Hungry Revolution

The slogan “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” was a PR maneuver, the dressed-up brainchild of the leftist maniacs of the French Revolution who were possessed by a fratricidal rage and who wanted to destroy the existing social order so as to bring in by force the kind of society that the American left wants to foist on the American people today.

It was never about fair treatment for all, it was only ever about mindless, hopeless, bitter resentment, envy, and rebellion.

The goal was for those who were not in power to seize power and then abuse anyone and everyone who got in their way.

But even that could not work, because the revolution is about thoughtless change and turning, never about progress.

As a witness of the French Revolution observed, "Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children" (Jaques Mallet du Pan).

The Revolution Whimpers Out

From DICI 236, Fr. Alain Lorans:

“Wanted: First Aid Technician for Leftist Diocese”

You might soon find an announcement like this in diocesan newspapers…judging from the letter addressed in May by 21 French priests to the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops asking him for pastors less enthralled by the “spirit of the Sixties generation” (sic).

“In our country,” they write candidly, “for the last three or four decades, Catholicism has dwindled and continues to dwindle dramatically (a constant decline in Sunday Mass attendance, in the number of priests, religious, catechists and vocations, etc.). It is possible that the Holy See will soon be compelled to transform some French dioceses into apostolic administrations, given the ridiculously low number of active priests in them.

“Now this Catholicism is sick but not dead,” they continue. “This Catholicism wants to turn the page on lethal liturgical abuses, disastrous preaching about marital morality, a latent anti-Roman complex, deviant sacramental practices (blessing the “remarriages” of divorced-and-remarried couples, general absolution), dubiously Catholic catechesis about the Eucharist, etc.”

And these 21 religious and diocesan priests, all of them less than 50 years old, conclude: “In this context, the [current] episcopal nominations seem incomprehensible to us.”

The post-Sixties crew wearing miters can’t get over it. These protesters, witnessing with revulsion protests against their revolution, are growing old and embittered. What will they do in a little while when they read: “Wanted: first aid technician for leftist diocese. Paleo-progressives need not apply”?

French Survey Reveals Women’s Opinions on Abortion

Source

The report from the General Inspection of Social Affairs (IGAS) on "The Evaluation of the Policies for Preventing Unwanted Pregnancies and for Taking Care of Voluntary Interruptions of Pregnancy" notes that 72% of women who have had recourse to abortion were on contraception. That's 144,000 of France's 200,000 annual abortions. The ratio of abortions to live births in France is 1:4.

The Alliance for the Rights of Life (ADV), also wishing to know the opinion of Frenchwomen on abortion, asked the IFOP to create a survey that was conducted upon a representative group of 1,006 women age 18+. Here are some of the findings.

For women, abortion is of no little importance.
* 61% = "there are too many abortions in our country."
* 83% = "abortion leaves psychological effects difficult for women to live with.”
* 60% (vs. 33%) = “society should do more to help women avoid having recourse to abortion."

French women are in favor of some other policy for preventing abortion that does not simply "provide against unwanted pregnancies" but also helps pregnant women to avoid abortion.
* 83% (vs. 13%) = information pamphlets given at pre-abortion consultations should include "details on help for pregnant women and young mothers."
* 55% = "psychological support to protect her against exterior influences" could help a woman with an unwanted pregnancy opt not to have recourse to abortion.
* 54% = wish for "information on the material aid to which she has a right."

Adoption of children carried to term would be "a good thing to make better known" to young pregnant women who would have heavy personal difficulties in raising their children.
* So say 67% of those >35 years old
* The number climbs to 76% for those <35 years old

The number of abortions continues to grow among minors (age 15-17).
* 11.5% of abortions in 2006
* 8.9% of abortions in 2002

Those between 20 and 24 who have recourse to abortion the most often.

51% of Frenchwomen believe that the 30% growth in the number of abortions by minors since 2001 is best explained by "sexual relations that are too precocious."

Well yes, but abortion is big business in France too. It's one of those twisted ironies that those who claim to be liberating women from slavery to their own bodies are further victimizing them with the abortion trade.

Immaculate Conception

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Bl. Pope Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin."

It was Mary who was conceived immaculately. The birth of Christ, meanwhile, is the Virgin Birth: his mother Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to him, her virginity remained intact during His birth, and she retained her virginity her entire life.

Original sin is a moral deformity, a permanent privation, a wound in our human nature, transmitted like a birth defect from our first parents, Adam and Eve: it is the chief consequence of their deliberate disobedience of God in the Garden of Paradise.

Its effects include:

* Suffering and death. These are physical evils rather than moral evils.

* The rebellion of the lower appetites over the higher faculties. This is called concupiscence, and it's why we have a desire for forbidden things and a fascination for evil. It's also why we find it easy to do what's wrong and difficult to do what's right. We still have free will; we also still know moral truths with certainty, but with difficulty. Concupiscence is not a moral shortcoming in and of itself; rather, it is the weakness of the intellect and the will that inclines us to fail morally.

* The absence of sanctifying grace at birth. This means we don't have the intimate union with God that we need to be truly happy throughout our lives, both in this world and in the world to come. Baptism restores this grace, which is why it is necessary for salvation.

By being immaculately conceived, the Blessed Virgin Mary always enjoyed sanctifying grace and never suffered concupiscence: her mind was always clear, her will was always under control, and she used both her entire life to love, honor, and serve Almighty God, Deo gratias.

When 14-year old St. Bernadette was visited by our Lady in Lourdes in 1858, she was instructed by her confessor to ask the Lady her name.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me who you are?" Bernadette asked the beautiful woman -- four times in fact.

"I am the Immaculate Conception," was the reply -- or, rendered in the local dialect, "que soy era Immaculada Councepciou."

Bernadette gave the reply to her pastor. He was astonished. "You are mistaken," he said. "Do you know what that means?"

The little girl did not: the title that the Pope had declared for the Mother of God had been solemnly declared only four years before, and news of the matter was still being discussed primarily among theologians and clergy. Further, Bernadette was illiterate, and she was conversant only in the Bigourdan patois of the region. Because of her family's poverty and her own ill health, she was six years tardy in preparing for first Holy Communion. It was too incredible that she would know the term "Immaculada Councepciou."

But Bernadette was correct, and her pastor finally overcame his surprise to support her to the local bishop.

Our Lady, meanwhile, went about petitioning her Son in Heaven on behalf of those who came to honor Her as the Immaculate Conception, and the thousands of miraculous cures and other miracles at the shrine in Lourdes give testimony that it pleased God in Heaven that His mother should be so honored.

Immaculada Councepciou, ora pro nobis.

Conversation with Juan Carlos

On my recent trip to France I met Juan Carlos. Not the King of Spain, it turns out, or even a hidalgo, but a Spaniard all the same.

"I am Juan Carlos," he said enthusiastically, "from Madrid."

Señor Carlos had discovered me in Lourdes during an evening's candlelight procession. I was one of a few dozen Americans in the mix who had been taking turns carrying our Ave Cor Mariae banner and waving little American flags.

"I see," I said to the smiling chap, trying to remember if I'd come across him when I'd been in Madrid three years earlier. But it was dark, and the fellow's English was poor, so I was having a tough time. "Did we meet in Madrid?"

"Yes, I am from Madrid," he smiled back at me.

"No, I meant, did we meet a few years ago when I was in Madrid?"

"Yes, Madrid."

I sighed.

He scribbled something on a piece of paper and then handed it to me. "This is my address and telephone number," he explained.

Bemused, I replied "Thank you."

Then he grabbed the flag out of my hand and said, "Now you write down your address and give it to me."

I grabbed the flag back and asked, "Have we met before?"

No, it turned out. But he'd seen me carrying the American flag, and had headed my way so that he could make contact.

"I am a theology student," he explained. "I want to meet Americans who can introduce me to Mel Gibson so that I can help him make movies."

I broke the news to my quixotic acquaintance that Mel lived in California, while I hailed from Atlanta, which is actually closer to New York. "I'm afraid I don't know Mel," I said.

"Well, now you have a friend in Madrid!" Juan Carlos said with a smile as he waved and disappeared into the crowd.

Cervantes, eat your heart out.

Bound for France

As of this moment, my plane should be pushing back from the Atlanta terminal for a flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris; arrival time is scheduled to be 11:20 AM Saturday morning.

Here's the itinerary of the trip:

October 17: Atlanta to Paris
* Transatlantic flight

October 18 - 19: Paris
* Basilica of St. Denis, patron saint of France.
* Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Montmarte
* Shrine of the Miraculous Medal, with the incorrupt St. Catherine Labouré
* The incorrupt St. Vincent de Paul
* Notre Dame Cathedral
* The Sainte Chapelle built by King St. Louis IX
* St. Etienne-du-Mont burial church of St. Genevieve, patroness of Paris
* Eiffel Tower
* L'Arc de Triomphe
* Champs Elysees

October 20: Paris to Lisieux
* Lisieux, home to St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the Little Flower
* Basilica of St. Therese

October 21: Lisieux to Chartres to Nevers
* Majestic Chartres Cathedral
* To Nevers, with the incorrupt St. Bernadette Soubirous

October 22: Nevers to Paray-le-Monial to Ars
* To Paray-le-Monial, home of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
* Basilica of the Sacred Heart
* Chapel of the Visitation
* Chapel of St. Colombiere
* Arrive in Ars

October 23: Ars to La Salette
* Basilica of Ars, with the incorrupt St. John Vianney, Curé of Ars
* To La Salette and its basilica in the French Alps

October 24: La Salette to Laus to Lourdes
* To Laus, an ancient pilgrimage spot, then to Lourdes

October 25: Lourdes
* Basilica, built where St. Bernadette was visited by the Mother of God
* By the basilica is a miraculous spring and healing baths

October 26: Lourdes
* Sunday: Solemn High Mass with a few thousand traditional Catholics
* Procession, blessing of the sick

October 27: Lourdes to Toulouse
* Solemn Mass, then bus to Toulouse by way of Pibrac
* In Toulouse, visit relics of St. Thomas Aquinas

October 28: Toulouse to Atlanta (via Paris)
* Transatlantic flight

Carcassonne

Oustide the Walls of Carcassonne, France

August, 2005

Carcassonne is a walled city in the south of France. With its double walls and 53 towers, in medieval times it was a military fortress-city between France and Spain.

There's a lovely landscape photo of the city here.

Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet

Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet
Rue des Bernardins, Paris

The Church of St. Nicolas is one of the spots I'll be visiting when I tour France this October.

In the 19th century the place was formerlyh home to the Abbé Félix Dupanloup, who reconciled the renowned diplomat (and notoriously amoral) Talleyrand (Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord) with the Church on his deathbed in 1838. Later Dupanloup gave a moving panegyric on St. Joan of Arc that aroused popular sentiment in both France and England and played a role in her canonization in 1920.