Pope Benedict met with the head of the ultraconservative movement founded by the excommunicated Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre on Monday amid a renewed push to bring the 'schismatic' group back into Rome's fold.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the meeting between the Pope and Monsignor Bernard Fellay, secretary general of the Society of St. Pius X, was held 'in a climate of love for the church and a desire to arrive at perfect communion.'
A New Orleans billboard for a funeral home is attracting the curious after a painter spotted an image of the Virgin Mary standing in it.
Mark Kleindorf, 40, said he first noticed the image while he was painting a shop's walls. Kleindorf said he noticed a white blotch on the left side of the sign, part of the original funeral home photograph that could be described as sunlight. Within it, he saw the profile of Mary, standing in the archway with her back to the ticking clock on the right side of the sign. The solitary figure seems perfectly proportioned, the New Orleans Times-Picayune said. She is clothed in a white gown and veil and is facing west, toward a cemetery.
However, Archdiocese of New Orleans spokesman, the Rev. William Maestri dismissed the claim.
This would not even remotely qualify as an apparition, Maestri said. This is simply a speculation based on an imaginative interpretation of what something appears to be.
Kleindorf, who refers to himself as a "cajew" because he was raised by a Jewish father and Catholic mother, said he is not the first member of his family to have a vision of Mary. Years ago, his uncle, Broadway and local actor Jay Kleindorf, shared with his nephew his story of a vision.
"When he was in World War II, he was driving in the back of a flatbed truck with a bunch of his Army buddies, and he looked up in the trees and he saw the Blessed Mother waving, pulling him towards her like, 'Come to me. Come to me,' " Kleindorf said. "So, he shouted to his guys, 'Jump,' and when they jumped, that's when the mortar hit the truck and blew up everybody else in it. . . . When he got older, he told me the story the same way over and over, didn't miss a beat."
'This is spooky'
As of Sunday morning, Katrina has strengthened to Category 5 with winds of 175 mph. As of 8:30 a.m., winds were 160 mph winds. Winds of 155 or greater mark a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Katrina is comparable to Hurricane Camille in intensity, which devastated the New Orleans area in 1969; the difference is that Katrina is larger.
The entire Southeastern Louisiana area is under hurricane warning. The area extends from Morgan City eastward to the Alabama/Florida border--including metro New Orleans and Lake Ponchartrain.
It is customary for devout citizens of New Orleans to gather to pray before the statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor whenever a hurricane threatens New Orleans. They know they can depend upon Our Lady’s succor and her promptitude. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, ora pro nobis.
Lord Jesus, we know You are the ultimate power. We know that when You grant graces through Your mother they can come to us faster than the speed of light, with unfathomable power. Dear Lord, let us grow closer to You through Our Lady of Prompt Succor, that we may please God and that He may come to our assistance in a hasty fashion.
Grant us the faith, that we too may see miracles in our lives, and grant us the inspiration and grace to pray fervently during Mass and at the Blessed Sacrament.
And oh Mary, you have come so many times through history to aid your children. Come now to our aid. Come to the prompt aid of our families. Come to the aid of the United States, which has sunken into materialism and unholiness and darkness.
Save us, Blessed Mother. Save our nation. Save the heritage that men like General Jackson fought for. Save this great country founded upon the precepts of Christianity. Bring back holiness, oh Lord. Bring back goodness. Rescue our nation as quickly as possible!
In our own lives, instill a fervent faith and love. Oh Blessed Mother, let us feel love for all human beings. Let our hearts soften. Let us become your vessels of purity and charity.
(Response: be with us):
Oh Virgin so gracious,
Oh Virgin who saved France,
Oh Virgin, who beckons New Orleans,
Oh Virgin who can save our own nation,
Oh Virgin of quick response,
Oh Virgin who instills charity,
BE WITH US
Ejaculation:
Virgin Mary of Prompt Succor, be ever and quickly attendant to our needs!
Angelus:
V: The angel spoke God's message to Mary
R: And she conceived of the Holy Spirit
(Hail Mary, full of grace...)
V: "I am the lowly servant of the Lord:
R: Let it be done to me according to your word."
(Hail Mary...)
V: And the Word became flesh
R: and dwelt amongst us.
(Hail Mary...)
V: Pray for us, holy Mother of God,
R: That we may become worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Lord, fill our hearts with your grace: once, through the message of an angel, you revealed to us the incarnation of your Son; now, through His suffering and death, lead us to the glory of His resurrection. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us further pray:
Our Lady of Prompt Succor, you are after Jesus our only hope. O Most Holy Virgin, whose merits have raised you high above angel choirs to the very throne of the Eternal and whose foot crushed the head of the infernal serpent, you are strong against the enemies of our salvation. O Mother of God, you are our mediatrix most kind and loving. Hasten, then, to our help, and as you did once save your beloved city from ravaging flames and our country from an alien foe, do now have pity on our misery, and obtain for us the graces we beg of you. Deliver us from the wiles of Satan, assist us in the many trials which beset our path in this valley of tears, and be to us truly Our Lady of Prompt Succor now and especially at the hour of our death. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, O Mary Immaculate, you are the model of all virtues, the path by which we go to Jesus, the mysterious channel through which divine favors are imparted to us. You have such power over the Heart of Jesus, hasten to our assistance and obtain our earnest request (here name the favor desired).
In you, O Mary, we put our trust. Let it not be said that our hopes have been frustrated. O Mother most chaste, be our strength against temptation, our help in danger, our consolation in sorrow, but especially Our Lady of Prompt Succor at the hour of our death. Amen.
Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us. (Repeat three times and recite the Hail Mary and Our Father.)
At the right, seen kissing an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa.Dressed in a white-and-gold robe and miter, Dziwisz, surrounded by hundreds of priests and bishops in white robes, nuns and city officials, walked in a procession to St. Mary's Church. He held a silver-and-gilded staff given to Karol Wojtyla - the future John Paul - when he became archbishop of Krakow in 1958.
From The Confessions:To Carthage I came, where there sang all around me in my ears a cauldron of unholy loves. I loved not yet, yet I loved to love, and out of a deep-seated want, I hated myself for wanting not. I sought what I might love, in love with loving, and safety I hated, and a way without snares. For within me was a famine of that inward food, Thyself, my God; yet, through that famine I was not hungered; but was without all longing for incorruptible sustenance, not because filled therewith, but the more empty, the more I loathed it. For this cause my soul was sickly and full of sores, it miserably cast itself forth, desiring to be scraped by the touch of objects of sense. Yet if these had not a soul, they would not be objects of love. To love then, and to be beloved, was sweet to me; but more, when I obtained to enjoy the person I loved, I defiled, therefore, the spring of friendship with the filth of concupiscence, and I beclouded its brightness with
the hell of lustfulness; and thus foul and unseemly, I would fain, through exceeding vanity, be fine and courtly. I fell headlong then into the love wherein I longed to be ensnared. My God, my Mercy, with how much gall didst Thou out of Thy great goodness besprinkle for
me that sweetness? For I was both beloved, and secretly arrived at the bond of enjoying; and was with joy fettered with sorrow-bringing bonds, that I might be scourged with the iron burning rods of jealousy, and suspicions, and fears, and angers, and quarrels.
With winds up to 145 mph and Katrina is now a Category 4 storm. This hurricane may continue to strengthen to Category 5 (winds of 155 mph) before making landfall on the Southeastern Louisiana coast early Monday afternoon. Hurricane watches extended from Intracoastal City, LA, to east as Destin, Fla., but for almost 24 hours, the center of the projected path has bobbled only slightly between the New Orleans/Metairie line and Slidell.
President Bush late Saturday declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, following a request earlier by Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a move that frees up federal emergency aid for the storm. Bush also urged residents to follow the advice of forecasters, and flee the storm.
The controversial document, produced by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries, the body overseeing the church's training of the priesthood, is being scrutinised by Benedict XVI.
It been suggested Rome would publish the instruction earlier this month, but it dropped the plan out of concern that such a move might tarnish his visit to his home city of Cologne last week.
