Daily Archives: 2012/02/20

2012/02/20 · 21:24

UPDATE: More on the military exercises above Holy Souls Mountain

The neighbor knew I would be scared for a moment last night, and chuckled when I asked him about the nightime gunship visit. He reaffirmed that this is a military practice zone. He went on about the dog fight of two jet fighters some time ago, almost smashing into each other who knows how many times.

Also some time ago, just over the way a bit, a chinook crash landed, he said. Rather expensive training!

Now, should  ye all ever need an emergency chaplain — if you would, God forbid, crash just right around here — let me know, or, if I hear or see it, I’ll come running. But just be careful!

UPDATE: I put this up at the beginning of February, 2012, but thought I would bump it to the top tonight. Either there’s been a major catastrophe that I haven’t heard about, or there are wargames going on for some hours now above Holy Souls Mountain. Since sunset there have been I don’t know many kinds of aircraft zipping about, planes and choppers and whatever… one after the other or at the same time. But I’m not complaining! As I say, its great to be living under the safest airspace in the world!

/// And the war games continue on this next day with multiple aircraft — terribly slow moving huge helicopters and slow moving jets. It’s like: How slow can we go amidst the sheer winds of these mountains without dropping into a ravine… or… or… on top of that hermitage down there?!

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· 18:33

Neo-conservative obsequious clerical toadies: “An image I find repulsive” — Pope Benedict XVI

Quite a while back, Fr Z posted an excellent quote from the Vicar of Christ on earth (the then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger). Experiencing this zeal is the story of my priestly life, in so many dioceses right around the world, really quite exactly in these ferocious words of our Holy Father. Whenever I meet up with priests who say such things, I know they’ve suffered much.

“[I]t is true that the Church may never simply align itself with the “Zeitgeist” [spirit of the times]. The Church must address the vices and perils of the time; she must appeal to the consciences of the powerful and of the intellectuals, not to mention of those who want to live narrow-minded, comfortable lives while ignoring the needs of the time, and so forth. As a bishop [of Munich] I felt obliged to face this task. Moreover, the deficits were too obvious: exhaustion of the faith, decline in vocations, lowering of moral standards even among men of the Church, an increasing tendency towards violence, and much else. The words of the Bible and of the Church Fathers rang in my ears, those sharp condemnations of shepherds who are like mute dogs; in order to avoid conflicts, they let the poison spread. Peace is not the first civic duty, and a bishop whose only concern is not to have any problems and to gloss over as many conflicts as possible is an image I find repulsive.”

Just keeping the status quo of fallen human society as the first duty of the priest… a damnable image indeed, but all too common in America, especially… especially… among the neo-conservative obsequious toadies, those who garner the praise of the sheep for looking like shepherds, but who make sure that no one but no one in their own purview will ever do or say or be anything that will challenge the status quo of fallen human society, even regarding the clergy. Such evangelization, the mute dogs say, would be a show of cynicism, because… wait for it… Because we’re NICE! [vomit here...]

So, what would Jesus say? Jesus is not pleased:

“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot” (Mat 5,13 NAB).

Here’s a bit of Ezekiel 34 (old NAB), which I think should be memorized by all shepherds:

1 Thus the word of the LORD came to me: 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, in these words prophesy to them (to the shepherds): Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep? 3 You have fed off their milk, worn their wool, and slaughtered the fatlings, but the sheep you have not pastured. 4 You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured. You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost, but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered 6 and wandered over all the mountains and high hills; my sheep were scattered over the whole earth, with no one to look after them or to search for them. 7 Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As I live, says the Lord GOD, because my sheep have been given over to pillage, and because my sheep have become food for every wild beast, for lack of a shepherd; because my shepherds did not look after my sheep, but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep; 9 because of this, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10 Thus says the Lord GOD: I swear I am coming against these shepherds. I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep so that they may no longer pasture themselves. I will save my sheep, that they may no longer be food for their mouths. 11 For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. 12 As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark.

What sparked this post was reading over David F. Pierre Jr.’s Catholic Priests Falsely Accused. I had glanced over it before, but just now read it in one go. May the Lord grant peace and healing to real victims of abuse. But I would like to add that there is a pandemic of false accusations, and that pandemic of falsehood speaks to a sickness in society which must be confronted as part of the new evangelization.

Perhaps one might think that it has been taken care of… that there are no more mute dogs to be found with this kind of thing. 

But I say, not by a long shot. Why not? Because abuse is being used as an ulterior motive to advance other agendas. Thus, SNAP wants nothing more than to destroy the Catholic Church, using abuse as a means to this end. Liberal “theologians” say that abuse means we should have married priests and women priests. And, to the point of this post, there are Bishops who continue to marginalize falsely accused priests as a way to ”prove” to all and sundry that they are heroes for being so heavy handed.

This kind of utilization of abuse for the sake of self-promotion is just more abuse meted out the real victims, who are horrified and betrayed anew by all this rubbish, which has nothing to do with their own sufferings.

There is still a culture of marginalizing verifiably exonerated priests so that “it just looks better for appearances.” That’s what we’ve come to? Some Bishops slitting the throats of their priests for appearances, even when those priests have been totally exonerated? Any Bishop who is willing to do that is also willing personaly to commit abuse — or bless it when they see it going on — for they are using victims for their own ends, a power move, and isn’t that what’s going on with all of this? The truth will win out.

Continuing to marginalize priests who have verifiably been exonerated does no favor to real victims, who, eventually, will no longer come forward because of the backlash of people getting sick of all the false accusations and all the horrific injustice following in the wake of false accusations. Injustice breeds injustice. Being too careful is being careless. Overkill is a licence to kill.

The “mute dog”, who will not enter the new evangelization on this level – on the level of Jesus Crucified and the innocent priests with Him – is an image that we all find repulsive. A mute dog does no good for society. Instead of being evangelized to the point that society might hold the sufferings of those falsely accused to be heroic, society is instead confirmed in the self-serving perspective that all religion is from hell. Thanks much, mute dogs.

This is the territory of cynics, who must be thinking that they can actually hide behind the injustices of marginalization that they commit, and look like heroes both in this life and in the next. But God will not be mocked. Instead of treating falsely accused priests with great honor for having suffered for our Lord, so many falsely accused and exonerated priests continue to be marginalized and condemned by all. With that going on, how can one speak of Christ Jesus and Him crucified with any credibility? Isn’t it a crucified criminal whom we preach about? Any Bishop who has been found to treat exonerated priests as criminals should be forthwith removed from office and… and… be subject to the same punishment which they meted out to those they knew to be innocent.

O.K. I said it. I had to say something after reading that book (see link above). Wow… Oh, and this: Help Father MacRae!

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· 11:27

New Evidence about Father Gordon MacRae. May he be free very soon!

H/T to V at SanctePater: Father Gordon MacRae – Alarming New Evidence May Exonerate Imprisoned Priest

Father Gordon J. MacRae in 2011

From

  • Rev. Gordon J. MacRae, sentenced to 33½ to 67 years, has  been in the New Hampshire State Prison For Men since 1994 on abuse charges.
  • Newly released signed statements in a recent court motion contend  that the primary accuser, Thomas Grover, made up the  accusations to extract money from the Church.
  • Grover’s former stepson: “On several occasions, Grover told  me that he had never been molested by MacRae.”
  • Grover’s former wife: Grover is a “compulsive  liar” and a “manipulator” who “can tell a lie  and stick to it ’til its end.” Most notably, Grover “never  stated one word of abuse by [MacRae].”
  • Former friend of Grover and accuser who recanted: I knew  “full well that it was [all] bogus … I did not want to lie or make up  stories.”
  • Former drug and alcohol counselor for Grover: Accuser Grover  claimed abuse “by so many disparate people that his credibility in the  [counseling] program was seriously in doubt”; Grover seemed like “he was  going for some kind of sexual abuse victim world record.” Plus,  aggressive New Hampshire detectives applied “coercion, intimidation,  veiled and more forward threats” and “threats of  arrest” upon the counselor to try to extract a false incrimination  of MacRae from her.
  • Courtroom spectators during Fr. MacRae’s 1994 trial: A therapist  hired by Grover’s contingency lawyer used hand signals from the back of  the courtroom to coach Grover on the witness stand.
  • Veteran FBI detective, after three-year private  investigation: “I discovered no evidence of MacRae  having committed the crimes charged, or any other crimes.”
  • Plus: A lengthy criminal rap sheet of accuser Grover  reveals numerous arrests, before and after trial: multiple forgeries, multiple  thefts, multiple burglaries, and assault on a police officer (after breaking his  future ex-wife’s nose). The jury at the trial never heard any of  this.
  • and more.

Eye-popping new evidence is shining a new light on one of the most disputed  cases of the entire Catholic Church abuse narrative.
Rev. Gordon J. MacRae and his attorneys have filed a motion  for a new trial in New Hampshire based on astonishing new declarations.
The motion for a new trial contains multiple, uncollaborated signed  statements from a number of people who were close to accuser Thomas  Grover at the time Fr. MacRae’s 1994 criminal trial, and these  statements indicate that Grover perpetrated a massive fraud in falsely accusing  the cleric of abuse.
1. The motion contains an astonishing 2008 signed  statement from the former stepson of accuser Grover, who was in the  company of Grover for a period of years before, during, and  afterFr. MacRae’s 1994 criminal trial:

“[O]ver a number of months and years, Thomas Grover discussed the sex abuse  allegations of [Father] Gordon MacRae with me. Grover often stated to me  that he was going to set MacRae and the church up to gain money for sexual  abuse. Grover would laugh and joke about this scheme …

“On several occasions Grover told me that he had never been molested  by MacRae. “Grover, on several occasions, called his civil case attorneys for money or  cash advances on his expected cash award and Grover told me that his  attorneys directed him to go for psychiatric and drug therapy to gain jury  appeal in his court case.”

[Click  here to read this man's signed statement]
2. The motion also contains statements from the  former wife of accuser Grover. According to this woman, Grover is a  “compulsive liar” and a  “manipulator,” “who can tell a lie and stick to it ’til  its end.”She also has claimed:

  • Grover asked her to marry him in 1994 “because it would look better and,  more importantly, he needed the security of a wife for a trial.”
  • In the entire time the pair were together, “never once did [Grover]  say he was abused by MacRae.”
  • Grover claimed that his monetary civil suit was to pay for his needed  therapy, but once he received his sizable settlement ($195,000  in 1997), he never returned to therapy again.

[Click  here to see relevant court documents related to Grover's former  wife.]
3. Also included in the file is a 2008 signed  statement from a former friend of Grover who recanted his bogus claims of  abuse by MacRae. The statement shockingly suggests that the lead  detective in Fr. Gordon’s New Hampshire case, James McLaughlin,  attempted to manipulate the young man into making a false  accusation:

“I was aware at the time of [Father] Gordon’s trial knowing full well  that it was bogus and having heard of the lawsuits and money involved, also the  reputations of those who were making accusations.

“I agreed to meet with the [detectives] after being told I would be  reimbursed for my time/gas money …  [Detective] McLaughlin had me  believing that all I had to do is make up a story about Gordon and I could  receive a large sum of money as others already had. McLaughlin reminded me of  the young child and girlfriend I had and referenced that life could be easier  for us with a large amount of money.

“I knew of the Grovers’ reputation as well as others involved, many of whom I  went to school with. It seemed as though it would be easy money if I would also  accuse Gordon of wrongdoing. I left that meeting after being given I believe  $50, easy money, like what would come from lawsuits against  MacRae.”

Fortunately, after being subpoenaed, the man had a change of feelings.  “I did not want to lie or make up stories … Gordon had never done  anything wrong towards me,” the man has written.
[Click  here to read this man's handwritten statement]

Link:

Related:

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· 10:29

The Consecration in Persona Christi

If you’re not yet following seminarian Philip’s blog, you’ve been missing out on too much. Don’t miss any more. Click HERE.

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· 08:21

8 Beatitudes: Mt 5,10 — Blessed are those perfectly continuing to be perfectly persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of the Heavens

If you haven’t read the previous posts in this series on the beatitudes, click the category “Beatitudes” and start from the beginning! No repeated info. One beatitude builds on the others!

I just love that pefect passive participle in Greek. The only way to translate it correctly is rather clumsy, but rather exhilerating if the truth of my heart be told:

Blessed are the δεδιωγμένοι! which means rather precisely: Blessed are those perfectly continuing to be perfectly persecuted!

Hah! LOL! I just absolutely love that!

I once knew a certain Cardinal (I’ve personally known many!), who boasted that he never once in his life had a disagreement with anyone, never anyone upset with him. Yikes! That’s not the kind of thing I would boast about. Such cynics think that being persecuted is a sign of weakness. This Cardinal in particular said that Jesus’ crucifixion was a failure. He also said that Blessed John Paul II being in a wheelchair was – get this – an embarrassment to the entire Church in front of the whole world, not realizing that his example in suffering was a great blessing for all those who suffer, including me, for I was also in a wheelchair for quite a while. The cross of our Lord is a victory of our Lord’s love for us. The continuing faithfulness of those who suffer is a victory of our Lord’s love for us. Heaven will be so wonderful! What we preach, Christ Jesus and Him crucified, is a sign of contradition to the ways of the world, the flesh and the devil. If no one ever takes issue with what we preach, with what we do, with who we are… could there possibly be something wrong with what we preach or do, or with who we are? Could it be that we not with our Lord, but against Him?

The cynics, however, you know, the power brokers of self-congratulation, who stomp on others to lift themselves up… those cynics say this:

“What our Lord said about His disciples fleeing from one town to the next does not, cannot apply to us today. We’re nice! Persecution doesn’t happen to nice people like us! We’ve moved on since the time of Jesus! We’re better than they were. WE. ARE. NICE!”

But our Lord says:

“Blessed are those perfectly continuing to be perfectly persecuted!”

I almost want to dance around in my little hermitage before the Lord in transcendent joy…. O.K. I just did! Now, let’s see what this blessedness is all about!

Remember, this is present tense, transcendent joy amidst persecution right now. There is a hint about the source of this blessedness, which is, of course, not the persecution itself. Persecutions are just annoying. It’s the bit about “for the sake of righteousness” that is important. This righteousness is about knowing and doing the will of our dear Heavenly Father, keeping the commandments and just being faithful, His little children, His little flock, in the midst of the circumstances of our day to day lives, circumstances which He either wills, if they are good, or permits for our benefit, if they are evil, knowing that He can and will draw good out of the evil if we cooperate with Him in His grace, with His life within us, depending utterly on Him. That’s righteousness. We don’t put ourselves forward as righteous. We look to Him as the only righteous one, who provides that righteousness to us, He being, yes, just so good and just so kind. We don’t deserve any of this friendship with Mary’s Son, our Lord Jesus, and receiving His gift of friendship is part of this joy. The joy is accentuated when we see ever so clearly that we would cave before any persecution at all, and watch how, in the midst of persecution, He holds us up, having us continue to be faithful. We find, in joy, that this is utterly, totally awesome. We watch the majesty of His priesthood in our lives. The majesty! He walks among us, amidst all the persecution, still bearing the wounds on His hands and feet and side, in His Heart…

“For theirs is the Kingdom of the Heavens.”

I mean, it’s not that we still don’t have free will after being perfectly continuing to be faithful amidst perfectly continuing persecutions. It’s not that we can’t still choose to sin. It’s just that the transcendent joy of blessedness becomes such an attraction, the life of Jesus within us, and so close does Jesus keep us to Himself, that He can’t but help say that the Kingdom of the Heavens belongs to us already, so happy is He with His knowledge that we will one day join Him soul and body in heaven, where the rejoicing will be at fever pitch, where the grace we now enjoy will shine out as His own glory. Yikes! Jesus is proud of us! Double yikes!

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· 06:41

UPDATE: I hope they make him a bishop after he gets out!

Special Report: New Appeal Filed in the Case of Fr. Gordon MacRae

by TSW Editors on February 15, 2012

Motion for New Trial in the Case of Fr. Gordon J MacRae, Ryan A MacDonaldEditor’s Note: The following is a guest post written by Ryan A. MacDonald

The National Center for Reason and Justice announces a new appeal based on new evidence in the case of Fr. Gordon MacRae, but help is needed.

I am grateful for this invitation to bring to your attention a major step toward possible justice in the case of imprisoned priest, Father Gordon MacRae. The Boston-based National Center for Reason and Justice announced a Motion for New Trial in the case of Fr. MacRae last week, and posted it on the NCRJ website at the link below.

The published brief presents a detailed description of newly discovered evidence in the case as well as other legal considerations. I invite readers to review this compelling document and to suggest the NCRJ link to others.

Though entirely unrelated to These Stone Walls, this long sought development is both hopeful and encouraging for those who have seen the injustices at the heart of the case of Father Gordon MacRae. However, filing this appeal is but the next step in this ongoing effort. Legal expenses have mounted and will continue to mount as the appeal progresses. Please consult the “Contact” page on These Stone Walls for a description of how to help in this effort for justice.

I am sure that most readers understand that Father MacRae himself will not be commenting on this appeal brief. I believe he has decided nonetheless to continue writing weekly for These Stone Walls which is entirely unrelated to this legal effort.

You are invited to review the appeal brief filed with new hope for justice for Father Gordon MacRae. The appeal is posted in its entirety at the website of the National Center for Reason and Justice. Click here to read the “Motion for New Trial in the Case of Fr. Gordon MacRae.”

(Ryan A. MacDonald is a Spero News columnist who blogs at A Ram in the Thicket. He has written extensively on the matter of due process for accused priests at Spero News, and many online Catholic venues).

To get all the active links of this story, click on the title above inside the post. That will bring you to the post on TheseStoneWalls. There is also a comment box over yonder, and many ways to help out.

UPDATE: I’m told by those who know that there is great excitement about all this, building more and more everyday. But we need your help! Please! Today! As a pre-lenten almsgiving! Click on the link at the top of the inside of the post and you’ll see how you can help. And ~you~ can help. Yes! Even ~you~!

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· 06:35

(Already updated with great links!) Is it good to do the consecration to Jesus through Mary according to the great Saint Louis de Montfort?

Saint Louis is one of Holy Souls Hermitage heroes for autobiographical reasons of unrepeatable circumstances. I did the consecration as a seminarian… um… now quite a few years ago! That was really, really good for me. He caught me in a time of confusion and set me on the right path. But is this consecration good for others too?

In the post linked above, an apologia is offered for what contemporary Americana might consider to be over the top flowery language (typical French enthusiasm of the time) and exaggerated rhetoric (once considered one of the high sciences). He was instrumental in returning France to the faith by way of enormous “missions”, which many tens of thousands of people would attend, get back to the sacraments, and be put on the path to heaven once again.

Soon after this, the dark days of the Enlightenment would see Enlightenment child Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre personally see to the death of some 25,000 Conventual Franciscans, besides all the other priests and nuns laity murdered in this Catholic Holocaust which so many Frenchmen celebrate to this day. Don’t think it can’t happen here. Everything is already in place.

I could mention all those deeply affected by Saint Louis’ devotion to Mary, such as Blessed John Paul II, with the famous “Totus Tuus” in the Papal Coat of Arms, and wax poetic about why the consecration to Jesus through Mary is good for everyone, but I’ll let you read his words yourself.

Instead, I’m not going to try to convince anyone to make the consecration. Instead, I’m going to convince you why it’s not necessary, not in the least. And when I’m done, I think that you’ll be eager to learn as much as you can by ordering books providing you with the saint’s preparation for and exemplar of a consecration to Jesus through Mary so that you can make that total consecration to Jesus through Mary. Hah!

The only point I’m going to make  concerns one of Jesus’ “words” on the cross:

“Jesus, then, seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, said to the mother, ‘Woman! Behold! Your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold! Your Mother!’” (John 19,26-27).

Now, isn’t it true that such a consecration is merely secondary, and, if anything, merely an unneccesary confirmation on our part of what Jesus has already done for us in a primary way? Isn’t a consecration like this always a bit exterior to the reality of the situation? Isn’t becoming a “slave of Mary” as de Montfort puts it, absolutely nothing compared to what Jesus did in putting us right into the Holy Family, in making Mary our mother in the midst of His passion and death, in the midst of our Redemption? What can we do that can compare with that? Obviously Jesus wants us to be totally given over to His mother… our mother, the Immaculate Conception, just as He is given over to her as the greatest, most loving Son ever to be born of woman; so… are not our meager efforts almost insulting? Don’t we lower the standard He put before us by taking on such a lowly however total consecration? How can we be more directly put into the Holy Family than what Jesus has done for us.

We can’t do anything better than what Jesus has done for us, and we shouldn’t try! But… but… consider this:

Jesus, in redeeming us, in saving us, makes us, as Saint Paul says, members of His body, the Mystical Body of Christ. He, the Head of that Mystical Body, is born of Mary. As Saint Bernard asks, is she to be the mother of a monster, of a head only, and not also of the rest of the body? Exactly right. She is to give birth to the entire Son of God, Head and members. We are never God, but we go to the Father through, with and in Jesus, in the unity of the love of the Holy Spirit. We are brought into the life of the Most Holy Trinity, always and for eternity, through, with and in the Son of Mary.

She gives birth to us by way of her intercession for us as she stands under the cross, where that “hour” of Jesus became her “hour” of intercession (as we read at the wedding of Cana). Most precisely, it is when Jesus declares her to be our mother, at the moment when that intercession is perfect, her birth pangs for us, her heart, her immaculate heart being pierced through with sorrow, seeing with her clear vision exactly what we need, for she sees clearly all the hell vomited on her Son from the beginning of time to the end by simply seeing Him being tortured to death because of our sins on the Cross.

Jesus Himself wants to be entirely born, so to speak, and has this happen by way of His mother’s intercession for us. He is the only mediator between God and man; only He provides us with santifying grace, the life of the Most Holy Trinity within us, by way of uniting us with Himself, but, in justice, it is most appropriate that someone who is “merely” human, unlike Himself, make a perfect act of intercession for all that He was doing and is doing for us. That is most appropriate. And just as He came to us through Mary, so does He want to bring us to Himself through Mary. He wants us to be born of her. He wants us to be her children. He wants us to be one with Him in being her Son. Total consecration to Jesus through the intercession of Mary.

Having said all that, making this consecration of the great Saint Louis de Montfort is not second guessing Jesus, is not trying to outdo Him, is not something which will add something to what He has done for us, nor does it try to do this. It’s just that Jesus does appreciate the little we can do to show Him our eager enthusiasm at being the littlist of tiny children of Mary, like Himself, with Himself. He loves His mother, and wants us sharing that love with Him for her! Of course He does. Mary does nothing if not bring us straight to her Son. And He knows that too. Really, Jesus, and Mary, are just so good, just so kind.

Now, make that consecration!

P.S. Can anyone provide links to books and pamphlets that readers might order to this end? Often, this consecration is made on 25 March or some other Marian feast. It takes some weeks to prepare for, so let’s get a move on!

UPDATE: http://fisheaters.com/totalconsecrationmontfort.html

Check it out now. You’ll be impressed. Very cool!

Gregg the Obscure adds: There’s an Android app available that includes the book “The Secret of Mary”, which describes the consecration and it includes all the material necessary. It works on the Kindle Fire.

There’s a nifty bit more about the consecration here too. Turns out none of us are ever likely to have another year where the optimal day to start coincides with Ash Wednesday.

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