Catholic; American (Filipino Dad/mixed-European Mom); supports the Social Reign of Christ the King; space geek; #NASASocial vet; Phillies phan. Viva Cristo Rey!
Washington, DC Region
Joined May 2009
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Today is the 4th anniversary of my elderly mother’s life-altering fall, which severely limited her ability to care for herself.
Please continue to pray the health of her entire being; & please add prayers for my immediate family. Thank you graciously!
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
Let's talk about a longtime DC resident who owned a property for which she was unable to collect rent, and whether we think what she went through is just.
Veronica Hegens, 59, bought a row house in DC many years ago. Smart investment, right? She lived in it for years until she decided to rent it out when she had to move in with her own father to care for him. Hegens is a retired Army major.
At first, her renter, a participant in the city's voucher program, worked out fine. Most of his rent was paid by the city's taxpayers ($2,600/month). Her renter then notified her he would vacate. All good, Hegens was prepared to find another tenant. But the renter died shortly before his move-out date. Upon his unexpected death, Hegens discovered his girlfriend, who had never signed a lease, was occupying the property with no intent to leave. DC's rules for what qualifies one as a "tenant" are lax, so a person without a lease occupying the apartment gets a lot of legal considerations.
The girlfriend had not paid rent for 6 months at the time local news covered Hegens' plight. When Hegens, the owner of the property, changed the locks on the property, the girlfriend took her to court and received a temporary restraining order and was able to stay in the property.
Hegens fell behind on her mortgage without rental income, was coming close to foreclosure, and became less and less able to make repairs due to financial strain and the girlfriend's obstinate occupancy. Hegens had to pay for court expenses and was charged fines by the city for not keeping up with her responsibilities while the unemployed girlfriend lived in her property. There are groups that give free legal services to people like the girlfriend.
In March of 2026, Hegens and the girlfriend went to mandated mediation. The mediator told the girlfriend to vacate, but with ANOTHER 4 months to find new housing. She was asked to pay minimal rent during that time (about 1/5 of what the actual tenant had paid). The girlfriend finally moved out of the unit in June— a total of 9 months of zero or minuscule rent for Hegens on the property she owns. Hegens credits local news coverage with the resolution of her case in a relatively timely manner. A local advocate for small landlords says many such cases take more than a year to reach any kind of resolution.
St. Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán, pray for us!
Hoy, 28 de octubre, celebramos la memoria de san Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán, sacerdote mexicano que entregó su vida por Cristo Rey durante la persecución religiosa de México. Murió ahorcado en 1927, después de proclamar hasta tres veces su fidelidad a Jesucristo y a la Virgen de Guadalupe.
1️⃣ Nació el 13 de marzo de 1875 en Sayula, Jalisco (México), en una familia de doce hermanos. Desde joven manifestó su vocación sacerdotal. Ingresó en el seminario en 1888 y fue ordenado presbítero el 4 de enero de 1905.
2️⃣ Hombre culto y de gran sensibilidad, cultivó la poesía y la literatura. Sus escritos estaban impregnados de amor a la Eucaristía, a la Santísima Virgen y al sacerdocio. También publicó sus impresiones de una peregrinación a Tierra Santa.
3️⃣ En 1925 fue destinado a la parroquia de Unión de Tula. Se entregó a la predicación, la catequesis y la atención de sus feligreses. Su profunda devoción a Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe marcó toda su vida sacerdotal.
4️⃣ Cuando en 1926 se suspendió el culto público en México, decidió permanecer cerca de sus fieles. Continuó ejerciendo su ministerio clandestinamente, consciente del peligro que suponía administrar los sacramentos.
5️⃣ Perseguido por las autoridades, tuvo que refugiarse en Ejutla, donde recibió la hospitalidad de las religiosas Adoratrices de Jesús Sacramentado. Allí continuó su vida de oración y su discreta labor pastoral.
6️⃣ El 27 de octubre de 1927 fue descubierto y detenido por las tropas federales. Antes de ser conducido al martirio, se despidió de quienes lo acompañaban con estas palabras: «Nos vemos en el cielo».
7️⃣ En la madrugada del 28 de octubre lo llevaron a la plaza de Ejutla. Colocaron una cuerda alrededor de su cuello, suspendida de un árbol de mango. Los soldados le preguntaron: «¿Quién vive?».
8️⃣ Su respuesta fue firme: «¡Cristo Rey y Santa María de Guadalupe!». Lo izaron con la cuerda y después lo bajaron, repitiendo la pregunta. Por segunda vez proclamó su fe. Volvieron a colgarlo y, cuando le preguntaron por tercera vez, repitió agonizante los mismos nombres santos.
9️⃣ Murió a los 52 años, consumando el martirio que había pedido a Dios como gracia para su sacerdocio. Fue beatificado por san Juan Pablo II en 1992 y canonizado por el mismo pontífice el 21 de mayo de 2000, junto con otros mártires mexicanos.
San Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán permaneció fiel hasta derramar su sangre. Su último grito fue una profesión de fe y de amor. Que su intercesión alcance a los sacerdotes fortaleza en las dificultades, perseverancia en el ministerio y un corazón enteramente entregado a Jesucristo.
¡Viva Cristo Rey y Santa María de Guadalupe!
#SanRodrigoAguilar #CristoRey #MártiresMexicanos #Sacerdocio #IglesiaCatólica
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
This changes things again. This does look less like poor communication and more like Rome acted in bad faith. In addition Matteo Bruni wasn’t - perhaps inadvertently - truthful in his statement on this affair.
JUST IN: Newly Published Letters Refute Vatican Claim That TLM Pilgrimage Failed to Specify Its Request — dianemontagna.substack.com/p…
New letters have emerged concerning the Vatican’s refusal to let the fifteenth annual Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage Ad Petri Sedem enter St. Peter’s Basilica in procession to pray for the Pope and adore the Most Blessed Sacrament. They confirm reports on the organizers’ Sept. 8 request and directly refute the Vatican’s claim that the request was not specific enough.
Today the Italian blog @messainlatino published three letters documenting the exchanges: Archbishop Paolo Rudelli’s Aug. 7 refusal of a request to celebrate Mass, Fr. Claude Barthe’s Sept. 8 request to enter the Basilica for prayer and Eucharistic adoration, and Archbishop Rudelli’s Sept. 30 reply.
MiL also published the text of a June 12 letter to Pope Leo XIV requesting permission to celebrate Mass.
Original letters with English translation here: dianemontagna.substack.com/p…
Here’s the full Epistle of St. Jude (for his feast day today). It’s the second-shortest book in the Bible (25 verses), so take a break from doomscrolling to read it!
Thread: For the feast of Sts. Simon & Jude, I am going to post the latter's epistle in its entirety. It is the shortest book of the New Testament, but it is rich in content. Like all Scripture, it is relevant today, but I think it is particularly striking in these days. #Catholic
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
Holy smokes from NYT: "In the summer of 2025, a staffer for Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democrat who was eyeing a run for Senate, received unusual instructions from top campaign aides: Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can.....The plan worked."
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
“Why is virtually every old Catholic liturgical tradition a treasure, except for the old Roman liturgy?” His Excellency asked.”
Bishop Rob Mutsaerts responds to Cardinal Roche’s interview
Bishop Rob Mutsaerts has published a response to Cardinal Arthur Roche’s recent exclusive interview with AdVaticanum, addressing his remarks on the Traditional Latin Mass
✍️@NiwaLimbu1988
advaticanum.com/article/bish…
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
Finally found the limit they'll put on asylum claims.
Totally unsurprising that it's "being conservative."
Losing an election is not grounds for asylum.
Yet the Trump Administration is giving Flávio Bolsonaro safe haven in the United States. In Brazil, he is under investigation for alleged corruption, money laundering and currency evasion, and was ordered to surrender his passports.
The Trump Administration owes Congress answers on its role helping Bolsonaro flee Brazil in contravention of Brazilian law.
apnews.com/article/brazil-fl…
Those who think whites are the most racist have never dealt with nationalists from parts of East Asia (& I knew about this phenomenon before the Internet).
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
This controversy is absolutely nuts. The Mao revisionism is *wild*, with state media demanding that foreigners bend the knee to an excrescence who killed tens of millions of their own ancestors. This ridiculous headline, together the humiliating capitulation of the sports world. Mbappe said something that anyone who has had a passing glance at history knows: Mao was not merely a dictator, but the biggest killer of the last century.
In case anyone was wondering about PRC influence in sport, you have your answer. And in case anyone was wondering about how quickly “private” Chinese companies (sponsors) can be mobilised to do the bidding of the Party State, voilá. Getting the picture yet?
This is the Whole-of- State approach in action people. Everything is the Party, and nothing can challenge it.
Major brands in China have dropped Kylian Mbappé over a clip in which the French football megastar appeared to mock Mao Zedong, China’s modern founding leader.
vist.ly/5q5xz
The OP is bleak: “You're an attractive 29-year old woman in L.A. who did undergrad at Arizona. You obviously have had sex with guys on first dates.” That’s quite an assumption.
The only solution (& it’s long term) is monogamy. “Sex liberation” has only left devastation.
This is called making assumptions. But the most revealing part is the excuse: “I don’t make the rules.”
You invent a woman’s sexual history, decide she owes you the same access you imagine other men received, and call sex a “return on investment.”
Then you blame society for how you chose to treat her.
Gentlemen, if this is how you view dating, women, and intimacy, consider what you are allowing resentment to make of you.
Even if every assumption were true, her past would create no debt for you to collect.
That is the poison: a worldview where decency is conditional, intimacy is a commodity, and every perceived wrong gives us permission to wrong someone else.
It teaches people to surrender responsibility for their character while congratulating themselves for understanding how the world works.
How much ugliness are we willing to excuse in ourselves by saying society made us this way?
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
It's a major black mark on the Catholic Church that we've allowed Fernando III of Castile and Leon (1199-1252) to be almost forgotten. He's one of the greatest men ever to pick up a sword—and a canonized saint.
Fernando never lost a battle. He took back more territory from the Moors than any other Spanish king during the Reconquista: Cazorla, Úbeda, Córdoba, Niebla, Huelva, Écija, Lucena, Oriheula, Murcia, Arjona, Mula, Lorca, Cartesian, Jaén, Alicante, and then Sevilla. Along the way he reclaimed the Bells of Santiago de Compostela taken by al-Mansur a couple centuries before. In battle he always took the lead, declaring he'd never expose his vassals to more danger than he exposed himself.
By the end of his campaigning only Granada remained, and they were paying tribute to Fernando. El Santo planned an expedition to North Africa to finish the job completely, but died before he could launch it.
And, like I said, he is a saint, known during his lifetime, as El Santo. Fernando often worried his men with his habit of keeping all-night prayer vigils before a battle. His efforts liberated countless Christians from Moorish and rescued souls from apostasy.
On top of all this, he was a great lawgiver, patriarch, and friend—really the complete man, not the kind you allow to be forgotten.
Art by Antonio Palomino—
This is a point I haven’t seen much over the past 60 hours or so. Has there been substantial change in the personnel since last year? On the other side, organizers should never assume that the other side is on the ball.
The X factor is why the Secretariat of State got involved.
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
My unsolicited advice would be, stay in the City and do a thorough housecleaning.
Pope Leo XIV's visit to Latin America Nov. 6-17 will go ahead as planned after his doctors give him the all clear, @HolySeePress confirms:
"Two weeks after the surgical procedure undergone by Pope Leo XIV, the Holy See Press Office confirms that the Holy Father's recovery continues to progress, in accordance with the favorable assessments communicated by his medical team.
As previously reported, the surgical procedure was successful and without complications. Subsequent medical examinations confirmed that the condition was localized and that no further oncological treatment is necessary.
Since returning to the Vatican, the Holy Father has gradually resumed his activities, adjusting his daily schedule in consultation with his doctors to prioritize his recovery while continuing to fulfill the responsibilities of his ministry. He has maintained important appointments and public engagements, remaining attentive to the needs of each day and allowing for appropriate periods of rest.
The Holy Father remains deeply grateful for the prayers and affection he has received from throughout the world and for the dedicated care of the medical professionals who have accompanied him during his recovery.
Dr. Luigi Carbone confirms that the Holy Father’s recovery after the surgery continues, and the latest medical examinations attest to his good health and favorable clinical condition. Based on his current clinical status, as well as the instrumental and laboratory tests performed, there are no contraindications that would prevent him from undertaking his upcoming apostolic journey to Latin America as planned. The Pope is following medical recommendations with great care and diligence, and with a deep determination to continue serving the Church.
In this respect, the Holy See Press Office confirms that the Apostolic Journey of Pope Leo XIV to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru, scheduled for 6–17 November 2026, will proceed according to the programme previously published.
The Holy Father looks forward with great joy and enthusiasm to this journey, which will offer opportunities to strengthen the bonds of communion with the local Churches, encourage the faithful in their mission, and bring a message of faith, hope, and peace to the peoples of Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru, encountering the faith of their peoples, and sharing with them the hope and peace that Christ brings to our world: 'I am looking forward to returning to the continent where I’ve experienced so many moments of my life. May this journey be an occasion for us to open our hearts to one another, strengthen our communion as brothers and sisters, and renew our commitment to proclaiming the Gospel with joy.'”
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
I’m at Disneyland and just heard a woman complain, “There’s too many kids around!”
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
A pro-abortion billionaire is being given a prominent award by the @archchicago because he's "well-respected" in Chicago and the Jewish community. In defending the choice, @CardinalBCupich plays the antisemitic card, saying, "Refusing to honor or engage with Jews solely because they hold conflicting religious or political positions can risk mimicking historic patterns of antisemitism through exclusion and bigotry, which, frighteningly, is on the rise."
Solely? The sole issue is Mr. Sacks' financial support (reportedly $600,000) of abortion initiatives. Surely there are prominent pro-life Jewish leaders in the Chicago area? Also, what if, theoretically, it were discovered that Mr. Sacks had given money to a pro-MAGA group? Would the antisemitic card still be used?
Please read Cardinal Cupich's statement on the Nostra Aetate Award
ow.ly/4wB351012Cc
Matthew Balan ن retweeted
🚨BREAKING: Prince William County Circuit Court Chief Judge Petula Metzler granted bond at $2,500 for Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano. The illegal immigrant is accused of beheading and damaging the Iwo Jima statue in Quantico, Virginia.
It was revealed in court this morning that ICE lodged a detainer against the illegal immigrant accused of beheading and damaging the Iwo Jima statue.
