TIA,

As good a time as any to revisit this story what with Japan's problems are not going away anytime soon.

August 6, 1945 - In Hiroshima, a small community of Jesuit Fathers lived in the religious residence next the church of Our Lady's Assumption, situated only eight blocks from the center of the bomb blast. When Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb all eight members of the small Jesuit community escaped unscathed.

Every other person who was within a radius of roughly one and a half kilometers from the center of the explosion was killed immediately. The church house where the Jesuits lived was still standing, while the buildings in every direction from it were leveled.

Father Hubert Schiffer was one of these eight Jesuit survivors. He was 30 when the atomic bomb exploded at Hiroshima and lived another 33 years in good health. He recounted his experiences at Hiroshima during the Eucharistic Congress held in Philadelphia (USA) in 1976. At that time, all eight members of the Jesuit community were still alive.

Not only did they all survive with (at most) relatively minor injuries, but they all lived well past that awful day with no radiation sickness, no loss of hearing, or any other visible long term defects or maladies. Naturally, they were interviewed numerous times (Fr. Schiffer said over 200 times) by scientists and health care people about their remarkable experience. The eight Jesuits say "we believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the rosary daily in that home."

My observation for non-Catholics: Consider the idea that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, is as Catholic as the prayers of her rosary & its Apostle's Creed, whose efficacy she never tires revealing to us.

This simple fact settles questions of faith pretty easily.

     M.K.

TIA,

In his comment reader M.C. stated that the damned could not emit audible sounds since they are now only spiritual souls without bodies and sound-producing bodily organs until The Judgment Day.

But the words from the first secret of Fatima say: "She [Our Lady of Fatima] opened Her hands once more, as She had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls [of the damned] in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, AMID SHRIEKS AND GROANS OF PAIN AND DESPAIR, WHICH HORRIFIED US AND MADE US TREMBLE WITH FEAR. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me).

The demons could be distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.1 This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, Who had already prepared us by promising, in the first apparition, to take us to Heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror."

No Catholic can claim without blasphemy that the Fatima seers and The Church, which approved Fatima apparitions after 13 years of thorough investigation, were deceived by the devil and that the words above, never censured by Pius XII, contain an error.

Necessarily it follows that your reader M.C. is dead wrong when he/she claims that the souls of the damned cannot emit audible sounds. Yes, they can. And yes, they do.

     Regards,

     K.O.

Good morning TIA,

Allow me to play "Devils Advocate" [regarding your article on Philadelphia pedophile priests]. I personally know one of the "Philadelphia 21". He is a very conservative priest and one who has always been held in high regard by local traditional and conservative Catholics. He has been know to receive a lot of flack from his pastors etc for always wearing a cassock and giving traditional Catholic sermons. Please share this perspective w/ your readers as you see fit. Here is the story as he relates it...

Fr. X called me over the weekend. I new something just wasn't right. A leopard can't change it's spots. He was always a great priest. I just couldn't believe his name was on the list.

He told me in 2007 he was transferred to a rather large parish in northeast Philadelphia. As soon as he arrived, the pastor, who seemed like he enjoyed delegating instead of working, dumped a lot of responsibilities on his lap, one of which was taking control of the rather large elementary school... 100's of kids. Now that he was in charge of the school he started looking over the curriculum. He said much of it wasn't even Catholic. He took over the religious education....a priest taking over religious education...WHAT NERVE! Who does he think he is? (sarcasm here).

The principal who had been there for over a dozen years and was VERY liberal did not like him introducing a traditional/conservative Catholic curriculum. She wrote a letter to the Archdiocese complaining of the change. In her letter she stated that she thought he was bad for the school and "should not be around the children."

Father told me that since she used those words all sorts of buzzers started going off in the offices of the Archdiocese's. He was subjected to a four day battery of Psych tests. He passed them all with no problems. They then insisted he under go a Psycho-sexual test. He said it lasted eight hours and was one of the most embarrassing things he ever had to endure. The test entailed that he look at what he described as "disgusting, filthy, embarrassing" photos and relate how they made him feel. He said they also made him read things and respond in a similar way. All in all it was a very embarrassing experience. A private investigator was also hired to look into his past/present life. All three inquiries came back negative.

He said it must have been the Holy Ghost that inspired him, because about six months after the investigation he woke up with this burning desire to get a copy of the reports and findings. After jumping through some hoops, he was able to get signed copies of all the reports stating that he was healthy mentally and physically, that no inappropriate actions or behavior could be found, and that he should be allowed to continue as a priest in good standing for the Archdioceses of Philadelphia. All of these reviewers were independent agents.

A year or so ago the Archdioceses got into some hot water over clerical abuse. A few priests were charged and pleaded guilty. They have been all over the news. The story goes that the DA was insisting that there must be more. The Archdioceses insisted that there wasn't.

Finally the DA said something to the effect of "If there's nothing to hide, then why don't you give us full access to your files." So the Cardinal buckled under the pressure and the DA came in and confiscated all the records. Any priest who was on record of having a complaint filed was put on the list. It seems like the Philly DA was on a "Witch Hunt." Father stated that there is also "a very holy" 91-year-old priest who is also on the list.

Father is working on securing legal representation and is planning on demanding a public apology from the DA's office.

     Mary Help of Christians... Pray for us!
     The Holy Cure'of Ars... Pray for us!

     M.S.

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