Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:01 Well this morning we'll be just a little different. I had another sermon on marriage ready when a topic I consider very serious, uh, to address surface. So we'll deal with that. We first do, you might start wondering, Hey Padre, where are you going with all this? So just hang on. It'll be apparent shortly. Then after that, we'll, we'll consider a completely unrelated topic. So it's sort of two for one, two little short sermonettes I guess he'd them. So the first topic, I'll read excerpts from three articles and then make comments at the end. So that's what we'll start. First excerpt is from Cnet news.com. It's Monday, December four, 2006. The article is entitled FBI taps, Cell Phone Mike as Eavesdropping tool quote. The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance and criminal investigations remotely activating a mobile phones microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.
Speaker 0 01:02 The technique is called a roving bug and was approved by top US Department of justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who are wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tearing assests back or wiretapping cell phones owned by two alleged mobsters are used by the FBI to listen in on nearby conversations. The US Commerce Department security office warrants that his cell, your telephone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity to the phone. Mobile providers can remotely install a piece of software on to any handset with the outdoor owners knowledge which will activate the microphone even when it's owner's not making a call. The virtual function, whether the phone is on or off, they can be remotely accessed and made to transmit room audio all the time without having physical access to the phone.
Speaker 0 01:52 If a phone is in fact been modified to act as a bug, the only way to contract that is to either have a bug sweep or follow you around 24 seven or to peel the battery off the phone. Security conscious. Corporate executives routinely remove the batteries from their cell phones. A BBC Arctic from 2004 reported that intelligence agencies routinely employ their remote activation method. I'm mobile sitting on the desk of a politician or businessman can act as a powerful undetectable bug. The article said, enabling them to be activated to pickup sounds even when the receiver is down. Close quote. So the first point is that unless a batteries removed, a cell phone, whether it's turned on or switched off, can be used as a bug to transmit room audio at all times. Second Excerpt, front page magazine, February 22nd, 2006 the article is entitled Clinton's other domestic spying program.
Speaker 0 02:49 Quote in 1994 excuse me, Clinton administration, Attorney General Janet Reno launched infiltrators wiretaps mail monitoring and a range of other spying activities and a massive coordinated effort that included the FBI, the bureau of Alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, US postal inspectors do us Marshall Service and other federal and local law enforcement agencies. President Bill Clinton had acted decisively to fight what he and First Lady Hillary Clinton deemed the most dangerous terrorist threat facing America. Dot. Dot. Dot. Yes. Huge Clinton surveillance scheme was vap calm the violence against abortion providers task force. According to the u s justice department, vap comm was charged with determining whether there was a nationwide conspiracy to commit acts of violence against reproductive healthcare providers. The more than 900 targets of all this surveillance included the Christian coalition, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, women's Coalition for life feminist for life, Americans United for life, the 600,000 member concerned women for America, the National Rifle Association, the American Life League, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and even then Roman Catholic, cardinal of New York, John O'Connor, close quote.
Speaker 0 04:05 So the second point that is in the recent past, people just like us have actually been targeted as potential terrorist and placed under surveillance by our government. And as I'm seeing this and looking at 70 that's files were pulled in the file gate scandal. So we have someone sitting right here with us for sure. Third and final exert from the New York Times August 4th, 1996 this New York Times article is entitled despite protests. Lawyers here. Recording of confession to a priest, quote over the protests of a Roman Catholic civil rights group and Civil Libertarians in Oregon judge has allowed two defense lawyers to listen to a tape of their client's confessional Catholic priest. The judge let two lawyers for Conan Wayne Hale, a 20 year old suspect and a triple homicide. Listen to the tape of Mr. Hail confessing to the Reverend Tim mcketis as the two men spoken April through a partition in the lane county jail in Eugene Lane County district attorney who ordered the taping.
Speaker 0 05:04 Apologize saying the taping was legal and ethical, but simply not right now. I have to pause on that for a second cause that's just so unbelievable than me. So it, when you say it's ethical but not right, you're saying it's ethical but it's wrong. You're saying it's right, but it's wrong. That's what ethical means. This is an official of our government. It's ethical at wrong. It's that like the answer is yes, but it's no, it's left, but it's right. It's day. But it's night. It's up. But it's down. It's black, but it's white. I mean this, what are we talking about here? Talk about news speak. Why wait for 1984 when he can have it now and avoid the rush? He said that four people, two deputy district attorneys, a deputy sheriff and a secretary had already listened to the tape, but he promised his office would seal it and not use it in prosecuting Mr.
Speaker 0 05:58 Hail pause again. Do they tape defense lawyers talking when they, when they have counsel in there when they're talking to that? I've been in these jails where you're, where you're hearing the confession to the screen or they taping the defense lawyers in there. You can bet they'd be screaming like wounded saxophones if there was something like that going on, but they're going to tape us. I'm sorry, I'm getting spun up. Mr Hales. All right. It says Mr Hales main defense lawyer wanted to know what prosecutors had learned from the tape so she could determine what, if anything she needed to do about the tapes contents. She is listening to tape with another defense lawyer, but she's forbidden by corridor to discuss its contents. It will say only that she may use the tape as she defends Mr. Haley at his trial scheduled through next to lie close court.
Speaker 0 06:40 It's right there. We have at least six people listening to a Sacramento Confession. It's been transcribed, it's on tape and it's in the court's hands. The third point here anyway, it's right here in our beloved country. The authorities have already admitted to taping a sacramental confession. A person under government surveillance has actually had a Sacramento Confession court legally and ethically taped closed quote by the authorities conclusions. Given that even without physical access, our cell phones can be turned into bugs and made to transmit room audio all the time unless the battery is pulled off the phone. And given that in the previous administration, at least people like us were under governance surveillance simply for being serious pro-life Catholics and seeing that a sacramental confession has already been legally and ethically recorded right here in these United States. And given the fact that we hear confessions, we don't have a little sign up there saying, excuse me if you're an organized crime, if you're a murderer, you know, here's the things we're not going to hear.
Speaker 0 07:50 We hear anybody's confession that comes through. That's what God put priests in the world. I don't care what you've been up to, as long as you stop doing it, that's my job is to defend God's right. I don't care if you're a mobster that's, that's not in my business, my business to try to help you get to heaven. It doesn't matter. So most importantly, given that we preset to be prepared to die in defense, the seal of confessional, it seems to me there are two common sense choices for anyone with a cell phone. Who's going to confession, whether here somewhere else. If you've got a cell phone, the first obvious choice, don't bring it into the confessional. Leave it on the ledge back there by the window. Who leave it out in your car. Leave it near Pew. Leave it anywhere, but don't bring cell phones into the confessional.
Speaker 0 08:37 Don't do that. Even if you don't care, we do. Don't bring a cell phone or the confessional. That's the first obvious choice. Or the second obvious choice is got the thing out. Take the battery out of it. The only case in which your cellphone should go into any confessional is if the batteries are already been stripped out of it. Okay. This could easily, well, anyway, I've been con priests around the country for about the past week since I found out about every single one I've told about this. He's very concerned, very concerned. Okay. This could easily become a salvation issue for us on our side of the screen. Okay, so in order to protect the sacrament of form, every pennant with a cell phone has to either not bring it in or gut it out before it goes in there. Okay. No cell phones in the confessional. We live in really strange times and we just have to be wrecking start recognizing that no cell phones in the sec confessional and of the first topic, shift gears.
Speaker 0 09:36 Second topic, three years ago, I had occasion to speak with an exorcist who told me about this possess person that he'd been working with. This person. The victim had been ritualistically abused since infancy. He grew up in a family of, of Satanists, and he's possessed. And the problem was he couldn't be delivered until it forgiven everyone involved in this abuse, which is unspeakable. We're not going to talk about that. And as he's telling me this, I said, you know, father, that's sort of forgiveness in the face of years of this kind of torture and abuse is humanly speaking, completely impossible. It would take a miracle of grace for someone to be able to forgive people that have committed those kinds of acts against him. A real miracle of grace. And I'm using the word in the proper sense and a miracle grace is greater than physical miracle.
Speaker 0 10:33 A physical miracle is something like raising somebody from the dead that's lower than this. A miracle of grace. Okay. And <inaudible>, you're right. And you know how that's gonna come about. And I said, no, I sure don't. I don't. And then he told me, he told me how this possess person would be able to forgive as tortures. Before we get into that, I'll tell you the ending right now, within a year, it happened within a year. This man could actually forgive him. He was delivered from the devils, but first before he could be delivered from the devils, he had to be delivered from a pain and anger, hatred, the rage, all these feelings that he had first and he was within a year. It's a miracle of grace. Before I tell you how that worked, how this tormented soul could forgive these people at torch and from infancy. I'm going to tell you why that might be important.
Speaker 0 11:25 Each one of us who didn't hopefully grew up in those same kind of circumstances and our pursuit of holiness, we have to go to confession to get our sins forgiven. That's a given. Okay, but we also have to get rid of what St Thomas Calls the remnants of sin, the remnants of sin. We don't have the time to get into all the details of what that means right now. Just for today. Think of the remnant Sassoon's this a work as wounds, their burdens, their problem areas in our character and our personalities, which are sources of sinful tendencies and troubles in our life that remain even as soon as after sin has been forgiven. And we can have them from people committing serious sins against us because, because of our reaction to them anyway, they're sort of think of like a spiritual ditch that's, that's inside of us that we can keep falling into.
Speaker 0 12:11 Okay. Unless we fill it in, we're going to keep falling into it. So the remnants is sin, by the way, or one of the reasons. So many people that are saved have to go to purgatory first because remnants is sin have to be worked out before someone can go into heaven. So these are spiritual. Just think of them as wounds. Like I said, we're not going to get into all the details right now cause we're going to talk about how to get rid of them, not what all they are. Okay. All right. So their wounds, these, although this case it we're talking about where a guy's possessed and has to forgive people who have torch them, that's the extreme in each one of us. Remnants of sin are actually standing in the way of our holiness. If this prayer technique can work for possessed man who's literally richly abused from infancy than it can work for anyone here that struggling, struggling, not necessarily a terrible event from the past, although that work for that just like with him, but struggling with our particular fault.
Speaker 0 13:02 So it's appliable over the board. We already know the ending at work. So how was this possessed man able to forgive everyone involved in tormenting? It's all based on the reality that our lord come to make all things new. Lord comes to make all things new. The priest told me how it worked. He said, I have to get this man to turn over to our Lord in prayer his whole life, to specifically invite his Lord into his life and ask his lawyer, the Lord to take charge of his whole life from infancy to right now, to specifically invite him into every one of the painful events that comes to his memory. These memories is disordered. Imagination is angry or hatred, whatever kind of feelings he's got going on, all these horrible events to specifically ask our Lord to be president and him cause he's outside time in that sense until the Lord, Lord Jesus, I can't handle this, but you can. I can't forgive these people, but you can. You take charge, you heal me, heal my disordered passions, heal all these memories, take charge of this and heal me.
Speaker 0 14:13 Texas has told me as long as the man was faithful to this kind of prayer and kept inviting our Lord in, kept turning over these wounded areas in painful memories and events and memories and all these things that were haunting him and asked her Lord to take charge of those and heal them over time, our Lord would rearrange the man's interior life. Our Lord would k control and ultimately our Lord would give him the power to forgive his persecutors and at that point the exorcisms would be successful and as we've seen it already happened, took less than a year. In that case, somebody that's been involved in something really balled, abortion, disordered sexuality, anything, it doesn't matter. Somebody that's gay has a problem with porn. All these different things asking our Lord, I'm going to turn that part of my personality over to you, the gambling, whatever it might be.
Speaker 0 15:07 Anybody who has a disorder doesn't have to be major. It can be minor to whatever we're struggling with. Okay. I'm not just up here telling you this because I couldn't think of anything else to say. I've got a lot to say. I've been telling people about this for three years. I've seen this work over and over and over again. No, I'll grant you nothing quite as dramatic as the story I just told you, but I've seen our Lord heal some terrible, terrible wounds. I've seen our lord you piece the soul. True pieces saw in light and life and love, where there was nothing but anger and pain. I've seen it happen. So he's alive. He's alive. He loves us. That's why he became a man. He loves us.
Speaker 1 16:06 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 16:08 he came to heal the sick.
Speaker 1 16:12 Okay?
Speaker 0 16:14 He came to make all things new. He loves us and he's alive. Yeah.
