Highlight of the Marvelous Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Good Success

    One of the pilgrims who traveled to Quito Ecuador for the feast day of Our Lady of Good Success on February 2nd was asked, what was the highlight of the trip?

    This pilgrim answered without hesitation, "the highlight was Our Lady of Good Success."  Many beautiful and inspiring churches, convents and monasteries were visited on this pilgrimage.  Many miraculous, sacral and holy images of Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints were venerated on this pilgrimage.  However, nothing could compare with Our Lady of Good Success.

    The first impression of the statue for this pilgrim was the word, majesty.  Our Lady of Good Success is majestic beyond comparison.  Her majesty is filled with goodness.  Her majesty is not cold and distant but a majesty that attracts the soul through its intense holiness, warmth and benevolence.

    This statue of Our Lady also has a magnetism.  Our Lady draws one to Her, almost irresistibly, yet gently.

    The statue of Our Lady of Good Success also gives one the impression of having a lifelike vitality.  At one point when Our Lady appeared to Sister Mariana, Sister saw Our Lady enter into the statue, which would explain the sense of life of this statue.

    All of these qualities are present even at a distance.  Close up they are magnified almost exponentially.  This pilgrim had the opportunity to assist returning the statue to the cloister and he described the magnification of Our Lady's qualities from his personal experience.

    Here are two images of Our Lady of Good Success taken during this pilgrimage.  The first image of Our Lady in Gold was taken a couple of days prior to Her feast day. The second image in blue was taken on Her feast day.

    Tomorrow a pilgrim will describe what was to him, the two most magnificent events of the trip.  He tried to limit it to one event, but found it impossible to describe one without the other.

Gaming for Satan: New Video Games Mock the Church and Glorify Satan

by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS

A long-time video gamer and devout Catholic is sounding the alarm about a new breed of satanically-themed video games that target God and the Catholic Church, invite players to make pacts with the devil, and elevate Satan to hero status.

“This has been going on for the last 10 years, but especially in the most recent games,” said Lance Christian, 32, of Alton, Illinois. “It wasn’t until last month when I said, ‘enough is enough!’ I’m a gamer, but I’m deep into my faith and I think God is showing me this so I can make other people aware of it.”

He has seen games gradually become more occult-based, promoting Satan and even the persecution of Christians. For instance, in one game, players kill the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael before going on to destroy God. Another game requires players to sell their soul to the devil and rewards them for “killing unbaptized infants.”

All these games seem to have one central theme - God is the enemy and the devil is the hero. One game guide blatantly states: “The Judeo-Christian God is portrayed as the prominent villain in the series . . .”

“This is just the tip of the iceberg in what I have discovered,” Mr. Christian said. “I feel that the devil has a new tool to work with in this age of technology, and the majority of adults in a position of responsibility are left in the dark.”

He provided us with the following list of the most egregious games:

1) Tecmo’s Deception: Invitation To Darkness (Playstation) – Players “make an unholy pact and sell their soul to Satan in exchange for power” with the object of the game being to ensure the resurrection of Satan and obtain his power. (This game is rated “T” for teen.)

2) Nocturne (Playstation 2) - A game in which the hero (a demon) destroys the three archangels St. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, then goes on to destroy God.
3) Devil Summoner (Playstation 2) – Involves communicating with and recruiting demons. One demon tells the player “That Catholic Church is such an eyesore” and in the end of the game, blows up the Church.

4) Shadow Hearts (Playstation 2) - The hero uses his power to intercept and destroy God and “save the world.” Some games in this series are rated “T”.

5) Dragon’s Age Origins (Playstation 3/Xbox 360) – Game revolves around the story of God going mad and cursing the world. A witch attacks believers and players can “have sex” with her in a pagan act called “blood magic” so she can “give birth to a god.” Another scenario allows player to have sex with a demon in exchange for a boy’s soul.

6) Dante’s Inferno (Playstation 3/Xbox 360) – Loosely based on the Divine Comedy, player travels through nine circles of Hell, fighting demons, “unbaptized babies” and other tormented souls. (This game is being considered for a movie by Universal Pictures.)

7) Guitar Hero (Playstation) – Players use guitars decorated with pentagrams. God is repeatedly mocked by the devil and in the end, the devil is the hero of the game. Women dressed as Catholic school girls are degraded. (Rated “T” for teen.)

Other games with Satanic themes are Darksiders, Koudelka, Trapt, and Bayonetta.

According to Christian, game publishers are cashing in on the satanic and anti-Catholic content themes and using them as a draw for buyers. For instance, Electronic Arts launched a catchy ad campaign to sell its satanic-themed game Dante’s Inferno. Buyers interested in the game are greeted at the site by an alleged new game called, “Mass: We Pray.” When they click on the link, they’re declared a heretic and re-routed to Dante’s Inferno. After ordering, they’re offered a “Number of the Beast” discount of $6.66.

Game publishers such as Electronic Arts and Midway Games have not responded to our requests for comment.

Even though most of these videos are rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) as “M” for mature audiences, many are rated “T” for teens. But irregardless of the ratings, they can easily fall into the hands of children from older siblings or parents, Mr. Christian says, and points to a recent YouTube video of an eight year-old playing a Satanic themed game.

Paul Bury, editor of Family Friendly Gaming said the envelope is definitely being pushed with these games. “Role playing games have progressively gotten worse over the years,” he said. “It is difficult to find a role playing game that is not ‘T’. . . . There have been some ‘M’ rated ones where all kinds of decadence is allowed.”

Another problem is that the ESRB has been “shifting” its standards much like movie rating bureaus have been doing. “Compared to movies in the past, they are now allowing more for a PG rating,” Mr. Bury said. “I have noticed the same thing from the ESRB. Games that in the opinion of Family Friendly Gaming that should receive a ‘M’ rating, are getting a ‘T’ rating. They are letting more through.”

Eliot Mizrachi, spokesman for the ESRB, says their rating system focuses on violence, language and sexuality and is based on what the average consumer’s expectations would be about content. 

“The ratings are only intended to be a guide,” he said, “but if someone has sensitivities about particular content, the first step would be to check the rating summaries on our website which provide a very detailed description of the content that factored into the rating.”

We checked these summaries and although they were helpful, few mentioned the overt satanic content of the games.

Mr. Mizrachi says concerned parents need to do their homework before choosing what games their children can play. In addition to checking the summaries available on their website, they should also consult game reviews on parent-focused websites. 

Parents can consult reviews on the Focus on the Family’s “Plugged In” website at http://www.pluggedin.com/

To voice your concern about the content of video games, check video summaries and access mobile ratings, visit www.esrb.org.

Posted with the kind permission of the author.

© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com

Toys R Us opens the door to the devil (with fixed link)

Send your instant e-petition to Toys R Us Chairman and CEO, Mr. Gerald L. Storch by clicking here. 

Sign and send your instant e-petition

According to press reports and its own website, Toys R Us is selling a Glow-in-the-Dark Ouija Board, recommending it to children from age 8-14.

Playing with an Ouija board has always been known as a dangerous way to open the door to the occult. In light of this fact, America Needs Fatima is sending protests to Toys R Us requesting that they no longer offer this perilous product.

According to noted American exorcist Father Gary Thomas and Human Life International president, Father Thomas Euteneuer, the person must open the door for demonic possession to take place. Such doors include the use of Ouija boards and other occult practices.

Father Thomas says: “People think that Ouija boards are harmless. They are not, because what people do is they begin tapping into a realm that's beyond science, that's beyond the physical nature of human existence.” click here to read the full story

If anyone has any doubt about the reality of communicating with spirits through such boards, one need only consult the comment section of the Toys R Us listing.  click here

Users frequently use words like “scary,” “dangerous,” and “careful.” Many note that the board is not a game but a tool and they obviously are communicating with spirits when using the “toy.”

Children already suffer too much influence from the occult in our society without finding Ouija boards on the shelf at Toys R Us.

Send your instant e-petition to Toys R Us Chairman and CEO, Mr. Gerald L. Storch by clicking here. 

Sign and send your instant e-petition

Saint John Bosco’s powerful prayer to Our Lady

Saint John Bosco always had a deep and personal devotion to Our Lady Help of Christians, which he promoted widely.

He composed this powerful prayer to Her, which you should find most inspiring: 

Mary, most powerful Virgin,
You are the mighty and glorious Protector of the Church.
You are the marvelous Help of Christians.
You are awe-inspiring as an army in battle array.
You have destroyed heresy in the world.
In the midst of our anguish, our struggle and our distress
defend us from the power of the enemy,
and at the hour of our death receive our soul into heaven. Amen.

Toys R Us opens the door to the Occult

According to press reports and its own website, Toys R Us is selling a Glow-in-the-Dark Ouija Board, recommending it to children from age 8-14.

Sign and send your instant e-petition

Playing with an Ouija board has always been known as a dangerous way to open the door to the occult. In light of this fact,  America Needs Fatima is asking Catholics to send in their protest to Toys R Us requesting that they no longer offer this perilous product.

According to noted American exorcist Father Gary Thomas and Human Life International president, Father Thomas Euteneuer, the person must open the door for demonic possession to take place. Such doors include the use of Ouija boards and other occult practices

Father Thomas says: “People think that Ouija boards are harmless. They are not, because what people do is they begin tapping into a realm that's beyond science, that's beyond the physical nature of human existence.” (click here to read the full story)

If anyone has any doubt about the reality of communicating with spirits through such boards, one need only consult the comment section of the Toys R Us listing click here.

Users frequently use words like “scary,” “dangerous,” and “careful.” Many note that the board is not a game but a tool and they obviously are communicating with spirits when using the “toy.”

Children already suffer too much influence from the occult in our society without finding Ouija boards on the shelf at Toys R Us.
Send your instant e-petition to Toys R Us Chairman and CEO, Mr. Gerald L. Storch by clicking here.

Sign and send your instant e-petition

U.K.’s Conservative Leader Pledges Full Support to Gay Agenda

Agrees that the "right of gay children to have a safe education trumps the right of faith schools to teach that homosexuality is a sin."

By Hilary White

LONDON, February 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – David Cameron, the heir-presumptive of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has told a homosexual magazine to expect a “gay-friendly” future Conservative government. Cameron, who has packaged himself the “heir to Blair,” also told Attitude magazine that the Church of England should change its policies on homosexuality.

The Tory leader, whose party is likely to win in this year’s general election, strove to convince homosexuals that the new Conservative Party would be as friendly to them and their political goals as Labour had been under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He apologized for past Tory policies that were against the gay agenda, saying, “That has changed. I think we can look gay people in the eye and say, ‘You can now back us... because we now support gay equality’.”

The Labour government has promised Stonewall, the U.K.’s leading homosexualist political lobby, “crackdowns” on “faith-based” bullying in schools and guidelines that will “compel” religious schools to comply with the normalization of homosexuality. Religious schools, they have said, must not teach Christian doctrine on sexuality “as though it is true.”

In his interview with Attitude, Cameron effectively pledged his party to continuing these policies that many fear amount to government suppression of religious expression.

Asked, “Do you think that the right of gay children to have a safe education trumps the right of faith schools to teach that homosexuality is a sin?” Cameron, a practicing Anglican replied, “Basically yes - that's the short answer to that, without getting into a long religious exegesis. I mean, I think, yes.

“I mean, I think, yes. I think..... [long pause] that if our Lord Jesus was around today he would very much be backing a strong agenda on equality and equal rights, and not judging people on their sexuality.”

“I don't want to get into an enormous row with the [Anglican] Archbishop [of Canterbury, Rowan Williams] here. But I think the Church [of England] has to do some of the things that the Conservative Party has been through - sorting this issue out and recognizing that full equality is a bottom line full essential.”

Cameron assured Attitude’s Johann Hari that the Conservative Party had changed since the days of Margaret Thatcher, who in 1988 installed Section 28, the amendment to the Local Government Act 1986 that said local authorities “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality.” Section 28 was repealed in 2003 after heavy lobbying by homosexualist activists.

Cameron said that the idea of changing homosexual civil partnerships to marriage is “worth looking at” and said that homosexuals should be allowed to adopt children. He even said he was confident that he could convince the Catholic hierarchy of Scotland that “there are occasions when gay adoption is a perfectly sensible and straightforward thing.”

The “ideal adoption,” he said, is “finding a mum and dad, but there will be occasions when gay couples make very good adoptive parents. So I support gay adoption.”

When Hari pointed out that the virulently anti-religious National Secular Society has called for the defunding of religious schools on the grounds that they are hothouses of homophobia, Cameron did not disagree, saying only, “This is not the aim of our policy.

“I think you prevent it from happening by having some good ground rules about the teaching of things like sex education and some clear rules about what faith organizations are and are not allowed to do.”

Asked his stand on the Christian marriage registrar who was sacked for refusing to perform homosexual civil partnership ceremonies, Cameron said that “faith-based organizations and charities” should be encouraged: “As long as they are not discriminating in any way in the services that they provide, you're fine.”

“I think if you are a Catholic prison charity, as long as your services are available to everyone, no matter what their religion, their sexuality, their ethnicity, you're fine. We shouldn't force you to become a multi-faith group. You can be a single faith group. But you must not discriminate in the provision of your services. It seems to me that is the key distinction that you have to make.”

Ruth Gledhill, religion editor for the Daily Telegraph, commented, “From this logic, then, I assume he will force charities for blind people also to offer their services to deaf people. I've long thought it discriminatory that, as an able-bodied person, I'm not entitled to a disabled parking permit.

“How far is this ludicrous equal rights scenario going to go? Even further down the road to ridiculous extremes under the Tories than it already has under Labour, it seems.”

Cameron’s comments about the Church of England closely echo those of former Prime Minster Tony Blair in an interview with Hari for the same magazine last year. Blair, who was received into the Catholic Church December 2007 by the former Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster Cormac Murphy O’Connor, said that the Catholic Church needs to “rethink” its “position” on homosexuality.

Blair’s comments were widely ridiculed even in the mainstream press and prompted the current Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, to remind Blair that he does not speak for the Catholic Church.

Document Reveals Inconsistencies in ND's Jenkins Claims on ND88

By Kathleen Gilbert

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, February 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Correspondence obtained by LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) this week concerning the "Notre Dame 88" scandal has thrown into question Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins' claim that he has done all in his power to help the “ND88” pro-life protesters, who still face charges for trespassing on campus last May.

Fr. Jenkins has continued to defend his refusal to request that the charges against the ND88 be dropped altogether based on the offer of a “pre-trial diversion.” Under this offer the defendants would have to agree to pay several hundred dollars in court fees, avoid any trouble with the law for 1 year, perform a certain number of hours of community service, and promise to stay off Notre Dame property for a certain period of time, in exchange for the charges being dropped after a year.

But a letter sent to Jenkins from attorney and Notre Dame alumnus Tom Brejcha of the Thomas More Society several months ago pointed out the serious flaws with the offer of diversion – which wouldn’t even apply to many of the ND88.  Brejcha told LSN, however, that Jenkins has so far failed to respond to his letter.

Scores of pro-lifers were arrested at Notre Dame last year for protesting the school's decision to host President Barack Obama as commencement speaker and award him with an honorary law degree at the May 17 graduation.  Witnesses say that many were apprehended simply for walking on campus with a rosary, pro-life sign, image of Mary, or other form of support for pro-life Catholicism, while pro-Obama demonstrators trespassing on campus were not stopped.

(Click here to sign the Free the ND 88 petition)

Since last May, pro-life advocates led by Brejcha have called upon President Jenkins to request leniency for the 88 pro-lifers still facing a sentence of up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.  Although St. Joseph County is technically the prosecutor of the case, and not Notre Dame, experts say a request for leniency by Jenkins would carry great weight in dismissing the charges.

As late as last month, Jenkins had deflected criticism in emailed responses by pointing out that "Notre Dame is not the complainant in these matters" and therefore cannot directly drop the charges.  Also, he said, the prosecutor has offered pre-trial diversions "to those for whom the May incident was a first-time offense."

"We understand that most of those arrested have chosen not to take advantage of this offer and obviously we cannot force them to do so.  In essence, the choice of whether or not to go to trial belongs to the defendants," said Jenkins.

However, in an October 2009 letter to Jenkins and Notre Dame fellows, Brejcha had already pointed out the serious weakness of Jenkins' excuse for not seeking leniency.

"With respect, permit me to suggest that there may be a very serious misapprehension about the character of the protest that gave rise to last May’s arrests," wrote Brejcha.

He explains that there are many reasons why the pre-trial diversion option is inadequate.  "One is that even a single prior conviction would negate any diversion, and yet many of the ND88 have convictions on their record.  How so?  Because of prior involvement in peaceable, non-violent direct action [against abortion]," he wrote.

Brejcha continued: "Many of these folks are impecunious, so that paying court costs – another condition of the diversion offers – would be prohibitive.  Nor do they take kindly to being banned from Notre Dame’s campus as persona non grata.

"Nor do they understand why they must perform so many hours of community service.  They say that coming to Notre Dame was a community service.

"What’s really wrong with pretrial diversion, then," wrote Brejcha, " is that the ND88 don’t believe they did anything wrong by marching, preaching, or praying on Notre Dame’s campus.  To them, pretrial diversion despairs that Notre Dame would ever join them in serving the cause of life."

Brejcha recalled a bizarre personal encounter with Fr. Jenkins in which they discussed the Notre Dame 88 the previous week: "When I said to you, Fr. Jenkins, that these defendants believe that, like Dr. King, they did nothing wrong but were marching for civil rights and social justice for all Americans, born and unborn, you responded, 'But Dr. King served time in jail.'"

"We submit, with respect, that Notre Dame should shun the role of either Birmingham and its police chief  Bull Connor, or that of the ‘moderate’ churchmen on the other hand, to whom Dr. King  addressed his letter [from Birmingham City Jail]," wrote the lawyer.

"We don’t understand what Notre Dame would gain from letting these cases proceed apace and grind on in St. Joseph County Criminal Court.  This should be viewed as a family dispute, to be resolved – if at all possible – in a family council and not in police court," said Brejcha - adding that the ND88 "deserve an invitation to return to the Notre Dame campus – this time to be welcomed  and given a chance to tell their stories, without interruption, let alone arrest,  handcuffing and jailing."