Wildcat, Genuine Art, Miracle Club, Catholic & Christian Movies.

Had it not been for Nora Kenney's review of the movie Wildcat in The City Journal serendipitous appearance in my news feed, I would not have know about its existence. Now I want to watch it.

The movie Wildcat is directed by Ethan Hawke and starring his daughter Maya Hawke, Wildcat is based on the true story of Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor as she is diagnosed with lupus. According to Nora Kenney, Wildcat is what Catholic movies should look like.

In 2004, the National Catholic Register and Faith & Family magazine gathered online nominations for films that best celebrate Catholic life, with specific Catholic references, not simply with Catholic themes.

Kenney compares the 2023 movie The Miracle Club to Wilcat: "The Miracle Club has one key difference: while purporting to be Catholic thematically, it neglects to explore the theological drama of a soul’s relationship with its creator. Wildcat plunges right in." Although the four main characters in The Miracle Club do not exist in real life, the true story Netflix movie is inspired by writer Jimmy Smallhorne's memories of growing up in Ireland.


Kenney writes: "For O’Connor, the tradeoff here is ineluctable. If she believes that God is helping her write something better than she could have done on her own, she must also accept His will in other, less comfortable areas of life. And when her lupus symptoms begin to flare up, that idea is harrowing. “Father, I’m afraid,” she sobs to her Irish priest (Liam Neeson.)" She then concludes "All too many Catholic-themed films default to naturalism’s feeble replacements for the transcendent. Wildcat is a welcome exception."


Raises a question: what is Catholic Art, such as Michelangelo's La Pietà?

What  makes a good Catholic movie? 

Can a quirky 20th century woman, writer of fiction from the American South who wrote macabre amd puzzling stories can generate genuine Art? According to Bishop Barron,  Flannery O'Connor is
"one of the quirkiest and most intriguing of all the Pivotal Players was a twentieth-century Catholic writer of fiction from the American South, a woman whose macabre, puzzling and luminous stories have had a transformative impact on both the Church and the wider culture."

True Art

The Catholic Catechism (2502) teaches art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God - the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who "reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature," in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier.

Genuine Art

Lord, it is your will that men use their minds to unlock nature’s secrets and master the world,

— may the arts and sciences advance your glory and the happiness of all peoples.

Give us light, peace and security, Lord - Liturgy of the Hour, Evening Prayer  7th Week of Ordinary Time

In 1995, the Vatican celebrated 90 years of cinema by asking experts on films to compile a greatest hits list. That list surprised more than a few people.

Some of the selections were obvious picks such as biopics of saints like The Flowers of St. Francis and The Passion of Joan of Arc. Others included Schindler’s List, with its nudity and violence; 2001: A Space Odyssey, with its deeply secular worldview; and The Burmese Harp, whose protagonist is a Buddhist monk. Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary’s didn’t even make the cut.


As the Franciscan Media points out "The compilation of films was, of course, not the Vatican giving any of the movies an imprimatur, affirming that everything in them was in alignment with the Catechism. Rather, the compilation was an affirmation of greatness—sometimes theological greatness, sometimes moral greatness, sometimes artistic greatness. It also was a reminder that everything that is truly great—that reflects the good, the true, and the beautiful and points humans beyond themselves toward an experience of the transcendent God—is indeed Catholic. No Roman-collar-wearing Bing Crosby required."

List of Best Christian Films

In that sense, good Christian movies and Good Catholic Movies are very similar.

Or as Bishop Barron's writes in his book, Renewing Our Hope: ”Following Dietrich von Hildebrand, we should say that the truly beautiful is an objective value, to be sharply distinguished from what is merely subjectively satisfying.This means that the beautiful does not merely entertain; rather it invades, chooses and changes the one to whom it deigns to appear. It is not absorbed into subjectivity; it re-arranges and re-directs subjectivity, sending it on a trajectory toward the open sea of the Beautiful itself."

I'm looking forward to watching Wilcat, God willing and thanks to Kenney's review showing up in my news feed- although it comes across as pretentious: "For O’Connor, the tradeoff here is ineluctable," for example.

Getting At The Root of Evil

In a widely circulated post on X (over 32 million views,) Aasi Tahir Siddique argues that "In the absence of liberty, Hate mongers, greedy groups and corrupt organizations are hiding behind frivolous religious and political ideologies to divide people, societies and nations." 

Yet, 

In a complex world,

In presence of peace,

In the presence of tolerance,

In the presence of acceptance,

In presence of empathy,

In the presence of liberty, hate mongers, greedy groups and corrupt organizations will manufacture arguments to divide people, societies and nations.

Aasi Tahir Siddiqu's argument is not significantly different from the one expressed in the The AntiSemitic, AntiChristian The Atlantic by  Peter Wehner.

Revives a four-year old story with a Straw Man argument to attack Christianity and president Donald Trump. The story goes something like this:  “A small group of people, inside and outside this church, coordinated a divisive effort to use disinformation in order to take conttol of this church." Christianity has one church, founded by Jesus Christ and He continues to be the head of the Church.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was spot on when, in his great Templeton Address of 1983, one of the greatest and most prophetic speeches in the history of Western civilization, when he diagnosed the ultimate cause of all the ills and decadences and self-destructivenesses of our culture of death in one simple sentence: “Men have forgotten God.

Solzhenitsyn was taking to heart the warning contained on Deuteronomy 2500 years earlier: "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today. Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them on your arm as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

The root of all hatred toward the Jewish people is jealousy for  being the chosen people.  Just like system racism is less about racism and more like systemic humanism. It's the Transitive Property of Hatred:

Yet, Timothy diagnosed the source of evil 2000 years ago: "For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains." 1 Tim 6:10

New Analysis:
Climate Change Added a Month’s Worth of Extra-Hot Days in Past Year

In crunching the numbers, we found the New York Times is more of a global warming hypocrite than #TaylorSwift

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/climate/extreme-heat-worldwide.html

https://cotobuzz.blogspot.com/2024/04/nyts-global-warming-hypocrisy.html

Man doesnt learn: Man tries to help Nature, fails every time. And it's not just the goats.

Man doesn't learn: Man tries to help Nature, fails every time. And it's not just the goats.




If you say, 'follow the Science.' Should you not listen to the Doctors of the Church? After all, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. The Church teaches (CCC 159) that; "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth." "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are."



CBS' Evan Bush reports that "For three summers, wildlife managers wrestled mountain goats in Washington state’s Olympic National Park, blindfolded them and then flew them into the far reaches of the state’s Cascade Range — an ambitious project to boost the goat population in an area where they once were common." And the project was an abject failure


Bush quotes Patti Happe, an Olympic National Park wildlife biologist, saying the goats "... are a good symbol of what’s going on. Climate change — it kind of threw us a bit of a curve ball. I don’t think we thought it was going to be hitting us like this.”

Concluding that "..the outcome of the project has revealed the degree to which climate change is rapidly transforming the rugged alpine landscapes of the West — and how humanity’s best-laid plans for wildlife increasingly face longer odds as weather extremes become more likely."

But it's not just goats. It's also the Recycle Hoax, the Climate Change Billionaires Bliss; the left hand destroys the planet and the right hand demands we save it. The New York Times just crunched the numbers to see who was the biggest artist: The Beatles or Taylor Swift. We crunched the numbers to see who is the biggest Climate Change Advocate Hypocrite: The New York Times or Taylor Swift and concluded it's the New York Times by far is the biggest Hypocrite.

Pfizer's Dr Becci Corkill refers to the Knowledge Doubling Curve as an enabler of innovation
abd the reason consumers should not be afraid of the COVID Vaccine. 

The same people, after 120 billion births, claim that gynecologists have learned nothing. That pregnancy is too dangerous for would be mothers and why abortion should be legalized. And why human sacrifice is so lucrative



Something similar happens with the global warming debate.  Some call it a global warming hoax, others call it an impending global disaster and Hypocrites like the New York Times argue both sides.

While can debate the science - in California and on Social Media platforms like LinkedIn, it is verboten - let's not forget there's a growing body of research showing self-serving research is highly suspect. Pope Francis Laudate Deum is Spot on. 29. The ethical decadence of real power is disguised thanks to marketing and false information, useful tools in the hands of those with greater resources to employ them to shape public opinion.

In 2022, the LA Times was writing about DDT harmful effects:  yet MSM & High Tech were in lockstep with the Biden Administration singing the praises of the COVID vaccine

Apparently goats is not the secret weapon

Natalia Mesa, writing in the Atlantic reports "Washington State Has Been Sitting on a Secret Weapon Against Climate Change : Apparently goats is not the secret weapon and not that effective.


Patti Happe, an Olympic National Park wildlife biologist, says the goats "... are a good symbol of what’s going on. Climate change — it kind of threw us a bit of a curve ball. I don’t think we thought it was going to be hitting us like this.”

New Analysis: Climate Change Added a Month’s Worth of Extra-Hot Days in Past Year

In crunching the numbers, we found the New York Times is more of a global warming hypocrite than Taylor Swift

The NYT's David Gelles reports on the

The Global Warming Tipping Point

May be the reason why the NYT gushes over Taylor Swift's carbon footprint








GPT-4 didn't ace the bar exam after all, MIT research suggests — it didn't even break the 70th percentile


But don't worry, in Washinton State, you don't need to pass a Bar exam to be a lawyer to protect the lazy, the deaf or the dumb.

A study by an international team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute shows, contrary to what
The NYT's David Gelles reports on the Global Warming Tipping Point,

there is no single global tipping point; rather, there are numerous local and regional ones, which "tip" at different times, producing cumulative effects and causing the permafrost to thaw in step with climate change.















U.S. officials plan to kill hundreds of thousands of barred owls to save another species from extinction

Trust the Science Series: Veggies Increase Lifespan

There can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. The Church teaches (CCC 159) that; "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth." "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are."

SciTechDaily reported, a joint study by McGill University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found that substituting plant proteins for half of a person's red or processed meat intake could extend their lifespan by nearly nine months.







The Palestinian Wasp reported those extra months, that person turns into a vegetable.

 

There's a growing body of research showing self-serving research is highly suspect.

Exhibit A: Berislav V. Zlokovic
Star USC scientist faces scrutiny — According to the Los Angeles Times  "Late last year, a group of whistleblowers submitted a report to the National Institutes of Health that questioned the integrity of a celebrated USC neuroscientist’s research and the safety of an experimental stroke treatment his company was developing.

NIH has since paused clinical trials for 3K3A-APC, a stroke drug sponsored by ZZ Biotech, a Houston-based company co-founded by Berislav V. Zlokovic, professor and chair of the department of physiology and neuroscience at the Keck School of Medicine of USC."

Exhibit B: Joachim Boldt, has now been credited with 210 retractions – making him the first author with more than 200 retractions

We crunched the numbers and figured the NYT are bigger hypocrites than #TaylorSwift 

to his name, according to Retraction Watch  

Exhibit C-Z: Trust the Science Not so-called scientists, Propagandists or corrupt politicians

#NYT's #SubliminalPropaganda:  Go Vegan, Longer, Save the Planet While fawning over #TaylorSwift 

It's not the tech.  It's not the blue light.  It's not the green light. It's the content.

Exhibit D - Trust the Science, not the so called scientists, Propagandists or corrupt politicians

Reda Wigle writing for the New York Post reports 

"New research upends what we’ve been told about tech before bed"

It's not the tech.  It's not the blue light.  It's not the green light. It's the content.

Try praying the Holy Rosary or the Liturgy of the Hour, before going to bed, for example.

Trust the Science Series: Neuroscience Manipulation

Trust the Science Series: Neuroscience Manipulation


Elsevier’s Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy has retracted eight articles for image manipulation and overlap, with more on the way.




Trust the Science Not the Scientist- Another one in a long, long series.

According to Retraction Watch "Major Alzheimer’s paper slated for retraction; research dog breeder pleads guilty; biomedical retractions quadruple."

There's a growing body of research showing self-serving studies are highly suspect:

In the 21st century, some prominent researchers were promoting, and the media helped popularize, the idea that people who refused to take the COVID Vaccine were a menace to society.

Now, the same people:  NYT/MSM now reporting the COVID Vaccine is dangerous – after reporting those who claimed the vaccine was dangerous were conspiracy theorists.

NYT/MSM "Coverage" of Russian Invasion of Ukraine

New York Times' Matthew Cullen writes: "In a wide-ranging interview with three of my colleagues, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said the U.S. and its European allies should be doing more to support his country in its fight against Russia. He specifically proposed that NATO planes begin shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine.:

And NBC News "reports"  Zelensky"pushes allies to step  up aid and involvement in war." As if Zekensky had any leverage- unless it's dirt on Joe Biden

Prior to that, #APNews "reported"

"Russian naval ship stationed in occupied Crimea destroyed by Ukrainian forces"


While

NYT's Constant Méheut
"Reported"

"Ukraine Hits Major Russian Warship, but Loses Ground in the East"

A major military success at sea against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was tempered by Ukraine’s acknowledgment that it had all but retreated from the city of Marinka.


And

Reuters' Jan Strupczewski, Krisztina Than and Ingrid Melander "report"

EU vows Ukraine to get aid despite veto by Hungary's Orban

What they did not cover:
Casualties:  casualties keep mounting with over 200 000 Russian & Ukranian soldiers killed & or wounded & 30% of Ukranians displaced.  While

Ukraine is also waging a War On Christianity, patterned after the one in the USA

War correspondents- #CNN, @NYT &  the rest of the legacy media are not covering the war wall to wall 24X7 like all previous wars.  No more war correspondents left? Where is Geraldo? Where's Christian Anammpour?

The Biden Administration lost more than $1 billion worth of weapons sent to Ukraine. 

While terrorists are arriving in droves through the Southern Border,  the DOJ is chasing Catholics & parents for domestic terrorism, the biggest threat is not those coming across the Southern Border, but those who are here in every social stratum, from professors at Stanford University, students at Harvard or politicians in Washington DC

How the war started:  The Russian invasion was provoked by the NATO, enabled by China, corrupt media, politicians, military industrial complex, corporate greed and  feckless, NATO & USA leadership

The Biden Administration continues to ignore Americans' case for aid.

Aid to Ukraine is a Massive Money Laundering Machine using the #unjustwar as an excuse

MSM and politicians mocked #elonmusk proposed peace plan, because as Putin declared  On 24 February 2022: "Russia is going to win the war in weeks" - we are coming up on years!

The Chinese government said it would not provide weapons to Russia to support the invasion now or in the future.  Then proposes a peace plan, while arming Russia.

[  ] Who benefits:  Follow the money. A protracted war only benefits the enablers

Saint Magallanes & 21 Companions Martyred during the Cristero War in Mexico

Saint Cristóbal Magallanes and Companions, 21 diocesan priests and three laymen, belonged to the Cristero movement during the 20th-century persecution of the Church in Mexico. Martyred over a number of years in eight Mexican states, they were beatified and canonized together.






The Cristero War was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico from 3 August 1926 to 21 June 1929 in response to the implementation of secularist and anticlerical articles of the 1917 Constitution - against the anti-Catholic government of Mexico which had instituted and enforced laws against the Church in an absurd attempt to eradicate the Catholic faith in Mexico, even going so far as to ban all foreign clergy and the celebration of Mass in some regions.

Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles, founder of the Institutional Revolutionary Party and held unofficial power as Mexico's de facto leader from 1929 to 1934, a period known as the Maximato, wanted to strictly enforce Article 130 of the Constitution, known as the Calles Law. Calles sought to limit the power of the Catholic Church in Mexico, its affiliated organizations and to suppress popular religiosity.


“Long live Christ the King and the Virgin of Guadalupe!” was the slogan of the Cristeros.

St. Christopher Magallanes, along with 21 other priests and three lay companions, were martyred between 1915 and 1937, by shooting or hanging, throughout eight Mexican states, for their membership in the Cristero movement. Magallanes erected a seminary in Totatiche and he and his companions secretly preached and ministered to the faithful.

The last words heard spoken by Magallanes were from his cell, when he shouted, "I am innocent and I die innocent. I forgive with all my heart those responsible for my death, and I ask God that the shedding of my blood serve the peace of our divided Mexico".

Pope John Paul II beatified the Cristero martyrs in 1992 and canonized them in 2000.

Psychology Today, Aristotle & Perfect Joy

Marianna Pogosyan Ph.D. writing for Psychology Today has 3 Ideas from Aristotle on How to Build a Good Life - "Happiness is more than just favorable circumstances."


Reminder of two ideas: if it had not been for the Christian monks, it's doubtful the Western Culture would have survived and for sure, we
would not know about Aristotle or psychology.

The second idea is that Saint Francis has a good idea of what the perfect joy is:

On a cold winter’s day, Saint Francis walked with Brother Leo from Perugia to the Porziuncola. Because of their poverty, they suffered much in the cold. At one point, Saint Francis said to Brother Leo: “If God desired that the Friars Minor should serve as a great example of holiness to all people in all lands, please write down that this would not be perfect joy.” At some point later in their journey, Saint Francis said to Brother Leo: “If the Friars Minor could make the lame walk; if we could straighten the crooked; if we could chase away demons; if we could give sight to the blind and speech to the dumb; and even if we could raise the dead after four days, please write down and note carefully that this would not be perfect joy.”

Soon after, Saint Francis said to Brother Leo: “If the Friars Minor could speak every language; if they knew everything about science; if they could explain all the scriptures; if they could predict the future and reveal the secrets of every soul, please write down and note carefully that this would not be perfect joy.” After a few more steps, Saint Francis cried: “Brother Leo, little one of God! If the Friars Minor could sing like angels; if they could explain the movements of the stars; if they knew everything about all animals, birds, fish, plants, stones, trees, and all men, please write down and note carefully that this would not be perfect joy.” Finally, Saint Francis cried again: “Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor could preach and thus convert every person to faith in Christ, please write down and note carefully that even this is not perfect joy.”


When this manner of discourse lasted for several miles, Brother Leo, who had been thinking about these sayings, asked: “Father Francis, I pray that you will teach me about perfect joy.” Saint Francis answered: “If we arrive at the Porziuncola and if we are drenched with rain and trembling with cold, covered in mud and exhausted from hunger; and if we knock on the convent gate; and if we are not recognized by the porter; and if he tells us that we are impostors who seek to deceive the world and steal from the poor; and if he refuses to open the gate; and if he leaves us outside, exposed to the rain and snow, suffering from cold and hunger; then if we embrace the injustice, cruelty, and contempt with patience, without complaining; and if we believe in faith, love, and humility that the porter knew us but was told by God to reject us, then, my dear Brother Leo, please write down and note carefully that this also is perfect joy!”



Saint Francis then said: “Brother Leo, if we knock again and if the porter drives us away with curses and blows; and if he accuses us of robbery and other crimes; and if we embrace this with patience without complaining; and if we believe in faith, love, and humility that the porter knew us but was told by God to reject us again, then, my dear Brother Leo, please write down and note carefully that this is finally perfect joy!” Saint Francis said once more: “If urged by cold and hunger, we knock again; if we call again to the porter; if we plead to him with many tears to open the gate and to give us shelter out of love for God; and if he returns more angry than ever; and if he calls us annoying rascals and beats us with a knotted stick; and if he throws us to the ground, rolls us in the snow, and beats us again with the knotted stick; and if we bear these injuries with patience without complaining; and if we think upon the sufferings of our Blessed Crucified Lord, then, most beloved Brother Leo, please write down and note carefully that this, finally, is perfect joy!”



Finally, Saint Francis said: “Brother Leo, please listen to me. Above all gifts of the Holy Spirit, that Christ Jesus gives to his friends is the grace to overcome oneself, to accept willingly, out of love for Him, all contempt, all discomfort, all injury, and all suffering. In this and all other gifts, we ourselves should not boast because all things are gifts from God. Remember the words of Saint Paul: ‘What do you have that you did not receive from God? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift (1 Corinthians 4:7)?’ But in the cross of afflictions and suffering, we truly can glory because as Saint Paul says again: ‘May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14).’ Amen.”

RELATED

Trust the Science Series: Veggies Increase Lifespan

SciTechDaily reported, a joint study by McGill University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found that substituting plant proteins for half of a person's red or processed meat intake could extend their lifespan by nearly nine months.

GIGO: AI in Education Oxymoron

 

DRAFT

GIGO:  Garbage In, Garbage Out

UMass' Academic minds navigating the ethical frontier and its use is like..

Research from Harvard University
Honesty researcher Francesca Gino, which is like

Stanford math expert Jo Boaler’s work, which is like

#UmmahIndustrialComplexIncubators

Spawns

#UmmahLawOfTerrorism: Terrorists go where they are welcomed and stay where they are protected and well treated.

#SherriAnnCharleston #Harvard chief #DEI & #UWMadison's leading DEI scholar, @LaVarCharleston research on DEI,

the Oregon Ethics Committee is like

Congressional Ethics Committe

The United Nations Human Rights Commission (Bolivia, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, France, Gabozn, Malawi, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Senegal, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan)



Kamala Harris' Reproductive Freedom,  is like the Portland's Crime Reduction Initiative which is like
The Brennan Center,  which   is like

Government Intelligence, which is like

Reproductive Freedom, which  is like the Portland's Crime Reduction Initiative




The Inflation Reduction Act is like the

Kamala Harris Calling Killing Babies in Abortions Reproductive Freedom, is like

Respect for Marriage Act

like The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention

Like Governments' Fast Response


An Oxymoron!

According to the Palestinian Wasp, the #DNC, #Apple and #Adobe will exclusively use #GooglesGemini as the artificial intelligence app of choice, because there's a perfect values match

And since  artificial intelligence tools like  #ChatGPT are linked to declining academic performance and memory loss: users tend to turn to ChatGPT, a generative #artificialintelligence tool, when faced with increased workload and time constraints

Naturally

Los Angeles Unified Launches #Ed, a Pioneering Learning Acceleration AI Platform to Improve Student Achievement! No, Seriously!


https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2024/03/the-pause-heard-around-the-world-google-hits-pause-on-gemini/

What happens when shop and civics classes are replaced by ethnic studies

Universities now as Ummah Industrial Complex Incubators 

Exhibit A: Transitive Property of Journalism 

Like Obama's shovel-ready Jobs... but you gotta buy now.  But wait, there's more....

Ethnomathematics:  when shop and civics classes are replaced by ethnic studies 

Guaranteed Admission, Guaranteed Grade, Guaranteed Degree

List of Worthless Degrees

2025 The Year of Jubilee

Last Thursday, May 9, Pope Francis promulgated “Spes Non Confundit,” a Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee Year of 2025 that he will open in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24, 2024.

Pope Francis stated in his February 2022 letter announcing the Jubilee 2025: "We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us, and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision. The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire..." Pope Francis has asked that the year 2024 be dedicated to a "great symphony of prayer" as the Church prepares for the Jubilee of 2025.

In the official ceremony promulgating the bull, whose title translates as “Hope does not disappoint,” Francis gave copies to bishops representing the four major basilicas of Rome as part of a symbolic dissemination of the bull at a ceremony in front of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Reading the “signs of the times,” Pope Francis noted the desire for peace in a world increasingly marked by violence and conflict, and the loss of a desire to have children, with many countries facing a “demographic winter.” He called for a social covenant to support and foster hope.


The Pope appealed especially for prisoners, recalling the tradition of offering amnesty or pardons during Jubilees, and said he hopes to personally open a Holy Door in a prison, “as a sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence.” And he called for prisoners to be treated in accord with their rights and dignity, while once again pleading for the abolition of the death penalty.

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  Jubilee 2025

Breadcrumb

Jubilee 2025 - Pilgrims of Hope

Visit the Vatican Jubilee 2025 Website: Iubilaeum 2025  

As the Universal Church looks toward the Jubilee Year 2025, the USCCB is thrilled to support the Holy Father in this "event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church."

Pope Francis stated in his February 2022 letter announcing the Jubilee 2025: "We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us, and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision. The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire..." 

The Jubilee Year will offer the faithful opportunities to participate in various jubilee events at the Vatican and in their own dioceses. The great tradition of opening the Holy Door will begin when Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica on December 24, 2024. This is usually the first door opened to signal the start of the Jubilee Year. A Cathedral or popular Sanctuary of each diocese will also designate or open its Holy Door to allow the entry of pilgrims. The jubilee years also traditionally offer opportunities for reconciliation, indulgences, and other events intended to strengthen and revive faith.

The Jubilee Year was instituted in 1300 and normally held every 25 years, a Jubilee Year is, in the Vatican’s words, “a year of forgiveness of sins and also the punishment due to sin, it is a year of reconciliation between adversaries, of conversion and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and consequently of solidarity, hope, justice, commitment to serve God with joy and in peace with our brothers and sisters.”

A Jubilee usually lasts a year and a few days: it begins just before the Christian Christmas and ends the Epiphany of the following year.

The most well-known rite is the opening of the Holy Door. This gate is open only during the jubilee year and the 4 main ones are the major basilicas of Rome: St. Peter, Archbasilica of St John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls and St Mary Major. The first to be opened is St. Peter's Basilica, the other doors are opened in the following days and remain open until the end of the Jubilee when they are once again walled up.

The practice of a jubilee year is roots in the ancient Jewish tradition found in the Old Testament ( Leviticus 25). The jubilee year was called every fifty years and was a time for forgiveness. It stood as a reminder of God's providence and mercy. The dedication of a year for this emphasis provided the community with a time to come back into right relationship with one another and with God. As the practice of the jubilee year was adopted into the Catholic Church, these themes of mercy, forgiveness, and solidarity continued.

The Lord has given freedom
To all who just believe Him
Be no longer enslaved
Come now! Return to Jesus
Receive the Life that frees us!
Call on Him and be saved
This is the year of jubilee!
Proclaim our liberty in Him!
Throughout the land we sound out
The slaves have been returned to Him
Released from toil, anxiety, and sin!
This is the year of jubilee!- Heidi Johnsen

Previously, Pope Francis called the Jubilee of Mercy from December 8, 2015 – November 20, 2016, as an Extraordinary Jubilee. This designation as an "Extraordinary Jubilee" sets it apart from the ordinary cycle of jubilees, or holy years, which are called every 25 years in the Catholic Church. By calling for a holy year outside of the normal cycle, a particular event or theme is emphasized. For example, Pope Francis called this particular Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy to direct our attention and actions "on mercy so that we may become a more effective sign of the Father's actions in our lives . . . a time when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective" (MV, 3).

Pope Francis himself addressed the question of why the Jubilee of Mercy,
In his homily for First Vespers for Divine Mercy Sunday.

"Here, then, is the reason for the Jubilee: because this is the time for mercy. It is the favorable time to heal wounds, a time not to be weary of meeting all those who are waiting to see and to touch with their hands the signs of the closeness of God, a time to offer everyone, everyone, the way of forgiveness and reconciliation. May the Mother of God open our eyes, so that we may comprehend the task to which we have been called; and may she obtain for us the grace to experience this Jubilee of Mercy as faithful and fruitful witnesses of Christ."

In Spes non confundit Pope Francis insisted that Christian hope, rooted in Christ’s death and resurrection for each human person, points to our final destiny, eternal happiness with God in heaven. We are saved by God’s mercy, seen especially in the gift of indulgences: While Confession washes away our sins, indulgences – including the Jubilee Indulgence – remove the effects of sins forgiven in the Sacrament. In the Bull of Indiction, the Pope notes that the specific conditions for receiving the indulgence will be published soon.


The Holy Father concludes the Bull with a final note of hope, praying that “the coming Jubilee will be a Holy Year marked by the hope that does not fade, our hope in God”; and that it might help us recover “the confident trust we require in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.”



“Let us even now be drawn to this hope!”

Spes non confundit ends with Pope Francis exclaiming, “Let us even now be drawn to this hope!” He calls on Christians to live a life in keeping with their faith, as a witness and an invitation to all to “hope in the Lord.”

“May the power of hope fill our days,” the Pope says, “as we await with confidence the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and glory, now and forever