The Church has abandoned us. Jesus help us.

Mass has been cancelled throughout the country. The Sacraments have been taken away from the faithful. The clergy is holed up in their rectories and monasteries and episcopal palaces...for fear of the flu. At most, we get to watch a private Mass on Youtube, but the clergy dare not come into physical contact with the laity. Has anything SO COWARDLY ever been seen in our lifetimes? Has the Church ever done anything so cowardly, even during WWII, the Mongol invasions or the Black Death???

We grew up marinated in tales of priestly heroism, from ancient times to the modern day, telling of priests who risked all to bring the Word and the Sacraments to the Faithful. Tales of these martyrs strengthened us and inspired us, since what besides a supernatural Faith could make these men do what they did?

After all, to be a priest is a form of sacrifice, giving up family and friends for Christ, explicitly offering one's life for Him, no matter the cost.

Yet today our priests have fled to the hills in fear of the flu, taking the Sacraments with them. The demoralizing effect of this can hardly be imagined. In the aftermath of this crisis, it might perhaps be quantified in the number of people who have left the Church after it abandoned them in the hour of need. Indeed, the Pope's own secretary said the same thing.

Why?? The larger issue, which I've been pondering ever since the disgraceful silence of the clergy during the St. Patrick's Day parade debacle, is what kind of men are becoming priests these days? I don't think these men are made of the same stuff as an St. Edmund Campion for instance. We'll leave that for another day. What I want to explore now are those historical examples of Catholic priests who risked their lives to say the Mass and bring the Sacraments to the flock despite the presence of disease and plague. A martyrology of priests who showed courage in the face of persecution and certain death is one thing. After all, we Staten Islanders have the example of Father Vincent Capodanno to inspire us. But in this time of fear and disease, let us look to the past to learn how we should act.

I will follow up this post with examinations of historical examples.

Hierarchy voids the Third Commandment

It's amazing what you can do when you have no respect for God or His Church. From the Pope down to his minions like Cardinal Dolan, Masses across the world have been either cancelled altogether or Catholics have been relieved of fulfilling their Sunday obligation. In other words, mere men have voided one of the Commandments. Is it any wonder that modern man feels himself empowered to do the same, if mere mortals can so casually declare that a Divine Commandment need not be obeyed.

Staten Island, the Center Ring of Clown World

If the West has officially become Clown World, then Staten Island has got to be the center ring of the whole honking sh*tshow. After the spineless traitor Cardinal Dolan marched as the Grand Marshall

of the 2015 Manhattan St. Patrick's Day Parade, along with an openly gay organization, the attention of the rainbow-tinted forces of Hate turned to our little island's own Paddy's Day march.

At first, the Democratic politicians predictably led the way in risk-free virtue signaling, and boycotted the parade. Then, last year, our "Conservative Republican" Borough President, the reprobate Jim Oddo, made news by announcing a boycott of the parade until the organizers allowed the Staten Island Pride Center to march. The floodgates opened this year, with oafish Republican Councilman Matteo; Brendan Lantry, the incoherent millennial Chairman of the Republican Party; Miss Richmond County Gabrielle Ryan; and Miss Staten Island Teen Angelica Mroczek (the daughter of Advance columnist Gracelyn Santos) all announcing that they wouldn't march either until sodomy was proclaimed mandatory for every man, woman and child and enshrined in the Constitution as the highest of all virtues. The Janus-like Assemblywoman and Congressional candidate Nicole Malliotakis, the apotheosis of political hacks, announced that she would march but proclaimed her support for the inclusion of the Pride Center. Republican Councilman Joe Borelli said the same. To top off the circus, Miss Staten Island 2020 Madison L’Insalata announced she was bisexual the night before the parade and vowed to be

driven down the parade route wearing rainbow paraphernalia. The Advance joined the pile-on as well. And it need not be said, that pretty much every person involved in promoting degeneracy is a product of local Catholic schools and rationalized their position by referencing "Pope" Francis and hippie Jesus.

It also need not be said that the local Church provided zero leadership as ravenous wolves ravaged their flock. These senile milquetoasts smiled and said nothing as aggressive homosexuals and their useful idiots recruited our God in their campaign to corrupt souls and groom our children. I attended Mass at Blessed Sacrament before the parade and listened to its pastor give an asinine sermon about some idiotic irrelevancy, while a full blown gay pride march was taking place on the lawn of his church. Staten Island's priests have covered themselves with disgrace during this episode. If they can't even say a damned word when these people are coming for our kids, what the hell good are these so-called shepherds?

With the betrayal of the so-called "family-values party", the hometown newspaper and the institutional church, a hero arose in the form of parade chairman Larry Cummings, who summarily banned Miss Staten Island, Councilman Borelli, the marching bands of Tottenville and Port Richmond High Schools, and everyone who showed up intending to flaunt the rules of the parade and wear the symbol of men who eat semen and masturbate in each other's anuses. Oh, did those words offend you? Then why aren't you offended by the acts themselves and the people who want to promote that lifestyle to our children?

Nevertheless, it is obvious that the parade's days are numbered. The agitation will continue and the pressure increased until the citadel of normal standards is stormed and overthrown. The playbook of social engineering has been tried and proven effective over and over again since the victorious Allies tested it out on the conquered Germans after WWII. And it will definitely work on low-IQ, media-addicted, poorly catechized Staten Islanders of the 21st century. Just look at the heterosexual couples_with children_who were out in force yesterday doing what their masters want them to do, which is waving rainbow flags and advocating for semen-eating and anal sex. We won't win this battle by doing what we've been doing up until now. The resistance will be long and hard. Traditional allies will desert us. Casualties will be many. But victory is the only option.

Goodbye Priests for Life

Even Priests for Life can't afford to be in overpriced Staten Island any more. Well, God bless you and your holy work in your new Florida headquarters, Father Pavone.

Judas: the first Catholic to leave Mass early...

It's a historical (or perhaps psychological) mystery how American Catholics went from devout to depraved in two generations, but a visit to Mass in most any area of the country will bear out our fellow-Catholics' utter trashiness and lack of any sort of spiritual feeling. One universal example of this is the mad dash to flee the church immediately after receiving Communion. I had thought to make up a poster to be displayed in the backs of churches that said "Judas was the first Catholic to leave Mass early" but a quick Google search showed that many other people had thought to do the same thing.

Aisle People

This letter, which appeared in the 9/15/16 edition of Catholic New York, should be printed out and posted on the doors or bulletin boards of every Catholic church. The epidemic of lazy, inconsiderate "Aisle People" is painful to see. If you have an overactive bladder, or are on active duty in the emergency services, or are the parents of rambunctious young children, then you have every right to plant yourselves near the aisle so as not to have to climb over others when you inevitably have to step out of Mass. If you're just a paranoid neurotic who has a psychological barrier against having people sitting on both sides of you, then please get over it and slide towards the middle of the pew.

Aisle People

Because of my peripatetic lifestyle, I’ve attended Mass at many parishes. For the past 20 years, I’ve probably worshipped at 30 different Catholic churches across America each year for a total of about 600. One thing that each of these houses of worship have in common is the Aisle People (AP.)

The AP covet the seats at the end of the pew regardless of the emptiness within. I always arrive at Mass early and sit toward the rear, so I present my empirical data on the AP from a disinterested distance. The AP make up approximately 30 percent of attendees, and I am not sure they realize the angst they cause in other parishioners. 

Everyone who attends Mass weekly has no doubt noticed that late arrivals will “probe the line” looking for a charitable aisle person to allow them to enter the pew. It disgusts me to see how many AP stare straight ahead, ignoring the petitioner’s tacit plea to access the vacancies within. After being ignored, the late-comers must then clear their throat, which will compel the AP to take heed. This distracts other congregants.

Only once in all my years have I heard a priest remonstrate from the pulpit regarding this opportunistic practice of “aisle seat covetousness” (at Mass in Arkansas). He was instructing while I am lamenting. 

Hopefully, the AP act as they do unconscious of the aggravation they cause other attendees because if they are aware of the inconvenience and distraction they cause and still park their corpus segnes at the end of the pew week after week, well, I find that almost unforgivable.  

There are a few occasions when AP are justified in maintaining their spot: if the AP is manning the collection basket or, like my sister, is with a disabled child or is part of the altar crew or has urgent bladder problems.  

The irony of this situation is glaring: every Sunday the priest urges us to be charitable, loving, considerate, humble and Christ-like. When the AP hear the priest speak thusly, does it not register that their action (or inaction) exemplifies the antitheses of these elements of our faith?

George Ganssle

Nanuet

Catholic Church shopping Part XVI: mother church

Since we worship a God who literally rose from the dead, our "God of surprises" has the wonderful quality of regularly surprising us with the miracle of breathing life into things that were dead. And I was pleasantly surprised to recently see that a parish I had heretofore avoided as a moribund place now has a fresh spirit blowing through it. The feeling was palpable as soon as I walked into our island's mother church of St. Peter's (now officially part of the parish cluster of "The Catholic

Community of St. Peter-Assumption-St.Paul").

There didn't seem to be much going on in the bulletin but there was a pretty rousing flyer calling for men to join the Holy Name Society of the parish, describing their mission as being to make themselves better men, supporting one another's spiritual needs, and doing good works. There was a racially diverse congregation with a few young families sprinkled throughout. Honestly, there didn't seem to be too many more people there than attended when Monsignor Dorney was alive, but there was something new and ineffably encouraging about the church now. The choir was talented and seemed genuinely animated by a holy joy in their task. The priest was, I believe, Filipino and spoke rapidly with an accent with precluded me from understanding more than about 70% of what he said. And even though I couldn't really grasp the main point of his message, what I could understand of his passionate sermon was filled with one holy sentiment after another which, surprisingly, satisfied my soul. In addition, the church- which had been allowed to crumble away for years on end, now seemed like it had enjoyed some repairs and regular cleaning.

After Mass, a group of men hosted a social gathering in a room adjacent to the foyer, which had once been a chapel I think. They provided coffee and juice and a lavish spread of delicious pastries. The fellowship was warm and welcoming. I came away from my time there with an optimistic mood and uplifted spirit. I don't live close enough to attend regularly, but would definitely consider joining the parish if I did.

St. Francis Friary, 1928-2014

After a year and a half on the market, the beautiful St. Francis Friary (known as a Center for Spirituality in its modern incarnation) has been sold to the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of New York and New England to be used as their headquarters. (And they're currently seeking donations to pay for it.) I'm glad the property will not be covered with 8,000 townhouses and I'm glad it was at least Christians who bought it, but this is still a disgrace and an embarrassment. How is it possible for the Coptic church to buy and maintain this property when the Catholic Church cannot? There are only 450,000 Copts in the entire United States. In the Coptic Diocese of New York and New England, which covers Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, there are only 25 parishes and only 42 clergy; I don't know how many parishioners are in the diocese. Compare this to the New York archdiocese, which has 296 parishes and contains 2.6 million Catholics. Yet with all our resources, we could not retain the Franciscan Friary? The Franciscans made a hash of it, but with the demise of Mt. Manresa, couldn't the Archdiocese have made good use of it? 

The Idol of "Participation"

When I attended Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians in Tottenville a few weeks ago, I was utterly shocked and horrified to see that two large video screens had been placed on the walls to either side of the altar. There was an explanation in the bulletin:

"The introduction of the TV screens in the church has caught the attention of many. I invite anyone who has knowledge of this technology and is willing to work and meet with Fr. Sylvester to learn about it. We hope to minimize the use of the Missals and maximize the liturgical participation making Sunday worship more interesting and spiritually beneficial to all. The clergy will devise ways and means to enhance their delivery of homilies using this technology."

The size of our video screens is in direct correlation to our holiness

So, there in one short paragraph are summed up a host of errors, misconceptions and incompetence from the first word to the last. The Vatican II Church, animated by the leveling, hippie spirit of communalism, has always been obsessed with the participation of The People (always ennobled with a capital "P") in the Mass. However the People stubbornly do not want to participate in the Mass. Therefore, our enlightened (ha!) overlords will_force_us to play-act their fantasy of the Great Group Hug by further degrading and infantilizing the Mass. 

I don't suspect the pastor at OLHC of any devious intentions, but his dumb response to a non-problem is based on faulty premises. He sees his congregation sitting in the pews week after week in a catatonic state and bemoans the lack of excitement and engagement, which he's been bred to expect from the "new springtime" in the Church. So, the natural response of a priest marinated in both the post-Vatican II era and the age of technology is to make it more entertaining! Whereas the clueless, 1970s hippie priest would bring in guitarists, clown Masses and liturgical dancers, the lame and impotent response of the modern, clueless pastor is to introduce TV screens. Next will be youtube videos, comedy routines, pre-recorded rock music, and other cribbed gimmicks from evangelical megachurch circuses. Who knows, perhaps they'll even introduce trampolines?

Coming to a Catholic church near you! 

Needless to say, the screens were a major distraction. They were scrolling announcements before the Mass (the same announcements that were in the bulletin), thereby precluding the ability to quietly pray. As the Mass started, the screens flashes the words of the Mass and the Scripture readings as we were simultaneously listening to them. Obviously, it is human nature to look at moving images, so everyone was staring at the screens instead of the priest. At one point during one of the guitarist's songs, a photoshopped picture of Pope Francis as the Good Shepherd was shown, conflating the current Pope with the Creator and Savior of mankind.

Our Lord...Francis?

I can ignore bad homilies. I can ignore bad music. I can ignore bad congregations and priests who rush through the Mass. I cannot ignore two 10 foot video screens that grab and demand your attention more than the Holy Sacrifice. They change the very nature of the Mass in a very fundamental way, which means that I will never, never go back to this parish.

The plot thickens.....

"Fr. Miqueli felt a sense of invincibility in his life of larceny and lust, because, according to people close to the story, he witnessed a child molestation by a priest on Staten Island back around 2002 and went to the archdiocese. They told him to keep silent about it, and, according to reports, arranged for him to become pastor of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini parish on Roosevelt Island in exchange for his cooperation."

"Slave" priest had Staten Island ties

So apparently the homosexual slave priest that's been all over the tabloid headlines worked in a surprising number of Staten Island parishes (St. Sylvester's, Holy Family, St. Clare's and St. Rita's) some years ago.

I think it's safe to assume that he didn't just recently discover that he was a pervert, a thief and a megalomaniac. So is it possible that no one in these Staten Island parishes ever noticed something "off" about this guy, when it was so apparent to the parishioners of St. Frances de Chantal? Or did people speak out about this priest but his  "guardian angel" in the chancery just shifted him around from parish to parish?

R.I.P. Monsignor James Dorney

Monsignor James Dorney, the co-vicar of Staten Island (whatever that means) has passed away at age 83. We have never been an admirer of his, as a quick search of this blog will demonstrate. But I would like to relate one positive memory I have of the man. I attended Stations of the Cross at St. Peter's on a Friday night in Lent about 8 years ago. Monsignor Dorney was already feeble and bent over with whatever physical ailments were torturing him. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the meager number of people in attendance surely would have granted him any allowance to accommodate his age and weakness, Monsignor Dorney nevertheless exerted all his strength to make a full, and obviously painful, genuflection down to the floor at every station to honor his Savior, and then struggled with everything he had to raise himself again and move on the next one to do it again. That was a beautiful gesture of love and respect for our God, and I will never forget it.

May God protect us from Pope Francis

With his new streamlined annulment decree, the Pope is finally showing his hand. He intends to contradict 2000 years of Catholic dogma and negate Christ's extremely clear teaching on marriage. The openly expressed intention of these reforms will be to fast-track "millions" of new "annulments" that are, in reality, Catholic divorces. There will be no true fact-finding discernment about the validity of an individual marriage; this is a blatant fig leaf to rubber stamp civil divorces by pseudo-Catholics, as is done by the Eastern schismatics. This Pope is looking more and more like one of the anti-Christ's forerunners as spoken of in the Scriptures, and the upcoming Synod on the Family will definitely be a major- and perhaps definitive- battlefield as he seeks the downfall of the Church. The open heretics (Kasper, Cupich, Wuerl, Bode, Marx) and the abettors of abortion and child abuse (Daneels) that this Pope has hand-picked to participate in the upcoming Synod on the Family clearly demonstrate this Pope's true beliefs and his ultimate endgame: destroy the Church through the destruction of marriage. Not only will an official papal decree nullifying Christ's prohibition on divorce and remarriage destroy the family, but it will immediately undermine the supernatural claims of the Catholic Church. If the Church denies its own dogmas and starts teaching something opposite of what we have always believed, then the gates of Hell have prevailed, and no amount of sophistry, logic-chopping and obfuscation and outright denial will convince anyone otherwise.

Another humiliation. Another defeat

Late in the afternoon last Friday it was reported that the St. Francis Center for Spirituality was on the verge of being sold to a "religious organization". In addition to the secrecy surrounding this sale, as well as the euphemistic term being used for this shadowy buyer, it is speculated that an Islamic organization- perhaps the MAS (Muslim American Society) which was thwarted in its designs on the St. Margaret Mary convent- will soon be sounding the call to prayer from minarets where bells once rang to announce the Eucharistic Sacrifice. As one of the commentators on silive said, "The Catholic Church is giving up on Catholics".

Whether the mystery buyer does turn out to be a Moslem organization or a Hindu temple, a Protestant worship center or a Jewish shul, the fact remains that a sacred space of God's One True Faith- where once God's priests were trained up for His service and where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was once offered-  will now be turned over for profanation and blasphemy, with crosses torn down, statues smashed, icons trashed, and the images of God and his saints defaced and whitewashed; perhaps the fate that befell Mount Manresa would be preferable to that which is going to happen to the St. Francis Friary. And our Catholic leaders do....what?

Little Children

Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan is running for Congress to replace Michael Grimm. A

pretty standard-issue local RINO (Republican In Name Only) who supports abortion, Donovan will most likely coast to victory in the special election next week. Where this race gets interesting is in the 58 year old Donovan's announcement that he is expecting a bastard child (bastard, noun, a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child) with his 44 year old, divorced concubine (concubine, noun, 1. a woman who cohabits with a man to whom she is not legally married). Donovan, a baptized Catholic whose working-class parents sacrificed to send him to Farrell High School, is now going about flaunting his sinful relationship and the child that, undoubtedly, they never planned to have. As if Donovan's disrespect and disregard for the Faith and for Marriage wasn't made manifest enough by his immoral lifestyle, he can be seen in this Facebook photo mocking sacramental Marriage by playing the part of officiant at the wedding of some friend or relative of his concubine's.

Although Donovan is unique, for a man of his age, in having such a young and attractive concubine and actually having a baby with her, his lifestyle is actually pretty common now for pseudo-Catholic Staten Islanders in their 40s, 50s and 60s. It is incredible to see these older people who were raised in strong Catholic families, grew up in a strong Catholic environment and educated in good Catholic schools putting away their spouses and shacking up with their lovers, as if they had never known the Faith or heard of anything called morality. And what's worse is that everyone here treats their behavior as if were perfectly normal and acceptable. It's one thing for twenty-somethings to be doing this, having been marinated their entire lives in degenerate media, broken homes, and public schools, but to see our elders- who had first hand experience of a better world- living like this is pathetic and disappointing. Sorry- Donovan is a dishonorable and disgraceful libertine who is living in adultery with a concubine who just happens to be another man's wife. St. John the Baptist and St. Thomas More suffered martyrdom for saying such things to kings. This lawyer, Donovan, needs to know that if even royalty are subject to the laws of God, then so are local politicians. He doesn't get my vote or my respect. 

Pseudo-Catholic Staten Islanders

The Rev. Michael Martine, former pastor of St. Joseph's in Rosebank and current pastor of Holy Rosary, recently penned an opinion piece for the Advance in which he, calmly and dispassionately, laid forth the Church's position on euthanasia. This is noteworthy first because a local Catholic priest has actually shown a bit of courage and and took a public stand on a somewhat controversial issue. That in itself is as noteworthy as Halley's Comet. But the second thing about this article to note is the vitriol expressed in the comments section of the article. It has garnered more than 200 mostly negative comments, which is even more than is usually left for those other subjects which outrage Staten Islanders the most: namely Al Sharpton and potholes. Nothing gives pseudo-Catholic Staten Islanders more apoplexy than a Catholic priest actually telling them what is right and wrong. It is true that ex-Catholics usually make the worst anti-Catholics, but it is also true that pseudo-Catholics- that basically pagan breed- so prevalent on Staten Island- who hate the Faith but inexplicably retain the identity, are a pretty nasty enemy as well.

Ted Hesburgh and Staten Island

The recent death of Father Ted Hesburgh of the University of Notre Dame elicited the usual nauseating panegyrics from the secular media. In the midst of all the encomia was a surprising article in the Staten Island Advance, written by a distant relative who revealed that Father Hesburgh had roots on Staten Island and came back often to visit after his family moved away. Contrary to the sentimental recollections recounted in the article, the truth is that Father Hesburgh was a notorious heretic who worked day and night for 40 years to undermine the Catholic Church and destroy Catholic higher education. Watch this video for more information.

Staten Island Catholics

The Advance is interested in interviewing Staten Island Catholics, whether practicing or fallen-away: click here.

I would encourage the faithful to respond to this survey so as not to let the results be skewed in favor of the bile-dripping, God-hating former Catholics so prevalent on this island.

Cardinal Quisling's collaboration

In just two days our craven, cowardly, compromising joke of a Cardinal will, by his actions, publicly give sanction to mortal sin when he will serve as Grand Marshal of a St. Patrick's Day parade that has, for the first time, allowed a homosexual group to march under its own banner. Since he took his seat here, Cardinal Dolan has made it quite clear that he fully supports the gay agenda, by doing absolutely nothing to oppose gay marriage in New York, by publicly applauding the gay pride group at St. Francis Xavier, and by sending a "Bravo!" to gay NFL player Michael Sam on the occasion of his coming out. But those actions, while appreciated and valued by the homosexual movement, were basically passive. What he will do in two days is the final bending of the knee, the public act of degradation and submissiveness. To add insult to injury, he makes the childishly specious argument that his participation is acceptable because the group is not endorsing homosexual acts but only showing pride in being homosexual. Pray for the soul of this bad shepherd and for the souls of all those he is leading to damnation.

St. Patrick's Day parade, 2015

Satan's laughing with delight

Despite the repeated reassurances of the Cardinal, Catholic parishes throughout his domain are dropping like flies. Five Staten Island parishes have received a death sentence and numerous others are being merged with other parishes in what is no doubt a preliminary move towards future closures. With an example of local Catholic culture making national news, it is no wonder. Our priests have failed; we, the laity have failed. We have gone a-whoring after false gods of material gluttony, sexual hedonism and self-worship. Is it any wonder that such a people would allow the temples of their God to fall into ruin?

Some brief histories of the doomed parishes can be found here. One of the churches slated to be shuttered dates back to the 1850s. Four of the five churches are located on the North Shore. Two are located in one-time "ethnic" neighborhoods that are now mostly black and Hispanic. One is located in a neighborhood that still has a significant Italian population. The outlier- St. John Neumann- is only a few decades old and is located mid-island. Its parishioners claim that their church is in the black and debt-free. And that got me thinking.

Why aren't we being given the actual numbers that are the basis for these decisions? Every so often, the archdiocese simply releases a list of the condemned parishes, like some commissar from Stalinist Russia. Wouldn't it help the flock to understand the decision-making process if we were shown some solid numbers that said, for example, that Parish X brings in only $10,000 a year from its 50 parishioners and has operating expenses of $100,000 and a $50,000 debt? Wouldn't it be helpful if the archdiocese further justified its decisions by citing relevant demographic data or pragmatic arguments by saying, for example, that Parish X's 50 parishioners are all over 70 years of age and the church building will be condemned unless it has hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs to its roof and foundation? Those are legitimate arguments that no reasonable person could contest. But when the archdiocese just condemns a financially successful parish like St. John Neumann to extinction, on the basis of unknown and seemingly arbitrary criteria, it makes the curious Catholic wonder just what is going on here.

Assumption in New Brighton I could believe had problems. It was a small parish, built for people who lived within walking distance of the church. It is located within a mile radius of about 4 other Catholic churches. It was built for a specific ethnic group (Italians) that have long since fled the neighborhood. But St. Mary's in Port Richmond? Whenever I've driven by that place on Sundays, it has always been overflowing with Mexicans. St. Roch's in Port Richmond was never packed when I visited but it was always moderately well-attended. Similarly, St. Mary's in Rosebank seemed to have a fair number of parishioners. What are the actual numbers that doomed these parishes? What are the arguments?

Apart from the complete lack of transparency and accountability, Cardinal Dolan is showing his usual alacrity when it comes to secular initiatives by quickly suggesting that the closed churches be used for affordable housing. This Cardinal has probably extinguished more Catholic churches than John Calvin. There is no plan to reverse this trend, no plan to evangelize, no plan to re-catechize. There is no plan and no clue at the top of this hierarchy. We are a rudderless ship without a captain.