Abbey-Roads2

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos said it…

SSPXers are NOT  excommuninucated!  Nope - neither the priests or the faithful - ONLY the bishops.  This is what the Cardinal said:

Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos clarified the current status of members of the Society of St. Pius X due to excommunications issued by the Vatican to group members in 1988, in the wake of the schismatic gesture by Lefebvre of ordaining four bishops illicitly.

He explained: “The excommunications for the consecration done without the Pope’s permission affects only those bishops who carried out the consecration, and those bishops who received episcopal ordination in this illicit form in the Church, but it does not affect the priests or the faithful. Only those bishops are excommunicated.” - Zenit

The Cardinal was responding to Zenit in an interview January 13, wherein he discussed the mounting requests by schismatic groups to return to full communion with the Church since the Summorum Pontificum was released.

Truly, this is good to know - especially since many a Catholic blogger and other Novus Ordo faithful have been known to tell SSPX-ers they are evil schismatics and on their way to hell.   Nevertheless, there has to be a clearer statement than what the Cardinal said in the interview, because only a paragraph later he stated:

“In this moment,” he continued, “with a little humility, with a little generosity, we can return to full communion, and the faithful want this because they do not want to participate in the rites when the priest is under suspension because the Church does not permit them to say Mass and absolve sins — so the faithful want this full return.” - Zenit  

So what is it?  The priests and the faithful are not excommunicated, but the priests are under suspension - although it is fine for the faithful to attend their Masses and receive their sacraments?   I know some priests who have told couples married in SSPX churches and chapels that their marriages are invalid.  Does this mean their sins are not absolved in confession?  Therefore they have made sacrilegious communions? 

That’s gotta be a tough sell for anyone.

Art thieves. 

Time has an article concerning art thieves in Europe stealing treasures from churches.  This isn’t a new phenomenon, it is simply accelerating - churches and monasteries are easy targets mainly because they lack security systems.  It has happened in our country, yet the focus has usually been upon sacred vessels and metals, although, given time, I’m sure that will change.  In Mexico, Central and South America, sacred art theft has been going on for decades; relics, reilcarios, santos and retablos have long been a hot commodity on the illegal art market. 

Sacred art has always been big business. Both the legal and illegal art markets are flooded with icons and artifacts that were stolen from holy sites in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. But the targeting of Christian art in Europe is relatively new, dating back only a few decades. Conflicts in Cyprus in the ’70s, and in Yugoslavia in the ’90s, along with the breakup of the Soviet Union, provided a fertile environment for widespread looting of religious art and icons, which have continued to flood the black market. - Time  

[Photo: Cary Grant - "To Catch A Thief"]

h/t spiritdaily

Who could be a better teacher for us than St. Joseph? If you want my advice, which I have never tired of repeating these many years, Ite ad Ioseph: “Go to Joseph.” (Gen. 41:55) He will show us definite ways, both human and divine, to approach Jesus. And soon you will dare, as he did, “to take up in his arms, kiss, clothe and look after” (from the prayer to St. Joseph in the Roman missal on his feast day - March 19) this child God who has been born unto us. As a homage of their veneration, the Magi offered Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh. Joseph gave his whole youthful and loving heart. - Christ is Passing By

Patron of the hopeless, pray for us.