thanks to Fr. Tim Finigan in the U.K.

The recent Vatican statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, February 1, 2008, declaring all baptisms invalid which do not use the valid form "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" exposes a persistent grave evil attacking the church. Valid matter, form and intention are necessary for all seven sacraments but especially for the most necessary of them all, baptism, since it is the gateway for the other six and for the life of grace.

When I was in the seminary, we had a liturgy workshop in between fall and spring semester. The liturgical nazi who instructed us proliferated the week with politically correct nomenclature and dialogue, such as "in the name of the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sanctifier." Feigning a sacrament is one of the worst kinds of sacrilege. When a priest, bishop or deacon knowingly and willingly suffers a sacrament to invalidity, he is in BIG TROUBLE. Purposely using invalid words of consecration or for baptism are as attrocious as using invalid matter, such as rice cakes and orange juice for Holy Mass.

It is tantamount to spiritual malpractice for an ordained minister to infect the lay faithful with invalid or illicit sacraments. Maybe if some of the good people took these miscreants to canonical court for their liturgical abuses we might see a decline.

Ach du lieber Himmel! Grüß Gott
Katholizismus Fur Dummies is sehr gut.

Mea culpa. Sorry for the unadulerated promotion of our book,
but just couldn't resist after seeing this photo on the internet.

Senator McCain, DISAVOW Pastor Hagee NOW

Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain NEEDS to publicly disavow the recent endorsement by notorious anti-Catholic televangelist John Hagee, who refers to the Catholicism as an Apostate Church. This rhetoric would NOT have been tolerated had Hagee made similar remarks about Judaism or Islam. Ironically, Senator McCain can glibly say he separates himself from some of Hagee's religious convictions and opinions.

Catholics should put the Senator on notice that our vote is not 'presumed' and he should remember another famous Republican from Arizona who once said moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue (Barry Goldwater). One cannot tolerate or give a blind eye to such injustice as bigotry. Had a racist remark been made by a political backer, McCain would have rightly repudiated and disavowed himself not only from the remark but also from its source. Likewise, the would-be president for 2008 should rebuke Hagee PERIOD.