On June 15-22, 2008, the whole world is invited to Quebec City

Transcription

For the Triumph of the Immaculate
A journal of Catholic patriots
for the kingship of Christ and Mary
in the souls, families, and countries
Pilgrims of Saint Michael, 1101 Principale Street
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April-May-June 2008
On June 15-22, 2008, the whole
world is invited to Quebec City
The Eucharist, gift of God for the life of the world
Pope Benedict XVI in the U.S.A.:
Peter brings hope to America
see article on pages 12-15
Cardinal Agre of Ivory Coast visits
our headquarters in Rougemont, Canada
ED COTTRILL, PHOTOGRAPHER
see page 24
THE EUCHARIST - GOD’S GIFT FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD
Foundational theological document for the 49th International Eucharistic Congress
The International Eucharistic Congress that will
be held in Quebec City in June 2008 offers both the
local Church and the universal Church an intense
time to pray, reflect on, and celebrate the gift of the
Holy Eucharist. The forty-ninth in a series of congresses that have marked the Church’s life for more
than a century, the Quebec conference coincides
with the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the
first French city in North America, which would become in the 17th century an important entry point for
missionary activity on the entire continent.
clesia de Eucharistia. He wanted to rekindle in the
heart of the Church an admiration for this supreme
gift of the Holy Eucharist and stir up renewed adoration of this Sacrament which contains the very Person of the Lord Jesus in his sacred humanity. The
October 2005 Synod of Bishops on The Eucharist
in the Life and Mission of the Church prolonged and
deepened this reflection by spelling out the pastoral
implications of the Eucharistic mystery.
The world’s longing for the freedom of love
“At the Last Supper, on the night when He was
betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic
sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order
to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout
the centuries until He should come again, and so to
entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament
of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal
banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled
with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to
us.”4
The Institution of the Holy Eucharist
The central theme of the Congress, approved by
Pope Benedict XVI, is “The Eucharist, God’s gift for
the life of the world.” It is particularly important today
to remember God’s gift, for, in the midst of remarkable technological progress, notably in the area of
communication, our world experiences a deep interior emptiness that it perceives as an absence of
God. Fascinated by its own creative capacities, contemporary humanity tends to forget its Creator and
set itself up as the sole master of its own destiny.
This temptation to put ourselves in God’s place
does not silence the longing for the infinite that inhabits our depths and the authentic values that we
strive to develop, even if they do risk leading us
astray. The value we place on freedom, our longing for equality, the ideal of solidarity, our access
to unrestricted communications, our technological
abilities and the protection of the environment are
unquestionably admirable values that are a credit to
our world and bring forth fruits of justice and brotherhood.
The tragedy of a humanism
that has forgotten God
In addition, forgetting the Creator risks closing
human beings in on themselves, in a self-centeredness that results in an inability to love and make
lasting commitments, and increasingly frustrates the
universal longing for love and freedom. For man, created in God’s image and for communion with God,
“cannot fully find himself except through a sincere
gift of himself.” ¹ The fulfillment of the human person
comes about by this self-gift that signifies openness
to the other, welcome and respect for life.
But today human beings are constantly pushing
back the limits of our mastery over the transmission
and end of life. Unchecked, this power over life and
death, although technologically possible, threatens
humanity itself. For, in the strong words of Pope
John Paul II, a “culture of death” has taken over
many secularized societies. The death of God in the
culture leads almost inevitably to the death of the
human being. We see this, not only in currents of
nihilistic thought, but above all in the conflictual and
broken relationships that are multiplying at all levels
of human experience, disrupting marriage and the
family, multiplying ethnic and social conflicts, and
increasing the gulf between the rich and the huge
majority who are the poor.
Despite our keener consciousness of human
dignity and human rights, we are witnessing the
multiplication of violations of these rights almost everywhere on the planet: the accumulation of weapons of mass destruction, which make a lie of all talk
of peace; a growing concentration of material goods
in the hands of a few, which skews the spread of
globalization, while, to our shame, the fundamental needs of masses of the poor are ignored. World
peace is undermined by injustice and misery, and
terrorism becomes the weapon of choice of the desperate.
On the religious level, people today are no longer willing to submit themselves to an authority that
dictates their conduct. They must cope with widespread access to many different beliefs and the
growing difficulty of handing on to new generations
the heritage that they have received from their own
religious tradition. The Christian faith is no exception to this pattern, and is even more affected by
it because its transmission relies on revelation that
reason alone cannot measure. Jealous of their
hard-won freedom, human beings construct their
own spirituality without any reference to religion,
thus sometimes giving in to the excessively individualistic tendencies of contemporary democratic
cultures.
What the Saviour instituted on the night he was
betrayed was the gift of himself, impelled by the
depths of his love: “Now before the festival of the
Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to
depart from this world and go to the Father. Having
loved his own who were in the world, he loved them
to the end” (Jn 13.1). The institution of the Holy Eucharist is the gift of Love in Person; it is God who
gives himself in the Sacrament of the Passover of
Christ. Jesus instituted this Sacrament by a rite that
continues the gift of his life as a sacrifice that takes
away sin, and he conveyed its meaning by a gesture of service, the washing of feet.
The evening of Holy Thursday, Jesus knew that
he was bringing to its fulfillment the memorial of the
Jewish Passover meal: he took bread, blessed it and
said, “Take this, all of you, and eat it. This is my body
which will be given up for you” then he took the cup
filled with wine and said, “Take this, all of you, and
drink from it; this is the cup of my blood, the blood of
the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for
you and for all. Do this in memory of me.”
By these gestures and words, Jesus instituted a
new rite, his paschal rite, by which he offered himself in place of the traditional lamb, giving himself
and sacrificing himself out of love. His act of love
fulfills the New Covenant in his Blood, which frees
humanity from sin and death.
The institution of the Eucharist conceals a profound mystery that transcends our ability to understand and our categories. It is the mystery of faith
par excellence. The Eucharist constantly nourishes
the Church, for from the Eucharist the Church draws
her life and her reason for existence.
The Eucharist, Memorial of
the Paschal Mystery
Memorial of Christ’s Passover, a Trinitarian
Gift
What, then, is the content of this memorial that
the Church, since its origins, has celebrated as the
Lord’s gift par excellence? Jesus established its essential form at the Last Supper when he spoke the
words of institution over the bread and the wine to
change them into his Body and Blood. But this act
by which Christ gives his own person conceals a
PART ONE
The Eucharist, God’s Gift par excellence
At the Centre and Summit of Salvation History
“The Church has received the Eucharist from
Christ her Lord not as one gift – however precious
– among so many others, but as the gift par excellence, for it is the gift of himself, of his person in his
sacred humanity, as well as the gift of his saving
work”. ²
The servant of God, John Paul II, ended and
crowned his long pontificate during the year of the
Eucharist that he set up following his encyclical Ec-
Page 2
“Michael” Journal, 1101 Principale St., Rougemont, QC, Canada — J0L 1M0
Contents
“Michael”. April, May, June 2008
The Eucharist - God’s Gift
Cardinal Ouellet to the Commission
Open letter to Quebec Catholics
Missions in South America
The Pilgrims of St. Michael
Government does not create money
Pope Benedict in the USA
Monetary Reform
Pierre Marchildon in Poland
The Holy Demoniac
Tel.: Rougemont (450) 469-2209; Montreal area (514) 856-5714; Fax (450) 469-2601; www.michaeljournal.org
Page
2-4
5
6
7
8-10
11
12-15
16-19
20-21
22-23
April-May-June 2008
content whose depths cannot be exhausted since
it contains the whole Passover of the Lord, that is,
his offering to the Father of love unto death on the
Cross and his Resurrection from the dead by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
ness allows the fecundity of the new Adam to take
its course. “Mater Dei et Mater Ecclesiae.”
When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, it
welcomes the gift of Christ who hands himself over
to sinners out of obedience to the Father’s will. St.
Paul proclaims it solemnly in the hymn to the Philippians: “He humbled himself and became obedient
to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the
name that is above every name, so that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father (Phil 2.8-11).
God’s gift to the banquet of love commits the
Church to sharing this gift with the whole of humanity, which is called to become Christ’s body and
spouse. The Church’s primary devotion to this mystery is its full, marvelling, worshipping faith. For, in
response to the ultimate mystery of God’s Eucharistic self-offering, must correspond the supreme
mystery of faith: the Church’s total, gratitude-filled
adherence, united with Mary’s pure faith. The Holy
Spirit’s mission is to assure this nuptial relationship
between the perpetual realization of the Eucharistic
mystery and the Church’s welcome that thus nourishes the world’s hope by its witness.
Thus the Church welcomes the Father’s gift to
the world in his only Son, incarnate and crucified:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only
Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not
perish but may have eternal life” (Jn 3.16).
The Pascal Sacrifice
In light of this doctrine, we understand even better why all the sacramental life of the Church and of
each Christian reaches its summit and its fullness
in the Eucharist. In this Sacrament, the mystery of
Christ’s sacrificial self offering to the Father on the
altar of the Cross is renewed continuously by his
own will.
The Eucharist, as the memorial of the death and
resurrection of the Lord, thus does much more than
recall a past event: it represents sacramentally an
event that is always “now” – since Jesus’ offering of
love on the cross was accepted by the Father and
glorified by the Holy Spirit. Consequently this offering transcends time and space, and by the Lord’s
explicit will, remains permanently available to the
faith of the Church. “Do this in memory of me.”
When the Church celebrates the Eucharistic
banquet, she does not do “as if” it were the first time.
Rather, the Church welcomes the definitive eschatological event, the event of a unique love that is
always offered to us. This banquet of love takes its
inexhaustible substance from the sacrifice of love of
the Son of God made man, who has been lifted up
and always intercedes for us.
PART TWO
The Eucharist, the New Covenant
The Eucharist Builds up the Church, the Sacrament of Salvation
The supreme gift of the Eucharist is a covenant
mystery, the nuptial mystery joining God and humanity. In the Eucharist the living God constantly
gives rebirth to the Church as a people brought
together, as the Body and Spouse of Christ, as a living community that is at the same time a single mystical Person with Him. Saint Augustine says, “Let us
rejoice then and give thanks that we have become
not only Christians, but Christ himself.” ¹³
The Church is the people of the New Covenant,
as inseparable from the Eucharist as the body is inseparable from the head, living from the Eucharist
as a wife lives from the gift of her husband. As heir to
and partner in the Eucharistic mystery, the Church,
quickened by the Spirit and shaped by Mary’s faith,
participates in God’s gift to the world. The Church
herself is a sacrament, that is, “a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and
of the unity of the whole human race.”14 Indeed,
the Church is the universal sacrament of Trinitarian
communion for the world.
The Gift of the Church as Communion
Mary, First Church and Eucharistic Woman
God’s gift to the world came about thanks to a
woman, blessed among all women, who believed
and handed herself over unconditionally to the mysterious Word of her Lord. Mary of Nazareth is the
woman who, above all others, said “yes” to the God
of the covenant, thus becoming at the annunciation,
the fulfilment of the daughter of Sion, the beginning
of the Church. Her “yes” accompanied the incarnation of God’s Word from the first moment of his
conception to his death and Resurrection. No other
creature possesses such a concrete memory of the
Word enfleshed even unto Eucharistic flesh.
No other human being knows so perfectly what
the mercy, pardon, compassion and suffering of redeeming Love means. Mary is the Eucharistic woman par excellence, 15 the new Eve whose utter open-
April-May-June 2008
The Church’s Eucharistic Response
To Believe and Love like Mary, in Jesus
The first form of sharing that springs immediately
from the Eucharistic heart of Jesus is the new commandment of love: “I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another. Just as I have loved you,
you also should love one another” (Jn 13.34). This
commandment is new because its measure is no
longer to love the neighbour as ourselves, but as
Jesus loved. It is new because it puts before us the
essential demand of entering into the eschatological
community of disciples who are united to Him by the
same faith; it is new in the measure that it requires
humility and a willingness to serve that enables us
to take the last place and die for others.
“Dear brethren, the Lord has marked out for us
the fullness of love that we ought to have for each
other. He tells us: ‘No one has greater love than the
man who lays down his life for his friends’… John
the evangelist, who recorded (these words),
draws the conclusion
in one of his letters: ‘As
Christ laid down his life
for us, so we too ought
to lay down our lives for
our brothers. “We should
indeed love one another
as he loved us, he who
laid down his life for us.”
ciples around the risen Lord? By remembering our
Christian roots, to which many eloquent voices testify. At the beginning of the fourth century in North
Africa, some Christians preferred to die rather than
live without Sunday, that is, without the Lord whom
they encountered in the holy Eucharist.
PART THREE
For the Life of the World
The Church, the risen Lord’s partner, lives because of this gift of God and, united to Jesus Christ,
the High Priest, gives this gift to humanity. The
world benefits from the love of Christians and the
Church’s worship that glorifies God by interceding
for the world. Whether the Church dialogues with
God in worship or in her mission to the world, the
Church does not live for herself, but for the one who
came “that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10.10).
The Eucharist, the Life of Christ in our lives
A. The Spiritual Worship of the BaptizedIt points
to a totally renewed life: “So, whether you eat or
drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the
glory of God” (1 Cor 10.31). “Do not be conformed
to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your minds, so that you may discern what is the will
of God” (Rom 12.2). This new worship shows itself,
among other ways, by humility and service, “each
according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Rom 12.3).
Authentic Adoration
The Eucharist makes Christ present in the act of
adoration par excellence, his death on the Cross.
By his act of absolute love unto death, Christ returns
to the Father with reconciled
humankind and obtains for all
the Spirit of love and peace,
the Spirit who gives life to the
Church’s adoration in spirit
and in truth. Though Him, with
Him and in Him, the whole
Church adores in the name of
redeemed humanity.
In the offering of the holy
Sacrifice in persona Christi,
Caput et Corpus, as Saint AuTo Be Reconciled in
gustine puts it, including the
Unity
active participation of the faithful in the mystery of praise,
The Eucharistic Celthanksgiving and communion,
ebration makes Christ’s
Christ and the Church carry out
disciples aware of their
this supreme act of adoration.
responsibility for their
This act of adoration in which
own ongoing need to
Christ and the Church engage
be reconciled and to be
The Ark of the New Covenant for
in the Eucharistic Celebration
artisans of reconciliation.
the Eucharistic Congress
does not end with the liturgy. It
They express this by celeis prolonged in his permanent
brating the Sacrament of Reconciliation that purifies
sacramental presence, which invites the faithful to
their hearts for Eucharistic Communion and by their
participate by adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
decisions to welcome each other with their different
cultures and life choices.
Eucharistic adoration outside Mass prolongs the
memorial by inviting the faithful to remain with the
That around the world the Christian Churches
Lord who is present in the Blessed Sacrament: “The
celebrate the Lord’s Supper separately is a sign of
Teacher is here and is calling for you” (Jn 11.28).
historical and doctrinal differences that it is imposIn Eucharistic adoration, the faithful recognize the
sible to conceal or overlook. United by one and the
Lord’s real presence and join themselves to his act
same baptism, Christ’s disciples cannot forget the
of self-offering to the Father. Their adoration shares
consequences of their divisions on their individual
in his adoration because it is through Him, with Him
or collective witness to the world. The realization
and in Him that all prayer and adoration are given
that they cannot all gather in full communion at the
to God and accepted by God. Is not Christ, who ansame table and sorrow over the resulting weakennounced to the Samaritan woman that the Father
ing of the missionary witnessing opens hearts to a
was seeking those who adored in spirit and in truth
search for reconciliation among all the members of
(Jn 4.23-26), the first adorer who leads the long line
the Body of Christ, “so that they may be one” (Jn
of all men and women who adore? (Heb 12.2, 24).
17.11).
Once again we are witnessing everywhere in the
Each Eucharist is celebrated in anticipation of,
Church a fervent revival of this “art of prayer” that
and hope for the reunification of the one people of
Pope John Paul II associated with Eucharistic adoGod at the one table of the Lord.
ration, which increases both the Church’s witness
to God’s love and her intercession for the needs
To Come Together on Sunday,
of the world. The practice of adoration reinforces
the Lord’s Day
in the faithful the sense of the sacredness of the
The Church is the community of disciples that Eucharistic Celebration which has, unfortunately,
professes its belonging to the Lord by its distinctive decreased in certain areas. Explicitly recognizing
sign: the practice of mutual love and fraternal love the divine presence in the sacred species outside
for all. We cannot love with the same love as Christ of Mass contributes to promoting the faithful’s acwithout constantly receiving this love from Him. His tive and interior participation in the celebration and
new commandment is not a simple moral ideal of- helps them to see it as more than a social ritual.
fered for our freedom. It is a covenant, a love shared The fruits of Eucharistic adoration also influence the
between the Lord and his disciples, which increases spiritual worship we offer throughout the whole of
and shines on the world if it is constantly renewed at life – doing God’s will every day.
20
its source, the Sunday Eucharist. Today it is important to re-evangelize Sunday, for in many places its
meaning has been obscured under pressure from
an individualistic and materialistic culture. How can
we rediscover the meaning of this assembly of dis-
Contemplating Christ in a state of self-offering
and immolation in the Blessed Sacrament teaches
(Continued on page 4)
Page 3
THE EUCHARIST - GOD’S GIFT FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD
able statistical data, it can be said that less than half
of the immense sums spent worldwide on armaments would be more than sufficient to liberate the
immense masses of the poor from destitution. This
challenges humanity’s conscience. To peoples living
below the poverty line, more as a result of situations
to do with international political, commercial and
cultural relations than as a result of circumstances
beyond anyone’s control, our common commitment
to truth can and must give new hope.” 37
The Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City
(Continued from page 3)
us to give ourselves without limit, actively and passively, to the point of being given like the Eucharistic bread which is given from one hand to another
in Holy Communion. Does not the One whom we
visit and adore in the tabernacle teach us to persevere in love, day in and day out, welcoming the
circumstances and events of life and everything
about them, leaving out nothing but sin, as we try to
produce as much fruit as possible? True adoration
is the gift of self in love, the ecstasy of love in the
present moment, for the glory of God and the service of the neighbour.
In this way Christ’s adoration, and the Church’s,
is sacramentally actualized in the celebration of the
Eucharist, and is prolonged in the heart of the community and the faithful.
Eucharist and Mission
“The two disciples of Emmaus, upon recognizing the Lord, ‘set out immediately’ (cf. Lk 24.33), in
order to report what they had seen and heard. Once
we have truly met the Risen One, we cannot keep
the Good News to ourselves and the joy we have
experienced. The encounter with Christ, constantly
intensified and deepened in the Eucharist, issues in
the Church and in every Christian an urgent summons to testimony and evangelization.” 34
Evangelization and the Transformation of the
World“
The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who
are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys
and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers
of Christ.” When the Church celebrates the memorial of the death and resurrection of Christ, she never
stops asking God “Remember, Lord,” all those for
whom Christ came to bring life. This constant prayer
expresses the identity of the Church and its mission,
for the Church knows that she is in solidarity with
and responsible for the salvation of all humanity.
Living from the Eucharist, the Church participates in
Christ’s universal prayer of intercession and brings
to humanity the hope of eternal life. 35
The Eucharist opens to sharing those who are
tempted to close their hands. It highlights reconciliation instead of division. It puts life and human
dignity at the centre of our faith commitment. In a
society too often dominated by a “culture of death,”
which the search for individual comfort, money or
power only intensifies, the Eucharist reminds us of
the rights of the poor and the duty of justice and
solidarity. It awakens the community to the immense
gift of the New Covenant that calls all humanity to
go beyond itself. In the American continent, as elsewhere, the Church started with a missionary vision.
Its faith and ecclesiastical institutions gave birth to
a local Church that, inspired by the first community
in Jerusalem, helped shape the characteristics of
this emerging people. This Church, like the society
in which it took root, was marked by an initial dynamism: Ursulines and Hospitallers; Recollets and Jesuits, lay associates and secular priests crossed the
ocean to proclaim the gospel of God in a new land.
In the mystical adventure of these men and
women, which pushed them to the limits of physical
endurance, courage and faith, the Church deeply
identified with this growing country. By once again
drawing on its roots in the Eucharist, the great missionary thrust that so marked the history of this country must continue and deepen as it faces the new
challenges of secularization. Following the example
of John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI has constantly
appealed to human responsibility, particularly that of
leaders and heads of state: “On the basis of avail-
Page 4
“However, we know that evil does not have the last
word, because it was the Crucified and Risen Christ
who overcame it, and his triumph is expressed with
the power of merciful love. His Resurrection gives
us this certainty: despite all the darkness that exists
in the world, evil does not have the last word. Sustained by this certainty, we will be able, with greater
courage and enthusiasm, to commit ourselves to
work for the birth of a more just world.” 38
Witnesses to Eucharist
The Family, the Domestic Church,
Foundation of a Civilization of Love
“The Eucharist is the very source of Christian
marriage. The Eucharistic Sacrifice, in fact, represents Christ’s covenant of love with the Church,
sealed with His Blood on the
Cross. In this sacrifice of the
New and Eternal Covenant,
Christian spouses encounter
the source from which their own
marriage covenant flows, is interiorly structured and continuously renewed.
As a representation of
Christ’s sacrifice of love for the
Church, the Eucharist is a fountain of charity. In the Eucharistic
gift of charity the Christian family
finds the foundation and soul of
its ‘communion’ and its ‘mission’:
by partaking in the Eucharistic
Bread, the different members of
the Christian family become one
body, which reveals and shares
in the wider unity of the Church.
Their sharing in the Body of
Christ that is ‘given up’ and in
His Blood that is ‘shed’ becomes
a never-ending source of missionary and apostolic dynamism
for the Christian family.” 40
Moreover, by thus strengthening its consciousness of being the domestic Church, the family participates more actively in witnessing to the faith and
love that the Church incarnates in the heart of society.
Consecrated life, Pledge of hope that Proclaims
the Bridegroom’s Coming
“By its very nature the Eucharist is at the centre
of the consecrated life, both for individuals and for
communities. It is the daily viaticum and source of
the spiritual life for the individual and for the Institute.
By means of the Eucharist all consecrated persons
are called to live Christ’s Paschal Mystery, uniting
themselves to Him by offering their own lives to the
Father through the Holy Spirit. Frequent and prolonged adoration of Christ present in the Eucharist
enables us in some way to relive Peter’s experience
at the Transfiguration: ‘It is well that we are here’.
In the celebration of the mystery of the Lord’s Body
and Blood, the unity and charity of those who have
consecrated their lives to God are strengthened and
increased.” 41
The Synod on the Eucharist of October 2005
spoke in this way of consecrated persons: “Your
Eucharistic witness in the service of Christ is a cry
of love in the darkness of the world, an echo of the
ancient Marian hymns, the Stabat Mater and the
Magnificat. May the Woman of the Eucharist par
excellence, crowned with stars, and rich in love,
the Virgin of the Assumption and of the Immaculate
Conception, watch over you in your service of God
and the poor, in the joy of Easter, for the hope of the
world.” 43
CONCLUSION
God so loved the World
By way of conclusion, a few texts of Vatican II
will synthesize the Trinitarian, nuptial and mission-
ary perspectives that we wish to give to the theme
of the International Eucharistic Congress of 2008.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son
so that through Him, with Him and in Him, the world
might live the Trinitarian life. The Holy Eucharist is
God’s gift par excellence, a wedding present, welcomed and celebrated by the Church, which makes
the Church the universal sacrament of the New
Covenant. This gift of love essentially commits the
Church to the Holy Spirit’s mission, as it encounters
humanity’s universal desire for freedom in love.
“For God’s Word, through Whom all things were
made, was Himself made flesh and dwelt on the
earth of men (see Jn 1.3,14). Thus, He entered the
world’s history as a perfect man, taking that history
up into Himself and summarizing it (Eph 1.10). HeHimself revealed to us that ‘God is love’ (1 Jn 4:8)
and at the same time taught us that the new command of love was the basic law of human perfection
and hence of the world’s transformation.” 44
“While helping the world and receiving many benefits from it, the Church has a single intention: that
God’s kingdom may come, and that the salvation of
the whole human race may come to pass. For every
benefit which the People of God during its earthly
pilgrimage can offer to the human family stems from
the fact that the Church is ‘the
universal sacrament of salvation’, simultaneously manifesting and arising from the mystery of God’s love.” 46
“The Most Blessed Eucharist contains the entire spiritual
boon of the Church, that is,
Christ himself, our Pasch and
Living Bread, by the action of
the Holy Spirit through his very
flesh vital and vitalizing, giving
life to men who are thus invited and encouraged to offer
themselves, their labors and
all created things, together
with Him.” 48
Bread yourself, good Shepherd, tend us; Jesus, with your
love befriend us. You refresh
us and defend us; to your lasting goodness send us that the
land of life we see. Lord, who
all things both rule and know,
who on this earth such food
bestow, Grant that we your saints may follow to the
banquet you make hallow. 49
(Excerpts taken from the Theological
Document for the Eucharistic Congress)
1. Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, n. 24.
2. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia,
n. 11.
4. Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 47
13. Saint Augustine, In ev. Jo. (21, 8: PL 35, 1568). See the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 795.
14. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church, Lumen Gentium, n. 1.
15. See John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, nn. 53-58.
20. Saint Augustine, Homily on the Gospel of John (Tract. 84,
1-2: CCL 36, 536-638), in The Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. II (New
York: Catholic Book Publishing Corp., 1976), p. 449.
34. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter,Mane nobiscum Domine,
n. 24.
35. Second Vatican Council, Pastoral constitution on the
37. Benedict XVI, Audience with the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, January 9, 2006.
38. Benedict XVI, General audience, April 12, 2006.
40. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio,
n. 37.
41. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Vita Consecrata, n.
95.
43. Synod on the Eucharist, Message to the People of God,
n. 20, 21, October 2005.
48. Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Ministry and Life
of Priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 5.
49. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Eucharistic hymn, Lauda Sion.
With them heirs and guests to be.
April-May-June 2008
Cardinal Marc Ouellet to the
Bouchard-Taylor Commission
their will clearly expressed to maintain the liberty of
choice between denominational and moral teaching,
the States suppresses all denominational instruction and imposes their course of ethics and religious
culture in the public and private schools and this,
without possibility of exception. Because of the profound unrest in many families, coupled with a sense
of helplessness in the face of an all-powerful State
that does not fear anything, it seems, including the
influence of the Church who cannot impose her law
without major constraint. The most scandalous situation is reserved to the private Catholic schools that
are forced, because of the interplay of government
grants, to marginalize their own denominational instruction to the advantage of the state courses that
are being imposed everywhere and at each level.
Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Archbishop of Quebec
City and Primate of Canada:
The debate on the Accommodation Practices
and their emotional repercussions have forced Quebec society to an exercise of listening, reflection and
dialogue on the subject of the place of religion in the
public space. We are happy that a large forum presided by two known personalities permit us to calmly
lead this reflection and dialogue on the actual problem, on the causes, issues and means of solution.
Quebec society is presently in front of a choice that
obliges individuals and institutional instances of the
State, Churches and different religious groups to a
serious examination of the situation and a real and
sincere dialogue in order to wisely decide the way
to follow in order to live harmoniously in the coming
decades.
DARE TO GIVE A PROFOUND DIAGNOSTIC
From the outset, I declare my conviction that
the attack on values and the quest for a meaning of
life in Quebec are so profound and urgent that they
have grave repercussions on the public health that
engenders enormous costs for the system of health.
For 400 years, the Quebec society rests in the midst
of two pillars: the French culture and the Catholic
faith that forms the base of armature that permits
the integration of other components of an actual pluralistic identity. It is made fragile by the weakening
of the religious identity of the francophone majority.
The debate today directly touches religion and
the relations between cultural communities, but the
real problem is not that of the integration of immigrants that would be rendered more difficult because
of the demands of their religious practices. The statistics reveal that the accommodation practices for
religious motives are minimal, which would indicate
the reason for current and future tensions. So we
cannot then not give responsibility to them or judge
them overwhelming, despite the profound anxiety of
the Quebec society towards those who are seeking
refuge or a place of welcome for their religion. The
refugees and immigrants often bring us the great
riches of their witness and of their cultural values
that add to the common value of Quebec society.
Sharing and solidarity should then be the basic attitudes in regard to the immigrants and their human
and cultural needs.
The real problem is also not that of “the place
of religion in public space,” to spread this expression, vague as it is, facilitates the diffusion of the
modern slogan: “religion in private or in church but
not in public places.” What is a public place? Is it
a street, a park, the air waves, the school, the city
hall, or the National Assembly? Should we destroy
the monument dedicated to Bishop Francois de Laval from the public place or the one dedicated to
Cardinal Taschereau? Should a banner say “Merry
Christmas” in the center of Parliament or should it
be replaced by “Happy Holidays,” in order include
everyone? Have the religious characteristics of our
history that constitute our collective identity become
problems or bad memories to be put aside? Do we
have to eliminate them from public places in order
to satisfy a radical secularist minority who are the
only ones who complain in the name of an absolute
equality of citizens?
The believers and unbelievers bring with them
belief or unbelief in all the places that they frequent.
They are all called to live together, to mutually accept each other, and to not impose their beliefs or
unbelief’s, in public or in private. To take away all religious signs from a cultural public place identified by
a tradition defined by its religious dimension, is this
not equivalent to promoting unbelief as the unique
value that has a right to depict itself? The presence
of a crucifix at the National Assembly and at a City
Hall is not a sign of a single religion of the State. It
is an identifiable and cultural sign linked to a concrete history, a real population who has a right to the
continuity of its institutions and its symbols. These
symbols are not over all a denominational sign but
a witness of the cultural heritage of all a society
marked by its historical vocation from the cradle of
the evangelization of North America. To take them
away signifies a cultural rupture, a denial of who we
April-May-June 2008
were and who we are called to collectively be; historically founded on the values of Christianity.
THE REAL PROBLEM AT ITS BASE
The real problem of Quebec is then not the presence of religious signs or the apparition of overwhelming new religious signs in public places. The
real problem in Quebec is the spiritual emptiness
created by a religious and cultural rupture, a substantial loss of memory, leading to a crisis of the
family and of education that leaves the citizens disorientated, de-motivated, subject to instability and
dreams of a passing and superficial value.
A people whose identity was strongly configured
for centuries by the Catholic faith cannot from one
day to another (a few centuries are brief in the life of
a country) be emptied of its substance without which
results in grave consequences at all levels. The disarray of the youth, the dizzying fall of marriages, the
low birth-rate and the many horrible abortions and
suicides, to name only a few of the consequences
that add to the precarious conditions of the elderly
and of the public health. And to fill this spiritual and
cultural emptiness is a anti-Catholic rhetoric full of
clichés that unfortunately finds itself too often in the
media.
He who favors a real culture of disdain and
shame in regards to our religious heritage, destroys the soul of Quebec. It is about time that
we ask: Quebec, what have you done with your
baptism? It’s about time that we break the hold
of secular fundamentalism, imposed even with
public funds, and that we find a better equilibrium in Quebec between tradition and creative
innovation to the service of the common good.
We should relearn the respect for religion that
is the means of identifying the population and
the respect of all the religions without giving in
to the pressure of the secularists who advertise
the exclusion of religion in public places.
Quebec is ripe for a new profound evangelization that is taking shape in certain circles by important catechetic initiatives, even by community efforts
in returning to the sources of our history. A spiritual
and cultural renewal is possible if the dialogue between the State, the Society and the Church spread
their teachings, constructive and respecting the collective identity that has become pluralistic.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IS THREATENED
Within the context of this debate on the Accommodation Practices, we cannot ignore the radical
change that the Quebec State has introduced concerning the place of religion in the schools. These
changes provoke disorder and anger in many parents who have had their private rights stolen in the
name of a ultimate reform and the modernization of
the Quebec school system. Without taking into account the primacy of the rights of the parents and
Will the reframing of the formation of ethics and
religion for the citizens with obligatory courses be
successful to save a minimum of points of reference to assure a harmonious existence of living?
I doubt it, and I am even convinced of the contrary,
because this operation was done at the expense of
the religious freedom of the citizen, especially that
of the Catholic majority. Moreover, they are founded
exclusively on an “understanding” of the beliefs and
rites of six or seven religions. I doubt that the teachers who are not very much prepared to take up this
challenge, will be able to teach in neutrality and in
a critical manner, ideas that they understand even
less than their own religion. One would have to be
very naive to believe that the miracle of cultural and
religion instruction will fabricate a new little pluralist Quebecer expert in inter-religious and critique
relations towards all creeds even that of their own
parents. The least we can say is that the thirst for
spiritual values will be far from being satiated and a
dictatorship of relativism risks making more difficult
the transmission of our religious heritage.
CONCLUSION
The rural Quebec culture puts a cross everywhere at the road crossings. These crosses invite
us to pray and reflect the meaning of life. What
choice is imposed now upon our society that the
State must take clear and very respectful decisions
of the religious and individual consciences, as well
as that of groups and the Church? In spite of certain
deviances due to recurrent but limited surges of fanaticism; religion stays a source of inspiration and a
power of peace in the world and our society, if it is
not manipulated by political interests or bullied into
legal aspirations.
The reform that imposed by Law 95 submits religions to the control and the interests of the State,
all the while putting an end to religious liberties acquired for generations. This law does not serve the
common good and cannot be imposed without being resented as a violation of the religious liberty of
the citizens. It is not unreasonable to maintain it as
is stipulated, because their goal was to establish
a laciest jurisdiction that would exclude religion in
public places. The two pillars of our national cultural
identity, our language and religion, are called historically and sociologically to either hold each other up,
or to fall together. Has not the moment come for a
new alliance where the Catholic faith and the culture
emerge together to give to Quebec society, security
and confidence for the future?
Quebec lives always the heritage of a religious
tradition that is strong and positive, exempt of major
conflicts and characterized by sharing, welcoming
strangers and compassion towards the less fortunate. We must protect and cultivate this religious
heritage founded on love that is a force of social integration much more useful than an abstract knowledge of a few superficial ideas from six or seven different religions. Above all its important at the present
time for the Catholic majority to wake up, recognize
its true spiritual needs and renew with its traditional
practices in order to be up to the mission that belongs to them. May the wisdom of God inspire the
recommendations of the Commissionaires in order
that they recognize religious freedom as a primary
and permanent value that it blossoms in Quebec
and gives meaning to life.
Marc Cardinal Ouellet
Page 5
Open letter to the Catholics of Quebec
(LifeSiteNews.com, November 6, 2007) - Quebec City`s Cardinal Marc Ouellet has spoken out
against a Quebec initiative which would impose a
relativistic religion course on all Quebec students
whether in public school, private school or even
receiving home education. The Cardinal made his
remarks before a commission which is seeking public reaction to the program on “Ethics and Religious
Culture” which includes positive presentation of homosexual families and requires children to question
their own religious upbringing. (see coverage: http://
www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/oct/07100409.html)
The Cardinal’s presentation before the Bouchard-Taylor commission is being seen as a watershed defense of the place of the Catholic faith in
Quebec society and indeed in Canada as a whole.
Cardinal Ouellet said that the mandated course
“subjects religions to the control and the interests
of the State and puts an end to religious freedoms
in school which were acquired many generations
ago.”
With a firmness and fire rarely seen from the Canadian Catholic hierarchy, the Cardinal said, “No.”
The following is the full text of Cardinal Marc
Ouellet’s letter to the Catholics of Quebec. The
Cardinal’s letter brings to light many of the church’s
past shortcomings but also how the Catholic Church
can play a role in that province’s future.
Open letter to the Catholics of Quebec
In search of Quebec pride
Following my intervention at the Bouchard-Taylor commission, your comments have been many
and varied. I have read all of them with great care,
whether they came in the mail or through the media.
I thank you for the messages of support, I also thank
you for the criticism which has made me reflect and
prompted this open letter, which seeks to deepen
reflection, dispel misunderstandings and promote
dialogue in a spirit of peace and reconciliation.
In response to my analysis of the Quebecois malaise I have heard “finally, it’s about time!” as well
as “what a step backward!” Let’s be clear. I am not
asking for Quebec society to go back to 1950. From
a sociological and cultural point of view, pluralism
and secularism have made their home in Quebec
and we must be proud of the gains made in the areas of the economy, health, culture, social services,
education, politics and dynamism of Quebec society. Quebec has an enviable living standard, a culture
of liberty and tolerance, an openess to immigration
and a load of talent in arts and culture. But a fact
remains: its search for spirituality is languishing.
Perhaps was it impeded by the excessive authority
of the Church? Or perhaps has it not received the
education necessary to its needs? The spiritual void
which I have mentioned is the fruit of the spirit of the
world which, by wanting to eliminate God, suggests,
in a thousand ways, that we become our own God.
Reluctance to procreate, to spawn life, compromises Quebec’s future, and its youth seeks role-models which are cruelly lacking. We need a serious
dialogue on values and our Christian stance to once
again give faith and hope to Quebec’s soul.
Toronto monthly meetings
August 10, 2008
Lithuanian Hall, 2573 Bloor St. W.
(One block west Dundas Subway Station)
Rosary at 2:00 p.m. – Meeting at 2:30 p.m.
Information: (416) 749-5297
Rougemont monthly meeting
June 29, July 27, 2008
House of the Immaculate
1101 Principale St., Rougemont QC
Simultaneous translation into English
10:00 a.m. Opening. Rosary. Lectures
5:00 p.m. Holy Mass
The Catholic Church has no lack of exemplary
figures who have marked our society’s history. Secular people, men and women, religious people, left
behind memorable traces, a precious heritage in the
fields of health, education and evangelism. Pope
John Paul II canonized and beatified 14 of these figures during his pontificate. But, unfortunately, they
are too little known.
Much more attention is given to the church’s negative side than to its contribution to active Quebec
history and culture. A just and enlightened exam of
our past would help, I think, recognize our limits but
also nourrish Quebecers’ pride and confidence in
their future.
Inspired by the gesture of John Paul II in March
of 2000, of which I have born witness, I am inviting
Catholics to perform an act of repentance and reconciliation. Quebec society drags a wounded history whose bad memories block access to the sources of its soul and religious identity. The time has
come to take stock and make a new start. Errors
were committed which have tarnished the image of
the church and for which we must humbly ask for
forgiveness. I am inviting pastors and the faithful to
help me seek the manner with which to recognize
our mistakes and deficiencies, so as to help our
society reconcile with its Christian past.
Vatican City, Mar 14, 2008 / 01:10 am
(CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI’s third encyclical will discuss Catholic social teaching,
touching on issues as varied as poverty,
peace, wars, international cooperation,
energy sources, and globalization.
As Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of Canada, I recognize that the narrow attitudes of certain
Catholics, prior to 1960, favoured anti-Semitism,
racism, indifference toward First Nations and discrimination against women and homosexuals. The
behaviour of Catholics and certain episcopal authorities with regards to the right to vote, access to work
and promotion of women, hasn’t always been up to
par with society’s needs or conformed to the social
doctrine of the church.
The encyclical will be titled “Caritas in
Veritate,” “Love In Truth,” La Repubblica reports.
“Caritas in Veritate” will be Pope Benedict’s third encyclical. His first encyclical,
“Deus Caritas Est,” examined the virtue
of love while the second, “Spe Salvi,” focused upon the virtue of hope.
I also recognize that abuses of power and cover-ups have, for many, tarnished the image of the
clergy and its moral authority: mothers have been
rebuffed by priests without concern for their family
obligations; youngsters were subject to sexual aggression by priests and religious figures, causing
great injury and traumatism which have broken their
lives! These scandals have shaken popular confidence toward religious authorities and we understand this! Forgive us for all this pain!
The four-chapter encyclical will no longer be published on May 1 as previously
planned, but will be delayed so that translations, especially the Chinese translation,
may be completed.
The period of Lent in 2008, in preparation for the
international eucharistic congress in Quebec City,
will give us the opportunity to make a public display
of repentance, basing ourselves on God’s gift to the
world of life through the Eucharist. Other initiatives
will follow to facilitate dialogue and heal memory.
Ralph Laurin of Chicopee, MA
died on April 20th at the age of 85
May this search for peace and reconciliation,
made in all sincerity, help Quebec more
serenely remember its christian and missionary identity, which has given it an enviable place on the international scene.
As pastor of a mainly Catholic people, you will understand that the handing down of our cultural and religious
heritage is close to my heart. That is
why I reiterate my support to parents
who have the right to receive a religious
instruction at school true to their convictions. I therefore join them in asking the
State to respect the Quebec tradition
of handing down religious teachings at
school, not necessarily BY the school,
and allow churches and recognised religious groups to teach confessional courses, conceived and paid for by them. And in the name of
everyone’s religious liberty, state ethics and religious culture courses should be.
We are proud to be Quebecers and we do not
want to lose our means to pass down the deep values of our religious heritage. Our Judaeo-christian
tradition has made of us a solidary-minded and charitable people, we know how to help each other and
are able to forgive with the help of God. In order to
once again fully believe in ourselves and become
confident in our future, let us find roads to reconciliation and offer our compatriots a real dialogue on
spiritual and religious values which have shaped
Quebec identity. In a way, isn’t it about, today as it
was yesterday, simply living the gospel?
Marc Cardinal Ouellet
Page 6
New encylical of
Pope Benedict
Mr. Laurin knew the work
of the Pilgrims of St. Michael
through Bob and John Lambert
of Springfield. The three men
were veterans of World War
II. They formed a very efficient
trio in the battle of ideas against
the financial dictatorship, in the
work of the Pilgrims of St. Michael. They used the discipline
and training they had acquired
in the army, not to kill the enemy, but to bring them towards
the road of truth in subscribing
them to the Michael Journal.
Mr. Laurin was actively devoted to the apostolate for 18 years, going door to
door to offer the Michael Journal to the families. He
worked to enlighten them on the beauty of the Catholic faith, and to warn them of the injustice of the
economic system of today that holds all people in
the grip of debts that are impossible to pay.
He was a trucker and did long and hard days of
work. Still, on the evenings and on weekends he
found the strength to go to the door to door and distributing leaflets. At almost every Congress, during
the years that they did the apostolate, the trio “Bob,
John and Ralph” were proclaimed “champions of
subscriptions.” How many sacrifices this represented! Ralph Laurin was athirst for justice and is now
satisfied, as the Beatitudes in the Bible promise.
A Mass was celebrated for the repose of the soul
of our great apostle Ralph Laurin, in the chapel of
the House of the Immaculate on May 10.
April-May-June 2008
South America
My mission of apostolate in Ecuador and Argentina
In January 2008, I had the pleasure of travelling to South America for three
weeks of apostolate with Carlos Reyes, the editor of the Spanish edition of the
Michael Journal. I was welcomed in Ecuador by Carlos and his wife Teresa.
The first few days we were accompanied by an exorcist priest from Spain, Fr.
Fortea. We had a meeting in Quito, with over 3,000 people attending. Later that
week we participated in a retreat for the youth of South America. The group
there, Lasos de Amor
Mariano, (Lace of Marian
Love) works in cooperation with the Pilgrims of
St. Michael with a goal of
converting the youth and
to continue to work with
them in teaching them
the Catholic Faith, forming them in Apologetics
so that they are able to
defend the Faith.
Carlos Reyes also
teaches them the Social
Doctrine of the Church
and the application of SoYves Jacques (right) with Carlos and Teresa Reyes cial Credit so that these
youth will be completely formed and ready to go out into the world and lead
true Christian lives in every aspect of Church teaching. In the two years since
the founding of these retreats, miracles, both spiritual and physical, have happened. Whole families have converted to the Church, marriages have been
reconciled, and youth have been cured from drug and alcohol addiction, as
well as a number of other addictions and oppressions.
The youth at these retreats come from every background and I was blessed
to witness some very sincere and total conversions. These young people are
now “in love” with God and the Blessed Mother and are well on their way in this
process of formation, learning the total consecration, to Jesus through Mary,
by St. Louis-Marie De Montfort. They are eager to learn the Truth and to share
it with others.
There was a group of young people there from Columbia where these retreats have been established and ongoing for the past eight years. In their formation they have learned the love of God and their neighbor and have recently
incorporated our Social Credit program into their apostolate by means of Local
Coupon Systems. These systems help the people, wealthy and poor, cooperate with each other in exchanging goods in that same spirit of love and service
of the first Christians as spoken of in the “Acts of the Apostles”.
We had another meeting in Quito where we met with the Auxiliary Bishop
who supports our apostolate. We were able to give to all the clergy present
our journal, “San Miguel”, along with a copy of Louis Even’s book, “In This Age
of Plenty’, which has just recently been published in Spanish. We also met a
wonderful priest, Fr. Arnau from Argentina, who owns a Catholic Publication,
“Christo Hoy”, (Christ Today), which has a weekly circulation in Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay. He was very interested in our Work and providentially
we were scheduled to go to Argentina the following week. We were able to
meet with him again and discuss a program in cooperation with his apostolate,
for the expansion of the San Miguel Journal in South America.
While in Argentina, we met with a group of professionals “CIES” ( Centro
de Investigaciones de Etica Social), who promote the Social Doctrine of the
Church and are approved by Rome. This group wishes to work in cooperation
with us through some universities and internet courses that would teach Social
Credit in the light of the social teaching of the Church. They intend on coming
to Canada for our Annual International Congress and “week of study” this September, 2008. They had received one of our San Miguel journals, “The Money
Myth”, from a very good priest from the village of Open Door, Argentina. Open
Door is the neighboring village of Lujan, where resides the miraculous statue
of “Our Lady of Lujan”, Patroness of Argentina. We can say that it was truly
Our Blessed Mother, through this priest, who “opened the door” for us in Argentina. We also met the director of “Annunciar”, a Catholic radio and television network that broadcasts throughout Argentina. They are also interested
in coming to our Congress to do a television documentary on the Pilgrims of
St. Michael and the social teaching of the Church.
All throughout this mission I could see the hand of God. I sensed the action of the Holy Spirit uniting all these people with a common goal in reaching
out to their brothers and sisters for the salvation of souls. We are now in the
planning stage in
Argentina and in
the formation and
evangelization
stage in Ecuador. In Columbia
there is an expansion of evangelization in all
its aspects, from
teaching
Catechesis, Apologetics and the
teachings of the
Social Doctrine
of the Church,
With a group of young people from Lazos de Amor Mariano
to the establishment of Local Exchange Systems to help the poor and create unity and hope in the community.
All the groups that we worked with had one important thing in common: they
were all consecrated “To Jesus, through Mary”, according to St. Louis-Marie
De Montfort. What I experienced and learned in South America is that we can
put into action a “Civilization of Love” guided by the loving hand of Mary Immaculate.
Yves Jacques
My mission in Paraguay
A warm welcome to all our readers of the Michael Journal! Last year, we had a marvelous
experience of apostolate in the beautiful country
of Paraguay in South America. This experience
was followed by the arrival of four young people
from that country who came to stay with us in
Rougemont, to work and study for six months at
the House of St. Michael where the full-time Pilgrims live.
The four Paraguayans are: Christian Manuel
Torres Vera, 25 years old, Jorge Guillen Portillo,
22, Miguel Angel Vera Ovilar, 20, and Lourdes
Mabel Ruiz Diaz Aguilera, 17. I returned to Paraguay with these four young people to teach Social
Lucie Parenteau
Credit in their country, to continue to work in the
Diocese of Ciudad del Este, with the goal of advancing the Work of the Michael Journal that I began last year with Paola Santamaria. Christian, Miguel
and Lourdes have signed up to work for us full-time in their country.
distribute the riches of the country by a dividend to each person, in order that
each would have the minimum necessary to live.
We had sent a container of 700,000 leaflets and journals to Paraguay,
so we had an ample supply of leaflets that we stored in Lourdes’ house. We
were then able to leave them everywhere we went, in the churches, and in the
homes; we also gave packs to those who will help us to distribute them.
It was with much regret that I left the red earth of Paraguay, but I left with
the consolation of knowing that our young people are decided in their efforts
to continue the Work of Michael, with the help of their friends who have joined
with them and with other good people who share our ideal.
Lucie Parenteau
I had the pleasure of spending all of the month of February with them. We
were able to do the Rosary Crusade, an apostolate that consists of visiting and
praying with the families. We present our work on social justice and take time
afterwards to explain a bit to them.
We were invited to go to two radio stations, Itaper and XTO, where the radio hosts are our friends. We spoke there as well about our beautiful work and
the importance of vanquishing poverty in the world.
At one of the homes that we visited, a good man invited us to his parish that
was a bit far from the village. We went to visit him three times, and so were
able to know him better and to really appreciate the simplicity (and extreme
poverty) in which the people live, and their language as well.
We held different meetings and conferences in order to expose the nonsense of the creation and monopolization of money to these people who are
expoited by High Finance, and give the solution of Credit Social that would
April-May-June 2008
Our group of young people visits the families
on the Rosary Crusade in Paraguay
Page 7
Africa
A testimony by Fr. Jean-Romain Nioka
During the month of February we had the joy to
receive, for the first time, Fr. Jean-Romain Nioka
from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Providentially he arrived in Rougemont and understood the
great importance of the mission of
the Pilgrims of St. Michael. This is
the conference he gave on February 23, 2008 on the occasion of
our monthly meeting in the House
of the Immaculate in Rougemont.
I was ordained a priest on February 15, 1987. So on February
15, I had the joy of celebrating the
21st anniversary of my priestly life
in this community of the Pilgrims
of St. Michael. This made me very
happy.
by going to the source, meaning God. God, who is
holiness itself. Only God is holy. The holiness of
God is part of His mystery. All that God possesses
is riches and life, power and goodness. All is holiness in God. So we say: “Holy is His
name.” God is holy in His greatness
and in His power.
We say and sometimes sing:
“Worship God in His holy Temple,
worship God in the Heaven of His
power, worship God by glowing actions; worship God according to His
grandeur.” God is Holy in all that He
is, in all that He does, in His goodness, love and forgiveness. This God
is a God of gentleness. This God is a
God of compassion. This God is the
God of infinite mercy.
It has only been 23 days since
Fr. Jean-Romain Nioka
I discovered this community of St.
God wants to be known and honMichael. So, in the heart of this community, I am like ored as the only Holiness. God is very jealous. He
a small child who has just been born and I still need is jealous to the point that He does not want us to
to learn much. I can only make a testimony of what love other gods. But still today we are building up
I have lived during these twenty-three days in the other gods. We have our idols: money, for some it is
community of St. Michael. And that is what I will do. a god, it is their god. Instead of putting their hope in
God, the Creator, the God of goodness and power,
And if you will permit me, I will use the Bible as
some people have created gods of money or cars,
my support... because the community of St. Michael
of various material things that surround us. But still
is a Christian community that is devoted to the work
these material things are transient, passing. And
of God. And all that God wanted to tell us, to transGod does not want us to have other gods besides
mit to us, can be found in this Book. For me it will be
Him. “You will have no other gods besides Me,” He
easier to support myself with the Bible.
says.
I will speak about three points: the first one will
God gave us a model of sanctity. We do not see
be on a phrase that can be found at the entrance of
God. He is invisible, but He became visible. How
the House of St. Michael, it is written: “A house to
and for whom? By His Son that He sent amongst us.
become saints”. I believe that if we have invited you
Through Jesus, God gives us a model of holiness.
here, the reason above all others, is to invite you to
God then is Life, and the Love of God is manifested
become saints. If this is not so, I do not see a reason
here: God sent His only Son into the world, so that
for your presence here.
we might live through Him. Jesus, is the Incarnate
For my second point, I want to speak about the Word. “Jesus took on all of our weaknesses, except
community life that I have discovered in the heart of sin,” St. Paul tells us. Because Jesus came here on
the Pilgrims. And after, I will speak about their mis- earth, He took our human condition. He lived like
us, but without sin. His Life was and is, so that men
sion: they are lay missionaries.
of all ages have the example of perfection that God
The last point (the third point), I will speak a little expects of each one of us. From which comes the
about the Michael Journal. I think that you have sto- invitation of Jesus: “Be holy, as I your Father am
len something from us. Yes!
holy” (St. Luke 6, 16).
“A house to become saints”
It was a bit of an accident, the first few days
when they brought me here. When I arrived at the
reception area (in the House of St. Michael), as I am
a priest, I was struck by the phrase: “A house to become saints”. It was on the second of February that
I read this phrase for the first time. But now I read it
every day when I enter into this community, in this
house, because it belongs to this family.
Our eyes are used to reading publicity in the
world. Today, when we go out, we see publicity on
the manner of dressing, of food, on electronics.
This is modern society. But to find something about
God, publicity on God, is practically impossible in
a society where God is being eliminated. And even
more so today when we say that religious education
should not exist.
God does not have a place in our society of today. We must sometimes retreat from the world or
go into a community like this where we can speak
about God. In many places we hear about the great
stars. For me the great star of this world is Jesus.
Jesus who came for the great adventure, to the
point that today He has captivated the entire world.
So this is what made the disciples of Jesus, and we
have put ourselves behind Jesus.
I say then that I had to come to this place, in
the community of St. Michael, so that I could read
this phrase: “A house to become saints”. And I was
very, very happy; since I am a priest. I told myself,
if I am not on the road of sanctity, this occasion has
been given to me to sanctify myself and to become
a saint. As we can read on the wall, it says to “Build
the Kingdom of the Immaculate”. The Kingdom of
the Immaculate, this kingdom without stain, without
sin, this is the Kingdom of the Virgin Mary. And if we
are saints, we inhabit this kingdom.
The notion of sanctity invokes ideas of perfection, of purity, of holiness. He who lives according to
the laws of God is holy. We can define holiness only
Page 8
We have to understand that holiness is possible,
because God called us. It is for everyone: priests,
religious, Pilgrims, fathers, mothers, children; we
are all called to holiness. Our essential vocation is
unique: holiness. We say: All roads lead to Rome. I,
as a priest in my mission, I have to go towards holiness. The
father of a family (or
the mother of a family) should search to
join this road. He has
the vocation to be
fertile, to multiply the
earth, but it does not
suffice to stay at this
level. He should climb
the summit of holiness. We are called
to holiness. Here is
our essential vocation; we should not
make a mistake.
and we will arrive to holiness. God gives us the
means to reach holiness. He cannot invite us to do
something without the means to reach it. We cannot
respond to something, someone cannot ask us to
do something, without making an association to the
means, or the way, to do it.
The sacraments, channels of grace
We also can arrive at holiness; the Lord has given us the means. What are these means with which
we can arrive to holiness, in order to establish the
Kingdom of the Immaculate? With the sacraments,
God has communicated His grace and the gifts of
Himself. The sacraments are channels of divine
grace. It is by the sacraments that He gives us the
graces we need to attain holiness.
It is by Baptism. We are born into divine life
through Baptism. We are sinners, but when we receive Baptism, we enter into the family of the children of God. At that moment we are holy. It is only
with time that we become false, that we are soiled
in sin; we lose this image of holiness that we carry
on the day of our Baptism. We can go to rediscover
this holiness with the sacrament of Penance and
reconciliation.
But unfortunately today, people do not go to
Confession: “It is not the time; it’s not this or that...”
However we, as Christians, are Christians in Baptism. But there is this human weakness that lives in
us and that causes us to fall. These days when we
are sick, we run to the doctor so that he can heal our
body. Also then when we become spiritually sick in
our Christian life, we are invited to go to confession
to recuperate the image of holiness.
Our food, the Eucharist
Another sacrament needed in order to establish
the Kingdom of the Immaculate is the Eucharist.
The Eucharist nourishes our soul and helps us to
grow with eternal life in our mind. We go to eat a
meal. Why? It is to rejuvenate our body. In order
to grow in the faith of the children of God, this faith
that permits us to move mountains, we should nourish ourselves not with pastries, but instead with the
Body and Blood of Christ. Our nourishment is the
Eucharist.
The sacrament of Confirmation
There is also the sacrament of Confirmation that
gives us a supernatural strength in our daily lives
against the forces of evil. We have said that we are
in a world of conflict, and in the prayer of the Our
Father, Our Lord tells us: “Lead
us not into temptation.” Everything is temptation today. But
the Christian is someone who
should stand upright. If we do
not stand upright, with both
feet on the ground, we will fall
into temptation. Someone who
is confirmed, who possesses
the spirit of God, is someone
who stands upright. Whatever
the storm, he will resist. We
can achieve this strength in the
sacrament of Confirmation.
There is the sacrament of
Holy Orders that I have received as a priest. Among
you, there are those who are
The House of St. Michael in Rougemont, Quebec
God, who loves
married through the use of the
us, never asks for the impossible. Never would our sacrament of Marriage. There is the sacrament of
Father who loves us ask us for something impos- the sick as well. The sacraments respond to the parsible. We can attain it, but not alone. It is only if ticular needs of such and such circumstance of our
we allow He who is the Master of holiness, Christ, lives and they give us the appropriate graces. Each
to guide us in all confidence. It is He who told us: sacrament is very important in our lives, and helps
“Without Me, you can do nothing.”
us to live the Kingdom of the Immaculate.
Without Jesus we cannot arrive to holiness, because He is the way; it is He who guides us. It is like
a person cannot pretend he is a Pilgrim and do the
apostolate on his own. A Pilgrim is someone who is
sent. And in order to arrive to holiness, we should be
guided by He who is holiness Himself: Christ.
We could say holiness is difficult. But the Lord
Jesus told us that He cannot ever ask us something
that is impossible. So then holiness is possible; it is
not an illusion. We must put ourselves on the road
Our Mother, the Church
God gave us a Mother, that is the Church, who
has the responsibility of sanctifying us by the Holy
Spirit. The mission of the Church is to sanctify men.
We are one Church, and the Church is the family of
the children of God. It is of this family that we consist, and it is this family that the community of St.
Michael is a part.
All those who are brought by the spirit of God
are called “sons of God”. Mothers have the charge
April-May-June 2008
of the home, to raise the children. Sometimes the
father does not have the time; he is always gone on
mission. It is the mother who stays with the children.
And the Lord has confided us to our Mother, that is
the Church, and our Mother, who is the Virgin Mary;
She has us in charge.
So finally, we are all called to holiness. Make no
mistake, the call to Christian plenitude, to perfect
charity, addresses itself to all who believe in Christ,
no matter what their rank or station. All are called to
holiness. “Be perfect, as I, Your Heavenly Father,
am perfect” (Matt. 5, 48).
Holiness demands sacrifice
So, what is the road we need to follow to attain
holiness? It is the road of perfection. The road of
perfection goes through the cross. We cannot become holy without sacrifices, just as we cannot build
a house without suffering. It is at the price of sacrifices that we are able to obtain something. And we
also in our Christian life, in order to attain holiness,
should impose sacrifices upon ourselves. We cannot live just any way.
Live our Baptism
We should live according to the Commandments
of God, according to the rules of God. “If someone
wishes to follow Me, let him deny himself daily.” To
forget yourself is a sacrifice. “Let him carry his cross
and follow Me.” There is no holiness without selfrenunciation, without a spiritual battle. The life of
holiness demands a spiritual battle. Once I have received Baptism, I am called to go towards holiness.
If I do not become a saint, then my Baptism has not
given me all the possible fruits. In order to attain this
ultimate vocation, I think we should make this effort
to live our Baptism, our baptismal vocation.
The saints that I see proceed through the years
provoke a holy jealousy in my daily life. Today we
speak of many saints. But the saints were not superhumans; they are our brothers and sisters who lived
with us but who lived a life with dignity and merit and
who, today, are honored by the Lord. Why should
not we risk to live this adventure? I have always
said: my life of the priesthood is a life of adventure.
It really is an adventure. I should live a great adventure so that it will produce fruits. When I say: the
great adventurer is Christ; He really had the greatest adventure that swept away the whole world. We
should follow Christ. We should let ourselves be led
by Christ. He is the Way. May the good God permit
us to contaminate others by the virus of our holiness! It is a good sickness.
It struck me when I entered for the first time in
the community of St. Michael and saw “A house to
become saints.” I have profited from this during this
time I have spent in the community. In my prayers, I
asked for sanctity.
Community life based on the Bible
I will go now to the second point of the life in
community in this family of St. Michael. Here I will
take the Bible. If I do not support myself on the
Bible, I am nothing. What gives me strength is the
Bible. I will read from the Acts of the Apostles 2: 42,
47. We speak of the “first Christian community”; how
the first Christians started to live in community. The
family of St. Michael is a community. And I would
like you to read as the community of St. Michael, as
Pilgrims as were the first Christian community:
In the Acts of the Apostles, it states: “They continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles
and in the communion of the breaking of the bread
and in the prayers. And fear came upon every soul;
many wonders also and signs were done by means
of the apostles in Jerusalem, and great fear came
upon all. And all who believed were together and
held all things in common, and would sell their possessions and goods and distribute them among all
according as anyone had need. And continuing daily
with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread in
their houses, they took their food with gladness and
simplicity of heart, praising God and being in favor
with all the people. And day by day the Lord added
to their company such as were to be saved.”
I was struck by the way of life of the Pilgrims.
The first community of the first Christians showed
itself “assiduous to the teaching of the apostles.” I
observed the community of the Pilgrims. They are
assiduous like the first Christians to the teaching of
the apostles. The teaching of the apostles is the
teaching of the Church. The Pilgrims defend the
Social Doctrine (of the Church). They (the Pilgrims)
continue to walk in the footsteps of the first Christians and defend the teaching of the apostles.
April-May-June 2008
“Faithful to fraternal communion”
I was struck to see that all together, they eat at
the same time; that together, they come in prayer,
after finishing one task, they go to find another service. This, as a priest, really impressed me, this
“faithfulness to fraternal communion.”
Today, it is hard to guide older persons because
they are already adults, and each person has his
own orientation. But while being in the community,
each one tries to dilute his caprices, his differences,
to go hand in hand and to live this community life. I
think it is very, very important.
the same talents, there would no longer be love. We
would no longer be compatible. In the communities
(the two houses), I see that there are those who
have talents, different gifts. When we need a certain one, we call the person and he comes to give
service. Everything is complete and in harmony. So
unity gives strength.
This community is a spiritual force with its prayer
and apostolic action of the Pilgrims. This is what I
wanted to say at the level of the community life.
The mission of the
Pilgrims of St. Michael
“Faithful to the sharing
of bread and prayer.” Each
day it is at the chapel of
the House of the Immaculate where we celebrate; it
is here that we pray. If we
are not in the chapel in the
House of the Immaculate,
we are in the chapel of the
House of St. Michael.
Now I will speak about the
point concerning the mission
of the Pilgrims of St. Michael.
I will again take the Bible in
the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 4, verses 16 to 19, where it
speaks about how Jesus went
to Nazareth, “And he came to
Nazareth, where he had been
brought up; and according to
his custom, he entered the
synagogue on the Sabbath
and stood up to read. And the
volume of Isaiah the prophet
was handed to him. And after he opened the volume, he
found the place where it was
written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he has
anointed me; to bring good
news to the poor he has sent
me, to proclaim to the captives
release, and sight to the blind;
to set at liberty the oppressed,
to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day
of recompense.’”
“Assiduous in prayer” as
they have a particular devotion also to St. Michael, you
have to see them recite the
prayer of St. Michael. It’s
beautiful, it’s magnificent.
“Fear appeared in all spirits: many were the prodigies
and signs accomplished by
the apostles. Together all
the believers gathered everything in common. They
sold their properties and
goods and shared the entire
amount with their neighbor
according to his needs.”
While observing (the
I said before that a Pilgrim
members of the Community
is someone who is sent. We
of St. Michael) I did not see
cannot send ourselves. We
anyone who tries to take all
have to be sent. And Jesus,
St. Michael the Archangel
the blankets for himself: that
when He came to earth, He read
is mine, and the rest is for the community. I saw this prophecy from Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord is
them; they put everything in the same pot. This sig- upon me because he has anointed me.”
nifies that all they possess, they put together. Even
Pilgrims of St. Michael, do not deceive yourif they receive donations from other places, they try
selves,
when you have the strength to go on the
to give this to the community.
road to knock on the doors, you do not say: “It is
This is their life and their strength; it is the com- I.” It is the spirit of the Lord who is in you. You have
munity life. Today, it is difficult even in our small fam- benefited from the Spirit on the day of your Baptism
ilies with a father, mother and children. Sometimes and Confirmation. It is the Holy Spirit that gives you
there are so many conflicts that the father wants the strength to be able to go door-to-door.
to leave, to go somewhere else because at home
“The Spirit has anointed me.” By our Baptism we
it’s like a war zone. See how these men who are
consecrated to defend a cause, they accept being are anointed with Holy Oil, so we are also consecrated.
together and working together.
“He sent me to announce to the captives their
“Day after day with a single heart, they frequentrelease.” We, the Pilgrims, can give many testimoed assiduously the Temple (see the temple here, at
nies. There are many people who are in prison in
the House of the Immaculate, and on the other side,
their own homes, enclosed without any opening.
the House of St. Michael) and break bread in their
They have no one who could help them to get out,
houses.” Yes of course, during Holy Mass we break
maybe help them to open a window. They are the
the bread, the Body of Christ who permits us to grow
captives whom we can deliver.
in our Faith. After going to the table of the Lord, they
go to the other side (of the hall) to partake of the
“Sight to the blind.” There are many blind people
material bread that they also need.
in this world. The Lord will tell us: “You have eyes but
you do not see.” This means that even if of course
“So taking their nourishment with cheerfulness
we have eyes, we see only that what that world tells
and simplicity of heart,” this is beautiful. Sometimes
us. What is essential goes by because we do not
when you eat, you listen to certain conferences of
see it, we are spiritually blind.
Mr. Louis Even, to give an ambiance and animation
to the meals.
“Set at liberty the oppressed.” Many are oppressed.
Today, with Social Credit and the econoSimplicity of heart
my, we speak about the taxes that oppress us. So
“Simplicity of heart,” this is what I noticed. These our mission then is to go and bring liberty to the
are not complicated people; but they are people oppressed, to the people who do not know Social
who are inhabited by simplicity and I find that this is Credit or the Social Doctrine, so that they may be
a good virtue. When the Lord Jesus came into the liberated.
world as Son of God, He could have taken all the
“To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
goods of the earth because they belonged to Him.
This
is for you, the Pilgrims: “When we go on misHe also became simple. He became simplicity itself,
sion,
we are inhabited by the Spirit of the Lord.” Do
to the point of washing the feet of the apostles. It is
the first element concerning the community life of not feel alone. Say to yourself: “I am in security bethe Pilgrims, and I have admired that during these cause the Spirit of God accompanies me. So I go.”
few days.
Here I think also of the mission of the twelve
apostles,
and I would like to read from the Gospel of
In the Gospel of Matthew, he tells us: “You are
St.
Luke,
Chapter
9, verses 1, 6:
all brothers.” It is an essential formula. Of course,
in a community, things must go the way of the community. In the community we must do everything in
simplicity, and this is marvelous.
I admired the readiness to render service. And
why is this? It is because when you put yourselves
in a community, each person brings something particular to the community. The Lord did not give each
person all of the gifts possible. If each person had
“Then having summoned the twelve apostles,
he gave them power and authority over all the devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them forth to
preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
And he said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey,
neither staff, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money; nei(Continued on page 10)
Page 9
Mary, Mother of God
Scott Hahn was born in 1957, married Kimberly
in 1979 with whom he has six children. He is now
working as a Professor of Theology and Scripture
at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, where
he has been teaching since 1990. He is also the
founder and director of the Saint Paul Center for
Biblical Theology.
Dr. Hahn received his Bachelor of Arts degree
with a triple major in Theology, Philosophy and Economics from Grove City College, Pennsylvania in
1979, with his Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1982, and his Ph.D.
in Biblical Theology from Marquette University in
1995. He has over ten years of youth and pastoral
experience in various Protestant congregations, and
is a former Professor of Theology at Chesapeake
Theological Seminary. He was ordained a minister
at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, Virginia.
He entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil
in 1986.
She Gave the Word Flesh
For many years, I considered Marian doctrine
and devotion to be symptomatic of a mortal infection within Catholics; indeed, it represented what
was most wrong with Catholicism. Paradoxically, my
former anti-Marian views have resulted in an appreciation for the common objections frequently raised
against the Church’s teachings about Mary.
Cradle Catholics often have no idea of the repugnance “Bible Christians” feel for Marian doctrines
and devotions. It was then that someone mailed me
a plastic Rosary. As I opened the package, I felt
I was facing the toughest obstacle of all. Yet, by
that time, so many doctrines of the Catholic Church
had proven to be biblically sound that I decided to
step out in faith on this one. I began, hesitatingly,
to pray my first Rosary, offering it for a specific intention, a situation that seemed hopeless by human
standards. Wonder of wonders, my prayers were
answered. The seemingly impossible situation was
reversed.
(Editor`s note: After a conversation with a Protestant friend named Chris who asked him if he was
praying to Mary, Scott began researching the Bible
regarding Marian doctrine.)
First, I reminded Chris that, as a man, Christ
fulfilled God’s law perfectly, including the commandment to honor one’s father and mother. The Hebrew
word for honor, kabbed, literally means “to glorify.”
So Christ didn’t just honor His Heavenly Father. He
also perfectly honored His earthly mother, Mary, by
bestowing His own divine glory upon her.
Our veneration of Mary, then, is an essential part
of our imitation of Christ. We follow Him not just by
honouring our own mothers, but also by honoring
whomever He honors and with the same honor that
He bestows.
Here was the greater miracle I gained through
the Rosary. From that moment, I sensed how praying the beads deepened my own theological penetration of Scripture. Mary was no longer an obstacle
to faith; she was opening its mysteries to me.
Do we detract from Christ’s finished work by affirming its perfect realization in Mary? On the contrary, we celebrate His work precisely by focusing
our attention on the human person who manifests it
most perfectly.
Mary is not God, but she is the Mother of God.
She is only a creature, but she is God’s greatest
A testimony by Fr. Jean-Romain Nioka
ther have two tunics. And whatever house you enter,
stay there, and do not leave the place. And whoever
doesn’t receive you, go forth from that town, and
shake of even the dust from your feet for a witness
against them.’ And going forth, they went about from
village to village, preaching the gospel and working
cures everywhere.”
There is an expression that still makes me happy, the Pilgrims saying: “We went to do the door-todoor.” It is the same expression the Our Lord used:
“Go from village to village.” You go from “village to
village,” from door-to-door, “announcing the Good
News.”
You are missionaries of hope. Many people today do not have hope any more. Many people kill
themselves, especially the young people here. They
no longer have a place. They do not understand the
sense of life, maybe because there is a lack of missionaries. And here you are called to go door-todoor to bring this hope so that people will have a
taste for life. You are called to put a bit of salt in their
life. In this modern world, we have material wealth,
but unfortunately we are missing many important
things. To give sense to this life, we are called to
bring the Good News to humanity. It is like someone
who puts some salt into some food that is not very
salty. When food is not salted, it is not very appetizing. But when it is well salted, well seasoned, we eat
it with much appetite. Go to season the life of our
nation, our society.
The return of the apostles
from their mission
There is another thing that we are also living: the
return of the Apostles, in the Gospel of St. Luke, Ch.
9 verse 10: “And the apostles on their return reported to him all that they had done.”
It is the life of the Pilgrims. No Pilgrim can go to
do the apostolate and come back just to sit down.
When the Pilgrims return, they go to do their report.
This means that the mission that they have just realized, it is not their mission. They were sent. When
they return they should make a report so that their
Page 10
mission can be evaluated, and so that the next mission can be improved. This has not started today
(this manner of living) but dates from the time of Jesus with His apostles. And this is very pleasant to
me.
When the Pilgrims come to give their report to
those responsible of the Community, these people
should then give their report to the others. They
make their report to Louis Even and Mrs. Gilberte
Cote-Mercier, who have founded this Work. “Here is
the Work that you have left. Here is how it progresses. You have left it at a certain level, and we have
brought it to this level.” It is as if we have attained
and confided these talents. And we should not bury
these talents; we should fructify them. We should
really become missionaries, go everywhere, and
spread this Work that Mr. Louis Even has started.
And he, for his part, will make a report to Jesus, and
Jesus to His all-powerful Father. And this is how I
have understood the life of the Pilgrims. They make
a report in order to improve their Work.
The Michael Journal
I will speak now about the last point: the Michael
Journal. I announced that, in the beginning, you
stole the Michael Journal from us. And it’s true. We
were reading a passage from the prophet Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” At the end, (of
this citation), there is a phrase: “Today is accomplished in your ears this passage of scripture.”
It is here that I say: “Michael Journal is a message of hope; it will be realized tomorrow.” Here (in
Rougemont) your three meals are assured, it is truly
a paradise compared to Africa. It is in Africa that we
must waken the consciences so that the people understand what Social Credit and the Social Doctrine
of the Church are. The Africans are still in obscurity.
I think that Louis Even is smiling now, because I
learned that in his projects, he wanted to spread the
Michael Journal even in Africa. So dearly beloved
in Our Lord, this is the little experience I wanted to
share with you in this moment.
By Fr. Jean-Romain Nioka
creation. Just as artists long to paint one masterpiece among their many works, so Jesus made His
mother to be His greatest masterpiece.
Pope John Paul II has stated: “God in His deepest mystery is not a solitude, but a family, since He
has in Himself fatherhood, sonship, and the essence of the family, which is love.” The story of
our redemption, then, unfolds precisely as a family
history, with a Father, an older Brother, and many
siblings, united in a bond of love. Only one more
person remains to make the correspondence perfect: a mother. No family is complete without a loving mother, and every motherless family feels this
absence as an aching need.
A well-trained theologian, Pope John Paul II has
introduced the compact phrase “maternal mediation” into the Church’s theological vocabulary. And
it seems to capture the very heart of Marian doctrine
and devotion.
As an Evangelical, I used to rush to the one
verse that seemed to snuff out this seemingly heretical spark: Saint Paul’s categorical assertion that
Christ is the only “mediator between God and men”
(1 Tim. 2:5). How dare we refer to Mary’s maternal
mediation!
First, the Greek word used here for “one” is eis,
which means “first” or “primary,” not monos, which
means “only” or “sole.” Just as there is one mediator, there is also one divine sonship, which we all
share, by way of participation with Christ (Filii in
Filio, Sons in the Son). Christ’s mediation does not
exclude Mary’s, but rather establishes it, by way of
her participation.
Furthermore, the Epistle to the Hebrews explains
Christ’s high priesthood in terms of His being the
first-born Son of God (Heb. 1:5-2:17), which serves
as the basis for our divine sonship (Heb. 2:10-17),
as well as our priestly sanctity and service (cf. Heb.
13:10-16; 1 Pet. 2:5). Once again, there is no tugof-war between Christ’s one priesthood and our participation in it.
As first-born Son in God’s family, Jesus mediates
as the High Priest between the Father and His children, whereas Mary mediates as Queen Mother (cf.
1 Kings 2:19; Rev. 12:1-17). Mary mothers the Son.
For us sinners, she mothers our Savior. And for her
Son, she mothers His siblings. When it comes to
Mary’s role in God’s saving plan, “mother” is not
only a noun, but a verb, and hence an office.
As the Mother of God and His children, Mary
shows us how to glorify the Father, not by grovelling,
but by receiving the gift of His Son in the fullness
of the Spirit. That is how God’s sovereign grace
enables us to share in His glory, and so become
“partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). So if you
want to judge how well a person grasps the Gospel
in its essence, find out how much they make of having God as their father - and Mary as their Mother.
As we begin the third millennium, I believe that
God wants to use Mary to bring a deep grace of
conversion to all Christendom, not only Protestant
and Orthodox, but Catholic as well. This fits with
the Holy Father’s call for authentic ecumenism to be
based on a “dialogue of conversion.”
Such a conversion might seem improbable by
human standards, but it’s one that I know can take
place, because I have known it myself as a singular
grace from God, mediated by His mother.
By Scott Hahn
Used with permission of Emmaus Road Publishing, (Emmausroad.org) “Catholic for a Reason II” pages 17-27.
April-May-June 2008
The Government does not create money
1. That each man is entitled to the necessities
of life;
by Louis Even
When one speaks of economics, one speaks
of man’s activities to place the goods of the earth
at the service of his needs. It is not enough to find
goods, or to produce them; it is also necessary to
bring them to the right destination or goal. Otherwise economics does not reach its end. One must
not satisfy himself with just bringing wheat from the
earth; it is necessary for bread to enter the hungry
stomach. It is necessary for shoes to be worn by
naked feet, garments on the backs of those who are
cold, furniture into homes, and wood into the stove.
2. That money must serve man and not man
serve money;
3. That money must go in unity with production,
and not production in unity with money;
4. That systems are made for man, and not man
for systems;
5. That money must not limit the freedom and the
growth of the human individual.
Today’s economic system is based on money,
but it also begins at the wrong end: Finance rules
production; production rules consumption; man
must adapt himself to what one offers him and to
what one allows him to obtain.
An economic system is good when it does that.
It is bad when it does not, or when it only succeeds
for a few privileged people. Each man has a right
to a minimum of goods on earth, at least to the necessities of life. A system which does not guarantee
the necessities of life to all members of society is a
defective system. The Church has long ago affirmed
this.
The economic system improved by Social Credit
will begin with man. Man, as a consumer, will give
his orders to production; and production will obey
the consumers’ orders. In regards to finance, it will
be ordered to service to express the consumers’ desires, and be allowed to give them what they want,
all that they want, in the limits of the possible.
Wealth abounds
Food, clothing, houses, furniture, fuel, medicines,
education — this is wealth; this is what supports or
sustains life. It is easy today to produce these useful things. They are advertised for sale everywhere.
One looks more for buyers than for workers.
The present problem is not to make wheat to
grow out of the earth, but to put the flour into the
homes. It is not to manufacture shoes, but to distribute them to the population. And why is this difficult?
The food awaits those who are starving. Those who
are hungry are waiting for the food. How come the
two do not join together?
Coal is waiting for the furnace, and the furnace
is waiting for the coal. How come the two do not
join together, seeing that the miner is unemployed
and small children shiver in the houses? How come
the sick are not provided with medicine? This is the
case in everything, in spite of the intensive advertising, and in spite of the salesmen.
The wealth is there, but permission to obtain it
is not there. The wealth of the country is in the useful things. But the permission to choose the goods
which one needs is money. The wealth is in front
of the public. But the money is not in the public’s
hands. Therefore, the public has not the permission
to take the things which are made for it.
Money
Money is but the permission to obtain the things
which are waiting on the shelves. If there are no
items waiting, money does not serve, because there
is nothing to buy. But if the things are there, and
it is the money that is lacking, one cannot buy the
things. One then deprives himself in front of abundance that is deprecating.
What is more difficult to do: to produce food,
clothing, furniture, houses, or to give the permission (the money) to buy them. Nevertheless, it is
the food, clothing, furniture, houses that are there,
and the permissions which are lacking. These permissions are conventional signs: round metal coins,
rectangular pieces of printed paper, or simple accounts in bank books. All of these permissions are
perfectly valid. The important thing is to have them.
Who creates wealth? The workers. Who creates
the permissions? The bankers.
The workers, helped by machines, create a great
deal of wealth in the world. But the bankers, helped
by a diabolical system, make the permissions exceptionally rare. They are rare because the bankers,
when they create them, only let them go for a certain
period of time, and then induce the population to return the permissions. They even demand to have
more permissions returned back to them than they
had put out. Therefore, these permissions become
rare. There would remain less than nothing if there
would not be public debts, mortgages on farms and
houses, the many bankruptcies, all of which represent permissions kept beyond their term.
The money manufacturers, the bankers, rule
the quantity of permissions. They therefore rule the
standard of living. One does not eat in agreement
with the food of the country. One does not dress
himself in accordance with the country’s clothing.
April-May-June 2008
One does not lodge himself in unity with the wood
nor the other construction materials of the country.
One does all of this and other things with the quantity of money that the system permits us to have. The
Popes have denounced this system, but it continues
just the same.
When and how do banks create money? When
and how do they destroy money, thus removing the
permissions to live? All of this has been explained
in various “Michael” articles, and we come back to
them from time to time. The brochure “What do we
mean by real Social Credit” basically explains it. All
people should know it, so as to understand the remedy.
The Government and money
The Government does not create money. It taxes
and borrows to have money. But it does not create it.
When the individuals are at the end of their capacities for taxes and loans, the Government borrows
from the banks. The banks have received from the
Government itself the permission to create money in
its place. And when the Government wants to have
money from them, it gives them money and then
gets into debt. What a beautiful return for the privilege which it has amiably granted to them!
It is the Government that should create the money in accordance with the total quantity of useful
things for sale in the country. Instead of that, it submits to the will of bankers, and all the people (like
the Government itself) suffer from a lack of money.
This degeneration of the Government makes it the
servant of private interests. And all the people have
become the slaves of these private interests.
The people who take the trouble to study the
question are stunned by such disorder, and more
and more they demand that the Government create
the money in accordance with the needs and possibilities of the country.
This does not mean to say that the Government
must create money in accordance with the whims
of men who are in power, nor that it must use this
money as it pleases. It is the producers themselves
who make the goods, and the consumers who use
them. The Government acts along with the volume
of money, like an accountant works with the total
production and consumption of the country.
The accountant is not the owner of the money
that he is accounting, he only keeps the books. He
does not create the facts; he just notes them down.
Social Credit
It is for this reason, and for other principles expounded in numerous articles in past issues of “Michael”, that Social Credit demands a dividend for
each citizen, and that money be in relation with the
total saleable production. Study Social Credit. You
will understand it if you believe:
Is there a place for moral ethics in all of this?
Yes, where man is found acting freely as a man. It is
in placing his orders that the consumer must act as
a man, to guide himself with his reason. It is there
that education, morals, and religion must intervene.
Today, it is finance that intervenes. Finance has
usurped the place of reason to lead man’s orders.
Social Credit puts things in their proper place.
This is why one finds a much more sound philosophy
in the head of a Social Crediter from the countryside
than in the banker’s from Wall or Bay Street.
Louis Even
Apostolate in California
During the months of March and April, I had
the pleasure of going to California for a month.
One month before I went to her place, Virginia Ahumada gave two bundles of leaflets to a
young man named Mario from Honduras. He
brought them to his friends and to his church.
They were so enthusiastic about it that they sent
some to a priest in Honduras and elsewhere in
South America.
I went with
Virginia to meet
Jesus Mendez
(see photo), a
contact of hers.
He is a distributor of religious
articles
and
owns his store
in Los Angeles.
He is servicing
many
stores
and churches
all over the
town, so he knows many people. We left him 50
bundles of leaflets at his store which he wants to
spread and he subscribed for 4 years.
The day before, we also distributed 20 bundles at the San Conrado Mission Church. Also
we met a nun at Immaculate Conception Church,
who is the pastoral director and took 2,000 leaflets and she wants to come to the Eucharistic
Congress in Quebec City. 40,000 leaflets were
distributed for the last 2 weeks in Los Angeles:
with a total of 200 subscriptions gathered.
Patrick Tetrault
Leaflet distribution
Sarah Hill from Sherman Oaks in California
is a great distributor of our leaflets. She came
to our Congress last year, and left very enthusiastic. She distributes leaflets wherever she
goes: at rallys, protests, and during door-todoor visits. Connie Arnaldo has been doing a lot
of apostolate in her area as well, making many
new contacts and spreading many leaflets. Congratulations and many thanks for the beautiful
apostolate work being done in California!
Page 11
POPE BENEDICT XVI VISITS THE USA
“Faith Sheds New Light on All Things”
Here are excerpts from the various speeches of
Pope Benedict XVI during his inspiring pastoral journey
to the United States of America, April 15-20, 2008:
ishes and vital movements, in the enthusiasm for the
faith shown by so many young people, in the number
of those who each year embrace the Catholic faith,
and in a greater interest in prayer and catechesis.
At the same time she senses, often painfully, the
presence of division and polarization in her midst,
as well as the troubling realization that many of the
baptized, rather than acting as a spiritual leaven in
the world, are inclined to embrace attitudes contrary
to the truth of the Gospel.
“Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face
of the earth!” (cf. Ps 104:30). The words of today’s
Responsorial Psalm are a prayer which rises up
from the heart of the Church in every time and place.
They remind us that the Holy Spirit has been poured
out as the first fruits of a new creation, “new heavens
and a new earth” (cf. 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1), in which
God’s peace will reign and the human family will be
reconciled in justice and love. We have heard Saint
Paul tell us that all creation is even now “groaning” in
expectation of that true freedom which is God’s gift
to his children (Rom 8:21-22), a freedom which enables us to live in conformity to his will. Today let us
pray fervently that the Church in America will be renewed in that same Spirit, and sustained in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel to a world that longs
for genuine freedom (cf. Jn 8:32), authentic happiness, and the fulfillment of its deepest aspirations!
Homily at Nationals Stadium, Washington, D.C.,
April 17: “I have come to America to
confirm you in the faith of the Apostles”
In the exercise of my ministry as the Successor
of Peter, I have come to America to confirm you, my
brothers and sisters, in the faith of the Apostles (cf.
Lk 22:32). I have come to proclaim anew, as Peter proclaimed on the day of Pentecost, that Jesus
Christ is Lord and Messiah, risen from the dead,
seated in glory at the right hand of the Father, and
established as judge of the living and the dead (cf.
Acts 2:14ff.). I have come to repeat the Apostle’s urgent call to conversion and the forgiveness of sins,
and to implore from the Lord a new outpouring of
the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country. As
we have heard throughout this Easter season, the
Church was born of the Spirit’s gift of repentance
and faith in the risen Lord. In every age she is impelled by the same Spirit to bring to men and women
of every race, language and people (cf. Rev 5:9) the
good news of our reconciliation with God in Christ.
Here I wish to offer a special word of gratitude and
encouragement to all those who have taken up the
challenge of the Second Vatican Council, so often
reiterated by Pope John Paul II, and committed their
lives to the new evangelization. I thank my brother
Bishops, priests and deacons, men and women religious, parents, teachers and catechists. The fidelity
and courage with which the Church in this country
will respond to the challenges raised by an increasingly secular and materialistic culture will depend in
large part upon your own fidelity in handing on the
treasure of our Catholic faith. Young people need
to be helped to discern the path that leads to true
freedom: the path of a sincere and generous imitation of Christ, the path of commitment to justice and
peace. Much progress has been made in developing solid programs of catechesis, yet so much more
remains to be done in forming the hearts and minds
of the young in knowledge and love of the Lord. The
challenges confronting us require a comprehensive
and sound instruction in the truths of the faith. But
they also call for cultivating a mindset, an intellec-
I pray, then, that this significant anniversary in the
life of the Church in the United States, and the presence of the Successor of Peter in your midst, will be
an occasion for all Catholics to reaffirm their unity
in the apostolic faith, to offer their contemporaries a
convincing account of the hope which inspires them
(cf. 1 Pet 3:15), and to be renewed in missionary
zeal for the extension of God’s Kingdom.
The world needs this witness ! Who can deny that
the present moment is a crossroads, not only for the
Church in America but also for society as a whole? It
is a time of great promise, as we see the human family in many ways drawing closer together and becoming ever more interdependent. Yet at the same time
we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the
very foundations of society: signs of alienation, anger and polarization on the part of many of our contemporaries; increased violence; a weakening of the
moral sense; a coarsening of social relations; and a
growing forgetfulness of God. The Church, too, sees
signs of immense promise in her many strong par-
Page 12
On April 16, the Pope’s 81st birthday
was celebrated in the White House
The Pope with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
tual “culture”, which is genuinely Catholic, confident
in the profound harmony of faith and reason, and
prepared to bring the richness of faith’s vision to
bear on the urgent issues which affect the future of
American society.
In today’s Gospel, the risen Lord bestows the gift
of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and grants them
the authority to forgive sins. Through the surpassing
power of Christ’s grace, entrusted to frail human ministers, the Church is constantly reborn and each of
us is given the hope of a new beginning. Let us trust
in the Spirit’s power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to inspire
new life and freedom. How much we need these
gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly in
the sacrament of Penance! The liberating power of
this sacrament, in which our honest confession of sin
is met by God’s merciful word of pardon and peace,
needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the
Church in America depends on the renewal of the
practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which
that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes.
Address to United Nations,New York City, April
18: “Human rights are based on natural law”
This reference to human dignity, which is the
foundation and goal of the responsibility to protect,
leads us to the theme we are specifically focusing
upon this year, which marks the sixtieth anniversary
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This
document was the outcome of a convergence of different religious and cultural traditions, all of them
motivated by the common desire to place the human person at the heart of institutions, laws and
the workings of society, and to consider the human
person essential for the world of culture, religion
and science. Human rights are increasingly being
presented as the common language and the ethical
substratum of international relations. At the same
time, the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of human rights all serve as guarantees safeguarding human dignity. It is evident, though, that
the rights recognized and expounded in the Declaration apply to everyone by virtue of the common
origin of the person, who remains the high-point of
God’s creative design for the world and for history.
They are based on the natural law inscribed on human hearts and present in different cultures and
civilizations. Removing human rights from this context would mean restricting their range and yielding
to a relativistic conception, according to which the
meaning and interpretation of rights could vary and
their universality would be denied in the name of
different cultural, political, social and even religious
outlooks. This great variety of viewpoints must not
April-May-June 2008
be allowed to obscure the fact that not only rights
are universal, but so too is the human person, the
subject of those rights.
The life of the community, both domestically and
internationally, clearly demonstrates that respect for
rights, and the guarantees that follow from them,
are measures of the common good that serve to
evaluate the relationship between justice and injustice, development and poverty, security and conflict.
The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between
countries and social groups, and for increasing security. Indeed, the victims of hardship and despair,
whose human dignity is violated with impunity, become easy prey to the call to violence, and they can
then become violators of peace.
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Neumann, Blessed Kateri
Tekakwitha, Venerable Pierre Toussaint, and Padre
Felix Varela: any one of us could be among them, for
there is no stereotype to this group, no single mold.
Yet a closer look reveals that there are common elements. Inflamed with the love of Jesus, their lives
became remarkable journeys of hope. For some,
that meant leaving home and embarking on a pilgrim
journey of thousands of miles. For each there was
an act of abandonment to God, in the confidence
that he is the final destination of every pilgrim. And
all offered an outstretched hand of hope to those
they encountered along the way, often awakening
in them a life of faith. Through orphanages, schools
and hospitals, by befriending the poor, the sick and
the marginalized, and through the compelling witness that comes from walking humbly in the footsteps of Jesus, these six people laid open the way
of faith, hope and charity to countless individuals,
including perhaps your own ancestors.
others, especially the vulnerable and the innocent,
to join you along the way of goodness and hope.
The second area of darkness — that which affects the mind — often goes unnoticed, and for this
reason is particularly sinister. The manipulation of
truth distorts our perception of reality, and tarnishes our imagination and aspirations. I have already
mentioned the many liberties which you are fortunate enough to enjoy. The fundamental importance
of freedom must be rigorously safeguarded. It is no
surprise then that numerous individuals and groups
vociferously claim their freedom in the public forum.
Yet freedom is a delicate value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness
which we all expect it to yield, but to a dark arena of
manipulation in which our understanding of self and
the world becomes confused, or even distorted by
those who have an ulterior agenda.
And what of today? Who bears witness to the
Good News of Jesus on the streets of New York,
in the troubled neighborhoods of large cities, in the
places where the young gather, seeking someone in
whom they can trust? God is our origin and our destination, and Jesus the way. The path of that journey
twists and turns — just as it did for our saints —
through the joys and the trials of ordinary, everyday
life: within your families, at school or college, during
your recreation activities, and in your parish communities. All these places are marked by the culture
in which you are growing up. As young Americans
you are offered many opportunities for personal
development, and you are brought up with a sense
of generosity, service and fairness. Yet you do not
need me to tell you that there are also difficulties:
activities and mindsets which stifle hope, pathways
which seem to lead to happiness and fulfillment but
in fact end only in confusion and fear.
At Yankee Stadium, New York City, April 20
Human rights, of course, must include the right
to religious freedom, understood as the expression
of a dimension that is at once individual and communitarian – a vision that brings out the unity of the
person while clearly distinguishing between the dimension of the citizen and that of the believer. The
activity of the United Nations in recent years has ensured that public debate gives space to viewpoints
inspired by a religious vision in all its dimensions, including ritual, worship, education, dissemination of
information and the freedom to profess and choose
religion. It is inconceivable, then, that believers
should have to suppress a part of themselves – their
faith – in order to be active citizens. It should never
be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one’s
rights. The rights associated with religion are all the
more in need of protection if they are considered to
clash with a prevailing secular ideology or with majority religious positions of an exclusive nature. The
full guarantee of religious liberty cannot be limited
to the free exercise of worship, but has to give due
consideration to the public dimension of religion,
and hence to the possibility of believers playing their
part in building the social order. Indeed, they actually do so, for example through their influential and
generous involvement in a vast network of initiatives
which extend from universities, scientific institutions
and schools to health care agencies and charitable
organizations in the service of the poorest and most
marginalized. Refusal to recognize the contribution
to society that is rooted in the religious dimension
and in the quest for the Absolute – by its nature,
expressing communion between persons – would
effectively privilege an individualistic approach, and
would fragment the unity of the person.
Meeting With Youth and Seminarians, St. Joseph’s
Seminary, Yonkers, NY, April 19: “God is our
origin and our destination, and Jesus the Way”
Young friends, I am very happy to have the opportunity to speak with you… In front of you are the
images of six ordinary men and women who grew
up to lead extraordinary lives. The Church honors
them as Venerable, Blessed, or Saint: each responded to the Lord’s call to a life of charity and
each served him here, in the alleys, streets and suburbs of New York. I am struck by what a remarkably
diverse group they are: poor and rich, lay men and
women - one a wealthy wife and mother - priests
and sisters, immigrants from afar, the daughter of
a Mohawk warrior father and Algonquin mother, another a Haitian slave, and a Cuban intellectual.
April-May-June 2008
My own years as a teenager were marred by a
sinister regime that thought it had all the answers;
its influence grew — infiltrating schools and civic
bodies, as well as politics and even religion — before it was fully recognized for the monster it was. It
banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good. Many of your grandparents and
great-grandparents will have recounted the horror of
the destruction that ensued. Indeed, some of them
came to America precisely to escape such terror.
Let us thank God that today many people of your
generation are able to enjoy the liberties which have
arisen through the extension of democracy and respect for human rights. Let us thank God for all those
who strive to ensure that you can grow up in an environment that nurtures what is beautiful, good, and
true: your parents and grandparents, your teachers
and priests, those civic leaders who seek what is
right and just.
The power to destroy does, however, remain. To
pretend otherwise would be to fool ourselves. Yet, it
never triumphs; it is defeated. This is the essence
of the hope that defines us as Christians; and the
Church recalls this most dramatically during the
Easter Triduum and celebrates it with great joy in
the season of Easter! The One who shows us the
way beyond death is the One who shows us how
to overcome destruction and fear: thus it is Jesus
who is the true teacher of life (cf. “Spe Salvi,” 6).
His death and resurrection mean that we can say
to the Father “you have restored us to life!” (Prayer
after Communion, Good Friday). And so, just a few
weeks ago, during the beautiful Easter Vigil liturgy,
it was not from despair or fear that we cried out to
God for our world, but with hope-filled confidence:
dispel the darkness of our hearts! dispel the darkness of our minds! (cf. Prayer at the Lighting of the
Easter Candle).
What might that darkness be? What happens
when people, especially the most vulnerable, encounter a clenched fist of repression or manipulation rather than a hand of hope? A first group of
examples pertains to the heart. Here, the dreams
and longings that young people pursue can so easily be shattered or destroyed. I am thinking of those
affected by drug and substance abuse, homelessness and poverty, racism, violence, and degradation
— especially of girls and women. While the causes
of these problems are complex, all have in common
a poisoned attitude of mind which results in people
being treated as mere objects — a callousness of
heart takes hold which first ignores, then ridicules,
the God-given dignity of every human being. Such
tragedies also point to what might have been and
what could be, were there other hands — your
hands — reaching out. I encourage you to invite
Have you noticed how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring to the truth of
the human person? Some today argue that respect
for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to
seek truth, including the truth about what is good.
In some circles to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in
the private sphere. And in truth’s place — or better
said its absence — an idea has spread which, in
giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to
assure freedom and to liberate conscience. This we
call relativism. But what purpose has a “freedom”
which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or
wrong? How many young people have been offered
a hand which in the name of freedom or experience
has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual
confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to
despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of
their own life? Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery
of the One who never fails us; the One whom we
can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live
by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus
Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go
of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s
very being for others (cf. “Spe Salvi,” 28).
How then can we as believers help others to walk
the path of freedom which brings fulfillment and lasting happiness? Let us again turn to the saints. How
did their witness truly free others from the darkness
of heart and mind? The answer is found in the kernel
of their faith; the kernel of our faith. The Incarnation,
the birth of Jesus, tells us that God does indeed find
a place among us. Though the inn is full, he enters
through the stable, and there are people who see
his light. They recognize Herod’s dark closed world
for what it is, and instead follow the bright guiding
star of the night sky. And what shines forth? Here
you might recall the prayer uttered on the most holy
night of Easter: “Father we share in the light of your
glory through your Son the light of the world … inflame us with your hope!” (Blessing of the Fire). And
so, in solemn procession with our lighted candles
we pass the light of Christ among us. It is “the light
which dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores
(continued on page 14)
Page 13
POPE BENEDICT XVI VISITS THE USA
(continued from page 13)
lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride”
(Exsultet). This is Christ’s light at work. This is the
way of the saints. It is a magnificent vision of hope
— Christ’s light beckons you to be guiding stars for
others, walking Christ’s way of forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, joy and peace.
Homily during Mass at St. Patrick’s, New York
City, April 19: “Communicate the joy born of
faith and the experience of God’s love”
In this morning’s second reading, Saint Paul
reminds us that spiritual unity — the unity which
reconciles and enriches diversity — has its origin
and supreme model in the life of the triune God. As
a communion of pure love and infinite freedom, the
Blessed Trinity constantly brings forth new life in
the work of creation and redemption. The Church,
as “a people made one by the unity of the Father,
the Son and the Spirit” (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4), is
called to proclaim the gift of life, to serve life, and
to promote a culture of life. Here in this cathedral,
our thoughts turn naturally to the heroic witness to
the Gospel of life borne by the late Cardinals Cooke
and O’Connor. The proclamation of life, life in abundance, must be the heart of the new evangelization.
For true life — our salvation — can only be found
in the reconciliation, freedom and love which are
God’s gracious gift.
This is the message of hope we are called to proclaim and embody in a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to
choke the fragile growth of grace in people’s hearts.
Saint Irenaeus, with great insight, understood that
the command which Moses enjoined upon the
people of Israel: “Choose life!” (Dt 30:19) was the
ultimate reason for our obedience to all God’s Commandments (cf. Adv. Haer. IV, 16, 2-5). Perhaps we
have lost sight of this: in a society where the Church
seems legalistic and “institutional” to many people,
our most urgent challenge is to communicate the joy
born of faith and the experience of God’s love.
I am particularly happy that we have gathered in
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. Perhaps more than any
other church in the United States, this place is known
and loved as “a house of prayer for all peoples” (cf.
Is 56:7; Mk 11:17)… I would like to draw your attention to a few aspects of this beautiful structure which
I think can serve as a starting point for a reflection
on our particular vocations within the unity of the
Mystical Body.
The first has to do with the stained glass windows, which flood the interior with mystic light.
From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy,
even dreary. But once one enters the church, they
suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing
through them, they reveal all their splendor. Many
writers — here in America we can think of Nathaniel Hawthorne — have used the image of stained
glass to illustrate the mystery of the Church herself.
It is only from the inside, from the experience of faith
and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she
truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty,
adorned by the manifold gifts of the Spirit. It follows
that we, who live the life of grace within the Church’s
communion, are called to draw all people into this
mystery of light.
This is no easy task in a world which can tend
to look at the Church, like those stained glass windows, “from the outside”: a world which deeply senses a need for spirituality, yet finds it difficult to “enter
into” the mystery of the Church. Even for those of
us within, the light of faith can be dimmed by routine, and the splendor of the Church obscured by
the sins and weaknesses of her members. It can be
dimmed too, by the obstacles encountered in a society which sometimes seems to have forgotten God
and to resent even the most elementary demands
of Christian morality. You, who have devoted your
lives to bearing witness to the love of Christ and the
building up of his Body, know from your daily contact with the world around us how tempting it is at
times to give way to frustration, disappointment and
even pessimism about the future. In a word, it is not
always easy to see the light of the Spirit all about us,
the splendor of the Risen Lord illuminating our lives
and instilling renewed hope in his victory over the
world (cf. Jn 16:33).
This leads me to a further reflection about the
architecture of this church. Like all Gothic cathedrals,
Page 14
it is a highly complex structure, whose exact and harmonious proportions symbolize the unity of God’s
creation. Medieval artists often portrayed Christ, the
creative Word of God, as a heavenly “geometer”,
compass in hand, who orders the cosmos with infinite
wisdom and purpose. Does this not bring to mind our
need to see all things with the eyes of faith, and thus
to grasp them in their truest perspective, in the unity
of God’s eternal plan? This requires, as we know, constant conversion, and a commitment to acquiring “a
fresh, spiritual way of thinking” (cf. Eph 4:23). It also
calls for the cultivation of those virtues which enable
each of us to grow in holiness and to bear spiritual
fruit within our particular state of life. Is not this ongoing “intellectual” conversion as necessary as “moral”
conversion for our own growth in faith, our discernment of the signs of the times, and our personal contribution to the Church’s life and mission?
The spires of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral are
dwarfed by the skyscrapers of the Manhattan skyline, yet in the heart of this busy metropolis, they
are a vivid reminder of the constant yearning of the
human spirit to rise to God. As we celebrate this Eucharist, let us thank the Lord for allowing us to know
him in the communion of the Church, to cooperate
in building up his Mystical Body, and in bringing his
saving word as good news to the men and women
of our time. And when we leave this great church,
let us go forth as heralds of hope in the midst of
this city, and all those places where God’s grace has
placed us. In this way, the Church in America will
know a new springtime in the Spirit, and point the
way to that other, greater city, the new Jerusalem,
whose light is the Lamb (Rev 21:23). For there God
is even now preparing for all people a banquet of
unending joy and life. Amen.
Pope’s address to the U.S. Bishops
Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception, Washington, April 17
While it is true that this country is marked by a
genuinely religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can nevertheless color the way people allow
their faith to influence their behavior. Is it consistent
to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then
during the week to promote business practices or
medical procedures contrary to those beliefs? Is it
consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching, or to
adopt positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death?
Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter
must be resisted. Only when their faith permeates
every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly
open to the transforming power of the Gospel.
For an affluent society, a further obstacle to an
encounter with the living God lies in the subtle influence of materialism, which can all too easily focus
the attention on the hundredfold, which God promises now in this time, at the expense of the eternal
life which he promises in the age to come (cf. Mk
10:30). People today need to be reminded of the
ultimate purpose of their lives. They need to recognize that implanted within them is a deep thirst for
God. They need to be given opportunities to drink
from the wells of his infinite love. It is easy to be
entranced by the almost unlimited possibilities that
science and technology place before us; it is easy to
make the mistake of thinking we can obtain by our
own efforts the fulfillment of our deepest needs. This
is an illusion. Without God, who alone bestows upon
us what we by ourselves cannot attain (cf. Spe Sal-
vi, 31), our lives are ultimately empty. People need
to be constantly reminded to cultivate a relationship
with him who came that we might have life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). The goal of all our pastoral and
catechetical work, the object of our preaching, and
the focus of our sacramental ministry should be to
help people establish and nurture that living relationship with “Christ Jesus, our hope” (1 Tim 1:1).
In a society which values personal freedom and
autonomy, it is easy to lose sight of our dependence
on others as well as the responsibilities that we bear
towards them. This emphasis on individualism has
even affected the Church (cf. Spe Salvi, 13-15),
giving rise to a form of piety which sometimes emphasizes our private relationship with God at the expense of our calling to be members of a redeemed
community. Yet from the beginning, God saw that
“it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). We
were created as social beings who find fulfillment
only in love - for God and for our neighbor. If we are
truly to gaze upon him who is the source of our joy,
we need to do so as members of the people of God
(cf. Spe Salvi, 14). If this seems counter-cultural,
that is simply further evidence of the urgent need for
a renewed evangelization of culture.
The family is also the primary place for evangelization, for passing on the faith, for helping young
people to appreciate the importance of religious
practice and Sunday observance. How can we not
be dismayed as we observe the sharp decline of the
family as a basic element of Church and society?
Divorce and infidelity have increased, and many
young men and women are choosing to postpone
marriage or to forego it altogether. To some young
Catholics, the sacramental bond of marriage seems
scarcely distinguishable from a civil bond, or even a
purely informal and open-ended arrangement to live
with another person. Hence we have an alarming
decrease in the number of Catholic marriages in the
United States together with an increase in cohabitation, in which the Christ-like mutual self-giving of
spouses, sealed by a public promise to live out the
demands of an indissoluble lifelong commitment, is
simply absent. In such circumstances, children are
denied the secure environment that they need in order truly to flourish as human beings, and society is
denied the stable building blocks which it requires if
the cohesion and moral focus of the community are
to be maintained.
Children should be spared the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality
so prevalent today. They have a right to be educated in authentic moral values rooted in the dignity of
the human person. This brings us back to our consideration of the centrality of the family and the need
to promote the Gospel of life. What does it mean
to speak of child protection when pornography and
violence can be viewed in so many homes through
media widely available today? We need to reassess
urgently the values underpinning society, so that
a sound moral formation can be offered to young
people and adults alike. All have a part to play in
this task - not only parents, religious leaders, teachers and catechists, but the media and entertainment
industries as well.
Homily at Yankee’s Stadium, New York City,
April 20: “Look to the Future With Hope”
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, in the Gospel we have just heard, Jesus tells his Apostles to
put their faith in him, for he is “the way, and the truth
and the life” (Jn 14:6). Christ is the way that leads to
the Father, the truth which gives meaning to human
existence, and the source of that life which is eternal
joy with all the saints in his heavenly Kingdom. Let
us take the Lord at his word! Let us renew our faith
in him and put all our hope in his promises!
The first reading also makes clear, as we see
from the imposition of hands on the first deacons,
that the Church’s unity is “apostolic”. It is a visible
unity, grounded in the Apostles whom Christ chose
and appointed as witnesses to his resurrection, and
it is born of what the Scriptures call “the obedience
of faith” (Rom 1:5; cf. Acts 6:7).
“Authority” … “obedience”. To be frank, these
are not easy words to speak nowadays. Words like
these represent a “stumbling stone” for many of our
contemporaries, especially in a society which rightly
places a high value on personal freedom. Yet, in the
light of our faith in Jesus Christ — “the way and the
truth and the life” — we come to see the fullest mean-
April-May-June 2008
(continued from page 14)
ing, value, and indeed beauty, of those words. The
Gospel teaches us that true freedom, the freedom of
the children of God, is found only in the self-surrender
which is part of the mystery of love. Only by losing
ourselves, the Lord tells us, do we truly find ourselves
(cf. Lk 17:33). True freedom blossoms when we turn
away from the burden of sin, which clouds our perceptions and weakens our resolve, and find the source of
our ultimate happiness in him who is infinite love, infinite freedom, infinite life. “In his will is our peace.”
Real freedom, then, is God’s gracious gift, the
fruit of conversion to his truth, the truth which makes
us free (cf. Jn 8:32). And this freedom in truth brings
in its wake a new and liberating way of seeing reality. When we put on “the mind of Christ” (cf. Phil
2:5), new horizons open before us! In the light of
faith, within the communion of the Church, we also
find the inspiration and strength to become a leaven of the Gospel in the world. We become the light
of the world, the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13-14),
entrusted with the “apostolate” of making our own
lives, and the world in which we live, conform ever
more fully to God’s saving plan.
Each day, throughout this land, you and so many
of your neighbors pray to the Father in the Lord’s
own words: “Thy Kingdom come”. This prayer needs
to shape the mind and heart of every Christian in this
nation. It needs to bear fruit in the way you lead your
lives and in the way you build up your families and
your communities. It needs to create new “settings
of hope” (cf. Spe Salvi, 32ff.) where God’s Kingdom
becomes present in all its saving power.
Praying fervently for the coming of the Kingdom
also means being constantly alert for the signs of its
presence, and working for its growth in every sector
of society. It means facing the challenges of present and future with confidence in Christ’s victory
and a commitment to extending his reign. It means
not losing heart in the face of resistance, adversity
and scandal. It means overcoming every separation between faith and life, and countering false
gospels of freedom and happiness. It also means
rejecting a false dichotomy between faith and political life, since, as the Second Vatican Council put it,
“there is no human activity — even in secular affairs
— which can be withdrawn from God’s dominion”
(Lumen Gentium, 36). It means working to enrich
American society and culture with the beauty and
truth of the Gospel, and never losing sight of that
great hope which gives meaning and value to all the
other hopes which inspire our lives.
And this, dear friends, is the particular challenge
which the Successor of Saint Peter sets before you
today. As “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation”, follow faithfully in the footsteps of those
who have gone before you! Hasten the coming of
God’s Kingdom in this land! Past generations have
left you an impressive legacy. In our day too, the
Catholic community in this nation has been outstanding in its prophetic witness in the defense of
life, in the education of the young, in care for the
poor, the sick and the stranger in your midst. On
these solid foundations, the future of the Church in
America must even now begin to rise! Amen!
In loving memory of our economist for
Social Credit: Diane Boucher
Diane Boucher, from Lac Delage, near Quebec
City, died on May 4th at the age of 55. She received
death with courage, her greatest sorrow was having to leave her children: LouisMichel, Anne-Gabrielle, VictorJoel and Catherine-Sophie. She
made many sacrifices to give
them a good education and to
transmit the Catholic faith, and
left a very lucrative job in computer research (in which she
had a Masters’ degree), in order to homeschool her children,
something that she undertook
on her own.
purchasing power and that it is impossible to correct this problem in the financial system where the
money is a good that is fabricated and commerce
is in view of the profits. According
to him, the correction demands a
financial system where the purchasing power and the currency is
adjustable for the direct manipulation at the level of prices and the
general distribution of a dividend
based on the capacity of national
production.
“So, my wish would be to form
the economists of the future following the thoughts of Douglas.”
She learned Social Credit
through her husband, Francois
Couture, and decided to take
courses in economic science at
the University of Laval in order
to prove the truthfulness of Social Credit.
She studied the theory in
depth... And she compared orthodox economics
and the new economy proposed by the Scottish
engineer Major Clifford Hugh Douglas; she read
all his books. Gifted with a brilliant intelligence, the
deeper she went into the subject, the more she was
enthralled. A professor recognized the value of her
research and accepted to guide her work. She was
then able to obtain her Masters’ degree in economics, and she already had a Master’s degree in research.
She was illuminated by Social Credit: “I do not
say that I believe that Social Credit is good, but I say
that I KNOW THAT SOCIAL CREDIT IS GOOD.”
She went to the bottom of the question...
She realized that her convictions did not bring
her honors, applause or a higher level of living; because she understood the power against which she
was fighting. She stood up to the consequences
rather than renounce the truth.
At the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, on
September 29, 2003 she told me:
“I know that the economists would never admit that they had studied an error; it had to be an
engineer that discovered the grave errors in the
present financial system.
“C.H. Douglas affirmed that this fault in the system of prices causes an accelerated reduction of the
A little while later, at the office of
the Michael Journal, we received
a letter from Catholic Action from
the Diocese of Cracow in Poland,
dated September 29, 2003, which
is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel that was the same day that
Mrs. Boucher told me of her plans.
On December 5-7th, 2003, Catholic Action organized a seminar in Zakopane, in which the principal
subject was Social Credit, and they asked us to participate.
Mrs. Diane Boucher and Mr. Alain Pilote accepted the invitation to represent the Institute of Louis
Even for Social Justice at this seminar. They really interested the participants in Social Credit; this
group consisted of intellectuals from different professions, who were already sympathetic to the idea:
economists, professors, engineers, doctors and a
deputy. Our two representatives were also invited
to speak about Social Credit on Radio Maria. The
seed was planted on good soil.
Since that time, Mrs. Boucher applied herself to
conceive a model of the application of Social Credit.
Providence will see that though her work is unfinished, it be continued, so that finally justice will be
established in the world.
Spiritually prepared to enter into Heaven, she
left us in May “the month of Mary, the most beautiful month.” A believer, she fought her whole life for
justice, and Jesus opens His Heart wide in order to
welcome her into His Kingdom where all is truth.
The Mass of May 24th was celebrated at the St.
Michael House for the repose of the soul of Mrs. Diane Boucher.
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Page 15
Monetary Reform and How a
National Monetary System Should Work
By Richard C. Cook
The author has received an overwhelming response to his recent Global Research report entitled, “An Emergency Program of Monetary Reform
for the United States.” The introduction to that report
stated that, “the U.S. financial system headed by
the Federal Reserve System has failed, and…only
an emergency program of monetary reform can address conditions which may be leading to a catastrophe like the Great Depression or worse.”
When a loan is made it is issued as a liability on
the bank’s ledger. When it is repaid, the liability is
canceled. With today’s computer systems, all transactions are digitized, of course. The bank keeps the
interest on the loan as its combined administrative
fee and profit. The money that is lent had no prior
existence.
So what is really going on here?
One of the things that is going on is that money
is being mis-defined as a commodity. People who
believe money is a commodity think it has value inand-of-itself. But one of the hardest things to grasp
about money is that not even gold or silver money,
or paper money supposedly backed by gold or silver, has or could have intrinsic value.
Note that all the banks of the Western world are
ultimately private institutions owned by the world’s
super-rich. The international banking structure is
operated by, and on behalf of, the world’s monetary
elite primarily for their own profit.
The author had realized as early as 1970 that
the central problem with the world’s economy lay on
the side of distribution, not production. He came to
Washington, D.C., that year and spent most of the
next thirty-six years working within sight of the Washington Monument, learning how things really work,
and pondering the methods that might be more in
concord with such founding documents of American
democracy as the Declaration of Independence and
the U.S. Constitution. Twenty-one of these years
were with the U.S. Treasury Department.
Now, for the first time, this report builds on the
findings of many of the world’s monetary reformers
past and present by offering a complete prescription
for a new and better world. This prescription is radically different from most progressive reform agendas that address only symptoms of the underlying
systemic failures.
WHERE MONEY COMES FROM
When setting out to study monetary principles,
we must realize how little we know of the real facts
of monetary history. Economics is an extremely limited discipline rife with untested assumptions and
unchallengeable dogmas. Its most pernicious doctrine is the assertion that there is something called
“the market,” where there is an “invisible hand” that
makes everything work out the way it is supposed
to.
Actually, an economy functions according to
the principles according to which it is designed and
regulated. If it is designed to funnel wealth into the
hands of the monetary controllers, then that is what
the “market” and the “invisible hand” will do. If it is
designed to foster “the general welfare,” as it should
according to the preamble to the U.S. Constitution,
then the “market” and the “invisible hand” will tend
in that direction.
Richard Cook
Once money is created as credit, it takes many
forms according to how the loan recipient spends
it. Some credit is used by businesses or individuals
as investment in order to generate profits over and
above the amount they must repay to the bank with
interest. If the money is used simply for consumer
purchases, the individual consumer must pay back
the loan through future earnings. In those cases
where the borrower defaults on the loan or goes
bankrupt, the money simply remains in circulation
however it was spent.
Actually, money is anything that a willing buyer
and a willing seller agree to exchange for something
else. Money could be and has been such things as
gold, silver, paper, wampum, cows, stones, shells,
sticks with notches, or, today, electronic blips. What
may appear to give gold or silver value is its scarcity and durability. But unless there are goods and
services available and for sale, gold and silver are
totally useless. You can’t eat gold or silver, live in
them, or wear them. In and of themselves they have
no value. What gives any money value is the producing economy and nothing else.
Unfortunately, large amounts of credit are used
mainly for speculation, not for any benefit to the producing economy. This includes securities bought on
margin and borrowing by hedge funds where the
fund may make a profit even if the value of its investments goes down. Bank-created credit in this case
is little more than chips in a casino.
So by this definition, bank-created credit, while
it may generate money which a willing buyer and
seller agree to exchange, is money with strings attached, in that at some point, it must travel back to
the bank in cancellation of a debt. Thus a buyer who
offers it to a seller is, in reality, deceiving himself
about his actual ability to pay. He is not a free man.
Always lurking in the back of his mind is that with every article he has purchased he has shackled himself ever more firmly to future indentured servitude.
Other borrowing takes place by equity funds and
other types of investors for leveraged mergers or
buyouts of entire companies, where the predators
wreck a company’s infrastructure by reducing costs
and selling its assets, then pay back their bank loans
before unloading the business on someone else.
The seller, on the other hand, may breathe a little
more freely having just acquired some of the monetary medium necessary to repay his own debts.
And so it goes, ad infinitum. Even if the money were
backed by gold and silver, the system would work in
exactly the same way.
The most important thing to realize about the
banking system is that the money which enters into
circulation as purchasing power must eventually be
returned in the repayment of loans. This is why the
Federal Reserve’s monetary measures—M1, M2,
and M3—are meaningless, because so much of it
has liens against it.
So by what right do the bankers bind the economy in such a straightjacket of debt? Again, the underlying logic is that money is a commodity. A group
of men have money. It is their money, we believe,
rightfully earned. Therefore, because these individuals have money, they have a further right to lend it
to others.
We are taught that paying it back is the way
things should be—obviously, if we borrow something, we should pay back what we owe.
But under existing laws, the banking system then
makes the leap of assuming that because they have
money which can be lent, they have a right to lend
much more than they actually possess. Somehow
they have become fit practitioners of the fractional reserve banking system whereby, as described
above, they can lend simply by creating debits in
their computers, based on some ratio between their
capital stock and their lending ceiling.
Unfortunately, we march today to the tune of
the monetary elite, so they are the ones who reap
the profits and the benefits. They are the ones on
whom the “invisible hand” lavishes the wealth of the
world.
But the peculiar thing is that because the borrowed money pays for labour, commodities, rent,
etc., it becomes part of the prices that are eventually
charged for goods and services. However, when the
money goes back to the bank to cancel a loan, that
purchasing power disappears. Neither the banks
nor economists ever make note of the fact that this
process creates a chronic shortage of purchasing
power which must be filled by more loans and more
bank profits. The economy is thus a treadmill that
borrowers must constantly trudge along in order to
have enough money for survival.
It is done through the process of bank-created
credit. While during the nineteenth century other
forms of money circulated, such as large quantities
of coinage, silver certificates, and government-issued greenbacks, almost all the money that exists
today originates through a loan by a financial institution to an individual or a business.
So a system which is seemingly grounded in
the simple adage that if you borrow you should repay is all wrong. The reason it is all wrong is that
in most cases, individual consumers should never
have to borrow in the first place. And we never ask
ourselves why, with the abundance that is possible
from modern science and technology, should peo-
Page 16
Thus we realize that the financial system works
against what should be the real purpose of money,
which is to serve as a ticket for the purchase by
people of articles they need to survive or otherwise
desire to utilize once the demand for survival has
been met.
People have needs and desires. The economy is
fully capable of producing all the goods and services needed to fulfill those needs and desires. But the
system is broken, because, despite the abundance
of credit available for financial speculation, there is
not sufficient money available at the consumer level
to mediate between prices and consumption, even
when most people have a job. We still must borrow, and that is wrong. There should be a better way
for society to generate the money for what people
need.
This new report on “Monetary Reform and How a
National Monetary System Should Work” continues
the dialogue by outlining the principles and mechanisms available to help guide the creation of a monetary system for any nation that wishes to enjoy
economic democracy with prosperity. This would be
in contrast to the collapsing debt-based monetary
system overseen by the Federal Reserve and the
other central banks of the world, coordinated at the
top by such institutions as the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the
Bank of International Settlements.
Just below the banking system are the giant
corporations of the global economy which derive
capital from, and funnel profits into, the financiers’
empire. Bringing up the rear are the populations and
debt-serfs of the no-longer-sovereign nation states,
including those of the United States, whose participation in the system as consumers is essential, but
whose jobs continue to disappear as manufacturing
is increasingly automated.
ple have to borrow money at interest for the necessities of life—a house, a car, household expenses,
an education, etc.
But if bankers can do this, why can’t you or I? If I
have $1,000, why can’t I then lend $10,000 and collect the corresponding interest? The answer is that
a bank has a government charter and supposedly
can guarantee through various safeguards that the
people to whom it lends can repay. But even this
isn’t required of a bank any more if it can package
its loans and sell them to some other business entity, such as an investment company.
But the fact is that banks can only be created by
people who are already rich, who can put up some
initial capital, build a functioning business, and ob-
April-May-June 2008
tain the government charter mentioned above. Once
they do this, they are the masters of the world.
Also note that under today’s highly unstable financial conditions, it is not only banks which create credit through lending. Since the deregulation of
the 1980s, Wall Street brokerage firms greatly expanded the system whereby speculative loans are
floated for purchase of securities. This has resulted
in a current ratio of debt to equity of 22:1 in the U.S.
securities markets, where debt far outweighs value.
WHAT IS CREDIT?
The word “credit” is one of the most widely-used
and important word in the English language. Dictionary.com lists twenty-one definitions. All these
definitions have some connotation of the concept of
“value” and the exchange of that value across the
dimensions of time and space between one person
and another. Obviously, the ideas of “credit” and
“money” are closely related.
The idea of credit when viewed from a macroeconomic perspective refers to the ability of an
economy to produce goods and services of value
to the members of that community. It refers to the
potential value of that economy to support life. What
it does not and cannot refer to is money in and of
itself, because money, as we have seen, has no intrinsic value. Without the credit-potential of a producing economy, money has no meaning.
On the other hand, money can be a convenient
yardstick to measure credit, as when we state that
the 2006 GDP of the United States was $12.98 trillion. But actually, the “real” credit of the U.S. economy was much higher, because our economy is not
running at anywhere near its full capacity. The automobile industry, for instance, is running at about fifty
percent of its physical potential. So the real credit of
the U.S. is actually higher than the GDP.
“Credit” in an economic sense confers a legal
right to draw on the goods and services that make
up the potential GDP of the nation. It is the way the
society agrees to hand out the monetary tickets by
which the GDP may be acquired.
Obviously, the issuance of either too many or too
few tickets will cause problems. The issuance of too
few tickets will result in underproduction, poverty,
even death. The issuance of too many tickets will
result in inflation. When the Federal Reserve creates, then deflates, asset bubbles, like the currently
collapsing housing bubble, these effects alternate,
resulting in the kind of ongoing economic chaos we
have seen for decades.
It can readily be seen that credit is a cultural phenomenon. It is the sum total of the entire productive
capacity of the nation. It has grown from the past,
exists in the present, and can be projected into the
future. It is the result of the work of untold millions
of people, dead and gone, alive today,
and yet unborn. Many of its results may
be proprietary, in terms of businesses,
property, and patents owned, etc., but
every person who has ever lived, lives
today, or who will live in the future is a
participant in that culture.
be confused with the virtually unlimited availability of
credit to speculators and stock predators as is presently the case with our Wall Street-based economy.
This analysis has been documented at length by the
Social Credit Movement and has been well-known
to monetary reformers for decades.
But these principles are poorly recognized. Money, and therefore credit, is viewed as private property, even though most of it, as stated previously, is
made by banks “out of thin air.” It is no exaggeration
to say that the existing system is one whereby the financial elite has confiscated and privatized the most
important public resource of all, more important than
water, land, electric power, etc. This has resulted in
much of the world’s wars, poverty, and crime.
This gap is what drives nations to seek overseas
markets for their products as the U.S. did so strenuously during the post-World War II period. When the
U.S. balance of payments later fell into negative territory, we tried to compensate by the policy of “dollar
hegemony,” whereby we foisted our currency on the
rest of the world as the principal means of oil trading, maintenance of currency reserves, and paying
for our trade deficit.
Let us again examine the ways money enters
into the economic system, this time looking at the total credit picture of the U.S. economy. We said that
the 2006 GDP was $12.98 trillion. This takes into
account a trade deficit of $726 billion. The question
is, where did the credit come from to purchase the
GDP, because, by definition, it all had to be paid for
in prices.
But as the U.S. internal and external debt grows
and our fiscal and trade deficits deepen, a total systemic breakdown is starting to take place. The main
recent prop of the U.S. economy, the housing bubble, is deflating. And frantically, we are trying to escape by a radical devaluation of the dollar combined
with an aggressive military policy based essentially
on confiscating the resources of other nations such
as Iraq.
According to official data, the available national
income in 2006 was $10.23 trillion, including wages, salaries, interest, dividends, personal business
earnings, and capital gains. Of this amount, approximately one-third was taken through taxes by government at the federal, state, and local levels.
Churning through the economy was borrowing of
all kinds—for consumption, commerce, investment,
speculation, new government debt, and to finance
business transactions. In fact it was the net increase
in debt—$3.77 trillion—that paid for the difference
between GDP and national income.
Debt also financed much of the trade deficit
by our borrowing to purchase what was imported
from abroad. The need to borrow has been greatly
increased by the decline of the U.S. manufacturing sector, where well-paying jobs that contributed
to the national income have disappeared or been
outsourced overseas. The ratio of debt to national
income has reached historic proportions—460 percent of the national income today vs.186 percent in
1957.
Orthodox economics, including the manipulation of interest rates by the Federal Reserve, has
no tools for resolving this crisis. The main reason is
that neither economists nor politicians understand
it, though bankers certainly do.
Orthodox economics is helpless because people
do not understand how the gap between production
and purchasing power relates to the way the microeconomics of the corporation translates into the
macroeconomics of nations. We observed earlier in
this report that prices of articles within the economy
include the loans that are taken out during the production process. But these loans are canceled as
bank liabilities when they are repaid. Therefore the
purchasing power of the economy always lags behind prices.
This, combined with action to prop up our fiscal
deficit by importing dollars spent abroad on manufactured products we no longer make ourselves,
has created a house of cards that must soon come
down. All that is lacking is a major shock, such as a
widening war in the Middle East or inability by foreign creditors to continue to accept devalued dollars.
Neither devaluation nor aggression will solve the
problem which derives from the failure of debt financing to create real purchasing power and thereby resolve the chaos through which a system built
for the profits of the financiers can never produce
enough unencumbered credit to maintain our desired level of production and the standard of living
that goes with it.
THE PRESCRIPTION
As with anyone facing bankruptcy, it is time for
those who wish to understand the current U.S. economic crisis to take a deep breath, step back, and
gather themselves in order to correctly assess the
situation.
Obviously the solution is not to risk blowing up
the world by continuing to resolve our domestic
economic problems through overseas conquests.
This is what the Western nations have been trying
to do for centuries, and it appears that the rest of
the world may finally have had enough. This is especially the case today when the main factor that
is floating the U.S. economy is the huge U.S. trade
imbalance where foreign nations must use the dollars they take in to their ultimate disadvantage by
financing a federal budget deficit that is measured
in dollars whose value is dropping.
Nor does the solution lie on the production side of
the equation. The U.S. and other developed economies are capable of producing everything their populations need, even accompanied by
a reasonable amount of foreign trade,
especially if we can return our industry
to the level of productivity we enjoyed
prior to the Federal Reserve-induced
recession of 1979-83 which gave us
today’s anemic “service economy.”
Therefore, credit can and should be
viewed as a communal endowment, a
public phenomenon, a part of what is
called “the commons,” even with the
normal and natural fact of the existence of private property. So the use
of credit and its distribution should be
treated as a public utility, like water or
electricity. Everyone should have a
right to its use, according to some rational, lawful, and humane criteria of
need or contribution to creating it.
Rather, the solution lies with the
federal government taking back its
constitutionally-authorized control of
the credit of the nation from the financiers and managing it as previously
stated—as a public utility. There is no
need to eliminate capitalism, change
the basis of property ownership, abolish corporations, etc., because the
organization and administration of the
production process is essentially irrelevant to the real problem.
As with the use of other utilities, it
is the responsibility of the community
to see that credit is used wisely and for
positive and constructive purposes. But
no one should be denied it altogether,
because it is a necessity of life.
Once again, the producing economy is not the problem. It has performed
with tremendous effectiveness in creating the goods and services people
need and want. It would be the basis
for real economic democracy if its bounty could be
made available and distributed in accordance with
democratic principles.
Money, as a measure of credit, should therefore
be available to the entire community. The government, as the representative of the community, has
the responsibility of overseeing, coordinating, and
regulating its availability, keeping in mind the fairest
and most socially beneficial ways for it to be utilized.
Monetary reformers would argue that extensive
availability of credit to the working population should
be part of the “general welfare” guaranteed by the
preamble to the U.S. Constitution. This should not
April-May-June 2008
But this is not the only area where prices include
factors that are not paid out in wages, salaries, dividends, or other sources of individual or business
income. Other factors include retained earnings, insurance, certain maintenance and overhead costs,
plus the cumulative effect of corporations buying
from each other with payments which never exit the
production system.
As a result, only somewhere between a third and
a half of all costs are ever distributed to consumers.
It is essential to realize that the central government of a sovereign nation has the right, the ability,
and the responsibility to introduce ALL new credit
into existence. This is totally different from having
the central bank “print money” by relaxing lending policies, resulting in an infusion of cheap loans
which must still be repaid.
Page 17
Monetary Reform and How a
National Monetary System Should Work
Sovereign creation of credit is not based on
debt. It is and should be based on direct spending
of money into circulation by the government itself.
Obviously the government should do this in a way
that promotes the best interests of the members
of society while respecting the varying degrees of
contribution by those of different levels of skill and
achievement. It is quite possible to enact such a
program with due regard to all established conventions of private property and the private ownership
and control of existing wealth.
To those who are concerned that the concept
of publicly-controlled credit postulates a monetary
supply that can be turned on and off like tap water,
this is a misconception. There is indeed a cornucopia of supply on the earth, but it is not of money. If
is of what human beings are capable of producing
with the skill of their hands and their heads and the
knowledge of science and technology.
Money is only a ticket to transfer this abundance
from producer to consumer, but it must be plentiful
enough to allow the transfer of all that is reasonably
desired, it should not be misused for financial speculation, and it is the job of government to bring that
money to the place of the economic activity where it is needed. The key point is that
such money should not be encumbered by
debt to a financial institution, including the
banks of the Federal Reserve System.
by the need for financial dominance as an offset to
the failure to generate sufficient internal purchasing
power through democratic management of credit.
This syndrome would be eliminated by the monetary
reforms described herein.
These are the principles—a functioning economy
that combines responsible free enterprise with government regulation and infrastructure; democratic
distribution of a National Dividend which supplements earned income; and an international system
of economic relationships among sovereign nations
acting as equals. None of these principles is currently being met, and no one in a leadership position
has a plan to take us there, either now or when the
crisis strikes.
The first measure in bringing about change, taking the U.S. as an example, would be for the federal
government to create a Monetary Control Board
as envisioned by model legislation proposed by
the American Monetary Institute. This board would
oversee the entire process of assuring that the
money supply is sufficient to express the real credit
demands of the nation in paying for the GDP. This
would be followed by a combination of the following
steps:
charged against a government ledger but would be
off-budget, with no need to finance it with taxation
or borrowing.
A portion of the National Dividend would be
made available to all citizens reaching the age of
eighteen, who would receive a non-taxable lumpsum of $60,000 for higher education, trade school,
or business investment.
Bank financing would be much more limited than
at present. Private sector corporate investment
would be funded entirely out of retained earnings
and capital markets without recourse to bank lending. Bank lending for stock speculation would be
abolished as would leveraged buyouts.
Bank lending would be accomplished without
fractional reserve methods by requiring banks to
supplement their capital and deposits with credit
borrowed at very low rates from the federal government as publicly-created credit. While the banks
would be allowed to add administrative costs and
a reasonable business profit for lending used to finance commerce, mortgages, and small business
start-up, government guarantees and subsidies
should result in net interest rates to borrowers no
greater than one percent.
International trade would be accommodated
through a regulated system of exchange rates
based on real purchasing values of respective
national currencies.
RESULTS
This should be done according the following principles:
This program would not create a utopia nor
install a Big Brother to watch over us. It would
not relieve mankind of the need to work, study,
save, take care of our environment, make wise
decisions, use opportunities intelligently, participate in representative government, care for those
less fortunate, provide for our posterity, practice
self-restraint, obey moral strictures, worship our
creator, or love our neighbor as ourselves.
The decisions of what goods and services should be produced should represent
a reasonable mix of what is needed and
desired by consumers with what is required
for the public good by way of regulation and
infrastructure. Decisions should be made by
a combination of market forces, business
governance, and oversight by representative government. In other words, production
should be conducted as we imagine it is
done at present, though in reality neither the
market, business, nor representative government can function properly and responsibly today because they are under so much
pressure from a disastrously dysfunctional
monetary system.
Purchasing power should be provided to
all individuals whether they work or not. This
is increasingly important as fewer workers
are needed due to automation to produce an increasing amount of goods. There is no way to avoid
dislocation of workers due to change in an advanced
economy, but it is essentially that people be protected from such change even if they decide to opt out
of working for a living at all. There are many productive things people can do without having to draw an
income from a paying job. The money provided to
people regardless of whether they work would constitute the National Dividend envisioned by a Social
Credit system. One way to manage such a system
would be to require everyone to work until the age of
40, when optional retirement would be offered.
The idea of one nation being the world’s policeman with military bases everywhere and a right to
conquer other nations at will and take their resources must be abandoned once and for all. A system
where the nations of the world are financially independent and self-sustaining as described in this
report would lead to the possibility of international
stability and trade among nations and regions of
the world acting as equals. The history of the last
century proves that the drive to war is largely fueled
Moving ?
Make sure “Michael” moves with you
If you are about to move, or have just
moved, it is very important to give your new address to your post office, so that they can inform
us about it. Otherwise, Canada Post returns your
“Michael” Journal to our office with the notation
“moved, address unknown,” and charges 95
cents for each paper thus returned.
Page 18
What this program would do would be to allow the nation’s monetary system to reach the
same level of maturity, functionality, and access
presently found, at least potentially, in the physical economy which utilizes science and technology so effectively in producing abundant goods
and services.
We should spend sufficient credit into existence
to supply the basic operating expenses of government at all levels without recourse to either taxes
or borrowing. In the past, this has been done by
the colonial American legislatures, the Continental
Congress at the time of the Revolutionary War, and
the federal government during the Civil War. Probably two-thirds of existing federal government expenditures could be eliminated, because much of
it is to compensate for a failed monetary system,
including much of the military machine. Further, at
least ninety percent of all taxes could be eliminated
under such a program. The only taxes that would be
retained would be those in the form of user fees for
infrastructure operations and maintenance or those
levied as a control mechanism to prevent inflation.
Capital expenses for infrastructure construction at
the federal, state, and local levels could be financed
through a self-capitalized national infrastructure
bank. Government expenditures would continue to
require legislative approval under our republican
form of government which would be enhanced, not
threatened, by monetary reform.
The remainder of the total societal gap between
production and purchasing power would be filled by
a non-taxable National Dividend of two types. One
would be a cash stipend paid to all citizens which
would also serve the purpose of eliminating poverty
by providing everyone with a basic income guarantee. The remainder of the National Dividend would
consist of an overall pricing subsidy, whereby a designated proportion of all purchases, including home
building expenses, would be rebated to consumers. The total National Dividend per person would
probably exceed $12,000 per year under today’s
economic conditions. It would be a calculated value
This means that the program would free
mankind from the control of the monetary elite
which has unjustly usurped the fruits of the labor of everyone else. The amount of money involved in this control over time is immense. In his
report on “An Emergency Program of Monetary Reform of the United States,” the author calculated that
the National Dividend for 2006 should have resulted
in an average stipend paid to each U.S. citizen of
$12,600. For a person aged 60, this would work out
to $756,000 over a lifetime in current dollars.
This figure of $756,000 represents the amount
of money an individual has had to borrow from financial institutions to make up what he should
have received as his share of a National Dividend
if Congress had not ceded the public prerogatives
of credit-creation that exist in the Constitution to
private financiers. Extrapolated for the entire U.S.
population, the amount of unnecessary borrowing
probably has exceeded $100 trillion since World
War II. We can gain confidence that this figure is in
the ball-park by realizing that total societal debt in
the U.S. today has been reliably estimated at over
$48 trillion.
Thus it is easy to see that in time, the program of
monetary reform described in this report could eliminate poverty and the main causes of war, reduce the
size of government, and give individuals a chance
to prosper. It would replace the current system of
debt-serfdom caused by monetary strangulation at
the consumer level with true economic democracy.
Economic democracy may be defined as free access to the bounty of God’s earth, according to one’s
need, character, ability, and work. The purpose of
this access is for individuals to have the liberty to
work out responsibly their own occupation, lifestyle,
identity, and destiny without these being dictated by
external authorities or the threat of economic ruin.
April-May-June 2008
These are the freedoms that are inherent in the ideals that created America and, though compromised
so much, have been America’s gift to the rest of the
world.
The reader might ask why, if these reforms could
so readily be made, weren’t they thought of and implemented before? The answer is that these reforms
have been known and promoted by many people in
the past, both known and unknown, including such
leaders in America as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas
Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Edison, Henry
Ford, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John
F. Kennedy, and many others. But working against
such enlightened leaders has been an international
financier conspiracy with immense political power.
The modern era of financier control in the U.S.
started with the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. But
during the 1920s, the U.S. was still outstripping
the rest of the world with rapid economic growth.
This was due to a favorable financial position with
respect to Europe after World War I, the wide availability of credit in the domestic economy, rapid industrial progress, and the predilection of American
industrialists to pay their workers generous wages.
Note that President Herbert Hoover is on this list
of enlightened leaders. It is not generally known that
Hoover, elected in 1928, had become familiar with
the Social Credit system which originated in Great
Britain with Major C. H. Douglas, who published
the seminal work “Economic Democracy” in 1918.
Douglas, with intimate knowledge of the events of
the time, later related in his book “Warning Democracy” that in order to counter Hoover’s enlightened
economic ideas, the financiers decided to wreck the
U.S. economy, starting with the stock market crash
of 1929.
There is an official version of history, then there
is the way things really happened. Thus Hoover
is popularly, but mistakenly, portrayed as a failed
president. But Hoover, an engineer and one of the
most capable presidents in U.S. history, identified
the Federal Reserve, acting on its own, as having
brought on the Great Depression. He responded by
creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to
revitalize the economy with a fresh infusion of credit,
but, having been blamed for the crash, was voted
out of office in favor of F.D.R. in 1932.
The RFC remained and was instrumental in rebuilding the economy over the next two decades.
Roosevelt himself understood that the federal government had to maintain a decisive degree of control
over credit, though he was undermined by people in
his own administration favorable to the financiers.
So he never completed a program of real monetary
reform.
During the 1930s, Douglas was forecasting another world war due to monetary causes, but he was
told during his visits to the U.S. that the financiers
would never allow Social Credit to be implemented.
According to monetary reform folklore, the financial elite looked around for an economist to combat Douglas’s ideas, and settled on John Maynard
Keynes. The Keynesian system tried to deal with
the monetary problem through massive government
deficits, high taxes, and rapid economic growth.
This system worked through the World War II
years and beyond but ran out of steam after the
1963 assassination of JFK and the loss by the U.S.
of its trade advantages and fiscal solvency during
and after the Vietnam War. The financiers reasserted control throughout the 1970s, leading to the
devastating Federal Reserve-induced recession of
1979-83 and the deregulation of the financial industry during the Reagan years of 1981-1989.
That left matters where they stand today. Since
the 1980s, every U.S. economic expansion has
been nothing more than a Federal Reserve-created
asset inflation. The latest has been the now collapsing housing bubble, the largest bubble in history.
The financiers are trying to bring about an orderly
decline—the so-called “soft landing”—though at the
likely cost of the wealth, health, jobs, homes, and
perhaps even some of the lives of tens of millions of
demoralized people.
Will we let them get away with it? Obviously, the
government has bail-outs on its mind, though now,
with housing gone, there may be nothing left for the
financiers to inflate for the next round of chaos. Still,
they are trying. Analysts are now calling attention to
a new merger and acquisition bubble, and a huge
securities lending boom that has driven the stock
market to historic levels even as consumer purchasing power in the U.S. crumbles.
If this bubbles bursts, much of the middle class
wealth that remained after the 1987 stock market
crash, the 2000-2002 bursting of the dot.com bubble, and the ongoing decline of the housing market
will be gone for good.
Maybe the party is finally over. Maybe at the end
of their 300-year reign, starting roughly with the creation of the Bank of England in 1694, the financiers
have finally succeeded in doing enough damage to
the world economy that the rest of us are willing to
take action. Or maybe there will be a sufficient distraction by more war in the Middle East and elsewhere. Maybe peak oil or global warming will intervene with destruction on too large a scale to ignore.
Or maybe we’ll just limp along into the sunset.
Only time will tell. But however the change may
happen, it remains the author’s conviction that, one
way or the other, a fair and intelligent monetary system will someday exist on the planet earth.
Richard C. Cook is the author of Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan
Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of
the Space Age. A retired federal analyst, his career
included stints with the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Carter
White House, and NASA, followed by twenty-one
years with the U.S. Treasury Department. He is now
a Washington, D.C.-based writer and consultant
and spoke at the AMI annual conference in Chicago
in September 2007. His website is at www.richardccook.com.
Global Research, May 11, 2007
Check out our website at:
www.michaeljournal.org
The European Union and the Culture of Death
consequences of this decision are important,” Mecary said.
“Henceforth, France will no longer be able to refuse approval
to an unmarried person on the grounds of their homosexuality.”
The Earth Charter, through the United Nations, has promoted the culture of
death under the guise of words such
as “reproductive rights” and “discrimination” for years. Population control
through abortion, euthanasia and homosexual marriage has spread throughout
the European Union under the influence
of the United Nations. They now stand on
the brink of a total annihilation of morality since they adopted these ideals and
are putting them into practice.
She said the case would reach from France out to other
countries of the European Union. “The same thing will be true
for other member countries of the Council of Europe which
allow adoption by unmarried people.”
Contrary to the boasts of European
Commissioner Jose Barroso; the European
Union is not exactly a utopia as he would
like to have us believe. It seems as if through the European Union, the agenda
of the culture of death through the United Nations is transitory from paperwork
to policy, and we can see these opinions are being diffused throughout the
western world as well.
European Bishops and the World Congress of Families are now setting a
challenge before the European Union. “The traditional family, we like to call the
natural family as God ordained it, is certainly under attack in Europe.” The EU
is also attempting to convince member states to recognize “de facto unions
and registered partnerships,” according to Susan Yoshihara from the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. “The EU is exceeding its mandate in
some of these areas. By doing that, essentially what the EU is doing is driving family policy in countries that are trying to preserve the traditional family.”
(Such as Poland and Malta). Jacobs says partnerships between groups like
the World Congress of Families and European Bishops, help level the playing field. “There’s extreme pressure to try to redefine marriage. Countries like
Latvia and Poland have been subjected to European scrutiny and possible
sanctions for their stand on traditional marriage.” Jacobs adds that some of the
damage has already been done from these attacks on the family. He points to
research showing dwindling fertility rates throughout the European population.
(LifeSiteNews)
The European Court of Human Rights has been successfully used by homosexual activists in a bid to force a sovereign nation to change its laws protecting children. A lesbian woman has obtained a ruling from the court that
effectively prohibits France from refusing adoption to homosexuals. She was
awarded 24,500 euros (35,500 U.S. dollars) in damages and court expenses.
The woman’s lawyer, Caroline Mecary, admitted in a statement that the
case had been pursued as a political measure to overturn French law. “The
April-May-June 2008
The Luxembourg Parliament passed the Euthanasia Bill
and is now set to become the third country in EU to legalize
euthanasia. The Luxembourg Parliament voted by a slim margin to legalize euthanasia on February 19, becoming the third
country in the European Union to do so.
The law was passed by a vote of 30 to 26. The vote was
heralded as a defeat for Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker’s Social Christian
Party, which was strongly against the bill. Nearly all of the members of the
Social Christian Party voted against the measure.
“The Christian Social Party and the Catholic Church were against the euthanasia law, calling it murder, but we said no, it’s just another way to go,” said
Jean Huss, a member of the Green Party, and co-sponsor of the bill.
“This bill is not a permit to kill,” said Socialist Lydie Err, who helped draft
the bill. “It’s not a law for the parents or the doctors but for the patient and the
patient alone, to decide if he wants to put an end to his suffering.”
The Netherlands became the first country in the European Union to legalize euthanasia in 2002, with Belgium following that example in 2003. Luxembourg’s euthanasia bill has passed the first reading by one vote and will be
legalized if it passes the second reading. Every member of the ruling Christian
Social Party would need to vote against the euthanasia bill to ensure that it
would be defeated. (LifeSiteNews)
European patriots who are standing up against this agenda proposed by
the United Nations through the European Union are few, but they are struggling
valiantly to keep their religious faith and culture. They continue to promote truly
Christian marriages where children are welcomed and loved, the elderly are
cared for, and families become true “beacons of light” for the world.
Let us continue to expose these evils and work together to re-establish
a true Christian society. We must pray to Our Mother Mary for guidance and
strength, to wage the battle against the forces of evil, with the help of St. Michael and the entire heavenly army.
Marie Anne Jacques
Page 19
A new slavery
Canada and the New World Order
An interview with Pierre Marchildon on Radio Maryja in Poland
We would like to present to our readers a
transcription of a radio program that was broadcasted on the Catholic station Radio Maryja of
Torun, Poland, on August 11, 2002. This radio
station is owned by the Redemptorist Fathers,
and its programs are broadcasted all over Poland and through satellites all over the world. It
is very popular among Polish people in North
America, and of course in Poland. The most
popular program of this station is called “Unfinished conversations”, which is broadcasted
every evening between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.,
and often is continued after midnight until 2
o’clock in the morning.
Our dear deceased Pilgrim Pierre Marchildon (who passed away on December 17, 2007,
at the age of 59) was in Poland in 2002 during
the last visit of Pope John Paul II. He was invited by Radio Maryja as guest of “Unfinished
Conversations.” The formula of this program
first includes the presentation by the guest of a
specific subject, and then there is an open line
in which listeners can ask questions and make
comments. Mr. Marchildon’s topic for this program was: “Canada and the New World Order.”
“Michael” and Poland
Pierre Marchildon:
I am very happy to be in Poland to speak on
Radio Maryja. I was invited here by the directors of
Radio Maria. I am privileged to be in this land where
the Polish people fought very strongly against Communism. I came to Poland to help the Polish people
understand the harm that globalization and the one
world government has done to Canada. Also I came
to see the development of the “Michael” Journal in
Poland
This land of Poland and the Polish people were
strong instruments that overthrew the Communist
regime. Through this there was much bloodshed,
but we are walking here in the land of the saints that
have been canonized by Pope John Paul II, such as
Saint Maximillian Kolbe, Saint Sister Faustina, and
many others.
Bank Act to our Constitution, and gave away the
right to create money to private banks. Of course,
we have to understand that in the United States in
1913 the Federal Reserve Bank, a private corporation, took over their money system. Not long after,
in 1914, the International Bankers started the First
World War by financing it. That is when Canada
started to get into debt. Then in 1917 the same International Bankers funded and financed the Communist Revolution with the Wall Street Bankers in
New York. That was the enemy’s plan.
But Heaven had a plan too because in 1917 Our
Lady of Fatima came to visit us to ask us to pray so
that we could get rid of the Communist regime. Then
at the same time in 1917 and 1918, C.H. Douglas
came out with the principles of a national money
system. A monetary system that would be without
usury and interest, and that would belong to society. That is why he called it a Social Credit money
system. Later in 1939, there was a big depression
worldwide, and we really felt it in Canada.
Louis Even, the founder of “Michael”
It was in 1934 that Louis Even read some of the
writings of C.H. Douglas. Louis Even was a great
Catholic; he knew his Faith and also the Social Doctrine of the Church. He knew some of the quotations in the encyclicals of different Popes. In one of
these famous quotations, Pope Pius XI stated in his
Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno in 1931 that
those who control the money control the lives of the
people; those who control the economy control everything, up to the point that «without their permission no-one can breathe.»
In 1939, Louis Even began the foundation of our
French paper called Vers Demain to reveal to the
people that it was the banks that made a restriction of money during 10 years of the depression.
When war was declared in 1939, they found money
overnight to finance the war and to kill people by
the millions and to destroy nations. So Canada got
into World War II, which was financed by the same
banks, and sunk deeper into debt.
Why are we here and how have we come to
be here? It began quite a few years ago when
Bishop Kraszewski translated the book of our
founder Louis Even, “In This Age of Plenty.”
This book explains the fraud of the banking
system in the whole world and it introduces a
technique to apply the Social Doctrine of the
Church. Because there was a great interest
among the Polish people in Poland and we received many letters, we decided to print a leaflet in the Polish language. And then I, myself,
wanted to have a “Michael” Journal in Polish
for the people of Poland to have a continuation
of the Work of the Pilgrims of Saint Michael.
In 1999 we founded the “Michael” Journal in
Polish. And then in 2001, we edited another
of the three brochures that our founder wrote.
The title of the book was “The Global Fraud.”
Bishop Frankowski gave a wonderful recommendation for this book.
In the past, Louis Even wrote often to CarJacek Morawa and Pierre Marchildon at Radio Maryja
dinal Wyszynski. Louis Even also admired
Poland and the fact that Cardinal Wyszynski
Bigger debts and taxes
worked to defend the Catholic Church in Poland.
That is why the Pilgrims of Saint Michael have a
After the war, during the1960s, we elected Prime
tender spot in their hearts for Poland. That is also
Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a socialist. He rewhy I am very happy to be here tonight at Radio
ceived some of his education in Moscow, and he
Maryja to give more information about the Masonic,
was a Fabian from the London School of Econominternational, financial, and globalist plan to destroy
ics. He brought Canada deeper into debt, from 50
my country of Canada, and what they are doing to
billion to 200 billion dollars. Now with the burden
every nation in the world. So this evening I would
of this huge debt, we could not even pay the interlike to give you some of the history of the work of our
est on the national debt. And while we are on this
enemies in Canada.
subject of Pierre Trudeau, he is the one who also
passed the abortion law in Canada. So up to now, in
A global plan
the 1980s and 1990s, our national debt of Canada
One of our biggest downfalls was in 1913 when to the private banks is over 600 billion dollars (in
Canada’s Prime Minister, Robert Borden, added the 2002).
Page 20
After, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney came in
power who had inherited this debt. In his campaign
before the election, he said he would never accept
the Free Trade Agreement between the United
States and Mexico. But two months after he won
the election, he signed the Free Trade Agreement
between the United States and Mexico. Then many
of our big companies moved to Mexico because of
cheap labor. There was a lot of loss of jobs in Canada and then, the Canadian people were taxed to
pay the interest on these debts. Being the income
tax was not enough; the Federal Government had
to add another tax on the goods and services, called
the Goods and Services Tax.
Also in 1981 the interest rates jumped to 22%
and many people who had mortgages experienced
a double in the cost. During this time in 1981 and
1982, 300,000 families in Canada lost their homes,
farms, and businesses. At the rates of 22%, with the
increase in the taxes, people had to pay for their
houses three and four times with the property taxes.
And this is what we called democracy in America,
and in Canada. But I call it a new slavery.
And then after that with all this increase in taxes
and interest rates, the mothers had to go to work.
This was the beginning of the breaking down of the
family life. The mothers put their children in daycare
centers. Children came back home and were raised
in front of the television with its corruption and pornography. The abortion rate also increased. Today
we have up to 110,000 abortions a year in Canada.
In some parts of Canada we do not even reproduce
ourselves; there are 1.3 children per family.
Now our federal, provincial and municipal governments, with all of these debts, are cutting into our
social programs dealing with hospitalization and education. The governments have started to privatize
what they own to private corporations. Also we lost
a lot of farmers. We used to have 600,000 farmers,
but now we are down to 200,000. Most of the farms
that are left are mortgaged to the banks.
A catastrophic monetary system
One of the worst things that happened is
that we lost our schools because we accepted the government handouts, such as grants.
And when these grants were accepted, we
had to teach sex education beginning at age
six. Now what has happened to our children?
After they receive the sacrament of Confirmation, we do not see them in church anymore
because they are ready for sex, because this
is what they are being taught! Just to give you
an example: Before the Pope came to Canada for the World Youth Day (in July, 2002),
they were saying that the amount of youth
practicing their religion in different parts of
Canada, especially in Quebec, was down to
about three to five percent. So this is part of
the disaster that the monetary system and the
International Bankers have done to Canada.
We could have freed the whole world in
the year 2000, the Jubilee Year, when Pope
John Paul II asked for the cancellation of the
international debts, because all of these debts
have been paid at least ten times over with all
the interest payments that have been made to
the private international banks. Being this was
not done (the cancellation of the debts), the global
people are working now, stronger than ever, to take
over the world’s resources and all the capacity to
produce in the world.
Total control
Lately, in the year 2001 with the terrorist situation, this was used as a way to bring new laws and
new control over all the nations. They want to introduce a new identification card, like a credit card
or a smart card. For the last ten years they have
been talking about the microchip. They started to
implant the wildlife animals and they are injecting
the microchip in all the domestic pets. We could see
April-May-June 2008
that after September 11, 2001, Canada, the United
States, Australia — where I just came back from
— and other countries have passed what they call
the terrorist laws.
On Christmas Eve of last year, they began promoting and advertising a new implantation of the
microchip in the people for identification. This year
in April (2002), the Food and Drug Administration
in the United States approved of the microchip to
be implanted. On May 10th of this year, they began
in the state of Florida to implant the Verichip in the
people. This is so they can have more control on the
people, to know our whereabouts and, eventually,
all of our financial transactions.
It is what Father Michel Schooyans wrote in his
book, what the one world people, the United Nations, the global people want: they want total control
of every person, to mutilate everyone and destroy
humanity. There would be much more to say on this,
but I would just like to mention that it almost looks
like we are losing the battle on this. The Catholics
and the Christians are doing a bit of what Saint Peter did today in the Gospel. It looks like we are being
defeated, but we will have to do like Saint Peter and
cry out and ask God’s help to save us from all of this
world control. The people will have to come back
to God, convert and start going back to church, to
pray again the Rosary and ask the Virgin Mary to
help us.
John Paul II in Canada and Poland
I would just like to say a little word about what
Pope John Paul II said when he came to Canada for
the World Youth Day. I can tell you that he woke up
the whole nation and all of America; North America
was awakened by the Pope when he came to Canada. Long live the Pope! And also when the Pope
went to Mexico, there were 12 million people one
evening who came out to admire the Pope while he
went from the airport to his residence.
Now the Pope is coming to Poland. I am very
happy to be here. We invite all the Polish people
and the people in other countries nearby to come
and meet the Pope to encourage him.
We, the Pilgrims of Saint Michael, wanted to give
a little help to Poland by bringing some of our pamphlets with the message of the Pope against globalization. The Pope, in his message against globalization, said it would be nice to have a global world, to
help one another in every country, but how can we
help other countries when we are so sunk in debt
that we cannot even feed our own people. I would
like to just quote the Pope on what he said on this
subject: “Globalization is the loss of sovereignty of
every nation. And we will be governed by a few centres in the hands of private individuals.” So we have
to do everything to stop this.
We will pray that Poland will not accept the global government, the global situation. So we hope to
see you at the places that the Pope will be coming:
to Our Lady of Czestochowa, the Shrine of Sister
Faustina in Krakow, and other places, and we will
be there ourselves to distribute the “Michael” Journal in Polish for anyone who wants one.
If you would like to ask questions about what is
happening in Canada concerning the farming and
the schools, we will accept call-in questions now.
Father of Radio Maryja: Please, we are listening,
this is Radio Maryja.
Question from listener: I am listening to this
programme and I heard what Mr. Marchildon was
saying about microchips. I heard about this on the
programme broadcasted by Radio Maryja recently.
I would ask a question connected with the subject. I
would like to ask how far are things regarding marking the people. I read on the Internet and in the book
of John Leary «Be prepared for the era...» about this
problem that touches the wealthy societies. That is
to say, people who make all financial transactions
and own banking credit cards, very easy will take
that sign, which is the sign of capital; it means the
sign of high developed countries, where of course
money will be slowly withdrawn from circulation. the
European Union introduced euro money. It is the
next step of withdrawal of that money and of establishing cashless accountancy. Is Poland ready for
this, and is this dangerous for us? It seems to be
a very important problem. I talk with many people
from my environment and they don’t know what the
biochip or microchip is, they are not aware of the
smart cards and all this equipment that will make the
people become dependant on the system.
This programme that is now broadcasted by the
April-May-June 2008
Fathers is a good opportunity to warn people that to
take these «goodies» of civilization means that we
are lost, because man without God cannot live, and
when he takes all these elements of capitalism and
economy he is loosing freedom. He cannot decide
about his own life and takes things that make him
a slave. He will do everything to keep up his own
level, own standard of life for the price of exclusion
himself from the eternal life with God. I’m asking you
to say more, if possible, and let people know of the
dangers of the microchip technologies. Thank you
for the opportunity of asking the question. Stay with
God.
Father of Radio Maryja: Stay with God.
Pierre Marchildon: I would like to say that the
people who are going through the universities will
learn it their way, and if they want a position in life,
which everyone wants, you have to go along with
the system. If not, you will not be qualified. They
want to eliminate all of the opposition, anyone that
will oppose them. So it is the duty of anyone who
knows the truth to be a witness to the truth, either in
the Faith or in economics. And we have to do a bit
like Jesus Christ did — take the whip and whip the
money changers.
Father of Radio Maryja:
Please, next caller. Hello.
Thank you very much.
Pierre Marchildon: Concerning the microchip, I believe that it will be a new
identification, because since
the terrorist attack of September 11th, they already started
to implant the Verichip within
six months of that attack. And
I believe that if there should
be another terrorist attack,
especially in the United
States, the microchip will be
the new identification. They
introduced the Verichip in
May of this year on the health
side, saying that if you had
that chip; it could save your
life. For example: if you were
in an accident and the ambulance would come, they could
scan the chip and know what
drugs not to give you. They
also presented it concerning
those who have a sickness,
like Alzheimer’s, and if you become lost, they could
find you with the GPS system using a satellite…
(Jacek Morawa gives Pierre’s answer in Polish.
Part of tape is missing)
So it is very well advanced, but I believe that now
with the smart card with a chip, or the implantation
of the chip later on, if you do not have that chip, you
will not be identified in the new system of banking
and government programs. Then you will have to
present this new identification. As Dr. Carl Sanders
said, with this microchip they would be able to control our behaviour, which they showed with their rat
experiment. They could make the rat do whatever
they wanted it to do. So we must not at all take that
microchip in any form.
In answer to this question: the real history of
Canada is not written in the university books. The
bankers control the highest authority of our country. If the International Bankers control the highest
authority, the government, they control the universities. How come the greatest swindle and fraud of
the world is not repeated, is not voiced, by most of
the elite? Because they have gone with the system!
I could quote a famous phrase from a former governor of the Bank of Canada who said that every
time a bank makes a loan, they create money out
of nothing!
Father of Radio Maryja: We invite the next listener.
Listener: My name is Beata Bulak, I’m calling
from Cisie near Warsaw. I am a regular reader of
Michael Journal and on Wednesday I go to the Parliamentary club of League of Polish Families to bring
them the book of Louis Even «A Sound and effective
financial system» because I heard on the waves of
Radio Maryja that the League of Polish Families is
preparing a project for healing the Polish economy.
Thank you. Stay with God.
Pierre Marchildon: We congratulate you, madam, to have had the courage to introduce legislation
in the Parliament on our proposition on money reform that would finance and help the nation.
Father of Radio Maryja: Next listener, please.
Listener: I would like to greet cordially the man
who is talking to us tonight. I thank him for opening
our eyes on what is going on abroad and on the
other side of the ocean. I know something about it
because I have my brother in Canada. He has been
living there for 12 years now. Why don’t the Polish
people know about these things that are happening in the world. I think that everything that happens
abroad will happen in our country. One more time,
thank you very much.
Listener: My name is
Krzysztof (Christopher), and
I’m calling from Lodz. I want
to ask you about the place
of the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank and
of the plot that is happening
in our times. If you can give
me more information on this
subject.
Thank you very much.
Pierre Marchildon: The
IMF and the World Bank are
there as a front for the International Bankers. They are
there to lend money to different countries, and when they
do lend the money there are
conditions. When they lend
one dollar, they want eight
dollars back. So they are not
there to help any nation; they
are there to make sure these nations go deeper into
debt so they can finally take all of their national resources. Because the goal of the international people… They had a meeting in Canada in 1995, the
G7 at the time, where they made a plan called The
Global Resource Bank, so that once they will have
all the resources of the world in their hands, and the
capacity to produce, they will finally evaluate this
world wealth and tell the people of this global village, in which you will just be a number… They are
even using some of the terms of the social doctrine
which state that you would have a right to the fruits
of the modern technology. They will give everyone
on the planet a global security, and they will send
the money electronically and for you to have access
to that money, you will have to have a new electronic identification.
Pierre Marchildon
Books and leaflets to order
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1992...........$15.00
The Hidden Face of the UN (Schooyans).........$25.00
By Louis Even on Social Credit
In This Age of Plenty ........................................$20.00
What Do We Mean by Real Social Credit?...........$3.00
A Sound and Effective Financial System..............$3.00
By Major C.H. Douglas on Social Credit
Economic Democracy...........................................$10.00
Social Credit.........................................................$13.00
The Monopoly of Credit........................................$10.00
(Prices include shipping and handling)
Free leaflets to order:
(New) The North American Union and the Anti-Christ
(New) Our Lady of America
The Eucharist
(New) The Rosary
The Holy Mass
The Microchip
The Money Myth Exploded
The Federal Reserve
It is urgent to put an end to the scandal of poverty
(Nuevo) Union Norte Americana - Spanish
~ (Nuevo) El Rosario - Spanish
Page 21
The Holy Demoniac: The True Story of Anneliese Michel
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12)
It asks aloud the one and ultimately fundamental
question: namely, does another, unseen, spiritual
world exist or not? The prosecuting attorney claims
he knows there are no evil spirits. Although he considers himself a practicing Christian, he prevails
upon the jurors to dismiss everything the priest has
to say about Satan and his cruelty. By contrast, the defense attorney, an avowed agnostic, approaches these dramatic events
without prejudice. The deeper
Anneliese wrote down evshe digs into the case, the more
erything Jesus said to her.
she comes to sense its supernatThese notes are not dated but
ural character. She even receives
numbered. On February 15,
clear signs of the existence of an
1976 she handed four pages of
invisible reality. During the trial
these notes to Father Renz (her
she states honestly that she has
spiritual director) who carefully
an open mind concerning the
preserved them. They are, as
existence of the spiritual world.
it were, Anneliese’s “spiritual
Upon this, she bases her argutestament.”
ments for the defense. As for
the priest, from the moment he
The words of Jesus to
stands eyeball to eyeball with the
Anneliese:
Devil in a dramatic spiritual struggle to free the girl from his power,
1. Everything good that you do,
he has not the slightest difficulty
and have done, comes from Me.
believing in evil spirits. In the end,
Every good thought, every good
Anneliese Michel
he is found guilty of willful neglect
deed: nothing is yours. That is
in
the death of Emily Rose. The
why (at Holy Mass) I let you write
them down, to show you that you can do nothing on viewer, however, senses that fundamentally it is not
your own, and to teach you humility. You should not the exorcist but the Devil that is on trial. The court
suppose that you have achieved anything by your- declares de facto that the Devil does not exist; and
self. All these are gifts of my great love to you. You if science was not at fault, then superstition and the
should have nothing that belongs to you. You must priest had to be responsible for Emily’s death.
understand that everything comes from Me and so
The Exorcism of Emily Rose carries an extraoraccept them with gratitude; and do not be proud as dinarily important message. It is set forth unambiguthough they were from you, for these are my gifts.
ously in the closing scene: “work out your own sal2. Expect everything, but everything, from Me. I vation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2: 12). Father
can make possible what is impossible. Place great Ernest Alt, who exorcised Anneliese, points to two
trust in Me. This brings Me glory. It draws Me to realities that became extraordinarily clear to those
who witnessed the dramatic events – realities which
you.
the film director also endeavored to express: First
3. Be sorry for your sins and then believe in My there is the dimension that threatens to engulf creagreat love for you. Do not doubt it, for this saddens tures when they desire to be like God. This is what
Me greatly. My ways are mysterious ways. You must Satan has always wanted. To a greater or lesser delet Me chose the way for you. Have I not already gree we all desire this whenever we commit sin. The
given you ample proof of My love?
other reality is the dimension of God’s Redemptive
4. Be silent! Do not talk so much. Restrain your Work in Jesus, the Son of God who became man
tongue, since for every needlessly uttered word – a reality which lives in the Catholic Church, in all
you will have to hold account. Love solitude. Meet the sacraments and the work of the Church.
with others only when necessary, e.g. for reasons
The facts
of friendship, and not for pleasure’s sake. Give up
Turning from the film to the real events: Anpermitted pleasures as well.
neliese was one of four daughters of Joseph and
5. Do not worry about the future. Try at all times Anna Michel, an upright, deeply devout couple living
to listen to My voice and carry out My wishes (My in Klingenberg, Germany. Although frail and sickly
will). I love you tenderly. Do likewise while carrying as a child, she was “quite normal” as her friends reout My most silent wish – always listening to My call. She could be jolly, tell jokes and have fun along
voice. (The sheep know their Shepherd’s voice. I with the others. Something “abnormal” began hapam the Good Shepherd and I love My sheep.)
pening shortly after her sixteenth birthday in autumn
6. Believe that I answer every prayer so long as of 1968. According to one of her friends, Anneliese
it does not stand in the way of the soul’s salvation. was unable to get up one morning after a horrific
Often I wait before answering even the just prayers night. She felt as if an enormously powerful force
of My children that they may be persistent and their was pressing down and knocking the breath out of
her. Futile appeals for help. A wet bed. Unimaginaprayers be of benefit to others.
ble terror. The occurrence repeated itself almost a
7. Do not lose heart if something does not hap- year later. Visits to the doctor and exhaustive neuropen (right away) as you would wish. Try at least to logical tests came up with nothing.
hide your indignation. You do not know what good
Nevertheless, she was admitted to a sanatorium
such adversities serve or why they are necessary.
where her terrified fellow inmates looked on as her
* * *
blue eyes turned black, her hands contorted and her
The real person behind The Exorcism of Emily body became wracked by strange convulsions. DeRose was Anneliese Michel. The film scenario is spite the interrupted school year, the bright, diligent
based on the shocking, fully documented account of girl managed to complete high school; she prepared
a real demoniac by cultural anthropologist and reli- to enter teaching college. As a young college student
gious studies expert Dr. Felicitas D. Goodman (The she complained to her mother of strange sounds in
her room. Her mother sent her to an ENT specialist.
Exorcism of Anneliese Michel, Doubleday, 1981).
The latter found nothing wrong with her hearing.
The phenomenon of demonic possession and
However, the problem became real when oththe broader question of existence of the Devil are
subjects that cannot but arouse interest and emo- ers in the house began hearing noises under the
tions. Why did this innocent girl die? Was she men- floor or the ceiling or the cupboard. When the frighttally ill or in fact possessed? Do demons really exist? ened family rose to pray in front of the statue of Our
Are they capable of enslaving and killing a person? Blessed Mother, Anneliese’s face convulsed groWhat does modern science have to say? Does psy- tesquely. A terrifying hatred exuded from her black
chiatry exclude the existence of the Devil? Who is eyes. Family prayer, frequent Communion and the
right? The priest who tries to exorcise the girl or the evening Rosary brought the girl less and less relief.
court prosecutor who accuses the priest of medieval Spiritually and physically she was feeling worse by
benightedness? These are some of the questions the day. She complained of being beset by appalling
apparitions.
the film raises.
In the times we are living today, demoniac activity is very widespread, and many of our youth
are falling into the trap of occultism and different satanic cults. Anneliese Michel gave her life
to help her brothers and sisters recognize the
dangers of refusing to believe that Satan exists.
Let us follow her example and
give ourselves totally to Christ,
living our daily lives in service
to Him.
Page 22
Such dread! she told Fr. Arnold Renz, her spiritual confidant who would soon become her exorcist.
It is the kind of terror you could find only in Hell itself.
You feel so abandoned that no one on earth… You
know, Father Arnold, I imagine it must have been
like that on the Mount of Olives… only unimaginably worse, for He took upon Himself the sins of the
whole world.
More and more dreary visits to the doctors
brought Anneliese to utter exhaustion. At the strenuous request of her parents and Fr. Arnold, experts
in the field of spirituality and demonic possession
began visiting the house.
One of these later observed: Anneliese was a
sweet girl from a deeply religious family. She complained, “I feel as though I have no ‘I’ of my own.”
She said she occasionally saw demonic faces, but
could not describe them in any detail… From time
to time she would fling blessed objects away from
her…The stench of burning and sewage pervaded
the rooms.
At the same time, she was capable of successful study. You could see joy in her eyes. She did not
avoid company and behaved as you would expect
a young girl in love to behave – recalls a student
friend. By this time Anneliese was already going out
with Peter. She was aware of his deep feelings for
her. Yet though she did not avoid him, she felt her
personal problems prevented her from entering into
a deeper relationship with him. But Peter proved to
be a tenacious friend. He comforted her and himself, insisting they would find a doctor who would
get to the bottom of these strange ailments. He
stayed with her to the very end, never losing heart,
even when – as he recalls – she would stare at him
with a look full of hatred and break out into snarls
and animal-like howls.
As the months went by, Anneliese’s behavior became increasingly more bizarre and monstrous: she
would leap at the walls, run up and down the stairs,
drink her own urine from the floor, dunk her head in
the toilet bowl, scratch and bite the walls, roll about
naked in the gravel or soak herself in water in an
attempt to quench the fever that raged inside her.
She had unbelievable physical strength. When her
sister tried to grab her once, Anneliese flung her
to the floor like a rag doll. She hardly slept at all.
When she did go to bed, she lay there lifeless, like
a corpse. Her stiffened neck muscles prevented her
from drinking or even breathing. Then suddenly she
would calm down, regain her composure, and return
to her studies or play the piano.
The exorcisms
Feeling utterly helpless, the Michels asked the
Bishop for permission to have an exorcism performed on their daughter. Members of the clergy
visiting the house were convinced they were dealing with a case of demonic possession. Fr. Adolph
Rodewyk S.J. was of a similar mind.
Anneliese (far right) with her father, mother and three
sisters. They often supported and assisted her during
the exorcisms, asking the intercession of Heaven
For several years during the war, he had defied
the Gestapo by performing exorcisms on a hospital nurse. Having devoted many years to this work,
he had the opportunity to study hundreds of cases
of demonic possession. His personal contact with
Anneliese in her home convinced him of the very
worst:
April-May-June 2008
The question remains – wrote Fr. Rodewyk
– which demon has gained possession of her?
Whenever we ask her this, Anneliese always gives
the name Judas. Judas is well known in the history
of demonic possessions… He is known to prompt
those in his power to steal the Host or make it impossible for them to swallow it. With Anneliese we
see something quite similar. He admits she cannot
swallow the Host. That is why she keeps it in her
mouth: so it can dissolve. Anneliese is indeed in the
power of an evil spirit, and the principal demon is Judas. By this I am suggesting that there may be other
secondary evil spirits involved as well.
Heaven had charged them to remain. Only death,
as it turned out, would bring the girl deliverance.
The day before she died, recalls Fr. Arnold – during the exorcism, she suddenly said, “Please give
me absolution!” They were the last words she spoke
to me. At midnight, the priest bade the demons be
silent and allow the girl to get some rest. Anneliese
lay down and went peacefully to sleep, never to
wake again. She died of sheer exhaustion.
in Anneliese MIchel’s lifetime even Catholic theologians were holding views at variance with the
teachings of the Church. According to the convicted
priest, Fr. Alt, the attempt by many theologians to
reduce the phenomenon of demonic possession to
purely natural psychic disturbances has led to the
widespread abandonment of the practice of exorcism.
To this day Germany has no officially appointed
exorcist priests. At the same time interest in occultism in its various forms, including Satanism, has
grown everywhere. In many instances our rapidly
emptying convent and parish buildings are serving
as meeting places for esoteric groups that are essentially Satanistic.
Several years later, while studying Anneliese’s
medical reports, a Swiss doctor, Theo Weber-Arma,
uncovered facts that had
been suppressed during
the sensational trial of the
Alas, this supposiexorcists. It turned out that
tion was to be borne
Anneliese had undergone
In this spiritual climate Anneliese Michel came to
out in full. When at last
three EEG tests. Each time understand ever more deeply that her terrible exthe exorcisms began to
epilepsy was ruled out. De- periences were not in vain. Indeed, they served to
be performed, the haspite this, she was treated remind secularized Christians that Satan does exrassed demons started
for several years with an- ist and that Hell is a real and ever-present danger
to make themselves
tiepileptic drugs such as to the unconverted soul. The tape recordings of
known. In his notes on
zentropil and tegretol. These Anneliese’s exorcisms (which include the demons’
the first exorcism, Fr. Ardrugs have serious side ef- actual voices), the photos of her battered body, her
nold Renz gives an idea
fects. Weber-Arma had no personal notes – all these make up the German
of the struggle that was
doubt that in Annieliese’s girl’s special testament to those who no longer take
beginning in earnest:
case the high concentration seriously the perils of Satanic activity.
Anneliese, or the deof these chemical agents
mons reacted most vioOn what grounds, we may well ask, could Anand their use over a pelently to holy water. She
neliese’s terrible torments help save others? On the
During an exorcism
riod of several years were
would start howling and
grounds that this misunderstood and misdiagnosed
bound eventually to bring
thrashing about. Three men, Mr. Hein, Peter and
girl had a real part in the Passion of Jesus Himself.
on exhaustion and death. Needless to say, certain
her father, restrained her. Anneliese tried to bite left
Thanks alone to her union with the Crucified Christ
individuals were responsible for this incorrect diagand right. She kicked out in my direction. From time
her suffering assumed a salvific character: salvific
nosis and treatment. None of them were held acto time she let out a howl, especially when sprinnot only for herself but for others as well. Indeed, it
countable.
kled with holy water. At times she whimpered like a
was Christ Himself who suffered in her – for that is
Expiation
dog. She kept repeating: “Enough of this shit, you
the meaning of the stigmata that several people tesasshole priest. You filthy swine!” There were many
Why was Anneliese Michel possessed by evil tified to seeing upon her body. Thanks to her close
more obscenities and insults which I will refrain from
spirits? Possession occurs in people who have bond with Jesus, her keeping of several demons in
citing.
opened themselves up to the work of Satan through bondage within her own body took on a salvific dimension.
An exorcism is a solemn prayer by which the satanic pacts, the practice of magic, spiritualism,
Church in the name of Jesus Christ publicly and bio-energetic therapy or other occultic practices.
What was at stake was the carrying out of the
authoritatively expels an evil spirit from a person in
Church’s
triumphant struggle with the Devil. The
In Anneliese’s case there was not even the slightits possession. Exorcists are well aware that knowChurch
is
the Mystical Body of Christ and, as with
est suspicion of such involvement. Having prayed
ing the demons’ names and the number of demons
any
living
organism, when one member of the
so much over the girl and having experienced the
involved increases their power over them during
Church
engages
in a struggle with the enemies of
mysterious resistance of the evil spirits, Fr. Alt came
the performance of the exorcism. For hours on end
salvation,
other
members
benefit from it. From her
to the following conclusion: “I am convinced that
the two priests – Fathers Arnold Renz and Ernst Alt
extraordinarily
diffi
cult
vocation
flowed special gracwe are dealing here with a typical case of expia– prayed tirelessly over Anneliese. Eventually all
es
which
she
received
from
the
Savior Himself.
tory possession. During the many conversations I
six harassed spirits made themselves known: Lucihad with her she gave me to understand that things
These were actual teachings which, in order to
fer, Judas, Cain, Nero, Hitler and Fleishmann. With
would again be very difficult for her in the future. keep clearly distinguished from her Satanic sugAnneliese’s permission Fr. Arnold recorded the enShe lived in great fear of this and was saddened by gestions, she shared with her spiritual director. On
tire process on a tape recorder (there were several
it. But she felt it had to come. In the case of an ex- October 24, 1975 she wrote down the following
dozen sessions in all).
piatory possession the exorcist has his work cut out locution from Jesus: I am making use of your sufOnly a small portion of this material was tran- for him because it is not at all easy to understand fering, sorrow and lack of solace to save souls. On
scribed or made its way into Dr. Felictas D. Good- the meaning of the suffering. The only consolation a another occasion He told her: Never cease asking
man’s book. When, through the words of the ritual person not let in on the
and begging on behalf
and Holy Scripture as well as appeals to the saints, mystery can have is the
of your neighbors that
the priest and Anneliese’s loved ones charged the knowledge that through
they may also attain
spirits to leave the girl’s tormented body, the de- this dreadful suffering
the eternal homeland;
mons raised an indescribable cacophony of shrieks, a great many souls are
and also:
growls and howls. Despite their terrible fury, they saved.”
Pray and make
were prevailed upon to answer questions posed
Does such an intergreat
sacrifices for my
to them by the priests. At one point a demon was
pretation express nothpriests.
It is not for
forced to say, “I have something to tell you. She is
ing more than the imponothing
that
I have rehappy. For you are constantly praying. You must
tence felt by the priest in
vealed
to
you
the greatpray on.”
his struggle with an evil
ness and dignity of evAn incredible thing: Our Blessed Mother mak- spirit? How could he be
ery priest – to the point
ing it known through demonic shrieks that She is certain that Anneliese
that you tremble with
present and in command of the situation! Hearing endured these diabolic
fear. Anneliese knew
this extraordinary consolation, Fr. Arnold opened torments not for her
she was not suffering
his mouth to sing a Marian hymn. But at that mo- own sins but for those
in vain, even though
ment there broke out an appalling roar such as they of others? There might
she dared not even
had never heard before. Choking, as though about be grounds for doubt if
imagine the great reThe gravesite of Anneliese Michel
to cough up its very entrails, the demon screamed: it were not for the perward that awaited her
sonal notes and tape
“She is coming! She is coming! The Great Lady!”
for this dedication that
recordings the girl left behind. These documents evoked such supreme respect and admiration. We
Hearing this part of the tape recording, Dr. Good- prove that Anneliese was clearly and lucidly aware
find in her notebook the following extraordinary and
man, a trained and experienced specialist, was that her frightful struggle with the powers of evil and
moving dialog: You must write down something else
shocked. In the margin of her notebook, she wrote: her attendant sufferings and humiliations would help
as well – the Savior said. I didn’t want to write this
What I heard here was so overwhelming and evoca- others to be saved.
down – explains Anneliese – because I thought it
tive that I had to switch off the tape recorder. I had to
To the modern mind raised in the spirit of individ- came from the Devil; besides, my soul shuddered
calm myself, fight back my nausea, which I achieved
at the thought. But the Savior demanded my obediwith great difficulty. In the course of the prayer, An- ualism this appears strange and incomprehensible.
ence, and that is why I am writing this down. The
neliese demonstrated unbelievable strength. She Can one engage in a spiritual battle with Satan in
Savior said, “You will become a great saint.” I still
other
people’s
stead,
and
for
their
benefi
t?
From
the
broke free of her father’s and Peter’s grasp and
didn’t want to believe it, but then the Savior gave
threw herself on her knees, then got up, then fell very beginning – from the time of Christ’s struggle
me a sign that I have heard Him right. Sobs and
down again, and so on countless times, thus caus- and victory on the Cross – Christianity’s answer to
this has been yes. In solidarity with our one Savior, tears…
ing injury to her knees.
Fr. Andrzej Trojanowski S.Chr.
and thanks to His one victory over Satan, we are
The exorcism of December 30, 1975 began engaged in a spiritual battle with the invisible realm
Article based on the Polish translation of F.D. Goodmuch the same way as the preceding ones. Sud- of fallen angels, intelligent, irredeemably wicked beman’s
book, Egzorcyzmy Anneliese Michel, Gdansk-Radenly one of the demons screamed out, “We are not ings hostile to God and man.
dom, 2005. An English version entitled The Exorcism of
coming out because He will not permit it!” “You mean
Despite the protestations of so-called “enlight- Anneliese Michel was published by Doubleday in 1981.
the Savior?” asked the priest. “Yes, He!” came the
answer. “He does not wish it.” Tormented by these ened minds”, this truth have been an integral part
Article reprinted with the permission of Love One Anseveral-hour-long sessions, the demons, whimper- of our Faith and the teaching of the Catholic Church other Magazine, Issue 6 printed in 2005.
ing, begged to be released from the girl’s body. But since the time of the apostles. The tragic fact is that
April-May-June 2008
Page 23
Consecration to the Sorrowful
and Immaculate Heart of Mary
Oh Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of
Mary, we come to You this day to compassionate our sorrows and to consecrate ourselves to You.
We come to consecrate to Your Heart, to
console it, the Pilgrims of Saint Michael and
their Work. May our hearts beat in union
with Yours.
We want to live like You and with You, in
love of purity, O Immaculate Heart, in the generosity of sacrifice, O Sorrowful Heart, in
an ardent love for God and for our brethren,
a fruitful and true love, O maternal Heart.
Triumph soon, O Immaculate Heart, powerfully plead our cause at the tribunal of
God. That through You, mercy triumphs
over justice.
Convert us, convert sinners, convert
Russia. Cause O triumphant Heart, to have
established on earth, a true and lasting
peace, the peace of Christ, in the reign of
Christ. Amen.
Don’t miss our next important meetings in Rougemont:
Our weeks of study, June 24-30 and August 22-29
Our International Congress, Aug. 30-31 and Sept. 1
Our Congress and weeks of study this year are under the
honorary presidency of Bernard Cardinal Agre, of Ivory Coast.
The main lectures of these weeks of study will be the 10 lessons on Social Credit, which were
recently published in our journal. There will also be reports from various guests. All are welcome !
Please contact us before August 1 to make sure we can accommodate everyone.
Cardinal Agré
Page 24
April-May-June 2008

On June 15-22, 2008, the whole world is invited to Quebec City

Transcription

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