to her by Saint Gabriel the Archangel. The whole of human history is changed today--and no one can remain neutral about what happened on this day.
 
If the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity really did become Man this day in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb so as to redeem us on the wood of the Holy Cross thirty-three years later, as we know is indeed the case, then every person and every nation on the face of this earth must acknowledge this fact and subordinate everything to the Deposit of Faith that He has entrusted exclusively to His Catholic Church for Its eternal safekeeping and infallible explication. We must pray to Our Lady every day so that we will never lose sight of the centrality of the Incarnation in our own lives and in the lives of our nations, never lose sight of the fact that Holy Mass itself is Incarnational as the Word Who was made Incarnate in her Virginal and Immaculate Womb is made Incarnate on altars of sacrifice under the appearances of bread and wine by true bishops and true priests.
 
Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ spent nine months in the tabernacle of Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb, thereby sanctifying the wombs of al mothers. He is in solidarity with every child in every mother's womb. Every abortion, whether by chemical or surgical means, is an indirect attack on the Incarnation that took place this very day.
 
A blessed Feast of the Annunciation of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to His Most Blessed Mother by Saint Gabriel the Archangel to you all. 
 
Holy Mother, Mary of God, pray for us now, and at the hour our death!

Finally, although I am not prepared yet to fully discuss the results of the medical tests that I underwent at Mercy Hospital in Ardmore, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, suffice it to say for the moment that there has been some progression of the mild global cerebral volume loss that was discovered nine months ago. I have will have more after I have consulted with my personal physician and will continue my work, albeit at the continued slower pace that I have been working recently, as my physical strength and mental ability permit.

For the moment, though, suffice it to say that to love God means to embrace suffering with joy, and I embrace this suffering without hesitation as the merciful means He has given me to prepare for my Particular Judgment, no matter whether it comes sooner or much later. Blessed be the Holy and Adorable Will of God! Deo gratias.

AS WAR CONTINUES TO RAGE IN UKRAINE AND AMONG BELIEVING CATHOLICS

As I will be unable to complete the article that I am working on at this time until late on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as I have two minor tests to undergo today (one of which is determine if I have lost any more of my marbles since the mild global cerebral volume loss was discovered last year on a CT-Scan), I want to reiterate just a few simple points here before elaborating on them and others in the body of “Naturally Absurd, part seven.”

Ukrainians have long been persecuted by the Russians. Vladimir Putin does not believe that Ukraine should exist as it has been constituted since 1991. All his talk about opposing the West, which he surely means as I have explained in depth in my commentaries, is window dressing for his nationalist ambitions, something that Ukrainians themselves see, which is why most of them are not rushing into the streets to wave the Russian tri-color flag as they know the Russians to be their tormentors.

Sadly, the worthless Ukrainian officialdom, headed by the Volodymyr Zelensky, a complete  stooge of the West and an autocrat who has banned all opposition political parties he deems to be “pro-Russian” even though one of them condemned the Russian invasion, have sought to “repay” Russians and Russian-speakers for the past, refusing to forgive as they are forgiven and thus fueling the conflict, especially since the American-engineered coup in 2014.

Nonetheless, however, ordinary Ukrainians are trying to defend their own country as they are every bit as patriotic as the Russians, which is why Vladimir Putin’s forces, that might be able to secure control over key cities sooner or later, are encountering much more resistance than Put thought they would. For all the talk about Putin fighting the American “deep state,” therefore, it should be remembered that its denizens sniped away at President Donald John Trump for four years before engineering his way out of the White House. In like manner, you see, a long-term Russian occupation of key Ukrainian cities or an effort to partition the country will result in a guerilla warfare of the sort that the Red Army experienced for ten years in Afghanistan.

Wars must be have just causes and limited goals that are achievable and will not result in a disproportionate amount of foreseen but unintended evils (accidental killing of civilians) that make the good end sought immoral to pursue.

I reiterate: Vladimir Putin cares naught for the Just War Theory. He believes in the realpolitik of Nicolo Machiavelli. This is not to defend Volodymyr Zelensky, who is putting his acting experience to good use by staging fake videos and disseminating his own information while making like Putin at home in his treatment of political opponents but pretending to be George Washington and/or Winston Churchill to his dreamy-eyed Western audiences, or his wicked association with Western nogoodniks.

However, those who are so ready to believe in all that Putin is doing ought to stop to recognize that the hero worship being offered to him by so many is just as wrong as that being offered to Zelensky. The forces that are causing the problems in the world today are preternatural in nature, and Our Lord will raise up the Great French Monarch in due course to fight them mightily in a truly just war sanctioned by Heaven.

Let me reprise what I included in part two of “Wars and Rumors of Wars,” starting with the words of Our Lady of Ukraine herself:

‘Forgive your enemies, through you and the blood of the martyrs will come the conversion of Russia. The times are coming which have been foretold in the end times…. See the desolation which surrounds the world…. the sin, the sloth, the genocide. Pray for Russia. Oppression and wars continue to occupy the minds and hearts of many people. Russia, despite everything continues to deny My Son…. if there is not a return of Christianity to Russia, there will be a third world war, and the whole world faces ruin.’ (As found at: Our Lady of Hrushiv. There are references to “Saint John Paul II” in other parts of this article that one can ignore as completely irrelevant. For more information on Our Lady’s apparition in 1987, please see Our Lady of Ukraine.)

Our Lady’s specific call for the Rosary to be prayed by Ukrainian Catholics was made when she appeared to Marina Kizyn on April 26, 1987. Here is the message:

I have come on purpose to thank the Ukrainian people because you have suffered most for the church of Christ in the last 70 years. I have come to comfort you and to tell you that your suffering will soon come to an end. Ukraine will become an independent state.

Do not forget those who have died in the Chernobyl disaster. Chernobyl is a reminder and a sign for the whole world.

Forgive your enemies. Through you and the blood of martyrs will come the conversion or Russia. Repent and love one another. The times are coming which have been foretold as being those in the end times. See the desolation which surrounds the world…the sin, the sloth, the genocide. Pray for Russia. Oppression and war continue to occupy the minds of and hearts of many people. Russia, despite everything, continues to deny my Son. Russia rejects real life and continues to live in darkness. If this not a return to Christianity in Russia, there will be a Third World War: the whole world will face ruin.

Teach the children to pray. Then them to live in truth and live yourselves in truth. Say the Rosary, It is the weapon against Satan. He fears the Rosary. Recite the Rosary at any gathering of people.

I have come to comfort you and to tell you that your suffering will end soon. I shall protect you for the glory and the future of God’s kingdom on earth, which will last for a thousand years. The Kingdom of Heaven and Earth is close at hand. It will come only through penance and the repentance of sins.

This wicked world is feasting on depravity and impurity. Many lies are proclaimed against the Truth. The innocent are condemned. Many come as false messiahs and false prophets. Be diligent. Be on your guard.

Happy are they whose lives are blameless and who walk in fear of the Lord.

My children, all of you are dear to me and please my heart. I make no distinction of race of religion. You her in the Ukraine have received knowledge of the One, True, Apostolic Church. You have been shown the door to Heaven. You must follow this path, even though it may be painful.

The Eternal God is calling you, This is why I have been sent to you. You in the Ukraine were the first nation to be entrusted to me. (The ruler Yaroslav the Wise dedicated the Ukraine to the Most Holy Mother of God in the year 1037.) Throughout your long persecution you have not lost faith, hope, or love. I always pray for you, my dear children, wherever you are. (As found at: Our Lady of Ukraine.)

Before any legalists in cyberspace point out that this apparition has not been approved by the authority of the Catholic Church, I would urge one and all to see that the words attributed to our dear Lady, she to whom the cause of world peace has been entrusted by her Divine Son through her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, are both inspiring and efficacious. They serve as a warning to us take seriously our Lenten observances, especially prayer and fasting, and they exhort us to pray her most Holy Rosary, forgive our enemies, and that she loves all children, including infidels, apostates, and heretics, and desires them to be enfolded in the one true church, the Catholic Church.

Vladimir Putin knows nothing of forgiveness as he is a vengeful former KGB officer in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the head of its successor, the FSB, the Russian Federation under President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s. He is a ruthless, remorseless killer who has ordered a massive roundup of those opposing his war policies at this time.

Volodymyr Zelensky, whose “comedy” act was so lewd that it cannot be mentioned, is a secular Jew who knows nothing of forgiveness, which is why he has sought control the press in his own right and why is unwilling to cede the Donbas to the Russians to stop the carnage that he, egged on by his Western enablers, helped to provoke and thus unleash Putin’s pent up rage about the dissolution of the Soviet empire.

The world must be punished because men continue to sin unrepentantly and because they believe that they can establish a “better” world and build “peace without Christ the King and His true Church and without a tender devotion to and firm reliance upon His Most Blessed Mother, especially through her Most Holy Rosary. This is true of the West, and it is true of Russia, which has not been converted back to Christianity as true Christianity is found only in the Catholic Church:

Just as Christianity cannot penetrate into the soul without making it better, so it cannot enter into public life without establishing order. With the idea of a God Who governs all, Who is infinitely Wise, Good, and Just, the idea of duty seizes upon the consciences of men. It assuages sorrow, it calms hatred, it engenders heroes. If it has transformed pagan society--and that transformation was a veritable resurrection--for barbarism disappeared in proportion as Christianity extended its sway, so, after the terrible shocks which unbelief has given to the world in our days, it will be able to put that world again on the true road, and bring back to order the States and peoples of modern times. But the return of Christianity will not be efficacious and complete if it does not restore the world to a sincere love of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. In the Catholic Church Christianity is Incarnate. It identifies Itself with that perfect, spiritual, and, in its own order, sovereign society, which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and which has for Its visible head the Roman Pontiff, successor of the Prince of the Apostles. It is the continuation of the mission of the Savior, the daughter and the heiress of His Redemption. It has preached the Gospel, and has defended it at the price of Its blood, and strong in the Divine assistance and of that immortality which has been promised it, It makes no terms with error but remains faithful to the commands which it has received, to carry the doctrine of Jesus Christ to the uttermost limits of the world and to the end of time, and to protect it in its inviolable integrity. Legitimate dispenser of the teachings of the Gospel it does not reveal itself only as the consoler and Redeemer of souls, but It is still more the internal source of justice and charity, and the propagator as well as the guardian of true liberty, and of that equality which alone is possible here below. In applying the doctrine of its Divine Founder, It maintains a wise equilibrium and marks the true limits between the rights and privileges of society. The equality which it proclaims does not destroy the distinction between the different social classes. It keeps them intact, as nature itself demands, in order to oppose the anarchy of reason emancipated from Faith, and abandoned to its own devices. The liberty which it gives in no wise conflicts with the rights of truth, because those rights are superior to the demands of liberty. Not does it infringe upon the rights of justice, because those rights are superior to the claims of mere numbers or power. Nor does it assail the rights of God because they are superior to the rights of humanity. (Pope Leo XIII, A Review of His Pontificate, March 19, 1902.)

Those of you who have yet to accept the simple truth that the Catholic Church cannot make any compromises with error ought to reread the following sentence from the passage above as the conciliar “popes” have indeed made terms with error have polluted the integrity of the doctrine of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and all that Jorge Mario Bergoglio at this time to put these errors in easily understandable terms to as to tickle the itching ears of the multitudes:

It makes no terms with error but remains faithful to the commands which it has received, to carry the doctrine of Jesus Christ to the uttermost limits of the world and to the end of time, and to protect it in its inviolable integrity. (Pope Leo XIII, A Review of His Pontificate, March 19, 1902.)

Yes, Pope Leo XIII was a very wise pope, and we love had not the voice of a true pope for nearly sixty-three and one-half years, which is why so many people are looking to “conservative” figures in the counterfeit church of conciliarism for leadership and guidance. The counterfeit church of conciliarism is more the standard bearer of Christianity than is the Russian Orthodox Church.

Use this Lent to beg Our Lady to grant us a true pope.

Use this Lent to beg Our Lady to grant protection to the Catholics of Ukraine.

Use this Lent to beg Our Lady for the peace of her Divine Son, a peace that can be had in the lives of us all if we pray, fast, go to Confession regularly (if possible in this time of a paucity of true priests), pray the Rosary with fervor, keep the promises of the Brown Scapular, protect ourselves with the Miraculous Medal and distribute blessed Green Scapulars to all those God’s Holy Providence places in our path during our journey in this passing, mortal vale of tears.

Do not fear what may happen because of current events. Just beg Our Lady to help you stay in a state of Sanctifying Grace as sin is not only more deadly the coronavirus, it is more dangerous and deadly than any world conflict.

Pray the Rosary daily.

I will have more in a few days.

For the time being, though, I need to make an appeal for $300 as one of the two tests I am having today is offered on a cash-only basis at the facility that I will be using. It would be awfully nice if some reader who accesses this site can make such a non-tax-deductible financial gift.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Jorge Sure Knows How to Lower the Boom Fast When He Wants to Do So

Jorge Mario Bergoglio lowered the boom on one of his conciliar “bishops” who was not “collegial” with his mandate-approving confreres in Puerto Rico.

This commentary provides a brief history about how the conciliar “popes” removed almost no “bishop” prior to the Boston Globe’s reporting becoming widespread news in 2002 even though such disparate journals as The Wanderer and the National Catholic Reporter had been reporting on clerical scandals for nearly two decades.

Although I am aware that Jorge Mario Bergoglio has issued a new "constitution" for the curial conciliar that seeks to feminize the conciliar-occupied Vatican and obliterates all distinctions between its dicasteries and "pontifical" councils and commissions, I will not be able to offer an extended commentary on this development until after complete part seventeen of "Sin: Moare Deadly than the Coronavirus, work on which will resume after I complete "Naturally Absurd, pat seven," to summarize developments in the world of the pathological liars, sociopaths, and globalist stooges/environmental alarmists, and lockdown specialists found in the administration President in Name Only Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. 

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us. 

Saint Benedict of Nursia, pray for us.

Saint Benedict of Nursia Was the Founder of Western Monasticism and the Adamant Foe of Idolatry, Paganism, and Heresy

This reflection contrasts the work of Saint Benedict of Nursia with that of the two most recent conciliar “popes.”

Much time is spent in this reflection giving attentionn to Bergoglio’s denial of the commission that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ gave to the Eleven on Ascension Thursday to convert all men to the true Faith. Saint Benedict of Nursia, the father of western Monasticism and thus of Europe itself, had an intolerance for such teaching. So should we.

An original commentary will appear in a few minutes. 

Although I am aware that Jorge Mario Bergoglio has issued a new "constitution" for the curial conciliar that seeks to feminize the conciliar-occupied Vatican and obliterates all distinctions between its dicasteries and "pontifical" councils and commissions, I will not be able to offer an extended commentary on this development until after complete part seventeen of "Sin: Moare Deadly than the Coronavirus, work on which will resume after I complete "Naturally Absurd, pat seven," to summarize developments in the world of the pathological liars, sociopaths, and globalist stooges/environmental alarmists, and lockdown specialists found in the administration President in Name Only Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. 

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us. 

Saint Benedict of Nursia, pray for us.

 

On the Feast of Our Good Saint Joseph: The Just and Silent Man of the House of David

Today, of course, is the great Feast of Saint Joseph, the Chaste Spouse of Our Lady, the just and silent man of the House of David. Saint Joseph denied himself his biological fatherhood in order to serve as the ever-virginal spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the most loving foster-father to Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In him, Saint Joseph, is to be found every virtue for a husband and father to imitate: patience, charity, forbearance in all difficulties, fortitude, perseverance, temperance, and total self-abnegation. Those of us who are husbands and fathers must learn to be more silent, to learn to be more loving, to learn to be more patient, to learn to be more meek, to learn to be ever-ready to worker harder and harder at our life's work so as to help our wives and our children to live as redeemed creatures here below in order to know eternal happiness hereafter in Heaven. Saint Joseph is the model of home life and the patron of artisans, the protector of widows and orphans, the patron of those who are in danger of death. May we invoke his patronage each day after we invoke that of his Most Chaste Spouse, Our Lady, and never be slow to turn to him in our spiritual and temporal needs:

"O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires. O thou Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers. O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee, and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near thy heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. Saint Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for me. Amen!"

The next original article is proceeding at a snail's pace, and there are at least three others after that to follow in due course. I have, however, rectified an oversight made when publishing a piece about Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI on February 10, 2022. The oversight? Failing to import the aticle's text from Word into the body of the article. I am sorry. The article can be found below.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

A blessed Feast of Saint Joseph to you all! 

Revised: Joseph Alois Ratzinger: Entirely Unashamed by His Career of Theological Crimes

As I was reviewing articles to be printed out and then mailed to two people who do not have computers, I discovered that this article, which was published on February 10, 2022, had nothing other than a paste of its introduction in the main body where the text was meant to be imported from a Word document. Oy!

Thus, I spent most of yesterday having to reformat and reformat and reformat the text, much of which was taken from a 2013 commentary but which serves as a valuable review in light of Joseph Alois Ratzinger's belief that all will be well for him at his Particular Judgment. 

I am sorry for my mistake and sorrier still that I did not catch fo about six weeks after the fact. 

Thank you.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

On the Feast of Saint Patrick: The Apostle to Ireland

This is a substantially revised tribute to our glorious Saint Patrick, Bishop and Confessor, whose work in behalf of the conversion of the Irish clans from paganism stands in very sharp contrast to the obeisance that has been paid by the conciliar “popes” and their “bishops” to every false religion and pagan superstition imaginable. It was to wipe out paganism that Saint Patrick spent his life as a missionary to the Emerald Isle, that land of Saints and Scholars which has fallen back into paganism in no small measure because of the false doctrines and sacramental barrenness of the liturgical rites of the counterfeit church of conciliarism. Saint Patrick stands ready to convert each one of us away from our own sins if only we beg his intercession to help make us saints, especially now in the middle of the Fourth Week of Lent.

We are privileged to have a relic of Saint Patrick that is venerated each night before sleep. This relic was given to us most unexpectedly by a good friend of ours some years ago now.

It is my hope, perhaps furtive, to have the next original article published by tomorrow, Friday, March 18, 2022, the Feast of Saint Cyril of Jersualem and the Commemoration of Friday of the Second Week in Lent (and, in some places, of Our Lord's Holy Shroud), which is also the fortieth anniversary of the death of my late mother, Norma Florence Red Fox Droleskey (nee: Maxine Coomer). Please pray for the repose of her immortal soul.

Finally, an original article, Wars and Rumors of Wars, part three, was published yesterday. I will probably add a paragaph or two to discuss Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin's latest rationalization for the war (about fighting Western interests intent on spreading sodomy worldwide), but suffice it to say for the moment that one who wants to stop the spread of one of the four sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance should not be presiding over the wanton killing of innocent civilians by his troops in Ukraine nor be permiting the slaughter of the innocent preborn under cover of law in his own country. Willful murder is also one of the four sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance, and a man who direct the Duma, the Russian Federation's national legislature, to pass laws making the criticism of the invasion of Ukraine that he ordered could easily direct it to stop all surgical assassinations of the preborn at once. One should clean up one's own house before casting himself as a defender of morality, especially when one is notoriously unchaste in his own life and proud of it. 

A blessed Feast of Saint Patrick to you all! 

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Patrick, pray for us.

Wars and Rumors of Wars, part three

As has become more usual than not, this commentary took much longer to complete than I thought that it would.

A conciliar-themed commentary will appear in a few days before I resume work on “Sin: More Deadly Than the Coronavirus, part seventeen.”

Thank you for your patience.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Forget About Jorge's Ninth Anniversary Tomorrow: Read Pope Saint Pius X's Tribute to Pope Saint Gregory the Great

This is a republished reflection on Pope Saint Gregory the Great, whose feast is celebrated today, Friday, March 12, 2021, along with the commemoration of Ember Saturday in Lent, that draws principally upon Pope Saint Pius X's Iucunda Sane, March 12, 1904.

The next original article, which is a follow-up to Wars and Rumors of Wars, part two,  will appear on this site by Monday, March 14, 2022, at the latest.  

Also, Dr. Paul Byrne has asked me to share with others a presentation that he gave at Sacred Heart Church in Cleveland, Ohio, six days ago. The videos include a presentation and a question and answer period: Talk: https://rumble.com/vw9d2p-dr.-byrne.html. Questions and Answers: https://rumble.com/vw9sm5-q-and-a-dr.-byrne.html.

Finally, I want to take a few moments to take note of the work of Bishop Andres Morello, who passed away in Argentina on the First Sunday of Lent, March 6, 2022, which was also the Commemoration of Saints Perpetua and Felicity,

Although I never met His Excellency and only had indirect contact with him through one of his priests (and have known others over the course of time who had very close contact with him), I have long known about him, dating back to the time when the scandals associated with Father Carlos Urrutigoity and the Society of Saint John became a public matter in 2000 and then in subsequent years. Courageously, the then Father Morello, who was the rector of the Society of Saint Pius X’s Seminary in La Reja, Argentina, in the 1980s. This is what I wrote on this sad matter in August of 2014:

As noted six weeks ago in the preface to the posting of the Special Report on the Society of Saint John that I wrote in September and October of 2000, the investigation that I conducted at the behest of two laymen who had served on the Society’s board of advisors before resigning in protest over what they concluded was reckless fiscal mismanagement and a refusal to heed any advice on practical matters. The report was submitted to the Diocese of Scanton and to Father Urrutiogity in the October of 2000, prompting a “Bishop” Timlin to issue a statement to me that is completely laughable in light of all of the evidence that came to light later. Equally laughable is the assertion made on March 22, 2006, by the “papal” nuncio to Paraguay, Archbishop” Orlando Antonini, to attorney James Bendell that “no trace of this Society remains anywhere in Paraguay."

Those subsequent events demonstrated that an episode involving “skinny dipping” on the property of the Society of Saint John in Shohola, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 2000, which was disturbing in and of itself, was an indicator of far greater problems.  Those problems could have been forestalled in the 1980s in Argentina if then Father Alfonso de Galaretta of the Society of Saint Pius X, then the Society’s District Superior in Argentina, had not rejected the conclusion reached by the then rector of the Society’s seminary in La Reja, Argentina, Father Andres Morello, Father Urrutigoity had engaged in homosexual behavior as a seminarian. 

Alas, Father Alfonso de Galaretta, who was consecrated a bishop by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in Econe, Switzerland, on June 30, 1988, was predisposed to disbelieve Father Morello, who was consecrated a bishop in 2005, because he, Father Morello, was a sedevacantist. In this way, you see, the truth about then seminarian Carlos Urrutigoity was obscured by the resentment of the action taken by “The Nine” in 1983, thus predisposing Bishop de Galaretta at the time to disbelieve the accusations against Urrutigoity and thus recommend this predator to be accepted at Saint Thomas Aquinas in Winona, Minnesota. A summary of this situation can be found at The Early Years of Father Carlos Urrutigoity’s homosexual career.

There is an important lesson to be drawn from this as the then Father de Galaretta had his objectivity clouded by his feud with the then Father Morello. It is part of fallen human nature for those who are at odds with each other on other matters to let personal animus for a particular person (based sometimes on intense dislike of the person or and/or seething resentment at particular injustices that one may have suffered at the hands of one deemed to be an adversary) predispose one to be blinded to the truth about a third party or about a matter of substance (theological, political, scientific, etc.).

Many, although not all, in the “resist while recognize” camp reject anything written by one who has announced his acceptance of the papal vacancy at this time of apostasy and betrayal. Some resist even examining with dispassionate objectivity any of the evidence brought forth in behalf of the theological principles of the sedevacantist position. “Don’t listen to ‘so and so,’ he’s a sedevacantist” is a common refrain in “resist while recognize circles.

It is thus a sad part of the saga of Father Carlos Urrutigoity and the Society of Saint John that the truth about his proclivities was obscured because of the hostility that existed within the Society of Saint Pius X between those who were said to be “loyal” to Archbishop Lefebvre and those who were said to be “disloyal” to him by means of “siding” with “The Nine.” (As found on this website: Still No Excuses For Those Who Defend the Society of Saint John.)

Bishop Morello knew that no one was either inclined to the commission of or had in fact committed perverse crimes against nature should be advanced to Holy Orders, distinguishing himself very much from his own ordaining bishop, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Bishop Morello wanted to protect the integrity of the clergy and to prevent unworthy men, no less unrepentant moral deviates, from being placed in a position where they could groom other young men to follow them in their paths of perdition.

In this regard, therefore, Bishop Morello was noted for his own moral rectitude, his piety, his deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Mother of God, especially through her Most Holy Rosary, and for his abiding humility, which manifested itself in so many ways, especially by his diligence in teaching all the seminary courses himself and in doing all the cooking for his seminarians. His Excellency was a true spiritual father to his seminarians and to each of his priests. 

When necessity required, however, he ably defended his ability to form priests, doing so in a sermon he gave in Spanish at Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Monroe, Connecticut, in 2014, during a Mass in which he administered the Sacrament of Confirmation, noting:

The Holy Catholic Church, even in the middle of this most difficult situation which She has been traversing since Vatican II, and maybe since before that, is not reduced to one determined group of faithful Priests or to only one Seminary of ecclesiastical formation.  (The sermon was translated into English and published in the bulletin of Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel.)

Perhaps more than anything else, however, Bishop Andres Morello was noted for his spiritual wisdom and for his charity.

To wit, one of his priests told him of a terrible pastoral situation he had uncovered in the assignment to which he had been sent. Bishop Morello told him, “This is an opportunity for you to become a great saint.” Very wise advice.

As to His Excellency’s charity, suffice it to say that he was extremely patient and generous with a middle-aged man who went down to Argentina on numerous occasions over the years to discern if he could live as a religious brother. Bishop Morello spent many hours over those visits counseling him before the gentleman decided to get married, and this is only one example of how His Excellency gave of himself to others in imitation of the One to Whom His immortal soul had been configured at the moment of his own priestly ordination.

Please pray for the repose of the immortal soul of a devoted champion of Christ the King and True Devotion to Mary, Bishop Andres Morello, remembering to pray also for his priests, seminarians and all those who had the privilege of working with him or having him as their Confessor and pastor.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Pope Saint Gregory the Great, pray for us.

Wars and Rumors of Wars, part two

[Update on March 10, 2022, the Feast of the Forty Holy Martyrs: As the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has issued a statement strongly defended Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and as the Argentine Apostate has stated yet again that all war is "madness," thus ignoring the Just War Theory and the popes' teaching on it, I am in the midst of writing a brief follow-up to this commentary. Although I am tempted to put the follow-up on hold to deal with Jorge Mario Bergoglio's ouster of the conciliar "bishop" of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Daniel Fernández Torres, for failing to observe "collegiality" by refusing to go along with the other six conciliar "bishops" of Puerto Rico in their support for vaccine mandates and for his opposition to the sodomite agenda, I want to complete the follow-up to his commentary first as it will include a good deal of history concerning the Russian persecution of the Uniat Rites both before, during, and after Soviet rule. Thank you.]

Those who do not have the time to ready this study, which attempts to make important distinctions and qualifications without in anyway claiming any kind of infallibility in the judgments contained herein, can simply proceed to the conclusion, which attempts to put the terrible tragedy of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in a supernatural perspective.

However, as there has been much talk about Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin’s stated desire to “de-nazify” Ukraine and much disinformation about what this means, I deem it important to disabuse readers of the propaganda about “denazification,” a slogan that always been used as the pretext for arresting and then liquidating Communism’s opponents (or in this case, Putin’s opponents):

Propaganda efforts have redoubled since Putin launched its aggression against Ukraine a week ago. Suddenly, a host of stories has appeared in conservative media that try to rally support for Vladimir Putin because he is allegedly fighting Nazis and the New World Order in Ukraine.  One of the worst examples is, perhaps, the Gateway Pundit, which has been duped into publishing stories by one Larry Johnson, whose only focus is the glorification of Russia and the smearing of Ukraine as a nation of Nazis.

We could respond by advising Russia and its advocates to worry about their own neo-Nazi infestation, but since this smear has now become widespread, it is prudent to address it.

The Nazi smear is a twisted but effective technique used by Russian propaganda and our left-wing media in equal abundance.  Russia has been doing it since Stalin made it "a thing."  This smear is effective because its victims try to distance themselves from one another and sometimes join in accusations, hoping others won't think of them as Nazis.  It's also effective because it's extremely dirty.  Trying to debunk it makes one dive deep into repulsive dirt.

Remember how Trump was smeared over Charlottesville — where did those Neo-Nazis even come from?  Remember Nick Sandmann?  Remember how Kyle Rittenhouse "became" a neo-Nazi for shooting at violent thugs in self-defense?  Of course you do.  But somehow no one remembers it when exactly the same technique is used on Ukraine.

When the Nazis occupied Ukraine in 1941, my Armenian grandfather became trapped there with four of his children, while his fifth and oldest joined the Soviet Army and was killed in action.  The Nazis arrested my grandfather and sent him to a concentration camp because they decided that he looked Jewish.  By some miracle, he survived and returned home to raise my father and my three aunts.  Growing up, I have been a few times insulted by random antisemites who thought I was Jewish, and I know from personal experience how unfair and downright evil it is to single out people because of their ethnicity.  I've written articles in support of Israel and one time was arrested for hanging pro-Israel posters on the GMU campus.  Don't even bother accusing me of whitewashing a bunch of Nazis.

A lot of the anti-Ukrainian propaganda points have been growing from a widely planted story claiming that their Azov battalion is a Nazi organization.  Debunking that libel today is especially difficult because the Russian influence operators have already distributed the myth around the world, all the way to the U.S. Congress.  It would take an entire think-tank to shovel through that pile of "evidence."

Why have the Russian propagandists chosen that particular group?  Azov is extremely effective against the Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.  The fact is, Russian aggression was the only reason Azov was formed in the first place, so the Kremlin has only itself to blame for it.

The Azov battalion was organized in 2014 when the poorly armed and unprepared Ukrainian army was forced to fight an unexpected war against Kremlin-orchestrated "separatism" in eastern Ukraine.  Seeing how the military was failing, one of the richest Ukrainian industrialists and the governor of the Dnipro Oblast, Igor Kolomoisky, spent a hefty chunk of his own money to recruit and arm a volunteer battalion to defend Ukraine.  The unit was named Azov after the small Azov Sea in southern Ukraine.  This was quickly followed by a series of Ukrainian victories, in which Azov played a part.

Its initial sponsor, Kolomoisky, is Jewish and has since become an Israeli citizen, living in Israel.  Not exactly neo-Nazi material, but the media influencers conveniently omit that fact.  The smear is as absurd as if Hitler were to spread rumors about General Patton being a Nazi so as to hinder the American war effort.

Have there been volunteers with extremist views?  Surely, there have been.  Extremists exist in every nation, and they tend to join militias, as such people are drawn to violence.  In a life-or-death situation for the country, when every fighter and every minute counts, no one does background checks on people who volunteer to fight for a good cause.  Or would you rather they stay home and send bespectacled academics to the war instead?

It's not difficult to single out a dimwit or two and provoke them to make stupid statements on record, then magnify them out of proportion in the media.  The media have done it many times to American conservatives; conservatives should know better.

Were there extremist or racist soldiers fighting in George Patton's army?  I bet there were a few, but it doesn't follow that Patton was one of them, or that the U.S. Army had no moral right to fight Hitler and its victory was not legitimate.

To reference American popular culture, Azov is the Ukrainian version of the Suicide Squad.  Accordingly, they chose a bellicose, ominous-looking emblem of the crossed letter Z that also calls to mind a modified Ukrainian Trident but, to the critics, it appears too close to the SS emblem or the swastika.  It arguably follows traditional embroidery ornaments, and, after all, we don't demonize the entire Buddhist community in Asia for the continued use of their traditional swastika symbol.

There is some scary quality about the designs one can make with the letter Z.  Germans used it, Ukrainians used it, and so have the Russians in the war against Ukraine (see the illustration).  Yet, if I were the Azov P.R. agent, I'd probably advise them to hire a different art director.

In the seven years since Azov was formed, it has been cleaned up to become a special unit in the Ukrainian National Guard, but the smear of being a neo-Nazi militia is still being artificially inflated out of proportion.  It came to a point in January of 2021 when the battalion had to write an official refutation to a Time Magazine article that called them a "white-supremacist militia."  If you remember what happened in Washington in January of 2021, you may wonder if the timing of that story was not coincidental and if a Russian influence operation may play a role in the sudden surge of "white supremacist" and "Nazi" name-calling in the American media, aimed to split and demoralize the country.

Appealing to the history of antisemitism in Ukraine isn't much proof.  Ukraine is not unique here because the history of Europe, especially Russia, is littered with examples of antisemitism.  What makes Ukraine unique is its current Jewish president, Zelensky — the only such head of state in the entire world outside Israel.  By the logic of the Nazi smear, Azov should be fighting on the Russian side against Zelensky.  But Russian propaganda has never bothered to be consistent.  The more insane, the better.

By the same propaganda logic, Germany should be open for invasion by anyone willing to do so because it has a history of state-sponsored antisemitism under Hitler.  Except that today's Germany is not what it was generations ago, and that is what should matter now.

It would seem that the Russian influence operation has been successful not just in planting smear stories, but also in removing the stories that counter their narrative.  The existing links that support this article are in Ukrainian or Russian, so they won't be of much use in the U.S., but for those who read either of those languages, here is a detailed breakdown published by Hromadske, a Ukrainian nonprofit organization for public journalism.

Of the English-language sources, observe the debunking of one of the vile examples of the anti-Azov Russian hoaxes.  On the eve of the Netherlands' referendum about relations with Ukraine, Russian propaganda released a video in which alleged "Azov members" in masks threaten Dutch citizens with violent terrorist acts and burn the Dutch flag.  This example speaks volumes about the goals, methods, and targets of such operations.

Speaking of neo-Nazi videos, here's a recent one on Instagram, in which neo-Nazis swear allegiance to their Fuehrer.  Only they are not Azov fighters, nor are they even Ukrainians.  They are goose-stepping, black-clad young Russians declaring their undying love for the Putin regime.  In other words, Putlerjugend.

The best source is saved for last. It was published by The Hill and written by Kristofer Harrison, who worked for defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and was a foreign policy adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign.  He is a co-founder and principal of AMS, a company that specializes in Russian information warfare.

In the article "Did California's Ro Khanna get duped by Russia's propaganda?," Harrison writes:

Congratulations, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), it appears you were just duped by Russia (and bragged about it). As a result, you promoted Russian propaganda about Ukraine's Azov Battalion being Nazis with text in the behemoth $1.3 trillion spending bill. The question is, who put you up to it? ...

It is ridiculous nonsense that Ukraine is beset with a bunch of Nazis. The Russians have been pushing this foolishness for a while. In Russia, if you want to discredit someone, call them a Nazi. Putin is using it to justify his war to his subjects. Russians are not particularly keen on attacking Ukraine. But if it is to free them from the yoke of Nazis, well, that's different.

The reason why the Kremlin is using information war against the Azov Battalion, specifically, is partially because they sometimes make themselves easy PR targets. These are guys with guns fighting a Russian invasion, not a PR agency with media training. But the bigger reason is that the Azov Battalion is one of the most effective defensive units.

Russia can't beat them on the battlefield, so they use K Street lobbyist sellouts to help cripple them. Who wants to provide guns to fascists? Nobody. That is the ruse you fell for.

In this instance, the Russian active measure began with an article in a publication that should know better: Foreign Policy. John Conyers read the piece on the Congressional Record. It then spread like wildfire among lazy journalists and Russia's network of foolsknaves and propagandists. ...

Russia is attacking the U.S., and quisling K Street lobbyists are helping them. Help us identify them.

Propaganda surely exists on both sides, it's part of any war.  But it's curious to see how, in American social media, especially among some conservatives, it has become popular to ridicule and debunk any embellishments coming out of Ukraine, with no attention whatsoever to a less noticeable, creeping insertion of anti-Ukrainian tropes in the American media, which comes not as a meme, but as an "eye-opener" of a "serious political expert."

Think about that before you make another disparaging comment about an underdog nation fighting for freedom and independence against a stronger, dictatorial neighbor.  Just like some Americans on January 6, Ukrainians rebelled over a brazenly stolen election by a Kremlin-backed candidate in 2004, and then they rebelled again against a Kremlin-backed president in 2014, and they have been fighting off Russian aggression ever since.  Today, Russia is bombing Ukrainian cities, and the Azov battalion is the only force that bravely stands in the way of a superior invading army, defending a strategic port city, Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov. (About Those Neo-Nazis in Ukraine.)

There is much more in this commentary, which does not have be read at once. Indeed, some may not decide to read it at all. Fine.

However, there is propaganda being used by the “left” and the “right” here in the United States of America, and this commentary attempts to use Vladmir Putin’s own words to demonstrate that, despite having legitimate grievances against the globalist agents of the New World Order in the West, Vladimir Putin desires to wipe Ukraine, which has been exploited by those globalist agents to prod and provoke the Russian bear in big and little ways, off the map and to make it clear to other Soviet republics that they either toe the Russian line or face extinction in their own right.

Pray for conversion of the ruthless Vladimir Putin.

Pray for the conversion of the showman and tool of Western globalists, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Pray for the restoration of a true pope on the Throne of Saint Peter, and to these ends pray Our Lady’s Most Holy Rosary daily.

Finally, I ask you all to pray for the repose of soul of the late Bishop Andres Morello, about whom I will have a bit more to write either later today or within the next few days.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint John of God, pray for us.

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